Nerdapalooza 2010

Wow… we somehow made it to the other side of Nerdapalooza 2010 intact. As you may have read from a number of the articles about the past weekend, it was a pretty successful event! Our goal before the event was to have an attendance between 700 and 1000, which we reached with a final headcount of 747! Thank you so much to all of you that made it out to Nerdapalooza 2010!

Believe it or not, Team Nerdapalooza is already hard at work on next year’s event to ensure that we continue growing. Expect to see a lot of changes to the Nerdapalooza website.

While we’re working on everything, I’d like to take a moment and thank a score of individuals that made Nerdapalooza possible! First up, Aaron Yarhouse, Masurao of Krondor Krew, the Event Director of Nerdapalooza. Without Aaron I can guarantee Nerdapalooza would NOT have happened. He conquered so much of the logistical side of Nerdapalooza building up to the event, and at the event itself. Aaron and I were somehow able to tackle every problem that came our way. Nina Talley, our Press Director, Andrea Rangel, our Volunteer Director, Josh Thew, our Artist Director, and James “HT” Ianelli, our Lead Sound Engineer, constitute the rest of the Nerdapalooza Director Staff, and without them Nerdapalooza would have collapsed into chaos. Melissa Mays and David Celis tag-teamed as our Event General Managers for Merch and the Front Desk, respectively, helping keep order. Massive thank yous are also in order to Marc “with a C” Sirdoreus, Chapski, and Charles for your awesome sound assistance day of, ESPECIALLY to Nash of Sci-Fried, whose tireless energy kept the Enemy Ink stage running on time and sounding pretty awesome. Big thanks to all of Sci-Fried for not only the use of their equipment, but overall support of the entire event. They acted as the unofficial security response team and made us know that whatever happened, we had backup. Thank you VERY much for all of the volunteers that kept the gears running at Nerdapalooza.

Thank you so much to the amazing artists that constitute what Nerdapalooza is about. Without them, the festival would not be the epic edifice to nerdy music that it is today. Thank you so much to the new artists that keep the show vitalized and thank you so much to the veterans that show the new guys how it’s done! Thank you to all the sponsors who supported the event in so many ways, be it Cloudspace with their hail of footballs or TShirt Bordello classying up the place, be it with Twinkies, sexy shirts, or zombies! This was definitely Nerdapalooza’s best year for vendor space and we appreciate you making it a fun environment! Thank you to Charles Wardle and Diana Cox, the Nerdapalooza auxiliary staff team! Charles is our Graphic Artist and Diana is our Editor. These two are the unsung heroes who make sure Nerdapalooza is pretty and grammatically correct! Honestly, without them… no one would  take us seriously.

Thank you to Rob Tobias, Nick “Sir-Up” Carman, and “Spork,” the previous directors of Nerdapalooza who helped us build a foundation upon which to grow . Working with them in the past has helped us develop to where we are today. Thank you so much to Z. of Hipster, Please!, Genoboost of GameMusic4All, and B-Type. While Geno couldn’t make it to the event, these three have been like pillars for me to rely on since the inception of Nerdapalooza. Without your constant support, Nerdapalooza wouldn’t have been able to continue on its path. Thank you so much to Janet Jacobs of Play N Trade Orlando Square and Mike Herz of FX Show, who kept reminding me during the event of all the awesome things to work towards in the future. Look forward to Nerdapalooza at FX Show and some FUN things with PNT Orlando Square!

Those are all the people that Nerdapalooza needed to thank for all the help they put towards the event. Personally, I need to thank the following for my own personal reasons: my mom (first and foremost), Cap and Triforce Mike (my Nerdy Show bros), Captain Dan, Corey Clark, the MegaFans, Steffo and Krista, MC COOL WHIP, DJ, Nick, Brandon Cylon, John LaValle, the Megas and the Protomen, Geo, Shael and his “entourage” (lol), Chozo, Schaffer (for being the nicest guy EVER), ZeaLouS1 (for competing with him for that title), and Front. As well as those I had already listed (especially Aaron, Nina, Andrea, Diana, Marc, Nash, and a few others), you personally helped me through this weekend, whether you knew it or not. Thank you from the bottom of my heart!

With one last thank you for everyone who attended this year’s event, ensuring that we are on the path of growth towards becoming the Number ONE festival in Orlando AND the Number ONE Nerdy Event of 2010, I’d like to end this wave of sappy thank you’s. Please be patient with the Nerdapalooza Staff in the next week or so in responding to your emails as we’re STILL trying to catch up on sleep (or fighting off a case of #nerdapafluza as I am).

For those of you that this was your first event, I want to look back two years ago to a post by Z. over at Hipster, Please! that seemed appropriate…

In the absence of (Nerdapalooza) … we attendees are left with what Anthony (Genoboost) has termed Post-Nerdapalooza Depression. PND is a disorder marked by malaise, listlessness, and the feeling that you’ve just left your 300 700 closest friends behind. I’m just afraid it will take them a year to find a cure.

Until then, keep your eyes open, folks. Whether it’s catching a local con that’ll host someone from The FuMP, seeing our headliners again over at PAX, or catching a smaller nerd musician touring like Marian Call, you don’t have to let Nerdapalooza be something that happens once a year. Remember, I just started doing this thing cause no one else would. Doesn’t mean you can’t start your own awesome show.

Also, don’t forget about our Nerdapalooza Youtube Challenge for a chance to get Final Boss treatment at Nerdapalooza 2011!! If you got an EXTRA sexy video that you MUST have us look at, email us at hex AT nerdapalooza DOT org

Much nerdy love,

[hex]

Well, here we are! A week away before the AMAZING Pre-Party we have planned over at A Comic Shop! If you’ve never gone before, it is DEFINITELY not something to miss out on! I’ve been assured by the boys at A Comic Shop (who, I should mention, were nominated for a FREAKING EISNER AWARD!!) that there will be plenty of free beer (for those of age) as well as free pizza while it lasts! Don’t forget the EPIC music that’s going down, too!

Now, for all those that were looking for more information on the video game competitions, what I got for you is right here, compliments of Mobile Gaming Events. Please note that BEFORE Nerdapalooza, entry costs $5, while AT Nerdapalooza it’ll cost $10. There WILL be some free play going down, so don’t worry about missing out on gaming if you want to save your coin for the merch that’s going to be flowing.

Just to remind everyone, this is the ONLY year we will be making the Final Boss Package available! Now is your only chance to get a lifetime VIP pass to Nerdapalooza and all the prizes that will come with it. Here on out, any Live CDs we make? You get a free digital copy. Any exclusive merch offers? You get first dibs! Any special non-festival events? You ALSO get into those with VIP passes! Take advantage of this while you can! I shouldn’t be mentioning this… BUT… we have had some talks with some pretty large artists who have shown interest in performing at Nerdapalooza. Artists that HAVE HAD AND STILL HAVE serious radio play, CONTINUE to tour nationally, and that we guarantee you have heard of. They will be coming to Nerdapalooza, and much sooner than you might think. So why not get in on the ground floor of Nerdapalooza while you can, because once the doors open for Nerdapalooza 2010, the Final Boss Package is gone forever.

Now, you may want to take advantage of our Formspring page and try to ask WHO these big names are. Well, I WON’T TELL!! However, perusing the Formspring page is a pretty good way to get boned up on what to expect for Nerdapalooza, as is taking a peek at my good pal Z’s new tradition of the N00b’s Guide to Nerdapalooza! I don’t know how he does it, but he has once again done a phenomenal job at summing up what to expect at Nerdapalooza, for those that might have been out of the loop until now!

For those of you bloggers and microbloggers out there that are hip to the hashtagging and whatnot, we’ve gone and “made” an official hashtag for ya: it is #nap2010. #Nerdapalooza2010 was too long, and since this event isn’t really restricted to being a “South East” event, #napse2010 is no longer applicable, we thought #nap2010 would succinctly sum up “where you is.”

This year we have two (count ‘em: TWO) raffles that friends of ours are coordinating! As we’ve pointed out before, we have the Geek Peek Post Raffle (now with the chance to guest star in a Dr. Awkward music video), but we also have our pal Matthias of MagiTek has offered to coordinate the “MegaRaffle”! It’s simple to enter: just buy some MegaMerch! That is, merch from either The Megas or The Protomen. Purchase a t-shirt, CD, WHATEVER, and you get a raffle ticket for the chance to win a free MegaMan Art Book (as shown to the right). And that’s it!! The raffle will be announced again at the Pre-Party and the winning ticket will be drawn during the Sunday lunch break!

As a quick announcement, for those curious about more details for the Epic Win Burlesque – yes, you may take photographs of the event to rub in the faces of people that didn’t attend; no, if you’re under the age of 18 you cannot attend; yes, you may purchase a ticket AT the Nerdapalooza event; and no, tickets will not be available for purchase ahead of time. If you have any other questions, go ahead and send it over to us at the Formspring page. And for those that were curious, yes, there will be a bar at the event, the venue is even going to supply a mobile bar RIGHT next to the entrance to the event itself!

Now, real quick, if you are STILL interested in volunteering, head on over to the Nerdapalooza volunteer form and fill it out! You’ll be compensated with a free ticket AND a free Nerdapalooza t-shirt! Details are provided above the form! And our final thing, we want to remind you of the pretty exciting YouTube Challenge we’re putting together! Remember: post a vid to YouTube before August 1st, get a chance to win a FREE Final Boss treatment (including free VIP ticket) to Nerdapalooza 2011! Pack your camera AND your charger!

Well, that’s all we got folks! Nerdapalooza is only 8 days away and I won’t have time to blog before then. However, if you have ANY questions, let me remind you to hit up Formspring, and we will answer your question in a timely fashion. Much nerdy love, and in one week I look forward to rocking with you. Until then, this is your final countdown…

[hex]

Ladies and gents we are two weeks away from the big event!! Wow! This is getting exciting, folks! This is a massive week for announcements, so let’s get started…

The official Nerdapalooza schedule is now published for everyone to see!! You can view it here!! As you can see, we have two new artists to finally announce: we are very happy to have Zombies! Organize!! returning to the Nerdapalooza stage and proud to have the Ministry of Magic joining The House of Black and Fred Lives after Infinitus 2010! Remember, if you are attending Infinitus, show up on Sunday with your conference badge and get into Nerdapalooza for only $10!! Also returning to the Nerdapalooza stage is Orlando nerdcore group, MagiTek! They’ll once again be rocking the Pre-Party at A Comic Shop. That actually brings our total artists this year to 40 artists!! Forty nerdy musical groups from across the US are gathering to rock your faces in two weeks! Pretty exciting!! If you haven’t yet, go purchase your ticket for the event today!! OR purchase a Final Boss Package and take advantage of the ability to come to Nerdapalooza EVERY year!!

Now comes the bit about the hotel discount closing. On Tuesday of next week the Nerdapalooza discount will come to an end. Right now it is $89/night for a standard double but, as of Wednesday, the price will go to $129/night! If you are planning on taking advantage of the hotel discount, make sure you reserve your room RIGHT AWAY! Once again, the discount code is fnefnea. Follow this link to take advantage of the discount before it’s too late!

Now, for those of you that love Nerdapalooza videos and love taking them even more, we have a MAJOR treat for you!! We are announcing the Nerdapalooza Youtube Challenge!! All the details are there, but basically, whoever takes the best footage of Nerdapalooza 2010 and posts it online publicly by August 1st will win a VIP All Access pass to Nerdapalooza 2011! So get your cameras ready for your chance to win!

Finally, I just want to remind y’all of the two non-music events that’ll be going on during Nerdapalooza: the Video Game Competitions and the Epic Win Burlesque Show. The video game competitions will be going on throughout the entire event and are brought to you in part by Play N Trade Orlando Square and Mobile Gaming Events. You can see the full line-up of tournament games here! The tournament is going to have a cash entry, but also a cash prize for the winners! Then, as you can see on the schedule, Saturday night is gonna get closed up by the Epic Win Burlesque show presented by none other than Schaffer the Darklord! Scantily clad gals dressing up in nerdy costumes! It’ll cost a mere $5 to get in, with all the cash going straight to the girls!

Well, that’s all we’ve got this week, folks! Two weeks are going to run by quickly! Got any questions? Send em our way through this brand new Formspring account!!

Much nerdy love

[hex]

Well, here we are with only three weeks to go and things are starting to really come into place on our end. We’re looking forward to hosting all of you here in sunny Orlando!

We do have to start off on a serious note, though. We were recently informed by one of our artists that when they reserved a room with the venue, he was forced to pay more than our discount because the rooms blocked out for Nerdapalooza had been used up. This is not truly the case, and fortunately our artist informed us of the situation. We were able to work with the hotel and alter the artist’s charge for the room to reflect our discount. We were able to save him over $100 with a simple call to the hotel. If any of you, be you artist, fan or other, have reserved a hotel room and were informed that the Nerdapalooza discount was no longer available, please contact our event director, Aaron, as soon as possible so that he can get you a superior discount. If anyone has been detoured to stay at another hotel when informed that the discount was no longer available, please consider changing to the Orlando Airport Marriott. The reason we ask, once again, is that we are getting the venue rental discounted at a higher rate based off of the number of rooms that are rented. Basically, the more people staying at the hotel, the less the event will cost Nerdapalooza, the more money we can give to our charity, Child’s Play. So, to recap, please stay at the Orlando Airport Marriott, and if you were unable to take advantage of the discount, email Aaron at event AT nerdapalooza DOT org.

Next up, my pal, Z. over at Hipster, Please! proposed a tradition last year of challenging Nerdapalooza performers to include a cover into their setlist. We were treated to such treats as Marc with a C’s tribute to the original geek rock song, the Who’s Pinball Wizard, and Krondor Krew’s apropos cover of Vanilla Ice’s Ninja Rap. Well, Z. and I are bringing it back! Once again this isn’t by any means mandatory, but we’re encouraging the artists to give a tribute to a musical influence. If you get a chance, ask a favorite artist of yours to add a cover to their upcoming set list!

Next, we got more than a few people asking about the Pre-Party! Well, as we can see from the line-up, it’ll be The Megas backed up by a few nerdy acts rocking your faces at A Comic Shop. I guess it’s time to announce the when! As this Facebook event will easily tell ya, the Pre-Party will start at 7 PM! Remember, just like every year, A Comic Shop is supplying some free beer and free pizza, and if you want to make sure you get some you better get there sooner than later, as it is delivered on a first come-first serve basis! Still on the fence on if you want to attend Nerdapalooza? This is the best place to get a taste of what it’ll be like! We’ll still be selling tickets at the Pre-Party, so if you like what you’re hearing, you can throw down the coin to get your entry to Nerdapalooza 2010!

Well, that’s all we got for now! I heard a rumor we’ll be announcing the full schedule VERY soon, so keep those RSS feeds warm! Much nerdy love!

[hex]

Here I sit in moist Orlando, while my pals, Cap and Triforce Mike of Nerdy Show, are on their way home after hob-nobbing with some amazing people over at E3 – the Electronic Entertainment Expo, including none other than Geoff Johns, creative director of DC Comics. Not that I’m jealous or anything.

However, if you are interested in ANYTHING that went down at E3, I HIGHLY recommend peeping their E3 coverage. Mike and Cap have a critical and reliable perspective to not just nerd gaming, but nerd culture overall. So, give the vids a peep, because there is some AWESOME stuff going on that will excite the current gamer, turn back on the old school but retired gamer, and titillate potential players.

First off, we’d like to remind you that our venue is the Orlando Airport Marriott, and that it’s highly advised that when you come for Nerdapalooza, you stay there. Primarily, we ask because the more people that stay there, the less it’ll cost us to rent the venue, which directly impacts how much money we get to give to our charity, Child’s Play. Also, it just makes sense!! Who wants to get drunk and rock on all night and then have to walk/drive a mile or two to the next nearest hotel? Doesn’t make sense!! You’ll definitely want to keep all of your awesome partying reserved to one location: the Orlando Airport Marriott. If not for yourself, think of the children!!!

Next on the docket, we are proud to announce a returning sponsor, D Cubed Productions! They brought some awesome video presentations last year, and we’re glad to see that they’re back to party on with all of you!

Well, that’s all we got for now, so I’ll just leave you with this. Enjoy:

Much nerdy love,

[hex]

Short week this week. The Nerdapalooza Team is in high gear getting the festival prepared for all of you. This will definitely be one for the record books.

First up, I wanted to remind y’all to vote for us as Best Festival in the Best of Orlando competition. You don’t need to live in Orlando to have an opinion, so go go go and vote for Nerdapalooza!

Second up, we have moved where we’re still selling Final Boss Packages!! We’ve moved where they’re being sold to the Nerdapalooza Store! Buy one today!

Next, we want to direct your attention over to the Geek Peek Post, where they are doing quite a bit to help support Nerdapalooza! They coordinated the effort to get Dr. Awkward to Nerdapalooza, and are also coordinating some great prizes around getting as many artists out as they can! For $5 you can get entry to a massive raffle filled with TONS of prizes, including the possibility to be in a Doc Awk music video to be filmed at Nerdapalooza!! For only $5 why not help a little bit?

We also are VERY honored to announce two new sponsors: the first is Fangamer, a phenomenal company that coordinates professional level fan merch, such as Yomega-brand, Earthbound-style yo-yos! They were awesome enough to actually be the fourth coolest nerdy THING of 2009, according to Nerdy Show’s Final Boss countdown last year. Our second sponsor we’re announcing is Mobile Gaming Events, a local video game competition company. They coordinate rigs of televisions and systems at major events, such as this year’s Megacon. They’re working with our Play N Trade sponsors to give you an amazing gaming experience while at Nerdapalooza (ya know, if you’re into awesome gaming). You can take a peek at their assortment over here!

Well, that’s all we got for now. Back to the grindstone with this hex!! Much nerdy love,

[hex]

What a week!! It has been hectic over at the Nerdapalooza camp, getting everything together, but we now have a lot to announce this week!! So without further ado, let’s go!!

First thing to announce is that the Orlando Weekly Best of Orlando 2010 Voting is open, and this year, Nerdapalooza is doing an extra push to win Best Festival! Even if you don’t live in Orlando or if Orlando is now a destination for you BECAUSE OF Nerdapalooza, it is definitely a great way to support the show! Visit this page for the full low-down on voting.

Next up, we are announcing two new sponsors: A Comic Shop and Mammoth Sound! A Comic Shop is coming back as an amazing sponsor, as you can guess by the amazing pre-parties they always throw. This year is going to be bigger and badder, as you can tell from the line-up (which we’re about to finish up). We also have Mammoth Sound stepping up to provide some fire power to back-up EMPulse. We’re still lining up sponsors, so if you’d like to take advantage of the advertising opportunities available at Nerdapalooza then check out our Sponsorship Package today.

Finally, let’s announce some awesome artists!! First up (as promised) we have the two artists that’ll be joining The Megas, MC COOL WHIP, and Insane Ian at the Pre-Party! Returning from 2008, we’ll have Whoremoans tearing it up as well as KABUTO THE PYTHON getting his first solo set at Nerdapalooza. Sounds like KABUTO may be inviting a few friends on stage with him, so the Pre-Party is going to be pretty awesome! Returning to the main stage from last year is My Parents Favorite Music, also returning from a short break from the music scene. We also have some bad news, as Diabeets of Scrub Club will actually not be able to make it out. In her place will be Mad Hatter returning to rock the Scrub Club set. Also from Scrub Club is going to be Dr. Awkward with his first solo set. A new sub-headliner this year will be the Super 8-Bit Bros, joining the Protomen on their tour through Orlando just in time for Nerdapalooza. And FINALLY, our announcement this year will be a brand NEW category of artist!! Since Orlando is such an amazing nerdy center for music, we are now showcasing Local Headliners!! This year we are showcasing Yip-Yip, the crazy and local electronic duo that redefine what music can be.

Boosh! Crazy end for a crazy week! We still have a few names to announce, and we’ll have a schedule soon to reveal as well. Don’t forget to go purchase tickets for this year’s event and don’t forget to vote for us for Best Festival!

Much nerdy love

[hex]

Sorry for the late post, however with how my new schedule is I may just be migrating blog-postin’-day to Saturdays instead of Fridays. I apologize if this makes anyone extremely sad, but I’m thinking of starting a mailing list, which I’ll mail out all the main details out to on Friday still so you can stay on top of the game. I know we’ve had mailing lists that haven’t worked out in the past, but with the new server we’re (still in the middle of) migrating to, I think it’ll be simpler to coordinate. I’m starting to (finally) get on top of this internet technology game (with a little help from my new job over at Cloudspace). I will figure out the mailing list thing and have it available for signing up by next week’s blog. Even if I don’t get a lot of content out before NAP 2010, at least you can start getting info early for 2011, and I promise no spamming

But enough about that, let’s get down to the nitty gritty: new artists!! I got two for ya this week, and I think you’re gonna really enjoy both of them. First is a returning artist from 2008’s event. Random Encounter is a local video game cover band with a front man that rocks an accordion. Yeah… it’s as awesome as it sounds! We’re really excited to be able to have them back! Then next up is a brand new artist to Nerdapalooza, representing a very unrepresented scene of musicians until now, George Hrab. This growing scene of musicians that grab their inspiration from science and skepticism is definitely a growing one if you include artists like Tim Minchin and John Boswell leading the Symphony of Science project. Like most of them, Geo’s wit and clever lyrics really makes for an enjoyable and comical listening experience and I’m REALLY excited to have him with Nerdapalooza. I’m also excited about how excited he seems to be, as heard in the most recent edition of his podcast, the Geologic Podcast, episode 166. The Nerdapalooza bit starts about 41 minutes in, but the entire episode (as is every episode) is very entertaining and highly recommended for your RSS feed.

I’d like to keep it quick and simple for ya this week, as I have a lot to get down and work on. I think I can bet on more news next week as well as that mailing list to look forward to, so don’t stray too far, o beloved reader!

[hex]

Well, let’s start off this weekend by telling you what YOU need to be doing if you are in the Central Florida region: getting your butt over to downtown Orlando for the amazing Straight Up GEEK show going down tonight at 9 PM over at Club West 57 (right next to Backbooth, for those in the know). We have an AMAZING line up for ya, including everyone’s favorite ninjas, Krondor Krew; the magical diva, Erin of The House of Black; and my personal pal and favorite geek rocker, Marc with a C. This half-unintended Nerdapalooza showcase is being coordinated and MC’d/DJ’d by the phenomenal Dr. Vern of Sci-Fried! BOOSH! Nerdy Show will definitely have a presence there, too. There’s so much awesome goin down, you’d have to hate nerds NOT to go! It’s five bucks to get in, but bring twenty with plans on supporting the local scene.

Next up, we have some artists trying to get out to Nerdapalooza, looking for some help from you, the fans! Let’s start off with the crowned Prince of Nerdcore, Beef Thompson, himself. He recently dropped a new album called With Sprinkles, which he is shelling out for the low price of $10 a pop over at his Bandcamp Page. Twitter has been going CRAZY trying to help advertise this, and I thought I’d help!

Along the same lines, as you may have seen over at the Scrub Club Records website or at the Geek Peek Post, many Scrubbies are trying to get down to Florida for July, and are looking for your help to relieve Nerdapalooza of the full financial burden: most notably, KABUTO THE PYTHON, Mad Hatter, and Doctor Awkward are trying to come out to party with y’all and could use some help. They’re coordinating this with a raffle, hosting amazing prizes from a handful of Nerdapalooza artists. To support the scene AND have a chance at winning some sick prizes, head on over here and throw down a few bones!

Nerdapalooza don’t have much to announce this week… EXCEPT SOME MOAR ARTISTS!! Since we’re already on the subject of Scrub Club, it’s my pleasure to announce there will be an official Scrub Club set at Nerdapalooza! While some Scrub Club artists may have separate sets (examples being Krondor Krew and Z1), there are a few that are gonna make the trek to Nerd Mecca and rock your faces off. So far, ready to announce, the new blood of Scrub Club, Diabeats, King Pheenix, and StarF will be stepping up to the stage for the first time! There may be other Scrubbies mounting the stage with them, but they have yet to be revealed!!

The BIG announcement of today is the return of the sapphire squadron of musicians, The Megas! This year, they’ll be stepping up their presence: not only will they be playing late on either Saturday or Sunday, you’ll get a chance to see them on FRIDAY!! WHAT’S THAT!? I hear you exclaim! That’s right, the Megas are this year’s headliner for the annual A Comic Shop pre-party, which already has Insane Ian and MC COOL WHIP ready to kick some serious butt. Wow!

Well, that’s all we got for now, ladies and gents! Stay tuned as we get ever closer to announcing the final line up!! We’re working on having some more headliners, so some EPIC announcements may be on the horizon! Don’t stop believing!

Much nerdy love

[hex]

Sorry everyone for no blog last week and no blog this week, either. I’ve been completely bogged down with personal matters such as finals and a new (awesome) job. Except an EPIC blog next week!

[hex]