Now, as promised, we have some tickets and hotel discounts to announce! First, let’s do the hotel. We’ll be staying at the Crowne Plaza in downtown Orlando. It’s located at 304 West Colonial Drive, Orlando, FL. To make a reservation with our code simply follow this link: https://resweb.passkey.com/go/Nerdapalooza2012. You can also call up 1-888-233-9527 and ask for the Nerdapalooza discount. Now, the discount is $85 plus tax and that discount ends July 13th, so make sure you order before then. We’ve also made sure we got a special parking rate for all of our attendees. It’ll be $3.00 self parking and $8.00 for valet. Both are overnight. The hotel will be about a twenty minute walk from the venue. For those of you that fear melting in the Florida summer, worry not! There is a complimentary shuttle service that runs from the hotel for the whole weekend, running from 7 AM to 11 PM.

Now we move on to ticket prices. We’ll have three different levels for all of you this year. First off is just for the day – that price will be $35. Since we’re so close to the event, unlike other years this price will not change between now and when doors open. We’ve offered lower prices in the price to help encourage presales. This year, however, we sincerely believe that we will sell out for the first time ever. We have limited tickets on every level and if you are interested you should purchase now! Next up, for the weekend tickets, it’ll be $50. That’ll give you access to both venues for both days!

For the Nerdageddon, we decided to offer something brand new for you. For the first time ever, Nerdapalooza will be offering a purchasable VIP ticket. This ticket gives you full access to a balcony in the Beacham which will only be available to a select group of people, including owners of this ticket and the performers. You’ll also get a traditional black “Nerdapalooza” t-shirt of whatever size you’d like ready for you when you show up and a unique event badge that will only be available to owners of this ticket. More than that, with this ticket you will have a full open bar from 5 PM to 10 PM both Saturday and Sunday at the balcony bar – that’s right! The balcony comes equipped with its own bar! And when we say open bar, we mean that you get all the drinks taken care of because you are a special guest to Nerdapalooza! You get all this, and some more pleasant surprises we have in store for you, all for only $290 for the weekend. As you can guess, with an open bar, this’ll only be available to people 21 years of age and older and there will only be 100 VIP passes available! Saturday tickets are available here and all of the rest of the tickets are available from Ticketfly.

When we posted our post last week, we got so excited we forgot to give a shout out to all of the applications we have for all of you out there. If you are interested in volunteering for Nerdapalooza 2012, please go to this form. If you would like to have your art displayed at Nerdapalooza, please go to this form. If you are a member of the media and would like to cover Nerdapalooza, please go to this form. If you are a photographer and would like to get in to take pictures of the event for us, please go to this form. Now, if you are a musician what you should fill out this form.

BOOM! Finally, we got a laundry list of amazing talent to announce! Are y’all ready?

First up we have Koo Koo Kanga Roo returning to Nerdapalooza for their second year. We had a major blast with them and are really excited to have them back! Returning for their third year are the Sapphire Squadron – The Megas. I got to see them at MAGFest this past year and they have somehow leveled up since their last Nerdapalooza appearance. Next up returning to the stage is one of Nerdapalooza’s favorites – Schaffer the Darklord. Since he stole the show at 2008, he’s been a mainstay at the event and has shown no sign of slowing. The next band is coming to the event for their first time but they are sure to leave an impression: Bit Brigade. Not your typical video game cover band, Bit Brigade perform speed runs of the video game they’re covering in a single sitting. I got to witness Mega Man 2 at MAGFest and it was a helluva performance. We were so impressed that these guys won’t just be performing during the main weekend – they will also be the Friday Pre-Party headliner! You will get a double dosage of Bit Brigade and two separate game run throughs!

Continuing the lineup, we have the unstoppable Dual Core returning to the nerdy stage. It is always a pleasure to have int eighty /mount the stage – he ensures that every performance is unique and stands out. This may not be enough Nerdcore for all of you yet? How about we throw in Adam WarRock! Adam is returning for the second year and has released so much freaking music since his first appearance that he could give a whole new set based on music he’s released in the last month alone! Continuing the nerdcore train we have the ThoughtCriminals! These guys rocked the secret performance at Nerdapalooza last year so hard that we had to make sure they got a chance at the main stage. Last year, Tribe One rocked the stage pretty hard with Adam WarRock and we were so impressed we’re giving him his own performance. He just released an album exclusively sampling Anamanaguchi, so you should definitely enjoy this guy whatever you listen to!

Keeping it rolling with the massive announcements, we are very proud to announce that Descendants of Erdrick joining the Nerdapalooza family of bands. I’ve heard rumor that they don’t like Random Encounter too much – we’ll see what kind of shinnanigans ensue. Returning after his highly celebrated pre-party after-party performance last year, we got Dj RoboRob coming back for his second year at Nerdapalooza. He’ll be giving you something very special! As well as being one of the DJs for an after hours rave one of the nights he’ll be having his own set during the day where he will be DJ’ing as friends of his take turns coming on stage and performing with him. This is bound to be a very memorable set. Now, on their own, MPFM and 8-Bit Duane are forces to be wreckoned with. However, mix them together with Joey-Z and you get the Frogsuit – a brand new Nerdcore group that is a true honor to have at Nerdapalooza. We are also incredibly honored to announce that the penultimate fantasy band, Those Who Fight, a brand new rock opera troupe inspired heavily from Final Fantasy, will be taking to the stage. Last but definitely not least, we have DJ Cutman joining the party. Not only is he joining the party but he’ll be doing the pre-party-after-party-dance-party-party-party-we’re-gonna-have-a-party. Aptly named, you will not want to miss it!

For the last two years, we’ve hosted Epic Win Burlesque all the way from New York City and it’d be a downright shame if we weren’t able to invite them back for the Geekocalypse! That’s right, the critically celebrated Epic Win Burlesque troupe are returning to Orlando for Nerdapalooza 2012!

Speaking of after parties, continuing the trend of having a party around Nerdapalooza, it sounds like our geek ally, A Comic Shop, will be throwing an after party. More details on that as they emerge. If you’re sticking around for an extra day, you won’t want to miss it. The Geek Easy, their venue connected to the shop, has been evolving like an adorable Bulbasaur into a badass Ivysaur. It sounds like the next step is soon and we might get full on Venusaur action by Nerdapalooza’s after party. I think I’ve confused myself with that analogy.

HEX USED ANALOGY. IT CAUSED CONFUSION. IT’S SUPER EFFECTIVE.

In any case, thank you so much for reading all of this! Looking forward to partying in August!

[hex]

It is with great honor that I can announce that Nerdapalooza 2012 will be on the weekend of August 3 – 5. This year we’ll be at be the Social and the Beacham in world famous downtown Orlando, Florida. The venues are located right next to each other with a connecting door making transit between the two simple. The Beacham large music venue that can hold over 1200 attendees and will act as our primary stage. It has been home to such acts as The Killers, Atmosphere, Raekwon, and GWAR to name a few. The Social is a smaller venue, but don’t let the word “small” fool you. Musicans like Thomas Dolby, Saul Williams, Aquabats, and MC Chris have graced their stage and it can hold around 500. It will act as this year’s secondary stage. For those returning to event, this will be a brand new experience with the festival and Team Nerdapalooza is looking forward to it.

The Friday Pre-Party will once again be a free event with live performances. We’re hoping to have free pizza and beer at it, as we do every year. We’ll keep you informed on that, weary travelers. The Friday show will be held at the Social. It will be on Saturday that we open the doors of the Beacham to all of your beautiful faces. We anticipate having tickets available for purchase next week and look forward to announcing discount hotel prices around then, too. The reason we don’t have all this for you at once is that Team Nerdapalooza wanted to get you what details we could to you as soon as we could.

We wouldn’t feel right without letting you in on some of the great performers we have coming back for 2012! First up, as you can guess from the photo, we have Metroid Metal returning to the stage. They were a blast their first year here and it’s only right that you get to see them again. Since we’re getting Metroid Metal back, it’d be downright stupid not to also book Danimal Cannon, one of Metroid Metal’s guitarists and a very accomplished chiptune performer in his own right. Also returning we have brentalfloss. This guy. He gave a hilarious performance and had one of the best crowd reactions. We are honored to welcome him back.

Also coming back to the stage are the incredibly talented OneUps. We were lucky enough to have these guys headline the Pre-Party last year and come back to rock a second day. After the performance I got to see at MAGFest, I am personally excited to see these guys on the big stage at the Beacham. Finally, we are very excited to announce Random Encounter coming back to Nerdapalooza. These local musicians have been doing very well for themselves and we’re excited to spotlight them.

We’ll be announcing details as we have them, going through the mailer first and then publicizing. If you’d like to be added to the Nerdapalooza mailing list, please email admin AT nerdapalooza DOT org and we’ll get you on there. That’s all for now. Look forward to more from Team Nerdapalooza next week and we’ll see you in August!

Much nerdy love,

[hex]

Can I still buy tickets at the pre-party/day of?

YUP!! Tickets will be the same price they were after the price went up after June 1st. $35 per day and $50 for the whole weekend. Tickets will be available both at the pre-party AND at the door.

Why isn’t my favorite band (insert band here) performing at Nerdapalooza?

The honest reason to this is that we can only fit so many bands into a weekend. If resources and time were unlimited, we’d have EVERY nerdy band play the stage for the weekend… however if we had access to unlimited resources and time, we’d probably go be superheroes instead… We feel no ill will to any bands not performing. Just because a band played previously but was unable to perform this year doesn’t mean that they won’t be returning! Great examples are Dual Core and I Fight Dragons who each took a break last year but are gonna be back with a vengeance!

Is it too late to sign up to volunteer? Can I just show up and volunteer?

It is NOT too late to volunteer!! You can sign up here!! And while drop in volunteers will be appreciated, it will be a LOT more helpful to know you are coming. Go on and fill in the volunteer form if you’re planning on pitching in.

By the way what the hell happened to the Live CD from last year?

Good question. IT’S IN THE PRESSES!! That’s right! We have the list of people who pre-ordered the CD at last year’s event and they will be emailed this weekend with the digital copy of the CD before we mail it out. Final Boss members will also be emailed. The CD will be available for purchase at this year’s event!

I know that the Pre-Party isn’t where it usually is… does that mean no free beer and pizza?

Nope! Just like previous years where A Comic Shop has been generous enough to provide beer and pizza for us, we’re working with Orlando Brewing to provide free beer and Nerdapalooza will be getting the pizza!

What if my question isn’t answered?

Well then head over to our Formspring! If you have a question, peruse it first to see if your question has already been asked so we’re not flooded with the same questions over and over! Thanks!

That’s… actually IT!! Be sure to purchase your tickets ahead of time!!

Much nerdy love

[hex]

You can go peruse the schedule here. Just open it in a separate tab for later.

We’d also like to announce that we have a brand new Twitter account for y’all to stalk as well!! While the original Twitter account is still alive and kicking, he has a little sister that you’re going to want to follow, too. NerdaSchedule is to be updated ONLY at the event to tell you details about which performer is going on which stage and if there are any *ahem* delays. We do this for those of you that aren’t interested in getting the play by play during the weekend that would happen by us spamming the original account and for those that get frustrated easily from excessive cell phone tweet notifications that might happen if we get bored and decide to do some drunken tweeting from Nerdapalooza‘s twitter account. No matter what drunken antics might come from Nerdapalooza, NerdaSchedule will be the perfect angel of a little sister and only tell you whose playing when.

We’re very proud to have our good pals Fangamer returning as a sponsor! If you get a chance, you should DEFINITELY check out their Super Mario RPG Fanfest.

Tickets for Nerdapalooza 2011 are available through brownpapertickets.com for just $35 for single day tickets and $50 for weekend tickets.

Thanks for reading!! Here’s hoping the next 14 days fly by quickly!

Much nerdy love,

[hex]

• Caffeine Necklace
• Eleventh Doctor Sonic Screwdriver
• Star Trek Enterprise Pizza Cutters
• Zombie Juice Water Bottle
• Fuzzy Dice Style Companion Cubes
• Got Root? Hat
• Kaossilator
• Aliens Chestburster Plushie
• Aliens Face Hugger Plushie
• Titanium Star Trek Spork
• K9 MeteorLite LED Balls
• Pixel Ties
• Star Trek Captain Kirk Robe

Over the course of the weekend, we’ll be selling raffle tickets for only $5 each, which will help go to the funds we raise for our charity, the Orange County Public School System’s Fine Arts program. We look forward to giving this stuff away to all of you in just a few weeks!

To add to our already impressive line up of sponsors, we are proud to announce that NOS Energy Drinks will be attending and bringing some great beverages for everyone to enjoy. Those that are returning to Nerdapalooza will agree with me that for those long days in the Orlando summer some refreshing drinks are going to be a necessity. They have also given us a sneak peek at their booth, and I’m pretty sure y’all will be impressed with it. We’re also very proud to announce Glitch Gear and their gaming inspired apparel. Remember, if you are interested in being a sponsor or vendor at Nerdapalooza, please contact our sponsorship director, Dan, at dan AT nerdapalooza DOT org!!

Now, for what you’ve all been waiting for, the final performer for Nerdapalooza 2011. We’re proud to announce that we will have none other than I Fight Dragons returning to the nerdy stage, joining Metroid Metal and the Protomen as a headlining performance. They were the standout act of 2009 and we are VERY excited to have them return. With that we have over forty performances for the weekend! BOOYAH! In case this is the first time you’ve heard of I Fight Dragons, here’s a little of what you’re in for…

I am VERY excited to see these guys again! I’m also VERY excited to rock out with all of YOU in July! As a friendly reminder, the hotel discount for Nerdapalooza ends THIS Friday! If you don’t take advantage of it, don’t cry to us when you have to pay a lot more!! And remember, if you’d like to get in for FREE, we’re still looking for volunteers, so please apply to be a volunteer!

Tickets for Nerdapalooza 2011 are available through brownpapertickets.com for just $35 for single day tickets and $50 for weekend tickets. To reserve your room today call 407-851-9000 or their toll-free number of 1-800-380-6751 and ask for 5th Annual Nerdapalooza Group Block, or online at this link, which will automatically take you to the Orlando Airport Marriott website with the discount code of nernera entered as the discount code.

Much nerdy love,

[hex]

Now, since you’re reading this now, you may have figured out that we have a new website design!! Go us! Please let us know your thoughts on the design so that we may improve your interneting experience. We’re also proud to announce ThaSauce as a sponsor. It’s a great hub for all your video game inspired music news. Be sure to give them a visit!

Next up, we have a reminder to check out our Kickstarter. A few people have taken advantage of the Kickstarter, and because of it, not only are they going to Nerdapalooza with a handful of cool perks, when they get there they’re getting a personalized art piece from me, like the one above, a classic from the Metroid series. So head on over and get some cool stuff AND support Nerdapalooza!!

Last thing, our pals the Thoughtcriminals are coming to Nerdapalooza, but unfortunately not as performers this year. That’s not stopping them from having a good time. As you can guess it’d probably look like this new video from them…

Tickets for Nerdapalooza 2011 are available through brownpapertickets.com for just $35 for single day tickets and $50 for weekend tickets. To reserve your room today call 407-851-9000 or their toll-free number of 1-800-380-6751 and ask for 5th Annual Nerdapalooza Group Block, or online at this link, which will automatically take you to the Orlando Airport Marriott website with the discount code of nernera entered as the discount code.

Thanks for reading! Looking forward to partying with you in July!!

Much nerdy love,

[hex]

Before we start the barrage of artist announcements, we’re very proud to welcome back Cloudspace as a sponsor. Cloudspace is a web application and startup development company that left quite a mark on our attendees last year, unlocking the headshot achievement. We’re very excited to see what’ll make them in running for this year’s most talked about sponsor again.

Next up, we launched a Kickstarter page yesterday, and it’s already made some great progress! We have already raised $1150 of our $5000 goal to help offset costs and help us not pay as much out of pocket as we have in the past. There are some snazzy and very exclusive prizes out there to take advantage of. Our $1000 backer has unique art from myself and our Gallery Director, Dennis, and even gets to go on stage to present Schaffer the Darklord. There are lots of other great prizes still available, such as the possibility of having the band, Random Encounter, follow you around taking requests like your own personal troupe of spoony bards! Make sure you at least head over and give it a glance over, you never know if there’s something that you just won’t be able to pass on!

One last thing before announcing the new performers, our Friday Pre-Party has just “leveled up.” Right after The OneUps performs as the event’s headliner, robotastic performer Dj RoboRob will /mount the stage and take us into the night before the main event with an excessively nerdy rave. I’m personally REALLY excited to check it out!

Joining RoboRob at the Pre-Party, we have a few more artists to announce, including My Parents Favorite Music, Krondor Krew, Zombies! Organize!!, and a set for the Scrub Club Records showcase. This is building up to be a veritable mini-Nerdapalooza all on its own!! Once again, the Friday Pre-Party will be at the venue itself, starting around 6, and will be 100% free! *EDIT* Just received word that Partners in Rhyme will also be joining the Pre-Party! No, not the rappers from the end of the TMNT movie, a local pair of nerdocre rappers. Huzzah!

Next up, returning to Nerdapalooza, we welcome back both HD Ninja and Captain Dan & the Scurvy Crew! It’s great to have these very talented performers come back to represent Florida amongst all of their nerdy peers! I’ve heard that both performers are going above and beyond to give you a memorable show this year!

Finally, we have a list of brand new performers to round up the majority of the lineup. First we have another local act, Jeux On, a video game inspired act with a lot of visuals to accentuate the performance. Next we have the local rising stars, Beebs and her Money Makers, a comic and jazz infused rock band that looks like they are going to be a lot of fun to invite to the Nerdapalooza family! Next, we have the mad scientists of rock, Consortium of Genius, that are so authentic they have a robot for a drummer! These New Orleans natives are coming down to present a thesis… OF EVIL! Finally, we have rounding up the lineup, Shinobi Ninja, punk-influenced rock all the way from New York. This is going to be one for the record books, folks! I’ll also let you in on a secret – we still have a headliner to announce! But I’ll save that for another day.

Tickets for Nerdapalooza 2011 are available through brownpapertickets.com for just $30 for single day tickets and $45 for weekend tickets only for attendees who purchase tickets before June 1st. To reserve your room today call 407-851-9000 or their toll-free number of 1-800-380-6751 and ask for 5th Annual Nerdapalooza Group Block, or online at this link, which will automatically take you to the Orlando Airport Marriott website with the discount code of nernera entered as the discount code.

And don’t forget to vote for us as Best Art Festival in Orlando!! Thanks again and much nerdy love,

[hex]

Hey geeks and nerds!

It’s that time of year again where we beg on hand and foot ask for you to vote for us in the annual Best of Orlando fan driven competition. “But I don’t live in Orlando!” I hear many of you protest! That’s okay! You have interest in one point or another in your life TO come to Orlando because of us! That’s enough reason for you to vote AND vote for us! In previous years there was a “Best Festival” category that we comfortably fit into. This year, that category has mysteriously vanished, but because of our growth into being an Arts & Music Festival now, we fit snugly into the Best Arts Festival category!! There is a WHOLE slew of people we suggest you vote for over here!! Head on over and support us and our beloved allies!

Next up, we’re VERY proud to announce the return of one of the most memorable sponsors from last year, T-Shirt Bordello!! If you weren’t there, you missed out on zombies, free Twinkies, and some of the best t-shirts ever! Fortunately, we have them coming back, and they’re planning on leveling up their presence at the event! Let’s just say that you will not want to miss their booth this year. We’re also very proud to announce a brand new sponsor, and I’m pretty sure you’ve ALL heard of this one! We’re going to have Think Geek donating a LOT of swag for a raffle we’ll be coordinating, where ALL the money raised will go straight to our charity. We’re talking hundreds of dollars worth of nerdy merch, so we’re very grateful to have them as a part of Team Nerdapalooza.

Before we move on to the event announces, we have some support to throw over to our pal, Inverse Phase, chiptuner extraordinaire, who is working towards a goal of an NIN cover album. He’s organized a Kickstarter page if you’d love to hear what it would have been like if Trent Reznor had taken a liking to Gameboys. Go over and support independent music!

Alright, let’s get down to business! First, we’ve been getting a lot of questions about the Pre-Party, and we felt it was finally time to give y’all some details on it! The biggest shock to everyone is going to be the venue change. Yes, despite how much we love having the Pre-Party at A Comic Shop, logistically, it’s become a bigger and bigger headache. By no means does the venue change have any reflection on a shift in relationship with A Comic Shop. Instead, the Pre-Party is now taking place AT the Marriot itself, on the second stage. The main stage will still be “under construction” as it were, making preparations for the next day, but this is all a part of a bigger plan to ensure that sound problems of the past are just that, a part of the past. The Pre-Party will still take place Friday night, and it’ll still be free for all who want to give it a shot, and just to show you how serious we are about this show being awesome, the OneUps, as well as still playing the main day and main stage, will be the headliners for the Pre-Party.

Now, every year there is some “stand out” act that steals the show. In Nerdapalooza 2008, it was Schaffer the Darklord, and every year he raises his own bar, but fortunately we’re home to some of the best performers today; 2009, it seemed to be a toss up between I Fight Dragons and Uncle Monsterface, both really blowing the minds of the audience; and last year, we had an undisputed winner of the Stand Out Act: The Bossfights. We are very excited to announce to you that this cadre of musicians are ready to put their Frontalots back on and return to the Nerdy Stage. Yes, the Bossfights will be performing again at Nerdapalooza 2011.

But wait… there’s more!

We have, coming to the Nerdy Stage for the first time ever, straight off of tour with Reel Big Fish, Koo Koo Kanga Roo. These guys are an indescribable experience best seen firsthand. As we’re not able to really display that UNTIL July, we’ve found a pretty fun video showing what their live shows are like:

Like every Nerdapalooza, I’m going to be running around without much time to enjoy the shows, but I think I’m going to have to make some time to see this for myself! Wow! Totally fun, totally energetic, we are very excited to have Koo Koo Kanga Roo as a part of Nerdapalooza 2011! We’re close to having a complete roster for all y’all. There has been some interest in having it complete before June when the ticket prices go up, and it looks like this may very well happen! Watch for another blog soon which may contain the COMPLETE roster!

Tickets for Nerdapalooza 2011 are available through brownpapertickets.com for just $30 for single day tickets and $45 for weekend tickets only for attendees who purchase tickets before June 1st. To reserve your room today call 407-851-9000 or their toll-free number of 1-800-380-6751 and ask for 5th Annual Nerdapalooza Group Block, or online at this link, which will automatically take you to the Orlando Airport Marriott website with the discount code of nernera entered as the discount code.

Don’t forget to vote for us for Best Art Festival of Orlando!!

Much nerdy love,

[hex]

We don’t have many announcements this week, as we’re scurrying to get a lot of the behind the scenes stuff done. I do have a fun announcement of a contest from our pals over at Nerdy Show for our musically inclined readers:

Nerdy Show is oft known to do some crazy competitions, and this one may be the best yet! They are challenging fans and beatsmiths to throw together Capcom and Marvel themed beats (no real restrictions past that) to this 3 on 3 melee mixtape that will be featuring MegaRan, 8-Bit Duane, My Parent’s Favorite Music, Adam WarRock, The Wordburglar, and Tribe-One. Wow!! For more details be sure to go over to the contest page!

Also for ya, we have two artists for announcing! First up, we have the comedy rap group Illbotz, newcomers to Nerdapalooza, but ready to rock the place. They’ve been cranking out hilarious rhymes for a while, and while skits are usually more filler than content, Illbotz really captures the middle ground between hip-hop and comedy. Check out their latest video to Your iPod Sucks for more on that!!

Second up, I have the distinct honor and privilege to unveil another “Featured Performance,” and one that I’ve been dying to both see live and host at the nerdy stage since inception. I am truly pleased to announce The OneUps! For those not in the know, the OneUps are arguably the most dynamic video game cover band around, jumping between jazz, rock, metal, salsa, and anything else they want to throw in for fun! Go ahead and watch their performance at PAX 08 for a sample. The vid’s nine minutes long, but if you dig what they do to Super Mario Bros 2, you’ll want to stick around for Chrono Trigger

Tickets for Nerdapalooza 2011 are available through brownpapertickets.com for just $30 for single day tickets and $45 for weekend tickets only for attendees who purchase tickets before June 1st. To reserve your room today call 407-851-9000 or their toll-free number of 1-800-380-6751 and ask for 5th Annual Nerdapalooza Group Block, or online at this link, which will automatically take you to the Orlando Airport Marriott website with the discount code of nernera entered as the discount code.

That’s all we got for this week! Stick around as we keep working up a storm and getting ready for July!

Much nerdy love,

[hex]