Creature feature

With the first round of Crate Digger Death-match, the new baby, and the (eternally half-finished) second compilation album in the works during what corporate douche bags might term Quarter 1 of 2008, I have not had ample time to devote to the core purpose of this blog: asking annoying and semi-relevant questions to your favorite geeky musicians and Net celebs. But now that two of those have been seen to fruition – as will, I hope, the third in a matter of weeks – I am again turning my attention to the long-absent interview feature. The question of the day is simply who.

So I ask, knowing full-well some of your suggestions will undoubtedly be well beyond my meager scope, who would you like to see featured here at HP?

I have a couple ideas of my own, but I’m really interested in hearing what kinds of artists you’d like to get to know via my own lackadaisical brand of brain-picking.

Opening the world’s eyes

Earlier this month, Dan Lamoureux and a cavalcade of dorky cast and crew hit up the Wisconsin Film Festival for the premiere of the Nerdcore For Life documentary. Dan was nice enough to provide a series of event pictures, and he’s written a rather exhaustive recount of the premiere at the Crapbot Productions Blog. There are links to some pretty favorable reviews, and it seems, despite gross public intoxication and the odd bit of crotch-punching, that the premiere was a rousing success.

My only complaint is the lack of video from the pre-screening nerdcore performance at the Cardinal Bar. With acts like Monzy, Router, Former Fat Boys, and special guest The Great Luke Ski, I’m sure the show was a blast.

C’mon, Dan, I know you’ve got some footage tucked away somewhere!

Limitless Fervor

When I announced last week that Uncle Monsterface, Harry and the Potters, and Math, the Band had each been added to the Nerdapalooza roster, I’m afraid I only told you part of the story. You see, dear reader, there are rare occasions where I am privy to juicy nuggets of nerdy musical information, but asked to keep them under my hat. Thankfully, I got the all-clear to share this particular morsel well before its shelf life was spent.

Let me commence with the spillage of beans.

In addition to their stint at Nerdapalooza, the aforementioned bands – which I will now call Monsterface, The Potters, and Math for the sake of brevity – are embarking on a bona fide tour of these United States. The Unlimited Enthusiasm Expo 08 is coming to a venue near you, complete with “Camp fires! Songs about being a wizard! Giant monsters! Cool big videos! Rock and roll aerobics! Inflatable monkeys! Dancing sock puppets! Going bananas! Circus tents! Jumping! Yelling! More jumping!”

While an official press release will be shortly forthcoming, initial tour dates have already been revealed:

June 25 | Cambridge, MA
June 26 | Portland, ME
June 27 | NYC, NY
June 28 | Brooklyn, NY
June 29 | Philadelphia, PA
June 30 | Washington, D.C.
July 1 | North Carolina
July 2 | Athens, GA
July 3 | Gainesville, FL
July 4 | Tampa, FL
July 5 | Orlando, FL
July 6 | Atlanta, GA
July 8 | Houston, TX
July 9 | Dallas, TX
July 10 | Austin, TX
July 11 | TBA
July 12 | Tucson, AZ
July 13 | Phoenix, AZ
July 14 | San Diego, CA
July 16 | Pomona, CA
July 17 | Los Angeles, CA
July 18 | San Francisco, CA
July 19 | San Francisco, CA
July 21 | Portland, OR
July 22 | Olympia, WA
July 23 | TBA
July 24 | Seattle, WA
July 26 | Salt Lake City, UT
July 27 | Boulder, CO
July 28 | Denver, CO
July 29 | Lawrece, KS
July 30 | Omaha, NE
July 31 | Minneapolis, MN
August 1 | Chicago, IL
August 2 | TBA
August 3 | TBA
August 4 | TBA
August 5 | Ann Arbor, MI

Additional info can be found at the official tour site, and don’t hesitate to hit up the event forum to participate in a little pre-tour wackiness. A mega-dose of musical madness is on the horizon, and summer will never be the same.

“This is no longer a vacation. It's a quest. It's a quest for fun.”

--Clark Griswold

NNIB Addendum

Directly after I hit the “post” button to share with you today’s Nerd News in Brief, the demure red telephone in my office – I call it the Front-phone – rang. On the other end of the line, an automated message began to play amid a whir or servos and the slightest crackle of static. Below is a transcription of this most vital message from the Frontalot Home Base:

Hey, are you going to be in Boston for ROFLcon, or for the Nerdcore Rising: The Movie screenings, or for the Sunday night Frontalot/Prince Paul show? If you're around for any of those (particularly that last one), you might have looked at the $25 party/performance tickets and been all like "whaaaat? that is hells of expensive."

Well, hop on this (it is how to get a free pair of tix):

1) Write email to neginfarsad@gmail.com. Tell her your name and that you crave free tix. Make sure your email is reply-to-able.

2) Tomorrow night she is going to pull fifty names out of a bingo spinner. Winners get two tix each.

3) If you winned, she emails at you to say so!

4) You have to meet up with her at one of the showings to grab the tickets, so you might as well see the movie too. http://iffboston.org has showtimes, advance tix.

Sound awesome? Is. Do it quickly.

Nerd News in Brief

I sometimes worry that my role as a father has cut into what I like to term my “creative time.” That is, of course, that variable window of time in which I blog and work on podcasts and special projects.

Lately, though, I’ve begun to find this fear unfounded. Mostly, it just cuts into my “thinking about weird shit time,” which isn’t really a loss for any of us. And, thankfully, other people seem to be tackling the weighty issues too which I find myself too preoccupied to attend.

You know, stuff like Pac-feces and corporate drug branding.

• Hobbits and bunnies: Today’s episode of Nerd Ink is brought to you by Church Hates Tucker and lit geeks everywhere. It also makes me wonder why I haven’t gotten a Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy tat yet.
• Nerdcore Idol: High-C recently released some information about the quality control methods in place for Rhyme Torrents Volume 7. Among the new submission processes touted was a three-man judging panel consisting of Chozo Ninpo, MC Inadequate, and High-C himself. He then admitted that he was just fuckin’ with folks and encouraged everyone to submit tracks as per usual.
• Totally not kidding: High-C also dropped some knowledge concerning a tie-in contest for Nerdaplooza. Artists are invited to craft their finest nerdcore tracks about event sponsor Troma Films, and the winning submission will be featured on Troma’s own site. Plus, the winner will get to perform his track live on-stage at Nerdapalooza with none other than the Toxic Avenger. For entry info, check RT.
• Just playa-hating: Ever wonder what a video representation of MC Hawking’s interview segments from A Brief History of Rhyme would look like? Wonder no more.
• What, no lemonade?: funky49 and five of Florida’s loveliest young ladies recently began shooting the video for funk’s track “Milk & Doo Doo.” How he managed to convince these gals to not only put on matching funky49 jerseys and Kool-Aid socks, but to actually appear in a video for a song with doo doo in the title is a mystery upon which I invite you each to ponder. Production stills are available for your perusal. You sweaty-palmed, filthy-minded perusal.
• Old No. 7: Whore Moans will be taking the stage at Nashville’s Café Coco this Friday night with Black Atticus and Call It Anything. This 18-and-up event is $5 at the door. It kicks off at 8:00 PM, so show up early, get real drunk, and sing along.
• The Great Chase: Congrats to current King of the Crate Diggers and all around nice cat D-Form and his crew The Chubby Chasers. The Chasers made it into this month’s Blender Magazine, which is kind of a huge deal. Look for the issue with Alicia Keys on the cover.
• Full Frontal: The full seven minute version of Random’s interview with MC Frontalot – the abridged version of which was recently presented on the RandomBeagle podcast – is now available for download. Check it out to get a full serving of Front’s on unique brand of goofiness.
• As opposed to duct tape: In album news, Random’s Patches and Glue is now available for purchase. You can score the disc for a mere $7 right here, and you can read a bit about the project at the Music Industry News Network. Ran’s been on a creative hot streak for a while now, and I’m gonna go ahead and predict that this album will be hailed by fans and critics to the same degree as his previous efforts The Call and Mega Ran.
• You’ve gotta shoot straight: Likewise, killsaly has dropped an EP of songs based around some of his favorite movies, video games, and television shows. The source files for these tracks were lost due to hard drive failure, but killsaly is a trooper. As such, the existing versions were remastered and uploaded. The first track is about Blade Runner. That should be all you need to know. Download Now Playing... uh... now.
• NPR on VGM: In his constant search for things with which to amuse me, Church also found this piece on game music from NPR. It’s more focused on Uematsu and Tallarico than, say, The Megas, but it’s still a good read.
• Sadly, I am not an unlockable character: My pal Anthony from Game Music 4 All has finally announced a solid release date for the site’s next compilation album Here Comes a new Challenger. As if the prospect of 30 artists collaborating on over 20 songs wasn’t enough to get you excited, Ant also got this wicked Flash trailer put together by the one and only Doctor Octoroc. Hit “Play” an watch the madness unfold.

My dear wife has lost her mind

Crazy it may be, but it's an accurate summation.
--Z.