emma story's internet blog — Nerdapalooza 2010

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Nerdapalooza 2010

I went to Orlando over the weekend for Nerdapalooza 2010, and despite the fact that I had to go to Florida to get there, I had a total blast. The event was too content-rich for me to even attempt to describe it adequately, so I’ll just mention a couple of highlights here and also direct you to my photos and videos.

The pre-party at A Comic Shop
My hotel roomie and new favorite Texan Kira and I hit up the pre-party on Friday night, and had a blast. We had a crazy cabbie, piles of free beer and pizza, reunions with real life and Internet pals, and got to soak up sets from some excellent acts, including The Megas.

The Megas

The on-stage guest appearances
This is the kind of thing that could only happen at a festival like this. We got to see STD perform with Mega Ran, Mega Ran perform with The Megas, both STD and Mega Ran with MC Frontalot, and Kabuto the Python with STD. And that’s what I managed to catch on camera; there were plenty more collaborations in the same vein.

The Protomen
They elevated the weekend from awesome to fucking incredible. Saturday was plagued by technical problems and other bullshit, so that by the time we reached the headliner slot, the show was four hours late. Then we found out Panther had been struck down with food poisoning and wouldn’t be going on at all. I was pretty sure there was going to be a nerd riot at that point, but the Protomen told us that not only would they take the stage anyway for a Panther-less half set, they were still going to do an entire show after MC Frontalot on Sunday night. The Saturday night mini-set ended up being completely epic — they used audience members and the sheer power of rock to make up for the lack of lead vocals and keyboard. The Sunday show, with the band at full strength, completely blew me away. I cannot wait to see them again.

Ladies of Epic Win

Random hotel encounters
The whole event took place at one hotel, where nearly everyone was staying. This meant that the entire building was just one big nerd party. I ran into people I knew in the hallway, in the elevator, at the bar, all over the damn place. It had the effect of making what was a fairly large crowd feel intimate and connected, and also led to things like catching Turbo Lover playing the hotel piano one afternoon.

Weekend fiancé

The room parties
Every night I was in Orlando, there was an afterparty in someone’s room that went on well into the wee hours. Sometimes it was our room, actually, because we had the foresight to pick up a ton of beer on Friday night after the pre-party. It turns out that drinking and hanging out with friends all night is more fun than sleeping.

Airport BFFs

The airport
A bunch of flights to NYC on Monday got cancelled or delayed, which meant that I ended up spending the day with folks at the airport in Orlando. What made this awesome instead of terrible was playing Mario Kart for a chunk of the afternoon with STD and two small trash-talking Welsh children. Oh, and the fact that they upgraded me to first class for my flight home.

Nerdapalooza program

So, yeah. Despite the fact that I hate heat and sun and flying and humidity and crowds, I went to a fucking nerd festival in Orlando in July and loved it. Who knew?

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