Spice J introduced maybe the best inside joke ever, and every time it came up in Schaffer’s presence, Schaffer lost his damn mind. I really thought he might die of funny.
After the shows were over on Sunday night, a bunch of us were hanging out in my suite eating pizza and having some beers and watching Iron Man for some reason. Then I heard singing in the hallway and went to the door to peek out and see what was going on. Turns out, it was half of The Protomen serenading me with My Girl. Then they came inside and ate pizza with us.
A dude in the crowd at one of the Protomen shows asked me if I was The Enabler and said he follows me on Tumblr. Hi, dude from the crowd! You’re awesome! I do not have a photo of this, so instead here is an awesome Jaclyn photo of me in the crowd.
I discovered that all my friends know all the words to Shoop. This makes me very happy.
Nerdapalooza 2011, the awkwardly-named music festival for which I am leaving tomorrow morning and at which I already know I will see many of you, is in fact being hosted by Epic Win, and there will be a burlesque show on Saturday night after The Protomen.
Last fall’s wildly popular Star Trek vs Star Wars show has been accepted to FringeNYC, the enormous local theatre festival that starts very soon. New Yorkers will have five chances to see the show along with dozens upon dozens of other awesome productions, and I strongly recommend that you do so.
I will be working on the Epic Win Fringe shows. Not in a boob-showing capacity, but in a getting-lots-of-shit-done sort of way that means you will probably get to see me and say hi if you come to one of our Fringe performances.
If you are not yet convinced of the dire importance of attending either the Nerdapalooza performance or one (or all) of the FringeNYC performances, perhaps more videos will sway you. Either way, I hope to see you there!
With Nerdapalooza on the horizon once again, I thought I’d share my copy of the program from last year, which I had signed by ten delightful people some of you are familiar with. This actually the only signed Protomen-related thing I own, at least till my documentary swag arrives.
It’s a pretty safe bet that I’ll film at least part of it. I don’t really do full shows anymore because I enjoy rocking out too much, but barring technical difficulties or zombie attack, you can count on me for at least a few songs.
Also, it seems like tons more people I know are gonna be at Nerdapalooza this year. Starting to get pretty psyched. We are gonna have so much fun, you guys.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
