I had an awesome time at Dragon*Con 2011! My decision to attend was rather abrupt but I felt prepared, having seen the PBS documentary. I’ve also had my share of music and numismatic conventions . If you go, use their nifty iPhone app to navigate the plethora of panels and hotel maps. There were a TON of simultaneous events and over 40,000 people; you don’t want to get lost in the crowd. If you plan to buy merch, many dealers accept plastic but bring cash too – it’ll save you time. Also, you can save up to 50% by getting your badge in advance [online].

I thought my favorite part would be the celebrity guests – and seeing William Shatner, Carrie Fisher and more! was super cool – but I actually enjoyed cosplay and people-watching the most. If you haven’t heard, cosplay is short for costume play (think Halloween). The annual D*C parade – like most parades worldwide – is an excellent example of cosplay en masse. At first, I was surprised by how much I enjoyed donning my newly-acquired Starfleet uniform, complete with comm badge, pips and phaser. But once I reminded myself how much I’ve always loved dressing up in suits and tuxedos, it made perfect sense. See my modest collection of D*C photos on Facebook

If you have never been to a convention before, or don’t enjoy large crowds, I don’t recommend making D*C 2012 your first experience. Also, unsupervised kids is a bad idea. This is not a place to drop-off 12-yr-old Timmy for a few hours.

Now, I have seen many Con names hyped these past two weeks post-D*C. The pros (experienced Con-ners; Con-artists like myself) are all debating which Con to attend next – we need our fix! For my own sanity, I decided to compiled the dates and URLs into a chronological list. I only included those that interest me. I won’t get to most of them, but it’s fun to put it out there! Comment with corrections or additions:

Note: Don’t let distance prevent you from supporting the Comic and Sci-Fi Arts. Most Cons offer “Supporting Membership” packages for patrons who can’t attend.

Oct. 13 – 16 = NYCC, super mega huge comics event,
Oct. 28 – 30 = Vulcan Events (Orlando, FL) everything Star Trek!
Nov. 26 = Anime Day (ATL) check the site for other cities!
Jan. 28 – 29 = Wizard World’s Comic Con (New Orleans) comics!
Feb. 17 – 19 = Mega*Con (Orlando, FL) comics, Star Trek and Sci-Fi
Feb. 17 – 19 = Con*nooga (Chattanoogah, TN) Dr. Who and other Sci-Fi
TBA, Spring = Imagi*Con (Columbus, GA) Sci-Fi literature, TV and film
Mar. 16 – 18 = Wonder*Con (Anaheim, CA) huge comic con
Mar. 24 – 25 = Wizard World’s Comic Con (Toronto, Canada)
Apr. 20 – 22 = Trek Trax (ATL) everything Star Trek!
May 19 – 20 = Wizard World’s Comic Con (NYC)
May 25 – 28 = Mediawest (Lansing, MI) Memorial Day Weekend
June 1 – 3 = Wizard World’s Comic Con (Philly, PA)
Labor Day Weekend = Dragon*Con (ATL)

scenic-city.com/sfrg, awesome webcal of every Con that exists!
geekcal.com, another neat webcal
upcomingcons.com, another webcal

Some very interesting things happened online today.Twitter launched a photo sharing service. Simfy beat Spotify to Facebook. Facebook’s behavior re: Pages brought some artists to reconsider their methods of fan interaction. Creative Commons is now on YouTube. Overall it was a great day of progress, introspection and optomism.

The Twitter photo sharing thing doesn’t suprise me, honestly. NPR did an exposé on Twitpic’s Terms and Conditions clause recently, which generated a bit of negative buzz. Even Ellen DeGeneres announced she would never TwitPic again. So naturally Twitter has seized an opportunity to play hero. More suprising is Simfy! Talk about the underdog. Nobody predicted this: German music streaming service Simfy launched their Facebook player just a week after news broke that Spotify was working on FB integration. Awesome.

So, is Facebook commandeering mid-level artists’ Pages? Some successful, non-major-label artists such as Zoe Keating noticed their Pages have been reclassified (not replaced) as “Community Pages.” The official status they previously held has now been granted to a new, Wikipedia-fed Page. While it’s not clear whether the Wiki Pages were auto-generated or made by FB staff, this mystery doesn’t stop at reclassification. When I type “Zoe Keating” into the search bar, her Page doesn’t even show up! That’s right. When I do a blanket search for her name, select “show all results” and narrow the search to Pages, it does not appear. Since it’s been a few hours, this is unlikely due to propagation delays. Weird. Unsettling.
Update: Keating’s Page was restored to “Official” status hours later, after hundreds of emails and tweets and comments had been published. Other affected artists are still struggling. Luckily this did not affect any of the Pages owned by NESS Records.

In other / better news, the creative commons license - first discovered by this artist via the European community Tribe Of Noise – has now become so mainstream that YouTube offers it as an alternative to standard copyright. YouTube announced today that it now supports Creative Commons licenses and launched a huge library of 10,000 CC videos (read the official press release here). Awesome, yes. In no way do I wish to diminish the awesomeness. However, this illustrates one HUGE way that major-label artists, major news orgs, etc. will be and have always been separated from us independants. Those 10,000 videos in the library. They are from major networks. Part of the launch, the coverage, the hype. With me? No? Look at iTunes: major artists get iTunes Exclusives and other special extras. Major artists get first crack at major breakthroughs in social media and tech. Dave Matthews had a custom Page and vanity URL before any indie artist, for example. This will forever be a hurdle that indie artists attempt to jump.

I fondly remember the days when being on iTunes was impressive. It was brand new … most people still didn’t have iPods … smartphones were only found in the hands of businessmen. Telling people your music was on iTunes gave you instant street cred and often times, before you could finish uttering the sentence, you’d converted strangers into fans. Now, everyone and their brother has their music on iTunes. Who knows if an opportunity like that will present itself again?

… now, who doesn’t wanna watch Bill Cosby playing piano on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno?!?  http://bit.ly/cosbyonleno

Big thanks to the bands that followed us, Jaffa Road and the incredible Sway Machinery who came all the way from NYC! Pics below by Webb Roberts:

If you follow my Twitter, you may have noticed that I began playing a new game in April. Words With Friends – essentially Scrabble with slight alterations (probably just enough to avoid a lawsuit) – has become my favorite iPhone game. I’m not addicted, but I do average ten simultaneous games. Avoiding insanity is easy: one major difference from the boarded version of our childhood is that after you move, you close the app and essentially walk away. Instead of waiting five boring minutes for your sister to place her word, you can proceed with real-life activities while she delibarates. Push notifications announcing her moves, and when a convenient time presents itself (grocery store checkout, bathroom, etc.) place your next word. Days may pass between moves, but the app neatly keeps track of the games for you … this is the genius of iPhone, isn’t it? The only real question here is that age-old nag, “Why didn’t I think of this?”
Most of the other modifications lend themselves to inflated scoring: some key letters have increased value; bonus squares are in different locations; I’m sure this factors into my enjoyment.
Up for a challenge? Warning: I’ve won over 90% of my games and have experienced point spreads so great (+150) that my opponents forfeited! If you don’t plan on throwing in the proverbial towel, my username is NickGrooves. See you in cyberland

~ read part one of Word Wars here ~

Nick and The Grooves performed second, between Michigan duo The Spektators and Nashville natives Ingrid Salas y su Grupo Black Shadow. Their first performance ever, it was quite the debut. Wildhorse is the largest non-arena venue in Nashville, located downtown across from the Hard Rock. The band received a strong ovation after every song from the hundreds of attendees on the floor and two balconies. Check out the photosby Sara Speert Photography.

Ryan Smith of Shure’s Artist Relations department announced the winner later that evening – us! Each member of the band received a special Shure SM58 microphone with the Give It Voice Tour logo imprinted upon it, and an official Tour shirt. After our win, we celebrated at a local restaurant and headed home. We were thrilled to find dozens of congratulatory emails on the home PC, including some from fans of the other bands. Thanks to all who supported Nick and The Grooves on their Music City outing – the first of many to come!

Nick and The Grooves are thrilled to be on the schedule for AJMF’s “Closing Night Party” at Center Stage on Saturday, May 21^st.

If you have never been to Center Stage before, it’s quite possibly the best venue in Atlanta. Imagine the largeness of Variety Playhouse with the intimacy of Eddie’s Attic! We’ll be offering all sorts of cool, promotional ticket packages so keep a lookout – and MARK YOUR CALENDARS!  This will be our biggest ATL show of the year. We’re going all-out and want you to share in the experience with us.

Related show(s)

• Date: Saturday, May 21st 2011
• Time: 9:00 PM
• City: Nick Edelsteinin Atlanta, GA
• Venue: Center Stage – AJMF Closing Night Party
• Address: 1374 West Peachtree St NW, Atlanta, GA 30309
• Venue phone: 404-875-9364
• Country: US
• Admission: $20
• Age restrictions: All Ages

• Date: Tuesday, April 12th 2011
• Time: 7:30 PM
• City: Nick Edelsteinin Atlanta, GA
• Venue: AJMF Listening Party
• Country: US
• Admission: TBA
• Age restrictions: All Ages

Two bits of wisdom – well, one biggie in two parts. #1: Talent is code for strong work ethic. There is no substitute. The FX pedal shown here does not exist. You have complete control over your talent level. People often think of talent as being assigned by G-d, but it’s time and effort. Every athlete is born with the same muscle and skeleton structure. Every guitarist had to learn how to play at some point. When I began singing, I was horrible. Like, really bad. I worked on it. I got better. On Tuesday, a gentleman from Shure said I had “an amazing voice” (they make microphones). Look at Larry Bird, who was probably told as a kid that he could never play pro basketball due to his height. Work hard, practice, improve your game and you can achieve any goal. You may have to work harder than anyone else – not everyone has the same hill to climb – but you’ll reach the top eventually. Which brings us to #2, the formula for distance: Time x Effort = Distance.

The harder you work, the less time it will take to reach your destination. If you only practice once a week, it will take you seven times longer to [play guitar well] than your classmate who practices daily. Sometimes my students are discouraged by this part; they want that Talent Simulator. I think it’s because American pop culture encourages quick fixes – microwaves, magic diet pills (or liposuction), tanning salons … I’m sure there are better examples but you see my point.

The harder you work, the farther you will go in the same amount of time. Rat Race? No worries when you are working harder than your competition; you will go farther. The only risk is burning out. Recall the astronomical metaphor commonly heard when famous people die young, “the brightest stars burn fastest.” This may be true, but with moderation you can avoid becoming a burnout. Moderation is key. Everyone has different limits, everyone has different struggles. Maybe the tools you need are not available? Maybe you have it harder than the next person. But maybe you can work a little harder and focus more on what really needs to be done to achieve your goal(s).

- Foolin’ Yourself

- Collusion Collision

- Daphne

- Tripping

- Steal Me

- Fan Favorite

What will the order be?!?  Check back in a couple days to find out plus discover which song was chosen for slot #6 ~Nick, Aaron, Andy, Bryan, Bill and Tim a.k.a. Nick and The Grooves

PS: Thanks to Live Fix for being interested and inspiring creativity

Since my last album was named after a Chinese Zodiac sign (Year Of The Ox), I found today’s trending topic of new zodiac signs worthy. This photo is Rho Ophiuchus cloud, a star-forming region. The “new 13th sign,” Ophiuchus seems to be a region where new things are born – stars, to be exact. Named after a Greek demigod, this constellation briefly had me convinced that I’d morphed from Capricorn to Sagittarius. New stars born, new signs, new year (2011 – and new decade!) … the timing of this story is strangely coincidental with my current situation: new band name, new logo, first show under the new name less than two weeks away … and even though I’ve been playing with these musicians for a while (some over 3.5 years) the current combination is relatively new. It feels new, anyway. It’s exciting, like a new chapter in your favorite book. And we are excited to have you along for the ride.

If you don’t know already, it’s a false alarm. Americans have two sets of “Zodiac signs,” tropical and sidereal. Most follow tropical, and they haven’t changed. The following is from CNN’s blog:

“tropical zodiac – which is fixed to seasons, and which Western astrology adheres to – differs from the sidereal zodiac – which is fixed to constellations and is followed more in the East, and is the type of zodiac to which the Star Tribune article ultimately refers.” -Jason Hanna

And in case anyone’s still confused, I am [still] a tropic Capricorn.

To read more about Ophiuchus, check this out: ianridpath.com/startales/ophiuchus.htm

Big concerts are a great excuse to invest capitol in sprucing-up the band’s appearance. What better way to do that than with a custom bass drum head, right? Aaron certainly agreed   The company we chose is Vintage Logos and they’ve worked with all types of clients – Indie to Major to GRAMMY winners like Train.

Here’s the design, featuring our new logo from Andrew Reifman: