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

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 ~

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:

Just being optomistic   What’s going on? Nick and The Grooves are Regional Finalists in the Shure SM58 “Give It Voice Tour” competition! Advancing to round deux, we’ll play The Wildhorse Saloon (66,000 sq.ft. venue) in Nashville. Tuesday, January 25th. 6PM. Free admission. Come support us in battle!

We’re excited to say the least, but it brings a heap of To-Do’s. For example, I need to review and revise our horn arrangements - we have to play our best! That also means scheduling a few extra rehearsals, which is always difficult when you have five bandmates. I’ve got lots of invitations to send to all of our contacts in The Music City. The list goes on and on … but I welcome it with open arms. This is a great way to begin 2011.

It’s been a really fun ride too, watching the votes pour in – not just ours but all the bands! It’s fun being part of something big – something nationwide – and not knowing the outcome. Probably the closest I’ll ever come to knowing what it’s like to run for a political office. Of course, this competition would never have happened without support from Bandcamp and RedGorilla Music Fest. We would also like to thank all the Industry bloggers, like Christopher Catania, who helped promote the competition. If it wasn’t for bloggers like Chris, a lot of great opportunities for Indie artists would go unnoticed.

Life is full of suprises, indeed!
I learned on Sunday that my song “Happy Trail” was used as the soundtrack to a Flash puzzle game   The game is Colorous: A Color Odyssey by Fabio Cristi and is available in iTunes App Store.
There is also a free “lite” version for those who like to try-before-buy.

ps: the other plugin we installed sends neat little tweets (to Twitter) whenever I post a new blog … can we say “trial run?”  

Related articles:

• Why Isn’t Adobe Flash on the iPhone, iPod, iPad? (chris.pirillo.com)
• Palm and Motorola smartphones to get Flash 10.1 support soon (infoworld.com)
• Apple Video Shows iPad Flash Support, But Don’t Believe It (wired.com)

After much anticipation, and waiting FOREVER to be “approved” by Apple staff, we proudly introduce …

“NEbula Music” – FREE app for iPhone and iPod Touch!

Lots of folks have asked, “what does it do?” to which I reply, “it’s sort of like a mini portal into the band’s universe. It has photos, videos, audio (er, songs!) and GPS directions to every gig we play!” Dig it:

Cool free app for iPhone and iPod Touch

I had a great New Years Eve gig at the Crimson Moon, picked up an endorsement from Holland Guitars, began playing organ/ piano/ guitar/ mandolin for Connor Christian & Southern Gothic, and laid some studio tracks for The Moody Jews’ new album.  Those are just a few of the many exciting things happening!

So what finally prompted a blog post? The new WordPress app update for iPhone.  I was super excited when I got my phone in August, and super sad when the WordPress ap didn’t allow posting to non-wordpress-hosted blogs.  But I had faith and sure enough, they figured it out!  So expect a steady stream of posts from my phone, aka “the road”     ~Nick