Con Review: Megacon

[Note: Many of the links in this post are to Photos from the convention that Brittany took and put on her Photography page.]

To properly set the tone for any convention review I think it's appropriate to include the tail end of the day proceeding the convention... You know, the time where you're supposed to be packing, prepping, practicing, doing last minute revisions on costumes, losing out on sleep, geeking out, and excitedly humming your favorite songs with a slightly optimistic gleam in your eye? Well, my Thursday evening was spent (as a complete surprise to me) at the Cirque Italia: Aquatic Spectacular watching talented contortionists, jugglers, feats of strength, some well-coordinated "bull-dogs", high wire acts, acrobats, and at one point I was pulled up onto the middle of the stage to spit a ping pong ball 10' into a 2'' hoop on the circus ringleader's head! It was a lot of fun and I recommend it for anyone who's looking for an enjoyable evening. It was only after Cirque Italia that I got an alarm on my phone that read "Megacon: Tomorrow" and realized what weekend it was. I packed three matching sets of clothes, a toothbrush, my trusty hat, accordion, and a phone charger and finally concluded it would be a good idea to go to sleep, circa 11:30pm.

Friday - Day 1

6:45am. It was a cold 42F degrees. I woke up and met with my assistant for the weekend, Brittany, who was still hurriedly putting together a Disney's Alice costume and her Rapunzel wig for Saturday. A mere 3 hour drive through traffic later we arrived at Kit's place and as we loaded my car up with the Random Encounter merch (a single giant mega-tote and two extra boxes of CD's) Kit gave us instructions on where everything was and how to properly log each sale. I must admit I was already kind of exhausted from the drive and really had to use the bathroom so I missed a great deal of what he had to say while pondering how cold the water in his sink would be... For when I washed my hands... "Just keep nodding," I told myself... The water was pretty cold, like I'd suspected, almost like they'd hooked it up to the ice-maker. Brittany and I left Kit behind, stopped at the Walmart, picked up enough junk food for the weekend and arrived at the convention at about 10:45am. We found our way to the loading dock, got permission to temporarily park and load our stuff, and then hit another problem: As we loaded our gear we were stopped by the OCCC (Orange County Convention Center) security because we were not allowed to load our gear until we got our Exhibitor Pass Badges. So, naturally I power-walked to the Special Badge line and discovered to my horror that it was HUGE. I didn't feel too bad being in that line because I noticed a artist Guest of Honor was also in line with us and he didn't seem too upset about it. I saw no reason to complain if he didn't. As the clock ticked by I started getting text messages from Brittany telling me that the OCCC was talking about ticketing my car for taking too long to load. To my horror (about halfway through the 45 minute line experience) I noticed that I had the keys. I kept texting back every time the line moved and perhaps 1 in 3 texts actually got through the dead-zone that is the OCCC (no cell phone reception in the OCCC for Sprint phones it seems) and as her responses switched from "the guy here is friendly and understanding" to "they're going to tow your car soon" I panicked and asked the people ahead of me if I could cut them, citing the text message. Five people thankfully allowed me to cut ahead and I promised ONE OF THEM that I would like his facebook page if he let me cut him.

I sped back to my car (to the amusing vocal commentary of people I passed, just like in Assassin's Creed) in time to avoid further threats and sped through the loading dock, only to encounter traffic in the parking lot. I listened to the Inspirational Introduction track on the Spoony Bards album again to keep myself collected, got a space in the lot furthest from the convention and ran until I got back to Brittany (who I forgot to give the pass to in my hurry and who still wouldn't be admitted without one). We loaded, prepped, and got our booth ready by 12:20, a full twenty minutes after the convention opened. Exhausted, battered, beaten from a beast of a morning we started our day.

The Cast of "Entity"

The first day at the booth was the most exhausting and enjoyable. Lots of great costumes including a 9 year old Tony Stark in a suit (complete with a goatee), Archer, a girl who resembled the Misty (Pokemon) from 4chan, and a few photo-perfect Disney princesses. There was also a Mortal Kombat Skorpion with a reversible mask/gee that allowed him to quickly transform into Sub-Zero, I got to meet the cast of the film Entity: (The upcoming Slenderman film) and discuss how awful "Tall Man" was (Spoiler: A bait and switch movie you think is about Slenderman but is actually just about child abuse)! I saw Manny, an artist friend from Megacons past and also made a bunch of new friends like Teague, who I bought a poster from. As almost the entire day was literally spent behind the booth selling things I'll skip ahead to the part where I took an hour to walk around the entire dealership room. First the size... Megacon was bigger than the Graphics of The Americas Printing Expo I attended at the OCCC earlier this month (Aka, every printing company in the Americas putting on convention is smaller than Megacon!), and roughly half the size of the Plastics Convention of 2012 (Which took up a whopping TWO CONCOURSES of the OCCC). The DEALER's Room alone took up two GIANT halls and the sheer volume of attendees seemed to eclipse anything I've seen at a Florida geek convention. The flood of people were like the continuous tide of Persians that the Spartans from 300 faced, only without bloodshed. A literal sea of new faces (none of which I am capable of remembering due to my condition) every few seconds. It was even difficult to get a bite to eat during the day because every time I hurried for a single bite, 15 people walked by the booth without so much as a glance our way. 

Luckily some friends from Nerdy FM stopped by and left a friend (Tony: car salesman and talented artist) to stay behind with Brittany. So it was with great hesitation that I took a break from the booth and went exploring. I saw a great number of booths in a very short period of time (1 hour, 12 minutes). One of the two halls was almost exclusively a traditional vendor hall where you could buy anime, toys, posters, replicas, and the like. I'd estimate from memory that at least 70 of these booths were present in addition to comic publisher booths, and entire row of a dozen or so tattoo artists (drawing tattoos on people during the convention), dozens of lines for autographs, blood donations, a giant (25' x 25') lego city area, a star wars costume and photo-op area with 4 or 6 scenes from the film (including the trash compactor and bounty-hunters lined up on the Executioner), a back to the future photo-op area (featuring the Delorian), and another Star-Wars robot themed area (though it had walls that looked like they were props from the Rebel base on Hoth as opposed to a Jawa vending area) complete with remote controlled R2 units (I think they had all 8 variants), robot parts, and even a Dalek! 

Then there was an entirely other area for "just" artists. I got to briefly talk to the guy who does all the Zombie Super-Hero comic books (including a few Evil Dead comic covers like "The Long Road Home" and "Ash vs Freddie vs Jason"), and saw some other really creative artists. Things that stood out as different and impressive were: 

A Classic Fantasy Art booth I didn't get to talk with due to time restrictions but who seemed incredibly friendly and had their art featured on fantasy books they were selling,

A silly booth with art of Batman overlooking Gothom while holding a balloon, 

The ever eccentric and fantastic Mr. Tommy Castillo (Who I'm a huge fan of) with his 20 foot tall booth that towered over everything else and was completely covered in beautiful artwork,

The aforementioned Teague, who really impressed me with his use of color,

A fantastic oil Painter named Tom Flemming who was really down to Earth and talked to me about life as a fine artist (I bought an art book from him so I could learn more),

and the friends Newsha Ghasemi and Fernanda Suarez, who have great diversity and really clean style.

I don't claim to be an artist but these people are good.

I hurried back to my booth after picking up a copy of "Killing Pickman" (a Cthulu inspired detective comic book I rather enjoyed), and "Stuff of Legends" (a comic about a boy who is kidnapped by the monsters under his bed and rescued by his toys) and finished the day at the booth. Brittany and I packed and departed through the downtown Orlando traffic around 7:15pm, picked up some victory Taco Bell, and went to Moose's place. I fell asleep pretty quickly after looking up the music from "Phantom of The Asteroid" (a song recommendation) while Brittany worked more on her Rapunzel wig.

Saturday - Day 2

Saturday at the convention was similar to Friday, only with us arriving at 9:45am, avoiding all traffic, getting a pretty sweet parking space jammed between two trucks, and being set up by the convention's grand re-opening at 10am. An even larger flood of people and fantastic costumes (including a FANTASTIC Batman Villains group, a Protoman [specifically a 'Panther'], two men dressed as Bane [Traditional and Movie edition], an officer Jenny I knew, a hardcore Thor, Beast Boy, and others I can't recall) flooded by the booth. With the convention opened and the sales pitch proceeding exactly like the last day all seemed well... until I opened a box labeled "Unavenged" (our main CD and selling item) and found it instead filled with copies of "Self Titled" (the first album I recorded long long ago)! It was kind of terrifying because not only was I rapidly running out of our primary selling item (meaning our biggest day at the convention would be limited in its success), but it was even more terrifying because I've been selling Self Titled since Megacon '10, thought I was almost sold out (we're never printing them again, and initially printed them when I had no concept of how many a person could sell), and ONCE AGAIN it had multiplied as more copies emerged! This is like the 5th time that's happened, and I swear I'm not crazy because my other bandmates have also seen it happen with their own eyes and said the same thing! Okay, so panic aside I immediately texted Kit... about 7 or so times until my phone finally read "sent" and begged him to drop off more copies of Unavenged. Do you remember that part on Friday where I was talking to Kit at his house, nodding and smiling? Well that's the part where I agreed to stop by his house on Saturday morning specifically to pick up more merch, so he was less than amused to hear that I was already at the convention and almost sold out. He was even less amused to hear that more self-titled had appeared but that didn't matter because over the next 4 hours Kit got in his car, drove through 3 hours of traffic to the convention, abandoned his car on I-4, and walked a box of CD's the last two miles on foot! I can't explain to you how hardcore that is because it was at least 85F degrees outside on a Saturday (and I think he worked the night-shift before, keeping Orlando safe from werewolves or whatever it is he does) and he just left his car in the middle of the highway Falling Down style! Anyways, during the period of being out of Unavenged I asked 7 or 8 interested con-goers to come back once we'd restocked and I'm proud to say that every last one of them came back (some of them checked in multiple times during the wait), including someone dressed as the Dovakiin!

Barnibas Collins

The rest of the day was pleasantly uneventful by comparison. More fantastic costumes, interesting people, and impromptu accordion concerts. I saw a really good Saria (Zelda), Barnibas Collins who was a member of the League of Extraordinary Accordionists, and Dark Link. Brittany also left the booth for a few hours to work on her photography project. Sitting at a booth all day was far from boring as I got to meet and chat with a hundreds of people and perfect my silly little sales pitch. I estimate that I played over 330 songs over the course of the weekend on my accordion (1 song every 15 minutes with maybe 5 hours off the entire weekend and 3-5 songs per 15 minutes in a couple of instances), passed out almost ALL of our business cards to people who didn't just throw them in the trash (at least that I could see), gave away tons of stickers, and maybe a dozen CD's to children, and some more to would-be fans who were very interested but broke or shy a few dollars (or who promised to pay for the CD's next paycheck), and either to Brent Spinner (Star Trek: Next Generation [Lt. Commander Data]) or Jeremy Bulloch (Old School Boba Fett)... I'm faceblind but narrowed it down to one of those two who stopped by our booth and tried to give me money I wouldn't accept. I also got to chat with some active service Air Force guys who had the AA tattoo that looks just like our band logo. I was really neat connecting to people who've seen us, enjoyed us, and can't wait for our new album, or our next show. Going through the day-to-day life (or recording at home or practicing) it's hard to think that people are actually going to listen to what you're working on much less enjoy it or to claim that the song you wrote in your little one room apartment on a depressingly lonely night means something to them too.

Another thing that surprised me was that people seemed to like my sales pitch, or at least find it amusing. Even the vendor next to me, and random fans of the band seemed to know my speech and chipped in at the appropriate moments for added comedy. Sure I got a lot of "not interested" parties who walked by or politely declined but I did a good job about not bothering the same people twice or selling at children (I respect parents brave enough to go to conventions with their kids and won't bother them. Period). Beyond breaking even for the weekend I did really well on my secret goal too... For all my efforts I was able to get (and I tallied this) 17 people who walked by the booth with a frown, to perk up and walk away with a smile, without outright telling them to smile or referencing the fact that they were not smiling. I even got to be the first accordion performance a few people at the convention had ever seen. After the main room closed at 6PM I drove back to Mooses's through an hour of traffic, ate a Burrito Supreme, and fell asleep while Moose finished the DLC of Dark Souls and murdered players over Lv 450 who periodically invaded his world. I think he got the Platinum achievement for the game before I fell asleep.

Sunday - Day 3

Woke up early again and got to the convention before 9:30AM. Brittany was tired of wearing her 35lb wig as Rapunzel and had switched back to Super Alice-mode. By the time the doors opened it was already clear to us that the would be a lot less people than Saturday. A few hours later we were informed that all of our friends bought Team Rocket shirts from a cool vendor group called Sanshee (see my review from the Escapist Expo for more details). It was really strange seeing my buddies at Sanshee this far away from North Carolina, or DC, or someone else that isn't extremely far away from my home, so as a welcoming gift for them (to my town) I bought some Team Rocket shirts so I could match my friends. The rest of the day was filled with more great costumes, friendly faces, a FANTASTIC Demon Hunter (My favorite class in Diablo III and my vote for best detailed costume of the weekend) I geeked out at, and last minute sales. Awesome asides: I got to sing Ocean King with my friend Jeff's son, introduce the song Unavenged to some friendly older women who like folk music, and completely nailed (by fluke) a single performance of Decisive Battle (a song I haven't played in forever but that got requested). At 4:50pm, when the "10 more minutes" warning was given the party died abruptly and the happy weekend turned into solemn goodbyes. Brittany and I were probably a bit more exhausted than I'd realized, and as we packed up the (extremely light) totes to head back I snapped a goodbye picture before starting the 3 hour drive home.

Good times were had at Megacon 2013!

Interview: My Interview with the Russian Magazine Mir Fantastiki

Last month I was interviewed by the Russian Sci-Fi/Fantasy Magazine Mir Fantastiki!

They also published a short article I wrote and did a cool drawing of me! This is an English transcription of that interview. The original is available for you to read here: http://mirf.ru/Articles/art5622.htm

Credits:

Art by Alexander Remizov (remizov.blogspot.ru)

Image and Article used with permission by Mir Fantastiki (mirf.ru)

EDITOR’S NOTE: Today's column was written by the musician we interviewed. Who knows more about the music than the writer/performer?

Meet Careless, the careless frontman of Florida's Video Game Music (VGM) rock band, Random Encounter.

Music Center

Back in 1999 the Video Game Music Scene was born with the emergence of a band called The Minibosses. I can 

still remember listening to them for the first time on the internet. Real instruments were playing ‘Searching 

Friends’ from Final Fantasy VI. It was revolutionary and I wanted more. Hours, days, and weeks were spent 

searching for more VG songs using primitive search engines and Napster knock-offs only to yielded a handful of 

more songs from VG-bands. This was the first time I’d ever had an interest in music so it was all I listened to and 

it became my passion. I even spent hours each night learning to play the accordion just so I could play the songs 

from the video games I loved.

     Over the next five years I’d found few more bands on the internet to listen to but it wasn't until I went to 

an Anime convention in 2004 that I got to SEE a performance in person by the classical VG band’ Select Start.’ 

The performance itself was fantastic but the night was made more remarkable by the band members staying 

around after the show to socialize and answer questions. In chatting with the band’s guitarist I was told that there 

wasn't any magic to starting a band and that I too could be a part of the VG performance scene if I applied myself. 

With this in mind, a year later I met a talented pianist in a chance Random Encounter [Note: This is a play on words. In English Random Encounter also means the band's name] who shared in my desire 

to play the songs from video games and we formed a band with a few other like-minded musicians. It was a really 

great learning experience but we were without direction after the pianist graduated college and moved to Korea. It 

wasn't until the band completely died and was reborn in 2010 that I became aware of the VG Music Scene. Through 

playing at VG music festivals I found out that there are hundreds of people who all know and love the same music 

that I do, that they enjoy the same bands, and that some of them are in the bands I enjoy. It is a friendly community 

that encourages others to join it and it’s one that I’m proud to be a part of. It’s grown a lot since 1999, but the Video 

Game Music community is just as special to me as the day I discovered it. There are just more of us now.

Guest: Careless

Currently:

Playing: Thief: Gold (1998)

The original stealth game where you avoid hurting people 

and hide in shadows to survive. It's very immersive and 

does not give you an accurate map of where you are, only a handwritten one.

Listening to: Lesnikov 16 (Пенетратор 2.0)

I only just discovered these electronic cosmonauts but 

they’ve been on loop in my headset for the last day, nonstop. 

I really love the sounds they use and the guy’s voice is hypnotic!

Random Encounter

Interview by Sergey Serebryanskiy

Tell me about origins of the band. How and when RE was born?

Random Encounter was actually born twice. First in 2005 after I randomly met a pianist who wanted to perform video game music. We asked the first people we saw the next day if they were musicians and we added a drummer and guitarist. It was a college band though, and as members graduated or quit we’d replace them. In 2010 the entire band dissolved but still had shows booked throughout the rest of the year. One of my best friends (Rook) thought it was a shame that the band would end so we formed a new band of the same name. The other band members joined because of other truly fortunate Random Encounters.

We've heard about some other "Random Encounter" band. One with a similar logo. Do you know more?

You've heard about them too? Back when Youtube was still kind of new I was looking for performance videos of my band and came across a very different 'Random Encounter' band from Poland that plays a very different style of music. However, they had the exact same instrumental lineup that we had. Accordion, two guitars, bass, drums and for the brief time in 2007 when we incorporated a trumpet they also started using a trumpet! It was getting really weird... And a year or so later I was able to find their website, only to discover that their logo was a Black and White circle with the letters "RE" inside it! I think they used arrows at the ends of the letters but it was still extremely strange that we were so alike and were entirely unaware of each other. I was able to chat with their front man (the accordionist as well) at some point by email, only to discover that they'd never heard of us. He was very nice and offered to play a show together if we were ever in Poland. I am under the impression that they've stopped playing as of 2008/2009 though.

It's like it's time paradox! Accordions are an unusual and rare instrument for rock music. Why did you chose to play it?

This is going to sound really weird but it’s the truth. On my 16th birthday I had a very powerful dream where I heard a sound. When I woke up I was able to identify the sound as being from an accordion and I felt a very strong impulse to recreate that sound. My parents helped me find someone who could teach me to play a week later and my love for the instrument grows every time I play.

Why were some songs from the first Random Encounter album re-recorded for the second one?

It's funny that you should ask because while Random Encounter 'Self Titled' was recorded by Random Encounter... It was recorded by a completely different group of people from the "old" Random Encounter. When Rook and I formed the "new" Random Encounter we still wanted to play some the same songs like "Terra" and "Ahead of Our Way." We were also a completely different band from the incarnations that came before and it just felt natural to re-record the songs in a way that represented the new band. We pretty much consider "Unavenged" as Random Encounter's first album, and see Self Titled as a Proto-album made by different people.

We thought songs sounded very different... It's almost like there are three Random Encounter bands! What’s more difficult: Writing your own songs or arranging melodies that were not written for a rock band?

We typically decide that we’re going to remake a song because it’s something we think will fit the band's arrangement well to begin with. These songs start off with a strong melody, are well written, and already have a following. Writing original songs is a lot more subjective and in some ways stressful. It’s a lot more of a learning process and we’ll often experiment with them during shows. For instance, our song about Baba Yaga “Swamp Witch” was originally longer, but we noticed that people seemed to loose interest and shortened it. It was terrifying releasing our new single “Dead Labs” for those reasons and I think if it were a cover song I’d have been more confident that people would like it.

Why do most of Video Game Cover bands play music from selected games: Final Fantasy VI & VII, Castlevania?

I think things are shifting and while VG bands usually prefer songs that people will be familiar with it’s becoming more common to hear bands perform or record obscure tracks. “Lords of Thunder” and “Descendants of Erdrick” are really good examples of bands that play obscure music. I’ll also shameless plug my side project “Careless Juja” as a recording group that works with more obscure tracks like ‘Sword Master’.

Is there some kind of movement, an informal club of bands playing video game music?

Yes and no... I can only speak for the U.S. VGM scene but 80% of us know and see each other a few times a year at big events. The part that amazed me is how friendly and approachable everyone is and how no one feels different then the audience members. For instance, if anyone reading this sends Random Encounter or any other VGM band a message on the internet they should know that they’ll likely get a friendly response back... 

Is it true that there is a new subculture in USA, a Nerd culture? Will the Nerd culture take the place of indie culture in the world? 

Nerd Culture is growing steadily in the US. Many stores carry nerdy clothes, video game & geek-television memorabilia, toys, anime, and video games. While I don’t personally think it will replace indie culture I think that it’s a large part of indie culture and in some ways has even become mainstream. For reference, the #1 Nerdy band of 2012, They Might Be Giants, just released a new album 'Nanobots' and is currently scheduled to be on tour for the next 6 months, almost non-stop, playing to large crowds of over 500- 2000 every night. A less well-known band I’m personally friends with, “The Protomen”, is also on tour for most of the year, which means that on any given night of the year over 100-300 people in any given city will come to see them perform. I feel that their success is a good indication that our culture is growing.

Do you have live concerts often? How does it go?

We typically play one or two shows a month but sometimes we’ll do one every week, or play a show every night if we’re on tour. Our shows are a lot of fun from my perspective because I enjoy singing and playing accordion with the other band mates. That fact that other people are there to watch us is an excuse for me to try out goofy things like putting the accordion on my head, playing with my teeth, or seeing if I can walk off stage and sneak up on people in the audience. It’s also really gratifying because we have the ability to make people happy if we do a good job.

Members of RE like different music. What brings you together?

Everyone in Random Encounter has completely different musical tastes. For instance, Rook loves 80’s music and I can’t stand it. Konami loves folk, and Kit is something of a Metal-head. This makes writing and arranging music difficult but we work hard to make sure that all of us enjoy the finished product. Our shared love is video games. Every one of us is a fairly hardcore gamer with a different specialty and it’s that love that brought us together. 

How did you become interested in Russian culture?

(laughing) I've been waiting for this one! My great-great ancestors are from Russia so it’s always been an important place to me that I've regrettably never been to. I love history and grew up enjoying stories about Lyudmila Pavlichenko, Ivan the Great, and the strong spirit of the Russian people that has seen you through Napoleon, Hitler, and countless other great threats. 

One of my American friends had lived in Tambov for a few years and told me about life there. He specifically mentioned a few stories he’d heard about about Baba Yaga, a name that VERY few Americans know. When I did some research, I found dozens of fantastic legends about Baba Yaga and lots of other supernatural beings. It was like suddenly discovering Egyptian or Greek mythology for the first time, only to find out that no one you know has ever heard any of the stories. After discussions as a band we concluded that being legendary Tambov-based supernatural monster hunters was a fun way to introduce people to these legends.

Our cover is that we are posing as a Video Game band to not be noticed as we travel around the US in our search for the hidden soul of Koschei the Deathless...which was brought to America from the Island of Buyon around the time Michael Jackson became white.

Tell the story about origins of the song “Voshititelniy Egoist”. Who helped you with the text and pronunciation?

The intention behind Delightfully Selfish was to create a love song in Russian that only used negative terms to describe endearment... I will never truly know if I succeeded or if my accent/pronounciantion was awful because I speak very little Russian. Musically it was strongly inspired by the main “Diablo” theme. I had a few friends and family members translate it to Russian, cross check, and help me pronounce it but ultimately a 2 hour pronounciation session with an elderly woman from Russia really helped me learn how to properly pronounce the song (to the best of my abilities), despite me not knowing a word of Russian beforehand. I recorded her saying the words right and repeated everything over and over for hours at a time until I finally memorized the song. I hope that some of my original vision for the song translated well.

What’s next for Random Encounter? Are there new tracks or releases in works?

We just released a new original single called ‘Dead Labs’, that is greatly inspired by the video game series Dead Space and System Shock. Now that we’re done with the single, we've started recording songs for our next album: ‘Let Me Tell You a Story’. It will be roughly 50% original, 50% cover, and will also feature a song about Baba Yaga. Based on the speed we’re currently working at I think it should be out around mid-Summer, because we want to be sure that the level of (performance and recording) quality greatly exceeds anything we’ve released. Also, I should mention here that anyone who cannot afford our music we fully welcome to torrent or stream it for free. Should you be able to support us one day, or “like” our facebook page, we appreciate it but feel free to enjoy our music in the meantime.

How do you spend your own time?

I spend at least an hour each night working on something musical... recording, writing, practicing, or just goofing off. I also host a Dungeons and Dragons [Pathfinder] game each week and regularly practice German Longsword. My favorite video games are generally the ones I’m playing at the time. This month I really enjoyed Far Cry 3, Thief, and Dishonored. I rarely get time to read but i’m a big fan of Warhammer 40k books by Dan Abnett, or certain Batman comics like ‘The Killing Joke.’ My favorite book is The Hobbit.

Can you say that Random Encounter is well-known band? Even Russian magazines interview you :)

(laughing) I am always pleasantly surprised when I find someone who has heard of us and it seems to happen fairly often. While I don’t want to call us “well known” just yet I’ll humbly concede that we’re slowly gaining recognition. Thanks for the interesting and enjoyable chat!

I almost forgot, do you have anything you'd like to tell your Russian fans?

I hope to meet you in the future, and even become a fan of your music!

From America with Love,

Careless & Random Encounter

Intro: About Me, About This Blog

Greetings!

For those of you who don’t know me, I go by the nickname ‘Careless.’

I’m a gamer, a musician, a writer, a nine to five’er, and generally a quirky fellow.

My interests reflect that of those who call themselves ‘nerds.’ I’m very fond of specific styles of visual art but have no knack for it myself, I’m very fond of video games but am far from competitively talented, and enjoy music and it’s creation but am a mere apprentice on the long road to true understanding.

I’ve been inspired to write a weekly blog about the above topics, my interests, largely due to the weekly workings of Ben Thompson and Steven Belledin.

Disclosures:

I have a very poor visual memory, a very creative audio memory (meaning my brain will sometimes rework a conversation in retrospect) so to compensate for this I will attempt to include pictures and audio whenever I can and credit what I use. Speaking of which... The blog cover art is a concept called "The Many" by Adam Cartwright used with permission by (C) John Dossinger Publishing...

I play the accordion in a video game inspired rock band called Random Encounter that I will often reference as it makes up the bulk of my musical performance experience and is the filter through which I generally interact with the game music community. This is a somewhat small bias but one you should still be aware of.

I actively record video game covers with friends under the name Careless Juja and also write music and record music for a half dozen other side projects that may or may not be related to the above and will likely be referenced. While Random Encounter is my primary focus, I’m not allowed to discuss many of the creative projects involved with it until AFTER we've properly announced them so you'll likely see few posts directly about Random Encounter.

I also write for an independent comic book that won’t be released for a few more years. Though you can expect mention and even sometimes art from the project, it’s still a few years away from being finished and isn’t published or in any way complete.

Finally, I am going to attempt to update this weekly with new posts… Some of the posts might be off-topic so the title of each post will have a prefaced 'word' to give the general idea of what each post is about.

So what is this blog to be about?

In short, I am an admirer of those who are more talented than myself in all of the above as well as those who aren't yet but who had the courage to start down an artistic trade. I hope to use this blog to ask questions from some of those people, document the creative process on my various personal projects (as well as those of the people I interview), and analyze the occasional serious issues that I see in the respective community.

Feel free to leave your comment on any of the posts you read, at any time you like (even years after the post)… Just keep it respectful and I’ll respond back.

Kindest REgards,

-Careless

Pre Blog: Travel Journal: The Escapist Expo

[Copied from my old Blog]

So, for today I'm going to give a review of an event we've attended: The Escapist Expo!
The details of this weekend are still fairly fresh in my mind and unlike Nerdapalooza (which I intended to review as well) I won't wait a day longer than today to transcribe the events before my mind carelessly forgets or warps them. So..

Thursday morning: I drove to Orlando to meet with the rest of the band at Moose's. Traffic was fairly horrible as usual and the typical 3 hour drive took 5 hours due to rubbernecking. The rest of the band showed up shortly after and we got in an hour and a half of last minute practicing. Fairly worthwhile because we'd added a new song to our set that I didn't think was really going to be added, and only found out when I showed up. After about an hour of packing (est. 9pm) we departed in the trusty Vandom Encounter (our tour van)... Only to find out that we forgot some fairly important gear at Konami's. We backtracked a bit and departed once again at 10pm!
Somehow, being in a 15 seater van was more comfortable than being in an RV and I fell asleep rather immediately. Woke up at about 8am or 9am at a gas station in North Carolina where the band was busy filling the water dish of a local orange cat that had become empty. I shifted to the passenger/co-pilot seat as we switched drivers, which was doing well until the engine started to overheat, forcing us to stop a mere 30 miles from the expo. We let it cool off a bit and tried again... After we hit the red a second time a mere 15 miles from the expo we stopped near an unmarked road and waited long enough for the transmission to be opened. A few of us went down the unmarked road on foot (it was completely empty) and stopped after we found a giant swastika written in a red substance (blood?) on the ground. We also heard the sound of engines revving in the distance on the road, beyond the view of the tall trees and decided it was time to head back to the van. About 20 minutes after that we were able to top off the fluids of the van and somehow coaxed it to get us the rest of the way.

We found 1 hour parking for the entire van and trailer directly across from the Expo loading dock, and were pleased to discover that the room just past the dock was where we were supposed to store our gear. The staff was immediately helpful and friendly, and carried stuff/directed traffic/got us badges. It was about noon by the time we finally got our gear unpacked and set up the merch table. Konami and the others found a very nice place that did quick repairs to our van while I manned the merch booth.
At some point (1pm?) the Expo officially opened and people started flooding the hall.
I was surprised by the sheer friendliness of the attendees... For instance: The vendor to my right was an 8-bit bead-art maker who offered to give away Space Invader characters she'd made to people who bought our CD's! There was also a passer-by who had a fantastic poster (I told him as much too) and who got me one just like it simply because he was that nice of a guy and saw that I was unable to leave the booth to do so myself. In the 5 or so hours I was selling stuff, informing new people about the music they had no clue existed I also did my fair share of giving things away to people who were down on their luck or who didn't seem like they were having a good time yet. I got a few people to smile, and a number of them got me to smile right back by being awesome. I was surprised to find myself involved in lengthy and fun conversations about Russian mythology, obscure video games, and music. At one point I was able to make my own rounds in the merchant room and met some more really awesome people! I met some insanely talented shirt creators known as P-Shinobi, I picked up some fantastic game-themed shirts (LOOK AT THEIR GATO FROM CHRONO TRIGGER) and (POKE'MON BADGE) pins from Sanshee (https://www.facebook.com/sansheemerch), I got to chat with the creators of the Dragon Age (and Game of Thrones) Pen and Paper, picked up some ultra obscure PC games, and I MET RED STORM ENTERTAINMENT... To explain: I have been on the top 1000 gamer charts for Rainbow 6: Vegas & Vegas 2 during their prime. I have also played and beaten and logged countless hours into every R6 game since the original (and still go back to play the entire series). I'm a fairly good Ghost Recon fan, and I own much of the Splinter Cell series... Well, sales and buying stuff aside we (as a band) got invited to a nice dinner by the Escapist and enjoyed getting to chat with a lot of the staff. In short: Friends were made, and even more surprisingly old friends of mine (from my home town) showed up and happen to work with the Escapist now! It was also neat to catch up with everyone and meet a lot of the faces behind the emails (despite me being completely faceblind). Shortly after the dinner we headed to catch a part of the Flash Gordon "movie on the lawn" event which was just nice. Really relaxed environment, outdoors, cool air, free popcorn, and friendly small-town environment. We checked out the Lucky Strike cigarette area, a half-sized bakery with a 3 foot door, and a place called 'Revolution', which featured really excellent Milk Shakes! I was wearing my new GATO shirt, getting complemented like mad by random people when suddenly some friendly guys paid for my drink because my shirt "rocks". Turns out, it was the Sanshee guys and we (Kit, two other band associates, and myself) spent the next half hour drinking and chatting with some of the coolest people around!
Some time after leaving, Kit and I headed back to the hotel and caught a few hours of much needed rest.

The next morning a friend and I got up at 9, set up the booth, and sold stuff for pretty much all of Saturday. We didn't even really see the sun or eat all that much, we just sold. Somewhere towards the end of the day, still meeting a flood of very pleasant individuals, I found myself asleep under the merch table after an apparent lul and took it as a cue that I needed to rest a bit before the concert. I was completely fine with this because my new friend from Korea (who is a much more talented salesman than myself) and Josh (local of the NC scene) were helping sell stuff. A bit later I barely remember some issues trying to get everything loaded/checked on the stage before the cosplay contest, watching the main events rooms transform from 2 rooms into 1 giant one, and hauling equipment a fairly short distance. Somewhere in the mix I got to chat with Gavin & his girlfriend (two absolutely upstanding individuals) for awhile about the upcoming show, the abnormally super-friendly atmosphere of this Expo, boring jobs and places we'd been, and about Cubase & writing music about video games. I perhaps forgot to mention it earlier but we (myself and the band) also got to hang out with the D&D Sluggers pretty much the entire weekend. Two really chill guys you wouldn't expect to see on a stage rocking a keytar and guitar midst chiptune bass and drums. I found them to be really enjoyable as both people and musicians.
Next we took the stage midst lots of feedback issues. I'm still not sure what specifically caused it all but I think we did a good job as a band playing a show with bad sound. Despite no longer maintaining our Russian accents I found myself slipping back into a half-accent at times. It was kind of strange referencing ourselves as Russian Vampire/Werewolf/Zombie Hunters out of character, but it's also nice being able to address people as yourself and a lot less confusing. The highlight of the evening for me was being completely surprised by the success of 'Swamp Witch'. We'd been tweaking it a lot over the last few months and the current version of the song actually worked and caught people's attention. It'd been kind of a monotonous failure at the last few shows, where I'd wished we could end the song far before we got even halfway through. Seeing that people enjoyed the song (and in that light it was really easy to see their faces) was pretty cool! Kind of like Black Hawk Down or a "no song left behind" policy. I'm glad we were able to make it work.
By the end of the show I was completely exhausted and relaxed (I use the term loosely) to Miracle of Sound, which I really enjoyed.
It was a lot of fun to watch Gavin perform, partly because he's awesome, partly because he was really having a lot of fun performing and his joy was infectious. In short, an excellent show. We (the band) got invited to a super-secret party in a super secret area within the hotel but by the time we finished packing & loading away our gear after the shindig the party was in the process of dying. Still, I took a few moments to admire the location/view as well as a half-sized bottle of VIP water (which I didn't know was a thing but tastes exclusively of victory).

The next morning I woke up a mere 6 hours later and got back to selling. More conversations, more people, and still people were being very friendly. I saw a very awesomely dressed Commander Sheppard & Tali from Mass Effect and asked to get a picture with them. Oddly enough, the moment I said that, one of the super-legit photographers from the weekend was walking by and was kind enough to take a picture of us. I think we did a sort of Charlie's Angels pose but can't remember clearly due to sleep deprivation. A few hours later I picked up some shirts from P-Shinobi, packed up, said my final goodbyes to a bunch of fantastic people, and.... Bumped into the gentleman who creates Zero Punctuation! I'd technically been near him the entire weekend, but was too nervous to really approach him and try to chat (because seriously, what do you chat about with someone you know a lot about but who knows/cares nothing of you, and is jetlagged?). He was fairly friendly and I had about as much success trying to spark a conversation in my nervous state as normally have trying to "relax" while playing video games at home... Any by that I mean it was just shy of an epic failure. (For instance, Last night I couldn't play my new PC games because they were from the DOS era and my computer couldn't run them without severely crashing every 30 seconds. So I moved on the PS3, but my PS3 had to update with some new patch and was taking forever, so I switched to Wii, which apparently just got some new firmware update that was also taking forever, so I switched to X-360 which wasn't done downloading the crap-ton of downloads required for me to finally play a full version of Mass Effect 3... Seriously people, this is why I write music so often. I literally can't do anything else. Sadly all my recording equipment is currently on the stage of TEDxSarasota, because it's being used to record our show on Wednesday). I didn't ask him to sign anything if that's what your thinking, I just didn't say anything intelligible. It was kind of like meeting They Might Be Giants... I know a LOT about them through documentaries, listening to their songs, being a podcast fan, and an avid dial-a-song user, but I've never technically spoken to them for more than 5 sentences so I come off as creepy if I try to converse with them using this knowledge.
Well, 3 sentence interaction being complete, awkward penguin being present, I left his presence and we left the Expo.

I once again fell asleep for pretty much the entire drive and despite the van breaking down two more times on the way home we were able to get back to Orlando safely.
That about sums up a fantastic weekend with 1500 stand up people.

Pre Blog: Music: I want to buy an accordion, now what?

[Copied from my old Blog]

What to look for in an accordion
A guide to finding the right instrument for you.

Someone recently asked me what to look for when purchasing an accordion and it suddenly dawned on me that i'm somewhat knowledgeable on the topic. Having learned a fair deal of the instrument's intimate secrets (I know all the buttons, speak "Converter Bass", and have successfully crowed surfed while playing an accordion) and played for the last 8+ years here are my thoughts on someone wanting to "pick up" the instrument. Keep in mind that this guide only covers "Accordions" no "Concertinas".

Have you ever seen Cowboy Bebop, Vampire Hunter D, Warhammer 40k, Fallout, or Lord of the Rings? These worlds have a kind of scavenger mentality of "oh, they don't make 'em like they used to", whereby the amazing technology of old has been lost and needs to be sought after, recovered, repaired, and cherished. Well, looking for a good accordion is kind of like that. You can certainly buy a new accordion if you know where to go (I've been through a lot of places in the South-East U.S. searching for a quality accordions), but you'll generally find the models at your local music store sorely lacking and overpriced. It's also important to note that like in Harry Potter, every person has an accordion that's just right for them... It won't be as easily apparent as casting a spell but what I mean is that every person has to make some very personal decisions that decide what they are looking for when choosing an accordion that's right for them.

My accordion of choice, the one I play at shows and use for everything (except studio recordings) is a forty year old Titano "Combo Cordion". It's small, light-weight, has a decent sound, an amazing microphone system, and a unique "quint-reed" switch which automatically plays fifth notes every time I hit a key (only when activated).
Titano Combo Cordions are generally eccentric in color (bright orange, yellow, pink, or green) but I've given mine a fairly nice paint job that matches my band's color scheme. It's everything I want in an accordion with the exception of reed diversity, which is why I don't record with it.

The First decision is Size: A larger accordion generally has more keys (a greater range of notes), different reeds (Aka voices or sounds you can produce) and other features (some have midi, converter bass, a quick-reed switch, etc, [covered later]) but weigh more. I have scoliosis and play hour long shows where I jump around a lot, so I play with a small accordion (20-30lbs as opposed to 35-60lbs).

The Second decision Key Size: Look at a keyboard, piano, or accordion with keys (some have buttons on the "right" side which act like keys). You will notice how thick or "wide" the keys are when you put your finger on top of them. A traditional piano or keyboard uses regular sized keys. A kid's piano or keyboard uses smaller keys because kids have smaller hands. A women's piano or keyboard uses slightly smaller keys than "full sized" ones. All of this translates into an accordion. Smaller keys means you can fit more notes or keys on an accordion. Most small accordions generally have two and a half octaves, larger ones have three+ octaves but it's all relative. I've even seen a sad full-sized accordion with only one octave of notes. More is generally better, but only if you'll use them. Most people don't use the highest or lowest notes on a piano, so just be aware of the range you'd like to be able to cover.
A smaller key size also means that you can play a larger range of notes because the keys are less wide, allowing your hand to stretch over more of them. It's pretty nifty when your hand can cover the range of almost 2 octaves, but it's suddenly less awesome when your fingers are fatter than the keys and you can't play the notes you want to (e.g. children's sized keys).
If you can't tell the difference in what you're looking at ask your sales associate. If they don't know, like the harry potter wand principle this is all about "what feels right" to you.
Sub-Topic to be aware of: Key Click:
I bought an accordion from Sam Ash, a Carlo Robelli [http://www.samash.com/p/Carlo%20Robelli_CR3473%2034%20Key%2072%20Bass%20... ] that miraculously produced some of the best (keyboard-side) reed sounds I've ever heard. I picked it up as a joke at first but now record pretty much everything I do with it (for the keyboard side). This is in spite of the fact that I dislike that it's a 72-bass and that it's horribly notched in the wrong places on the bass side (see below), I traded in my live-performance accordion at the time (a full sized 120-bass Scandelli with Midi modifications) in favor of it because the sound is incredible.
Thinking the Carlo Robelli would translate well to our live show "rock environment" because of the size and sound I tried to attach an external microphone but it gave me too much feedback. So I paid for the surgery to get it an internal mic. The accordion itself held up fairly well (though I broke 2 reeds over 4 months which is kind of bad considering I haven't broken any before or since), but the mic kept picking up a slight poping sound every time I played a note. It turns out that the keyboard produces a "squeaking" sound every time the keys are depressed (let go of), which the mic picks up and amplifies. This isn't found as prominently on high-quality accordions but should be something you're aware of. Incidentally the internal mic I picked wasn't the best so the translation from "uber-sexy amazing sound" to "this is what the audience hears" didn't work out too well. So I switched to the Titano I found while browsing 'Accordions and Keyboards' in Clearwater, FL.
It's also worth mentioning that the clicking sound is in many of my recordings (I still use that accordion for recording) and will be for a long time until I can find an accordion capable of producing a better sound that doesn't click as much. I occasionally use it as a "proof" for people who think we're using midi accordion.

The Third decision is the number of Buttons:
My accordions need to have 120 buttons because I intend to play songs with complex bass jumps (aka anything except traditional polka).
In simple terms: If you intend to play songs from your favorite rock band, or video game music, or anything that reads "B Major(or minor), F# Major(or minor)" you should not settle for a 72 bass (or less) unless you want to limit your abilities. Accordions come in all numbers of buttons, regardless of size. I've seen 4, 6, 12, 42, 72, 90, 120, and 160. I highly recommend that you go with 120 unless you're a polka master (who doesn't intent to play anything else). Again, I can't stress enough that if you're going to pay $300+ for a "starter accordion" you might as well get one that you can play well. The button side is all about playing different "chords" (each assigned to a button). The convenience is that you play an entire chord at the push of a button. It seems counter-productive to place the buttons you want too push far apart or you will decrease your chances of being able to play a song. For instance, the Legend of Zelda theme, when played on the 72-bass Carlo Robelli requires you to push the button at the very top of the accordion, then immediately jump to the very bottom.. and back... twice in a row. On a 120-bass you simply move over to the next button above where the top button on a 72 would be.
What's a 160? It's simply a 120 with an extra row or two of "bass notes". If you don't mind the extra weight and like playing a counter-melody on that side it can be worth your while.
Sub-Decision: The Grooves:
Your 72+ bass accordion should have "grooves" or "notches" carved, indented, or protruding from the "Ab" "C" and "E" buttons that make playing a lot easier. If it doesn't, you can always add this with a dremmel, knife, or drill, but it's generally easier if they come with the grooves. If the grooves are on the wrong buttons just be prepared to be somewhat confused if you pick up another accordion. This is another flaw of the Carlo Robelli who has grooves in the "Eb" "C" and "E" buttons. These groove are designed to help your fingers jump from button to button and keep you orientated. You can certainly play without them but they're just a nice thing to have in the same way frets are nice to have on a guitar.
Sub-Decision: Converter Bass:
"Converter Bass" this means that the accordion bass side has a secondary mode of playing that I've personally never found useful where each button is now a specific note within a 3 octave range, as opposed to a chord. I own a very fancy "Converter Bass" Pan Italia and find it somewhat dull and inferior to the Chordal sound I associate with the instrument. Converter Bass seems to lack power in all models I've seen it in and I've never seen a "Converter Bass" in use by any live performing musician or recording beyond obscure accordion solo artists. It might have seemed like a really cool idea when they started making them but if someone is charging you extra for this feature you may want to mention that it's not that important to you and see if there's anything similar without it. I'd also like to add that every extra reed-feature you add to an accordion adds weight to it, which is a huge factor for me.
In short: If it's a good accordion that features a "converter bass" switch, you should get it because it's a good accordion and not for this feature.

Now that we know what your accordion should LOOK and FEEL like, it's time to decide what it needs to SOUND like.
The Fourth decision is Reed Variety:
This one is fairly easy and broken down into two sub-questions:
What do you want your accordion to sound like? How many different sounds do you want it to be capable of producing?
To pick a sound you like simply pick up the accordion and start playing each side respectively (The button side, the keyboard side) until you find something you like. Don't just hit a single key on the keyboard side, try playing a few chords, maybe tinkering around with the high and low notes too. If you're unable to play chords let someone else play on it and listen to them play.
Many accordions also have multiple reeds (voices/sounds they can produce) apparent through switches/buttons/knobs above the keyboard so it's important to test them all out... After all, some poor Italian guy put countless hours of hard labor for your instrument to produce each one. The least you could do is show the guy some respect by trying them all out because one of them might be truly spectacular.
On the button side you should also try playing different chord buttons and root-note (bass) buttons. Same principle as with the keyboard side. Some accordions also feature multiple reeds (voices/sounds) on the bass/button side. Keep in mind that each extra reed/sound adds noticeable weight to the instrument. Even so, all of the accordions I own have at least 4 or 5 different sounds it's capable of producing.
While you're testing the keyboard side, (if it has multiple reeds) make sure the accordion you're getting is capable of producing more than one sound you are fond of so you can switch from maybe something light/delicate to something French sounding (Generally labeled "French/Musette") to maybe something deep (generally the "Master" Reed). Those are the three sounds I generally shoot for because they are the 'quintessential sounds' people associate with the instrument, but again it's all about what you like.
An accordion with just one sound is fine so long as it's a sound you like. Extras are just a perk.
The average small sized accordion has one sound (no switch) for the bass/button side, and a full sized accordion will generally have between one to five.

Once you've found some sounds you like, do yourself a favor and MAKE SURE ALL OF THE KEYS & BUTTONS WORK. I can't stress this enough because you can easily drop an extra $200 or $500 trying to repair something once it's broken. Do yourself a favor and spend the extra few seconds on each reed and make sure it works. Also, the accordion shouldn't produce sound unless you're pushing a button or key... That's a sign that repairs are needed. While you're focusing on the keys you should also make note of any sticky buttons or keys and see if those can be fixed prior to your purchase.

Now that you have the basics, here are some perks you should be aware of:
Color and style: I can't help you here. Get something you like to look at if possible. Otherwise it should at least sound good. Some accordions (Like my Titano) have inverted key colors, which is cool but doesn't affect how it's played at all.
Keyboard Orientation: Some accordions have the keyboard facing at a right angle to the rest of the accordion. While this might seem cool at first first verify that it won't dig into your side before purchase.
Some accordions have a switch on the bottom, top, or right side of the keys that is a quick-switch to the master reed. It's actually a really useful feature, though it isn't found in most accordions.
Conversion Bass: (See above)
Quint-Reed: A somewhat rare feature that automatically plays fifth notes every time you hit a key (only when activated). It can make for a more full sound at times. It's a cool perk if you have a use for it, and its something most people can make good use of.
Dual keys: I'm told that 8 accordions in the world have keys on both sides of the accordion (as opposed to buttons). I've not verified this but had the fortune of being close to one of them. They are very rare and play almost identically to a piano.
Dual Buttons: The buttons on the keyboard side are basically a substitution for the keys. It sounds the same, it's just a different way of playing.

Bonus Stuff:
Internal Microphone System:
My accordion has a really good internal microphone system that it came with (from the 70's(!)). If you want to amplified sound I highly recommend going with an internal system. It's pretty awesome when you can amplify yourself with no feedback on an acoustic instrument because the mic is inside, protected by the instrument's hard casing. I've tinkered with attachable external microphones and they don't work well if you move around a lot on stage, play in a windy environment, or play in a rock environment. They work really well for acoustic sets though.
Also, don't just take someone's word that an accordion is mic'd well, ask them if you can try it out because you might find that it needs some repair, or has a pop, or is an extremely low quality mic that needs to be replaced. It's around $700 for an internal mic so if it's broken you should ask for it to be repaired/replaced before you buy it. For optimal results in your test, turn down the "high" frequency and treat it like a keyboard with whatever amp you're using (Aka, don't use a "guitar amp" if possible).

Midi:
Midi is also a somewhat common feature in accordions. It's pricey and some of the older stuff (year 1999 and older) has really low quality audio samples stuck and built into it. I don't currently use midi because of the weight factor (I put my accordion on top of my head so every pound is important to me) and because I strive for a real accordion sound being made by a real accordion. However, I have seen (and own) a number of accordions that produce really nice sounding midi. Being able to practice quietly with a headset is nice. It's also cool to be able to replace a bass guitar, rhythm section, and lead instrument (and a drummer if it's a really nice midi set) on your own. Many years ago I was able to perform as Random Encounter with just myself and one other person, sounding like a full band. Some accordion midi sounds also sound better than real accordions and can help you avoid using a microphone, and can be significantly lighter in weight than a regular accordion of the same size. As always, test this feature before purchase for sound quality and bad connections or wiring. Midi is powerful and it's an option you should be aware of.

I hope this has been a somewhat useful read and help you on your path to the sacred and mysterious art of accordion playing.