Naka-Kon
[Fullmetal Alchemist's Ron(Jeremy) Elric]
He kept rambling about New Jersey and being a Guido and something about somethingsomething-con '11. I lost him after registration. :(
First time I heard about this convention was way back in '07 from a co-worker who said it was being held at some hotel out by the airport. He went and reported to me later the good times he had.
Flash forward some years and locations.....and this thing has fucking grown something crazy! The Blob style.
They started adding imported music acts last year, I think, and this year they brought in Blood Stain Child to bring down Exhibit Hall A. When I heard that news, I was in.
Of course Maria always wanted to hit up the Dealer's Room for the off chance of there being a Sailor Moon treasure trove to be discovered.
[Chibi Sailor Moon]
Couldn't make it 5 feet down this massive hall without stopping and posing for photos. Maria ate it up. :)
I couldn't make sense of where things were. The place was badly labeled. From my knowledge there was only the registration area, the dealer's room, and the hall for the concert. Where was the other shit happening at?
Anyways, once inside the BUY BUY BUY room I noticed the Pocky and knew there had to be melon soda as well. I <3 the melon soda. Saw some and scored a couple of bottles. I was done shopping. Snaked around the room booth by booth picking up small and unnecessary shit here and there. I actually admired the "artist alley" part better than everyone else's typical shit. There's heart in that.
So at the "no-shit" last motherfucking booth I see a lot of Sailor-Moon-obviously-Japanese-vintage-merch. I swear I could hear my wallet start to wimper. Maria immediately goes to work. At one point she actually lifts up her Sailor Moon head and tells the lady at the booth, "This is getting serious."
Highlights
[Face-plate to some arcade game machine]
[Sweet ass rug]
EXIT
Take shit to the car and change gear in preparation for the conocert
While waiting for the event to start I notice this weird shit out the corner of my eye.
[Wait....that can't be what I think it is.]
[Holy shit balls, it's Tuxedo Boo!!]
This guy blew away everything there that night.
Blood Stain Child
Stage had a walkway that screamed rock n roll. Turns out their keyboardist had something come up and wasn't going to be there. So a touch-pad replaced him that night operated by Ryu, the every Japanese band's slightly feminine member. Good times. Lots of back and forth with the audience. Especially when G.S.R somehow knocked over his guitar amp head and they needed to kill some time while that problem was dealt with.
I thought they'd just play the shit out of their last album but the actually played some older shit. I don't know if I really dig this new singer though. Long live death vocals.
Once it ended it was time to line up for an autograph. Some of Sophia's fake ass hair dye dripped on my poster. She must have a 9-5 job back home. ;)
EXIT
Wendy's
fin
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exist trace USA Tour 2012
I don't think I've had so many things planned then cancelled in my life before.
Back in December I heard exist trace would be at Tekkoshocon in March part of a 4 city tour. I was on board that train. At least the convention part.
Then it was soon after the glow from AGE QUOD AGIS started disappearing, word come that Dir en grey were going to part of some English metalcore American tour. Sorry, exist trace. Texas looked pretty fucking good. It had like 5 cities or more alone.
Then came more word of a solo appearance in Florida. Sorry, Rick Perry.
This was actually coming together beautifully. Show, Disney World, Show, the exist trace show at the anime convention made it back on my list of things to see. No hard feelings, right ladies?
Then shit hit the fan when I got refunded for the concert in Florida.
Kinda funny and sad to see the speculation on Dir en grey facebook's page. People actually thought the band has all butthurt after some comment an Asking Alexandria member made in an interview. Who do these fucking people think Dir en grey are?
So then my original plan became the final plan. Come hell or high water.
NY > Philly > D.C. redux > Tekkoshocon
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Marilyn Manson announced his US Tour dates on Valentine's Day.
What a sweetheart <3
May 16th Uptown Theatre
Fuck yeah, bitches!
