#That one I saw from facebook reels who was reading a book on the floor of a library or a book store

[doofusschweetz]

女性

[astra-ravana]

Liber Paimon

Note: This is a work in progress, but something I've been wanting to do for some time. Hopefully this gives you an idea what I'm going for and serves to preface the book as a whole. Once I am finished I plan to self publish it as an ebook. Any suggestions for this as well as feedback on the two chapters is really appreciated. Happy reading! 🖤

The Dream (Intro)

  I'm having the dream again. I am a child of another time, navigating large, gridded paths between square pools. Fish swim around below me as I run and hop to the end of one path and into an open patio positioned above a waterfall. Looking out, I see gardens with every form of plant life imaginable, but I barely pay them any mind. I approach a young boy sitting on a stone bench. The bench is the same shimmering grey-blue as the walls of this place. Cobalt, I recognize. I sit beside the boy and greet him, proudly presenting a stack of cards I had been given, some sort of divinatory oracle. The boy looks worried as he asks me about some sort of initiation I was to take part in.

   Then the setting changes and I'm being lead down a dark hallway towards a big, red door. My escorts are four masked women in what appears to be ancient Greek styled clothing and faces obscured by ornate masks. There are golden lion statues outside of the door. I know that these lions were a gift for the King and I was about to enter that room and life as I knew it wouldn't be the same ever again. I thought it was what I wanted but as someone positions a mask over my face I am suddenly filled with dread. I was being chosen, it was an honor, I had a gift, and people needed me. I knew all of this. But then I began to resist the hands leading me. Tears streamed down my face.

   Then from behind the red door we hear a building chaos. Yelling and panic, something shatters. One of my escorts opens the red doors and slips quickly between them, I try to see inside and catch a glimpse of fire as well as circles and symbols convering the floor and walls. Then theres a brief silence before I hear someone yell, "He has released them!"  The women leading me begin to fall away. The doors open and people are running past me, screaming, crying. Something big is happening. For a time I'm just frozen there, staring into the room. An old man meets my eyes and something in his gaze awakens me from my shocked state.

   Then I am in the desert sand, the stars above me, a chill setting into my bones, as I run, stumbling, towards the lights of a distant town. I didn't know if anyone was following me, I didn't care. I didn't think of how my shoes and robes would slow me down, or how cold it was. I just ran. Ran until I couldn't anymore, until I collapsed in a sobbing, shivering heap.

   Then he was there. Pulling me onto the back of a camel. Warmth, safety, acceptance, I felt these things. I knew he wasn't a normal man, more like an amalgamation of man and beast and god, a black flame in the pitch of night. "I'm running too, " he spoke, with a whispering melody, "Let's run together." I nod against him feeling power well within me. As we ride on, I feel myself changing, becoming one with his vibration and then it all fades away...

   The dream started when I was about nine years old and sure enough, every few nights, as I slept, I lived it again and again. I saw his face, his long black hair, heard his voice echoing in my mind. But who was this mysterious figure? What were these dreams trying to tell me? I wondered this for a long time. I wouldn't get my answers until the Winter of 2017.

   I had been scrolling some witchcraft centered Facebook groups when I came across a post asking about people's past life dreams and memories. I took the opportunity to tell my story, simply wanting to add something to the discussion. I forgot about it, until people began replying to my comment.

   "This sounds like the cobalt temple of King Solomon." My brain reeled at what I identified as a Bible reference. I was a dedicated atheist and detested the Christian religion. But someone quickly corrected me. This wasn't the wise, old King Solomon skimmed over in the King James Bible. Furthermore, my dream savior on camel back was likely not a man at all, but a demon. A powerful king of Hell, subject only to Lucifer himself, and his name was Paimon. As I clicked through links and articles of varying descriptions and depictions it became clearer. This was who I saw in my dream. But, why was I having these dreams? Could this possibly be real? What would this demon want with me?

   Honestly, I sat with the knowledge for some time, unsure of what to do with it. Then, I began communing with the spirit world as part of my practice. I began using my dreams as a vehicle for spiritual contact. I worked with the Fae, the dead, and became captivated by Djinn and other non-human spirits. Around this time I purchased several books, one of which was The Goetia of Solomon the King. I read Paimon's page over and over, stared at his sigil until my eyes watered. I began extensive research into demons, their origin, and true nature as well as methods for summoning and invoking them. And then one cool Spring night, I was ready.

   I wrote a plea to Paimon to enter my life and bring my answers and folded it a couple times, drawing his sigil on the outside, and then pricking my finger, letting blood dribble over it. I sat nervously on my front porch with a lit orange candle, the night was still, silent, dark. "Linan Tasa Jedan Paimon," I spoke to the air around me, it came out like a hoarse whisper. Undeterred, I held the petition over the flame and held it while it lit up, kissing the tips of my fingers with flame and making me wince. As the last scraps of paper burnt up a strange, familiar feeling cascaded over me.

   I suddenly felt very warm, dizzy, restless, ethereal, connected to something ancient and powerful. The sky let out a deep, atmospheric hum, like the blowing of a horn, the wind picked up and whipped around me, I could eventually hear bells and chiming tones, music rolling through my sleepy town. Then came a voice, rolling through my mind like a slow-moving storm front. "Finally, you are finished running. "

Who is Paimon?

“The Ninth Spirit in this Order is Paimon, a Great King, and very obedient unto LUCIFER. He appeareth in the form of a Man sitting upon a Dromedary with a Crown most glorious upon his head. There goeth before him also an Host of Spirits, like Men with Trumpets and well sounding Cymbals, and all other sorts of Musical Instruments. He hath a great Voice, and roareth at his first coming, and his speech is such that the Magician cannot well understand unless he can compel him. This Spirit can teach all Arts and Sciences, and other secret things. He can discover unto thee what the Earth is, and what holdeth it up in the Waters; and what Mind is, and where it is; or any other thing thou mayest desire to know. He giveth Dignity, and confirmeth the same. He bindeth or maketh any man subject unto the Magician if he so desire it. He giveth good Familiars, and such as can teach all Arts. He is to be observed towards the West. He is of the Order of Dominations [Dominions]. He hath under him 200 Legions of Spirits, and part of them are of the Order of Angels, and the other part of Potentates. Now if thou callest this Spirit Paimon alone, thou must make him some offering; and there will attend him two Kings called LABAL and ABALI , and also other Spirits who be of the Order of Potentates in his Host, and 25 Legions. And those Spirits which be subject unto them are not always with them unless the Magician do compel them. His Character is this which must be worn as a Lamen before thee, etc.”

- Original text from The Goetia

“Paimon is an angel-daimon of Lucifer, whom appears as a man crowned upon a camel. This spirit is a familiar of musick, thus by invoking Paimon one may work through an avenue of self-initiation through creating musick. Paimon is a powerful Angelick King of the Witchcraft, whom has 200 Legions of spirits – half are the Orders of Angels, the others being Potentates. Paimon appears with two Spirit/Djinn – Label and Ablim who are referred to as Kings. Paimon is perhaps one of the most significant Angelick Rulers, which along with Astaroth (whom is more bestial/demonic in nature and appearance) opens the way to the “Grail” of Lucifer’s crown – the perception of “I” and the mind separate from the universe. Paimon is a higher spirit of self-initiation, who is a path maker for ones own becoming. Paimon sometimes appears as an angelick spirit with a flaming sword. His office is Guardian of the Path through Leviathan, the Guardian of the Depths and Subconscious.”

- From The Luciferian Goetia by Michael Ford

“He teaches all arts and sciences and occult.  He can be invoked to bind others.  To be observed toward the west with offerings. Seek Paimon to understand Alchemy. Seek Paimon for creative pursuits or to design a plan of action. Paimon can also help in emotional understanding.”

-From the Demonolatry Goetia by S. Connolly

- The sigil of King Paimon

  The lore and cultural footprint of King Paimon is rather significant, especially compared to other Goetic spirits. First, and perhaps most notably, are his number of legions of followers, which is 200, more than any other listed demon. Far more in fact, as Beleth has the next highest number of legions, which is 85. This is likely the reason why Paimon is named the "Lord of Familiars", amongst other designations. Often described as having long, flowing pblack hair, an effeminate face, wearing robes with a brilliant crown upon his head. He possesses a unique connection with the spiritual realm and its inhabitants in that he can create an open channel of communication and can connect you to spirits who resonate at a similar frequency to you.

   In this aspect he very much carries the mantle of a grand mediator between you and the spirit world, easily finding you the right spirit for your need. Paimon can warn one of, and protect them from, malevolent spirits. He also eases connections with spirits who would be otherwise considered difficult to work with. He clears away the clouds of miscommunication for you to truly connect with spirits on their level, which is a truly priceless resource to a practitioner.

   Paimon is also a spirit of creativity and the arts. He celebrates both creators and the fruits of their labor. He is very in tune with the sounds, vibrations, and frequencies of the Universe and has a deep love for music. He is said to have influenced artist and musician alike, infusing his powerful energy into their creations. When Paimon arrives the world truly comes alive with light, color, and sound.

   Although he is capable of displays of power and physical manifestation, Paimon prefers subtle and considerate forms, talking within the conscious minds of his contacts. He is a spirit of  communication as well and has ways of connecting with almost anyone. Paimon carries an air of diplomacy and universal recognition. Wherever he goes, his voice shall be heard.

   Witchcraft is another area where Paimon's presence is highly fortuitous. Paimon is a higher spirit who has lived many lives, both physical and spiritual, and has been an avid practitioner of both high and low magick. He carries vast knowledge regarding herbalism, spell crafting, symbology, divination, spirit work, dream manipulation, and astral travel. If there is a witchcraft related matter, he most certainly has some knowledge related to it. He guides his adepts to research deeper and apply themselves in their craft. With his tutelage your practice can be significantly amplified.

   Finally, Paimon embodies natural, perfect chaos, the order of disorder, thinking freely, and being authentic and true to your path. While he can cause the ruin of the tower, he more greatly values the process of rebuilding it better than it was. In this same way, he rebuilds the witch, making them stronger and much more true to themselves in the process.

Temperament

   All things considered, Paimon is a rather easy going spirit. He enjoys sweets like cakes, honey, and especially chocolate. He loves animals and has a soft spot for children. He has a deep respect for nature, the stars, and the elements, and understands the intricate connections between these and the spirits that exist around, and within, us. He has a quick wit, brilliant sense of humor, and likes to gossip. Even though he leads 200 legions, he believes in equality amongst all spirits and always hears what others have to say. He's a fantastic listener as well as a smooth talker. As an individual he is charming and fascinating, comforting and strong, scientific and artistic, light-hearted but serious when the situation calls for it. Everything you might want in a friend. Especially a spirit friend who can help guide you through the unknown with enthusiasm.

   On the reverse side of things, Paimon is capable of being a very intimidating force. If he, or his adepts are wronged he can become fixated on vengeance. Don't mistreat your access to the spirit world and try to keep your dealings fair. In other words, the spirits want to help and they deserve fair reciprocation and respect. On Paimon's path we don't trap or bind spirits or force them to be subject unto us in any form. That means no Solomonic or Abrahamic magick. While studying these is encouraged, practice should be very limited. Instead we will focus on invocation, sigil work, and forming creative beacons for spirit to flow through.

   Paimon can also call vast amounts of spirits to his aid, making him an even more imposing emissary of the Qliphothic plain. Powerful spirits like Azazel, Asmodeus, Lucifer, and Leviathan have such a deep respect for this camel-riding King that he is considered by some to be an honorary Dark Lord of Hell. He knows secrets that no one else knows, has answers to questions no one has thought to ever ask, and has alliances in all corners of all plains of existence... And provided you're in his good graces, you would never suspect this. To Paimon, titles and hierchies are useless constructs, degrading the value and contributions of the individual. This humble spirit remains a wandering soul who values communication between beings, serendipity, the mind, and the soul's journey above all else.

Correspondences

Enn: "Linan Tasa Jedan Paimon"

Rank: King

Other names (titles): King of Music, Lord of Familiars, Master of Infernal Ceremonies, the Pale King, Guardian of the Path to Leviathan

Colors: Yellow, orange, black, purple, dark blue indigo

Herbs: Bindweed, saffron, sunflower, violets, yarrow, mullien, rose, frankincense, myyrh, wood betony, dandelion, sandalwood, patchouli, turmeric, thyme

Crystals: Gold aura hematite, labradorite, moldavite, rutilated quartz, pietersite, lapis lazuli, citrine, larvakite, ruby kyanite, bumblebee jasper, fluorite, marcosite, tourmaline

Element: Air/Water

Planet: Sun/Mercury

Zodiac: Gemini

Metal: Gold, meteorite

Tarot: The Magician, The Hermit, 6 of Pentacles, 10 of Swords

Direction: West

Dates: June 11th - 20th, April 30th - May 1st

Day: Sunday

Animal: Dramaderie camel

Domains: All arts and sciences, familiars, spirit work of any kind, music, alchemy, emotions, mental pursuits/finding knowledge, truth, the unknown, the occult, mysteries of life, manifestation, communication, enlightenment, mental, spiritual, and emotional growth, dream work, divination, astrology, baneful magick, herbalism, nature, sigil work, psychic abilities, scrying, shadow work, balance

Offerings: Sweets like cake, cookies and chocolate, honey, coffee, tea, soda, wine, canabis, tobacco, herbs, incense, music, works of art, conversation (tell him your secrets)

[nongravity]

DECAF April 2017 Post Mortem

This is going to be a different kind of festival report as I’m not only an exhibitor but I’m also the organizer! So I’ll talk about both sides of the coin here. This was my first time organizing an event like this, I had a lot of help from Sarah and Debbie and the rest of the Stray Lines group.

This is my 8th post mortem convention write up! You can find the rest on the Events page on my website or the post mortem tag here on my tumblr.

First, some event numbers! I’m leaving out the line item costs because it’s not just my money we’re talking about and I don’t want to force transparency anyone.

Budget for the event: €550-ish

Venue

Website

Poster Art

Poster/Postcard Printing

Decorations/Supplies

Sponsor and exhibitor incoming: €392

Damn Fine Print event sponsor

12 exhibitors

For a total budget shortfall of: €158

Our goal was to have 25 exhibitors, which would have safely covered our budget but we were only able to announce DECAF a month before it happened so even though we had interest from about 25 exhibitors, only 12 could pull a table together on such short notice. In retrospect, we didn’t even have room for 25 exhibitors! So from an event flow standpoint, it’s a good thing we only had 12. I’m not sure if there’s a remedy for this one, I feel like we landed on a reasonable price for exhibitors, so I wouldn’t want to double their prices, and 25 exhibitors would have made the event floor way too crowded. 

Space won’t be an issue at our next venue and hopefully having 3 months lead time instead of 1 will give more exhibitors a chance to book a table.

There were also some set-up costs that won’t factor into the next event, like purchasing the website domain and hosting. If you subtract that I maybe only lost €100. 

Now for my exhibitor numbers!

My total outgoing costs for the convention in order of leaving my house to the start of the show: €15

Fuel driving into Dublin - €10

Lunch - €5

What I brought with me:

Loads of We Can’t Afford This

My last 4 copies of Hats that aren’t trapped in storage

Plenty of Odd Reels and Strong

What I sold: 

1 Copy of Hats for €7

2 Copies of Strong €5

2 Copies of Odd Reels €3

11 Copies of We Can’t Afford This €4

For a total incoming of: €67

€52 is a good profit for a group table as opposed to a solo table. Brings down my total loss for the event to only €100. My hopes for the July show is that we’ll have enough space at the Dublin Food Co-op to all have individual tables. 

Obviously even these Dublin shows continue to cost more than they should until we actually move to Dublin. I can’t wait to eliminate the commute from these costs! It was also too much of a mad rush getting to Dublin with everything for the event and two kids so I didn’t pack a lunch of myself. 

We Still Can’t Afford This

It occurred to me while I was getting ready for the show that this was kind of like an Irish debut for We Can’t Afford This. A few copies were at the Temple Bar Gallery Art Book Fair last Christmas but most people never would have seen it! 

Kinda wild that it took me 6 months to show off my book about the Dublin housing crisis to a Dublin audience. But what a difference it made! I sold more than 2x as many as I did at LICAF. 

This kind of reignited my whole desire for organizing DECAF, to have more opportunities throughout the year to reach a local audience. 

Our Table and Us

Due to the Fumbally Stables requirement for a door-person, we had to put the Stray Lines table in the lobby away from the main exhibitor hall. It worked out though, as we became the DECAF greeters and toilet-direction-givers. I imagined it helped with sales a bit as well since it was a prominent placement. It didn’t allow us to hear any of the panels which was a bit of a bummer since it sounded like people were giving great talks from the snippets I heard. I could also barely hear the DECAF playlist I’d spent so long making.

What I brought for the group:

24 books by 6 different artists!

What the group sold:

52 books!

Not as many as LICAF but more than ELCAF and impressive because some of us were worried that the audience for DECAF would be the same Irish comics audience who’ve already read all our books. But instead we saw lots of new faces!

Winner

Is it cheating that I was the winner? It’s absolutely cheating. But I put We Can’t Afford This front and center on my music sheet stand and the music sheet stand is magic, whatever book we put up there (Sarah’s Primark at ELCAF, the Stray Lines Anthology at LICAF) always wins the day.

Dublin Eight Comic Arts Festival

It took about three months for DECAF to morph from hypothetical “a Comic Arts Fest in Dublin would be cool” to “maybe I could organize it” to “DECAF is happening!” I was inspired by Sarah running Pulse: Irish Comics Now last year and Monica Gallagher’s BMore Into Comics in Baltimore, Maryland. I’ve never even been to a BMore event yet since my family visits never sync up but the idea of a smaller, quarterly comic show really appealed to me. Monica hosts her events in bars, but since I’m a teetotaler I chose cafes which I thought would play well with the DECAF name.

Originally, it was supposed to be DCAF, I even okayed the name with The Dartmouth Comics Art Fest in Nova Scotia, but when I went to book the .ie website I found it was already taken by the Dublin Christian Arts Festival! 

Since I was already talking to a few venues in Dublin 8, and I really liked the silly coffee name I narrowed my venue hunt to a place that would keep Eight in the name. What happen if we do a show outside of Dublin 8? I have no idea! Scour the dictionary for E words. It factored into my choosing DublinComicArts for the website instead of DECAF, in case the letter E ever runs dry.

Rookie Mistakes

Besides losing money (definitely didn’t plan on that) some things came up along the way that completely slipped my mind. I didn’t say Free Admission anywhere on the poster or Facebook event. And it didn’t even occur to me until people started asking as they walked in the door! I don’t think it affected turnout but clarity is a good thing!

It wasn’t until a few days before DECAF that I put the first flyer on a college campus. Get with the times old man! If Julie hadn’t asked about dropping some posters and flyers at NCAD it never would have occurred to me! Not a single DECAF flyer made it to Trinity or UCD, DCU, DIT, Griffith, Pulse. Not that I really had posters and flyers to spare, or the budget to print more but really, what a dope to forget college kids, some of which are taking illustration and sequential art classes! 

At most comic events I feel bad for not socializing enough or making the rounds but it feels extra egregious when I’m the organizer! I said hi to people as they were coming in to set up, but once the show started and I got behind the Stray Lines table, that was kind of it for me! Debbie and Sarah made me go up at the end of The Comics Lab talks to say thank you and I’m glad I did. 

Highlights

Over a week later and I’m still pretty shocked by the turn-out we got. Never really a dull moment in the day and it repeatedly got crowded! People who showed up at 11am asked when the talks and panels were and when we told them 2:30pm, they actually came back! That’s wild to me! The Activity table and the Comic Swap table were hopping all day! Adults were drawing up at the table and kids were drawing down on the floor! The Swap table ebbed and flowed with used books and at the end of the day the donation box had €106 to give to the Abortion Rights Campaign! All the exhibitors I’ve talked to say they want to exhibit again at the next DECAF! Really lucky.

The venue was the perfect fit for our first event. The tables and arches were beautiful and it looked nothing like a traditional comic convention. It looked like an art gallery and a friend even asked me if they do gallery events there (they don’t usually but you should contact them anyway and hire their spaces!)

The poster art by Charlot Kristensen blew me away. It was the public face for the event and we needed one since I’m a complete unknown in the Irish comics community, “some dude named Matt is putting on a show” wouldn’t have filled the room. 

Sarah and Debbie agreeing to combine their quarterly Comics Lab with DECAF was a godsend. There’s no way the show would have been as successful as it was without The Comics Lab, DECAF stood on their reputation and the crowds in the afternoon came for The Comics Lab.

Damn Fine Print saved the day by sponsoring us! Our budget shortfall would have been much much worse without them, maybe even jeopardizing the prospect for future DECAFs.

Conclusion

When you consider that I often lose 100+ quid to travel to the UK to table an event, it’s looney tunes that I was able to organize an entire event here in Dublin and only lose 100 quid. Like, why not run an event! This might seriously change my comic show traveling habits. 

My next goals are to make it sustainable, losing only €100 isn’t bad, but I can’t afford to make a habit of it.

Once the show is out of the red, my next goal is to make the show free for individual exhibitors. Just knowing from experience how much table costs eat into the potential profits of a show and what a relief it was last year at Pulse and Small Press Day to have no table costs. The two ways there that I can see are, sponsorships, grants or crowdfunding. Sponsorship saved the first DECAF so I’ll keep pursuing that wherever I can. I haven’t been able to successfully navigate Ireland’s extensive grant system yet but I really need to figure it out. Crowdfunding is a total question mark. Are there 200 people who think having a small press event in Dublin is worth €1 a month? I hope so!

Epilogue

I didn’t officially announce that DECAF would be quarterly until the day of the event because I didn’t want anyone skipping April in favor of July. But I put a deposit down on the July show venue the same week I booked the April venue because why build one when you can build two twice the price?

Tara O Brien did our wonderful July poster. I’ve been so lucky with the people who’ve agreed to work with me on DECAF! There were supposed to be July postcards to give away at the April event but I really didn’t need to spend more money on the April event than I already did so it was fine to release the art digitally and save our printing budget for the final July poster. 

The July event is a bigger venue, with more exhibitors, it’s wheelchair accessible and will have a full spread of cafe tables and chairs. It’s also accidentally booked on my daughter’s birthday (you eeegit!) I can’t wait.

[twentysomethinginorlando]

MegaCon Part Two: Meet Your Heroes

New Post has been published on https://twentysomethinginorlando.com/megacon-part-two/

MegaCon Part Two: Meet Your Heroes

Memorial Day decided it wanted to be even busier than usual this year. Rather spending my Thursday night finishing my cosplay preparations, I found myself at a movie in full pirate garb with my friends before our trip to MegaCon on Friday. You can read about this, and the morning’s adventures in MegaCon Part One: But First, Cosplay.

Thankfully, it didn’t take me too much longer to find the most important booth at MegaCon: Karen Hallion’s. If you’re not familiar with her work, Miss Hallion does amazing art. She is most famous for her crossover art with Disney characters and Doctor Who, but she does so much more than that. Lately she’s developed an original character named Celara that I really like. My favorite part of her is this cute little orange fox/cat/critter sidekick who reminds me of a cross between Duffy and my cat. I can’t wait to see what kind of adventures the little guy goes on. I’ve met Miss Hallion at the last two MegaCons. She’s just the nicest person and takes time with everyone even though her booth is always slammed. The best part is I somehow manage not to turn to Jell-O when I talk to her. I picked up a print of Celara and the TARDIS. I was torn between that one and the Hamilton one, but that’s just because the little fox looks so darn cute in his outfit. I like Hamilton but I’m much more a Whovian. I asked her if the fox has a name yet, and she told me the two she’s debating between but she’s stuck because she wants it to be just perfect.

I completely understand. This blog had a whole lot of titles before I settled on this one.

As I was finishing talking to Miss Hallion and putting my print away, someone tapped me on the shoulder. I turned around expecting it to be someone asking for a photo and there was a guy with a microphone asking if he could interview me. Okay. That’s different. Well, why not.

He asked me about why I was Korra with a keyblade, and then he asked me about how I felt about the lesbian undertone of the ending of the series. I might have slightly bitten his head off without meaning to when I corrected him that Korra and Asami are bisexual, not lesbians. I get really angry about that. I also talked about how annoyed I am that is literally all anyone wants to talk about now that it ended that way. The show stood on its own well before that final scene.

Frozen Gaming interviewing me.

I think my aggressiveness sort of scared him and the interview ended quickly. At least I think it did. Apparently I do better when you put a camera in my face than I do when trying to talk to celebrities. The guy with the camera man was dressed as Ash from Pokémon and he apologized for their ambushing me, and gave me a card with their YouTube information. Their name is Frozen Gaming and much like me, I think they’re just starting out and I wish them luck.

You can see the interview here, but they cut most of it. Warning: Some of the language in the video is NSFW.

The new print wouldn’t fit in the bag with the first two prints, so I stopped at a random booth to see if they had a bag. They did, and she was very nice, and I wound up buying three postcard prints from her. Pikachu and Barry Allen for me, the Punisher for Jay.

We wandered the floor until a little after two when I was starting to get over whelmed with the crowds. I have worked in one of the world’s busiest theme parks and yet MegaCon phases me, because that makes sense. We headed back to the food area to find a place to sit for a bit and I rechecked the schedule. I had forgotten about the Improvengers show and now it was too late to line up. There were only two other panels I wanted to see: the Hillywood Show and James Marsters’. Sadly they were within half an hour of each other, and James Marsters obviously won.

I wasn’t sure what the line would be like for his panel, but I remember how crazy the Firefly panel lines were two years prior so we went ahead upstairs to line up. Basically this meant we got to camp on the floor for a while and rest and recharge, and look at our phones for the first time all day. I reached out to a couple of friends I knew were there, but hadn’t seen yet, and we agreed to meet after the panel. I had also been looking for a particular booth all day in Artist Alley and hadn’t seen it, so I went to their Facebook to ask the booth number.

While we were waiting, I saw a Black Widow and Star Lord walk by with their own keyblades, and I had to chase after them to get a photo. I didn’t want to interrupt them before they got in line, and we got some nice person in line to take photos on both Black Widow’s and my phones. We compared construction techniques, and I have a few ideas I want to steal to improve mine in the future.

Kingdom Hearts crossovers are popular this year!

They let us into the room around 3:30, and, boy, do I like walking around a keyblade on my shoulder. It makes it really hard for people to move past you. Having an intimidating pirate next to you also helps. We wound up in the second row after the VIP section and I left the keyblade across our laps until the row was filled. We talked through what all we still wanted to do before we left and made a list so we wouldn’t miss anything.

The panel actually started exactly on time to my surprise. I thought he might be late again. They played a highlight reel of his many roles over the years, and I was extremely disappointed the shot of him jumping on top of the coffin in “Once More, With Feeling” was not in there. The host welcomed him out and went over the rules for questions. Before he took the first question, James asked everyone in the audience to put their hands in their air and “scream like your team won the thing”.

Someone asked about a charity he just won an award for, and he talked about CASA, which is an association that helps foster children. Someone asked about how he got into acting, and apparently when he was fourth grade he played Eeyore in a school play. The live action Winnie the Pooh film Disney is doing got brought up and now someone would want him to do Eeyore’s voice. His response was absolutely perfect, in the exact voice, “Oh, Pooh.” Now I will be heartbroken if anyone but James Marsters plays Eeyore. He was asked about his work on the audio books of the Dresden Files, which Jay tried to explain to me and I quickly shushed him. I have never gotten around to reading them, but I know about them. “I have no idea why Jim Butcher picked me. No idea whatsoever.” He was asked about the hardest episode he had to shoot on Buffy, and he talked about how difficult the bathroom scene was, and the toll it took on him. “It put me in therapy. Which actually turned out to be a good thing because I’m much happier now.” He talked about where that story line came from, and the struggle and triumph of Spike gaining his soul. He talked about some of the struggles of going from stage acting to film, and “trying not to lie to the audience”.

Someone asked about his role on Torchwood. He had been on tour with his band, Ghost of the Robot, and his road show manager refused to go out to dinner with him because Doctor Who was on. So they ordered room service and watched it in her room, and within fifteen minutes he was hooked. He went down to his agent’s room and asked him to try to get him a role on Doctor Who. Russel T. Davies said no, but they had a perfect role for him on Torchwood, and they had been looking for someone to fill it. He also talked about being interviewed by the BBC for the homophobic backlash against Torchwood, and his response was apparently, “We’ve got a backlash!? That’s great!”

He was asked his favorite role he had ever played. Without hesitation he said, “Spike. Absolutely Spike. If you asked me to pick between Hamlet and Spike, and Joss is good but Shakespeare’s just a little bit better, sorry Joss, but I’d pick Spike. Absolutely.” Then my favorite question was about his favorite episode, because it turns out we have this in common.

Apparently the cast was very nervous about the musical because they thought Joss was “flushing the show”, but they decided to do the best they could anyway and hope it didn’t suck. Well, it certainly doesn’t suck. It’s my favorite episode of anything that has ever happened.

He also loved killing the Anointed One.

The time was up far too quickly, but I’m so happy this was the one panel I made time for. Three years ago, I had never seen Buffy. Then I didn’t understand why Spike was so popular when he was such a bad guy, then I was cheering as he and Buffy kissed at the end of “Once More, With Feeling”. His line to Buffy at the end of the series about how he loves her was one of my favorite quotes long before I ever saw the show, and I was so beyond happy it was his line.

We filed out of the panel and I stopped for a picture with a spot-on Buffy cosplayer before we went to find my friend Kimberly. Sadly she was in the South Concourse and I was in the North, but she was leaving soon and I was determined to find her. Tradition must be upheld and I have pictures with her at every MegaCon.

It thankfully didn’t take us too long to get across the building and I found her as Black Widow with our friend Mihn as Chirrut. I finally got to introduce Jay to her and we talked for a few minutes before we headed back to the floor. It was already five and we still had several things to cross off our list.

Our first stop was the Hillywood Show table. I had been putting this off because I wanted to meet them, but didn’t know what to say. They’re two sisters who do parodies, and while they aren’t the only reason I started making them myself, they definitely influenced me. Going up and telling them that would be awkward though, and probably giving them too much credit. So I decided I would just ask for a photo, because then I could meet them and it wouldn’t be weird, right?

Wrong.

The only way to get a photo was to buy something, which is fine except they only had merchandise from their three latest parodies: Sherlock, Supernatural and Suicide Squad. Three fandoms I am not a part of to begin with, and I like their older parodies better. I told them as much when they asked which was my favorite, “Harry Potter Deathly Hallows Part 2.” “Oh but that one’s so old!” Long story short, I wasn’t getting a photo without paying ten dollars and it just wasn’t worth what I make an hour to me. Not when I just wanted to talk to them for a moment. Lesson learned, never meet your heroes. (Well, sometimes. Miss Hallion and Robby Cook were great!) I tried not to tear up when I walked away. It wasn’t that upsetting, it was just a very long day without a lot of sleep and it hurt my feelings a little.

Author Nick Braker.

Our next destination was the booth whose number I had to track down on Facebook. Nick A. Braker is a science-fiction writer from my hometown, and his son Chris was one of my best friends in college. Last year I’d been posting on Twitter about heading to MegaCon and he’d texted me I should go see his parents. Well I did, and then I had dinner at their house when I was home for my birthday last year, so I wanted to go say hi.

He’s one heck of a writer. He’s turned out three books in a very short time and he’s got two more coming. If everything goes according to plan, I’ll hopefully be venturing back into video production to produce some book trailers for him.

Now all we had to do was find the three booths we wanted to buy things from and we could leave. This should have been simple. It was not.

I wanted to find Brandon Kenney’s booth so I could buy his Lilo and Stitch Splash Mountain print and the booth with the Disney Parks style buttons. Jay wanted to find the independent fairy tale comic so he could get the preview issue. After wandering in circles through the aisles for twenty minutes with no luck, I went back to Karen Hallion’s booth because I knew I could find her. She collaborates with Mr. Kenney on occasion so I knew she would know where his booth was and her sister and business manager gave me directions. Miss Hallion happened to be standing in front of his booth when I got there, and I said, “Oh, I could have just followed you!” I couldn’t decide if I wanted the big or small Splash print, and Jay told me to just get the big one. I also picked up the pack of three Stitch stickers he had.

We resumed our wandering and I still had the change in my hand, which proved dangerous as I impulse bought a big Pikachu sticker for my bullet journal. Well, at least it has a purpose.

I straight up lucked into finding the Disney Parks buttons booth. I even followed him on Instagram earlier in the day and wasn’t smart enough to look there to see if he had his booth number posted. They were two for five so I picked Gaston and BB-8. I could have happily bought them all, and some of his prints, but I was trying not to go overboard. The artist’s name is Joey Quintin and he had a series of Disney characters dressed as cast members that was just fantastic. I asked him why Anna got to be a Skipper, and admittedly his reasons were good. He asked who I would want to see. “I don’t know, but I am a Skipper so I’m a little picky!” “That’s fair.”

Jay was ready to give up on finding the independent comic booth, but I was determined. It was the only thing he had really wanted all day, and it did look extremely cool. One of the main characters was the son of the Big Bad Wolf and he was on the cover with a brunette Aurora. We thought we knew the general area and we knew they had black and white sketches hanging on either side of the booth, but of course after a while everything just blends together. We went in circle after circle, and I must have passed the Brakers ten times now that I knew where they were. I was getting increasingly frustrated, but I do not give up easily. The warning message played that the show floor would be closing in half an hour, so we were almost out of time. Neither of us had been smart enough to take a picture of the booth or the name of the comic to look in the program.

ARGH.

Hero Cats!

I got distracted by the Hero Cats booth and wound up buying a comic and a button, but it’s literally about cats saving the world so I feel like that was another good impulse buy.

After about fifteen more minutes of circling, I finally spotted the booth and raced over to them. “Oh thank goodness.” The artist had returned and I honestly think we confused him and the nice woman we’d spoken to earlier, but I was so out of breath.

They had two comic options, the normal one which was one out of five hundred, or the variant which was one out of a hundred. The normal was $10, and the variant was, well Jay heard $50 and I heard $15 and I don’t which one of us was right because I bought the normal one. It came with a free black and white print, but of course the one Jay wanted wasn’t actually a print.

It was an original sketch. He offered to make a print of it and we could pick it up at a future con, but I elected to take the Beast print home and buy a second comic in the future. The series is titled The Chronicles of Zelaria: Dynasty of Darkness and Jay now owns #106 out of five hundred of the preview issue. I haven’t looked at it much yet, but I am already looking forward to seeing more after the description the author gave us while we were there.

We could finally head out, and began the long trek back to the car. I had tried to be good about switching which shoulder I carried the keyblade on throughout the day, but my back was aching. Jay’s pirate boots were killing him, and we were very happy to start stripping off the outer layers of our cosplays. I hadn’t realized how little my vest breathed until I took it off.

I hadn’t wanted to try to carry Duffy and the keyblade so he had to stay in the car. He didn’t seem too mad at me thankfully, I did let him watch Pirates the night before.

MegaCon is absolutely one of my favorite things about living in Orlando. I’m a little sad I didn’t get to go more days, there were other celebrities I would have liked to see like the Flash stars and Stan Lee. I’ve seen Stan Lee twice before, and he’s wonderful but this is his final Florida appearance. Getting off work on a holiday weekend is just too difficult in the hospitality industry, but I’ll be there at least one day next year. I never plan on missing it.

A pretty good haul!

Cost: A one day ticket purchased in advance was $41 after tax. The four day option I was looking at previously was $99 before tax. My portion of the photo op was $35. I probably spent close to $40 on cosplay supplies, and another $30 towards the keyblade, but a good chunk of that was the jigsaw which we won’t have to purchase again. I came home with a little less than half of my original spending cash. Parking was $15.

Duration: All day, whether you go for one or four.

Value: Absolutely worth it. Can’t wait to see who they announce for next year.

Add Ons: There are VIP ticket options, autographs and photos. The prices change from year to year based on what guests are attending.

[ulyssessklein]

This is how musicians should use Facebook Live to get results! (Part 2)

If you haven’t read the first part of this two-part article, please do so by going HERE.

Now it’s time to get into what happened the night of the show…both the great and the not-so-great.

I was driving to the venue in Ohio and had just pulled off an exit when it began snowing…HARD. I immediately began worrying about the weather impacting attendance but held out hope knowing that the band had played the venue two times previously and had packed in a large crowd both times.

And then it started snowing even harder. Fortunately I pulled into the venue’s parking lot and saw quite a few vehicles there. It wasn’t as many as I hoped to see but at least it wasn’t a ghost town and we still had about an hour to go before the band would take the stage.

DRESSED FOR SUCCESS

This is something that warrants a bit of discussion. I have a very low tolerance when it comes to how some music artists dress and present themselves during shows. I’ve had to lay into several clients over the years because of the lack of effort put into looking great on stage.

And, yes, it is a discussion I had with Amanda at one point after watching videos of some of their performances before I was brought in to help with their shows. They didn’t look BAD in those previous shows…they simply looked too casual. I always tell artists that there is a visual expectation that most fans carry into a show (whether they are conscious of it or not).

So it goes without saying that I was extremely excited when I walked into the room where the band was preparing and saw everybody was dressed to kill and the ladies’ hair and make-up were totally on point. They looked fantastic, the best I had ever seen from them…and I made it a point to yell as such upon seeing them.

Seriously.

You never know who is watching you perform at any given time and what it might do for you down the road (as you will see was the case for the band at the end of this article).

SHOWTIME

The band took the stage at 9:00 pm and the plan was to do the three-song Facebook Live broadcast at the tail end of the first set, which was expected to be around 10:00 pm.

The band hired a professional AV company to come in and set up a rear projection video screen on which we could show the FB Live broadcast to the crowd in the venue. That was set up to the side of the stage because the layout of the venue did not allow us to place the screen over the stage (which would have been optimal for what we were doing).

People were continuing to trickle in and the crowd was growing but it still wasn’t where we were all hoping it would be at the start of the first set. Making matters even more difficult was that a lot of the audience members who were there seemed a bit allergic to the dance floor and the area directly in front of the stage. And all of that seemed to be sapping some of the band’s energy as well. I had dinner with Amanda and Michael a week or two after the show and Michael admitted that the unexpectedly lower attendance was deflating when they first walked out on stage.

But they did exactly what they needed to do: they continued to perform with energy…something that would pay off as we got further into the night.

This is when things became interesting.

I was sitting with Alyce (the young lady tasked with operating the camera during the broadcast) and we were keeping an eye on where the band was in the set list. It wasn’t long before I realized we were running behind schedule. Even though the band promoted the Facebook Live broadcast as starting around ten, it looked more like that spot in the set list wouldn’t come up until closer to 10:30.

They realized the time issue as well because there was a sudden jump in the set list and the band skipped several songs to get us closer to where we needed to be prior to the start of the broadcast.

Which created another problem that required quick thinking.

As you will see from the broadcast video below, the FB Live broadcast started with Jones Family Reunion, a song that kicks off with a female audience member being brought up on stage to take part in a fake marriage proposal from Nathan. When the band skipped several songs, they went straight to the song in the set list that was directly before the start of the broadcast. And one of the songs that was skipped was an acoustic piece that allowed Nathan to leave the stage long enough to find an audience member for the proposal at the beginning of Jones Family Reunion.

That is when Alyce said “uh-oh” and asked me what we should do. My response: We grab the first female who walks by our table to ask her to help out.

That is exactly what we did. We had to work quickly because not only did we have to get a fan on board with going up on stage in front of everybody, we needed to hurry and have her sign release forms due to the fact that the images and video of her on stage would be used for the broadcast and various marketing for the band.

So I had to ask the young lady to help out, explain to her what we needed her to do on stage, talk her through everything on the release form, have her sign it, flag down Nathan while he was performing and point to the volunteer so he knew he didn’t have to worry about finding somebody, signal to him that I was taking her back stage, and then rush her to the back stage area all in the time that the band performed that three-and-a-half minute song.

And then we ran into another hiccup. As the last song before the broadcast was wrapping up, I was standing back stage with the volunteer and Alyce, who was suddenly having a difficult time maintaining a strong Internet signal on the phone that would be used for the FB Live broadcast.

Where the venue was located, 4G access was spotty due to it being in a rural area. The venue did have open wi-fi, which had sufficient strength earlier in the evening, but the signal strength began going up and down as we were getting ready for the show to begin. The phone we were using belonged to Brittany (Amanda’s sister and the band’s keyboard player) so I made the decision to attempt the broadcast using 3G and instructed Alyce to run up on stage to have Brittany make a few adjustments on the phone.

Here is something you need to keep in mind when attempting any FB Live broadcast from a venue. A lot of artists don’t have unlimited data and FB Live broadcasts are demanding since you are live streaming both video and audio. So those artists have a tendency to use the venue’s open wi-fi. In many situations that isn’t a bad approach but you have to take into consideration that a large crowd also attempting to access that open wi-fi at the time you are doing your broadcast can slow down the signal and it could potentially impact the quality of your broadcast. Even worse, you might find yourself being booted from the signal in the middle of it.

The problem can become even more severe if patrons of neighboring businesses are also attempting to access the venue’s wi-fi, something that is quite common. I remember staying in a hotel room in Nashville for CMA Fest and the hotel’s wi-fi signal was horrible on our side of the building so I had to utilize the wi-fi from the Taco Bell location next door for the entirety of my stay. Sometimes you just have to plan for the data usage that comes with a big Facebook Live broadcast and suck it up.

Back to the show.

Amanda instructed the audience prior to the start of the broadcast while Alyce set up the phone with Brittany and we shuffled the volunteer on stage. As soon as we went live on FB, the folks from the AV company projected the broadcast onto the big screen set up next to the stage and we were good to go.

THE BROADCAST

For as much energy as the band showed despite a lower than expected turnout, the start of the Facebook Live broadcast was like a switched had been flipped. Their energy instantly went to another level. People in the crowd who had been sitting down looking at their phones began looking up at the stage. They became more vocal over the course of those three songs and they slowly began making their way to the dance floor. Additionally, all of that momentum carried over into the last two hours of the show and totally changed the dynamics of the audience’s engagement with the band.

One of my favorite things about the broadcast came in the form of a comment a fan left on the Facebook Live feed, when she proclaimed the show the best she had ever seen at that venue. People had their phones out taking pics and video of the show and posting them on social media. They were doing exactly what we wanted them to do.

Here is the entire video of the FB Live feed…

In addition to the Facebook Live video, I also shot video of the performance from in front of the stage. I missed the first minute of the first song because I had to escort the volunteer for the proposal from the back stage area and, for some reason, my phone cut off at the tail end of the final song but much of this video will be repurposed for the band to use in a sizzle reel when attempting to get booked for other shows.

For any of you who are interested, the Facebook Live broadcast was captured on Brittany’s phone, which was an iPhone 6. The video I shot from the front of the stage was done on my phone, which is a Samsung Galaxy S5.

And for those of you who remember the picture of Amanda on Nathan’s shoulders during rehearsal (it was included in Part 1 of this case study), here is the same shot during the actual show.

SOME THINGS ABOUT THE SHOW

One of the first things you will probably notice is that we did NOT throw the beer mug through the section of the drum shield in front of Frank’s kit. Michael contacted a company in California that manufactures the stunt glass that we wanted to use but it was going to take too long to ship it to Ohio and still have time for the glass to be cut down to the size we needed. So while we had to shelve that specific moment in the show for the Facebook Live broadcast, it is something we will look to implement in a show later this year. It is too good of a card to have up our sleeves to go unused.

There are some things I would like to see us do a bit differently next time:

For the next broadcast, I would like to see us utilize a three-axis stabilizer for the phone and camera. If you don’t know what that is, it is a device that holds the phone in a manner that completely eliminates any bouncing. The user holds onto a handle bar and can move their arm all over the place and the device revolves around the phone keeping it in one spot. You can get them on Amazon with some of the better quality ones costing between $100 and $200. There are some cheaper alternatives but many of them don’t use multiple axis points for keeping the phone steady. I’ve heard many people say that using them efficiently requires a little bit of practice so don’t chance busting it out of the box ten minutes before a show and trying to use it if that broadcast is an important one.

Another slight change I would make when doing something like this again is make sure we hold the camera on each musician for just a bit longer before moving to the next person. Alyce did a fantastic job operating the camera, mostly considering it was her first time doing it and we had limited time to rehearse it.

The engagement between the band and the camera went much better than even I anticipated. It totally changes the dynamic of doing a Facebook Live broadcast from a live show. Viewers are no longer observing from a vantage point off to the side. With this approach they feel much more wrapped up and invested in the performance.

While the band struggled to get people out on the dance floor during the early part of their first one-hour set, doing the broadcast from the stage caused a radical shift in the crowd that carried on through the entire show that night. And the band even got caught up in it all, with Michael at one point getting down on his knees and playing guitar while people in the crowd threw popcorn up so he could catch it in his mouth. Below is a pic the band took during a guy/girl sing off…

And when I left the venue not long after the broadcast, I snapped this picture of the crowd dancing…

WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?

Remember earlier in this piece when I said you never know who might be watching your show and to what it could lead? Prior to this show, Michael had spent the last two or three years attempting to get booked for two big shows that he had been targeting. One was at an important venue at Geneva On The Lake (a tourist hot spot on Lake Erie) and the other at a major festival near Mentor, Ohio. He couldn’t even get them to return his calls.

The night we did this show, an individual with ties to both the aforementioned venue and festival was in attendance. He was blown away by what he saw. Within 24 hours of this show taking place, both the venue and the festival had contacted the band. One of them booked them immediately and the other is working with the band to find an agreeable date for them to perform there. Two to three years of frustration trying to get on those people’s radars was erased just like that.

This was within 24 hours of the show!

Now the band is working to take the video we captured from both the broadcast and from what I shot in front of the stage to create a short sizzle reel. That will be used when they attend trade shows attempting to get booked at festivals and college campuses. The video WILL get them a lot of shows. We also plan to add that video to the band’s website and electronic press kit and find ways to use it on social media. Keep in mind that while the audio in the videos isn’t the greatest quality, the live audio will NOT appear in the sizzle reel as it will be replaced with one of their songs playing in the background.

Compared to the number of views many of the band’s previous Facebook Live videos generated, the broadcast of the three-song set had nearly 300% more views! BOOM!

We have several big shows to prepare for that will be coming up over the next few months and we have to keep the live show fresh with new elements. The first big show is scheduled for May and that will be the band’s first experience with including pyrotechnics as part of the show. I’ve also told Amanda to prepare for the intensity of the shows to become far more physically demanding. We are even making plans for her to perform on top of a large truss 40 feet in the air. We are also working on a bunch of ways to implement video into the show.

All of this came from a simple 12-minute, three song set created specifically for a Facebook Live broadcast. We went outside the box in what we wanted to present, did something a bit different from the norm, planned it out and rehearsed it, and then executed it in spectacular fashion.

The band has even captured the attention of an independent label based in Nashville, one that is made up of an incredible team of people with considerable experience in both the music and radio industries. The label even invited them to do an acoustic showcase during Country Radio Seminar in Nashville (that performance is taking place the same night I am writing this).

For Amanda Jones & The Family Band, 2017 is going to be an extremely pivotal year.

The post This is how musicians should use Facebook Live to get results! (Part 2) appeared first on DIY Musician Blog.