Hi, I would humbly like to suggest a musical guest that is not Japanese: Jonathan Coulton (www.jonathancoulton.com). In fact, he sings in English and hails from Brooklyn, NY. Despite this, here are some reasons I
think he would be such a great fit for the con:
1. He's really connected to the geek/otaku culture. His rock concerts attract the type of people that might also be interested in attending a convention, so while he would appeal to current attendees, he would also bring in new ones who otherwise might not have attended and end up going to their first Anime North.
2. His quirky ending theme for the game Portal "Still Alive" (in the case you haven't heard of it yet) became a huge internet meme near the end of last year generating lots of fan creations as well, based on the song: http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=still+alive&search_type=&aq=f. 4 million hits on just the song itself is an incredible accomplishment, but several avenues named it the best videogame song of 2007. This would make him an excellent guest especially for appealing to the 'gamer' aspect of the convention.
3. He's got a great story that would be perfect for a panel: he quit his software programming job at the age of 35 (in 2005) to begin a full-time career in music. He started his 'Thing-a-Week" project where he recorded a new song and posted it to his website every week for a year. He gives away a lot of his music for free and licenses it under a Creative Commons license, which allows other people to use his work in their own projects as long as it is not for profit and they credit the author.
4. His music is mature, original, and masterful: aside from some serious songs, he also sings about software programmers, evil geniuses, zombies, and so on. His songs and Creative Commons licensing have inspired many fan-made music videos (including AMVs and machinima here http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=jonathan+coulton+amv&search_type=&aq=f).
5. He's an incredible performer and an incredibly nice (and humble) guy - I've met and seen the man live in concert, though he has only performed in Toronto once to a sold out show at the Lula Lounge. I'm biased because I'm a big fan, but I honestly believe this guy will be huge especially among AN's target audience of the geek culture (unless I'm wrong and that is not who AN is going for, but there is sure to at least be overlap) and it would be a great opportunity for AN to have him. He apparently already makes more money doing music full-time than he did programming, which is certainly something for an independent artist not signed on to any label.
6. He is familiar with conventions - he's played at Comic Con and Penny Arcade Expo '07, and will again for '08. Like I said he's a great guy so I'm sure the Sick Kids aspect of the con will appeal to him as well.
So there are the reasons - now book this guy! Pretty please? Anyways, I know that it's difficult to arrange these things so I understand if this can't happen, but I really hope that the staff at AN takes this suggestion seriously. Or at the very least checks out some of his music and becomes a fan.
1. He's really connected to the geek/otaku culture. His rock concerts attract the type of people that might also be interested in attending a convention, so while he would appeal to current attendees, he would also bring in new ones who otherwise might not have attended and end up going to their first Anime North.
2. His quirky ending theme for the game Portal "Still Alive" (in the case you haven't heard of it yet) became a huge internet meme near the end of last year generating lots of fan creations as well, based on the song: http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=still+alive&search_type=&aq=f. 4 million hits on just the song itself is an incredible accomplishment, but several avenues named it the best videogame song of 2007. This would make him an excellent guest especially for appealing to the 'gamer' aspect of the convention.
3. He's got a great story that would be perfect for a panel: he quit his software programming job at the age of 35 (in 2005) to begin a full-time career in music. He started his 'Thing-a-Week" project where he recorded a new song and posted it to his website every week for a year. He gives away a lot of his music for free and licenses it under a Creative Commons license, which allows other people to use his work in their own projects as long as it is not for profit and they credit the author.
4. His music is mature, original, and masterful: aside from some serious songs, he also sings about software programmers, evil geniuses, zombies, and so on. His songs and Creative Commons licensing have inspired many fan-made music videos (including AMVs and machinima here http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=jonathan+coulton+amv&search_type=&aq=f).
5. He's an incredible performer and an incredibly nice (and humble) guy - I've met and seen the man live in concert, though he has only performed in Toronto once to a sold out show at the Lula Lounge. I'm biased because I'm a big fan, but I honestly believe this guy will be huge especially among AN's target audience of the geek culture (unless I'm wrong and that is not who AN is going for, but there is sure to at least be overlap) and it would be a great opportunity for AN to have him. He apparently already makes more money doing music full-time than he did programming, which is certainly something for an independent artist not signed on to any label.
6. He is familiar with conventions - he's played at Comic Con and Penny Arcade Expo '07, and will again for '08. Like I said he's a great guy so I'm sure the Sick Kids aspect of the con will appeal to him as well.
So there are the reasons - now book this guy! Pretty please? Anyways, I know that it's difficult to arrange these things so I understand if this can't happen, but I really hope that the staff at AN takes this suggestion seriously. Or at the very least checks out some of his music and becomes a fan.
