As a grown woman who sometimes still feels the sting of decades-past adolescent bullying and ostracism, I will never discount the importance of feeling included. Living in NYC, however, I feel comfortable embracing my inner nerd goddess without fear of judgement — and if you don’t like me, seriously, you can fuck right off. I get to attend and cover a lot of fun events for this website, but my very favorite pop culture convention is Flame Con: the largest LGBTQ comic convention in the world. At Flame Con, trust me, nothing is shocking and even a straight geek like me feels that she has found her tribe. Continue reading Flame Con 2022: The Photo Recap!→
Of all of the dozens of cool conventions and trade shows that have been canceled or postponed so far in 2020, this one really stings: Flame Con will not take place this year. We had an amazing and truly memorable time at 2019’s Flame Con, so we were really looking forward to this. Sigh. Here is an official statement from Flame Con Sponsors Geeks OUT: Continue reading Flame Con Postponed to 2021→
Let The Homoeroticism Begin! Art By J Caress Studio (All Photos By Gail)
Life in Manhattan is like living at Disneyland, with endless opportunities to immerse yourself in an experience that’s unique to this City. I’m always down for a new adventure, so when my convention-buddy Ken suggested that I try for Press credentials to attend Flame Con — which I had never heard of, but which he described to me as being “the LGBTQ Comic Con” — obviously, there was no way in Hell I was to going to miss it. Happily, Flame Con organizers approved my badge!
Ken and I made plans to meet up at the Times Square Sheraton on a beautiful Saturday morning, where the convention floor would open to the press one hour before they started letting other attendees in. I am way more of a music geek than a comics geek, so I had absolutely no idea what to expect, but after about 30 minutes of absorbing the vibe, I arrived at this conclusion: Flame Con fucking rules! Continue reading My Rad Adventure At Flame Con 2019: A Photo Recap!→
The legendary Stan Lee has created a brand new super-hero, Blood Red Dragon, based on rock icon Yoshiki, leader of the Japanese heavy metal band X Japan. The Blood Red Dragon comic book series will feature a surprise, first-of-its kind publishing innovation. The series debut issue will premiere at Comic-Con 2011 in San Diego, which runs from July 21 – 24 and is already completely sold out. As part of Comic-Con, Lee, world-renowned comic book artist Todd McFarlane (whose Todd McFarlane Productions is publishing BRD) Yoshiki and book writer Jon Goff will take part in a panel discussion about the comic, scheduled to take place on Thursday, July 21, 2011 from 1:00 – 2:00 PM. If you’re already registered to attend Comic-Con, you should add this panel to your daily agenda, because it sounds awesome. Continue reading Stan Lee to Speak About Blood Red Dragon at San Diego Comic-Con Panel→
It’s CMJ week here in New York City and that means…well not much to me, actually. I’m bypassing the convention/ panels/ parties/ endless-showcases-of-lame-bands -enjoying-their-five-seconds-of pre-fame this year in favor of attending just a few choice shows. Last night was my designated “Night of Rock,” despite the fact that my Quest for Rock Action meant I would miss the debut of Survivor: Guatemala. Sometimes we must make sacrifices in order to rock.
The first event on my evening’s agenda involved a pitstop at downtown hard rock landmark, Don Hill’s, where Munsey from Skateboard Marketing was holding his own version of a Metal Mania Party, featuring a performance by my favorite band of scary guys with facial hair, Fear Factory.
Burton Bell of Fear Factory
This is a picture of Fear Factory singer Burton Bell. He is my very favorite heavy metal front man at the moment. Though Burton is not traditionally “hot” in the pop star sense — being kind of scary looking on stage — he is nevertheless unbelievable sexy, outrageously charismatic and has the best voice for the kind of somewhat melodic aggro metal Fear Factory does. I also love his tattoos. Burt, like me, is an Aquarius and that is probably why we get along. We had Mexican food together once, but that is another story.
It was so crazy to see Fear Factory in a teeny tiny club like Don Hill’s because they play huge venues like Roseland these days, and that ‘s part of the reason their set was so mind blowing. They were so tight and so loud and so fucking metal. My ears still hurt. Have you heard their new CD, Transgression? It just rules; a perfect mix of eat-your-face-off aggressive metal and heavy melodic rock. They remind me what Nine Inch Nails could be if Trent had any balls and wasn’t completely self-absorbed. Before their set, I had the chance to talk to Raymond Herrera, FF’s drummer, who I’ve interviewed a couple of times for Modern Drummer Magazine. He is amazing and completely hilarious to talk to.
Munsey’s party was a total blast because I also met up with some of my metal scene friends who I had not seen since winter, or in some cases over year or more, such as Jon Paris, Liz Ciavarella, Felix Sebacious, Rachel Martinez and Steve Prue. It was rad.
Next I jetted over to the Continental for the Liquor and Poker label showcase featuring two of my favorite bands in the Universe:
Crash Kelly
and The Black Halos
And I will get to that part the evening soon, but now I have to catch a train . . .more later involving much rocking, very cute rocker boys and lots of hugging and sweatiness.
