Category: News & Updates

Hey all, Podcast Rob here!

BIG news for you all today….

We’re re-launching our Patreon!  New Tiers!  New Rewards!

At just $2 per month, patrons get the “Somethingscription“!  By helping support our show, you get Early Access to listen to our episodes on Saturday instead of waiting for Tuesday! PLUS you get the unedited/unfiltered version!

Want more?  Like… say… a voice in the decision making process?  Our “SomethingExtra” tier is for you then!  Along with your Early Access, Give us a topic and we’ll add it to the list AND give you a shoutout when we cover it! Patron topics go to the front of the line of our ideas, so let us know in the following categories! Something To Review, The End, Mysteries of the Somethingverse, VS, Elevator Pitch, Dreamcasting/Recasting!

For those who want the perks of SomethingExtra without a monthly subscription, we have a workaround of  “SomethingAwesome“.  You can check our Patreon site or DM us through Facebook or Twitter for details!

For 9 years we’ve been making content we hope you’ve been enjoying, by supporting the show you’ll enable us to do even bigger and better things with the show!

– PCR

I have to admit, I’m a bit of a fanboy, and I’m a firm believer in amazing art comes from amazing people.

A little background.

I caught a little show called “The Quest”. In doing some research about the show, I stumbled upon contact info for one miss Bonnie Gordon. Blindly reaching out to her to tell her I quickly became a fan of the show and had been rooting for her, I fully expected things to end there. What I shock I got when I received a reply a few days later.

We booked her as a guest on our “Reality Show” episode, and she said she’d bring Xander along too since he was on “King of the Nerds” and that they’d Skype us with some time from a con they were at in Houston.

That, and an over 3 hour conversation with two of the most genuine and friendly people you’d ever meet, became the start of something special for us.

Through their hard work and non-stop con schedule, along with a healthy dose of raw talent, the Library Bards started to blow up (as the kids say) We had the honor of meeting them in person at Anime Fan Fest NJ in 2016 and catching their concert live, so when they launched a Kickstarter for their first studio album, we had to help them make it a reality.

I can safely say, it’s fantastic.

Are they a comedy parody band? Yes. Do they take themselves too seriously? No. But by no stretch does that mean they don’t give it their all this whole album. From the soulful tone in “Black and Red” to the growling refrains in “Now You Have The Bridge Spock” Bonnie’s voice has a great range of intensity while never losing herself to the mimic of the parody. And Xander’s harmonies are airy yet solid while his own verses in songs such as “Accio” and “Regeneration” prove he’s not just a pretty face who can do harmonies, but a great vocalist in his own right.

Beyond the quality of the voices, the lyrics are slick and witty and never feel forced for the sake of the parody or the rhyme. It’s easy to see why this duo’s star is on the rise.

You can find “Bardcore” on Spotify, Apple Music, Google Play, Bandcamp, iTunes, Amazon and wherever else you download your music from.
You can find The Library Bards on Twitter @LibraryBards, Youtube and Facebook at /librarybards, find their merch at dftba.com/libratybards and at librarybards.com

If you’re a fan of all things funny, nerdy, geeky and awesome, do yourself a favor and get this album!

If you’re looking to hear us talk to the Bards, take a listen to Episode 52 right here!

Do not adjust the horizontal.

Do not adjust the vertical.

The following is an STST Special Report.

Ok, actually that is a bit heavy for what it really is.  We figured since this is our one show off a year, we would still give you something to keep you remembering us, and we went and found something from over the summer that you didn’t hear.  It isn’t long. And it’s all explained in the file.  So thanks to Marcus over at Deadpan Fury, Wow Geezo and the Nyrdcast… you’ll understand why in a minute.

Happy Holidays from the Somethings.

(Not A) Full Episode

Last weekend, Podcast Rob and I had the pleasure to go check out Anime FanFest!

After our obvious love affair with the Library Bards, we heard they were going to be in town and there was no way we were going to miss it for the world. Along the way we got to go and see the sights at NJ’s newest Anime Convention, filling in the empty space left by quite a few shows that have moved on to other locations. Having been a frequent visitor and guest of some of those other shows, it was nice to see the old convention hall.

I’ll give you the honest positive and honest negative.

The positive.  These guys know what they’re doing in terms of space and arrangement.  The convention, being first year, definitely has room for growth, but it didn’t feel like you were marching around to far corners of the world. They kept the show condensed and easy to get to everything. The vendors all arranged with a spacious layout. The media area carpeted and accessible. The guests visible right as you walk in on the other side, with the artist alley right in the middle. The show was even progressive enough to have all of the cosplay artists in the mix with the Artist Alley folks, which is nice to see that the craft of cosplay is being given its own section right up front at a show. The entire presentation was sleek and streamlined so that there were no bottlenecks to speak of, and the panels/halls were curtained off right off the con floor.

The negative really is that the show didn’t have tons to see and do. The company that put it together had sleek packages and promotions, so there is definitely some umpf behind what they’re doing, but everything they’ve run previous has been comic book shows. (This is solely based on their website MAD EVENT MANAGEMENT, and if I’m wrong – please correct me) Anime shows live and die by their panel work and by their fan service and interactivity. A big anime con features non-stop panels running non-stop in five rooms about everything from fanfiction to art to crafts beyond what is being sold in the vendor hall to specific analysis on shows and subgenres. The panel list was threadbare with only a few fan-oriented panels, and even those seem to be polished a little too shiny. There is room to grow there, and I think the first direction they need to do is look at their audience as very different from their comic show roots.. they’re totally different machines. The New York Anime Con failed just as quickly for very similar reasons.

We got to see their Masquerade, Karaoke, and Greggo’s Game Shows – and they were all put on with the same pizazz I would expect – as they were hosted by folks that have done anime conventions for years.  I hope next year there are tons more people there to see them.

We of course also stuck around to see the Library Bards performances during the Masquerade, and it was great to finally get to hang out with Bonnie and Xander, and they were just as charming and wonderful and fantabulous as we always expected them to be. Dinner and drinks along with some of the staff and volunteers of the show later, and it really was just like we were talking to friends we had known beyond just podcasting interviews.  Thank you Bards, we can’t wait to see you tour around this area so we can be shameless fanboys for ya, yet again.