Guests I want for FanimeCon 2008!!!

[Pimpstress Rei]

I'm sorry, I don't mean this in a mean way, but I can't stop laughing at some of the musical requests. I know that these are just suggestions, but please remember we're a small con and we don't have hundreds of thousands of dollars (for some of them, millions of dollars) to pay for these guests to come. It's like us getting U2 to play for us. It's not going to happen @_@

I certainly hope this was directed at other requests and not mine.  

To clarify my ambiguous statement, I meant I'm laughing at some of the requests we've been receiving via e-mail, the boards and in person. We've had people come up to us and ask us if we could get Ayumi Hamasaki or Utada Hikaru. And when we tell them that we just can't do it, we're getting a lot of "but why not, it's not that hard and you have money".

We're just shaking our heads and laughing at how people don't understand how hard it is to book popular artists, especially if they would cost us boatloads of money, not to mention having to deal with the politics of booking a popular band.

There's a lot that goes on behind the scenes and it's funny when even when we tell you guys we can't do something, we get nothing but backtalk. We're trying! We really are!

[FanFicGuru]

I'm sorry, I don't mean this in a mean way, but I can't stop laughing at some of the musical requests. I know that these are just suggestions, but please remember we're a small con and we don't have hundreds of thousands of dollars (for some of them, millions of dollars) to pay for these guests to come. It's like us getting U2 to play for us. It's not going to happen @_@

I certainly hope this was directed at other requests and not mine.  

To clarify my ambiguous statement, I meant I'm laughing at some of the requests we've been receiving via e-mail, the boards and in person. We've had people come up to us and ask us if we could get Ayumi Hamasaki or Utada Hikaru. And when we tell them that we just can't do it, we're getting a lot of "but why not, it's not that hard and you have money".

We're just shaking our heads and laughing at how people don't understand how hard it is to book popular artists, especially if they would cost us boatloads of money, not to mention having to deal with the politics of booking a popular band.

There's a lot that goes on behind the scenes and it's funny when even when we tell you guys we can't do something, we get nothing but backtalk. We're trying! We really are!

I've been meaning to ask this personally: Why not post some sort of breakdown of what Fanime's budget looks like and recommendations on what to do with the funds?

I think that if it's a convention run 'By fans, for fans' and you're sitting on say, 10,000 dollars to do something. It would be really cool to come out and say "Hey guys, here's what we're thinking of doing and here's the money we have. Good idea? Bad idea? What would you like to see instead using the same budget?"

I think that something like that, if done correctly, would make the convention MUCH more efficient in addressing fan requests and needs and also allow us to get a better look at what it takes to get a convention up and running.

[Pimpstress Rei]

The short answer is no.

The long answer is no because even though it's a by fans, for fans run con, there are still people who deal with the money that shouldn't have the feedback from our fans. We run this convention to have something for our members to enjoy and there are things that you guys should never have to know about.

Not only that, the budget is confidential. Even on staff, only a teeny tiny handful of people know our budget and the rest find out about it on a need to know basis.

Think about it, if someone knew you had say, $10,000 budget for a band, they might say that's plenty and to spend the money lavishly on other things. Others who know the whole deal would say "no, that $10,000 goes toward the plane tickets, hotel rooms, rental equipment, union fees for their show, food, thank you gifts, etc." There's a reason why only set people know about the budget because those people are usually the level-headed ones who know how to effectively use a budget and maximize its output. Others would blow it on parties and other unnecessary things.

[otakuya]

I'd like to have more English VAs (*coughcheapercough* ^^). Musical acts are nice to have, but as some older threads said before, Fanime is much more than music and some don't attend just for the MusicFest. Some do, and it is nice to have a balance of Japanese music acts, seiyuu, English VAs, company reps, popular artists, and famous bloggers, all to add to the variety of Fanime.

[Glitch]

There's a lot that goes on behind the scenes and it's funny when even when we tell you guys we can't do something, we get nothing but backtalk. We're trying! We really are!

No you not, you just want gackt to perform here because you guys don't know what cool music is! Wah!!
j/k But it is funny considering they might aswell ask for JLo or madonna while they're at it. I'm pretty sure some japanese artists give insane demands like artist in america do. I don't think fanime wants to blow money on a pool filled with expensive fine wines to satisfy an artist.
didn't some con almost go broke when they booked tm revolution?

[serajwl]

Polysics! Polysicspolysicspolysics @_@

yeah right....

[laminatedbunny]

In regards to musical guests, I think they should stick to Japanese bands who sing inJapanese and American bands who sing in English. Rothchild scared a bunch of people away during their act. D:

[FanFicGuru]

The short answer is no.

The long answer is no because even though it's a by fans, for fans run con, there are still people who deal with the money that shouldn't have the feedback from our fans. We run this convention to have something for our members to enjoy and there are things that you guys should never have to know about.

Not only that, the budget is confidential. Even on staff, only a teeny tiny handful of people know our budget and the rest find out about it on a need to know basis.

Think about it, if someone knew you had say, $10,000 budget for a band, they might say that's plenty and to spend the money lavishly on other things. Others who know the whole deal would say "no, that $10,000 goes toward the plane tickets, hotel rooms, rental equipment, union fees for their show, food, thank you gifts, etc." There's a reason why only set people know about the budget because those people are usually the level-headed ones who know how to effectively use a budget and maximize its output. Others would blow it on parties and other unnecessary things.

That being the case, maybe the person who does know about the budget could come forward and ask the fans what they'd prefer between option A and option B. We hardly get any input that way. I mean, we can sit here and ask for Aya Hirano all day, but I feel that it would be better if a staff member came out and said

"Ok, here are two bands (or guests or whatever) that we could possibly do, which would you prefer?" That way it's more fan-based when the decision is made.

I appreciate the work you all do, I just know that guests have been lacking in the last couple years. I'm just thinking that if we have more of a choice between two options that are do-able then we couldn't complain quite as much about who ended up being invited.

[petit ningyou]

Voice Actors:

Asami Sanada (she's so cute!)
Okiayu Ryuutarou (he did Dark Mousy from D.N.Angel, Shigure Souma from Fruits Basket, and some characters from Di Gi Charat, Prince of Tennis...etc)

Artists:

Kosuke Fujishima!!!

Musicians:

DuelJewel (bring them back!!!)
Aural Vampire (I think this could be do-able...)
Vidoll
Ayabie
D'espairRay (or like how it was two years ago...)
Tommy February6 (haha maybe too much...)

[Pimpstress Rei]

The short answer is no.

The long answer is no because even though it's a by fans, for fans run con, there are still people who deal with the money that shouldn't have the feedback from our fans. We run this convention to have something for our members to enjoy and there are things that you guys should never have to know about.

Not only that, the budget is confidential. Even on staff, only a teeny tiny handful of people know our budget and the rest find out about it on a need to know basis.

Think about it, if someone knew you had say, $10,000 budget for a band, they might say that's plenty and to spend the money lavishly on other things. Others who know the whole deal would say "no, that $10,000 goes toward the plane tickets, hotel rooms, rental equipment, union fees for their show, food, thank you gifts, etc." There's a reason why only set people know about the budget because those people are usually the level-headed ones who know how to effectively use a budget and maximize its output. Others would blow it on parties and other unnecessary things.

That being the case, maybe the person who does know about the budget could come forward and ask the fans what they'd prefer between option A and option B. We hardly get any input that way. I mean, we can sit here and ask for Aya Hirano all day, but I feel that it would be better if a staff member came out and said

"Ok, here are two bands (or guests or whatever) that we could possibly do, which would you prefer?" That way it's more fan-based when the decision is made.

I appreciate the work you all do, I just know that guests have been lacking in the last couple years. I'm just thinking that if we have more of a choice between two options that are do-able then we couldn't complain quite as much about who ended up being invited.

It's been a long day so I'll keep this brief. Basically it's hard enough to convey all the changes that goes on within a department, especially Guest Relations and MusicFest that we can't possibly keep up by updating you guys. Lots of stuff happens and things change a lot. It happens so much that we can't even hope to relay the changes to you unless we include you guys on every e-mail (which we can't and won't).

Suffice it to say that we use your suggestions to begin contacting guests but a lot of them don't respond back, or have schedules conflicts, or demand too much from us to the point where we can't invite them.

[Tony]

That being the case, maybe the person who does know about the budget could come forward and ask the fans what they'd prefer between option A and option B. We hardly get any input that way. I mean, we can sit here and ask for Aya Hirano all day, but I feel that it would be better if a staff member came out and said

"Ok, here are two bands (or guests or whatever) that we could possibly do, which would you prefer?" That way it's more fan-based when the decision is made.

I appreciate the work you all do, I just know that guests have been lacking in the last couple years. I'm just thinking that if we have more of a choice between two options that are do-able then we couldn't complain quite as much about who ended up being invited.

I'll jump in for MusicFest:

It's really complicated.  ;)

For example, this is how the year went with availability and negotiations:

June: PENICILLIN, Sacra, ZZ, Camino, Duel Jewel
July: ZZ, Camino, Duel Jewel
August: ZZ, Uchusentai NOIZ
November: ZZ, MECHANiCAL PANDA, I-Lulu
January: PANDA, Crack 6, Mari Iijima, Karma-Shenjing
February: ZZ, Crack 6, MECHANiCAL PANDA, (PENICILLIN) nano
End of February: MusicFest is nearly canceled.
March: ZZ, Crack 6, PANDA, Mari, Karma-Shenjing
April: ZZ (yes, everything else fell through.)
May: ZZ, Crack 6, PANDA, Mari, Karma-Shenjing, ArtBeat, LDK, GoS, RothChilde, akai SKY

Pimpstress Rei was with me this entire time, which is why she's a little crabby about the subject. ;)

As for anime/manga guests, the issue is mostly money - or the lack of it. Most anime conventions have serious philosophical issues with paying guests appearance fees.

(A lot of people blame Creation for commercializing and thus killing sci-fi cons. Google "creation con". They have a lot of cool events with big names... but see the prices?)

Anyway-

Without the money, it becomes a real labor of love for a guest to come. They could end up missing paid opportunities to come to FanimeCon... but, then, chances are they will simply cancel if this happens. (More than a few guests have been unable to make anime conventions due to schedule conflicts; what probably happened is that something better--i.e. paying--came along.)

Also, we're somewhat close to AX. That keeps a lot of corporate and guest presence away from us. Why go to FanimeCon, which is smaller and in the same general area? Of course, some people know why; there's a reason Yamaga comes each year and brings his friends, and there's a reason some people go to FanimeCon in spite of AX. ;)

[astroboy]

...
As for anime/manga guests, the issue is mostly money - or the lack of it. Most anime conventions have serious philosophical issues with paying guests appearance fees.

(A lot of people blame Creation for commercializing and thus killing sci-fi cons. Google "creation con". They have a lot of cool events with big names... but see the prices?)
...

Looking at those prices makes me want to faint.  :shock:

[Pimpstress Rei]

Pimpstress Rei was with me this entire time, which is why she's a little crabby about the subject. ;)

I'm not crabby. It's a sensitive topic for me. Big difference =P

Of course, some people know why; there's a reason Yamaga comes each year and brings his friends, and there's a reason some people go to FanimeCon in spite of AX. ;)

Cuz we're the best frickin anime convention who's about our fans, not about the conglomerate corporations who would throw big bucks at us at the expense of our flexibility and small con awesomeness?

[Glitch]

(A lot of people blame Creation for commercializing and thus killing sci-fi cons. Google "creation con". They have a lot of cool events with big names... but see the prices?)

It's the ticket master of cons.Those tickets cost more than what I spent the whole weekend at fanime. Looking at that site, it seems to be more like a communial fan bj to celebrities than an actual con. I could go on with my disgust, but this message on their site will do;

CONVENTION SEATING & THE CREATION ENTERTAINMENT DIFFERENCE:
Unlike so many other genre conventions, Creation Entertainment has a strict company policy not to "oversell" our conventions. In other words, every patron, no matter what bracket of ticket they purchase, will have a seat in the main auditorium where the major guests appear and events take place. Nothing upsets us more than hearing about other conventions that sell tickets to patrons and then those very same patrons have to wait on additional lines inside the facility to get into (or sometimes not!) the main theatre. An important Creation Entertainment difference we want you to know about!

I'm a probably gonna get sued by them now.And probably fanime gets sued too. Sorry for ending fanime folks.

[Sen]

How about Maximum the Hormone for MusicFest?

[alkaline]

Polysics! Polysicspolysicspolysics @_@

yeah right....

In all honesty, they wouldn't be impossible. They tend to come out here quite a bit.

[S.N.T.Mickey]

The following bands should come to Fanime 2008 :
Antikku Cafe [aka : An Cafe/Antic Cafe/Antique Cafe/Red Cafe]
SKIN

[Nina Star 9]

Yes, yes, I know that the main person I am pushing for is Amano, but still, I have to at least throw this out there...



JiLL-Decoy association. They would bring a great show and a totally fresh style of music to Fanime. (Has Fanime ever had any jazz in the past?) They are a fairly new band, with their "first single" being about a year old, and still farily unknown. They have gotten most of their popularity from an anime tie-in (Jolly Jolly, opening theme to Red Garden). Here are some live samples for example:
http://www.barks.jp/watch/?id=1000018643
http://www.barks.jp/watch/?id=1000018642
These are both tracks off of their album, which was released this spring. These show off a style they tend toward- nice jazz x rock crossover.
http://vision.ameba.jp/watch.do?movie=20102
This shows off the sexier side of theri jazz, and would be an awesome track for dancing to live.
http://vision.ameba.jp/watch.do?movie=19763
A track that was released on a complation album (and remixed for their first single and album). This shows off their playful, jazzy side well.

They are with Ponycanyon and U's Music.


I mean, Amano would be the much better choice, but they would still be an intresting addition to Musicfest, don't you think?

[serajwl]

Polysics! Polysicspolysicspolysics @_@

yeah right....

In all honesty, they wouldn't be impossible. They tend to come out here quite a bit.

Then let's have at them!

[Chun]

Of course, some people know why; there's a reason Yamaga comes each year and brings his friends, and there's a reason some people go to FanimeCon in spite of AX. ;)

...because it's nearby?

No really, small-con ambience is always enjoyable, but from my interpretation a lot of the counter arguments about larger corperate appearances/events is "We're small, we want to keep it that way, we don't care for popular trains/ big companies to hit the area".

As I quote Craige: " without expansion any event will die"

The only question in response being, why such a large limitation? For namesake roots? So long as this keeps growing then eventually won't it hit "AX status" with such corperate backup?

The last thing I (As a 3 year goer) would want fanime to do is repeat the same level of laid-back-ness it has to it say 10 years from now. It has so much potential to be another "Otakon", or top tier in recognition.

~Chun