MAGFest Report Part 2: Friends

I have a lot of friends who I only see once a year. At MAGFest. This blog post is about them in all their pure awesome.

Every year for many years now, a bunch of us from the former OneUp Studios message boards (now Mustin Enterprises) gather at MAGFest to catch up, celebrate and party. Since the show has moved to the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center the style of the gathering at MAGFest has stepped up a notch. Spear-headed by long-time internet friends JoeCam and Taras “Pappy” Butrej, a group purchases a large suite and hosts a suite-party. Usual suspects include Rory O’Boyle, Haroon “FFMusicDJ” Piracha, “Jesus” Ian and Brohon. You’ll meet all of them in the photo above. Often the group chooses a theme.

This year’s theme was “Brotel Party – Dress like a douche, but don’t act like one!” Needless to say there were a lot of popped collars, glasses being worn inside and excited shouts of “BRO!” Everyone from Dale North Editor in Chief of Destructoid, to Jake “Virt” Kauffman of WayForward, to Kunal Majmudar and Maximo Lorenzo show their faces at the so-called “Lumberjack Lounge.” It’s a gathering of not only some of the best talent in the VGM Remix/Rearrangement community, but also some of my best far-away friends! Each one is doing something different and amazing with their talents and I hope to give you all just a snippet of their awesome here in this post!

Oh, and in case you were wondering; This is how nerds run a shots competition:

The competition is set up into rounds of 3 shots, each winner advancing until we have a 3-way showdown at the end. There’s prizes for the winners AND Losers. Each shot MUST be themed after a game (or game-related, as there was a Wreck it Ralph themed shot this year for Venelope!) This years winner was HAT! With a shot called “Purple Tentacle” from the classic LucasArts game Day of the Tentacle!

My good buddy Haroon was making his second-place shot from last year on the side for us non-participants so we could taste what it takes to place in “Onimushots!”

I’ve mentioned a lot of people already, so why don’t I get down to specifics? I’ll share a little bit about each person and what they’re doing that’s just so awesome! (No specific order, just as they come to me….)

Maximo V Lorenzo – I’ve talked plenty about this guy already, but seriously, Go read his webcomic OHKO!

Mustin – Co-Founder of the former OneUp Studios with Dale North, now the man behind Mustin Enterprises and The OneUps!

JoeCam – Asshole. Also, writer for The Gaming Vault.


Taras “Pappy” Butrej – DudeBro. Does movie reviews at his blog Mainstreamin’

Kunal Majmudar – Runs Pixeltone Music and co-founder of SWD Tech! Guest percussion for The OneUps also, all around awesome guy!

X-Strike Studios – Tim, Rorry, Ben and the whole gang at X-Strike do video game movies with a sense of humor and nostalgia! I’d recommend Project: Snake Low Budget Espionage as a good starter!

Overcoat – Aka Scott, he hosts Touhou Tuesday and Radio Overcoat Tuesday and Wednesday nights over at AreciboRadio! Be sure to jump into the chat and talk with all the other fans as well as hosts, guests and producers!

Kristina “TrueStar” Kauffman/ Jake “Virt” Kauffman – Kris is another Arecibo Radio host, co-hosting Touhou Tuesdays and her own show Noise Channel on Thursday nights. Her shows are often produced by Virt, who’s 110% Awesome.

Ailsean – God of Guitar.

Steph – Steph is the guest coordinator of MAGFest and one of the bubbliest, happiest people I know!

Flik – Chris Serani was MAGFest’s official photographer this year and I’m sure he’s busy right now uploading thousands of photos!

Justin Taylor – Super nice guy who knows how to METAL. When not on stage, wears glasses!

Brandon Strader – No longer an “up and coming” OCRemixer this guy knows how to rock and will have a solo album coming VERY SOON! Hit up his website!

NO-Shows:

Here are some folk that sadly couldn’t make it this year, but are MAG Veterans and sorely missed!

Mazedude – Chris Getman and his wife just had their first child, baby Isabella! Mazedude is hard at work on his next solo album “American Pixels” Pre-order now for a free Chiptune EP!

Larry “Liontamer” Oji. – Loves McRibs. Had the flu and had to skip MAGFest this year, he’s a veteran attendee, long time VGM DJ and co-host of Nitro Game Injection on Arecibo Radio! He’s also the Community Manager and a Judge over at OCRemix.

KyleJCRB – Main host of Nitro Game Injection and master of the KNGI radio network!

These are just some of the people I meet every year now at MAGFest to catch up with! The list goes on and I’m sure I missed some folks, but hey…that’s why we hang at the show!
To see my complete MAGFest photo set with many of the people listed here in it, his up my Flickr account!

Tomorrow, the final part of my report and what MAGFest is really all about: The Music! Let me tell ya, this year was incredible!

-RD

KotR: Gaia's Bane

KotR: Gaia's Bane