Category Archives: Filking

Feb 5 2012

Rockwell, Tom “Devo Spice”

Devo Spice is a nerdcore and comedy rapper from New Jersey who has become one of the most popular artists on the nationally syndicated Dr. Demento Show. Devo Spice founded the comedy rap group Sudden Death whose songs “Cellular Degeneration”, “Getting Old Sucks” and “Pillagers” were the numbers 1, 2, and 4 most requested songs on Dr. Demento in 2007. In 2009 Devo Spice’s song “Platform Wars” which parodies Apple’s I’m A Mac commercials was the 4th most requested song of the year.

Devo Spice performs regularly across the country at music clubs, comedy clubs, and science fiction conventions. He has shared the stage with Dr. Demento, MC Lars, MC Frontalot, Jonathan Coulton, Paul and Storm, and many others. The live show features videos and animations synchronized with the music resulting in a hilarious show that goes over very well with a variety of audiences.

Sudden Death broke onto the scene in 2002 when their song Dead Rappers became a hit on the Dr. Demento Show. Devo Spice also teamed up with The Great Luke Ski that year on Luke’s song Peter Parker which went on to become the most requested song of the year. In 2003 Sudden Death hit it big on Dr. Demento with Ozzman, a backhanded tribute to the Prince Of F’ing Darkness.

2005 was a breakthrough year for Sudden Death on Dr. Demento when they had 2 songs in the top 10 at the end of the year with Spam at #10 and Inner Voice at #1. Then in 2007 Sudden Death produced a constant stream of hits on the show resulting in his songs ending up #1, #2, and #4 most requested songs of the year. Devo Spice also appeared as a guest vocalist on the #5 most requested song of the year.

In 2007 Sudden Death became a Core member of The Funny Music Project, or The FuMP (http://www.thefump.com) which releases 2 songs every week for free under a Creative Commons license. Devo Spice continues to release new songs there as they are completed.

In 2008 Sudden Death released their third album which was titled Fatal Error. The album features the songs mentioned above plus other hilarious original songs and parodies. It was considered for a Grammy nomination for Best Comedy Album in the fall of 2008.

In late 2008 Devo Spice decided to drop the group name Sudden Death due to rising confusion with other bands using that name.

For more information on Devo Spice please visit the artist’s web site at: website.

Feb 5 2012

Blibbering Humdingers

The Blibbering Humdingers – Scott & Kirsten Vaughan started performing wizard rock (music dedicated to the world of the Harry Potter books, films, and fandom) upon the release of Deathly Hallows in 2007. They’ve been avid Harry Potter fans since 2000, and even ran a gift store that specialized in HP accouterments and fantasy paraphernalia from 2006-2009. They have since performed at various symposiums including Portus 2008, LeakyCon ’09, and Wrockstock ’09. Their original songs have been featured on a variety of wiz-rock podcasts and charity compilations including Siriusly Smiling, and Jingle Spells 3. They regularly host HP-themed events in the Raleigh, NC area, and participate at various HP-related events along the east coast. When not playing wizard rock, Scott moonlights as the well-known SCA Bard “Efenwealt Wystle.” Their performance style blends comedy with musical theatre and neo-retro existential post-nihilism.

Listen to them at www.myspace.com/blibberinghumdingers

Website:   blibberinghumdingers.com

Feb 5 2012

Birt, Danny

Danny Birt was born about three decades ago in Washington State to Irish and Californian parents, and since then he has lived in Idaho, California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Louisiana, Florida, Hawaii, Virginia, and North Carolina. He attended New Mexico Military Institute in the small town of Roswell, NM, for his high school and junior college years, then pulled a one-eighty and went to a liberal arts college, Loyola University New Orleans, for his next two college degrees in music therapy and psychology. Most recently, he graduated from Shenandoah University with his Master’s Degree in Music Therapy.

Danny has played the roles of author and editor in science fiction, fantasy, and professional publications such as The Raintown Review, Strange Worlds of Lunacy, Flashing Swords Magazine, and Musica Ficta. He is also an editor for Cyberwizard Productions. His fantasy series “The Laurian Pentology” is being published through Ancient Tomes Press, with the books “Ending an Ending” and “Beginning” already in print.

In addition to literary publication, Danny composes classical and filk music, such as his nonstop hour-long piano solo “Narcoleptic Pianist,” and the ever-peculiar album “Warped Children’s Songs.”

Danny has now settled in Winston-Salem, NC where he employs his talents as a music therapist at Forsyth Medical Center. In his spare time, Danny’s hobby is finding new hobbies.

Guest Website: www.dannybirt.com

Feb 5 2012

Balder, Rob

Rob Balder is a professional cartoonist, singer/songwriter, game designer and web entrepreneur.

Most of his time is consumed writing and producing Erfworld, an epic fantasy/comedy comic about an obsessive strategy gamer who is summoned to fight a real war. Erfworld was co-created in 2006 with illustrator Jamie Noguchi, and continues now with the talents of illustrator Xin Ye. Time magazine named Erfworld one of its top ten graphic novels of 2007, and Wired.com called it “Geekiest Comic Ever.” The first physical book of the series, “Erfworld: the Battle for Gobwin Knob,” was published in February of 2011.

From 2004 to 2011, Rob also wrote and performed comedy songs, and recorded two solo CDs. The title track from his first CD, “Rich Fantasy Lives” was co-written with Filk Hall of Famer Tom Smith. It won the Pegasus award for Best Filk Song of 2007. In 2009 he collaborated with -=ShoEboX=- of Worm Quartet on a CD called “Baldbox: the Dumb Album.” Rob’s songs have often been heard on the Doctor Demento Show. In January 2007, he and six other comedy music performers founded The Funny Music Project, where they present new songs every single day, released under a Creative Commons license. The FuMP won the 2009 Parsec Award for Best Speculative Fiction Music Podcast. The annual Logan Awards for Excellence in Comedy Music were his brainchild, and Rob served as the first year’s chair in 2011, organizing a jury of musicians and fans which included “Weird Al” Yankovic. In October 2011, Rob reluctantly announced he was putting all music-related activities on indefinite hiatus in order to focus on comics and business.

In 2001, Rob created the clip-art comic strip “PartiallyClips,” which is widely read online and has appeared in more than two dozen newspapers and magazines. A book collection of the strip, “Suffering for my Clip Art: the Best of PartiallyClips, volume 1″ was published in 2005. Since 2010, the strip has continued under the authorship of Tim Crist.

He is the Associate Editor of Nth Degree, a fanzine covering genre fiction, gaming, comics, fandom and more. He writes science fiction and fantasy, including one unpublished novel and many short stories and poems.

Rob also teamed up with Pete Abrams of Sluggy Freelance to create “Get Nifty,” a stand-alone card game themed around Pete’s comic. Get Nifty debuted in stores in 2006, through Blood & Cardstock Games.

In August 2010, Rob launched a collaborative project with 6-time Hugo award winner Ben Bova. “A Duel in the Somme” is a 24-page color comic based on a story by Dr. Bova, and illustrated by nationally-syndicated cartoonist Bill Holbrook. The comic appears in its entirety at http://www.duelinthesomme.com, and physical copies can be had with a $10 donation to the creators.