Zenkaikon Guests of Honor
This page houses information about the current guests appearing at Zenkaikon.
Zenkaikon 2008 guest information
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The Slants are an Asian dance/rock band with a triad/yakuza theme. They hail from the Portland, Oregon area. Formed of members from The Stivs and Son of Rust, they are experienced and professional: the band has over 2,500 live performances collectively, and have worked with producer Jack Endino (Nirvana,Soundgarden, Murder City Devils) as well as shared the stage with Nine Inch Nails, Joey Ramone, Zeke, and The Black Halos. Their sound is self described as "A cross between The Faint, Joy Division, Gang of Four, Depeche Mode, and the Kill Bill soundtrack. You know: shooting & killing and sweet, sweet revenge. Occassionally, some people will say that we sound like the Asian version of The Killers." They have just released their first album "Slanted Hearts, Slanted Minds" which immediately caught the attention of international mass media.
The Slants have also been described as: "It’s a great story: All-Asian synthcore troupe lands anime festival, achieves instantaneous notoriety from overpacked fireball-laden maelstrom, inspires John Woo and Dragon Ball Z fans toward aggro electro and—just months after its first practice—books gigs across the globe. As shadow-warriory as the Slants’ rise has been, it’s still all about the tunes, and the band’s debut—floor-filling synth pop bristling with all the menace and grandeur of its oft name-checked cultural icons—is propulsive, cinematic and impossible to ignore." - The Willamette Week
"It's been said that everything that could be done in music has been done already; new artists are inherently boring, with nothing that is original or creative to offer. But those people hadn't heard The Slants (yet), a band who has everyone screaming for some "Chinatown Dance Rock." (from www.theslants.com)
Zenkaikon is thrilled to have The Slants in their first NorthEast coast performance!
Songs, video and other information is available at :
www.theslants.com (official website)
www.myspace.com/theslants
www.youtube.com/slantsvideos (you tube channel)
Le-aK† and his band ISORA are the "Dark Samurai of the Hidden Dragon Sign". Since early 2007, they have been actively spreading their dark virtues in Boston underground band scene . They combine Asian culture into Contemporary Hardcore Rock Music. Exotic and dangerous , these dark samurais plan to take on the scene with a new breed of American Visual Kei sound. They have just opened for Anti-Feminism and Hagakure (with Echostream) @ Studio B in Brooklyn, NY.
Check out their music here: Le-Akt'z Isora Myspace
A native of the Jersey Shore, Michele Knotz has always had a passion for acting. She was cast in her first animated voice-acting role as Hajime Yagi in "The World of Narue" in 2003. Since then she has also voiced Takako Kawashima in "Shootfighter Tekken," Matsumoto and various additional characters in “To Heart”, and Razali, Cindy, Greta, and The Fairy in “The Third.” In 2006, Michele landed the lead roles, Jessie, May, Misty and Nurse Joy for the Pokémon 10th Anniversary Special, “The Mastermind of Mirage Pokémon,” and continued to voice these characters throughout Season 9 of “Pokémon, the Battle Frontier.” She has also voiced the characters May, Jessie, and Manaphy for the Pokémon Movie 9, “Pokémon Ranger and the Temple of the Sea.” She has voiced the lead character, Chikorita in the Pokémon Special, “Pokémon Mystery Dungeon, Team Go-Getters Out of the Gate.” Along with human-speaking characters, she has voiced various Pokémon in the series such as Squirtle, Bulbasaur, Chimecho, Beautifly, Masquerain, Dustox, Cacnea, Mudkip and many others. You can catch Michele as May, Jessie, Misty and Nurse Joy at www.pokemonlearningleague.com; an interactive web site dedicated to educating children in Math, Science and Language Arts. In Season 10 of “Pokémon, Diamond and Pearl", Michele returned as Jessie and Nurse Joy as well as the Pokédex, Piplup, and many other Pokémon characters. Just released, Michele voiced the Pokémon Trainer, Squirtle and various other Pokémon in the Nintendo Wii video game:
“Super Smash Bros. Brawl.” Michele is extremely excited and happy to be a guest
at Zenkaikon this year and can’t wait to meet all the fans throughout the weekend!
Having just discovered the horrific elements that goes into the alchemy of a Twinkie, Uncle Yo returns to Zenkaikon to fulfill your comedic needs. Now a veteran for conventions throughout the East Coast, Yo comes prepared new stand-up material on video games, anime, manga, comic books, table-top gaming, and zombies. The cupcake returns - with vengeance! Check him out at www.myspace.com/uncle_yo .
One night after not going out and getting drunk, Matt Pascal and Jessi Bavolack realized that they were geeks in love. Having nothing better to do, they decided to create a webcomic to chronicle the crazy stuff that either happened or was imagined in their lives. Thus, "Geeks Next Door" was born. Jessi draws amusing pictures while Matt comes up with funny things to say. See what's new in the lives of the comic couple at www.geeksnextcomic.com.
Charles J Batschelet is the writer and illustrator of Subpar. Subpar is Charles’ outlet for his creativity and his first attempt at a webcomic. It has developed since its start in Oct. 2006 into a comic with a good core following. The characters are all aspects of Charles’ personality (such as mischief , or dry sarcastic humor), or those people who are special to his life. Check out the latest adventures of Pursey, Par, Squint and Bunny at www.subparcomic.com.
While wandering in Tokyo, Wilfred and Laura Robinson conceived of an idea to start a web comic to chronicle their exploits. The idea was tragically lost in a kaiju attack. Months later safely back in America, the stubborn idea found its way back to them, and interrupted one of their weekly D&D session. The comic and the game merged into one entity, and to make it hilariously funny Michael Gans joined them as a writer. Thus was born Friday Knights, where humor meets critical failure. Come join them at www.friday-knights.net.
CJ Henderson is the Origins Award winning creator of the Teddy London supernatural detective series as well as the author of over 50 books and novels, including such diverse titles as The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction Films, The Field Guide to Monsters, and Baby's First Mythos. Over the past 30 some years he has also written hundreds of short stories and comics, as well as thousands of non-fiction articles. With his work now translated into a dozen different languages, and his fame circling the globe, you would think this mighty literary figure would sit back on his laurels and simply bask in the sun. Instead, he fills his days with searching the streets for pennies and dreaming of platters filled with bacon. Come meet this truly, er ... unusual personality at his table during Zenkaikon. Bringing chicken legs will get you shoved to the front of the line.
You can check out CJ's website here: CJHenderson.com