This doesn’t mean the end of Possible Oscar. Obviously we need to figure out what to do about our lineup for live performances, but since nothing is booked on that front for a while, we have some time. As far as recording goes, the magic of the Internet will allow Nathan to still participate in that. We have several songs in various states of readiness for the next album. Look for Nathan’s unmistakable presence on new tracks in 2012.

And now we begin our annual holiday hibernation. Expect only sporadic activity for the remainder of 2011. Happy Holidays!

Up first is our brand new Google+ page. It’s a bit barren at the moment, but there should be new content filtering in as the weeks progress. If you’re on the Google+, make sure to add us to your circles to keep up on all the band news.

Second, we’re working on setting up our Google Music artist profile. This one might take a little longer to get completely set up, but once it’s done, you’ll be able to listen to and buy our music through Google Music and the Android Market. (Direct line to artist friends: go claim your profile today.)

Oh, and Barfleet rules the party scene. We might have to come back next year just to attend the Barfleet party.

Our next show is this Friday, November 18. Come on down to Club Underground in Minneapolis where we will nerdily rock the stage along with Thosquanta and Mommy Sez No. This is a 21+ show. Cover is $5. Visit our shows page for more information.

In other convention news, we’ve been booked to perform once again at the greatest sci-fi and fantasy convention in the land, CONvergence! We are performing an acoustic set in Harmonic CONvergence on Saturday, July 2 at 1:00 PM. Stop by for a midday break from your panel hopping.

RSVP for Possible Oscar @ CONvergence 2011 (Facebook event link)

Two songs on Dementia Top 20

This week we have two songs on the Dementia Top 20 countdown. “Scrollin’” debuted at #17, while “Frogger Is Killing Our Culture” returned to the countdown at #7 after taking a week off. John also got a solo play for his new song “I Know the Secret of the Shake Weight“.

Thank you for your continued support, and keep those votes coming!

The Funny Music Podcast

Jared and Nathan represented the band on the weekly podcast for The FuMP. We talked about our latest single and tried to explain why our appearances on The FuMP have been so sporadic over the last few years. You can listen to the episode here.

E.P. available for advance order

The Long Overdue EP is now available for advance order on CD in our store for the low price of $4.99 + S&H. Orders received before the release date of March 4, 2011 will ship on March 7. Get a jump on your holiday shopping by buying now!

Acoustic Recording

We’ve been hard at work recording music for Songs from the Hammock. Two songs are essentially complete — the previously-released “All Out of Beer” and “Wolverine (Don’t Stop Readin’)” will likely see some tweaks for this new EP — and basic tracks for three other songs have been recorded. There are vocal overdubs yet to complete as well as final mixes. We’re looking at a late September/early October release.

POscarCast Podcast

We’re continue recording a podcast on a semi-regular basis. Each episode is a brief glimpse into what’s going on with the band and as many childish jokes we can cram into 10-15 minutes. Subscribe to the podcast feed (subscribe in any podcatching software) or through iTunes (subscribe in the iTunes store) to keep up with every episode.

Jared Works for Others on The FuMP

Jared appeared on three tracks on The FuMP in August in one capacity or another. First up was “Big Oil Spill of Love” by Hot Waffles on which Jared played drums. Next was “Twitter Tweetin’” by Carrie Dahlby; Jared joined many other comedy music artists in reading one of his favorite funny tweets. Finally, Jared joined Devo Spice and Insane Ian in taking a verse on the great Luke Ski’s rap ode to Mel Brooks, “It’s Good To Be The King“.

All three tracks are available free for a limited time at The FuMP (http://www.thefump.com/)

John’s Solo Work on Bandcamp

John re-released his solo work through the online music service Bandcamp. There are currently three volumes of material available, including the original motion picture soundtrack to Collecto Mondo (which includes drums and percussion by Jared) and a series of covers of well-known Sesame Street songs. Everything there is worth your time, so stop over at John’s Bandcamp site (http://johnmapes.bandcamp.com/) and take a listen.

Nathan Will Mock You

If you’re heading to the Minnesota Renaissance Festival this year, be sure to stop by the stocks to see Nathan in a kilt making jokes at the expense of some poor soul who was sold out  by his or her friends.

New Album for Sale

Our new album Individual Results May Vary is available now on CD and as a download. You can buy either version from our new web store, powered by Bandcamp, for $9.99 for the CD or $7.99 for the download.

http://music.possibleoscar.com/

That’s what we’ve been up to. Thanks for being a fan.

- Possible Oscar

CONvergence 2010

We performed at CONvergence! What? You missed it? Shame on you! The show went well, and while we didn’t have the packed house that we had last year at 10:00 on Friday evening, we had a decent crowd who seemed to be content to spend 45 minutes listening to us wail on a Saturday afternoon. I think our stage energy was good, and that’s what matters, right? CD sales met expectations as well. Thanks to you (yes, you) if you bought our new album.

We attempted to stream the concert live on Ustream using a cell phone, a feat that was too much for the poor device’s battery to handle for the entire show. You can check out bite-sized clips of our show on our Ustream channel. I can only assume that the phone kept losing its connection frequently, resulting in the short videos. We might do more live PO events in the future, so follow us on Twitter to get notified when the channel goes live.

New Album for Sale

Our new album Individual Results May Vary is available now on CD and as a download. You can buy either version from our new web store, powered by Bandcamp, for $9.99 for the CD or $7.99 for the download.

http://music.possibleoscar.com/

PO on the Radio

Possible Oscar was a call-in guest to the Sarasota, FL radio show “Geekin’ Out w/ Skippy & The Dude” on Sunday, July 18. We talked about the new album and the history of the band as well as nerdy topics like pencil and paper gaming and spaghetti western movies. I believe you can stream the episode for the rest of the week at the radio station’s website. Our thanks go out to the hosts for having us on. We had a blast!

Podcast

We’re now recording a podcast on a semi-regular basis. Each episode is a brief glimpse into what’s going on with the band and as many childish jokes we can cram into 10-15 minutes. Subscribe to the podcast feed (subscribe in any podcatching software) or through iTunes (subscribe in the iTunes store) to keep up with every episode.

—-

That’s the news for July. If you can’t be good, be bad. And if you can’t be bad, be purple.

- Possible Oscar -

Next up: sales. Glorious, glorious sales. That’s where you come in. The CD will be available at CONvergence this weekend for $10 each. There is also still time to pre-order for $9.99. Pre-orders get free shipping and a future free download code for Songs from the Hammock, an acoustic EP due out this summer. We will accept pre-orders through July 5. All pre-order CDs will begin shipping on July 6.

See you at CONvergence!

New Album Progress

The new album is still on-track to be released at CONvergence 2010 on July 3. We’ve seen the art proofs — the UPC means it’s real — and the master CD should be in the hands of the duplicator as we speak. Monday looks like the day we’ll be receiving the CDs, which means there’s a possibility those of you who have pre-ordered the album will be getting it a bit earlier than expected. That brings us to…

Pre-order Our New Album

There’s still time to pre-order Individual Results May Vary! A measly $9.99 gets you a new CD shipped to your designated address absolutely free. Pre-order customers will also receive a download code in the future for a free copy of our forthcoming Songs from the Hammock acoustic EP. Head on over to the store page to reserve your copy today.

Possible Oscar @ CONvergence

We will be performing once again at Minneapolis-St. Paul’s premiere speculative fiction convention, CONvergence. This annual four-day convention unites thousands of science fiction and fantasy fans in an orgy of geeky expression. Possible Oscar’s brand of nerdy rock fits right in.

Our performance is on Saturday, July 3 at 3:30 PM in the Harmonic CONvergence room. Come on by to enjoy 45 minutes of funny rock music if you are attending the convention. Did we mention you can buy our new CD right at the show? Now we did.

CONvergence schedule event link
Facebook event link

Possible Oscar Podcast

We’ve started a podcast! Each episode is 10-15 minutes of silliness recorded after our weekly practices (or as often as we feel like it). We talk about what’s going on with the band, we get to know the members of Possible Oscar a little more personally, and sometimes John  improvises a song. Subscribe today to get episodes delivered as they are released.

Podcast feed (subscribe in any podcatching software)
iTunes link (subscribe in the iTunes store)

——

That’s the news. Thanks for sticking with us.

- Possible Oscar -

We have until Friday, 1/15 to reach the goal or some artists might have to back out because their won’t be enough funds to cover everyone’s lodging (keep in mind the artists are traveling to MarsCon at their own expense). You can help by purchasing the MarsCon 2010 Dementia Track CD/MP3 set, or by making a donation at MarsConDementia.com.

The MarsCon 2010 Dementia Track Fund Raiser CD/MP3 set is now for sale!

Aside from the Music Guest Of Honor, MarsCon doesn’t have the budget necessary cover the hotel or travel costs of the dozen or so comedy music acts that come in from across the country to perform at MarsCon. The members of the con staff are awesome, and they help us out in many other great and important ways, but being a fan run con of 800 or so attendees, they just can’t provide our dementia track performers with leer jets, limo rides, and an unlimited supply of bacon (no matter how many times I ask them for the bacon). That’s why three years ago we started the MarsCon Dementia Track Fund Raiser CDs, which is set up to raise money to cover the hotel room costs for those acts who are coming in from out of town, as a way to help take care of at least one of the two big costs involved for them to come out and rock the house.

Here’s what he have for this year:

The MarsCon 2010 Dementia Track Fund Raiser: 3-CD set – $30.00 (An optional MP3 download of all tracks is included with purchase. Price includes shipping)
http://marscondementia.com/products-page/2010-cds/marscon-2010-dementia-track-fund-raiser-3-cd-set/

The MarsCon 2010 Dementia Track Fund Raiser: MP3 Download Only – $20.00 (Contains all the tracks from the CD version. Length: just under 4 hours)
http://marscondementia.com/products-page/2010-cds/marscon-2010-dementia-track-fund-raiser-3-cd-set-download-only/

The set is comprised of tracks recorded live at MarsCon 2009, and includes music by Rob Balder, Possible Oscar, Positive Attitude, The Nick Atoms, Devo Spice, Worm Quartet, Power Salad, the great Luke Ski, MC Lars, The Feng Shui Ninjas, Wally Pleasant, participants in the Dementia Fan Showcase, DJ Particle, Carrie Dahlby, Marc Gunn, W. Randy Hoffman, Beth Kinderman, Soggy Potato Chips, and Insane Ian.

If you’re interested in hearing a PREVIEW of the 2010 Fund Raiser set, I’ve created a special 30 minute PodCast that you can listen to and/or download for free here:

http://badrapport.com/podpress_trac/web/30/0/LCBR_Ep004point5.mp3

We also still have CD & MP3 sets available from 2009, 2008, & 2007’s Fund Raisers at MarsCon Dementia.com.

Thanks for ordering and supporting the MarsCon Dementia Track.

~ Luke Ski, MarsCon Dementia Track co-chair
http://marscondementia.com

TRACK LISTING for the MarsCon 2010 Dementia Track Fund Raiser 3-CD set:

DISC A:
1. When We Go To MarsCon – The Dementia Fun Bus Crew
2. Sonata beatbox ottoman Yakety Sax intro
3. Fark Trifecta
4. Keep Your Paws To Yourself – Rob Balder
5. Re: Your Brains (Alternate Ending)
6. O RLY?
7. Never Say Never – Rob Balder
8. Possible Oscar intros without cowbell
9. Never Gonna Beat This Boss – Possible Oscar, featuring Carrie Dahlby
10. Raking The Lawn – Possible Oscar, featuring Worm Quartet
11. Killin’ My Boner – Positive Attitude
12. Space Jam – Positive Attitude
13. The Return Of The Nick Atoms
14. Dr. Ted Nelson wants some gratitude
15. G.I. Joe – The Nick Atoms
16. Spooky coincidences outro
17. Twitter intro
18. Written On Twitter – Devo Spice
19. Give It To Everybody – Devo Spice, featuring Carrie Dahlby
20. The Geeks Come Out At Night – Devo Spice, featuring the great Luke Ski
21. ShoEboX-luppagus intro
22. Worm Quartet 2009 intro
23. The Laundromat Of Sin – Worm Quartet, featuring Soggy Potato Chips
24. Chanting with ShoEboX
25. Short Bus Suite – Worm Quartet
26. Commander Kafka: Space Roach – BaldBox
27. Mommy’s Broken – Worm Quartet, featuring Possible Oscar
28. Power Salad freestyle intro
29. The Table Near The Band – Power Salad

DISC B:
1. The Fire At The Old Diploma Mill – Power Salad
2. Dementia Radio Jingle – Power Salad
3. Battlestar Rhapsody – the great Luke Ski, featuring Carrie Dahlby,
Power Salad, and Worm Quartet
4. Too Much Stuff – the great Luke Ski
5. Dementia Revolution – the great Luke Ski & MC Lars
6. MC Lars & Damondrick Jack talk about MarsCon
7. MC Lars got ShoE-rolled
8. (Lord It’s Hard To Be Happy When You’re Not) Using The Metric
System – MC Lars & Worm Quartet
9. Demented phone sex line & progressive radio
10. Re: Your Brains (Sound Check) – Feng Shui Ninjas
11. Writing A Book – Feng Shui Ninjas
12. Fruity Oaty Bars – Feng Shui Ninjas
13. Greensleeves – Feng Shui Ninjas
14. Marvel! – Wally Pleasant
15. She’s In Love With A Geek – Wally Pleasant
16. Monster’s Last Ball – Wally Pleasant
17. Hi My Name Is Luke Ski – Soggy Potato Chips
18. Crazy Duck In Space – Breakman Z
19. Hero’s Quest (Whoops! Quest For Glory) – Blasted Bill Putt
20. The Scotsman – Gifted Gear
21. Hi My Name Is Blasted Bill – Soggy Potato Chips
22. Flash Drive – DJ Particle
23. Hi My Name Is Alchav – Soggy Potato Chips
24. Smash The Frickin’ Fairies – Karl Brown
25. PC ‘08 – DJ Particle

DISC C:
1. Sunday intro
2. Dear Britney (Oops, I Did It Again)- Carrie Dahlby
3. Stupid As Charged – Carrie Dahlby, featuring Devo Spice
4. A Drop Of Vulcan Blood – Marc Gunn
5. The Mining Ship The Red Dwarf – Marc Gunn
6. Cookin’ By The Book (Li’l Jon Remix) – Carrie Dahlby, featuring the
great Luke Ski, Worm Quartet, Power Salad, and Earl Luckes
7. Goddammit Marc Gunn, Shut Up About Your Cat – Worm Quartet
8. Space Game – MC Lars
9. Domino Death – Devo Spice
10. Robots – Possible Oscar
11. Don’t Worry, Be Happy – Feng Shui Ninjas, featuring Nate Boi
12. Desperation – W. Randy Hoffman
13. Drinking Song – Beth Kinderman
14. Guitar Hero – Insane Ian
15. Caturday – Soggy Potato Chips
16. There’s Something About A Zombie – Insane Ian, featuring the
MarsCon 2009 Dementia Track performers
17. MarsCon 2009 Dementia Track outro
18. SPECIAL THANKS & MARSCON 2010 PREVIEW

The main reason for our absence is the fact that Jared and John are appearing in that other band thing they do, The Nick Atoms. We’ll be performing an hour set as MarsCon 2010’s musical guests of honor. This show promises to be a audio/visual feast for the ages — or at least a way to ride out your evening buzz before heading to the 13th floor to refill your tankard.

This marks the first time Possible Oscar has not performed at MarsCon since our inception. I have it on good authority we’ll be back in 2011. Who knows, we might even have some new material by then.

Thanks for sticking with us. Now get out there and pre-register for MarsCon 2010 before the rate goes up after 10/31.

The process for entering:

1. Record a video of yourself doing a rock pose or performing other rock behavior at work. Use our song as inspiration for what is considered rock behavior.
2. Upload your video to YouTube with the phrase “Possible Oscar Rock Is FTW” somewhere in the title and description.
3. Comment on the contest post with your name, email address, and a link to the YouTube video. Feel free to include a story of your best work-related rock rebellion.

This video contest is your chance to demonstrate to us that you are a full-fledged disciple of the “Work Is For The Weak, Rock Is FTW!” creed. Additionally, we may use your video clip as part of the music video for “Rock Is FTW!”

We will select the best video from entries submitted by October 16, 2009. The winner will receive the forthcoming “Work Is For The Weak, Rock Is FTW!” T-shirt free of charge in a size of his or her choosing.

Contest Rules and Regulations

This contest is open to all individuals anywhere in the world, except where prohibited by law. Entries will be accepted from Friday, September 11th 2009 through Friday, October 16th 2009 at 11:59 PM CDT.

To enter, individuals must create a video demonstrating a rock pose or rock behavior in a workplace environment. The video must then be posted on YouTube (http://www.youtube.com) with the phrase “Possible Oscar Rock Is FTW” in the title and description. Finally, users must comment on the contest post, including their name, email address, and a link to the video on YouTube. No purchase is necessary to enter.

By submitting your video to this contest you are granting Possible Oscar the non-exclusive rights to use the video in any format and for any reason that we see fit, including promotional, performance, and commercial uses. Entrant agrees not to seek additional compensation for the use. The entrant retains all other rights to the video and is free to use it, license it, or sell it to any third party for any reason so long as it doesn’t infringe on Possible Oscar’s right to use the video.

Winner will be chosen by vote of the members of Possible Oscar. Voting will take place after the closing date of the contest. The winner will receive a free “Work Is For The Weak, Rock Is FTW!” T-shirt. (The design of this shirt was pending at the time the contest was announced.) Winner will be announced by October 31, 2009.

Thanks to everyone who has requested it. Please continue to request the song if you want it to appear on the show again, maybe even reaching the monthly top 10.

I’m also enjoying the heck out of the site as a listener. I like acquiring reputation points to level up; I like completing quests; I like finding new music. This thing is like an RPG, and I probably waste more time than I should on it.

Thanks to anyone who requested our song. Feel free to request them again.

In the “better late than never” category, also posted are photos from CONvergence 2008 and our performance at The Terminal Bar back in January.

You should check it out, they have lots of free stuff.

Mighty thanks go out to everyone who came to our show. Also, thanks to the rest of the artists that made up another weekend of fabulous music, and resounding thanks to the great Luke Ski for his continued efforts to coordinate the Dementia music track at MarsCon.

The plan is to get photos from the weekend posted this week after they have been collected from various sources. I can’t promise to get the video up right away, but video was shot and will be shared eventually. We also want to get the “Throw Your Spock Up” T-shirts up on the web for sale.