Holy Road Trip, Batman! (Part 1)

This past weekend, I went on an epic, short, road trip. I left Thursday night and was home Sunday night. Every now and then, I just sort of get the bug to leave town. It's not a sort of situation where I'm "running" from anything, but I just like being out and about, visiting people, seeing new things. You get the drift. This desire has been niggling at me for the past few months, so I just sort of decided that I had to make it happen soon!

After discussion with the friends and family I was planning to visit, I realized I could get visits in with Christie and Laura (both are friends of mine from the Harry Potter and Wizard Rock scene) as well as finally get to see my little brother perform in a show (he played Frederic in Pirates of Penzance Junior). To top it off, I was able to knock off 3 of my Accompl.sh goals in the planning (21. See Christie for a proper visit, 36. Visit Dad, Kim, and the boys, 83. Go for at least one road trip for the purpose of being on the road).

With as little time was dedicated to the trip, I ended up having a seriously awesome weekend filled with fun, excitement, and near-death (read: almost dangerous) driving experiences!

On Harry Potter Tattoos and a Call for Opinions!

When I got my first tattoo, everyone kept insisting that tattoos are addicting and once you get one, you won't be able to stop. I assured each person who gave me this piece of advice that I wasn't going to get more tattoos. I might get one more someday, but it wouldn't become an addiction where I end up with a sleeve. And hey, it looks like I was right! Of course, I currently have two tattoos and am planning my third. I have never gotten a tattoo without a minimum of 1 year of thought into it, so the third won't be emblazoned on my body anytime soon.

When I was back in high school, I never expected to get any tattoos at all. Anytime I ever thought of typical tattoo ideas, I instantly realized that if I got any of them, I would regret it someday. I like to make a point of living my life without regrets, so it was pretty easy to discount the idea of ever getting any tattoos. All of a sudden, I wasn't just a huge Harry Potter nerd, but had become integrated into something more than just a fandom. I had joined a real community. And not even with other regular fans, but I became more interested in and involved in the world of Wizard Rock. That's when I realized I wanted a way to show the world just how much this all meant to me. The thought of getting a tattoo was renewed in my mind and, for the first time, it actually sounded like an awesome idea. About 2-3 years later, I had my first tattoo.

T-Shirt Uses

As you may know by now, I have made the decision to cut back on a lot in my life. This includes the amount of clothing I have (which is entirely too much). The most difficult to part myself with are my Wizard Rock and other awesome HP related t-shirts. But I have so many. And I only wear some of them on any kind of regular basis. So why do I have them, I keep asking myself.

So I went through most of my t-shirts (only missed a few as they were in a different location at the time) and made two piles outside of the closet. In the closet, I'm keeping. Outside the closet are the random shirts/articles of clothing I'll be donating to the local Salvation Army and a separate pile of all my HP and Wrock shirts that I've had trouble getting rid of but don't wear for one reason or another. But I don't want to just donate them. I want them to come to more immediate use.

Here are my ideas: take pictures of the shirts I'm getting rid of and offer them to whoever wants to pay shipping and/or take a select number of them and cut them up, turn them into sort of canvas/reusable bag, get that bag signed by Wrockers at Wrockstock and auction it off for the HPA.

Maybe I can do both? Make the bag and offer out the rest of the shirts that didn't get cut up to go into the bag?

What do you all think? I'd love to hear opinions!

Daily Wrocket Preview #2

Below is my next preview from the Daily Wrocket as it stands at this moment. I'm sure there will be some minor editing to this section, but I feel pretty good about where it stands now.

The below preview is the entire page titled "What is Wizard Rock?" It is designed to provide a basis of understanding of the genre for outsiders and (hopefully) a modicum of pride for insiders.

Any and all comments, suggestions, and constructive criticisms are welcome! Either comment here or email me at: dinah@dailywrocket.com

What is Wizard Rock?

Wizard Rock is, at its core, music about Harry Potter. This does not mean every song is solely about the boy wizard (not to deny that a decent amount of them are), but rather that the musicians involved in the movement write songs inspired by the characters, events, and themes found in the book series. Just as a "Muggle" music (as some of us Wrock fans refer to non-Wizard Rock) is inspired by everyday happenings, emotions, and situations, Wizard Rock is inspired by the same things, but with a focus on them as seen within a specific book series.

A Brief History of Wrock

It is widely accepted that the first Wizard Rock song was 'Ode to Harry' in 2000 by the band Switchblade Kittens that was later put onto their album The Weird Sisters. While I agree that this was one of the very first songs about Harry Potter (and certainly the first one to be widely distributed), I peg the beginnings of Wizard Rock taking place approximately a year later with the advent of Harry and the Potters.

"But wasn't it the first big song about good ol' HP?" you may be asking yourself, "I thought you said Wizard Rock was music about him?" Yes, but it's not quite so simple as that, as you'll see discussed in the section below on what seperates Wizard Rock from other music scenes.

Paul and Joe DeGeorge, also known as Harry and the Potters, started making music about Harry Potter by a happy accident of last minute cancellations from bands slated to play in their backyard. I'm sure it was stressful at the time, but I call it a happy accident because those bands cancelling essentially created a new musical genre.

The Potters started touring and telling anyone and everyone to start their own bands about Harry Potter as well. To their surprise and great joy... many of their fans did begin creating bands after listening to their music. Some of the first bands were Draco and the Malfoys, The Whomping Willows, and The Parselmouths.

Over the intervening years, nearly 700 Wizard Rock bands have popped into existence, some of which have stuck around and released extensive discographies (Catchlove and Ministry of Magic stand out in my mind at the moment), and some of which have released no more than a single song and left the band behind entirely after that.

If you'd like to read a more complete history, check out the History of Wrock posted on the Wizrocklopedia. Or better yet, order yourself a copy of the Wizard Rockumentary and watch with an open mind!

What Makes Wizard Rock Stand Out From Other Music Scenes?

While it all started as a single band, Harry and the Potters, one of the key ingredients to Wizard Rock is the community element. There's a reason I refer to it as the Wizard Rock Community in discussion (whether with newcomers to the idea of Wrock or to veterans of the community). Wizard Rock, by and at large, is very Do-It-Yourself. Most bands write their music, record, master, burn to CD, design and create album art, and anything else in the long "To Do" list of making an album all by themselves or with the help of friends. It's not unheard of to have music professionally mastered or to send an album out to be professionally manufactured when demand is particularly high, but that does not negate the creative process that the Wizard Rocker goes through prior to that point in production.

But that's not all, folks! Wizard Rock has this amazing tendency to support various charities and non-profits through touring, charity compilations, and general fund raising. The Whomping Willows' Matt Maggiacomo is one of the forerunners in charity fund raising, having raised money for disaster relief in Haiti and for the Harry Potter Alliance, among other charities. Also on the map for their extensive work are Paul and Joe DeGeorge (Harry and the Potters), Stephanie Anderson (Tonks and the Aurors), and Jarrod Perkins (Gred and Forge), among many others.

One charity that has received upwards of $15,000 over the years from various fund raising (including the Wizard Rock EP of the Month Club run by Paul DeGeorge) has been First Book, an organization promoting literacy by providing books to children in need. In this regard, they share an important feature of the Wizard Rock Community: the promotion and spread of literacy. As is made pretty obvious, the entire Wizard Rock genre is inspired by a book series. All of us Wizard Rockers and Wizard Rock fans are also fans of this spectacular book series that inspired us to make music, love each other, and share our passions with complete strangers with similar interests. We want more than just our music to spread, we want a love of reading to spread to those around us and those listening to this music.

This is what makes Wizard Rock stand out: We aren't in the general mainstream, we don't have competition among bands, our musicians have a very DIY and independent attitude toward their music, and the Community at large has a major focus on spreading literacy and supporting non-profit organizations.

All I can say to this is: Awesome!

Where Can I Learn More About Wizard Rock?

The very best way to learn more about Wizard Rock is to explore it for yourself. My favorite way to do this is to find the myspace page of any Wrock band and to start looking at their friends list. There, you'll see a ton of other Wizard Rock bands. Just keep clicking around and listening to more music! You never know what you'll come across!

If you don't have the time to spend clicking around, feel free to peruse the Wizrocklopedia for a list of as many Wrock bands as have been located so far and news updates on what is going on in Wizard Rock. Alternatively, you can check out Real Wizard Rock for a seriously awesome selection of Wizard Rock lyrics from many of the genre's biggest (and some lesser known) bands.

And if all of this sounds like too much work, just sign up for the EP of the Month Club for a mere $60 (the entire profits of which go to benefit a non-profit organization). You will receive a total of 12 EPs over the course of the year, sent out quarterly. That's only $5 per disc! And you'll get a seriously rad selection of Wizard Rock to listen to!

The Daily Wrocket

As the Daily Wrocket official website is still in progress (and thereby closed to the public), I have decided to post at the least a very small preview from what is ready so far: a portion of my answer to the question, "What is the Daily Wrocket?"

So sit back, relax, and read a little about the Daily Wrocket to give you an idea of what it's all about!

What is the Daily Wrocket?
Have you ever considered how music plays into our lives and the effect it has on masses of listeners? I hope to use this project as a way of learning about and sharing the effect that Wizard Rock in particular has on the individuals who listen to it every day by observing the bands instead of the listeners.

I will be taking a different Wizard Rock band each day for 365 days and focusing my thoughts and discussion of Wizard Rock through them. The ultimate goal of the Daily Wrocket is to take an alternative approach to listening to music and sharing it with others. This is not a project where I plan on listing a band each day with their rap sheet of albums and music to date. No - I want to react to the music, to the band, and to the impact each band has had on the Wizard Rock Community, the Harry Potter Fandom, and on my own personal life.

I hope for this to be a very personal approach to music, Wizard Rock, and the challenges that arise in a small, close-knit community and how we rise above them to grow closer and stronger than ever before.

If you're a Wizard Rocker and would like to have a write-up about your band on the Wrocket, please email me at: dinah@dailywrocket.com I will send you interview questions to answer so I can make your write-up as awesome as possible!

An Update After a Long Time

I recently realized how ridiculously long it's been since I've done any kind of blogging here. A lot has happened in the meantime:

• My opinion article turned fiasco


• Azkatraz


• Running two productions at my local theatre (still running the second one now)


• Freya went to Europe for two weeks


• Preparing as much as possible for the Daily Wrocket


• I moved out of my old house


• Staying with my grandma until the next place is ready


• Continuing to work anywhere between 42 and 50 hours a week

I'm sure there's more, but I'm having trouble remembering more than that right now. It's pretty ridiculous, to be honest.

In any case, I've been doing a lot of thinking about a whole ton of stuff lately. Among these things is where the Wizard Rock Community is right now and what the future of it is. It's a terribly interesting train of thought and I'm working on writing up a few things about it right now. None of them are quite ready and I'm still trying to decide where I want to post them. One option I've been considering is re-instating my bi-weekly "Straight From the Dinah Saur's Mouth" column, but I have yet to determine whether or not I'll have time for that, what with the Daily Wrocket coming along so swiftly. We'll see.

Speaking of the Daily Wrocket, I've got a decent amount of the information for the website itself written. I'm collecting Wizard Rock email addresses and interviews to make my writing about them better and more interesting, but I'm slacking on actually getting write-ups written so far. I need to just sit down one day and start going through what I've got, listening to music, and writing my thoughts on what's going on. Hopefully I'll have time to do this sometime this weekend. Hell, I should just make time for it. It's the only way I'm going to get anything done. I can write about the bands I have interviews from and even do some write-ups on bands that haven't been active in an extremely long time. I don't anticipate getting a response from any of them regarding interviews, but that doesn't mean I don't have enough fodder to write about them!

I've purchased the domain name and have an email all set up. I just need to get the domain name linked to my blog (which is proving to be troublesome at this point, I think I just need to actually call their customer service on this one). Also, my lovely Aelfie is designing banners, icons, and the like for me. Once I have those, I plan on getting the web design set up (with the help of the ever-awesome Aaron, who also does the web design for the 'Pedia), and to start using social networking sites to begin promoting. By then, all the info pages will be up on the website and maybe I'll post occasional thoughts about my progress prior to the official launch to keep people updated and interested.

Well, I really ought to get going now. I just thought I'd give a basic update now that I have thought about it! Hope you're all having a wonderful day and that everything is awesome in your lives!

Some input, please?

x-posted from a note on Facebook

Hello Friends!

I have decided to try an interesting project. I don't know how well I will do it, but hopefully it will be awesome! What I'm doing here is looking for input (positive, negative, and constructive are all welcome! Especially constructive. :P). Additionally, I am trying to figure out WHAT to call it. I honestly haven't a clue at the moment. So maybe title suggestions?

So here's the idea:
I want to choose a different Wizard Rock band each day of the year for 365 days. Each day I would listen to as much music from the chosen band as I can, provide a helpful list of their songs and/or albums, review the band, reflect on Wrock as a whole in relation to this band or as brought up by the band, potentially make a vlog once a week or something along those lines.

At this point, I just have a vague outline of what I'd like to do. So what things would you like to see happen with a project like this? What would be a good name for it? What are your thoughts on what has been going through my mind so far?

Thanks for your input, everyone!

UPDATE: Suggestions I've received so far have essentially been to go for it, but have a few ready in advance for days when I can't make it to the computer.

Working Out

Follow-up on yesterday's post:

Things have worked through. Took about 20 hours longer than it should have, but it's fine.

ps. I forgot how much I like the song "Snape vs. Snape" by MoM until it just turned up on my iTunes on shuffle. XD

An Introduction

So this is it. Me.

A little about me. I'm Dinah. Fondly known in the Wizard Rock world as Dinah Saur. To be honest, I had the nickname Dinah for somewhere near 4 years before I realized that adding a "Saur" on the end turned me into the extinct beast with which I have so long been fascinated. Sometimes I'm just a little slow on the uptake. Similarly, one of my greatest weaknesses is probably the fact that I'm extremely gullible. No, not enough that I'll look it up in the dictionary when you tell me it's been spelled incorrectly, but I sometimes take a bit of extra time to figure out when someone is speaking in jest.

I am a huge fan of Harry Potter and pretty much everything created by Joss Whedon. I am a gamer and enjoy a good graphic novel or interesting comic. I not only listen to Wizard Rock, but I help run a site dedicated to spreading the word and the love of the genre.

More than anything else, I highly doubt anyone will want to read any of this. I don't see myself being interesting enough for people to check my blog or any of it. Despite that, I find it's just nice to have somewhere to let out my thoughts. So enjoy when it comes up!