More Miku Expo events this year!

The first Miku Expo, in Indonesia, was a great success. Just announced are two more Miku Expo two-day events, one on the eastern side of the USA and the other on the western side – but let this short video tell the story...

Miku Goes Gaga

The big Vocaloid news yesterday was the announcement that Miku is to be the opening act at sixteen of Lady Gaga's upcoming tour events. Although that is only a quarter of the 67 programmed, it is still a significant turning point in the western world's live music scene.

Of course, it isn't as one-dimensional as it might at first appear. Here is what I wrote on Facebook a few hours ago...

While I have inevitable reservations about this, it was likely (I think almost certain) to happen sooner or later.

For the organisers, promoters and performers, it is probably being seen primarily as a gimmick, to 'up the ante' relative to others' concert tours – but there will be at least some percolation of Miku's performance and general 'aura' into the audience's consciousnesses.

This will have little immediate effect, as those attending will be there for Lady Gaga, first and foremost; but the idea of 'sowing seeds' is a useful one, and during the weeks that follow will, I think, start to pay dividends – especially if one or more complete concerts end up for sale and/or on-line.

I have been saying for a while now that it is my belief that 2014 is going to be the turning point in Vocaloid going global: this series of events looks like being perhaps the single biggest part of that (much broader) transformation.

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There are those (and I am aware of at least two, probably three) who will say that this 'going mainstream' will mean the end of life as we know it – or words to that effect. I know that this will not be the case. At this stage, I have no idea what Miku will do: some of her usual material, in Japanese, some new material in English, or one or more Gaga items.

Perhaps there will even be a duet at the end of her (presumably quite short) set, which would make an excellent handover from the support act to the main feature. It would be almost a world first – though SeeU has done this with GLAM several times, and there have been others. The novelty factor with thiese audiences, though, would be quite something, if this were attempted.

Whatever comes out of this, I remain convinced that it will help the Vocaloid concept and sheer quality to seep into the western collective consciousness. The real global future in the genre starts here...

So, what is Synthesized Reality Productions?

Let Yume herself explain the basic premise of 'SRP', in under a minute...

New SRP Website Unveiled

The new website of Vocaloid concert producers Synthesized Reality Productions (SRP) has now been revealed to the world. From the dates on some of the (few) items there so far, it appears to have been active for several days, but under wraps until now.

Obviously these are early days, so there isn't much there as yet; but there are already some photographs from an event and a poll to ascertain where fans are on/near America's east coast, as there are several events coming up from which SRP could pick the potentially most successful for them. That, of course, is essential if they are to be able to go on to produce more concerts in the future: they need to carefully target their efforts, especially in these early, formative times.

I have bookmarked the page and I suggest that others interested in fan-based vocaloid concerts do so too, and keep at least an occasional watch for new material appearing on the site.

Miku is a Gadget

Well, the Gadget Show certainly featured Miku as their first item in the first of their World Tour episodes. Unfortunately I cannot find a way to embed the 3-minute clip here, but thanks to the Hatsune Miku Fansite I can provide a link to it.

There are several key moments in that clip, so I do urge especially British/western visitors here to follow the link and check it out. The Miku concert of 'ten thousand' in the audience, 'sold out a year ago', and the British presenters' own live reactions all show that this really is a phenomenon that is just waiting to have the same kind of effect here as it already has in Japan.

No longer can we say 'Oh, that's just the Japanese and their culture' when even British technology geeks find themselves caught up in the true spirit and atmosphere of one of these events. Their brief was to cover the technology, which they do, albeit briefly; but it is their comments (subtitled, as they aren't so easy to hear clearly) at the concert that tell the real story.

Incidentally, Miku/Vocaloid 'anoraks' like me will spot straight away that the music in some of the mini-clips within the video doesn't match the costumes and motion. Naturally I recognised them all straight away(!)

In Concert

This compilation by SEGA of excerpts from Vocaloid stage performances is a shortish (ten minutes) quick-and-easy reminder of some of what makes those events so much more than any others (and I've been to a fair few human concerts over the years, and watched others on TV or YouTube).

Instant wings, flying, immediate costume changes and the sheer exuberance of performers and audience alike (and never underestimate Len in this regard, as evidenced herein) all lift these events to a level I have never previously encountered. We are living in exciting times...

Medway Events Calendar

One of the problems we have had for years in the Medway area is in compiling and maintaining a single, central calendar of all events going on in the area.

A few websites have tried to cover as much of this as they are able; but there is no formalised and structured mechanism in place to enable a single-point-of-contact reference source to be effecively and comprehensively established. Some event-promoting sites don't even have an RSS feed, which is all they need to enable to permit others to be aware of and read (and link to) their announcements and related posts.

I was speaking to someone who runs one of these "What's On" sites, for Medway, at Bloggle earlier this week, and he agreed that persuading those in this business whose sites are currently without an RSS feed should be encouraged to switch the facility on. Then, and only then, what is after all only fairly basic technology can raise the quality and completeness of "what's on" centralised publicity.



A common 'header' format might well be useful, containing dates/times/locations and the booking contact info (or 'none' if there is no need to book), but I'd tend not to make that prescriptive, merely a suggestion or perhaps even a recommendation – but no more.



I cannot think of any reason why anyone who is already making public the details of one or more events could have any objection to letting other sites add their promotional muscle and readerships. It's what I'd do if I were in that line of work myself.

Medway's Year of Celebration

It really has been a tremendous year with many celebrations, festivals and other significant events in and affecting Medway during 2012.

Only looking back now at what actually has happened (no longer merely promises and hopes, as some might have thought mere months ago) can we now appreciate the sheer extent of this year's special events and what they signify.

I'm not going to go into great detail here, as there are many resources that cover one or more of these events and celebrations much more fully than I ever could – especially (though far from being alone) the excellent Rochester People website.

Briefly, though, on top of the usual Dickens Summer and Christmas festivals, FUSE, the Will Adams Festival, Sweeps, the new and traditional markets (including this and other Christmas Markets) and the other regulars, we had our first River Festival, the Dickens Bicentenary celebration, our City bid and all that went with that, various sporting specials (not just what we did here for and during the London Olympic Games) and no doubt at least one or two others I cannot recall just at the moment.

On top of those, we also participated very strongly in the Queen's Jubilee celebrations with a host of street parties among other very visible activities. Indeed, I saw the bunting still up in a couple of roads a week or more later on my own travels around the Towns...

While reading these words doesn't in and of itself mean much to anyone who hasn't 'been there', for those who have (such as the intrepid Jaye Nolan and Cllr Chris Irvine, whose presence at – and photographing/videoing of – just about everything that happens has become near-legendary) it really does mean something. In fact, it means a lot!

Indeed, I have been at a number of events this year, as previously, but not as much as I'd have liked owing to my ongoing health issues. This fact is a stark reminder to me of just how much I am now missing, though involuntarily, and perhaps that above all else brings the significance of living in a truly vibrant community home to me.

For all its faults, the frequent cynical demeanour of many of its people, and the 'Chaviness' that seems to permeate at least some of its High Streets and by-ways, it's till a great place to be. Let the year 2012 be a strong and powerful reminder of that fact!: it deserves to be