The 5th Generation of Rock'n'Roll

Maybe it was Tony James’ FLEECE THE WORLD t-shirt, or his smirky mugging for the MTV video cameras…or that his bandmates were initially selected for their looks and attitude, not their musical ability… or that the band hyped their way to a contract from EMI which reportedly landed [Read it all...]]]>

The 5th Generation of Rock'n'Roll

Maybe it was Tony James’ FLEECE THE WORLD t-shirt, or his smirky mugging for the MTV video cameras…or that his bandmates were initially selected for their looks and attitude, not their musical ability… or that the band hyped their way to a contract from EMI which reportedly landed them millions of dollars… Maybe it was the group’s selling advertising space in between the songs on the album… okay, okay,  so Sigue Sigue Sputnik gave you plenty of reasons to hate them (which is one of the reasons I love them), but they also hooked up with synthesizer god/Oscar-winning film composer Giorgio Moroder and made one of the best 21st Century Cyberpunk albums to come out of the 20th Century.

Flaunting my toy-box version of FLAUNT IT

Packaged in a colorful Manga 3-D cardboard box like a Japanese Robot Toy, FLAUNT IT piled up influences (and often samples) from Blade Runner, Crash, Dirty Harry, Mad Max, Rambo, A Clockwork Orange, and Apocalypse Now over a monster mash of rockabilly, glam, punk, dub and synthpop.  Like a UK  Suicide with shiny new instruments, semi-automatic weapons, a codpiece full of video game tokens, and a lifetime subscription to Blockbuster Video, the band billed themselves as ‘Hi-tech sex, designer violence, and the fifth generation of rock ‘n’ roll’, while playing out their own version of The Great Rock’n'Roll Swindle for the video-agers.

So where did these smarmy little cyber-pests come from, anyway? After Generation X lost their fizzle and Billy Idol hit the charts with 1982’s ‘White Wedding’,  and after a brief stint in the Lords of the New Church (in which he wrote what was easily their best song, Russian Roulette’), bassist Tony James decided to give his ex-bandmates some competition by creating the ultimate rock’n’roll weapon.  James named  his dream band after a Russian street gang , Sigue Sigue Sputnik (‘Burn Burn Satellite’) , and created a postmodern Frankenstein’s Monster.

James:  ‘Take Elvis, put him in Blade Runner. Give him Donna Summer ’s rhythm section, with two drummers, get Marc Bolan on guitar, put the whole thing in dub, add a bit of rap, add a bit of sound effects, mix in the sound of movies like A Clockwork Orange…like Blade Runner…like Scarface. That’s what Sigue Sigue Sputnik Sounds like.”

SSS Advertisement

After nailing the UK charts at #3 with their debut single, ‘Love Missile F1-11’, which also appeared in the hit movie “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” the same year, Sigue Sigue Sputnik  released their 1986 debut album, ‘FLAUNT IT’.

Critics panned it . Dismissed it as hype. Said every song sounded the same.

Well…So what if every song does kinda sound the same? To tell you the truth, I’d be extremely dissapointed if they didn’t.  Every SSS song sounds the same the way every reggae dub song, or every blues song, or every (good) Ramones song sounds the same. And that’s a good thing, earthling. Tracks like “Massive Retaliation” and “Atari Baby” are nice shots at breaking form, but it’s the ones that endlessly go ” dun-nuh-nuh-nuh- dun-nuh-nuh-nuh- dun-nuh-nuh-nuh- dun-nuh-nuh-nuh…” with singer Deg yelling stuff like “SCI FI SEX AND ROCKETS, BABY!” over the top that really do it for this space cowboy.

Shoot it up!

The Sputs transcended being simply a novelty band into being a complete work of Pop Art, much like Pete Townshend did with The Who , who also featured ‘ads’ on their 1967 concept album ‘The Who Sell Out’.  The public outrage and attacks by the media became just as much a part of Sigue Sigue’s  image and concept as did their singer wearing fishnet stockings over his head. If you were in on the joke, you were in for a very good time.  This month marks FLAUNT IT ’s 25th anniversary , and it’s still a tastefully tasteless blast of humor, ingeniously stupid lyrics, and studio trickery at every turn, and with shiny new copies available today on Amazon.com for under five bucks, still true to one of the group’s many slogans: ‘Affordable Firepower’.

(EDIT: Hey! Hey! I just got an email from Mr James, himself, about this article: “A great piece – well written by someone who obviously gets what it was all about – Tony James“)

NEXT WEEK: MAKE MINE MAGMA!!!

On January 22nd, First Storm Manga is holding their first Mezasu Mini-Con at C4 Workspace. This is not your typical anime convention, but aimed at people who are interested in creating comics and supporting original art from local comics and manga artists. We made it our mission to find [Read it all...]]]>

Austin Rogers of Redbeard Comics

On January 22nd, First Storm Manga is holding their first Mezasu Mini-Con at C4 Workspace. This is not your typical anime convention, but aimed at people who are interested in creating comics and supporting original art from local comics and manga artists. We made it our mission to find out more about Mezasu Mini-Con, so we dialed up First Storm’s Austin “Redbeard” Rogers looking for answers. Here are the straight facts, directly from the bearded one.

Missions Unknown: What is the Mezasu Mini-Con?

Austin Rogers: Mezasu Mini Con is a new event that First Storm Manga has put together in order to create opportunities for original artists and writers, mostly in the form of manga and comics. We have a no “fan art” policy, so the public gets to experience only original art at the event. Creators can promote their art and stories without having to compete with the mainstreams of their genre.

MU: What kind of exhibits or activities can attendees expect? Who should attend?

AR: Every hour will be filled with workshops and panels that deal with everything from how to draw chibis to character development.

First Storm Manga presents Mezasu mini-con!

Three raffles will held throughout with various prizes. Also, most artists will be available for commissions as well.

All attendees will find something to enjoy, but those who are aspiring artists and writers, or just enjoy local art, will benefit the most.

MU: How many creators are you expecting?

AR: We will have nine creators in all, each with their own style and experiences to share.

MU: Tell us about the workshops you have scheduled and the presenters; which one are you looking forward to?

AR: A few of the workshops we have include “Organizing Your Story: Outlining & Scripting” by Ket Naki (head organizer for First Storm Manga), and “Introduction to Brush Inking Your Comics/Art” by Amanda Coronado. Amanda’s a local San Antonio artist whom I’m really looking forward to her workshop because I’m about to make the switch to brush inking with my own comics.

MU: The con is at C4 Workspace, that cool co-working place in Southtown, a seemingly unusual venue for this sort of event. How did you get hooked up with C4?

AR: In the early days of planning the event, I came to C4 for an unrelated meet-up and I had a good feeling about the place. I was able to visualize the convention there and the staff has been very accommodating.

MU: Explain briefly to our readers who may be unfamiliar, what is First Storm Manga? How many people are involved?

AR: At its core, FSM currently consists of four artists and writers that are working to create opportunities for aspiring creators in the manga/storytelling genre. We do everything from holding free workshops at local libraries to we create free compilation books with local artists. Find out more at www.firststormmanga.com.

MU: OK, my Japanese isn’t that good, what’s ‘Mezasu’?

AR: The word Mezasu is Japanese for “to aim at” or “to aim for” which is the heart of what the convention is all about. Also, the symbols mean creativity.

MU: How’s the San Antonio manga scene? What’s the latest locally-grown creation we need to check out?

AR: With more and more events being held in the manga genre, I think it’s doing pretty good. As far what’s locally grown, you’ll have to come to the con to find out!

We enjoy our fair share of manga and anime here at Missions Unknown and so we’ve had A.C.E.S. (the Anime Cultural Enthusiasts Society) on our radar for a while. A.C.E.S. claims to be the number one Texas anime community and with 298 Anime Otakus (members) [Read it all...]]]>

Franklin Moormann: President of A.C.E.S. and founder of Ooples.com

We enjoy our fair share of manga and anime here at Missions Unknown and so we’ve had A.C.E.S. (the Anime Cultural Enthusiasts Society) on our radar for a while. A.C.E.S. claims to be the number one Texas anime community and with 298 Anime Otakus (members) in their meetup group we’re not going to argue. Then we found out that the head A.C.E. just launched a new site featuring anime and cosplay themed apparel and we just had to know more. To sate our thirst for knowledge we put the questions to Franklin Moormann, president of A.C.E.S. and founder of Ooples.com

Missions Unknown: Tell us about A.C.E.S., the Anime Culture Enthusiasts Society. How long has the group been around? What is your role and what is the membership like?

Franklin Moormann: A.C.E.S. has been around for about 2 years so far. We run 3 meetings each week usually, consisting of things like cosplay nights (where we all dress up in cosplay), ACES Studio meetings (which is where our artists in the group make their own manga and we publish it for them and give them full credit), bloodbath nights (our adult nights), and normal meetings where we usually watch anime and sometimes discuss it. The meetings are almost always followed by hanging out in different San Antonio restaurants where we usually chat and play tabletop games for hours on end. The group is extremely self sufficient. My role is President in title but really all I have been doing for the past 6 months is posting the meetings that members run, and I get the location set up for them and provide them with the materials needed to run the event. Anyone can make their own meeting for anything they are interested in if they like, and we make it happen. Our meetings generally have around 20-30 people at the main meetings and around 15 or so at the smaller meetings.

MU: Are meetings open to everyone? Are anime showings family friendly?

FM: Yes, our meetings are open to everyone and everything we show is family friendly except for our bloodbath nights, of course, which are held at Klub Atomix, San Antonio’s best goth club. If there is any anime that is around PG-13, we will make sure to let the members know before we show it, just in case. Most of our meetings are held at Bobalicious Internet Cafe, which is the best place to find bubble tea and is located near the corner of 410 & Evers, right next to the Heroes & Fantasies store.

MU: What is the appeal of anime to you?

FM: I can’t quite put my finger on why I have always enjoyed anime so much. I have always thought that its because anime is so different from traditional American cartoons and there is so much more variety with anime compared to most cartoons that you see here, not to mention the fact that anime seems to be much easier to come by.

MU: Many people these days claim to be anime fans. There are a variety of videos for sale at major retailers and there are dedicated blocks of programming on TV. What does A.C.E.S. add to that mix? What will attendees get that they won’t get elsewhere?

FM: Well, our main focus with all of our meetings has been to educate, and that generally means that we will show the anime in its original language, which is Japanese with English subtitles. We also don’t show anime that is on TV, so that means we don’t watch the popular anime, like Bleach and Naruto, at our meetings. We almost always watch anime that has just come out in Japan and hasn’t arrived in America yet. We are proud of the fact that we show great anime that will become popular here, and all of our organizers, especially my Vice President Miyu Awan, pick really great anime that you won’t see anywhere else.

MU: You recently launched a new web site/business venture, Ooples.com. Give us the capsule synopsis of what it is about.

FM: Ooples.com is my answer to the problem that most geeks and anime lovers seem to have: Where can I find good quality geek clothing? Our answer is all 100% unique clothing that you are not going to find anywhere else, like our tentacle monster hat, raccoon hat, panda hat, and all of our shirts and other types of clothing. We will be adding posters soon and other things like messenger bags and ladies tank tops.

MU: How is Ooples.com doing? What kind of feedback have you gotten? What are your best-selling products?

Tentacle Monster Hat

FM: We are doing great! We are extremely busy with orders all of the time and we have just recently started to make a profit. We are about to launch a new site layout which will give us the ability to put much more info and make it easier to order and that should be launched very soon. We have received nothing but good feedback so far, but since we are only 3 months old that may not mean much. Most of our feedback has been that people love our original designs and they send us pictures of their kids wearing the product or themselves wearing the product. Our best selling product is most definitely our tentacle monster hat since we are always sold out of it and some of our other great selling products would have to be the I’m With Baka shirt, Get a Life shirt, and our raccoon hat.

We also have a retail location opening up at San Antonio’s Wonderland of the Americas Mall on June 15 in the Marketplace there.

MU: Products like the hats are very unusual, who’s making them? Are you staying up late every night stitching panda hats?

FM: I have two seamstresses, Crystal and Amber, that work for me and do a great job with making our hats, and they have been known to stay up until the wee hours in the morning making hats, especially if we have a big order or an upcoming convention. I’m still trying to learn how to make the hats, and sadly I have never used a sewing machine before, so I’m learning my basics first.

Franklin Moormann creating more shirts

MU: Besides A.C.E.S and Ooples, what occupies your time?

FM: I run the San Antonio Vegan Group called Vegans In Action, and I also run the San Antonio Lyme Disease Support Group. I’m one of those people that like to always stay busy with something. The good part of that is that I never have a boring day, but the bad part is that I never seem to have any time to watch anime or some of my favorite scifi shows.

MU: I recently attended Mizuumi-Con and was struck both by the number of anime/manga fans and even more so by the number of cosplayers and their enthusiasm. Are you a cosplayer? Give us an insight into this subculture…what’s the big deal?

FM: I don’t really call myself a cosplayer, but I have always wanted to make my own costume and dress up as some of my favorite characters. You will see me cosplaying soon though. Most cosplayers do it because they either want to get attention for their hard work or to go all out and become their character for a couple of hours. All of the cosplayers do it because they simply love that particular character.

MU: I would assume that a con like the upcoming San Japan would have a big draw to A.C.E.S. members. Do you attend the local cons? What is your impression? Does the group have a booth/table/presence at any?

FM: I try to help support the local conventions as much as I can, but ever since I started Ooples.com I haven’t had much of a chance to go to a convention for fun unless I’m running a booth in the dealers room. We won’t be at San Japan this year, but we have gone the previous 2 years, and we have been to Mizuumi-Con and O-Conn the past 2 years also. A.C.E.S. has had a booth at most of these conventions for the past 2 years, but we weren’t able to get a table at San Japan this year.

MU: How about giving us a couple of your top fives?

FM: My top five anime/manga are:

• Maison Ikkoku
• Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne
• Kaiji
• Monster
• Moyashimon

My top five SciFi shows are:

• Babylon 5
• Firefly
• Doctor Who
• Farscape
• Battlestar Galactica

San Japan [Read it all...]]]> Japanese culture and media have been very influential to mainstream American media in varied ways, some as obvious as Godzilla, others as subtle as an American remake of a Japanese horror flick. If you are a fan of Japanese culture, movies, anime or manga, SAN JAPAN is the place for you this weekend.

San Japan is San Antonio’s annual Japanese Culture and Anime Convention. This is the second year of the con and it is shaping up to be a big one. The 2008 show was a huge success with over 3,500 people attending! This year con organizer Dave Henken anticipates crowds in the 4,000+ range.

The list of events is lengthy. You can see and partake in Cosplay (costumed roleplay), Otaku-lympics (mock-olympic showdown), Ani-Idol (sing your favorite anime or video game song), concerts, a charity auction, panels, workshops, dance, art, interactive anime screenings and so much more.

There will be plenty of guest stars at the convention including voice actor Travis Willingham (Fullmetal Alchemist, Dragonball Z), Laura Bailey (Fruits Basket, Fullmetal Alchemist), Chris Patton (Bubblegum Crisis 2040, Nerima Daikon Brothers), Christopher Ayres, Jonathan Joss (King of the Hill, Jonah Hex) and hoards more. Antarctic Press, San Antonio-based purveyors of excellent comic titles like Gold Digger and Ninja High School will be in full effect with lots of creators on hand.

Expect concerts with musical guests the LeetStreet Boys, Tadahisa Yoshida, Random (a.k.a Mega Ran), ZeaLouS1, Katsuhiko Jinnai and Loliholix. Through in a healthy mix of dancing until 4AM and 24-hour video gaming and you have a powerful concoction of fun.

This event is definitely worth a visit.

San Japan 2.x is going on all weekend, August 14-16, at the San Antonio Municipal Auditorium (100 Auditorium Circle) and the Holiday Inn El Tropicano Riverwalk hotel (110 Lexington Ave). 3-Day Weekend Passes and Single-Day Passes are available at the convention. Get a taste of San Japan on their YouTube channel and follow the happenings on Twitter.

DAVE HENKIN is not one of us. He’s not a San Antonio guy. So why is he being profiled for “Made In SA”? Quite frankly, because in two short years, Dave has become one of the key shapers of San Antonio’s genre scene. He’s [Read it all...]]]>

SAN JAPAN'S MAN WITH A PLAN: Dave Henkin means business.

DAVE HENKIN is not one of us. He’s not a San Antonio guy. So why is he being profiled for “Made In SA”? Quite frankly, because in two short years, Dave has become one of the key shapers of San Antonio’s genre scene. He’s making such a meteoric impact that we just had to interview him and find out the skinny for ourselves. He’s the chairman of the emerging Japanese culture and anime convention, SAN JAPAN, based right here in San Antonio. He’s been attending fandom conventions for over six years and has been running San Japan for over two years. Read on and find out why this Austinite is one of the rising stars of fandom and why his San Japan show is already one of San Antonio’s annual must-see events.

Favorite authors, books, films, and anime include: Dave Barry, Douglas Adams, Chuck Palahniuk, Douglas Coupland, Neil Strauss, BATTLE ROYALE, FIGHT CLUB, CHOKE, HITCHIKER’S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY, MICROSERFS, THE MATRIX, AIRPLANE!, MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL, DONNIE DARKO, AZUMANGA DAIOH, INITIAL D, THE MELANCHOLY OF HARUHI SUZUMIYA, REVOLUTIONARY GIRL UTENA, and LUCKY STAR.

You live in Austin and yet you’re the chairman of a booming convention that’s shaping San Antonio’s genre scene. How did this happen?

There is a long story behind how San Japan came to be what it is today, but in essence, the abbreviated version is that a collective group of anime fans that were regular attendees at multiple conventions across Texas assembled to organize an anime convention in San Antonio since it hadn’t been done before. A young woman, who lived in Schertz, thought this was possible based on a crazy conceptual dream on putting a convention together. We started work on this huge project back in Fall 2005. My arm was kind of twisted to help out this group so I ended up backing San Japan and help front the startup costs by signing the paperwork necessary to create San Japan LLC. We were able to secure a hotel to host the convention.

However, before it even happened, it nearly fell apart since our staff was admittedly ill-experienced in the convention business. Some of the original people behind San Japan decided to depart including the young woman who originally created San Japan, but I decided to keep the dream alive, which started by reorganizing the group. I spent a lot of time and energy researching on convention organization, recognized a lot of our internal flaws then overhauled the communication within San Japan so we flowed well as a group. It has been a quite a learning process.

How many people do you expect for this year’s show? How do you get the word out?

This year we are expecting around 4000-4500 attendees. In our first year we brought out over 3500 attendees total, which shattered our previous expectations. Building on very positive word-of-mouth, our group pushed forward to raise the bar which we set for our first year. We continue to advertise at every large Texas anime convention across the state, at local conventions in San Antonio and with the cooperation from several large local stores we were allowed to advertise. We do not rely solely on word-of-mouth as San Japan is setup on many major social networks to ensure that any updates made on our website are also duplicated on different social networks to help spread the word. At the same time, I created Internet advertising campaigns on popular social websites and Google to take advantage of its capability to advertise to key demographics within the state for the same cost of a couple cups of premium coffee each day leading up to the convention.

To create continual interest, we held several mini-events including sponsoring a one-day convention at Our Lady Of The Lake University in March 2009. We also participate at large events around the city to continually promote the convention. In the past, we would receive generous help from people who would participate in street teams to push the word about San Japan. It is a lot of work but as a large collective we never stop trying to turn over every stone to get the word out within our limited budget.

Are most of the con-running committee Austin-based or are they a mixture of SA and Austin-based folks?

Our main staff is spread throughout the state of Texas. We have people based in Dallas, Houston, Austin and San Antonio who are dedicated to helping our group. It makes staff meetings a bit difficult to hold in person but since most of the people on-board are tech-savvy as we are able to communicate efficiently online.

How about the attendees? Are most of them local or are you seeing folks from much further out attending?

About 70% of the attendees are local or within an hour driving distance but we’re pulling in people from all over the state including all of the major cities and even unlikely places like Abilene, El Paso and cities in the Rio Grande Valley. Based on records from our pre-registration in 2008, we had attendees from 15 different states attend our convention. In 2009, we have attendees from 17 states and 3 countries including Australia who are attending this year’s convention.

What are one or two favorite events happening at this year’s San Japan that you’re personally excited about?

Last year when Smile.dk surprised us by accepting our invitation to be our main musical guests to perform in their first-ever North American concert, I admittedly ‘fanboy’-ed when I finally met them in person, as I had been a fan of their music for a very long time after being introduced to them through the dance simulation game Dance Dance Revolution. The musical acts we invited this year have been thanking me for the chance to perform at San Japan but at the same time I have to admit that I’m probably most excited to finally meet some of our musical guests that will be performing at our convention this year.

Are you a big reader of manga and how did you first fall in love with Japanese genre culture? Was it via anime or manga? Any specific faves that you still highly regard today?

At one point I did immerse myself deeply in manga but it has waned over the years due to the high cost of purchasing the books since a series can be an upward of 25 to 35 books which can be a hit on the wallet. While I was introduced to anime while in high school, I was a late bloomer as I was recommended to NEON GENESIS EVANGELION by a good friend while in my early 20’s and fell in love with it immediately. I was local patron of a couple anime & indie movie stores in town picking up everything that I fancied. I went beyond anime to become immense in the Asian pop culture and its different types of music and movies. I decided to check out a local anime convention back in 2003, which lead me to become caught up in the culture. I don’t hold any series in truly high regard or watch it constantly but I do have many favorite series including the five favorites that I listed above.

The influence of manga and anime on American pop culture is completely assimilated into every fiber of today’s American comics, film and fashion. Are you seeing any new Japanese genre trends, products, comics, or films that American audiences haven’t experienced yet, but may be coming down the pike soon?

The real peak seems to have happened back in 2005 when there was an explosion of anime in America and its influence became affluent here. There have been new trends within the genre after it hit its plateau in 2005 but none that will be groundbreaking or likely will be coming to America since they are quite Japanese-centric which would not have commercial success in America.

You’re a big lover of dance video games. How did this come to be?

At one point in my life I was in a big rut after I had ballooned up to 260 lbs and I didn’t have much of a motivation to lose the weight. I was a regular patron of video game arcades when they still flourished so when a local arcade in Austin got a game called Dance Dance Revolution [DDR] back in July 2000, like anime, it was almost love at first sight. It was a fun, challenging game, which you could sweat your behind to catchy songs. I would spend hours a day at it and spent a lot of money at every chance I could get. It was quite a workout and I noticed I was losing a lot of weight as I dropped 70lbs after a year in playing DDR. This would be my gateway to being introduced to other music-rhythm video games and have been a fan of it for almost a decade.

Not just anyone can organize a successful convention. It takes a special drive, passion and skillset. What would you say is your biggest strength as the organizer and chairman of San Japan? Also, what do you most love about your job?

Besides making it an obsession to make it the best convention possible, I think my biggest strength is learning to treat the convention as a business but at the same time be kind and compassionate to my staff and volunteers. I try to keep a high-level of internal communication so my main staff isn’t in the dark but I treat everyone from staff to volunteers fairly. It has a trickle-down effect. If I am able to make my staff and volunteers happy, they in turn will be glad to help out the convention, and our attendees will see it along with having an enjoyable experience. This would be the best part I love about the job. While we still have a core mission to spread the word about Japanese Culture & Anime, I love to see the smiling attendees having a fun time at our convention, due to all of our hard work.