Nerdist @ Meltdown’s 1st Live Event! BLACK DYNAMITE PANEL, 4/4
by Chris Hardwick on February 25, 2011
Holy crap you guys! It’s happening! It’s happening!!!
Several weeks ago, Matt, Jonah and I had the pleasure of podcasting with Kevin Smith at his versatile omni-space, The Smodcastle. At the time, I had been looking for an office to plant the tiny sapling of Nerdist Industries, a hive for all of the Nerdist activities and hopefully spawning ground for new ideas. The second I walked into Smodcastle a light went off. YES. THIS!!! Our offices needed to have a performance space. A place where we could do our live podcasts and experiment with other live shows. As an LA comic, my biggest complaint is the lack of quality venues. There are certainly a few, like UCB or the Tigerlily show and maybe 2 or 3 others I can think of. It had to be done, and I openly admit that I stole the idea from Kevin.
For a few weekends I drove and actually WALKED around Hollywood and Silverlake, looking for something, anything. But the pickins were slim. Casually mentioning this to Jonah Ray he instantly blurted out, “You should talk to Gaston over at Meltdown. He’s got office space and is always looking to do fun stuff. I’ve done several shows at Meltdown, like Jonah, Kumail & Emily Gordon’s excellent Wednesday night show. Our live stand-up special was recorded there. It’s a GREAT space. The second I walked in, I knew it was perfect. And Gaston is a quality dude who has been serving up comics and toys to LA area nerds since 1992. AND SO IT CAME TO PASS. Note, we are not taking over all of Meltdown, just the performance space and the offices above it. We will aspire to program nerdy comedy shows of varying nature (stand-up, sketch, panels, movie nights) as many nights of the week as people want to come see shows. Tickets will be in the $10 to $15, depending on the event. This is not designed to “get me rich” off ticket sales. Running a performance space costs a bit o the green, so that’s where the majority of that money will go. We also will tweak the space a little, build out the stage and upgrade the a/v system. IT WILL BE FUN.
And so it gives me TREMENDOUS pleasure to announce our first event!!!!
Nerdist Podcast Live @Meltdown: BLACK DYNAMITE!
NERDIST INDUSTRIES and ARS NOVA present: Nerdist Podcast Live @Meltdown: BLACK DYNAMITE!
…to celebrate the release of issue #1 of the new comic BLACK DYNAMITE: SLAVE ISLAND!
Joining Chris, Jonah and Matt will be Michael Jai White (“Black Dynamite”, co-writer), Byron Minns (“Bullhorn”, co-writer), Scott Sanders (director, co-writer), Brian Ash (comic author, writer for The Boondocks) to chat about one of the making of the greatest Blaxploitation comedy of all time, and its extension into the comic world. Musical performance by the film’s score-master Adrian Younge and The Black Dynamite Sound Orchestra.
Signing immediately to follow the panel! Also, the first twenty Black Dynamite fans to show up for the panel will receive “Fight Smack in the Orphanage” wristbands! PLUS, trivia for swag!
Original art by Jun LoFamia will be on sale to satisfy the collector in you! Come be a part of this epic podcast/film/comic/music mashup event!
Monday, April 4th, 8pm $15
The podcast panel is not mandatory and the signing itself will be FREE, but panel attendees will receive priority line access
If you know anything about me, you know that this is one of my favorite movies so I am BEYOND psyched. Please join us for our inaugural event! We’re in the process of arranging food trucks and free beer (if we locate a beer sponsor, which I’m confident we will).
Also, for exclusive offers and Nerdist @ Meltdown announcements, follow the newly-created @NerdMelt.
Hu. ZZAH.