More news as it comes…

Tickets go on sale Friday 2/17 at 10 am Pacific! on sale now!

UPDATE: Confirmed guests include: Bonnie Burton, Marian Call, The Doubleclicks, and Rob Reid. SECOND UPDATE: new confirmed guests include John Roderick, Patrick Rothfuss, John Scalzi, and Joseph Scrimshaw.

http://bit.ly/w00t4SDCC

w00tstock: Founders’ Night will be an evening with the “Core Four”*: Adam Savage, Wil Wheaton, and Paul and Storm. We’re already plotting and planning plenty of squee-worthy shenanigans, and of course you can expect lots of surprise special guest appearances, too.

So get your tickets soon; they’re likely to go fast. You can haz!

w00tstock Founders’ Night
Marines’ Memorial Theatre, San Francisco, CA
Sunday, January 29 – 7:30 pm
Tickets:  http://bit.ly/SFSFw00t

*we are not referred to as the “Core Four”.

All tickets for tonight’s show will be honored for the Sunday show. If you have a ticket for tonight’s show and cannot attend the rescheduled show, full refunds will be granted.

We apologize for any inconvenience, and hopefully will see you Sunday night!.

Then the LED lightbulb went off above our heads: instead of just doing w00tstock as a bunch of small shows in theaters, why not do ONE BIG HONKIN’ ANNUAL MULTI-DAY w00stock FESTIVAL, and pull out all the stops?

That’s precisely what we’re planning to do. More specifically:

• Multiple full days (probably three) of geeks and music in a big, comfy indoor space that has wi-fi (you didn’t seriously think we’d ask you to put your iPad down in the grass, did you?)
• Performances and appearances by familiar w00tstock favorites and even MORE of the biggest bands, actors, comedians, writers, artists and other creators and performers from the geek/nerd and related universes, on a REALLY BIG STAGE.
• Other stuff that nerds love: panels, signings, a place for exhibitors to show off their cool crap, and space to gather and game.

But the w00tstock festival will not be a convention in the traditional sense. It will be a high-energy, geeked-out concert festival experience.

At its heart, a w00tstock festival will be a “normal” convention turned on its head: instead of spending all your time waiting in line for panels, you’ll have a guaranteed spot for the Main Stage performances, where a parade of the geek/nerd world’s best and brightest will do their thing like rock stars ALL DAY LONG for MULTIPLE DAYS.

We already have a pretty good idea of when (2nd half of 2012), and a number of possibilities for where, but we want to hear from you before we nail it down—and we want to know what your perfect w00tstock festival would look like. So please take a couple of minutes to answer the quick polls below to help the w00tstock festival goto AWESOME right out of the gate.

UPDATE (July 11)

JOINING WIL, ADAM, AND PAUL AND STORM AS GUESTS:

Amy Berg, writer/co-exec. producer of SyFy’s “Eureka“, comes by to class up the joint!

Ernie Cline will bring his spoken word-ery and speak into a microphone! With words!

Molly Lewis in her triumphant (and legal) w00tstock San Diego return!

Rifftrax (Bill Corbett, Kevin Murphy and Michael Nelson), who will be bringing their bag of riff and bringing it HARD!

John Roderick, the half-wookiee, half-yeti, all-indie rocker whose music will put a binding spell on your soul!

Jason Finn, perennial favorite and rock-steady beat of w00tstock!

Mike Phirman, your New Favorite Person In the World, who WILL NOT REST until you are WRITHING IN PAIN with laughter!

  More coming soon! (And by “more” we mean “special guest appearances that will remain Top Secret until the show.”)

NERDS & MUSIC

Paul and Storm will be performing a couple of shows in Seattle and Portland this month, entitled “Nerds & Music”. Joining them will be w00tstock veterans Hank Green and Mike Phirman. Come on along and join them for an evening of music by, for, about, and in front of, nerds.

Wednesday, March 23 – Nerds & Music (with Hank Green & Mike Phirman)
The Triple Door, Seattle, WA – 7:30 pm
Tickets:  http://bit.ly/hoTtks

Friday, March 25 – Nerds & Music (with Hank Green & Mike Phirman)
Aladdin Theater, Portland, OR – 8 pm
Tickets:  http://bit.ly/iaxnd2

WIL WHEATON VS. PAUL AND STORM

As you might possibly guess (if you are incredibly perceptive), Wil and Paul and Storm are teaming up for a night of music, stories, surprise guests (including no-longer-surprise guest and “Venture Bros.” voice actor James Urbaniak), and pirates everywhere. This will be one for the ages, folks. (All ages, that is) (Get it?)

Tuesday, March 29 – Wil Wheaton vs. Paul and Storm
Largo at the Coronet, Los Angeles, CA – 7:30 pm
Tickets: http://bit.ly/h2vuPk

As has been discussed previously, Wil Wheaton will be unavailable for these shows (much to everyone’s chagrin, including his own); so we have called in some favors and formed a veritable Murderer’s Row* of Emergency Backup Wil Wheatons to fill in for (never replace) Your Friend Wil.

Also, all of the shows listed below should be considered HALLOWEEN SHOWS; the wearing of costumes is heartily encouraged. (However, please don’t wear any costumes that will hinder other people’s view and/or enjoyment of the show; leave your 3 foot wide ceremonial headdresses at home, please)

Here’s the story:

Wed. 10/27: w00tstock 2.6 – Los Angeles – A “mostly music” show, in honor of the 40th anniversary of the Dr. Demento Show!
Largo at the Coronet Theater – 7:30 pm
Tickets: http://bit.ly/w00tLA
featuring Chris Hardwick as “Wil Wheaton”
Confirmed guests: Garfunkel & Oates; Hard ‘n’ Phirm; Molly Lewis; Mike Phirman; Eric Schwartz; Maurissa Tancharoen and Jed Whedon; special appearance by Dr. Demento; multiple special surprises!

Fri. 10/29: w00tstock 2.7 – New York City
Best Buy Theater – 7 pm
Tickets: http://bit.ly/w00tNYC
featuring Jonathan Coulton as “Wil Wheaton”
Confirmed guests: Marian Call; Drew Curtis; Jason Finn; Grant Imahara; MC Frontalot; more to come!

Sun. 10/31: w00tstock 2.8 – Boston
Wilbur Theatre – 7 pm
Tickets: http://bit.ly/w00tBoston3
featuring Bill Corbett and Kevin Murphy as “Wil Wheaton”
Confirmed guests: Marc Abrahams; Marian Call; Grant Imahara; more to come!

Tue. 11/2: w00tstock 2.9 – Austin
Paramount Theatre – 7 pm
Tickets: http://bit.ly/w00tAustin2
featuring Neil Gaiman as “Wil Wheaton”
Confirmed guests: Bill Amend; Jason Finn; Molly Lewis; Mary Jo Pehl; “Red Vs. Blue” creators Rooster Teeth; Stephen “Stepto” Toulouse; more to come!

Wed. 11/3: w00tstock 2.10 – Dallas
Granada Theater – 7 pm
Tickets: http://bit.ly/w00tDallas
featuring Paul F. Tompkins as “Wil Wheaton”
Confirmed guests: Bill Amend; Jason Finn; Molly Lewis; Stephen “Stepto” Toulouse; more to come!

Check back for updates as we confirm more guests for these shows!

* Not actual murderers.

Special bonus: our good friend and Bad Astronomer Phil Plait will also be on hand to…we dunno, to talk about something science-y or something; anyway, he’ll be there, too.

Show details:

Saturday, October 23 – 7:30 pm
w00tstock presents: Something or Other, with Adam Savage and Paul & Storm
with special guest Phil Plait
Boulder Theater, Boulder, CO
Tickets: http://bit.ly/bsSwH3
NOTE: Admission is all ages, but some material may be inappropriate for younger children

Now, then…a few preemptive questions and answers:

Q: Will Wil Wheaton be there?

A: Unfortunately, no.

Q: Is this a “full w00tstock”?

A: No. Wil won’t be there, and there won’t be other guests besides Phil, nor short films, etc. This will be a more “straight-ahead” concert performance.

Q: Why won’t Wil be there/why isn’t this a full w00tstock?

A: There’s myriad reasons; let’s just sum them up with “because.”

(Slightly longer answer: we wanted to do a show in the Denver/Boulder area, and the logistics wouldn’t work for a “full” w00tstock this time around; but since the venue and date were available for Adam and Paul & Storm, we thought something would be better than nothing.)

Q: Then what’s with the “w00tstock presents” part?

A: Because w00tstock is presenting it, silly.

Q: If this show does well, does that mean you’re more likely to bring a real w00tstock to Colorado?

A: It sure won’t hurt! We’re not keeping score or anything, and this isn’t some sort of official test you have to pass; but it is true that we have a limited number of possible w00tstocks per year, and one of the primary determining factors for locations is perceived demand (or, in the case of places we’ve been, established demand). So this applies to anywhere, not just Boulder: strong attendance at a double-bill show like this (or “w00tstock Lite”, as some have been calling it)—and there will likely be more of these type of shows in the future—increases the likelihood of our bringing the full circus to town at a future date.

Can I bring my small child? He/she loves MythBusters!

A: Depends on the child, their maturity, and what you think they can handle, content-wise. As noted above, some material may be inappropriate for younger children. It won’t be a nonstop stream of cursing and obscenity; but there may be some adult themes and/or language. Caveat emptor. (If you’re unsure what to expect, seek out some YouTube performances from Adam and Paul & Storm from previous w00tstocks and judge for yourself)

The shows are at the Great American Music Hall on Thursday & Friday, September 16 & 17. The Friday show is SOLD OUT (though some last-minute tickets and/or SRO tickets MIGHT be made available at the door—no promises, though); tickets for Thursday night are still available, and may be purchased here.

Here are the final complete lineups for each show, hosted by Wil, Adam, and Paul and Storm:

THURSDAY NIGHT

• Bonnie Burton (blogger, content developer for Lucas Online; grrl.com)
• Jamais Cascio (futurist, openthefuture.com, worldchanging.com)
• Jason Finn (The Presidents of the United States of America)
• singer/songwriter/adorable person Molly Lewis
• comedy musician/also-adorable person Mike Phirman

FRIDAY NIGHT

• singer/songwriter/adorable person Molly Lewis
• comedy musician/also-adorable person Mike Phirman
• Phil Plait (Discovery’s “Bad Universe”)
• magician and “Honest Liar” Jamy Ian Swiss

…not to mention various SPECIAL SURPRISES we have in store for each night. Are you going to be there? (Correct answer: yes, you are!)