Wednesday, August 25, 2010

PAX Brodeo Reunion Canceled. Children (and Jeff) Weep.

Hey guys. Just a semi-quick update for those who follow me but aren't hip to The Twitter: What the headline says. Sadly, we've had to cancel the GFW Radio Reunion panel that was to take place on Saturday night at the PAX expo in Seattle next week. And I promise that no one is more heartbroken over it than those of us in the group.

Unfortunately, it couldn't be helped. We tried. Oh boy did we try. There was an email thread that went on and on with lots of suggestions and sidebars and whining and cajoling. But the sad fact was that no amount of talk was going to change what had, unexpectedly, happened just two days ago: Two key members (and, hey, we're ALL key) of the Brodeo were suddenly not going to be able to attend the conference. For work reasons. Actually, I'm fudging the truth a little. One of them we knew about already. But that we knew months ago, and had a contingency for. So, at that point, the show was still going on. But when the second one dropped the other day, that effectively killed the panel. (And I'm not naming names because it really doesn't matter. It's just internal drama, but we're all still cool with one another. It was just one of those things, and I'd rather no one be the "bad guy." )

We contemplated doing it without those who couldn't attend. We contemplated getting substitutes. But this was my stance, and I was the first one to openly say, "I think we should cancel": My stance was that without all of us there, it's not a "reunion." One maybe, but not two. At that point, it was just going to be a gimped, compromised version of us, because it was the combination of personalities that made it what it was. And I didn't feel like substitutes would work either, because, again, it's a chemistry thing. And it didn't seem like that's what folks who would be standing in line would be thrilled to see. As I said to one of the Brodeo dudes in a private email, I said it would be like this: "Ladies and gentlemen, please put your hands together and welcome to the stage Emerson, Lake, and Bernstein!" I decided it would be better to bite the bullet and wait until we could do it RIGHT, with all of us there. We never compromised ourselves when we did the podcast itself. I didn't want to start now.

So, there it is. To those of you who were looking forward to it, and/or who included this in your reasons for attending, you have my sincere apology. It just couldn't be helped. I do promise you we will do this again, hopefully at an upcoming PAX. And of course I'm still going to PAX, still appearing on the other panels mentioned one post down, and am probably going to drop in on a couple others I've now been invited to crash.

Really just a blip of a bummer in the grand scheme of things. Somehow I think we'll all manage to carry on and have a great PAX anyway. (And if you see me, you're required to say hello, ALRIGHT?)

Here's to a Brodeo Reunion 2011! Keep Hope Alive!

29 comments:

Anonymous said...

i just died a little inside. i was really looking forward to hearing you guys again =( hopefully next year!

parish said...

So you're saying that being the Emerson, Lake & Powell of podcasts isn't good enough for you!? Man, some people.

Glen said...

You should do a version of the reunion via Skype!

Placate me!

Jim said...

too bad, but if you can't do it right, best not to do it.

I'm glad you will still be going.

Anonymous said...

Why don't you guys just record a podcast episode together through Skype or something. Just for the lulz.

Rob Thomas said...

I will admit to being seriously bummed about this, but I think I'll live.

Also, my earlier invite to drop in on our podcast I sent you on Twitter (which it SOUNDED like you were interested in on two different occasions, but never followed up with me ;P) still stands.

You can reach me at r.thomas@crushfragdestroy.com if you still wanna hash out details, sir. We'd be honored as only a bunch of game playing geeks can be. :)

Anonymous said...

Jeff Green, international rock star breaking hearts.

Tristessa said...

Ugh...it's sad that it happened this close to the show. Makes it feels worse. I'm sure I'll see you around at PAX.

Be sure to let us know which panels (if any) you decide to drop into. Sometimes the guests make all the difference in deciding which ones I'm going to see. And this year has a lot of great looking panels on at the same time.

Peter Saumur said...

What "Anonymous" said:

If you guys can't commit to do the reunion, can you commit to recording a reunion podcast?

theditor said...

"it made it what it was." Tsk Tsk. It is what it is.

Alex said...

I bought plane tickets from London to Seattle just for your panel. What am I going to do now? :(

iunder said...

Re Skype: It was an everyone-in-the-same-room podcast so, for similar reasons, they should wait until they can all be in the same room together again. Good decision, Jeff.

Jailem said...

While I understand what you're saying, I think it's a bit much. Everyone wasn't there last year. Darren, and Anthony were missing, and while I have to believe that Anthony is the contingency you spoke of, it just goes to show that it's not an all or nothing proposition. If, as it sounds like you could have done four including Anthony, I think the cancelation was a bit premature. Sure people would have been dissapointed. But last year people were dissapointed with the abcence of Darren and Anthony. That didn't stop you.

Chris Dunkley said...

I understand, but simultaneously I wish the show could have gone on without the "reunion" part.

It's only going to get harder to pull together the entire group as the year's go on, the chance of everyone being up for it next year can't possibly improve, which leads me to feel like you should just take whatever oppurtunities in whatever combinations you can get.

Still interested in hearing from even a subsection of the CGW crew. Hope you pull it together another time :)

Anonymous said...

PAX East 2011 will be my first PAX. Hope y'all can make it happen there!

BruceChalupa (Brett) said...

Sorry to hear that you guys couldn't get things to work this year, but thanks for at least making the effort to compromise.

I think I'm not the only one who can say that the GFW podcasts were a huge influence, responsible for a lot of laughs and insight, and a lot of that came from the chemistry you guys had together. So while I'm bummed you can't make it, I also would prefer no show to a gimped show.

...Especially if it's because Bobito has been baked all summer and booked his flight to Seattle for the wrong weekend, or if Shawn's griefing has finally caught up with him and he has to do community service after a griefee back-traced his IP and pressed charges. ;)

Hopefully we all can catch you and other Brodeo members on another panel or at a meetup.

Unknown said...

While this is sad news, I do see a positive side to this.

I would prefer if the GFW reunion wasn't at PAX every year - hear me out first.

While we all know that PAX is going to be awsome, I do like the idea that only having GFW there every odd year or so. Like PAX 2012 then the next one would be PAX 2015. It would make those PAX's stand out more in peoples memories and make the whole experience of seeing the Brodeo that little bit more special.

Jonah said...

Man, that is a shame. The reunion show last year was a highlight of PAX for me. Especially getting to chat with you and the other GFW guys after the show.

I will say hello for sure if I see you wandering the show floor, Jeff!

Anonymous said...

I second what some of the others said, I'd like to hear something via skype. Hell, I'd still like to hear some more "Out of the Game".

IF BLAH BLAH BLAH said...

I'm going to cut myself to MCR tonight.

Anonymous said...

It's Brodeo Forever.

Cobbler said...

Jeff, no! I see what you're saying but why couldn't you have kept the panel and just renamed it The Super Awesome People Podcast Panel?! I can guarantee you people will be way more irritated that you just up and canceled it than they would be if you had 2 people missing.
Plus, assuming Anthony was the stand-in, I always considered him a member anyway.
Pleeeaaase say its not to late to change your mind back!

Anonymous said...

Jeff - I just read your blog on my new iPad, while sitting on the toilet. What an amazing modern world we live in. More please.

Anonymous said...

So when are we getting a new Out Of The Game podcast? Honestly, it's nearly as good as the old GFW show was. We can even pretend that Ryan is on the show by closing our eyes and thinking of Guild Wars.

daniel said...

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

daniel said...

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

the brodeo was the best podcast ever. it defined my senior year of high school. i love you guys. cant you do another reunion on gamers with jobs or something like that?? please, for us

Anonymous said...

Sad news. I look forward to hearing you on the other panels Jeff, thanks for being straight up.

Brain Blurbs said...

You know what? I think you made the right call. There will be other oppertunities for sure! Looking forward to those :)

Anonymous said...

Sorry to hear about this...

But I second the comment about Out of the Game! Whatever happened to that podcast?