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PokéCON Announces Guest List

LOUISVILLE, KY - May 27, 2013 - PokéCON is pleased to present its current list of attending guests. Attendees will be joined by VA guests Veronica Taylor, Eric Stuart, Stuart Zagnit, and Bella Hudson. Musical guests include Warky T. Chocobo, Final Weapon, Eric Stuart Band, ShadowClone, Solarbear, DJ Robot, and DJ Awesome. Industry & Media guests include Jrock Revolution, Florida Whammy Entertainment, PikaFreak Rachel, Team T.A.R.D.I.S., Xris, Ashley Kemper, and Mike Smith, along with Cosplay guest Trixie J. Valentine.

PokéCON will be held July 19-21 at the Louisville Crowne Plaza Airport Expo Center in Louisville, KY. Pre-registration for the weekend is $25.00 till July 12th. Details on pre-registration and group admission can be found at www.pokecon.us

Veronica Taylor
Veronica Taylor has been a part of Saturday morning cartoons for some time now. She is probably best known as the voice of Ash and May from "Pokemon". Currently she can be heard as Max on "Dinosaur King", April on "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles", Carly on "Yu-Gi-Oh!", Sheep on "Word World" and many characters with accents on Huntik. Other favorites include Yukino on "His and Hers Circumstances, Amelia on "Slayers", all 7 Nana's on "Nana Seven of Seven", Narue on "World of Narue" as well as many others.

Eric Stuart
Brooklyn born and raised singer/songwriter Eric Stuart has toured the country either on his own or with such rock legends as Peter Frampton, Ringo Starr, and Lynyrd Skynyrd. He's also opened for such acts as Jethro Tull, Julian Cope, Hall and Oates, and Chicago. His first full-length album, Curiosity, was released in 1996 on his own independent label, Widow's Peak Records, and was soon followed up in 1997 with Picture Perfect World (EP). Now living in Nashville, Eric's songwriting talents have given him the opportunity to begin co-writing with some of Nashville's finest songwriters. All this while continuing a successful voice acting/directing career, starring in hit shows including Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Viva Pinata, Ultimate Muscle, Dinosaur King, Kirby, Slayers, Chaotic, TMNT, in addition to voicing many national radio and TV commercials.

Stuart Zagnit
Stuart Zagnit has worked in all areas including Broadway, Off-Broadway, Regional, National Tours,television, films, commercials and voice-overs. Zagnit has also worked as a voice actor for 4Kids Entertainment and DuArt Film and Video, most notably as Professor Oak in the first eight seasons in the long running Pokémon series. He has also provided voices for characters in Winx Club, The Shaman King, and Slayers.

Bella Hudson
Bella Hudson is an American voice actress who has voice acted in several 4Kids cartoons and video games such as in Yu-Gi-Oh!, One Piece, Winx Club, and several characters from the Sonic the Hedgehog games and anime, such as Blaze the Cat on Sonic Rush. She is probably best known for her role as Monkey D. Luffy in One Piece. She is also working with NYAV Post.

Warky T. Chocobo
"Warky" started off his convention career in AnimeLand Tucon (located in Tucson AZ) 2009 when requested to be there by a fan. The west fell in love with Warky's music and his fame only continued to grow as he went and performed at more and more anime conventions. He now travels across the country each year going to Video Game Expositions, and Anime Conventions playing his fans' favorite video game and anime soundtracks on his piano. His local anime convention was Anime Banzai, however, since his move to Reno, NV, his local convention has become SNAFUCON. Warky has also lettered several comic strips for Yaoi Press as well as some comic books, including Where's Wendy by Legacy Action Comics. His most recent work is in an LDS band called They Might Be Elders, a Parody band. Warky started voice acting through his recording company DragonFleet Studios, and is a member of SAG-AFTRA. He has provided voices for a number of characters in English language Audio Books. He also both played the voice of the Narrator and edited for the audio-book version of Prophecy Of The Flame. He is currently voice acting for a game called Return of the Guitar Lord.

Final Weapon
Hailing from Birmingham AL, Final Weapon is an up and coming synth driven rock group. Rooted in rock, J-pop, gaming and film scores, the band's music is best summed up as unity in diversity, simplicity in complexity. Fronted by a Vocaloid singer, their signature blend of over-the-top solos and catchy melodies, underlined by complex arrangements, pushes the envelope of modern rock music and will have you humming their tunes for days. Final Weapon consists of Jacob Cooke on guitars, Steven Wilson on bass, Matt Gates on keyboards, and Josh McDonald on drums. Since its inception, the band has focused on synthesizing orchestral, Japanese pop, film and video game genres to create a boundless musical framework. Their sound has been compared to the likes of Dragonforce, Rush, Dream Theater, and a plethora of iconic video game franchises. Final Weapon is gaining national recognition, performing at traditional and convention concerts across the East Coast and Midwest. Artists they have performed alongside include Motley Crue, Nylon Pink, The Protomen, New York Dolls, and Lisa Furukawa.

Eric Stuart Band
Eric Stuart has developed and honed his craft the old-fashioned way; by writing songs on an acoustic guitar and working them out in front of live audiences totaling more than one million people. With the release of Blue, Dressed In Black (Widows Peak Records), which was produced by rock legend Peter Frampton, John Regan and Harvey Jay Goldberg (Sting, Dave Matthews Band), Eric Stuart's days as "the best known, hardest working unsigned act around," are numbered. Much to the surprise of both Stuart and many in the industry, the four-song demo for his latest album sold over 20,000 copies from both his internet site, www.ericstuart.com (which has received over 1,000,000 hits since March 1999) and touring the summer of 1999 with Peter Frampton all over America.

ShadowClone
DJ Shadow Clone is the first personality clone of writer/performer Tiree Mason. Born from the aggregation of Tiree's passions and interests, Shadow Clone has taken the form of a Nerdcore Hip Hop entertainer that specializes in songs regarding anime/manga, pop sub culture, comics, video games, and general geekery.

Solarbear
Curtis Ware (Solarbear) is a chiptune musician who uses solely old school videogame hardware to make music. ALWAYS looking for shows and collaborations.

DJ Giant Robot
Some robots are built to fight monsters, some are built for transportation, but few are built to Rock. DJ GIANT ROBOT was one scientist's quest to invent the perfect party, taking equal parts otaku, music nerd, and danceaholic with a splash of panda DNA for good measure. Re-emerging on the scene in 2011 after a long hiatus, DJGR has been dropping bass at cons all across the south east, spinning an eclectic mix of house, hardcore, electro, and dubstep, from the US, Europe, and Japan. Bring your dancing shoes and an open heart for this interstellar trip to dance nirvana.

DJ Awesome
Hailing from the east coast, life-long anime fan and music lover DJ Awesome has been on the convention circuit for more than a decade. Infusing traditional videogame samples with classic happy hardcore, drum n' bass and progressive house tracks, his high-energy set will send you on a nostalgic trip through time and space. Spinning along-side DJ bLiNd, DJ Qpa, Renard and DJ Cutman to name a few, he has left his mark on conventions such as Anime Mid-Atlantic, Katsucon, and most notably MAGFest, including a surprise on-stage appearance by his alter-ego "MC Awful (The Worst MC On Earth)" at Anthrocon 2012.

Jrock Revolution
JrockRevolution.com (JRR.com) is the leading Jrock community website outside of Japan featuring exclusive articles, interviews, and several social networking sites. Originally cultivated to promote and expose Japanese rock and Visual Kei, JRR.com has expanded to feature other Japanese cultural aspects, such as fashion and anime. Our own cable program, Bento Beatbox, showcased videos from seasoned artists and rising stars. To this day, JRR.com strives to connect fans to artists in a thriving social media community that remains strong to this day.

Florida Whammy Entertainment
Florida Whammy Entertainment is the name of the Panelist Organization that produces otaku game shows across Florida and have been expanding throughout the state like lightning! With 5 years of experience under their belt, they have seen and done almost everything you can think of. From Password to Press Your Luck, from Body Language to Who Wants to be a Millionaire, Florida Whammy Entertainment does it all! FWE is led by a core team of 3 people and backed by a small army support team of over 20 individuals who lend their time and talent to helping FWE achieve its mission statement of bringing quality game shows to conventions across the southeast! Florida Whammy Entertainment is proud to have been a part of this community for 5 years, and hopes to be hosting game shows and other entertainment for at least 5 more years to come! You can visit them online at www.floridawhammy.com or connect with them on Facebook!

PikaFreak Rachel
PikaFreakRachel was born and raised in Kentucky. She fell in love with the Pokemon games and anime and became a Pokemon Trainer at the age of 10 in 1998. Years later, and still a 10 year old Trainer at heart, she has a collection of over 5,000 Pokemon items mostly featuring her favorite, Pikachu, which includes one of the original 10 Pikachu Volkswagen Beetle's, Pika 3. Pika 3 was used by Nintendo from 2000-2006 when it was sold at auction. It was bought by a used car dealership and nearly destroyed, having the ears and tail removed, mouth and feet painted over, then left parked on the streets of New York until February, 2012, when it was put up for auction again. It was love at first sight. Rachel bought the Pikabug sight unseen and has lovingly restored it. An avid otaku, she now takes it to the many conventions that she attends in Kentucky.

Team T.A.R.D.I.S.
The Team T.A.R.D.I.S. Cosplayers are a group of Doctor Who fans determined to spread their love for the show by engaging with con guests in an in-character fashion, assisted by their full-sized prop TARDIS. Though usually entirely whovian, they branch out into other cosplay endeavors including Pokemon, FMA, Harry Potter, Marvel Comics, and more. Stop by their table for in-character interaction, photos, and meticulously-crafted cosplay props.

Xris
It was in 1999 that I saw in a Mexican Official Nintendo Magazine for the very first time a Pikabug, there I read and know there was only 10 Pikachu VW Beetle in the world. I was 16 years old when I saw it and said to myself “I will have it, that will be my first car someday”. It was in 2007 when Pika5 was sold at auction, there were a couple of them in the same used car dealership. At first I couldn't believe it was real, but I email and know more about it. They just show me some pictures and I could tell it was missing its ears and tail. But from the inside still had the TV where they showed Pokémon commercials in the events where Pikabug was. That was enough to convince me it was real. Gamer, born in Mexico and Otaku. I went all the way from New Jersey to Monterrey, Mexico driving it (2000+ miles). One of the most fun adventures I had, and looking forward to this one!

Ashley Kemper
Ashley Kemper is an actress, model, media editor, and anime/gaming fan from Louisville, Kentucky. She has been attending and cosplaying at local anime conventions since 2006, and is the AMV contest judge at PokeCon 2013!

Mike Smith
Mike of EmeraldCoastCosplay.com has been in the world of photography since 2007, and in the world of Cosplay Photography since 2009. He has worked with many great cosplayers throughout the southeast and travels to as many conventions as he can to find new talent! EmeraldCoastCosplay.com also features a gallery of "Idols", which are a group of fantastic female cosplayers he works with whenever he can. Each idol is unique in her own way and has her own style, and Mike works his magic to blend their beauty with natural surroundings without having to do a lot of post-process editing. Do you have what it takes to gain the ranking of an "idol"?

ABOUT SUKOSHI CON: Sukoshi Con is a brand of conventions, bringing new social and interactive innovations to the Anime Convention scene. The company was founded as a way to give Anime fans access to Anime, Cosplay, and Gaming, hosting multiple Anime Conventions throughout the year in various states in the Southeast. The core focus of Sukoshi Con is to be a "Social Anime Convention" that promotes interacting with fellow fans, keeping the sub-culture feel.

PokéCON Information: Where: Crowne Plaza Airport Expo Center, Louisville, KY When: July 19-21 Price: Pre-reg: $25, at door: $35 weekend pass.
www.pokecon.us

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