To be blunt and straightforward, this post is my official retirement announcement.

I will no longer be writing or contributing to the Wizrocklopedia. Some of you may have noticed that I haven’t contributed anything for several months. This wasn’t primarily by choice, but in retrospect I never did have the amount of time that was required for maintaining the website and giving it the amount of attention it needed. (more…)

Never fear, Wrockmas approaches!

We originally planned to begin another year of the 12 Days of Wrockmas yesterday, but due to scheduling conflicts we’ll be doing things a little bit differently. We will still be giving away 12 wonderful wizard rock mp3s, but they’ll be coming in groups as opposed to each day. They’ll also be available for download indefinitely; you won’t have to worry about stopping by everyday to check for a new tune every day (though I expect you might out of sheer excitement).

Also, we received only four submissions for our Thanksgiving qualifying event. We’ll be announcing the winners of our Wrockmas prizes for these individuals as we post batches of downloads!

In Which the Swedish Scene Takes on the Rest of the World

Sweden isn’t exactly the largest country in the world, nor is it the most regularly thought of. To be perfectly honest, if someone had mentioned the words “Sweden” or “Swedish” to me more than a year ago, I would have taken a moment to sit and think about how delicious it would be to have a package of Swedish Fish in my hands at that very moment. (Sidenote: They aren’t called “Swedish Fish” in Sweden. In case you were wondering.) My perception changed drastically around a year ago when there was a sudden upsurge in Wizard Rock bands popping up in Sweden. Some of the first bands I was in contact with were Johnny B. Lovegood and Seamus Finnigan’s Wake. I maintained correspondence with them as I made my plans to study abroad and told them how I hoped to visit them while I was in Europe. To my dismay, I have not had the opportunity to meet either of these performers. Despite that, I was rewarded with a gift beyond meeting just two Wizard Rock bands – I met eight. (more…)

Due to time constraints, it is apparent now that a weekly edition of the Song Round Up may not always be possible. New song announcements will continue to be posted at the beginning of a week as often as possible.

I am perfectly aware that Halloween has just occured in the United States and that a lot of people get annoyed when they start seeing Christmas things in stores or hear Christmas music on the radio before Thanksgiving. Those of you who are aggravated by such things should be warned; this bulletin has something to do with the winter holiday season. It does not, however, come wrapped in garland or sounding like bells.

Christmas is a popular holiday in the wizard rock community. It makes sense, to be honest, considering how much of a role the holiday played in the Harry Potter series. Pretty soon, holiday wrock songs and CDs will be littering MySpace (and the Wizrocklopedia). In the meantime, and perhaps to prolong the Thanksgiving season, we’ve decided to have one half of our 12 Days of Wrockmas giveaway event coincide with Thanksgiving!*

This 12 Days of Wrockmas this year will take place (more…)