My Vicky Life

My dearest Incufestians,

Day One of #Incufest has been nothing short of a miracle. I am overwhelmed and overjoyed, but more on that in a minute. Let’s do the numbers. I’ve been up all night struggling with the stats, and at this point I don’t think an accurate tally is really possible. But I tried my best to count everyone who used the #Incufest hashtag at least once since the time we started planning this thing until this very moment, 6:11 a.m. EDT, April 22, 2013. And I’m not even taking into consideration all the retweets, the side conversations, the lurkers, or the people who forgot to unprotect their tweets. Prepare to be amazed.

First, let me give you some perspective. Our two previous Incubus parties (for Brandon Boyd and Ben Kenney’s birthdays) saw a combined total of 38 Incubus fans tweeting from somewhere in the neighborhood of 13 countries around the world, including 9 U.S. states.

Ready?

So far, #Incufest has seen 462 people tweeting from 37 countries, including 31 U.S. states. And I’m only counting the locations I can identify. A lot of people don’t say where they’re from.

Oh, and did I mention that number, 462, includes (and is largely due to) Steve Rennie, Ben Kenney, DJ Kilmore, and yes, Brandon Boyd?

That’s right, lovers. I was moved to tears twice today, and believe it or not, it wasn’t the arrival of any of these distinguished gentleman that did it (although they did make my heart jump). The first thing that made me break down and weep was when @Decca132 tweeted a picture of himself wearing the wristband I’d made. He was the first to do so, and the fact that I can get up on Tumblr and tell total strangers all the way across the ocean to do stuff and they actually do it was, and is, almost too much for me to grasp. The second most emotional moment was when people started tweeting from South Africa and I realized that meant every continent on earth (except Antarctica) was being represented (and as you can see, I’m working on that!)

A thousand thanks to everyone who helped make this day possible. I will make every effort to recognize all the key players before this thing is over. First up, though, is @bomberbains for coining the term “Incufestians.”

…and the tweets keep coming! ♥☀

Incubus fans…

I know a lot of you are kinda bummed today because of the sad news from the Deftones camp, so here’s something that will hopefully cheer you up. It’s almost time for #Incufest 2013, a worldwide celebration of all things Incubus, which will take place on Twitter between April 21 (i.e. 4/21, Incubus Day) and April 26 (José Pasillas’ birthday). The planning committee offers the following, not as a hard and fast schedule, but just as a suggestion of things we might focus on to make each day a little different. As with our previous parties, we expect #Incufest to take on a life of its own, and that additional themes will emerge as we go along.

Sunday, April 21 - Focus on Early Incubus (Fungus Amongus, S.C.I.E.N.C.E., When Incubus Attacks, Enjoy Incubus, etc.)

Monday, April 22 - All about Brandon Boyd, Make Yourself, and Morning View. 

Tuesday, April 23 - Mike Einziger, A Crow Left of the Murder, and Light Grenades

Wednesday, April 24 - Ben Kenney, Monuments and Melodies, and If Not Now, When?

Thursday, April 25 - DJ Kilmore and all else Incubus (Look Alive, Red Rocks, HQ, Incubus covers, the band’s solo projects, Time Lapse Consortium, MYF, etc., etc.)

Friday, April 26 - All about birthday boy José Pasillas.

And of course, all throughout the festival, we want hear why you love Incubus, and invite you to share your Incubus stories, concert experiences, dream setlists, Incubus tattoos, and anything else you’d like to show and tell. And maybe if we all put our heads together we can finally solve the Pistola mystery!

We’ll probably schedule a flash tweet a day or two ahead of time to invite all the band members and let them know what we’re up to. So stay tuned to this channel for more information. In the meantime, head on over to anomalija-incubusic’s Facebook event to let us know you’re in!

Who: Incubus fans everywhere.
What: A virtual music festival.
Where: Twitter.
When: All or part of the week that includes Incubus Day (4/21) and José Pasillas’ birthday (4/26), 2013.
Why: Because our birthday parties for Brandon Boyd and Ben Kenney were such a blast!

Stay tuned for more info…

I’m not kidding with that tearful emoticon. There’s nothing in life worse than a missed opportunity, especially at my age. :’(

What, is all of Incubus in Miami this weekend? Sigh. So close and yet so far. So by way of this reblog I’ll tell @vatoben and @JoseAPasillasII the same thing I told @MichaelEinziger: I know you’re here for Ultra, but if it gets too insane, there’s cake at my house, and if I make a few calls I could probably have some of the best Cuban musicians in town sitting around my coffee table in no time. Try me.

vatoben:

Found my mang Jose chillin in Miami.

Yes we are. The #IncubusParty portion of the love referred to here consisted of 22 Incubabes tweeting for somewhere in the neighborhood of 13 hours. Attendees checked in from the United States, Canada, Italy, Belgium, Germany, Serbia, the Philippines, Middle Earth, and the Moon. Pretty impressive, if you ask me. Several of our tweets (including one of mine!) were favorited by the man himself, and I’m aware of at least one brief side conversation between him and a party guest.

Needless to say, we went off on a bit of a tangent when news of a probable Brandon Boyd solo tour hit the Twitter/Tumblrsphere, but we never lost sight of the main event: Ben.

If you missed the festivities, April provides an interesting opportunity for trying this again. The 21st (4/21) is known among hard-core fans as the first of two “Incubus Days” on the calendar (the second being November 11), and April 26th is the birthday of José Pasillas. (There’s also April 20, but I won’t go there…!) So someone suggested having something like a multi-day Incubus “festival” on Twitter (hashtag: #Incufest?) Think we can pull it off? Do we want to? I’m in, but it’s up to you. ♥

Make a wish, Ben!

Incufans and other lovelies! The man’s awake and has favorited at least 3 #IncubusParty tweets that I know of so far. Don’t know if he’ll make it to the actual party (it’s his birthday, after all, and one would think he might have plans), but we’re on his radar! The party begins in 30 minutes, 29, 28…

anomalija-incubusic:

Ben favorited my bday tweet :] This day is getting better & better :] Can’t wait for the #IncubusParty to start on twitter :]

Everyone’s gotta get a little older, and March 12 is Ben Kenney’s turn! Don’t forget, our Twitter #IncubusParty in his honor begins at 11 a.m. EDT (New York time). If you missed yesterday’s flash-tweet, it was almost a party in itself. For just over three hours, we tweeted invitations to @vatoben and everyone in @IncubusBand, queued up some music, and now we’re ready for the main event! Will the birthday boy drop by? There’s only one way to find out. Join us!

vatoben:

Your boy back in 1997. Before all my hair relocated to my chest to keep me warm! #tbt #supergub

Incufans, It’s time to make plans to flash tweet this gorgeous creature about our upcoming Twitter party in celebration of his birthday. But wait…I need to stare at this picture for a few minutes…

Sigh… Okay, I’m back. I hate to keep discriminating against people in other time zones, but since 11 a.m. is part of Incubus lore, and if I’m not mistaken Ben’s last known location was somewhere in the vicinity of NYC, Sunday brunch just seems a good bet. Can we mobilize by then? The plan is for everyone to hit him up on Twitter and Tumblr (he’s known as “vatoben” in both locations) and invite him to our party. If you miss the kick-off time, don’t worry, tweet/ask at will whenever you can, and be sure to use the hashtag: #IncubusParty.

So, here’s the schedule of events:

Flash tweet: Sunday, March 10, starting at 11 a.m. EDT (Yes! it will be Daylight Savings Time by then! If that applies to you, don’t forget to spring forward tonight.)

Party: Tuesday, March 12, 11 a.m. EDT (New York time)

Look alive, people!

(Photo source: last.fm)