Alright guys. Since 1997 I’ve been a fan of all things nerdy; from anime, to video games, and even Marvel and DC Comics. All throughout middle and high school I was pretty much at the ‘Nerd’s Table’; playing UNO with my friends, and talking about the latest episode of Dragon Ball Z or what we thought about the first Captain America movie. Of course if you’re familiar with my bio, then you already know that I found my love for electronic music back in 2008 at an anime convention. From there I started doing DJ edits of my favorite songs during my senior year of high school, and freshmen year of college. From 2014-2018 I learned the fundamentals of Mixing, Mastering, and Audio Compression in Music Production. 2019 I took on the moniker of Avidd Minddset, and 2020 to present I became a full-fledged DJ.

Now that you got my brief backstory, its time for the real reason behind this post. While the world was under house arrest for two years (from 2020-2022), I was scrolling through Youtube videos trying to take my mind off of all the craziness that was going on. While looking at some anime convention highlight videos from the last con I went to (in January), I stumbled upon some party videos that were a bit different from the ones you usually see associated with nightclubs and EDM festivals. Most of everyone in them was wearing cosplay, as they were all having a good time.

I thought back to all of those cheesy college movies where the nerds never get invited to the jock’s after party, so they sneak into the frat house and try to dance with every pretty girl there; knowing they got two left feet. Imagine that; except everybody’s a nerd, and everybody’s turn’d all the way up! It was during the worst moment in human history, that I discovered that nerds throw better parties!

Just like the time I fell in love with anime conventions after going to one for the first time, these types of nerd/cosplay afterparties are perfect for us nerds who happen to be party animals. New York City is the only place I know that throws down with these kind of parties; with event promotions like Otakus With Attitude, Sexy Nerds, SonicBoomBox, and Senpai Project. There’s even one with base operations in Washington D.C. called Plus Ultra Entertainment. With all of this awesome stuff going on in New York and D.C., how come Baltimore doesn’t have anything like this?! We have some nerdy events and some new conventions helping to fill the void Otakon left behind in 2016, but nothing like OWA or Plus Ultra Entertainment!

So what did I do? I created my own event promotion; a promotion that highlights and promotes positivity and social engagement in Baltimore’s anime, cosplay, gaming, and music communities. The name of this brand new Baltimore-based promotion; was BASSMODE: Nerdz Nite Out!

I created this promotion July 1, 2023 via Facebook page. I got to work planning on throwing my first party, as well as going through all of the things that promoters/curators do, in order to make their event successful. My long-term plan for BASSMODE; is to throw at least 3-4 themed local events per year, and collab with anime conventions and other nerd event promotions (like OWA and Plus Ultra Entertainment) on joint afterparties. This of course isn’t the only reason why I created this promotion; I wanted to give up-and-coming ‘bedroom’ and novice DJs, an opportunity to perform their DJ set in front of a live crowd.

Baltimore may not be the otaku party mecca it once was when Otakon was around, but with the few small anime and comic conventions that it has alongside BASSMODE, nerds and party animals alike will get their fix on throwin’ down, and having fun! At the end of the day, nerds throw better parties! 😉