Research

My Research:

So, I decided to branch this down into the research for each topic I'm covering.
 * My overall topic is what happened (in the fandom) after the 7th Harry Potter book came out, as you know.**


 * So my first topic is about the headliners** and the founders of the Wizard Rock (Wrock) genre AND community.Wizard Rock is Harry's rock genre-- his groupies he's never met. They sing about Ron and Hermione in love and Luna Lovegood's awesome levels. I watched a documentary on the Wizard Rock movement-- //We Are Wizards//-- about a boy, age 7, with a whole wizard rock fan base. His band, **The Hungarian Horntails**, screams songs about being a dragon, breathing fire, and having a tail. He jumps up and down on stage (sometimes in a dragon costume) and sings "I AM A DRAGON!!!" It's very entertaining, I must say. His Dad is also part of a Wrock band, **The Greybacks.**

His Dad recalled a time during the documentary when he had to explain to his boss that he was skipping work to go to a Wizard Rock concert-- imagine, "Uhh, yeah... My seven year old son...yeah... he has to go his wizard rock concert. He dresses up with Harry Potter Gryffindor ties and jumps up and down, singing about his Dragon Scales. And I have to skip work to go see him... And maybe sing a bit myself."

What really captures me though about the whole thing is that an actual //seven year-old// has a fanbase. And it's not just other seven year-olds, it's seventeen year-olds, //and// some are even older. I know I'd love to have that.

The wizard rock movement was started by two normal kids, Paul and Joe DeGeorge. These two kids, age 23 and 15, respectively, started their own music movement. Dressing up like two Harry Potters, their shows are exciting and prove hard to forget. They started up playing in their backyard, rocking it out in the shed. Being entagled in its seemingly neverending web, they even found themselves dumbfounded by the magic they've cast.

"Since our first show in our parent’s backyard, we have played nearly 500 shows in 49 different US states and in a handful of foreign counties. We have played in libraries, bookstores, rock clubs, theaters, galleries, museums, doughnut shops, bowling alleys, pizza places, and even a pirate-supply store." said Paul and John DeGeorge of **Harry and the Potters**. "We always try to make our shows unique and unexpected experiences that attempt to capture some of the magic of these books we love so much." (from []) ([])

This seems to be very well said on their part, I agree with them wholeheartedly. Bringing music to a book like Harry Potter just adds to the magic; I happen to be a fan myself. And it's not just some failure at trying to get by, but they actually //make a living.// Wrockers like Lauren Fairweather film videos of all the CDs they have to mail out. I watched one and it was almost a room full of CDs. Even Hank Green, John Green's brother and companion-vlogger, got famous off of a Wizard Rock Song-- media type="youtube" key="CvvFiZyEyTA" height="364" width="445"** (He misuses the word Hell in the video, just a warning, not a huge problem) ** that's how their video blog project kicked off, with Hank's song //"//Accio Deathly Hallows (which was released a week before the book)." It was featured on YouTube. Being featured on YouTube is like winning the New Berry award for literary excellence; hundred thousands of people see your work, and just as many love it.


 * My second topic is about the conventions of the fandom.**

Over the years, many aspiring wizards have gathered in places around the world. In Dallas, Texas was **Portus 2008**, (http://www.portus2008.org) where many people gathered to meet new people and do many wizardly things. At **Portus**, there were many things to do, like poster making, character dissections, fan recollections (of memories with Harry Potter), making magic on a computer (graphics), costuming sessions, sorting ceremonies, ceremonial balls, and concerts.

As seen on the front of their website: **"Portus** was the place to gather with friends and explore what remained beyond the rotating doors. Literary scholars and adult fans from all over the globe converged on the Hilton Anatole in Dallas, Texas, July 10-13, 2008 for four incredible days of magic."

But that was only one gathering.

Let's backtrack a little. It's 2006. Harry Potter 7 is a year from release, and excitement is on the rise. So what do you do? Have a convention, of course! (The first ever convention was **Accio 2005.**) The second convention ever, **Lumos**, was held at this point in Las Vegas, Nevada. Next came **Sectus 2007**, held in July. There they celebrated the release of Deathly Hallows. **Prophecy 2007** followed. At these conventions, they most likely did a lot of similar things as **Portus**. But the conventions are so outdated now that the websites are no longer there.

Moving back to present time now. This year, **Azkatraz 2009** will be held, as will **Leakycon 2009**.

(http://www.leakycon.com/)
 * Leakycon's** events are being kept under-the-radar. **LeakyCon** is being held by the Leaky Cauldron, a fansite. They track everything about the Harry Potter world going on, from arrests (the actor for Crabbe was arrested last week[4/13/07 is today]) to pictures of the movie set(But I'll get to this in my next section). "Our Youth Programming Department is chock full of amazing fans from the Leaky Cauldron, all of whom are 20 years old or less. Who better to know what the fans want than other fans?" says LeakyCon board members. "The events planned will be amazing, not your normal boring school type get-to-know-you games. Remember, the name of the game here is FUN."

Events at **Azkatraz** (http://www.hp2009.org/) feature a Welcome Feast, Quidditch, the Wrock Festival, the "Prison Break" ball (dress up like a Marauder), a //Half-Blood Prince// movie showing (which has been sold out since February 14), a craft fair, and a pajama party. (But that's only the beginning)

media type="youtube" key="00U2MGu9k5U" height="405" width="500"
 * The Ministry of Magic** performing "Lovegood" at Portus '08:

(I'm thinking about changing the topic to just the Leaky Cauldron, but I'm not sure.) The fansites of the fandom are a different topic in themselves, really. They contain so many diverse people and ideas. I'm just going to do direct quotes from the Leaky Cauldron, for I don't think anyone could've said it better than they.
 * My third topic is about the fansites of the Fandom, mainly the Leaky Cauldron.**

The Leaky Cauldron, [|www.the-leaky-cauldron.org] (now also available at [|www.leakynews.com]), is an all-purpose site for the Harry Potter enthusiast. It started in 2000 as a badly designed one-page roll of news; it has now turned into a destination for fan entertainment and discussion, and has become the //Harry Potter// site of record, hosting the oldest and most comprehensive //Potter// news archive on the Web.

The Leaky Cauldron also hosts the entire [|Floo Network], including the [|Harry Potter Lexicon] and [|Accio Quote]. These sites are hosted at no cost to their individual webmasters, and have been since the Floo Network’s conception. In the next few weeks, the Lexicon will move to its own server and begin to provide its own hosting.

J.K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter books, has called Leaky “[|my favorite fan site]” and “a wonderfully well-designed mine of accurate information on all things Harry Potter” that “attracts a lot of knowledgeable and entertaining debate.” She said it is about “[|the worst kept secret on this website that I am a huge fan].” (We’re still grinning.) Leaky has been [|recognized] in several ways over the years, but received its highest honor to date, [|J.K. Rowling’s Fan Site Award], on May 13, 2005. This personal recognition from the author of Harry Potter is a huge and cherished honor to us all. On the same day, Ms. Rowling announced that she had invited Melissa Anelli to Scotland to interview her alongside Emerson Spartz of MuggleNet; this interview was one of only three she granted in the leadup to the book (the others were to Katie Couric and TIME Magazine, not including a press conference with children she did the following day). The interview took place at her home in Edinburgh on July 16, 2005, the day that the sixth Harry Potter book was released; results may be read [|here] with Melissa’s report of the weekend [|here].

Leaky went online in July, 2000, right before the fourth Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, was released to manic response worldwide. At the time it was one of the very few sites (and is the only one from that time still operating today) to chronicle all media happenings, giving fans links to external articles about Potter. In 2001, Leaky became the first Harry Potter fans to start reporting on the franchise themselves, as the first fan site to create and maintain relationships with the main companies in charge of producing the Potter films and books, a practice which has opened doors to allow many fan sites to do the same today. Leaky is proud to have been the first and only Potter fans to report from the Chamber of Secrets movie junket and Prisoner of Azkaban film set, and to have continued to produce original reporting and a lengthy list of exclusive interviews with the people involved in the Harry Potter books and films.

Another forerunner in the Fan Site movement is MuggleNet. MuggleNet has a smaller user-base than Leaky, but is still a strong website. One turn-off about the website is the large amount of advertisement pop-ups. Going on the site is accompanied by 2, 3, or 4 pop up advertisements, and it can get tedious.


 * Emerson Spartz** currently serves as the President & CEO of MuggleNet.com. Spartz founded the MuggleNet website in 1999 as a homeschooled twelve-year-old. As CEO, he oversees 120 volunteers and a paid staff. In 2007, Spartz incorporated Spartz Inc. to serve as the legal entity representing his MuggleNet e-business. I find this amazing, because if I tried (and failed) to start a website at 13, it would be almost impossible. Some people aspire to do great things.

http://mugglenet.org/ http://the-leaky-cauldron.org/ http://leakynews.com/