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What is the NYC Wizard Rock Festival?
The NYCWRF is an incredible event for fans of the Harry Potter book series and for lovers of independent music. New York will host its first ever music festival featuring bands from the Wizard Rock community. Families, sci-fi/fantasy fans, and music enthusiast from all over the world will converge upon New York to “wrock” out to a great line-up of bands including Draco and the Malfoys, The Whomping Willows, and many more. This festival will be an all ages, daylong wizard rock extravaganza! In addition to the musical performances, there will be all kinds of Harry Potter related merchandise for sale and activities. This will be a truly magical event for witches and wizards of any age!

When and where is it going to be held?
The NYC Wizard Rock Festival will be held at Public Assembly, the club previously named Galapagos. The venue was recently taken over by Matt Roff, who had a heavy hand in turning the once-industrial wasteland of Williamsburg into the hipster capital of the Indie-rock world. Public Assembly boasts two rooms, each with a stage, ample floor space, seating, and a full bar. We will be using their back room for a lounge, an Artists Alley, and a vendor area. Visit the venue’s website here.

What exactly is Wizard Rock?
Wizard Rock, or Wrock, is a burgeoning independent music movement fostered by the Harry Potter fan community. The artists write music inspired by events, characters, and even objects from the Harry Potter series of books and films. Lyrics are often written from the point of view of the character or object from which the band gets its name. For example, Draco and the Malfoys - the festival's headliner - sings from the point of view of Harry Potter's arch-nemesis. Sometimes the artist anthropomorphizes an inanimate object, such as The Whomping Willows, who performs as the human embodiment of a magical tree. Occasionally, bands will create their own characterizations, such as Swish and Flick, who developed a character that exists in the Harry Potter universe in name only (Astoria Greengrass). The artists generally distribute their music and publicize themselves via Myspace.com. For more information about the Wizard Rock philosophy, read Swish's blog here . For more information about the history of Wizard Rock, visit the Wizrocklopedia here.

Who are you guys?
The NYC Wizard Rock Festival was coordinated by a dedicated committee of hardcore Harry Potter fans. We are not a corporation, or a panel of literary scholars. We are a group of friends who share a love for Wizard Rock. The idea sprang forth soon after the release of Deathly Hallows, in the mind of the head coordinator, Swish. She soon rallied together people from The Group That Shall Not Be Named, the largest Harry Potter club on Meetup.com. Our lineup represents their own musical tastes as well as the local community, as many of the Wizard Rockers featured at the Festival are native New Yorkers - Celestial Warmbottom, Swish and Flick, Nagini. This is a grassroots effort funded by the committee members themselves who seek not only to throw a huge party, but also to wrock the pants of NYC. They come from all walks of life and are all very nice people, so please don't hesitate to greet them when you see them at the Festival.

Committee Members:

• Stacy "Swish" Pisani: Head Coordinator
• Deanna "Celestial Warmbottom" Benfante
• Olivia Garcia
• Sarah Keeler
• Thom Kulesa
• Jenna Lawrence
• Liz Lewis
• Jackie Medina
• Jessica Mercado
• Joanne "Kath" McIntosh
• Michelle Parlato
• Mackenzie Reide
• Jonathon Rosenthal
• Debbie Schneider

• Paul Liaw: Artist, Paul designed the "Lady Liberty With Phoenix Patronus" artwork for the Festival.
• Marci Morimoto

Layout © Liz Lewis
Liberty Image © Paul Liaw