Never Blue – The Subway Sounds of Randy Felton 

Never Blue – The Subway Sounds of Randy Felton  (Clark_SubSounds_001)

CLARK_MARIO_20130826

HOST INTRO: The words ‘sexy’ and ‘nerd’ may not naturally go together. Alex Clark reports on a group who’s looking to change that.
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CLARK: Nevada Smiths is a popular Manhattan sports bar. On most Sundays nights, you’d typically find soccer matches playing on the third floor. But tonight, the competition heated in a “classic” video game tournament .The game is Mario Kart 64.  It’s an odd sight to see fifty fans and racers crowd around nearly 20 year old Nintendo systems connected to four  brand new, flatscreen HDTVs. The leader welcomes the enthusiastic group of mostly-male participants.

Castillo:  Make some noise if you’re a nerd real quick! (Applause/cheers)

CLARK: The group calls itself Sexy Nerds. Their events combine music and video games to attract a diverse and frankly, nerdy group to come out. A New York hip hop artist named Accent, kicks off the night.

(Accent rapping)

CLARK: In Mario Kart 64, racers use items and power- ups to get ahead. The bar serves themed drinks like red-shell and green shell shots. There’s an NCAA style bracket system, where 32 competitors race.  The first prize is o ne hundred dollars to a retro game store. Roberto Sanabria is competing tonight. He says there are many things tghat brought him out to a Sexy Nerds event. 

Sanabria: It’s gonna be a great tournament today. Great tornament. Great show. And uh, I love hip hop. I love video games. I’ts a great combination.


CLARK: The group was started by Sebastion Castillo. He holds a degree in economics from Bard College. He says being nerdy can in fact, be sexy.

Castillo: It’s been said many times many ways, but no one really like said: Boom: Sexy. Nerds. I feel like that’s something that speaks to a lot of people of our generation. Just like getting down with being a nerd and that’s kindof like sexy on its own already A lot of appeal and media. That’s what’s goin on … Where my nerds at?? Sometimes it’s like yeeaaa! Sometimes it’s like pew. Know what I mean? 



CLARK: In nerd-speak, what he means is there’s a lot of geeks out there, but not enough get-togethers like this. Tonight, the final four racers are projected on a 20 foot screen.  The enlarged pixels of the mid-90s graphics are clearly visible. The DJ blasts the popular rap song “Ridin’ Dirty” as the crowd cheers. The character “Toad” is the clear fan favorite. 

Fans: Toad forever!  TOAD! Go Toad!

CLARK: In the end, Roly Fentanez  of Mexico, controlling Toad did in fact come away with the victory.  He plans on buying a Pikachu edition Gameboy console with his prize money. Sebastian seemed please with the outcome:
  	
Castillo: The fact that we had the final round and people were cheering,  and like, people were into it. People were engaged. That’s what it’s all about. That’s why I do it!

CLARK: He ended up breaking even for the event, but the group plans to expand in the future by inviting more females and new performers to become Sexy Nerds. This is Alex Clark, Columbia radio news.

CLARK 20130828 MARIOKART

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