Sept. 13 - Oct. 15 2002

Most of you are already aware that Kevin Manthei, composer of Invader Zim, is going to do an internet radio session featuring the music from Invader Zim. He wanted us just to do an update about it, but we can do better than that and we don't want you to forget on September 13 that this is going on, so this section was created. Please feel free to use the Dib image at the top of this page and link it back to: http://gir.n3.net/zimphony.shtml so others who don't know will know.

*NEW info as of Oct 28th*

Probably the most frequently asked question since we announced the Zim-phony Special Edition Mini CD has been "Why did you only make 100?"

Well, we didn't do it to drive its perceived value up or torture those of you who didn't get selected, and the answers are really simpler than that.

Primarily, there were various legal, financial, and copyright issues, which we will not elaborate on.

Also, making even 100 CDs is extraordinarily time consuming, especially when you want to keep the price low and the quality high. Organizing the files, making a master, burning AND verifying one CD after another, finding and paying for the right supplies, designing, proofing, and printing the inserts and labels, applying them all and assembling the packages, quality control, finding safe shipping packaging, calculating the postage, setting up foreign orders, maintaining a customer database, handling accounts receivable, then schlepping all these off to the post office for mailing is a lot more work and a lot more expense than I think any one who's been complaining seems to realize. We have real jobs, after all, and are doing this in our spare time.

I know from reading everyone's messages that many of you, despite your best efforts, didn't get in the queue and I'm very sorry, but that's out of my control and past history. Life goes on. Leave those who did get the Zim-phony CD alone, because they can't send you a copy. They know why. Get Kevin's CD and feel joy that you can get even that one.

If a "standard" release of the Zim-phony is ever made available, that'll be up to Kevin and such a decision would be his to make. He has his reasons, we have ours, and that's the way things go.

--Richard E. Rae
Anime Stuff R

*end Oct 28th info*
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*NEW info as of Oct 16th*

The Zim-phony Special is over, but what a terrific month of music! There were thousands of streams and thousands of total listening hours logged by Live365's stats, making the "Kevin Manthei Invader Zim-phony Special" truly our most successful broadcast on Anime Stuff R ever! Your enthusiasm for the show drove our ratings as high as Number 2 in the Anime Genre stats!

Of course, this is entirely due to the incredible support from the Zim fan community. Thank you all very much for tuning in and listening in the numbers you did, and thanks for making our efforts pay off.

I also must extend my thanks to Kevin Manthei as well- just as you listeners should- because without his gracious cooperation and willingness to buy into my idea, this music would have languished, unheard, for who knows how long.

Of course, the music lives on, both on the limited Zim-phony Special Edition Mini CD (on sale beginning Saturday- see www.animestuff-r.com for more details), and on Kevin's own Invader Zim Soundtrack CD (available at www.kmmproductions.com).

Now that you're aware of Anime Stuff R, we also hope you'll continue to hang around and listen to our future shows, featuring the best anime music, now and then!

Thanks again for listening and for making the Zim-phony a success!!

---Richard E. Rae
Host, Kevin Manthei Invader Zim-phony Special
Anime Stuff R
 

*end Oct 16th info*
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*NEW info as of Oct 2nd*

Anime Stuff R Session 13, the "Kevin Manthei Invader Zim-phony Special", has been a huge success! We at Anime Stuff R (as well as Kevin) extend our thanks to all you fans who have tuned in and listened on a regular basis!

And for those of you who wanted to own your very own copy of the Zim-phony, or who didn't get to listen to any or all of it due to time or modem constraints, I have great news, as promised!!

------------

Anime Stuff R, through a special arrangement with the composer, is pleased to be able to offer the "Zim-phony Special Edition Mini CD" to our listeners and all Zim fans!

This MP3 Mini CD features the complete "Kevin Manthei Invader Zim-phony Special" as heard on Anime Stuff R between September 13 and October 15, 2002, but has additional enhanced value-added features!

    * 5.5 hours of content!

    * Includes all introductions and commentary by DJ Richard Rae, the wacky "Anime Stuff Z" Station IDs and bumpers, AND the Special Interview with Kevin Manthei!

    * All music has been specially re-encoded in STEREO, at double the bitrate with 4x the quality!

    * Includes an Acrobat PDF file which contains all the graphics and links featured on the "Anime Stuff Z" website during the show's broadcast, as well as the Official Playlist.

    * Compatible with all Macintosh and Windows computers, CD players, and DVD players that are capable of MP3 media playback.

    * BONUS FEATURE!
      Includes four ADDITIONAL music cues from "Invader Zim" that didn't make it into the broadcast playlist!

The "Zim-phony Special Edition Mini-CD" is an authorized companion to Kevin Manthei's own promotional Invader Zim Soundtrack CD, available at www.kmmproductions.com, and does NOT replace it. We encourage you to get both!

The Zim-phony Special Edition Mini-CD is a Limited Edition of 100 copies,and will be available exclusively from the Anime Stuff R website. When they're gone, no more will be made, and the show will NOT be made available on our usual Anime Stuff R-Chive volumes. So act quickly!

Beginning October 6, visit the Anime Stuff R website at www.animestuff-r.com for details on how you can get your own copy of the Zim-phony!

--Richard E. Rae
DJ, Anime Stuff R
Host, Kevin Manthei Invader Zim-phony Special

*end Oct 2nd info*

*NEW info as of Sep 9th*
 

The Kevin Manthei Invader Zim-phony Special is ready to roll out on September 13 on Anime Stuff R Internet Radio!

Some specifics for fans:

* The show runs 5 and a half hours, maybe a little more when all is said and done.

* Not boring and more than just music! Lots of funny stuff and information between music blocks, featuring "guest" appearances by your favorite characters and an original scenario as Zim and Gir invade Anime Stuff  R, turning it into Anime Stuff Z! All approved by Kevin and supported by Jhonen Vasquez himself! 

* There are musical selections from all 26 episodes of Invader Zim, including music from the yet-unbroadcast episodes Backseat Driver from Beyond the Stars, The Girl Who Cried Gnome, Mortos der Soulstealer, Zim 
Eats Waffles, The Frycook from Space, Gaz-Taster of Pork, Dibship Rising, Vindicated!, and Voting of the Doomed.

* Nearly 3/4 of this music will NOT be on Kevin's soon-to-be-available Invader Zim Soundtrack, so this may be your only chance to hear it in its full glory!

* The interview with Kevin Manthei runs 23 minutes, and is full of cool info and anecdotes about creating music for Invader Zim that you won't want to miss.

* The Anime Stuff R website also will be invaded... check it out on, and after, the show date to see what Zim has done to it as well as visit a gallery with some unique Zim images supplied by Kevin, photos of Kevin and his studio, and other cool things.

* The show will run 24 hours a day, continuously, until October 15 at thevery least! So if you don't catch it all in one sitting, you'll have plenty of time to hear it whenever you can.

* _If_ Kevin gets any of the music to "Most Horrible Christmas Ever"completed during the show's broadcast run (he begins spotting it around September 18), and he makes it available, you may get an update!

There are lots of ways to listen to the broadcast. One of the easiest ways is to paste this URL into your browser or your streaming player:

http://www.live365.com/stations/238847

Once there, click on "Play" and follow the instructions. If you listen with your browser open and have the Live365 Player installed and its window open, the playlist display will update regularly and you can see the titles 
and info of the currently playing song or clip, as well as the most recent tunes that have played. 

You can also visit the Anime Stuff R... er... "Z" website
(http://www.animestuff-r.com) and follow the displayed links to access the program as well as visit the image gallery!

If you're an Invader Zim fan, you definitely DON'T want to miss this! Tell your friends and pass the word!

Thanks for reading, and we hope you'll enjoy the broadcast! Feedback encouraged, so let me know how you like (or dislike) it!

--Richard E. Rae

*end Sep 9th info*

Also Richard Rae has sent this other tidbit of information:

"I think you and all the Zim fans (like me) will be pleased, as our AnimeStuff R home page will be featuring a gallery with a couple of unreleased images from Invader Zim that Kevin supplied as well as a gallery featuring Kevin's studio and other goodies. We're also thinking of redoing the entire Anime Stuff R home page over just for this special, including calling it "Anime Stuff Z" due to the "Invasion" taking it over for a month <g>."

*end Aug 5th info*

Here is the email that Richard Rae originally sent out, that a lot of you got that has the details:

Dear Invader Zim webring members and fans! 

I'm Richard Rae, one of the DJs for the Live365.com Internet radio station "Anime Stuff R", and I'm pleased to make the following announcement: 

COMING SOON! 

SESSION 13: THE KEVIN MANTHEI INVADER ZIM-PHONY SPECIAL SEPTEMBER 13, 2002 

In Session 13, the "Kevin Manthei Invader Zim-phony Special", we're pleased take a side-trip" from our normal Japanese anime soundtrack programs to visit American "anime" and honor and spotlight the work of composer Kevin Manthei, who's responsible for the dynamic and unique "Annie Award" Nominated soundtrack from the atypical Nickelodeon animated series, "Invader Zim". This hilarious science fiction animated show created by comic artist Jhonen Vasquez has already achieved a huge cult following way outside of its demographic for its intelligent satire, decidedly cutting-edge design, and twisted, frequently black humor that's above and beyond a "kid" series! 

The "Zim-phony Special" will feature over three hours of unreleased music by Kevin from the soundtrack, including selections from all the e pisodes that haven't yet aired- and even episodes which have been rumored to not even exist! 

We'll also have an exclusive interview with Kevin, who has not only composed entire unique scores for every episode of Invader Zim, but also has numerous videogame and movie soundtracks to his credit- including the score for the recent "Resident Evil" movie. 

Join me, DJ Richard Rae, beginning September 13, 2002 for this one-of-a-kind special spotlighting one of the only American composers who can write a score for an animated series that rivals the best anime soundtracks in Japan in style and substance! 

A promotional spot featuring two of Kevin's pieces from the Zim soundtrack is already playing between the beginning and end of the current Anime Stuff R broadcast, and will continue until the show's launch date. There's also a promotional announcement for the show which will shortly be accessible from Anime Stuff R's home page. 

To find out more about Anime Stuff R and how to hear the broadcast, visit www.animestuff-r.com 

To find out more about Kevin Manthei, visit his website at 
www.kmmproductions.com 

To find out more about Invader Zim, 
visit the Invader Zim website at 
http://www.nick.com/all_nick/tv_supersites/zim/

as well as all the fansites on the Invader Zim webrings! 

Please feel free to post this information on your site for visitors to read, or forward it to other members of your webring. Kevin and I want as many fans as possible to be able to tune in! 

Thanks for reading! 
Richard E. Rae (RichardRae@mac.com)