2018 Guests of Honor

Foxes and Peppers

Fox Amoore (Iain Armour) is a pianist and composer from Scotland. He started playing the piano at age 5 and professionally at age 14. In the past 18 years of playing and composing Fox has achieved some amazing goals: composing and recording two albums both with a live orchestra and choir at Abbey Road Studios (the first album Come Find Me has sold over 5,000 cd, digital, and vinyl copies worldwide), playing at the famous Cavern Club, seven studio albums, and collaborations with many others including composing for Nintendo and Steam games. Fox Amoore completed his second album recording, .The Dreamcatcher., at Abbey Road Studios in February 2017. Featuring the world famous seventy piece Prague Philharmonic Orchestra and a 40 person choir from Eclipse Choir and Opus32. Pepper was also featured on .The Dreamcatcher.. Mixed by award winning sound engineer (Avatar, Skyfall, Spectre) Simon Rhodes.

Pepper Coyote (Jared Clark) lives in Arizona and has a degree in music education and is a choir and music instructor. Pepper started performing classical music at age 5 and continued until he reached age 16 when he joined a band and focused on the pop/rock genre. Pepper has recorded eight albums, some independently and others with his band Look Left. Pepper released his newest album .Muh. in December 2017.

Together, and as individuals, Fox and Pepper have performed world wide with concerts in Europe, Australia, Canada, Singapore, South America, Dubai, and the US. They debuted their first collaborative album in July of 2016 at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in Pittsburgh.

Fox and Pepper are currently working on their first musical soundtrack, to be released in May 2018 at the Grand Sierra Resort and Casino in Reno, Nevada. Production of their second collaborative album will begin in the fall of 2018, recording to take place at Music Row in Nashville, TN.

Nash the Red Panda

Nash the Red Panda (real name Keary "David" Durst), is a fursuiter and airbrush artist based out of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Born in 1983 to a military family and growing up through an era of video game console wars and the birth of the internet, he last recalls becoming a furry at the age of 15 after being introduced to the Roleplaying community of Furcadia. Nash was always an artist and doodled drawings throughout college while pursuing work in the Aviation Industry. Unfortunately a worldly circumstance made it hard to find work and that's when he took residence in South Carolina to airbrush. Eventually Nash moved on to other companies. Now he makes his living doing custom artwork for furries and non-furries alike. He travels the contiguous 48 states, mostly along the east coast, for his career. As a professional artist, his work is featured at fairs and events around the country. More recently, he has become a unique addition to the convention dealer's space, hocking his trade as an airbrush artist for furry fans and characters!

2017 Guests of Honor

Karasaz

I was hatched from an egg in Amarillo, Texas. There I hoarded my first batch of things.

My hoarding lead me out to Alabama where I hoarded my mate, Xibalba, a pagoata, a dog, a cat, another cat, another dog, and a Kawasaki among other things. I attempted to hoard the space ship at space camp, but they wouldn't let me. Apparently a 40 foot dragon cannot fit into a space ship. It's okay though, because now I've hoarded Wild Nights and everyone here!

The summer of 2012 is when I decided to bust out of the cave and into the villages of the furry community, making my first fur suit. Since then I've enjoyed learning everything I can about making them, coming up with creative solutions to problems in suit making, as well as sharing what I know to others.

I love fursuiting in public; dancing, rawring, breathing fire, entertaining, and brightening the day of others. I try to stay active both inside and outside of the fandom, suiting not only at cons, but at various events such as Rocket City Pride where I emitted many rainbow colored flames, shook my tail, and made people happy. I love getting to interact with people and changing their perspective from one of confusion to one of understanding, and aiding in bringing together the rest of the world with ours.

When I'm not in the village, I enjoy creating artwork and drawing. I currently have a stick that I am being told I should use, but I'm tempted to eat it, or use it to roast marshmallows. Do you know how awesome it is to be your own heater and fire maker? It's awesome, I can cook a dozen marshmallows in a single sneeze....where was I.... right... artwork... I love art, and have enjoyed drawing on and off most of my life.

Thank you everyone for having me as your Guest of honor this year! I look forward to having a great time and sharing in a lot of fun adventure with you!

Rawr!

Furry Jesus

Ferret Jesus heralds from the South, but has traveled much of the states. He is a supplement for anxiety, and an uninhibitor for the inhibited. With his perpetually grinning cherub cheeks, jovial guffaw that can be heard from the basin of the camp to the cliff of Robber's Cave, and witty banter, he makes sure to get others around him laugh and talk with the same contagiousness of a yawn. He is a flow artist that can be seen spinning fire and lights by night and teaching others to do that same by day. Wild Nights was his first furry convention seven years ago with only one year missed since then. It has become his native obligatory convention in which he proselytizes to everyone so much that the founders' collective ears should be red hot everyday. It was an eye opening experience and has since changed his life for the better. He has since opened up his home and life to spread the joy to many others and founded a furmeet in Houston that has been running for over four years.

He keeps himself busy with professional IT work and learning new, interesting hobbies that he teaches to others with an ear willing to listen and learn. Current perks of interest have been solar panels, gardening, underwater landscapes, and new ways to recycle, and soon to be brewing, but has always had a love of the outdoors. His passion for the environment has always been strong since childhood and he tries his best to do what is good for it. He's always yearned to draw, but lacks the fullest capacity to do so, but makes up for it with writing.

Ferret Jesus loves to meet new people, so if you run across him, stop and strike a conversation.

True Blue

Thank you so much for having me as one of your Guests of Honor this year. I'm a fulltime freelance artist/animator/craftsperson working in Colorado, usa. It's very nice to meet you! I studied Drawing and 2D Animation at Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design becoming a four-year graduate of my passions in Spring 2012! Although I've had a love for art and drawing since I could hold a crayon!

Some of my favorite media are watercolors, graphite, varied inks, digital painting, 2D Animation, knitting, crocheting, tatting, sewing, beading, and I'm learning new skills to enjoy each year! Life, nature, animals, magic, music, my family, and friends are big inspirations for me and help motivate me to do the very best I can with each project. My goal with each piece I create is to make someone happy~ In moments when someone tells me they love my work, it made them smile ( once even cry! ), or made their day, I feel how full my life is. I wouldn't be the artist I am today without the wonderful, supportive people I've met in my life, I'm so grateful! My work is very personally rewarding and I strive to constantly improve, both in my skills and customer service for my commissioners/clients experience.

Let's have a great Wild Nights 2017! Thanks so much again for having me!

My artwork can be found here! http://www.furaffinity.net/gallery/atrueblueartist/

2016 Guests of Honor

Corsi Husky

I got started with music on a MUCK called Tapestries. I would post announcements for an event by re writing lyrics to random songs with a prize for the first person to guess the song by only the made up lyrics. At one point I was told to finish on of them. So my first song was written called 'Wasting away at Anthrocon' done to Magaritaville by Jimmy Buffet. That was about 15 years ago. After a little while I actually attended Anthrocon with a couple more songs written and my first performance was in the smoking area of the Adams Mark hotel of 'Fanboy Furry' done to Green Day's Minority. By the time I was finished, all conversations had stopped and everyone was listening to me singing.

A few months later I attended Oklacon, The first one. I released a rare CD called Total Insanity. I made 30 copies and they sold out. After getting home I had been hanging around with Nexxus of FurNation and he took me in and we came up with a band name 'Mousetrap', I remastered every track on the CD and re released it as 'Evolutions' at Anthrocon the following year. We sold a TON of them. I was completely stunned at how well it went.

After releasing CD's as fast as I could think up lyrics and getting five total under my belt, I found myself trying to force music. I didn't want that. At that point the music was my form of Art. So the music frequency slowed down and I wrote and released as the inspiration hit me. And I have found that some of my proudest pieces have been when I really took to a song and ran with it for fun and not to post out a CD.

For the con I want to sing everywhere as we go. Want to hear something? Don't be afraid to ask. I love doing it. Got a request or an idea for a particular song? See you there. We'll talk about it.

Nate Day

Nathaniel "Nate" Day has been working as a professional graphic designer for nearly a decade, emerging from within the fandom as an artist with a penchant for constant improvement. Known for his kind and gentle demeanor he has garnered a reputation for excellence and humility over the years. A generalist by nature in his artwork, Nate has show great flexibilty and range in his work, becoming a force in the artistic community.Nate works from his home in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, tending to a growing work-load and his beloved partner, Vixie Snow.

"I don't see myself as anything special regarding my work. I think that's what keeps me pushing to ever greater heights. I'm never satisfied with the finished product and there's always this sense of guilt that I haven't done enough for my clients. There does come a time when someone needs to be proud of their accomplishments and I think that moment came to me when I was offered guest of honor for Wild Nights. That showed me that hard work may not always get you where you want to be but it will take you some place to make you happy."

His work can be found at http://www.furaffinity.net/user/nateday/.

2015 Guests of Honor

SpringDragon

Springdragon is a part-time artist currently living in Denver, CO. His work often has a loose, sketchy style with smooth, highly saturated, colors. He favors mixed media containing watercolor, acrylics, chalk, and pencil, but works mostly in Paint Tool SAI because "digital supplies are really cheap." Springdragon began taking commissions in 2008, and regularly attends several conventions in the midwest area. He is able to draw all species, including humans, and does not have a particular subject specialization. His current long-term projects include a five panel modern art style piece, two short comics and a set of tarot cards. Though most known for digital illustration, Springdragon also dabbles in sewing, costuming, and doll-making, including tailoring his own office-appropriate clothes and constructing his own fursuit.

"The most important thing to consider when composing any kind of art is the emotional impact it will have on the viewer. While technical skill is very important, mistakes can be overlooked in favor of impact. I want to capture the entire motion, so that what I've made feels meaningful. If it's supposed to be fierce, you should be able to look into the subject's eyes and feel your heart start pounding. I want you to feel the exuberance, or rage or particular flavor of melancholy and relate it to your own experiences. If someday, I can make a stranger cry, I'll know that I've learned my craft well."

His work can be found at http://www.furaffinity.net/user/springdragon/ and at http://silspringdragon.tumblr.com/ .

Alexander James Adams

Heir to the music of Heather Alexander, Alec was released from the Land of Fae in 2007. Using story and song, the Faerie Tale Minstrel leads his listeners into worlds of magic and music where anything can happen if you only believe. A steward of all kinds of animals, Alexander has rescued many a sad, furry creature and made its day better. Come listen, laugh and cry to guitar or fiddle and become enchanted by the compelling voice of this storyteller. Make your day a brighter, better place and then spread the magic around!

Alec tends to his 50+ animal friends outside of Madison, Wisconsin with his wife, Kore. He travels where the wind blows him. Recently, he has had the extreme pleasure of collaborating with Fox Amoore in Abbey Roads Studio, London as part of Fox.s new CD .Come Find Me. released in July, 2014. With five of his own albums and several small single to three song releases, Alec is kept busy with music, magic and maintaining his hobby farm, until he falls over every night sound asleep, dreaming of the next day.s adventures.

Alec's music can be found online at http://www.faerietaleminstrel.com

2014 Guests of Honor

The OzFoxes

Margaret Carspecken is a wildlife artist and cartoonist who lives and works with her husband Robert in the Ozarks of Missouri. They are very fond of animals, but specialize in foxes - and thus they are known as the OzFoxes. They are generally known within the fandom for their online comic Faux Pas (pronounced "fox paws," naturally), and for the first-ever fully illustrated 'furry' cookbook, Sweet Treats, featuring Marsha Redfox.

The OzFoxess create stories and artwork featuring all sorts of animals, but foxes are their signature favorite. They sell their creative works online in numerous forms via their FoxWeb website at ozfoxes.com. Margaret's artwork can often be found in furry convention art shows, or at other exhibitions across the U.S.

Robert and Margaret are inspired by a variety of common interests, including classic animation, music, writing and storytelling. When they are not working on their creative projects, they are often helping out with charitable organizations like Friends of the Library and Friends of the Zoo. Margaret is a long-time fan of Robin Hood in his many incarnations, and enjoys cooking, tinkering in her gardens, doing craftwork, and hanging out with the Society for Creative Anachronism. Robert can usually be found writing, playing music, working on their ancient computers, and most importantly acting as a perch for their three feline children.

Potoroo

Potoroo is the pink-mohawked, facially pierced Roogoyle present at conventions for over a decade. No stranger to the furry fandom, he joined the Toronto Furry community in 1996 where he ran events, aided in the founding of Feral! in 1997, and in 2004 took over as Camp Feral! chairman which he has held ever since. In addition to running Feral! he instructs panels and DJs at many cons and has consulted for several during their development phase. In 2010, he was invited to be Guest of Honor at Condition: Furry, a convention held in London, Ontario. In 2012, he travelled to Brazil to be Guest of Honor at their camping con, Abandon, and spent two weeks living with the furs of Sao Paolo.

Potoroo spends his spare time as a podcaster (three and counting), a musician (multi-instrumentalist), an actor (DON'T look for his movies on IMDB; they're embarassing), a director (five plays and a series of webisodes for Camp Feral) and a writer. He has a degree in theatre from the University of Guelph, and a diploma in Recording Arts Management from the Harris Institute for the Arts. Since graduating he has been heavily involved in the Canadian music industry, working for Universal Music in 2010 with such respected artists as Justin Bieber and Drake (sarcasm but true). He left the big leagues for an indie music company after six months at Universal and has been there ever since, developing his own digital marketing department and working with both established and new artists.

As a musician, he released an album in 2004 and an EP in 2005 at Anthrocon, and since then records regularly at home. He has performed at AC, FC, Morphicon, Furnal Equinox, Condition Furry and, of course, Camp Feral. His podcast, Fuzzy Notes, showcases the music made by furs and has had over 40,000 downloads and plays over its first fifty episodes. His latest music project is a series of songs inspired by the low-budget films he loves, B-Folk, for the No-Budget Nightmares podcast, several of which have been embraced by the original directors, with one to be featured in a documentary about the film.

Oki Doki Coyote

I've always been a performer. From the youngest times in my life I had to be center stage. Be it a distraction or a smile, I love to draw the alluring gaze of the ever so fickle masses.

Discovering the Furry Fandom, like for most of us, was a pure accident in 2006. Anthropomorphics have always fascinated me. But it's the animal inside that has been the focus of my attentions for over three decades. Even in my Boy Scout years I was involved in ceremonies that called up the spirits of Nature. On more than one occasion, I heard the call of Coyote, both in my head (for lack of a better term) and all around me, singing their night songs. Giving in to the true spiritual power of Coyote was not a journey I ever expected to embark upon, but I never looked back after my first step. Showing others this spiritual world I have stumbled upon is one of the greatest rewards of my life. As for somebody telling me they are "Agnostic" or "Atheist" I simply offer them an opportunity to allow me to show them the other side. If only one comes away with a new curiosity about spirituality, then I feel my job is done.

Oki is me, both in and out of the suit. I could not separate the two with a team of brain surgeons. I afford myself a lot of freedom in Oki, doing things that crowd the line of "normal and sane" because there's something forgivable about a costumed performer. Most people just go with the flow, and that's what the world needs more of. Trust me when I tell you, it's better than any drug on the market, and so far, it's still legal.

As for the history lesson that brought me to this point: I officially got into the fandom con circuit in 2008 at Oklacon. the same year, I landed a job as the mascot for the Tornado Alley Roller Derby. I remained with the team until 2012 when I was recruited by the Green Country Roller Girls for a single season. I returned to Tornado Alley for a final season in 2013.

I have officially retired due to time restraints. I have run panels with other mascot and fursuit performers (Pacer Fox, Cooper Tom, Calamity Cougar, the Lucifurs, and many others) on topics including being a good fursuit handler, performing in public for kids, charity events, knowing your personal limits, fursuit care and storage, convention do's and don'ts (621-please-o-please), even voice acting and silent suit acting. I have run the gauntlet.

The most important thing I would leave you with is this: Never allow your personal fears another day in your life.

All my best,

Oki Doki

The One, The Only

2013 Guests of Honor

Larry Dixon and Mercedes Lackey

Larry has been active directly and indirectly in the fandom (as well as pretty much every other fandom) for years, and has attended and been Guest of Honor at countless conventions. He has co-authored several series with his wife Mercedes Lackey including the SERRAted Edge series, the Gryphon trilogy, and the Owlflight trilogy. He studied at both the North Carolina School of the Arts and the Savannah College of Art & Design. Both he and Misty have run a sanctuary for birds of prey and an aviary for exotic birds.

Mercedes Lackey has been a fantasy and science-fiction writer for nearly thirty years after leaving behind her previous job as a computer programmer for American Airlines to write full time.

"I began writing out of boredom; I continue out of addiction. I can't 'not' write, and as a result I have no social life! I began writing fantasy because I love it, but I try to construct my fantasy worlds with all the care of a 'high-tech' science fiction writer. I apply the principle of TANSTAAFL ['There ain't no such thing as free lunch', credited to Robert Heinlein) to magic, for instance; in my worlds, magic is paid for, and the cost to the magician is frequently a high one. I try to keep my world as solid and real as possible; people deal with stubborn pumps, bugs in the porridge, and love-lives that refuse to become untangled, right along with invading armies and evil magicians. And I try to make all of my characters, even the 'evil magicians,' something more than flat stereotypes. Even evil magicians get up in the night and look for cookies, sometimes.

Firefeathers

Birthed from the loins of the Internet, Andrea was technically born in Chicago, Illinois and currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. She's is commonly referred to as "Firefeathers" online, and highly discourages con-folk from yelling the first portion of the name from afar, as it has caused incidents in the past. She has been a part of the Furry community since 2009, quickly adapting to the new environment like a creative salamander. Andrea has always enjoyed the outdoors since she was a small child, in various helpful clubs like 4H and Habitat for Humanity growing up, until nature herself decided she'd had enough of the little rascal and made her allergic to just about everything outside in her late teens. Shunned, Firefeathers moved indoors and began to draw and paint nature like a lovestruck stalker in 2006 instead, and has made it her life's goal to win the heart of Mother Nature once again. Mother nature still has not returned her calls.

In 2010, Firefeathers quit her job as a waitress and took on doing art full time. Since then, she's eaten more ramen noodles and stuff from the garbage then she'd really like to admit, but has survived successfully. She attended Northern Illinois University for Illustration, then immediately after graduation found to have a lot more fun learning to market, advertise and run a small business instead. She refuses to inform her parents of this, and continues to repeat that art school was totally necessary. She works in a entire range of mediums; Acrylic, Digital, Watercolor, Gouache, Sculpture, Plushies, Prose, Animation, Metal, and Oil, though due to convenience, you'll mostly just see digital. Firefeathers main drugs of choice are Photoshop CS4 and a Wacom Intuos . The order of importance in her life go as follows: Art, Writing, Breathing, Sleeping, Eating. She has passed out a total of 5 times in her life from forgetting to eat, and has worked herself into sickness 7 times determined to get a project done. She adores doing what people do not expect of her, and routinely scares her elderly grandmother with the creepy monster pictures she draws. She has made a handful of trading cards that are currently in production and is looking forward to taking on more commercial projects in the future.

Buck - Husky in Denial

Buddy

HIIIIIIII! My name is Buddy! And one day, I'm gonna live up to this shirt! Uh-huh! :) It has "Popufur" written on it because one day I hope to be popufur, and I wear this shirt to remind me every day of my goal! Here's a few things about me - I'm just your regular black and white husky, coming from New York (I'm a city dog!), and I love travelling around to meet new buddies! My con debut was FurFright 2010, when my maker, Kio Wolf (of FluffEnough Creations), let me loose! Since then, I've been to a whole bunch of places, including cons and other trips all over the US, and even a couple places in Europe, too! I'm really excited to be adding Oklahoma to that list, and to meet all of you coming to the convention! Thank you to everyone at Wild Nights for this amazing opportunity! YAAAAAAAAAAY!

You can watch me on my YouTube channel - don't worry, I'll be updating more often! I've just been really busy!

You can also follow me on Twitter at @HiMyNameIsBuddy and on FA.

JD Puppy

For those that don't know, JD Puppy is the same performer as Buddy! JD made his debut into the furry fandom in 2004 through his experiences with mascotting at New York University, and his first con was Anthrocon 2005. After building his very first costume - the JD Puppy we all know and love - for that first con, since then JD has built a handful of other fursuits, Shedz (owned by CooperTom), Bolt (owned by Jimmy Wolf), and of course his other JD Puppy clones. JD's presence in the fandom includes fursuit performance, fursuit construction, furry artwork, and contributing to programming across many conventions over his time in the fandom. His most notable events include working with his teams that run the Anthrocon (debuted AC 2008) and Midwest FurFest (debuted MFF 2011) dance competitions. Outside of the furry fandom, JD is a CPA and works for PwC as a public company auditor, travels around the country as a competitive Latin & Ballroom dancer, and builds physical fitness programs for him and his colleagues.

You can learn more about JD through an article where he was featured as the Furry News Network's Fursuiter of the Month for April 2012!

You can also follow JD on Twitter at @JD_Puppy and on FA.

Husky In Denial

Husky In Denial is gutsy music, combining elements of indie rock, progressive rock, and trip hop with animal nerve and autistic eccentricity. With an exploratory musical style truly unbound by genre and lyrical themes of doom, redemption, and social commentary, Husky in Denial blows through your chakras and awakens parts of your spirit untapped by mainstream music.

Buck Riley is a twenty-three-year-old writer and musician, recently graduated magna cum laude from the University of Memphis.

Buck has always had a gift for music. Even as a child, he grew up with influences as diverse as R.E.M., Beethoven, Cat Stevens, Notorious B.I.G., and Elton John. Since then, his music base has expanded to include jazz, metal, electronica, rock, and anything else he can get his paws on. He has an insatiable appetite for new sounds and challenging structures. As a musician, Buck's prime goal is to create something new, interesting, or challenging to the ear. Over the years, the definition of "new" has evolved as his understanding of what music really means continues to develop.

Life is meaningless without a rhythm.

Buck continues to develop and learn, but he has an intuitive sense of image and emotion, and is never afraid to challenge convention.

2012 Guests of Honor

SonicBlu

SonicBlu is described as a "partying prehistoric predator" to reflect his overly outgoing personality as a Dilophosaurus within this fandom of ours. He has been in the furry fandom since 1997, but was one of those types of people that was born to be furry--and he can show proof of this statement. He's been a performer on stage since he was a hatchling of age ten. He made his debut furry convention stage performance at Anthrocon 2003, and has been performing at various conventions ever since. When not performing, SonicBlu is an author and parody music recording artist by day (having released 8 albums to date), and an internet radio broadcaster by night. He feels that he is rather easy to get along with, and he can take control as a level-headed leader in organizing stage presentations and skits based on his own experiences of performing. SonicBlu is also a voice actor and puppeteer, and is the director, writer, editor, and lead voice/performer for a Saturday night puppet show called Oh! Pawpets! which has been running since the spring of 2009. To date, SonicBlu provides over 30 voices between 17 puppets (since one puppet is a 3-headed dragon, and one puppet has a severe case of memory loss, and can never remember who he was in the previous week, and has the tendency to change not only his personality, but also his voice.)

You can find more information on SonicBlu at:

• Oh! Pawpets! (puppetry/voice acting/film productions)
• Time Machine Show (radio show)
• WikiFur (details, history, credentials, etc.)
• FurAffinity
• IMDb (filmography)

Luthien Nightwolf

Originally from Kansas, Luthien Nightwolf now resides in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma with her mate Theron. She supports herself entirely from commissions, and can proudly say she loves what she does for a living! She is an Art Institute of Phoenix graduate, but has been drawing since she could hold a crayon and has had almost 30 years of practice to get where she is today.

As an avid fan of Lord of the Rings and all things Faerie, Luthien has her roots firmly planted in Fantasy art. She happily applies this theme to the furry world, and also enjoys creating burlesque pinups and spiritual or tribalistic artwork for her commissioners. She does everything from sketches and badges, all the way up to large full color pieces.

Luthien first discovered furry art in 2007, but didn’t find her way into the fandom until 2009, when she moved to Oklahoma and met up with the local furs. Her first convention was Oklacon 2009, where she became instantly hooked on the con buzz, and is really excited to be taking a larger part in Wild Nights 2012. She’s an elusive creature and a bit shy, but very friendly, so if you see her, be sure to come up and say hi!

Luthien Nightwolf's art can be found at on FurAffinity.

Ned Wilkinson

Ned Wilkinson graduated from the Berklee College of Music in 1987 with a degree in Commercial Arranging, or "notes on paper for fun and profit", and an emphasis in trumpet performance. He has spent the ensuing 2 1/2 decades trying to find more interesting things to do than simply draw notes on paper and play trumpet.

Ned spent 24 1/2 years as the bassist/multi-instrumentalist of the comedy/parody vocal trio "Nick, Ruell, and Ned The Band" (he grimly tolerated the idea that his last name had been changed to "The Band"), while also performing for several seasons at Silver Dollar City and providing musical direction for The Haygoods. He produced albums for members of the Cajun Connection, and arranged and played wind instruments for various productions by The Osmonds. He produced hundreds of jingles for regional radio and TV and sang backgrounds on thousands more.

Thirteen years after picking RhubarbCub as a screen name in response to the then-new "bear" scene, he watched "that infamous CSI episode" and immediately knew that the writers had gotten something wrong because who would bother going to such a grim, dreary event as "PAFCon"? In October 2009, enlightened by his own recent plunge into the fandom and spurred on by a looming deadline, he wrote what would become the opening song to "Julie Bunny Must Die!", his furry-influenced stage musical which garnered positive reviews at the Orlando Fringe Festival 2010 despite his having never attended an actual convention. Wild Nights 2011, his second convention, was the first of what he hopes will be a long and distinguished list of conventions to host "the bunny".

Ned lives in Orlando with his husbear Chris and his kittycat Rosalynn. He teaches private instrumental music and continues to do production work while exploring his new direction as a musical theater writer. "The bunny" continues to play the Fringe circuit, and his new project, "Fosgate: Ferret Loan Officer", will be produced later this year at the Orlando Shakespeare Theater.

Wildwolf A.K.A. Chad Laubach

Wildwolf was born in Emmaus Pennsylvania on December 24th 1975. At an early age he was interested in cartoon animals, growing up with cartoons such as Scooby Doo, Looney Toons, Disney cartoons, and various others. By the time High School hit, cartoons such as Tailspin, Gargoyles and Tiny Toons inspired him to start drawing the characters and join forums. One of which was called "The Gathering", a Disney Gargoyles fan forum. He met a couple of "Furries" on there that he became friends with. These furs also introduced him to the Furry Fandom. He was hooked, and his persona Wildwolf was born. Seventeen years has passed since he was introduced to the fandom. He has built many fursuits, performed as professional mascots and worked in the entertainment field.

Wildwolf's first convention he went to was in 1996. It was Confurence East in Cleveland Ohio. He was introduced to many amazing fursuits there and was inspired to build his own. Wildwolf, his first fursuit was debuted at Confurence 9 in 1998. Years down the road, he has built many well known fursuits, professional mascots for colleges and businesses, and icon fursuits for conventions or gatherings. He built Ozzy the Bat for the Furloween event held in Orlando Florida every October. He built an exact likeness of Underdog for Anthrocon, the year Joe Harris, the creator of Underdog, was the Guest of Honor. He also built and wears the mascot for Megaplex, "Mega" Pounce Panther. This mascot changes costumes every year, depending on theme. Some of his well known fursuits include, Kuddlepup, Ditto the Dragon Wolf, Blue the dog, Rakket Raccoon, Ace the foxbunny, Grynn the Sabretooth, Ripner the Cabbit, Gary the Rat, and he was the 1st to build an Anubis fursuit. He also built and donated a mascot for a non profit, children's organization called "The Sunshine Foundation". It was a Florida Panther called Sunnie.

Wildwolf has also performed as professional mascots and character for the last 10 years. Some of these mascots and characters include Scooby Doo, Tony the Tiger, Bullwinkle, Cat in the Hat, The Grinch, Razzles from the Raggs Kid Club Band, Timmy the Termite. He also performed as Sealvester for the Orlando/Florida Seals Hockey team for 5 seasons. He was Blitz the Bobcat from the Florida Bobcats Arena Football League. He also played Stuff the Magic Dragon, for the Orlando Magic basketball team. Other teams he has done mascot work for was the Orlando Solar Bears and the Orlando Miracles. He has appeared on Nationwide TV shows like Early Show, The Daily Show and News programs as various mascots and characters.

Wildwolf also does a lot of charity and volunteer work. He has played characters and mascots for Give Kids the World, Arnold Palmer Childrens Hospital, The Sunshine Foundation, Boggy Creek Camp for Children, The Boys and Girls Club, and various others. He has won many awards for his Volunteer work throughout the ten plus years he has been involved in it.

Wildwolf has been working professionally for the past 10 years, in the Costume and Prosthetic Shop for a major theme park in Orlando Florida. He works on park, show, TV and Movie costumes and props. Some of the costumes he works on at the park are Scooby Doo, Alex the Lion, Woody Woodpecker, E.B. from "HOP" movie, Shrek, Cat in the Hat, Grinch, The Simpsons, Marvel Superheroes, the Werewolf from "Van Helsing" movie, and many more. He also works on costumes and props for the nations largest Halloween event, Halloween Horror Nights.

For over a year now, Wildwolf has co-founded a Paranormal Investigating group called the "Sunshine State Paranormal Investigators" (S.S.P.I). The group travels around Florida to investigates famous haunts and tries to find proof of the Paranormal World.

More information on Wildwolf can be found on FurAffinity!

2011 Guests of Honor

Foreign Diplomat Pacer Fox (Guest of Honor)

2011 Guest of Honor, Fursuit Performer

PacerFox has been performing in the fandom for several years. Starting in college at local SciFi cons in the Virginia Beach area, he got his first suit to attend Anthrocon 1999. Since then he has been to several cons and given panels at many on performance and fursuiting in general.

Professionally, in 2000, he got a job playing "Fang" for the Austin Ice Bats and stayed with the organization until it folded in 2008. He has also performed for such organizations as Give Kids the World, The March Of Dimes, The American Cancer Society, the Red Cross and the Austin Children's Hospital. He has given training at organizations as to how to perform in their mascot costumes and how to be a spotter for mascots.

PacerFox is a native of New Jersey where he was often seen cheering on his beloved Devils. He now resides in Austin, TX where he lives with his mate Ipequey and his dog Elvis. When he isn't suiting he is trying a new beer, ghost hunting or keeping his old cars running.

Foreign Diplomat Eris (Guest of Honor)

2011 Guest of Honor, Fursuit Performer, Fursuit Creator, Artist

Hey all you awesome furs out there!!! Its me Eris Valgen, the new guest of honor for Wild Nights 2011! Some of you may know me as Isis the Oryx gazelle, but soon you'll know me as someone new.

I'm your average girl that originally lived in southern California, but now reside in the wonderful state of Oklahoma. I've always loved anthropomorphic art since I was a child. From cartoon characters such as Mickey mouse and the ninja turtles, to the awesome video games characters like Star Fox and Garrus. It wasn't until i saw the episode of CSI called Fur and Loathing that I realized the furry fandom existed. I know...strange way in joining the fandom.

I quickly began to make fursuits of my own and fell in love making to the point that I now do it for a living. I'm know as Fur it Up and boy am so busy with making suit, but love every minute of it. You can see anyone of my fursuit or art work at http://www.furaffinity.net/user/erisvalgen/

USO Special Guest (Entertainment guest)

Musical Performer

Born in November of 1952, Max DeGroot (not his real name) spent his first year drinking milk and filling diapers, much to the initial delight and later disgust of his parents.

He wasted his youth listening to Tom Lehrer and Allan Sherman, but not exclusively, as he really got into the Beatles and the Four Seasons. This was also the time his head got filled with Hanna Barbara and Disney.

He attended college and majored in Astronomy...no, wait, it was Mathematics...hold on...no...Computer Science, yes that was it...um...well...maybe Music...

His father got disgusted with his indecision and cut him off after four years of this nonsense.

He then spent the next twenty years or so doing volunteer work, and encountering music and comedy put out by Monty Python, Weird Al Yankovic, and Doctor Demento.

Around 1998 he began to get involved in the furry fandom, first as a fursuiter, and then a puppeteer. His sheepdog, Ozark, became a staple of puppetry shows at several conventions.

He recorded his first parody, The Ferret National Anthem, in 2004 which was performed with his puppet Twitch at Midwest Furfest, and there it sat until 2008, when he recorded his second parody, Campaign News.

This was followed by a flurry of parodies until he had enough to record a CD. Since then, he has recorded more parodies and funny music, put out a second CD, a Christmas CD and is close to finishing one more.

Anyway, his first public performance of his parody work occurred in October of 2009 at Con on the Cob, and he has since rocketed to obscurity. He did manage to hit Dr. Demento's Top Ten for March, April, and May 2010 with "Census" which is on schedule one of the top five songs on that show for 2010.

For more information please visit the artist's web site at:
http://www.maxdegroot.com
or visit
http://www.furaffinity.net/user/maxgoof
for more of his stuff.

Samples of his work:

http://www.thefump.com/side.php?id=787
http://www.thefump.com/side.php?id=681
http://www.thefump.com/side.php?id=488

USO Special Guest (Entertainment Guest)

Musical Performer

Hailing from the celestial wastelands of Procyonicybin IV, Kwaz the Drumming Raccoon initially came to Earth intending to destroy the human race. However, upon seeing that the humans were doing a good enough job of killing themselves already, the hallucinogenic rhythm-based alien lifeform took pity on the sad self-destructive species, hijacked one of their bodies at a furry convention and decided to entertain them with wild untamed music as a one man band. With auditory weapons of mass awakening at his side, he has set out on a new mission in life: bringing people together by fusing rock, funk, R&B, metal and tribal drumming together with the unique sounds of his own raccoon/reptoid space fungus ancestors. By opening the humans' hearts and minds to love one other unconditionally, perhaps they can be built back up into a respectable race worth annihilating.. or at the very least, worth partying with.

2010 Guests of Honor

Tzup

2010 Guest of Honor, Fursuit Performer

Tzup is a well-known fursuit performer and mascot from Melbourne, Australia. He comes from all the way across the big pond to join us at Wild Nights in 2010!

You can view his Livejournal for more about him!

Crys the Hybrid

2010 Guest of Honor, Artist

Crys grew up on the east coast, and her love of animals started very young. She started her life with a love of them, dressing up every halloween, drawing and scribbling them, everything.

As she hit highschool, she moved to Texas for her 10th grade year. She there met another prolific artist, Hazard. Hazard introduced her to the thought of more than just werewolves, and creatures of the like. She also introduced Crys to drawing more of a storyline based set of characters and a character to represent Crys herself. From there, Hazard and Crys became good friends and grew as anthropomorphic artists. It took them a long time to learn of the Furry fandom as it is and not what it looks like, however, they did finally succumb to the title of "Furry".

From there, Crys became an avid furry loving artist. She drew nothing but and started to improve exponentially! Finally in 2005 she decided on getting into the online community. She joined Deviantart and started to slowly post her work. Getting a tiny bit of a following, she made friends quickly and started to do art trades and learn the ways of the "fur".

After graduating, she moved to Dallas to go to the Art Institute. She was there for about amonth before going to her first furry convention "Oklacon". At Oklacon, her and Hazard met up and decided to start taking commissions for badges and small sketches. Here she truly learned about the fandom. And at this Oklacon, Crys met the love of her life, Skylor. they started to go out about a month after the con and they grew closer every day.

Within a year, Skylor had moved down, and they were back up at Oklacon again. After two years of trials and some serious tribulations they decided on moving up to Oklahoma. Where they now live!

Crys is currently Art Track Lead at a convention in Dallas called Furry Fiesta (www.furryfiesta.org). She did a great job and ran around like a chicken with her head cut off, but overall, everyone had fun.

She's a funloving person, with an adoration for any of her friends. She's also a fursuiter and a fursuit maker. (slowly learning of course) But She's teaching herself how to build better fursuits, paws, feet and tails.

In Crys's own words:

Take the time to view Crys's FurAffinity page.

2009 Guests of Honor

Baka Sukonku

2009 Guest of Honor, Artist

We are pleased to announce that our Guest of Honor for 2009 is none other than Baka Sukonku! A well-known and talented furry artist, Baka hails from the Kansas City area. You've almost certainly seen his art, and his badges have become legendary. Come meet him this year at Wild Nights, 2009!