At Last, The Finals!

[Author's Note: [Author’s note: If this is your first time visiting the UMC blog, you might want to check out the INTRODUCTION first.]

And the winners are….

Detroit Underground

Anger is a Gift

Monsters of Rock

Alice and the Cooper Gang (which did not win any money, but have won my heart forever, I will never forget you guys).

So, can you believe that show last night? Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow! I am still buzzing on it. Every band just blew me away. Starting with Alice who put on such a performance: so good, so fun, so nutty – the whole time during their set, all I kept thinking was, Well these guys obviously have it in the bag.

Then, MOR came up, and I thought, Oh shit, how am I going to pick between these two bands? Well, whatever, clearly Alice AND Monsters will end up in the top two spots.

But then Anger came on, and I thought . . .

Cut the shit dudes! You can’t honestly expect me to choose between these three bands. Oh well, there’s no doubt that these guys will all place because poor old Detroit Underground doesn’t have a chance in Hell and oh, look, here comes DU now. I sure hope they suck so I won’t feel bad when they lose and… hmm, that riff doesn’t sound so bad, nor that horn arrangement, nor that part, or that, wow, that was good too, and that! – that was really good – and that, and that and, holy fucking shit on a sugar cube, these guys are CRUSHING it!

Damn you Detroit Underground! Damn you all to all-Hell for being so spectacular! And damn you Alice, and Monster, and Anger for making this the hardest decision anyone’s had to make since Metallica decided to cut their hair.

Semi Finals (Round 2)

[Author's Note: [Author’s note: If this is your first time visiting the UMC blog, you might want to check out the INTRODUCTION first.]

And the winners are…

Anger is a Gift and Detroit Underground! Congratulations you two bands who are totally different from each other but both rock in your own ways! We’ll see you in the finals.

So, wow. What a great night of music. All the bands were excellent. Also, with respect to the vitriol dispatched upon the judges, the night went a lot smoother than last week. Not only did we only receive a handful of angry comments by disgruntled fans (compared with the dump-truck-full we received last week), but the losing bands themselves were beyond gracious. The guys from both Gin Pistons and Old School came up to us, shook our hands, said “Thank you,” and smiled the whole time.

I can’t tell you how much those smiles meant to us. It’s like the smiles were saying, “Hey man, we get it. It’s just a game, and we lost… this time.”

The drummer for Gin Piston, bless his warmy, fuzzy soul, even gave me their original CD to send to The Mother, who has become a GP fan. The Mother will be delighted.

Indeed, the only people who gave any of the judges any perceptible level of grief was Danielle, my wife, and I, who viciously attacked Alicia on the ride home. But we’ll get to that in a bit.

WEEK 7 (July 6)

[Author's Note: [Author’s note: If this is your first time visiting the UMC blog, you might want to check out the INTRODUCTION first.]

Before we get started, there are four things that need to be mentioned. The first is that last night’s contest only had four entrants because The Clay Colton Band lost its guitar player in a fatal traffic accident. Craig Yerkes was the much-loved guitarist for the Clay Colton band, as well as for an all original local rock band called The Grams. I didn’t know Craig, but have many friends who were very close to him. They all said the same thing, that Craig was a great person and a phenomenal guitar player. We at UMC extend our condolences to his family and friends. Rest in Peace brother.

Secondly, there is some breaking UMC news. The winner of Week 6’s competition, the 80z All Stars, has dropped out. This means that the next runner up, Gin Pistons, will advance instead; so congratulations you oversized rockers! See you in the next round.

Third, filling in for Danielle LoPresti on Sunday was renowned musician and songwriter, Lisa Winston. Thanks Lisa!.

Last, I’d like to officially announce the arrival of a brand new type of conspiracy theorist. I haven’t decided what to call them yet, but it’s in regard to the band Detroit Underground.

After the show last night, a fellow named Bill approached me and asked what was up with Detroit Underground playing again this year. His point was, since they took second place last year, and won 8k, they should be ineligible for this year’s contest.

I told him that these decisions aren’t up to me, but, that I see no reason why they shouldn’t be allowed. If you can go to the World Series two years in a row – why not our little Music Challenge?

Anyway, that’s my take. What do you think?

Also, we need a name for this particular group of conspiracy theorists. I was thinking of naming them “Detroit Underground Conspiracy Theorists” (DUCT) in honor of the band which inspired it. But maybe it should be something more general, in case it comes up again, such as “Returning Finalist Conspiracy Theorists” (RFCT), or “Double Dipping Conspiracy Theorists (DDCT), or “We Hate You Because You’re Good Conspiracy Theorists” (WHYBYGCT).

WEEK 6 (June 29)

[Author's Note: [Author’s note: If this is your first time visiting the UMC blog, you might want to check out the INTRODUCTION first.]

There are some things I need to mention before we get started. The first being that the Cash’d Out Interview is now posted.

Secondly, the band, WilLoveALot, didn’t show up last nigth so the whole schedule got thrown for a loop, thus reducing the number of acts from five to four, for which we apologize.

Thirdly, we had a guest judge fill in for Jaime this week. Alan Phillips is a Grammy nominated musician and producer with 13 San Diego Music Awards under his belt. He has performed and/or recorded for such legends as Bob Hope Tito Puente, Donna Summer, Kenny Loggins, Patti LaBelle, Kenny Rogers, Al Jarreau and Sheila E.

He’s, also, from what I could tell last night, a super cool, kick-back guy. Thanks Alan!

Lastly, I would like to mention that my mother attended the Ultimate Music Challenge this week. My mother, whose name is Suela but whom we call, “The Mother,” is in town visiting from New York. The Mother has been helping proof read these posts since the beginning so I brought her to the show last night to sit at the judges’ table and get a gander at what all the fuss has been about.

Mom grew up listening to those old Italian crooners like Dean Martin and Louis Prima and the closest she’s ever come to liking rock music is when Frank Sinatra did a duet with Jimmy Buffet. I actually had an idea that I would hand her my microphone after the judges made their comments and have her say things like, “Don’t you boys know any Tony Bennet songs,” or something silly to that effect, but she declined.

And now, the winner of Week 5 of the Ultimate Music Challenge is…

80z All Stars.

Congratulations you kooks!

Week 5 (June 22)

[Author's Note: [Author’s note: If this is your first time visiting the UMC blog, you might want to check out the INTRODUCTION first.]

Before getting into the contest, I’d like to mention two things:

The first is to tell you about an article I’m writing for the blog. It’s an interview with last year’s Ultimate Music Challenge champions, Cash’d Out, in which they will answer questions like, “How did you spend the 20 thousand dollars in prize money?” and, “What advice do you have for this year’s contenders?” That post should go up sometime this week so stay tuned.

WEEK 4 (June 15)

[Author's Note: [Author’s note: If this is your first time visiting the UMC blog, you might want to check out the INTRODUCTION first.]

And the winner is…

Monsters of Rock!

Congratulations you hard rocking rockers you.

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Week 3 (June 8)

[Author's Note: [Author’s note: If this is your first time visiting the UMC blog, you might want to check out the INTRODUCTION first.]

And the winner is…

6one9!

Congratulations.

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Thanks to all the bands who played and all the people who ventured out. It was another great turnout for the Ultimate Music Challenge at DreamCatcher lounge in Viejas. Props to all the bands for bringing their people.

The judges had an extremely difficult time selecting a winner this week. And the reason is because there weren’t any tribute bands to whom we could just hand over the victory. Our only choices were boring old variety cover bands and we judges just didn’t know what to do.

HA! But I kid the TCBT’s

All joking aside, I have to say, the caliber of bands to this point has been truly impressive, and last night was no exception. It actually kind of sucks for the judges because we don’t have anyone to bag on, which is, to be totally honest, the best part about being a judge.

WEEK 2 (June 1, 2008)

[Author’s note: If this is your first time visiting the UMC blog, you might want to check out the INTRODUCTION first.]

And the winner is…

Alice and the Cooper Gang!

Congratulations you sickos!




 

Ok, so another good turnout for the UMC Deuce. I’d say, compared to this time last year, we had at least 1/3 more people. Also, a new feature this week was DJ Mac, who played a mostly solid set between each band (although one has to wonder about his decision to put Vanilla Ice into the mix).

We had 5 bands playing tonight: Mario Escovedo Experience (also known as MEX), Alice and the Cooper Gang, The King Bees, The Pop Rox, and Good Mojo.

WEEK 1 – (MAY 25, 2008)

(Author’s Note: if this is your first visit to the UMC interactive blog you might want to read our INTRODUCTION first)




 

Welcome to the first week of Ultimate Music Challenge 2. There were five bands who played the debut: The Stilettos, Help!, Mercy House, Atomic Cowboys, and Loss of Control.

And the Winner is…

Help!

So Week One of UMC2 was a success. It was standing room only and the bands were, mostly, great. There was a lot of quality rocking going on up that stage, and I’m not just saying that to be polite.

The Stilettos opened the night with their brand of rawk-a-billy (that’s raw rock-a-billy with a ‘tude) and slammed a nearly flawless, technically excellent (tech-cellent?) set including two from the Stray Cats repertoire.