sonofgearfight Introduction and Bluelogy

Discuss the many little competitions/projects that spring up amongst the Song Fight community.
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mo
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sonofgearfight Introduction and Bluelogy

Post by mo »

Hey guys

In honor of the Mighty Blue Lang(tm) I am announcing the first Son of Gearfight.

Blue was a great Songfighter. I don't just mean that in terms of the music he created, which was prolific, or his talent, which was prodigious. Blue was a community builder. Blue interacted with everyone, n00b or old-timer, equally and with what some found to be brutal honesty. But Blue was never ill-intentioned. He wanted you to be better. He wanted you to help him be better, and the way he knew how to do that was by calling it how he saw it, without ego, without animus. Blue gave countless Songfighters tough love, becoming like a schoolteacher you thought was the coolest and wanted to impress. I watched it happen with all kinds of young Songfighters, many of whom are now grizzled Songfight veterans. That was the power of Blue's reviews, which in later years took on a mythical reputation.

But in truth, he was just a dude who loved music, loved collaborating, loved improving and loved watching others improve.

That's the spirit I want to bring to sonofgearfight, a rebooting of one of Blue's great traditions. In the dark days before the current regime of Fightmasters, Songfight was run by one person. That person could be erratic with life, the universe, and everything, so all kinds of Songfight-related sidefights evolved out of the woodwork during downtimes of the main website. Blue's personal solution was to create a fight in which he'd offer up a prize, he'd pick a winner from the submissions, and that song would win its artist that fight's prize. Gearfight prizes started out being all kinds of musical equipment or related equipment that Blue had lying around (I wouldn't be surprised to find that he cannibalized my sonofsupercar pedalboard for this haha) but in later fights, would be whatever tf Blue wanted to give. A six pack of his favorite soda. Whatever, it wasn't about the prizes, it was about the community. Blue would also often give prizes not necessarily based on which song he thought was best, but who could really use the gear he was giving away the most.

sonofgearfight intends to capture not just Blue's spirit of generosity in giving away prizes, but also his generosity in reviewing. At least for this inauguaral sonofgearfight, we will have guest reviewers who have been asked to review with their own tastes, knowledge, and experience, but in the spirit of Blue Lang: direct, honest, but constructive criticism. Some people thought Blue could be cruel; YMMV of course, but in my experience he called it exactly as he saw it, without ill intentions. He just had really strong opinions, and also a wealth of songwriting, music, band forming, and production knowledge. These reviews will have no impact on the prize-winning aspect of the fight. They are just this fight's way of trying to contribute to Blue's legacy in a fuller way.

And with all that in mind: sonofgearfight:

The Rules:

Each sonofgearfight, a donor will provide a prize. That donor will also be the sole judge, deciding which of the submitted songs piques their fancy such that it deserves the prize.

Each sonofgearfight will have a title prompt and an inspiration prompt. The inspiration prompt is not a challenge, it is not mandatory, but is there to help provides ideas and creative sparks for those who need/prefer them. Hopefully they will be inspirational for all contributors.

Other rules are subject to change as we are still tweaking the format, and the format itself may need to evolve. The current intention is to run a new sonofgearfight each month. If you would like to be a donor/Prizemaster please respond to me in PM.

I hope that all of you will contribute, collaborate, and make music together. Take the opportunity to dive into Blue's catalog of music. For those of us who knew him, let's celebrate him by keeping this spirit alive. For those of you who didn't know him, I hope this will be a great way for you to get to know a great friend.

Please see the subsequent threads for information on each individual sonofgearfight as they emerge.
Last edited by Lunkhead on Wed Jun 23, 2021 4:15 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: sticky
mo
Mean Street
Posts: 514
Joined: Fri Oct 08, 2004 9:46 pm
Instruments: guitar, bass, synth
Recording Method: Reaper 4eva
Submitting as: duboce triangle, ellipsis, agony sauce, moody vermin, spite, yaks
Pronouns: n/a
Location: hell a
Contact:

Re: sonofgearfight Introduction and Bluelogy

Post by mo »

sonofgearfight #1 is live! viewtopic.php?f=14&t=12134
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fluffy
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Re: sonofgearfight Introduction and Bluelogy

Post by fluffy »

This is such an amazing way to remember blue. Thank you for all your hard work in putting this together.
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