Songfight Live 2012 Location Poll

[JonPorobil]

Okay everyone. We talked about it in that other thread, then the discussion died down a bit, and at the end there were five serious contenders. Since the event will likely be in about a year (give or take a month), this seems as good a time as any to lock down the city it will be in. Next to the name of each city, I put the name of the hosting volunteer. I wasn't sure about Los Angeles, but glennny was the one who nominated it, so I put his name there.

Here's the breakdown (feel free to amend or correct me on any info that might be missing or wrong):

Atlanta, GA
Last time it was in Atlanta:2007
Noah McLaughlin has volunteered to host.
Other Songfighters in the area: JB, Starfinger

Austin, TX
Last time it was in Austin: 2004
Jon Eric has volunteered to host.
Other Songfighers in the area: DJ Ranger Den, WreckdoM, Marcus Kellis, 15-16 Puzzle

Los Angeles, CA
Last time it was in LA: never
No one has volunteered to host.
Songfighers in the area: BLT, the Durand Brothers (ish), State Shirt, Seamus Collective, Evil-E, Albatross, Edge of LA, prayformojo

Madison, WI
Last time it was in Madison: never
Manhattan Glutton has volunteered to host.
Other Songfighters in the area: Lucky Spoon (I think), Milo Dunderville (aka LMNOP)

Seattle, WA
Last time it was in Seattle: 2003
Spud (aka Fightmaster Sr.) has volunteered to host!
Other Songfighers in the area: Naked Philosophy. Rabid Garfunkel is in Portland, which is accessible by car.

[nyjm]

I feel like we're back in the old "One Vote for One Song" days of SF! So... yeah, gotta vote for me, though I remember it wasn't a front-runner from previous discussions.

Still, good things about Atlanta:
- Best airport in the US (most on-time flights, easy to navigate and get to)
- Reliable public transportation system in metro area
- Major city = lots of venues large and small, public, private and in-between
- Major city = easy access to renting all the gear we'll need
- Eddie's Attic
- Little Five Points
- High Museum

To be fair, not so good things:
- It can get HOT, especially in the late summer
- Despite an OK train / subway, it's a very car-dominant area, especially once you step out of the middle of ATL
- Blue laws = no alcohol sales on Sunday

[Manhattan Glutton]

I can't vote. It says selection is invalid.

But just a reminder to everybody:
-we have an airport
-it's an awesome little city
-i have a ton of live gear
-i can rent out a park and perhaps a house across from the park

[fluffy]

Which template are you using? GlossyBlue is incompatible with polls, as it turns out. I've switched to SubSilver until I can track down which template file is broken.

Generic: LA is NOT a day-trip away from the SF bay area, unless you want a REALLY long day. On the other hand, Seattle actually IS a day-trip away from Portland.

[JonPorobil]

I can't vote. It says selection is invalid.

But just a reminder to everybody:
-we have an airport
-it's an awesome little city
-i have a ton of live gear
-i can rent out a park and perhaps a house across from the park

I'm getting the same problem. Weird.

EDIT: Fixed by changing templates. I was using GlossyGreen. Switched to SubSilver. It's ugly as sin, though, so I'm switching right back now that my vote has been cast.

Which template are you using? GlossyBlue is incompatible with polls, as it turns out. I've switched to SubSilver until I can track down which template file is broken.

Generic: LA is NOT a day-trip away from the SF bay area, unless you want a REALLY long day. On the other hand, Seattle actually IS a day-trip away from Portland.

Corrected. Do we have any Songfighters in the Portland area?

[fluffy]

Rabid Garfunkel at least. I'm pretty sure there's a few others as well.

[fluffy]

FWIW I voted for Seattle as my first choice but if we had multiple choices on this poll I'd have voted for Madison as my #2. (Can't polls be set to have multiple options?)

Oh, also, State Shirt is based in LA, for whatever that's worth. Also mico saudad (née abecedarian) is in Seattle, last I was aware.

Lots of LA-area fighters now that I think of it. Ross Durand, of course, and I think Evil-E and Albatross hail from there. Then Alex/Seamus of the Seamus Collective is in San Diego, I think? And that's pretty close (a little closer than Portland is to Seattle).

[Milo]

I seldom post but lurk regularly and participate sporadically under mostly one-off names.

Anyway, I'd drive to Madison if the dates work, especially if it lined up with a Brewers home stand.

Also, I drink a lot of Manhattans.

[ken]

FWIW I voted for Seattle as my first choice but if we had multiple choices on this poll I'd have voted for Madison as my #2. (Can't polls be set to have multiple options?)

Oh, also, State Shirt is based in LA, for whatever that's worth. Also mico saudad (née abecedarian) is in Seattle, last I was aware.

Lots of LA-area fighters now that I think of it. Ross Durand, of course, and I think Evil-E and Albatross hail from there. Then Alex/Seamus of the Seamus Collective is in San Diego, I think? And that's pretty close (a little closer than Portland is to Seattle).

Just want to clear up that Ross is in Orange County which is not LA. Evil-E is in San Luis Obispo. Edgar (Edge of LA) is still in LA as is long lost Songfight Hip Hop Crooner prayformojo.

Ken

[fluffy]

I did say LA-area, but fair enough on Ross. I didn't know Evil-E was in SLO - thought he was in LA proper for some reason (probably because he came to SF Presents LA). That's still within day-trip distance, at least.

And oh yeah, completely forgot about PfM. Weird, seeing as how I see him on Twitter all the time. He needs to come the hell back here.

[Albatross]

And I'm a 3-1/2 hour drive away from LA, at least.

[bambamoozle]

I've voted for Madison for two reasons: (1) It has a host and (2) I'm going to be there on August 2-5, 2012 for the bi-annual Leonard Cohen Event, so maybe you can have it the same weekend and when I get tired of listening to others play Leonard Cohen (which might take until the last day though) I'll pop on over:

http://leonardcohenfiles.com/madison-poster-kadir.jpg

[Who_Izzy]

I'm an 8.5 hour trip from Madison...Only one I'd be able to make it to...and I love to make it there for this event

[roymond]

Do we have any Songfighters in the Portland area?

Anti-M.

I'd go where the action is. I'd go places I've never been, so Madison and Austin are curious competitors.

[JonPorobil]

Madison is still out ahead, but Seattle's closing the gap.

I don't want to let my bias rule this decision, so I'll open it up to the floor - when should the poll close?

[fluffy]

Start a poll to ask when the poll should end.

[Who_Izzy]

Start a poll to ask when the poll should end.

and then a poll to ask when the poll that's asking when the poll should end should end

[Manhattan Glutton]

Hey, if we were decisive we wouldn't need someone to make song titles for us. Part of the charm that comes with the territory.

[BBABM]

I would say 2 months is a good time period... If you don't check the forums at least once in two months, chances are you're not coming to sfl, and therefore I don't care what you want.

[jack]

I voted for Austin, but only because I felt bad nobody wanted to visit Jon Eric after he's been trying to organize everything. I'm sure Jon Eric would do a fine job organizing something but Austin in the middle of the summer isn't what I'd call a vacation. It's what I call torture.

[fluffy]

FWIW I voted for Seattle as my first choice but if we had multiple choices on this poll I'd have voted for Madison as my #2. (Can't polls be set to have multiple options?)

Since the voting is so close between those two choices right now, I feel like I should share my thoughts on why my first choice is better.

First of all, Song Fight Live 2003 was my first Live event, and it has been by far the best-run Song Fight Live I have ever been a part of. Spud is a very conscientious and gracious host, and he made sure that everything ran like an extremely well-oiled machine. He organized plenty of events among the visitors, including multiple jam/practice sessions, including providing plenty of food and drinks, and made sure that everyone's needs were met. He made sure the venue was ready for us and that we had everything we needed to perform there. He even printed up back-stage passes for us to make it easy for us to identify ourselves to the venue crew.

Since then, Spud has organized quite a few other musical events which I had the pleasure of being a part of, and all of them went extremely well, even the ones which had no right to (such as the private party at which I officially became Octothorpe's drummer). Hell, at the Seattle stop on one of the Left Coast Tours we ended up even making money on the show. (Well, enough to buy half a beer each, but still.)

Obviously I can't speak for his willingness to repeat 2003's level of detail and ambition for any future event, but he has natural proven organizational skills and a level of preparedness and situational awareness and readiness that I feel goes far above and beyond, and he naturally sets the bar far higher than anyone else I've known.

At the very least, I am certain that even if he makes his minimum effort (which is far beyond what most mere mortals are capable of even if they overextend themselves) it'll be guaranteed not to suck.

That said, Manhattan Glutton is clearly very passionate about perfection, and I'm sure he'll be fine as a host.

[Spud]

Gee, I promised I wasn't going to campaign, but you forgot to mention the newspaper article and the local NPR affiliate radio story. On the other hand, I voted for Madison.

--edit: not to mention the beer sponsor....