Some thoughts (and thank yous) regarding the people that made Song Fight Live: Rock and Rocker what it was!
- Nelle and Travis
Nelle and
Travis are local friends of ours, and they worked very hard behind the scenes to make the breakfast and barbecue a success on Saturday. Travis cooked at the BBQ, Nelle did a ton of prepwork, and they provided many of the extra chairs and amenities. Quite simply: things would not have worked out nearly as well as it did without their assistance. Thank you!
- Hoblit
It was fun to peer pressure Hoblit into performing an impromptu song near the end of the night on Friday. It was totally worth it too, because the song rocked! Was stoked to see that he brought his "Dangerously Cheesy" shirt with him. Hobs has not missed a Songfight live event since the first one he attended! That has to be some sort of record! Why, the only person I can think of that might apply to is...
- John Benjamin
Sunday/Monday gave Rachael and I the chance to spend some extra time with JB, and that worked out very nicely. We played his "Full Metal Jacket" at the end of
this month's portion of my 120 song countdown. I squeezed in an
interview with him, we started writing a song together, we went and saw "Moon" in theaters, checked out the Japanese gardens at Manito Park...
- Jon Eric
It was such a kick to finally meet Jon in person. Jon joined Songfight at an early enough age that we've been able to see him genuinely improve over the years. I think he must have taken classes at the 15-16 puzzle institute, where he was encouraged to write songs with 12,000 chord changes in them. Kudos to Jon for hanging in there during the live fight, even as the song fell to pieces.
- Irwin
People say that I am animated when I play Rock Band. Those people have not seen Irwin. The man plays in FULL ROCK STAR MODE, complete with jumping and erratic movements. I didn't know what to expect from Kasper (Irwin and Mike Lamb), but they played a thoroughly entertaining set. A highlight of the weekend: Irwin saw my Run DMC shirt as I walked into Neato Burrito, and he started an impromptu, acapella version of "You Be Illin'". I gladly joined in, as did many others.
- Mike Lamb
I didn't get to hang out with Mike very often over the weekend with everything going on, but he was nice enough to play bass for our "They Meet" entry. As I mentioned with Irwin's entry, Kasper played a great set, and I'm very glad that both of them made the trip from California to be here for Songfight Live. You know who else made the trip from California?
- Ken Mahru
I'm not going to lie: I've been friends with Ken since Songfight Live Austin, and he is one of my favorite people on the planet. Among his many charming traits: He's helpful, honest, kind, and a hell of a songwriter to boot. He may not have played drums on everybody's set, but he was on that stage more often than he was off. He's probably still recovering from that. I'm glad I was able to take some time to
interview Ken on my podcast over the weekend.
- Marcus and Theophilus Monk
I didn't get a chance to hang out with the guys from Theophilus Monk, but I did attempt to keep up with Marcus and Stuart on their impromptu cover of 15-16 Puzzle's "Fuzzy Logic" on Friday night. I didn't do so well, but it was fun. I was shocked to hear that they got into a car accident on the way home, and I was glad to hear that they're okay, even if their car is not.
- Merisan
A group of us shared a house during Songfight Santa Cruz, and that group of friends will always be Team Seahorse to me. Sam and Erin were part of that crew, and it was so nice to see them again! I was so nervous about ruining the Berkeley Social Scene set, so it was a relief when it went well. It's worth mentioning that Sam and Erin helped with chauffeuring songfighters around, and Erin also worked very hard behind the scenes at breakfast and the BBQ. Very helpful, wonderful peeps!
- Glen
Was nice to finally meet the guy that shares my name minus one N. Not sure I made the best first impression when I drove past our destination after Ken and I picked him up at the airport, only to turn around and miss it again. Heck of a guitar player and a nice guy, too.
I still owe y'all some thoughts about - Sean (Crank Radio), Naked Philosophy (Mike), Octothorpe, Rachael, Roymond, Sheail and Fluffy when I'm not needing to get ready for work.
ROCK!
Glenn Case