David Bowie 'Ziggy Stardust: The Motion Picture Soundtrack'

From the comments left about Sunday’s blog entry… You can clearly see why I don’t get all “political” here. People get their noses bent and forget that I’m entitled to my beliefs just like they’re entitled to their own. That’s all I have to say about that.

--Last Friday night, I was one of the judges for the Battle Of The Bands at the Weaver Education Center near downtown Greensboro. I have been in a band that won a BOB competition at the GYC Carnival a few decades ago. And I have judged other competitions before. I know what to expect. A few half-assed bands with one sparkling gem. Not that my band Krakkin’ was a sparkling gem… We sucked and managed to beat far better bands.

This BOB was very different.

The Weaver Education Center is like the high school in the movie and television series Fame. And they even have kids that build a house every year, so I don’t think it’s all about the arts there. I’m just making an assessment of what I see and hear about.

Every band playing last Friday night was very good. I wasn’t surprised at all. I just didn’t expect them all to be good… With the exception of Demon Bird Moth Balls. After hearing them, I now know what Glaucoma would sound like if it made noise. Of course, I graded all 3 categories with an appropriate “6” to keep with the “Demon” motif.

The other judges with me were Ryan Cobb (teacher at Weaver), Molly McGinn (musician & blogger), T.J. (musician and recording producer), and Gordon White (musician and recording producer).

The event was produced by the students and had a very comfortable flow to it. Many of the students were working in flip-flops. Many of the students in the audience represented just about every decade since the debut of the Ford Mustang. There were hippy chicks. There were beatniks. There were “stoners”. There were white guys with dreads. There were girls dressed like the girls I went to high school with back in the 80’s. It was a like a revolving time machine. Every student there seemed like they were their own person with a separate identity.

They must have a great Comedy department there at Weaver… The 2 guys emceeing the event were funny and seemed to work on the fly. The whole night was very relaxed.

Here’s a list of the bands that played:

John Doe and The Runners (catch them at Somewhere Else on Friendly sometime)

Darth Vader’s Funky Bird

Cocoon

Ghost Of The Cosmos

Stretch and The Funk (catch them at Somewhere Else on Friendly sometime)

? (pronounced “whaaaa”)

Climate Review

Demon Bird Moth Balls

Stretch and The Funk came out as the winners. And let me tell ya… Those guys are as talented as they are funny.

I remember seeing Benjy Johnson from Benjomatic before his show at Somewhere Else and he was telling me about these 2 crazy high school guys that just got through playing. He didn’t know their name. They were wearing loud sweaters, neckties, and playing weird covers. I didn’t see Benjy’s ass because I think he laughed it off.

Once I saw Stretch and The Funk hit the stage, I knew these were the guys Benjy was talking about that night. Those crazy cats scored a direct hit on my funny bone.

As I was leaving the event, the teacher that corralled all of the judges thanked me and hoped that I had a good time. I told her that I did and expressed my feelings about the creativeness of the students at Weaver. The participants weren’t bound by the current popular culture. That was easily heard with the cover tunes by Otis Redding (“Hard To Handle”) and the jazz ensemble Weather Report (Climate Review) I heard that night.

It’s refreshing to see some young adults out there thinking for themselves.