First, want to give some normative shout-outs to new voters, and welcome both Dinah and Kate M. Music lovers that might get into this could be as far away as half a world, or as close as a few seats away at a baseball stadium. I love it. Second, reminder on the 11’s policy (as Mark O and I used ours.) If you recruit anyone new to vote in the tournament, you get an 11, a la Spinal Tap, “this one goes to 11,” to award as you see fit. You only get one 11 for the whole tournament, no matter how many people you recruit though, so use it wisely. And now, on to the results…

Division G Championship: #1 All Along The Watchtower (Jimi Hendrix) vs. #3 Thunder Road (Bruce Springsteen)

Jimi, Jimi, Jimi, look at ya…so happy to be alive. You should be, you’re the second consecutive 1 seed to keep focus and make it to the tournament final! There was some U2 support around, but Hendrix maintained a steady (though slight) lead through these last few days. In the end Watchtower eliminated “With Or Without You”, 149.8-141.7. On the other side of the bracket, Bruce and that harmonica and that piano stay alive, with some substantial help from Janos, Mark O,  and myself (that sounds familiar.) Mark O and I both use our only 11’s to make sure this happens, and Nos and Bessaface join us to push Thunder Road to the Wall of 10’s. Jersey beats Michigan, Thunder Road thunders into the opposite spot, and “Night Moves” goes down, 144.2-121.2.

Division H Championship: #1 Baba O’Riley (The Who) vs. #2 American Girl (Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers)

Pete, Roger, and the rest really, really rock, enough to overcome the 80’sness of “You Can Call Me Al” (which I admittedly really appreciated this morning for some reason.) It’s sort of an ironic match-up to begin with, since the Graceland track is so synthesizer driven, and “Baba O’Riley” itself was originally imagined by Townshend to utilize the synthesizer-driven Lifehouse machine to construct a song that took the life of Meher Baba and transposed it into music. Yeah. The Who advances and eliminates Simon without Garfunkel, 162.15-142.05.

Last, Eminem certainly had a good run of it- I still remember when we were setting up the Round of 512 and almost as an afterthought I e-mailed Nos to see if we could switch “Lose Yourself” in for “Stan.” Thus was born a giant killer…at least until Tom Petty stepped up to the plate. I can’t remember if it was Adrock or Danno that called the beginning of “American Girl” the best beginning of any song ever. It’s pretty awesome, to be honest. Petty eliminates Eminem, 157.7-142.3. Division H becomes our second division in which the 1 and 2 seeds endure to match off.