Morning has finally broken through the clouds and rain of yesternight, and the marathoners are lacing up their shoes. Check out the schedule over at Untapped New York’s feature– whether we see you at the Ferry Terminal at 11 AM or somewhere along the way, today has the makings of something special.
Completely stoked- older woman in the front
Facing elimination, U2 went with its famous ode to Martin Luther King, Jr. and fought to compete for one more day. However, it wasn’t a complete victory for the Irish, as Led Zeppelin’s “Good Times, Bad Times” took the gold with 99.8 points. “Pride (In The Name of Love)” grabs the silver (87.4 points), while the Beach Boys surfs off course into their first strike. “Let Him Run Wild” pulls a paltry 57.5 points- let’s hope Coach Janos can draw up some fancy X’s and O’s during the break for his boys. Current standings:
Beach Boys: X
Led Zeppelin: X
U2: X X
Game 5 coming right up. U2 still a game from elimination, but if they can stay alive there’ll be another band in that position next time. What will happen? Only time will tell, but there should be an #MD5 voting block tomorrow. Songs are here, and votes are due by Monday, June 4th at 5:00 PM. Good luck to all, and good luck to all marathoners!
Royal Rumble: Game Five
Led Zeppelin- “Tangerine”
U2- “Desire”
The Beach Boys: “Don’t Worry Baby”
3rd Straight Silver Medal- but in this contest, all that matters is “not a bronze.” Beach Boys still with 0 strikes.
Friends, at some point in this contest someone was going to have to be the first to have their back against the wall. Unfortunately for U2, that honor goes to them. This battle was the closest yet in terms of all three songs staying within fighting range of each other (the gap between 3rd and 1st was about 17 points.) The gold medal goes to “Hey Hey What Can I Do” as Zeppelin racks up 136.65 points. The silver medal was close, but the Beach Boys pulled away on the night votes. “Help Me Rhonda” receives 125.35 points, while U2’s “New Years Day” pulls a close bronze with 119.4 points. Current Royal Rumble Standings:
Beach Boys:
Led Zeppelin: X
U2: X X
With his back against the wall, Coach Dan turns to the ace. We’ll see if it’s enough to stave off elimination. Game 4 songs are below, playlist is here, votes are due by 10:00 PM on Friday, June 1st. Best of luck to all.
Royal Rumble: Game 4
Beach Boys- Let Him Run Wild
Led Zeppelin- Good Times, Bad Times
U2- Pride (In The Name Of Love)
“At FedEx, we are committed to helping rebuild the affected communities devastated by past hurricane seasons through our support of the United Way program. We thank you for all your hard work.”
-FedEx Corporation sign positioned at the front of the Hands On Meeting Room
All throughout history are instances where wise people stand up and note that there is no progress without conflict. You need a catalyst, something that makes things not as easy for everyone, an inciting incident to flesh out exactly who is going to stay afloat when the water gets choppy. Progress is Darwinian in a way; those component parts that are not malleable enough to withstand conflict are discarded. Those that are stick around until the next iteration tests them.
Despite the transition the camp itself retained much of its grassroots feel. Our tents stayed and our nightly campfire burned on (with wooden pallets and gasoline replacing MRE boxes for slump-busting wet wood and getting things started.) The red tape was there, but it was minimal. Considering that our financing source had gone from millionaire entrepreneurs to an established non-profit, the lack of affect I observed upon my return was pleasantly surprising.
Nonplussed- Robert Plant
[UPDATE: Grooveshark link is fixed. For some reason, GS erased my most recent 10 playlists- maybe I hit my limit or something. Anyways, this should work, and sorry for the off-linedness.] Results for Game 2 are in, and another band picks up a Strike One. Much kudos to both U2 and the Beach Boys who turned in stellar performances. “Sunday Bloody Sunday” grabs the gold medal here with 89.5, with “I Get Around” the closest of silvers with 89.4. Unfortunately for Led Zeppelin, the crowd did not warm up to “Custard Pie,” which stumbled into the bronze at 62.1.
Current Standings:
Beach Boys:
Led Zeppelin: X
U2: X
Game 3 coming right up, and no one is holding back on these nominations. Votes are due by Wednesday night the 30th at midnight, and the playlist is here. Best of luck to all:
Royal Rumble: Game 3
U2- New Year’s Day
The Beach Boys- Help Me Rhonda
Led Zeppelin- Hey Hey What Can I Do
Votes are in the bag, and Strike 1 has been awarded.
“Are you serious?” Bono might be yelling. If he saw these results, that’s definitely what he’d be yelling. Final scores for Game 1: Zeppelin’s “Going To California” powers for gold with 138 points. Grabbing the silver by a few points was “Waiting For The Day” by the Beach Boys with 104.8 points. Strike 1 goes to U2- despite “Mysterious Ways”‘ commercial success, the voters did not approve, and it ends up with 102.4 points. Current standings:
Beach Boys:
Led Zeppelin:
U2: X
Game 2 coming right up! The playlist is here, and votes are due by Saturday, May 26th at Midnight. I know it’s Memorial Day weekend, so get your votes in tomorrow when everyone else is out and you are sitting at your desk doing nothing. This is a great setlist, enjoy!
Royal Rumble: Game 2
Led Zeppelin- Custard Pie
U2- Sunday Bloody Sunday
The Beach Boys- I Get Around
Every vote counts, guys. Game 7 is in the books. After going neck and neck the last 36 hours, U2 seizes the win and the advance with a last minute surge at the finish. “One” defeats “One Way Out” by the Allman Brothers, 64.2-62.4. And then there were three:
The Rules of the Royal Rumble are as follows:
1) Each Game will feature a song nominated by each of our surviving coaches (Adrock, Janos, and Dan) and the order in which they nominate those songs will shuffle with each game.
2) Scoring is the same- for each of the three songs submit a score between 0 and 10.
3) At the conclusion of the game, all of the scores will be added up and the results announced. The band that gets 3rd place will receive a “strike.” A strike is a bad thing.
4) Three strikes and the band is eliminated. We keep going until there is only one band left (so this will last between six and eight games.)
Got it? Excited? Me too. Our coaches got their Game 1 nominations to me super quickly, so I’m happy to get this started now! Votes due by Thursday, May 22nd at 5:00 PM EST. The playlist is here, and remember, give all three songs a score. Good luck!
Royal Rumble: Game 1
I’m Waiting For The Day (The Beach Boys) vs.
Going To California (Led Zeppelin) vs.
Mysterious Ways (U2)
Voters- sorry for the delay in posting, but as we’ve discussed earlier, we’d rather have voting live in the work week than over the work weekend. Game 6 saw the elimination of a promising contender, and the forcing of a Game 7 from another.
AC/DC was a worthy contender, but it seems as though Led Zeppelin and Coach Adrock simply can’t be stopped. Zeppelin has now eliminated the following bands in seven game series, all without repeating a single song: Blondie, David Bowie, Bruce Springsteen, Stevie Wonder, and now the Australian rockers. “Over The Hills And Far Away” defeats “Touch Too Much,” 74.65-52; not one voter gave the nod to AC/DC here. Coach Joe, well done. Zeppelin joins The Beach Boys as they wait for their last Rumble Contender.
“Southbound” by Allman Brothers Band rains all over “Acrobat,” 60.3-42. Same situation here; minus two ties, voters went 100% for ABB. Coach Dan, up against the wall, calls out a big dog. Team Gilbert pulls their cards out too. One last match, and since it’s only a pair of songs we’ll make this vote due Tuesday, May 22nd at 5:00 PM. Vote with your hearts, as the winner will advance. Good luck to both U2 and Allman Brothers Band.
“One Way Out” (Live at Fillmore) (Allman Brothers Band) vs.
“One” (U2)
February 23rd, 2006 — November 14th, 2006
How strange you are, you idiot!
So you think because the rose
is red that you shall have the mastery?
The rose is green and will bloom,
overtopping you, green, livid
green when you shall no more speak, or
taste, or even be. My whole life
has hung too long upon a partial victory.
-William Carlos Williams, Paterson
March Madness
Janos picked me up on a non-descript February night outside of the Gulfport-Biloxi airport. The moment I got into his car we began to talk business. The cusp of five straight weeks of full capacity was starting in a few days, and crew arrangements were more structured than they had ever been. At any given point, we had five mold crews, three interiors crews, two or three roofing crews, an animal rescue crew, and whatever else the hodgepodge presented to us for the day. The loose “do-what-you-want” model of Hands On USA was still quasi-present in the Hands On Gulf Coast transition, but at this point organization was more of a factor than ever. Whereas in 2005 we made crew decisions Continue reading
Dickey Betts and the rest of the Allman Brothers Band roll to survival on “Jessica”
Both of our bands facing elimination fought back for wins to force Game 6! It’s an exciting time in tournament land. Thrilled=Coach Janos, who is surely pumped on the sidelines that whomever he might face is using up precious songs trying to join the Beach Boys in the three-way Royal Rumble.
On one side Coach Dan called for the kill with “Stuck In A Moment,” but couldn’t pull it off against the prolific “Jessica.” Allman Brothers with the win and the high score of the round, 78.6-69. On the other side, Coach Joe and “Have A Drink On Me” tough it out against Zeppelin’s “For Your Life,” 68.8-60.5.
Let’s get Game 6 started. Votes due by 5 PM on Friday, playlist is here. Coach Adrock and Coach Dan go different directions to try to put the finish to the series here, should be fun.
Touch Too Much (AC/DC) vs. Over The Hills And Far Away (Led Zeppelin)
Southbound (Allman Brothers Band) vs. Acrobat (U2)
Living the Dream 