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Musicians Compete For County Title

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By SHERRI LONON IN THE LOOP

The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 11, 2009

The actual concert might still be weeks away, but performers in this year's Pasco County Library System battle of the bands are already locked in heated competition online.

Dubbed Rockus Maximus Retro Battle of the Bands XII, this year's battle once again involves two arenas of "combat." One is the official live concert where judges will vote on a winner. The other takes place on MySpace where a separate contest for prizes is already under way.

With seven bands from all over the county signed up to take part, the 12th annual battle of the bands is shaping up to be one to remember, said Paul Stonebridge, teen librarian at the Land O' Lakes Branch Librarian and one of the battle's overseers. In keeping with the retro theme, Stonebridge said, each band will have to perform at least one retro tune.

Bands that signed up for the fun will compete not only onstage for a chance to win one of three recording packages provided by Morrisound Recording Studio, but also online for gift certificates from Jam Music, 21531 Village Lakes Shopping Center Drive in Land O' Lakes.

Winners during the concert portion of the battle will receive one of three packages from Morrisound. The first-place band will receive 10 hours or recording time. The second will get to spend five hours in the Tampa studio. The third gets three hours of time. The top two vote getters in the online contest will receive $500 and $250 gift certificates, respectively, from Jam Music. Jam Music is a returning sponsor of the event.

The online portion of the contest will be based purely on a band's ability to pull in voters, Stonebridge said. Set up with six weeks of voting and new videos posted weekly on MySpace, this part of the contest began last week.

During each week of the contest, library staff will change out videos and enable fans to vote for their favorites. The videos will include interviews with the seven bands taking part, live performance tapes and even footage from challenge contests that have been created. The last week of videos will be produced by fans in support of their own favorite picks in the contest. Live streaming chat room discussions will also be scheduled during weeks three, four and five of the online competition, Stonebridge said. Fans of the bands should visit the MySpace page for updates on dates and times.

Fans will be able to vote on videos once a day throughout the online contest. Voting for the online portion of the event ends at noon on March 20, prior to the second leg of the competition.

Kiki Mirabal, 18, of Land O' Lakes is one of the musicians in this year's event. Playing with the band For Every Endeavor, Mirabal said the battle is "an interesting way to get noticed."

Through the filming for the online portion of the contest, Mirabel said her five-member band has become much closer.

"We're getting to know each other better," she said.

For bands to be eligible for the competition, members must live in Pasco County and must have the majority of members under the age of 21. The seven bands in this year's competition are For Every Endeavor, The Distance, Tomatoes and Radio Wires, Variance, Vanessa I Promise, Hippodrome and Set The Sights. Participants range in age from 14 to 20.

Prior to last year's event, Stonebridge said the battle of the bands and the library system go hand-in-hand. In order to get teens into libraries and expose them to a lifelong love of reading, it is quite common to "use whatever is meaningful to them." Music, he said, is very meaningful to most teens. Add in MySpace and YouTube, which many teens flock to, and the appeal of the contest is evident, he said.

This year's battle takes place at Crews Lake Park, 16739 Crews Lake Drive in Shady Hills, on March 20 from 5 to 11 p.m. To see the online contest videos and take part in the voting, visit myspace.com/pascolibraries.

Sponsors are still needed for the concert. Stonebridge said there's a need for donations of snacks and drinks that can be sold during the event to benefit the Friends of the Library and the Pasco County Library Foundation. For more information, call (813) 929-1214.

Editor Sherri Lonon can be reached at (813) 948-4287 or at slonon@mediageneral.com.

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