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Bands Battle It Out On Friday

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By SHERRI LONON

IN THE LOOP

Published: March 18, 2009

The eyes of the world are on Pasco County as seven local musical groups prepare for the final showdown in Rockus Maximus Retro Battle of the Bands XII. The two-part competition includes an online portion and a live concert. Both come to an end Friday when the acts go into the spotlight at Crews Lake Park.

It's the online portion of the annual production that has the contest's creators at the Pasco County Library System in awe.

Votes for the winner of the online event have been coming in from all over the world and "every state, including Alaska and Hawaii," said Paul Stonebridge, teen librarian at the Land O' Lakes Branch Library. Some of the tallied votes have come from as far away as Poland, Kuwait, Iraq and New Zealand. Stonebridge said there's even been attention from Iceland, the Netherlands and "we had a cruise ship and unspecified military base."
Stonebridge credits the bands themselves for creating such a buzz about the online contest, which is taking place on MySpace.com until noon, March 20.

"Some of these bands are very, very intent on promoting this," he said.

While Stonebridge won't say who is winning the online competition, he did say that thousands of votes have been logged so far. "Some of our bands are really towering in the vote totals."

Bands in the competition are vying for a chance to win separate prizes in the live and online portions of the competition. On the line for the concert portion of the competition are three recording 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, 21531 Village Lakes Shopping Center Drive in Land O' Lakes.

The online contest has included weeks of videos of the individual bands that were put on MySpace and YouTube by library staff. Fans have been able to go online each week, over the course of six weeks, and vote for their favorite bands.

This year's live 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.

Entry into the concert is free to anyone who has a library card. For those who don't, Stonebridge said signups will be available.

"How many times can you get into a concert for free," said Stonebridge. Those who come out can "support the bands, the kids and the libraries."

The battle also serves as a fundraiser for the Pasco County Friends of the Library. That group will have snacks and refreshments on sale with proceeds benefiting library programs.

"I think it's such an exciting program," said Linda Allen, director of Pasco County Libraries. "People on cruise ships are voting on which Pasco County bands they like the most. (We don't know) how they are finding us, but we love it."

Allen said the battle of the bands began as a "very, very small program."

"The point of it was just to have music for kids and for there to be a cooperation between libraries and parks," she said. "It has just grown and grown and it is such an exciting program. Everything is donated. No tax money is being spent on this program. We are actually selling T-shirts, soda and things to make money."

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."

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.

Last year's battle drew 550 attendees to Crews Lake Park. Stonebridge hops to top that number this year.

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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