We here at Quick Stop Entertainment are true lovers of music, in all its forms. We’re also quite keen on the spirit of competition, and of spurring creativity through said competition.
To that end, we’ve launched a brand new form of creative combat here at the Stop.
In this age of manufactured and painfully earnest talent contests, we’ve decided to instead shine a light on the quirky, quixotic underworld of musicians that don’t get nearly the attention they deserve.
Ah, but I did mention that there was a competition involved…
A few weeks back, we sent out the call for challengers. Hundreds of you heard the call and fought for a chance to be in the initial group. 20 were selected. Only 19 responded in time.
Like a songwriting version of Iron Chef, the challengers were presented with a very specific songwriting challenge. They were given one week to complete their songs – however they saw fit, within the parameters set forth below…
ROUND 1 CHALLENGE
You must do a song in the style of a classic television show. Not only that, but this song is the theme for a fictional television show about yourself (or your band). By “classic television show” theme song, we mean the type of themes found in shows from the 1960’s – 1980’s (ie Gilligan’s Island, Cheers, The Fall Guy, Diff’rent Strokes, Welcome Back Kotter, Greatest American Hero, Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley, The Facts Of Life, Green Acres, Gimme A Break, The Monkees, etc.). Your theme song must include both lyrics and music. It must run no shorter than 30 seconds, and no longer than one (1) minute.
When all was said and done, only 16 of the 19 Challengers were able to send in the songs in time. You voted HERE. The original intention was that the top 5 vote getters would move on to Round 2. There was some concern that 2 of the top Challengers used prior existing music not of their own creation within their tracks, which was not exactly in the spirit of a songwriting competition. However, that was not *explicitly* forbidden within the wording of the first challenge (it will be, from this point forward, on future challenges). So, after consulting with the Masters, we’ve decided that the TOP 7 vote getters will be moving on to Round 2. Below, you’ll find those 7 Semi-Finalists.
The Round 2 Challenge will be announced on Monday, June 16th.
The winner of the Round 2 Challenge will then move on to a head-to-head battle with one of our Masters Of Song Fu.
You also voted on the contributions of our three Masters, eliminating one. Two Masters now remain, and they’ll be presented a special challenge of their own on June 16th, which will then be voted on by you, the readers. The winner of the Masters Challenge will be the one who duels with the winning Challenger.
But right now, let’s find out who our remaining Masters and Challengers are…
MASTERS OF SONG FU
JONATHAN COULTON
Jonathan Coulton on Jonathan Coulton: “In 2005 I left my day job writing software to pursue music full time. To keep myself busy I released a new song on this website every week for a year in a project called Thing a Week. A few of those songs became big internet hits (my folky cover of Sir Mix-a-Lot’s “Baby Got Back”, a funny video called “Flickr”, a song called “Code Monkey”), and I am now fortunate enough to make my living as a musician.
I write about a lot of geeky stuff because I am a geek. Some of it’s funny, but a lot of it’s not so funny, and even more of it is somewhere in between. I’ve been compared to They Might Be Giants, Barenaked Ladies, Loudon Wainwright III, and other musicians you REALLY LOVE.
I give lots of music away because I believe it helps my cause, and I love it when people use my music to create other stuff – music videos, pictures, remixes, etc. At the moment I’m unsigned, and I’m proud to say I’ve created this whole thing mostly on my own (with plenty of help from an amazingly supportive bunch of fans). But it certainly is getting busy… I will probably sell out and go Hollywood any day now…”
Official Website: www.jonathancoulton.com
ROUND 1 SONG: “Monkey Shines“
PAUL & STORM
Paul and Storm are a comedy music duo, and they have been performing as a duo since 2004. Before that, they were one half of a cappella band Da Vinci’s Notebook for about 12 years. A Paul and Storm show is part music concert and part standup/improv comedy–just enough of both to fit neatly in neither category. They like to engage the audience, and are known to award snack cakes and/or other prizes for good (and sometimes bad) behavior. Their show would be PERFECT as a cable special, and would make lots of money for whichever brave channel decides to air them first.
Official Website: www.paulandstorm.com
ROUND 1 SONG: “Theme Song To Paul & Storm“
THE CHALLENGERS
PAUL FRUMPTON EXPERIENCE FEATURING LARRY
Born in the fall of 2006 in the center of the two-man acoustic comedy rock scene, Columbus, Ohio, the self proclaimed Turner and Hooch of Rock and Roll, The Paul Frumpton Experience Featuring Larry – known more colloquially as Jeff Stormer and Jeremy Hoover – are best described as what happens when comedy, music, caffeine, and improv collide in a chocolaty, peanut buttery explosion of good times. Stormer and Hoover met as students of Ohio State University and have been performing for scraps of food and hobo nickels ever since. Jeremy and Jeff’s major influences include Bacon, Booster Gold & Blue Beetle’s irreverent banter, David Bowie’s crotch in Labyrinth, and a deep-seated love of go karts. Finally, we feel obliged to mention all the things that are off limits to the comedy duo… This list includes NOTHING.
Official Website: myspace.com/thepaulfrumtonexperiencefeaturinglarry
ROUND 1 SONG: “The Paul Frumpton Experience (Feat. Larry) Comedy Hour Spectacular“
LEX FRIEDMAN
Lex Friedman’s musical influences include artists like They Might Be Giants, Moxy Fruvous, “Weird Al” Yankovic, CAKE, Barenaked Ladies, Tom Lehrer, Ben Folds, and Michael Jackson. Lex has left a smattering of bizarre music videos on YouTube, which have been slowly overtaken by videos of his 18-month-old daughter Anya. He occasionally shares new songs on his blog. He currently appears both weekly and weakly as the host of the “Week in Douchebaggery” on Cracked.com. Lex, his aforementioned daughter Anya, his lovely wife Lauren, and his diabetic maltese Charlie all live together in New Jersey, and sincerely hope that you don’t hold that against them. He gives one of them two injections if insulin each day – guess which! Lex also wrote this sentence. To avoid appearing like a suck-up, Lex has neglected to mention other musical influences of his who may or may not be the Iron Chefs of this Song Fu competition. Let’s just say he happens to also love the musical stylings of a guy whose name rhymes with Shmonathan Shmoulton.
Official Website: www.thefriedmans.net/blog
ROUND 1 SONG: “Hey, It’s Lex Friedman!“
CLOAKIE
My Fu is stronger than you! I am Coleman Bear Saunders, or Cloakie to most. At the age of 25 I work with music everyday at my studio that I recently built. I produce, engineer and compose various genres of music with ninja like precision. I have been picking away at the guitar since the age of 7 after watching my Dad play Johnny Cash tunes in the wrong key while singing the wrong lyrics, although I do the same thing because that’s the way I was learnt, ya hear me boy? I live in Kentucky and the music scene isn’t the greatest, so I turn to the internet to pipeline my Fu to the masses for free. I’m getting tired of music these days, I want some more songs about Dragons and fucking! Songs that take you on a journey and let you experience a different world, like movies do. My dream is to compose and score music for video games, TV, and my ultimate goal, the big screen. This is why the Song Fu competition was made for me. All the challenges that the competition presents to me will be similar to the expectations of future employers. Good luck to all, and may the best Fu win.
Official Website: myspace.com/colemansaunders
ROUND 1 SONG: “Cloakie The Nazi Killing Zombie“
ELAINE CHAO FINNELL
Elaine Chao Finnell is a singer/songwriter from the San Francisco Bay Area. In her checkered musical past, she has been a choral singer, a pit musician, an a cappella vocalist, a vocal percussionist, a hip hop beatboxer, contemporary Christian worship musician, and a musical librettist. After leaving the a cappella world in 2001, Elaine shifted into the world of hip hop theater, touring with spoken word artist Aya de León, then going solo and performing in such venues as the Yerba Buena Gardens in San Francisco and at the Apollo Theater in New York City. She began writing music at the tender age of 17, co-authoring her first musical with Brian Allan Hobbs. Since then, she has written two full length musicals and two plays. She currently plays regularly at her church as a lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist. While not in her musical pursuits, Elaine can be found in a cubicle at a major software company, at home with her engineer husband and their network of Macs, or studying martial arts at a local university.
Official Website: www.gotspit.com
ROUND 1 SONG: “Cubicle Gopher“
TO SERVE MANKIND
To Serve Mankind seeks to do just that, via music that makes you think about the world and your place in it differently. Friends since high school, the duo, likened to They Might Be Giants or Barenaked Ladies, have played back yards to front yards and everywhere in between. It seemed like just yesterday To Serve Mankind had absolutely no future, and look at them now, competing in Song Fu against artists such as Paul and Storm and, uh, the Jonathan Coulton. Jeff Little and Bryan Ewing both grew up in Apple Valley, CA, an environment which demands creativity just to stay sane among Joshua trees, dirt, and the Wal*Mart. With a combined vocal range of at least a perfect 5th, To Serve Mankind is ready to take the world… aeriously. Bryan is into Rock, Jeff digs on Funk. Both serve as worship leaders at their respective churches and are married… not to each other… but to one woman each – Bryan to Michelle, Jeff to Jen. Bryan has a son named Malachi, and Jeff is expecting his wife to follow through on this pregnancy thing and produce a daughter, Jane. Jeff, Bryan (and Malachi) love Avatar: The Last Airbender.
Official Website: www.toservemankind.com
ROUND 1 SONG: “To Serve Mankind Theme Song“
JEFF MacDOUGALL
The Deal: After 20+ years making music as a hobby, I recently wrote and recorded a song for my daughter. I got a little taste of mild success (hey, my mom liked it). So now I’m taking my music out of the closet, dusting it off, and seeing how it does in the sunshine. Who knew there was so much work in just attempting to do music for a living. I feel like I am opening a Subway franchise (Only opening a Subway franchise seems more fulfilling in a creative way).
Official Website: jeffmacdougall.com
ROUND 1 SONG: “Jeff MacDougall Dot Com“
RUN AT THE DOG
Run At The Dog are high energy, rock/pop, category-sluts with multi-gendered vocals and intricate arrangements. They are like Abba meets Faith No More meets Mos Def meets the Mormon Tabernacle Choir meets Steely Dan. The songs of this Minneapolis 5-piece are always written right away, with no respect for the calculating mind. Audience members are unsure whether to dance, laugh, or panic.
Official Website: myspace.com/runatthedog
ROUND 1 SONG: “Run At The Dog TV Theme“
ROUND 2 CHALLENGE
The Round 2 Challenge will be announced on Monday, June 16th.
If you triumph, not only will you win remarkable (and potentially off-putting) bragging rights and a clutch of fantastic mystery prizes, you will also become the proud owner of the magnificent, one-of-a-kind MASTER OF SONG FU TROPHY, designed and handcrafted by [adult swim] superstar Dana Snyder. Yes. Dana Snyder.
Good luck, and bring on the Fu.
Comments: 13 Comments
June 10th, 2008 at 8:19 am
“There was some concern that 2 of the top Challengers used prior existing music not of their own creation within their tracks, undermining the spirit of the songwriting competition.”
Hmm. I see two tracks that pay tribute to existing theme songs, but I wouldn’t label that “undermining the spirit of the” contest. The rules state “You must do a song in the style of a classic television show.” I could conceivably see someone interpreting those rules as “You must do a song in the style of a [SPECIFIC] television show.”
Just my two cents.
June 10th, 2008 at 11:10 am
Doing a song “in the spirit” of a TV show – even a specific TV show – doesn’t mean using the same music with different lyrics. Paul and Storm’s song is easily in the style of many of the western type TV shows from the 60s forward, but it isn’t a note-for-note rendition of the theme song to Bonanza or Have Gun Will Travel. That’s the difference. I’m SO glad they kept some of the more original people in this contest. Go Cloakie!
June 10th, 2008 at 12:42 pm
@Alec – Yes – they are acknowledging the ambiguity and resolving it in the competitors’ favor. What’s the rub?
Also, I feel dumb, but which is the second tribute/sampling song besides Jeff MacDougall?
June 10th, 2008 at 2:07 pm
Jeff McDougall = WKRP in Cincinnati
Lex Friedman = Inspector Gadget
June 10th, 2008 at 4:19 pm
Great job, Lex.
June 10th, 2008 at 5:10 pm
@ThomasT: No rub. I just took issue with the statement that the folks who erred on the wrong end of the ambiguity stick were labeled as “undermining the spirit” of the contest. Undermining spirit, to my mind, implies nefarious intent, which doesn’t at all seem to be the case here.
June 10th, 2008 at 8:34 pm
@Alec: Still, a songwriting contest would imply more than covering an exisiting song and altering the lyrics, ambiguities be damned. You could write a novel in the style of J.D. Salinger’s ‘Catcher in the Rye’ and approach it more creatively than to change every seventh word of the original manuscript.
June 11th, 2008 at 1:35 am
How could Doc Hammer lose. His song was not in the same line as classic T.V. themes, but out of the three, his was the one most likely to be at the beginning of a show. I’m thinking it lost ’cause it didn’t have much in the way of lyrics.
June 11th, 2008 at 11:33 am
I loved Doc Hammer’s song, but I loved JoCo and Paul & Storm’s songs more. Also there is the point that you yourself made, that Doc Hammer’s song doesn’t really sound that much like a classic TV theme.
June 12th, 2008 at 4:09 pm
Based on this past round, I hope Cloakie wins it. And I think saying what these two did was “undermining the spirit” of this competition was fitting since both were simply retooling pre-existing songs, which is boring, unoriginal, worse-than-pedestrian, etc. Looking forward to seeing them get knocked out in the next few rounds.
June 13th, 2008 at 12:08 am
Gentlemen, Ladies, please!
If I may offer a modicum of decorum to this spirited yet otherwise heated debate, may I suggest the following:
Balls?
June 17th, 2008 at 1:55 pm
I was disappointed to hear JoCo rip off the beginning of “The Wind Beneath My Wings”!
July 1st, 2008 at 7:19 pm
Elain Chao all the way!