My Experience of Child's Play at UmLoud last night:
So, I arrived around 6:30pm and I was the first in line. Sadly, I didn't purchase any of the Band Passes to play on stage... well... simply because I didn't have 3 other people to join my band. (I was even tempted one time to pay the whole fee and just play as the backBone of the band = drummer) So, I'm out here waiting for it to be 7pm hoping they'll move quickly with the VIP line so they could start letting us "little people" inside. Cuz believe me, it was a bit chilly and my stupid butt left my gloves in the car.
So, I finally get inside and right off the back you get wristban'd (for drinking approval-and no the drinks weren't free. 5 bucks for a Heineken), stamped, raffle ticket'd, and 1-piece-of-swag-on-the-table ticket'd! There was some decent swag I must say. Everything you could think of. Hats, shirts, posters, games, 360 faceplates, PC stuff, even a PS One and a GameCube with all it's components and then some. If there were a bunch of items in a bag or box, that would be considered as 1 item! Not bad... eh?
Now as soon as you see the joint, it totally screams small band venue. Ya know, where people try to get discovered and they may have some famous rockers from time to time. With that description, making the Ultimate Rock Show you could imagine for Rock Band 2 Musicians! They had 3 REAL mics (no tapping the mics here... they had a TAMBOURINE and a COW BELL to tap in front of the mic when those parts come out for the singer), the huge white BASS guitar with the split strummer, Paul's guitar from the Beatles, and the ION drums! Each musician had their very own 42" plasma screen!! (might have been bigger, but that's my best guest). There was fancy ROCK lightning that went along perfectly with the songs and a smoke machine!
The place was setup pretty cool for everyone to enjoy. Meaning, there were the people on the main floor, of course, but there was also an upper balcony level that surrounded the place for us to look down and watch too. So no matter where you were, you were able to see the band perform. There was also another lounge area in the back on the 2nd floor where Rock Band: The Beatles was playing. They had 3 mics, and all the Beatles instruments. It was real sweet too because you weren't disturbed by the big show going on right in the next room. It was perfect! Oh there was sitting areas and a bar there as well. I believe they had 3 bars.
Okay, so now for the ROCKIN'! Well, I'm sorry to say that if I had to rate the performances last night from 1 - 10, I would have to give 'em a 6... yeah, I know it's pretty harsh, but I can't tell a lie. People were picking hard and expert and were just no where close to those levels. Well, I shouldn't say they weren't close, but they certainly weren't very comfortable playing at those difficulties. Which hurt the song as well as the performance. (this was happening on the big stage and the lounge) Now on a plus side, which is why I gave it a 6, there were actually some really really good acts! I'm talking like wow, mind blowing! One guy sang his ass off cuz he was hitting these high pitches that just impressed us all. You had a couple of (clan) PMS chicks do their thing. The female singing could blow and the rocker drummer chick kicked major ass on EXPERT playing that Dixie Chick song Sin (something?) There was also this other guy, a little on the heavier side, big beard, big T-shirt 'n all. But man, he sure did his thing when it came to singing. He won the crowd over too! So, there were some special moments and truthfully they made up for all the bad wrecks that happened prior. So, that was good.
I was able to play a couple Beatle songs. Come Together was my favorite though. I was playing EXPERT on drums, of course, and we had everyone in the Lounge singing along! It was cool! What wasn't cool was the fact that I wanted to play Rock Band 2 but since they were using a DEV KIT 360 something kept going wrong when trying to run RB2. It worked a couple songs, but then we just kept seeing RED SCREENS... so they ended up putting The Beatles back on. Which you can't be mad, I suppose, at least it's something to play in the lounge and it's The Beatles for Christ sakes.... oh and with a bar! So, no worries... (but I still wanted to play RB2... LOL... I had my extra RB2 Kick Pedal to get some double bass action going too!)
All in all, I would definitely come again... but this time... I'm getting 2 Ultimate Band Passes so I could play 2 songs on stage... not just one! LOL
(I hope this article tried to give you a picture of what you missed if you weren't able to attend - I'm sure they'll be pictures somewhere on the net too!)
@riceKRISPYninja: I loved some of the performances last night " the guy in the green shirt" that was able to hit the high notes on that one song and had a very professional voice, "Lego Headed People" was very entertaining and the guy that covered "Just A Girl" was a hoot to watch. But yes, most of the people were pretty dead. Adios was $10, played "I Want To Hold Your Hand". Left as soon as the first wave of raffle started because me and my buddy wanted to catch BART, should have driven. Ugh, too much Boston but it was ok.
Next time i know I will sign up to sing "Livin on A Prayer" lol.
I can say that lending my copy of Animal Crossing: City Folk was probably the best I could do for my best friend who lost his battle to Leukemia, but he played that and Wii Sports up in the hospital he was at. And near the end of his time they let him take his PS3, he was loving to have that. When he was released to live out his days in Hospus, he played a lot of video games with friends, and it made him a lot higher in spirits. It's amazing to see such positivity from someone who you know is gonna die.
Fats Domino..."Blueberry Hill" was a sure guarantee of the car radio getting cranked to 11 in the old 1957 Buick Century when I was in the car with my dad, when I was a wee one ^_^. He loved that song.
12/10/09
So, I arrived around 6:30pm and I was the first in line. Sadly, I didn't purchase any of the Band Passes to play on stage... well... simply because I didn't have 3 other people to join my band. (I was even tempted one time to pay the whole fee and just play as the backBone of the band = drummer) So, I'm out here waiting for it to be 7pm hoping they'll move quickly with the VIP line so they could start letting us "little people" inside. Cuz believe me, it was a bit chilly and my stupid butt left my gloves in the car.
So, I finally get inside and right off the back you get wristban'd (for drinking approval-and no the drinks weren't free. 5 bucks for a Heineken), stamped, raffle ticket'd, and 1-piece-of-swag-on-the-table ticket'd! There was some decent swag I must say. Everything you could think of. Hats, shirts, posters, games, 360 faceplates, PC stuff, even a PS One and a GameCube with all it's components and then some. If there were a bunch of items in a bag or box, that would be considered as 1 item! Not bad... eh?
Now as soon as you see the joint, it totally screams small band venue. Ya know, where people try to get discovered and they may have some famous rockers from time to time. With that description, making the Ultimate Rock Show you could imagine for Rock Band 2 Musicians! They had 3 REAL mics (no tapping the mics here... they had a TAMBOURINE and a COW BELL to tap in front of the mic when those parts come out for the singer), the huge white BASS guitar with the split strummer, Paul's guitar from the Beatles, and the ION drums! Each musician had their very own 42" plasma screen!! (might have been bigger, but that's my best guest). There was fancy ROCK lightning that went along perfectly with the songs and a smoke machine!
The place was setup pretty cool for everyone to enjoy. Meaning, there were the people on the main floor, of course, but there was also an upper balcony level that surrounded the place for us to look down and watch too. So no matter where you were, you were able to see the band perform. There was also another lounge area in the back on the 2nd floor where Rock Band: The Beatles was playing. They had 3 mics, and all the Beatles instruments. It was real sweet too because you weren't disturbed by the big show going on right in the next room. It was perfect! Oh there was sitting areas and a bar there as well. I believe they had 3 bars.
Okay, so now for the ROCKIN'! Well, I'm sorry to say that if I had to rate the performances last night from 1 - 10, I would have to give 'em a 6... yeah, I know it's pretty harsh, but I can't tell a lie. People were picking hard and expert and were just no where close to those levels. Well, I shouldn't say they weren't close, but they certainly weren't very comfortable playing at those difficulties. Which hurt the song as well as the performance. (this was happening on the big stage and the lounge) Now on a plus side, which is why I gave it a 6, there were actually some really really good acts! I'm talking like wow, mind blowing! One guy sang his ass off cuz he was hitting these high pitches that just impressed us all. You had a couple of (clan) PMS chicks do their thing. The female singing could blow and the rocker drummer chick kicked major ass on EXPERT playing that Dixie Chick song Sin (something?) There was also this other guy, a little on the heavier side, big beard, big T-shirt 'n all. But man, he sure did his thing when it came to singing. He won the crowd over too! So, there were some special moments and truthfully they made up for all the bad wrecks that happened prior. So, that was good.
I was able to play a couple Beatle songs. Come Together was my favorite though. I was playing EXPERT on drums, of course, and we had everyone in the Lounge singing along! It was cool! What wasn't cool was the fact that I wanted to play Rock Band 2 but since they were using a DEV KIT 360 something kept going wrong when trying to run RB2. It worked a couple songs, but then we just kept seeing RED SCREENS... so they ended up putting The Beatles back on. Which you can't be mad, I suppose, at least it's something to play in the lounge and it's The Beatles for Christ sakes.... oh and with a bar! So, no worries... (but I still wanted to play RB2... LOL... I had my extra RB2 Kick Pedal to get some double bass action going too!)
All in all, I would definitely come again... but this time... I'm getting 2 Ultimate Band Passes so I could play 2 songs on stage... not just one! LOL
(I hope this article tried to give you a picture of what you missed if you weren't able to attend - I'm sure they'll be pictures somewhere on the net too!)
12/10/09
Next time i know I will sign up to sing "Livin on A Prayer" lol.
12/10/09
12/10/09
well they were awesome
12/10/09
12/09/09
Got the invite tonight but I'll be stuck at work until at least 1 AM.
Curses.
12/04/09
I was hoping we could contribute to the one million goal... I guess we'll just have to contribute to the $2M goal.
12/04/09
12/04/09
12/04/09
A great job for Child's Play and everyone who donated in any way they could.
12/04/09
12/04/09
12/04/09
12/04/09
Some of us like to slide around during our romping encounters.
ehrm.
12/04/09
Kudos
12/04/09
Hopefully, all the facebookers out there pick this up and help raise money for the charity.
11/29/09
11/29/09
11/27/09
11/27/09