Last night I went to the awesomest thing ever. It was called Funde Razor, but not just Funde Razor, you have to set it in a heavy metal font and add a heavy metal umlaut over the U in Funde and... Oh, just look at it on their website.
The event was a fund raiser (get it? Funde Razor) for Child's Play, a charity that raises money for sick kids in children's hospitals all across the world. It was held in Denver in a place called The Walnut Room. It has a bar up front and a space with a stage for concerts in the back. Set up on stage was Rock Band, the latest incarnation of music video games featuring vocals, guitar, bass, and drums. So, just to be clear here, you're playing Rock Band, on a stage, with stage lighting and monitor speakers and a sound system and everything, at a bar/music venue, with a cheering audience. I had never played Rock Band before, but I had played its kin, Guitar Hero a couple of times at my friend Isaac's house. That's Isaac in the picture rocking out on the guitar on the right. Even though I had never played before, I took to the stage for three songs as drummer. I figured my actual drumming skills might come in handy. Alas, they did not, as it's not like sitting at a real drum set and laying down a groove. The game tells you to hit very specific drum pads in very specific rhythms, so if you can't sight-read its system on the spot then it's difficult to do exactly what it's telling you to do. But I somewhat successfully hacked my way through the three songs. Not bad for my first time ever playing, in addition to the pressure of playing in front of a live audience in a crowded bar. All the people there were amazing, too. Everyone would get on stage and attempt songs and would support each other, with rounds of cheering whenever someone pulled off a particularly challenging part or made it through a difficult song.
And all the money we raised (mostly the $10 cover to get in) went to help sick kids in hospitals, so double-plus awesome.
