2008 Woodie Awards
Last call for winners
Finalists battle for victor in final round of The Project
Benjamin Costanzi
Issue date: 4/28/08 Section: Style
The scene was shifted to the Main Dining Room on Tuesday night for the long-awaited final round of Java Jive's 2008 edition of The Project. More than 100 spectators were treated to a musical duel between finalists Brianna Finnegan, The Choice Professionals - Nick Mather on guitar and Karl Varian on trumpet - and Sons of David - Jonah Hill and Geoff Debree. Acting as quasi-masters of ceremony for the event were previous Project assistant players Jon Bailey and Jocelyn Emery, who performed intermittently throughout. Bailey began the evening's festivities with a slowed down acoustic cover of Outkast's "Hey Ya" which was the beginning of a trend of ironic covers.
The Choice Professionals were the chosen starters, and they began with their original song "The End of You," a reprise from their performance in the qualifying round, which, according to front man Nick Mather, is "popularly known as the bitch song." They followed with another original, "Continue," during which Mather recovered from a nearly knocked over mic with the help of Varian, and proceeded to tear into a mariachi- inflected breakdown. "Always" was more of the same, a song about troubled romance and another great closing guitar solo with trumpet that sounded out of a Sergio Leone western. Their last song, a crowd favorite called "Just Like Anybody," was an explicit examination of the sexual tension that can sometimes occur between torn lovers.
The MCs took the stage between sets and played one of Emery's originals called "Right Here" with Emery on rhythm guitar, employing a percussive slap technique with "hot stuff" Bailey on lead doing his scale thing.
Next up were the Sons of David. Before they took the stage, it was revealed that their band name does in fact derive from both of their fathers being named David, not that they were twins separated at birth with the same father named David. They kicked things off with their original "Blame" featuring Hill on lead vocal. He sounded a lot like Rick Danko would if he spent a week on the Funkadelic mother ship and significantly increased the funkiness of his voice in the process. They played an original called "The Waning Daylight," which was a slowly building climax type of song about a broken relationship. "Recognize the Fiend" took the set on an introspective turn, as Debree stretched his vocal chords to bare the soul of the lyrics' internal struggle. Harmonically, this song was well put together, and it ended with an extended solo from Debree, which Hill then picked up seamlessly and ran with. This one got big applause.
The Choice Professionals were the chosen starters, and they began with their original song "The End of You," a reprise from their performance in the qualifying round, which, according to front man Nick Mather, is "popularly known as the bitch song." They followed with another original, "Continue," during which Mather recovered from a nearly knocked over mic with the help of Varian, and proceeded to tear into a mariachi- inflected breakdown. "Always" was more of the same, a song about troubled romance and another great closing guitar solo with trumpet that sounded out of a Sergio Leone western. Their last song, a crowd favorite called "Just Like Anybody," was an explicit examination of the sexual tension that can sometimes occur between torn lovers.
The MCs took the stage between sets and played one of Emery's originals called "Right Here" with Emery on rhythm guitar, employing a percussive slap technique with "hot stuff" Bailey on lead doing his scale thing.
Next up were the Sons of David. Before they took the stage, it was revealed that their band name does in fact derive from both of their fathers being named David, not that they were twins separated at birth with the same father named David. They kicked things off with their original "Blame" featuring Hill on lead vocal. He sounded a lot like Rick Danko would if he spent a week on the Funkadelic mother ship and significantly increased the funkiness of his voice in the process. They played an original called "The Waning Daylight," which was a slowly building climax type of song about a broken relationship. "Recognize the Fiend" took the set on an introspective turn, as Debree stretched his vocal chords to bare the soul of the lyrics' internal struggle. Harmonically, this song was well put together, and it ended with an extended solo from Debree, which Hill then picked up seamlessly and ran with. This one got big applause.
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Megan Emery
posted 4/28/08 @ 11:39 PM EST
Good article except for the fact that Jonah Hill is the actor from Superbad...the man you look to speak of is named Jonah Bruce. Funny typo though...
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