This is a Cinderella story if ever one was.

The tale begins in the far-off land of The West Coast. While Total Rock, Total Rewards competitions were slated to begin at Harrah’s Rincon near San Diego and Harrah’s Las Vegas in, well, Las Vegas, there was a large section of the northwest that was noticeably lacking in Rock Band-ness.

“Give us a chance to rock!” cried the people of those far-off lands. “It would really be rather nice of you if we could compete in this thing!” they added politely. And Harrah’s listened.

A new venue was opened at Harrah’s Lake Tahoe and, because it started a little later than the other western competitions, the winners from that venue wouldn’t be able to compete in the Las Vegas semi-finals.

Timing issues. Whattayagonnado?

You’re going to fly them to Atlantic City to participate in the eastern regional semi-final at the Showboat instead!

Rockers representing.

So the winning Lake Tahoe band, Mario Speedwagon (possibly the best band name ever), are the strange western stepchildren that will go up against the eastern bands to see who will represent in the finals.

Mario Speedwagon members Anthony Ramos, Joseph Garrison, Christopher Wiza, and Brennan Marie Thome won the Lake Tahoe competition by playing “Tangled Up in Blue” for a grand total of 2,163,940 points. Not too shabby for four folks who flew into Tahoe from Oregon just to compete.

The four longtime friends have always been avid Rock Band players, often hosting their own competitions at an arcade that Anthony owns. Over the years, they honed their skills, waiting in the wilds of Oregon for the day when some city in the sort-of-near vicinity would offer them a chance to show the world what they’re made of.

Turns out, it’s awesome. That’s what they’re made of.

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