Hello there ladies and gentlemen,

Ok, I’m back from E3 (hope you followed along with all the awesome Rock Band 3 news!) and now Total Rock, Total Rewards 2010 is in my sights. It should be in yours too! There’s just over a week left to fine tune your performances, put the finishing touches on your outfits, and master the solos, fills, and sustains you’re going to be tearing through on your quest for rock stardom.

As you’ve probably all read by now, the new FAQ is up to address any questions you may have about how the Finals are going to roll. There have been a few changes from the local’s FAQ and we made some rule clarifications. Most notably, the Day 1 same-song restriction has been lifted. This means that if two or more bands have picked the same song to perform on Day 1, they’ll all be allowed to do so. Remember though, as we learned last year, the Judges tend to not take kindly to hearing the same song over and over again. Originality goes a long way when it comes to this tournament, so if you’re going to be performing the same song as another band you better be ready to turn the dial up to 11.

Speaking of song selections, there’s been quite a buzz about the Sinister 6, the random song pool for Day 2. The song suggestions have been pouring in like crazy and we’re keeping track of every single one. Remember though, just because a song is suggested doesn’t guarantee it will end up in the final pool. There is a lot to consider when it comes to choosing these songs, so we’re looking over them very carefully. We can’t have one band jamming on “Crackity Jones” while another ends up with “Green Grass and High Tides”.

Everything else is pretty cut and dry, but we still have some surprises up our sleeves. In the meantime, you guys and gals better be putting some surprises up your sleeves. Last year had guitar windmills, barrel rolls, Mad Max motorcycle helmets, ninjas, pirates, cross dressing, smashed instruments, Norse gods, gold stars, “adult dancers”, guitar swapping… well, you get the picture. We want to see it stepped up this year, and personally, I can’t wait to see what you folks are going to come up with.

-Kyle M

Triple nights at Transit Lounge in Miami…Back to back nights at The Blarney Stone in San Diego…Kyle from Harmonix making a trip to Atlantic City tonight…Green Day: Rock Band released…

HOT DAMN—it’s been a helluva week so far.

Tonight the competition closes for The Blarney Stone, Paddy O’s, Mountain Bar at Bally’s, The Dam Bar and The Waterwheel Lounge. You do have time to register, so send an alert out to your Facebook friends and Twitter followers and see if you can get a band together. You can also visit the Total Rock, Total Reward forum.

For more incredible news, popular MTV News Correspondent Sway Calloway will be back again to host the exciting second annual event at Bally’s Atlantic City Hotel and Casino, July 1 and 2.  A Hip-Hop and entertainment news icon, Sway has been an integral part of MTV News since the 1990s, covering a wide range of informative and entertaining subjects on pop culture and beyond.

On the competition front, we hear that Paddy O’s in Boston is going to be wild tonight. Aaron Moronez of Radiofoot, gave the TRTR blog a call yesterday to dish about tonight’s battle, and of course, that wild night in Ohio when Morning of Mourning upset FrankieB and The D********. Radiofoot is holding strong in Boston with their score of 2,437,460 for Cherub Rock. If the going gets tough (we hear that BriGuy, staff moderator at Scorehero.com is coming out), will the band pull out the competition’s current “safe song”?

Time will tell.

The real question is, will any band be able to overtake Rofl Mao? FA/KE from The Blarney Stone is the closest contender.

Lastly, we want to wish everyone safe travels. We know that many of you have jumped in your cars and booked flights, travelling hundreds if not thousands of miles to get to qualifying venues. Rock Band Atlanta tells us that there will be some killer bands tonight. One band – whose name we dare not speak – has a member flying in from the Garden State. Good luck!

It’s a hot week for the Total Rock, Total Rewards competition. If you’ve already competed, you can try and beat your last score. SO get to it fast as we’re entering the final stretch and we’ve got qualifiers THIS WEEK at:

• The Blarney Stone, San Diego, CA
• The Waterwheel Lounge, Seattle, WA
• The Dam Bar, Buford, GA
• Paddy O’s, Boston, MA
• Mountain Bar at Bally’s, Atlantic City, NJ – 1^st and ONLY QUALIFYING EVENT
• Govnr’s Tavern, Denver, CO
• Alibi Lounge, New York, NY
• Harrah’s Joliet Stage 151, Joliet, IL  – 1^st and ONLY QUALIFYING EVENT
• The Underground, Rockit Ranch, Chicago, IL
• Dallas Woody’s, Dallas, TX

As for the competition? Well, Rofl Mao has been sitting high on their top perch for a few weeks. No one can beat this killer band from NYC, but Morning of Mourning from Outland on Liberty certainly made Columbus, OH proud, closing out the competition with “Get Up (I Feel Like Being A) Sex Machine” and a score of 2,630,828.

Morning of Mourning’s win doesn’t come with full glory. There’s some beef taking place between ‘MOM’ and Frankie B and The D********* on the Total Rock, Total Rewards Facebook page. What’s the damage, you ask? Well, according to FrankieB, ‘MOM’ doesn’t nearly have the talent, the showmanship, the rock star edge that his group of Rock Band legends has. “Morning of Mourning played it safe with that James Brown song,” he says. “We played “Highway Star,” one of the hardest songs and we smoked it.”

Adrienne Silberman from ‘MOM’ had this to say on our Facebook page. “I just want to assure those of you who doubt Morning of Mourning’s player skill level, that we would have done equally as well if we had chosen to play Deep Purple’s Highway Star…We just decided against it because it has tricky Unison Bonuses, and attempting them on a strange calibration would have been a risky choice for us.”

Unfortunately, there are no more qualifying dates at Outland on Liberty, but FrankieB might be willing to get the band of the infamous DevilMayAsian, PriestMLH and wuLFe79 back together if the venue were to hold a JUNE date. We would love to see it, as Outland on Liberty has had some of the fiercest competitors this year. In fact, three bands from this venue, including Lucas is Completely Worthless have the top 10 highest scores so far in the competition. Too bad only one band from each venue gets to go to AC.

Now, a few other venues have finished their TRTR dates and according to Competition Management, preliminary results find that DeLorean Racers at Busby’s East in Los Angeles will be heading off to AC. At Caesars Windsor, Armed and Hammered came up aces.

Now, as we head into the final dates, we need you to fight for spot in AC and your chance to bring home $10K. We’ve heard through the grapevine that many of you are gunning for Rofl Mao, so you better step up to the plate. Currently, these other bands are kicking ass in the leaderboards:

• Here Comes a New Challenge
• Radiofoot
• Ten Minutes to Wapner
• Schkaten Heim
• No Boston after Midnight

Don’t you wish it was your band? So for all of you gamers and rockers looking to beat out Rofl Mao, second time is a charm, so come out to your favorite watering hole and rock out again. NO NEED TO REGISTER AGAIN!

Ok well… supposedly things are supposed to get interesting. How so? That’s a pretty good question. Here’s another good question: Have you found all the hidden references in the two “Lost” tracks now available on Rock Band Network? Well, I can only answer one of these questions here, so…

Surprise!

It looks like Harmonix Community members, and by “members” I mean “me”, will be making a few random stops at some of the local Total Rock, Total Rewards qualifying venues to see how the competition is going. I’m not showing up empty handed though, well, technically I am, but I’ll bring the promise of great things! I’ll have some Green Day: Rock Band give-away chances with me, so there’s something extra right there, you know, if my presence isn’t quite the incentive you were looking for. With E3 on the horizon, I won’t be able to hit up every venue, so I’ll be choosing locations based on which venue has had the largest increase in band registrations by Sunday, May 30^th, 2010. What?! That’s so soon! When does this start?! Oh, well… how about… RIGHT NOW! So, if you’re looking to get heckled by me while you play and maybe win some Green Day: Rock Band action, quit yo dilly-dally, foo! GET REGISTERED!

Also, don’t forget, there are two awesome ways to win this thing.  You can either enter the sweepstakes for a shot to be treated like a real super star (no talent required) or compete in any one of the local qualifiers for your chance to rock out in AC, get some sweet, sweet swag, and maybe win a boatload of cash.  If competing isn’t your thing, no worries, you can still just stop by the events to show your support and maybe even jump up to play a song or two for fun.

I have a blank ticket! Get to rockin’ so I have somewhere to go!

-Kyle M

As we embark on an unbelievable week of qualifying events, we thought it would be fun to take note of some of the wacky [?], clever [!], oh-so-wrong [%^&*] band names in the Total Rock, Total Rewards competition.  Here are the Top 10.

1. The Ben Dovers. [Giggle]
2. The Bailout. It would be funnier if this band was from Washington, DC. Instead, we can thank Canada for this group.
3. Beaker’s Babes. If they are referring to Beaker from the Muppets, then that’s just awesome.
4. The Damp Wildebeest Experience. Not something we would like to experience, thank you.
5. Meeting Chris Hansen. The obvious question is, “Who the heck is Chris Hansen?” According to his Twitter profile, he’s a TV journalist & author. You’ve probably seen his work on the Dateline NBC segments To Catch a Predator and To Catch an ID Thief.
6. Tiger’s 19^th Hole. We’re not quite sure what to think of this name.
7. Kathleen Turner Overdryve. This band name TOTALLY ROCKS.
8. Fearless Chicken. Thanks for the new oxymoron!
9. Schrodinger’s equation. Huh? Yeah, too smart for us.
10. The Purple Smurfs. Most of us like our Smurfs blue, but we’re open to meeting some purple ones.

We’d like to give a shout out to all the qualifying venues this week: Fahrenheit Ultra Lounge and Restaurant (San Jose); Harvey’s Lake Tahoe Cabo Wabo (Stateline); The Blarney Stone (San Diego); The Boardwalk Complex Downtown (Erie); Paddy O’s (Boston); Busby’s East (Los Angeles); The Dam Bar (Buford); Transit Lounge (Miami); The Waterwheel Lounge (Seattle), Govnr’s Park Tavern (Denver); Alibi Lounge (New York City); Outland on Liberty (Columbus); and Caesars Windsor (Windsor).

Don’t forget to enter the SWEEPSTAKES - it’s killer!

At The Waterwheel Lounge in Seattle this week, the only Northwest qualifying location, one little band threw a sucker punch that woke this competition up.  Playing James Brown’s “Get Up (I Feel Like Being A) Sex Machine,” the band No Boston After Midnight reigned supreme with a score of 2, 231, 692.

No Boston After Midnight played to a packed house, says Stu Weitzman, The Waterwheel Lounge’s owner.  “Everyone that came out had a great time, played a ton of Rock Band, and are very aware of what the competition really holds for them now that ‘NBAM’ has set the bar in the Northwest.”

Unfortunately for ‘NBAM’, their glory was usurped by the band Rofl Mao at the Alibi Lounge in the Big Apple last night. Also performing Brown’s funky classic, Rofl Mao scored 2,730,656 points. Speaking with Rofl Mao’s vocalist Jennifer DiMatteo today, she knows that the band has a lot of competition in the weeks ahead. “We’re going to be up against a few of the top-level bands in New York City and nationwide like last year’s winners The Gurn Killers. Our main focus is on improving our score and getting to Atlantic City.”

But, No Boston After Midnight isn’t sweating it. “We’re hoping we can win the Seattle qualifier and beat Rofl Mao in Atlantic City when it comes to performance and style,” says drummer Nicholas Beaudrot. The band will compete again next week likely sticking with the Godfather of Soul.

No Boston After Midnight better beware. We hear that Rofl Mao band members have a strong history of live performance including long-running stints with the Rocky Horror Picture Show.

Rofl Mao is playing it cool. They know they need to step up their game because the band Forgive Us Crazy Kids rocked the house at Caesars Windsor last night, performing Cherub Rock.

Now, as the Total Rock, Total Rewards Rock Band Competition heats up, we want to hear from you: fan us Facebook and follow us on Twitter, where we hold regular swag giveaways. We encourage all bands and bar owners to take photos and give us a holler if you’ve got dish for the TRTR blog.

Well, it’s Tuesday. Full of grace, patches, and new media releases. It’s also full of new Total Rock, Total Rewards announcements, like this one! Like a little swag bag of joy and happiness¹ for the day. And when we peek inside, what do we find?

¹Joy and happiness not guaranteed.

 DISCLAIMERS!²

² No wait…

PRIZES!

That’s right. We’re going to chit-chat briefly about two of the prizes from this year’s competition. We’re not going to talk Grand Prizes though, no sir or madam. We’re going to talk about prizes that the 20 winning bands are going to get just for making it to Atlantic City. We’ll just call these “deal sweeteners”, you know, a bit of extra incentive to push those qualifying scores into the stratosphere. Let’s look at two of them.

Green Day: Rock Band

Deal Sweetener #1: Each member of each band will be grabbing themselves a copy of Green Day: Rock Band for their console of choice³. Not a huge Green Day fan? Too bad! Let’s be honest, the track list is pretty killer, the addition of Vocal Harmonies means that you and two friends can all yell at your TV at the same time, and, word on the street is that, instead of Overdrive to pump up the crowd, you’ll be able to toss heart shaped, adrenaline filled, hand grenades at them⁴. So yeah, you heard it here first⁶. Things that may or may not be true about Green Day: Rock Band. Want to know more? Check out http://www.greendayrockband.com./

³Choice is an illusion. ⁴True? True?! Probably not, but you never know. Play it and find out!^{5 6}Unless you didn’t.

Polk Audio HitMaster Stage Monitor

Deal Sweetener #2: Oh yeah, now we’re talkin’. If you’re gonna play yourself some Rock Band, play it loud! And by loud I mean 100 Watts loud. These babies roar, and remember; each band member gets one. With each monitor supporting Audio IN and Audio OUT, you can wire up all 3⁷ or 4⁸ of these things and really blow the doors off…uh… where ever it is you jam out. Need more details?⁹ Check these Bad Larrys out at http://www.polkrocks.com.

⁷Three. ⁸Four. ⁹You do.

And that’s just two of the prizes in-store for the bands headed to AC. There’s a whole list of cool swag being prepped, but the only way to get your hands on it is to get yourself registered and post up some serious high scores.

See you in Atlantic City!¹⁰

¹⁰I will.

Kyle M

⁵Totally not true.¹¹

¹¹Or is it?¹²

¹²It’s not.

We’re guessing you haven’t heard about the sweepstakes.  So, listen up. This totally rocks.

For our loyal Rock Band friends who can’t get out to a qualifying location in the next several weeks, enter NOW for your shot at a trip to compete in the BIG EVENT in Atlantic City from June 30-July 4, 2010 with up to three of your fellow band members. Sorry, no roadies allowed.

Oh, did we forget to mention that you’ll be flying round trip in private jet?

Uh-huh, that’s right, we said PRIVATE JET.

To really blow your mind, you and your buddies will also win tix to the Ringo Starr and His All Starr Band concert at Caesars Atlantic City on July 3, 2010.

In other news, we’ve changed up the rules a little bit so that bands are also allowed to change their song for each performance at their designated venue. Be sure to check the FAQs.

Lastly, good luck tonight to the bands playing at Outland on Liberty in Columbus, OH and Caesars Windsor in Windsor, Ontario.

WAIT – one more thing.

We’ve got some cool giveaways going on in the next few, so be sure to follow us on Facebook and Twitter for up to the minute news.

Cinco De Awesome!

Ok folks, we’re taking a break from drinking lime infused beer and eating burrito’s from Anna’s to bring you this special announcement.

The Total Rock, Total Rewards community has spoken. An overwhelming number of you guys and gals out there have shouted back to us and said “Hey! Let us compete once per night at our local designated venue instead of just once.” Well, we heard you loud and clear. After much soul searching and pensive, quiet, meditation, we fell asleep. Then we woke up, had some coffee, and decided that starting, oh, RIGHT NOW, we’re making an official rules adjustment. From this point on, you can attempt to qualify for the Atlantic City Total Rock, Total Rewards 2010 Final Round… wait for it… wait for it…

ONCE PER NIGHT!

That’s right! We’ll be tracking the local high scores each and every night. This means that you can really fine tune your performances and try to squeeze every last point out of your qualifying score. Perfect your Band Unisons, chart your Overdrive, master those Solos! Now there really is no excuse not to get your band together, get signed up, registered, and down to your local qualifying venue to blow some minds (and speakers) with epic Rock Band scores.

This is a pretty big game changer, but it’s still early in the competition. So get to rockin’ because the scores are really going to skyrocket now. You don’t want to get left in the dust when other bands start dinging into Gold Stars. Fame and fortune, on the line.

See you in Atlantic City!

Kyle M