In the morning, I joined Tom Dempsey's class, Giants of Jazz Guitar. Tom has been involved with NGW since the beginning, as student, instructor, and administrator. He now lives and works in New York, and his knowledge of the various historical jazz guitar styles is impeccable. We were selling his book, The Jazz Guitar Experience, in the NGW office, and I almost bought it myself (stopped only by the 20 books already queued up at home). It's a short trip through all the major styles and players, and it looks really helpful.

When I dropped in, the class had been looking at a few of Charlie Parker's guitarists, Tiny Grimes the day before and currently Barney Kessel. The first activity was a note-for-note rundown of Kessel's solo on "Relaxin' at Camarillo." Tom handed out his transcription, we listened, then we played through it one phrase at a time, stopping for questions and explanations. We did the same thing with "Minor Mood." This was a long process, but really cool to pick through complete solos in a group of about 12 people, all capable of keeping up.

Someone asked a critical question about melodic minor application in one of the solos, so Tom went on a 20-minute theory excursion. He first harmonized the scale into 7th chords, then related each mode to its parent 7th chord. Then he demonstrated some applications for the more common modes, and how to think of each one either as its own scale or as the melodic minor starting on a different note.

After a short break, we worked through a Jimmy Raney solo on a Stan Getz tune. I don't remember what it was, but recognized it as a Cherokee contrafact. (So did the shredder from Costa Rica sitting in front of me.) Next was Tal Farlow's solo on "I Remember You," focusing on his long 8th-note lines. That took us to lunchtime. I didn't get to stick around, but afternoon plans included Johnny Smith and George Van Eps.

And here's why I didn't get to see more of Tom's class: I got to pick up Pat Martino from the airport. He was one of the guest artists for the week (along with Paul Gilbert, Duke Robillard, and William Kanengiser), scheduled to give a clinic the following day. I made a sign for him, but of course didn't need it. I met him at baggage claim and his calm but vibrant personality instantly struck me, and I was no longer nervous about meeting the man. His guitar flight case was enormous, as big as a surfboard and about eight inches thick, covered in stickers. Pat said he'd been using it since the '70s. As I drove him down the street to his hotel, we talked about the workshop, the weather, his hometown Philadelphia, and inevitably guitar (I let him bring it up). He asked if I play, what styles I'm studying, etc. He was really excited to give his clinic, which I'm sure he'd done many times before, and started talking about the geometry of guitar shapes, noting that the tuning of the guitar forms a pentagram when all twelve chromatic notes are arranged in a circle. All in a five-minute car ride. He loves this stuff.

Monday was my second day working as RA at the National Guitar Workshop in Los Angeles. I've been taking notes on my experiences so I can post it all here.

I was on errand duty for the first half of the day, so I got to make copies and run the office instead of sitting in on classes. In the afternoon, I took advantage of some time off to join Jody Fisher's class on building repertoire. He's got a nice classroom set up in a 4th-floor executive meeting room with a view of the campus. There were about eight students around the standard oval table found in all executive meeting rooms. When I walked in, I noticed a giant array of papers in stacks covering half the floor. They were handouts for the students, containing several decades of practice material. Jody spent most of the class rapidly covering the fundamentals, preparing everyone for the process of learning Real Book tunes later in the week. I was already familiar with everything he covered, with the exception of some challenging chord voicings, so I took the opportunity to observe and learn from his teaching methods. I picked up quite a few gems along the way. I'll take you through all my notes below.

The first cool tip was fretting two strings with the tip of one finger. I'd seen this technique from Eric Johnson, but not pursued it much. Jody said your calluses grow to accommodate whatever you're doing, so the tip of your finger actually gets wider as you spend more time doing this. He uses it all the time, usually playing roots and 5ths on the bottom two strings with his middle finger while the rest fret chord tones and extensions.

Apply this quote to every last thing you aspire to in life, said nonchalantly with a sly grin: "It takes longer than you'd like it to, but you'll get there if you work at it."

Jody gave out a series of handouts with chord voicings for major ii-V-Is. He went around the room and around the cycle of fourths, having each person play a certain set of ii-V-I voicings. He mentioned that two of Ted Greene's books, Chord Chemistry and Modern Chord Progressions, are phenomenal references for chord usage. I own both, but haven't worked through them yet.

I wrote down a thought of my own: everyone is self-taught. No student of music ever has their work done for them; every master had to put in their own work on the instrument, regardless of who told them what work to do. It is easy to be educated and get nowhere. The real progress always stems from genuine individual curiosity. I had a couple conversations over the week about this, and the flip side is that everyone is educated. Someone had to build the guitar, figure out how to get it to you at the cost you paid for it, etc. Someone probably showed you how to hold it, where to put your hands. Your taste in music has been influenced by every note you've ever heard, all created by other people. Everyone learns from others, whether it's in a classroom or through a record.

Here's a great tip I'd never seen. Instead of finding the appropriate scale over a chord, just find a familiar chord shape and play sequences around each note. Jody demonstrated by arpeggiating an A major barre chord shape at 5th fret using only his middle finger (not fast, just playing through the shape). Then he added three more notes on each string: a whole step above (with pinky), the original note again (with middle), and a half step below (with index). So the first four notes are A B A G# on the 6th string in 4th position. Then apply the same sequence to each note in the arpeggio. Next would be E F# E D# on the 5th string in 6th position. These are all played as eighth notes. Next would be A B A G# on the 4th string in 6th position. This trick yields a ton of wrong notes, but sounds really good because it's so firmly based on a consonant arpeggio. Jody then suggested trying this with any consonant arpeggio and any kind of sequence applied to each note; it always works. "It's like cheating." I'm really excited to get the hang of it in my own playing.

Jody mentioned "wrong note scales," used, I believe, by Chick Corea and Herbie Hancock. The idea is to take a regular old scale/mode that you know well, change one note so that it's unrecognizable, and harmonize the whole thing. Then you have your very own little system of harmony from which to compose really weird stuff.

Jody has several books on the market. I don't yet own any of them, but I've looked through them, and they are some of the most-recommended jazz guitar books I've heard of. (From the cursory browsing I've done, I can tell that the organization and clarity of writing are superb.) During class, he found himself on the topic of the manuscript process for his books. He'll finish his complete draft, proofread the hell out of it, and send it to his editor, who marks it up blood-red with corrections and changes. Jody fixes everything and sends it to the publisher, who supplies poster-size printouts of every page for the final, detailed proofread. Jody hires a band to record the example and play-along tracks using the giant pages. Any final changes are submitted, and the book is published. Then the emails start flooding in. "On page 54, the second example should end with a Cmaj7 chord, not C7." Jody keeps track of all these changes and submits a correction-copy to the publisher for the next printing. He said usually everything is fixed by the fourth or fifth edition.

The class went through the minor ii-V-i in the same manner as the major previously. Specific example voicings were given on handouts and played by the students. Jody pointed out my favorite thing about melodic minor harmony, without putting it specifically in that context: any m7b5 chord can function as a m69 chord with a different root, a 9 chord with a different root, or (also a 7#5b9 chord with a different root, but he didn't mention that). This is important because the iim7b5 chord usually causes problems for improvisors, but it can be approached in any of these other ways as well.

Homework for the next day: memorize and recite all 12 major triads, through the cycle of fourths, in under 12 seconds. C E G, F A C, Bb D F, Eb G Bb, Ab C Eb, Db F Ab, Gb Bb Db, B D# F#, E G# B, A C# E, D F# A, G B D. The accidentals can really twist your tongue, but I think I'm getting close.

In the evening, the second faculty concert was given, starting with classical and acoustic pieces from Martha Masters and David Ellis. Cameron Peace blew me away again with more amazing blues/rock playing. Nate Jarrell, assistant director and my classmate for the last year, played an awesome rendition of "Bemsha Swing." Drum instructor Toby Ahrens had a group play some of his own music. Adrian Galysh played a couple sweet originals to backing tracks. (He's also running for California state senate.) Bass instructors Todd Johnson and Baba Elefante performed a Gershwin tune (I forgot which one, maybe "Someone to Watch over Me"), "Round Midnight," and "All the Things You Are," all unaccompanied. They were phenomenal. Fellow San Diegan Nick Tocco performed a couple jazz tunes. I loved his tone, not the classic sound at all, but not overdriven either. Nice sweet spot. Neal Nagaoko, major shred champion, was last to perform, melting faces with epic diminished arpeggios.

After the concert, the RAs attended the "Mandatory Faculty/Staff Meeting" in shifts. As I noted that night on my Twitter page, I discovered that Powder Keg wine is actually better than the name implies, and that Jack Daniels is better than usual after three glasses of Powder Keg. I spent most of the time nerding out on guitar stuff with Nick and Adrian.

I'm at the National Guitar Workshop in Los Angeles this week. It's held at the Loyola Marymount campus from this Sunday through Friday. I always wanted to attend the Seattle camp when I was a kid, but it conflicted with my favorite annual family trip every summer. This year I was offered a job as RA for the week. (I was in a combo at SDSU directed by Nate Jarrell; he's been involved with NGW for years.) I took it, knowing I'd be able to sit in on classes and meet a ton of musicians. There are about 100 students, half kids, half adults, mostly dudes.

Yesterday's check in was crazy, and left me no time to write this post. Orientation started with a warmup band, featuring faculty on guitars and drums, and one of my three fellow RAs on bass. Rules were laid down with a stern delivery, and the teachers were introduced: Toby Ahrens, Reggie Chavez, Blake Colie, Tom Dempsey, David Ellis, Baba Elefante, Jody Fisher, Adrian Galysh, Todd Johnson, Dave Martone, Martha Masters, Jared Meeker, Neil Nagaoka, Cameron Peace, Nick Tocco. The featured guest artists, each giving an afternoon clinic, are Paul Gilbert, William Kanengiser, Pat Martino, and Duke Robillard. I am PUMPED to see Pat Martino.

After orientation, students met with their classes, some of which include beginning or intermediate books for their styles. Alfred Publishing provides most of the course books and a nice spread of learning materials in our custom NGW campus office.

The first concert of the week was given in the evening, featuring members of the faculty, including a few pieces played by the program's director, Steven Novacek. Reggie's band played a few blues tunes next. Cameron Peace played rhythm for him and took a couple solos, and I think he was my favorite guitarist of the night. He sounded like a more advanced version of myself, playing the kinds of things I want to develop. He started with a standard blues-rock context and went way outside with jazz-influenced altered motifs. The tension and resolution in his lines were striking and far beyond the movement implied by a simple blues progression.

Next up was Jody Fisher, playing his ergonomic, headstock-less guitar. He was probably the most technically advanced player, but with a completely clean tone. He played one tune solo and one with a bassist, making extensive use of his unique harmonic picking. He'd play or finger a chord and pluck through its octave harmonics with thumb and ring finger, using index and middle to touch the harmonic nodes, 12 frets higher than each fingered chord tone. That allows him to hit many harmonics rapidly or two simultaneously. He played mostly fingerstyle, a lot of chord melodies, but could also shred with a pick as well as anyone I've heard.

Dave Martone played next, showing off his own virtuosic chops in the more common hard rock context. He sang a more guitar-oriented version of "Devil Went Down to Georgia" and wowed everyone but the cringing mothers in the audience. Tom Dempsey played a phenomenal set with a jazz combo, displaying complete mastery of chords everywhere and in every context. Jared Meeker finished the night with the widest variety from a single player: a classical/flamenco solo piece with looping, a bluesy rock tune, and a Jamaican jazz tune.

After the concert, I joined the other RAs in ensuring all the kids made it to their rooms. The evening was uneventful, which was nice, but not ideal. I hear it's best to have a serious incident on the first night in which someone gets kicked out. Then the rest are less likely to raise hell during the rest of the week. While we waited for the kids to sleep, I sat in the hall and jammed on various jazz and Zeppelin tunes on unplugged electrics with another RA. That was cool.

I wrote a jazz blues tune last year called "Miss Information." I dug it up this summer to potentially use for my upcoming graduate recital at SDSU.

Here's the lead sheet.

I wrote most of it in the San Diego Airport waiting for a flight to Seattle. It came together in a peculiar order: title first, then harmony, then melody. Then I revised the melody a few months ago. The title came from my first encounter with a Paul Krugman article. I wanted to write a musical satire of the proliferation of fallacies through the media, obfuscating things which needn't be so complicated. So I took a standard blues form and screwed with all the chords. Still targeting the I on measure 1, the IV7 on measure 5, and the iim7 on measure 9, I filled all the gaps with back-cycling and tritone subs. Then I wrote a playful melody through the changes with a bunch of syncopation, so the listener might get turned around if they're not careful.

My special rankings index for The Real Book, Volume III is complete. If you haven't seen the indexes I created for Volume I and Volume II, check those out first. The idea is to replace the standard six-page table of contents at the beginning of a fake book with a single-page, color-coded distillation of the book's most popular tunes. I used the ranked song list from JazzStandards.com, and used a red background for the top tunes, then blue, then yellow, then white.

Download the PDF.

For best results, print it out, cut off the margins, and tape or paste it to the inside front cover of your Real Book. I only ask that you leave "fromthewoodshed.com" visible at the bottom so that your friends know where it came from when you show it off at jam sessions.

I plan to do the same for the Chuck Sher New Real Book series. Leave a comment if you'd like to see it applied to any other books.

I've been reading Ross Russell's biography of Charlie Parker, Bird Lives!: The High Life and Hard Times of Charlie (Yardbird) Parker. One point about Bird's early years on the saxophone struck me. He didn't have much formal instruction, so it was not until after he'd gained some facility on the instrument that he discovered that there exist more keys than the one he knew. According to the book, he was laughed off the stage at his first jam session for this conceptual oversight. So Bird took it upon himself to learn the rest of the keys. No one told him that as a horn player, he only needed to practice three or four different keys in order to grasp most of the music he wished to play. So he gradually taught himself how to play in each of the twelve keys, one by one, until he was comfortable with all of them. This no doubt laid the foundation for his later reputation of calling familiar tunes in unfamiliar keys at unmanageable tempos.

As a guitar player, realizing transpositions and key changes doesn't present the conceptual hurdle that it might to a horn player. I just move the same shapes up or down a few frets or to the next set of strings. With the exception of playing with open strings in first position, playing in different keys doesn't physically feel different on the guitar. Everything but the starting point is the same. So I had never given much thought to delving into any specific key to learn its unique quirks, as it sounds and as it's played on the guitar. Learning about Bird's methods inspired me to try it out.

Earlier this month, I decided to start with the key of C and proceed with one key per day for thirteen days (including F# and Gb). Any scale or arpeggio exercises I was doing were to be confined to the key of the day. I've been working on different approaches to jazz blues progressions, so that work was also restricted to a single key. I went back to my Mother of All Major Scale Exercises every day.

The most important work I did during this period was with sight reading. I used my Sight Reader program (still unreleased) to generate melodies using the appropriate key signature each day. This has always been one of my sight reading weaknesses: confidence within any key signature. On the days I did the most sight reading, I got to the point where that key signature felt as natural as C major. I was no longer thinking that each F on the staff needs to be played as an F#, for example. I just played it without thinking.

I want each of these thirteen key signatures to hold a special and equally important spot in my brain. It's like the Crayola 64-crayon set. I could identify every one of those colors when I was a kid, not by qualifying one as a modification of others, but instant, individual recognition. That's how I want to know each of these key signatures.

My first round through these key signatures lasted from June 6 to June 18. I randomly chose the order so I wouldn't get used to any pattern of changing keys (C, F#, G, D, Db, Eb, E, B, F, Bb, A, Ab, Gb). I marked each of them on my calendar before I started. At the end of each successful day, I declared on my Twitter account, "Today I became one with the key of X major." If you were following and confused, scratch your head no more. I plan to do it again, starting today, so watch out.

Seven months ago, I created and published my Real Book Rankings Index, a single-page, color-coded guide to the most popular tunes in the Sixth Edition Real Book. I've had it taped to the inside front cover of my Real Book, and I use it every time I'm looking for a tune to call at a jam session or learn on my own. It's been immensely helpful and has fascinated several of my musician friends with its utility.

After an encouraging comment on my original post, I decided to finish what I started and assemble similar indexes for Volume II and Volume III. Today, I present to you the Volume II index:

Download the PDF.

The columns and color-coding are identical to the first volume. "Page" is the page number in the Hal Leonard Real Book, Volume II, Second Edition. "Rank" is the tune's rank in the song list on JazzStandards.com. (They conducted a giant study of thousands of jazz recordings, and ranked the top 1000 songs by how often each has been recorded.) The colors are just an easy way of visualizing the rank: red represents top 100, blue is 101-250, yellow is 251-500, and white is 501-1000.

For best results, print it out, cut off the margins, and tape or paste it to the inside front cover of your Real Book. (You can nearly forget about the standard table of contents; I never use mine anymore.) I only ask that you leave "fromthewoodshed.com" visible at the bottom so that your friends know where it came from when you show it off. And if you find it helpful, please tell some people about it. Recommendations through Twitter, Facebook, your own blog, or literal word of mouth would all be much appreciated. Show it to your students or your teacher, or take it to some jam sessions.

Volume III is coming soon, and I'll eventually get to work on the Chuck Sher New Real Books.

Almost a year ago, I started attending weekly jazz jams hosted by Jay Jay Lim at South Park Bar and Grill here in San Diego. I've been to maybe twenty-five of them as well as a few others. Most times when I'm called up to play a few songs, someone else calls the tune, usually the horn player or singer. So even though I come prepared with a few tunes I want to play, I frequently have to recall or sight read changes on the spot. Most of the other players seem to know a ton of standards well enough to get through them without a lead sheet. I know a few, and I'm constantly working on my repertoire, but I'm still caught off guard at least once every time I go.

Back in September, I wrote about a spreadsheet I created to keep track of the tunes I'm learning. I've been using it regularly since then, and it's been immensely helpful. Just a glance, after sorting by the different columns, shows me which tunes could use some brushing up, which ones I need to learn, and which ones I thought I knew last time I updated but don't anymore. Plus it's nice to track my progress.

Over the months, I've watched the list grow, both in what I know and what I ought to know. It currently contains 401 different tunes. When I see a list somewhere of "must know" jazz standards, I add any that aren't on my list. Ditto for repertoire lists at college jazz programs. But most importantly, I add every single tune I hear called at jam sessions. These are local people I'm likely to play with again, and they're telling me what tunes they know and enjoy playing every time they call one. It's like I'm being fed my own "must know" list of standards, tailored to my situation, in little bits every time I go jam.

I realized this a few months ago, and I discovered exactly how I could harness it. I added three columns to my spreadsheet to keep track of how many times I've heard a tune called, where it was called last, and when. Now, every time I witness or play in a jam, I write down or text myself every tune that someone else calls. (I don't include my own.) When I come home, I increment the tally for each tune and update the other info to remind myself that I've already changed the count. When I practice, I can sort the spreadsheet to find out what's been called most often, what gave me trouble last week, what I haven't heard in the longest time, etc.

View the complete live spreadsheet on Google Docs. (The "Ranks" worksheet shows an automated sorting of all the columns based on how well I know the tunes overall.) You can copy the whole thing to your own account and swap out all the tunes if you like the idea.

Each of the four finalists had 30 minutes to make their musical case for a $25,000 grand prize, $10,000 second prize, or $5,000 third prize. Radio Karma performed first with strong renditions of a variety of pop and rock tunes. Next was Damage Inc., a Metallica tribute with a phenomenal lead guitarist. We played third, and closing the night was Super Magnetic, a 10-piece with two amazing lead vocalists doing soul, R&B, and rock covers.

Each week of the competition, which started back on April 11 with 40 bands competing (five each week), the judges post to a blog with their thoughts on the performances. Here's what judge Ed Decker had to say about our show in this week's post, The Depths of Mordor (Dazed and Confused DSB’s the Finals):

Let's begin with the story's headline – "Dazed and Confused DSB's the Finals." By "DSB's the Finals," I'm referring to the Journey tribute, Don't Stop Believin', which veteran UMC fans will know, was the band who might have taken it away from Rolling the Stones last year. In fact, all three judges had them as being a favorite going into the Finals.

Alas, DSB booked a bunch of gigs over the weekend and the singer, Juan, had all but blown out his voice, plummeting them from a heavy favorite to the clear bottom position and why I now call these situations a "DSB moment." And man, I can't believe it happened again! Dazed and Confused, dudes! We begged you not to do that. We told all the bands, on the blog and on the mic, "rest your voices! Take the weekend off. There's tons of money on the line, please!"

In my mind, they were the clear frontrunners. After one of the most memorable performances in UMC history, when they played the eight-minute epic, "Since I've Loving You," I was sure Dazed and Confused would win first or second place. But when I ran into singer Jason in the V Lounge before the doors opened, and he told me he played four gigs over the weekend, I became concerned.

Huh? We played one gig, Saturday afternoon, and the cops shut us down after 45 minutes. Our singer, Jason, did his weekly all-request solo gig Friday night and refused to sing anything difficult. So whatever concern this judge had about Jason's voice before we even took the stage was unwarranted. I don't know how one and a half gigs got inflated to four, but I can't help wondering if it influenced the judges' perspectives.

When they opened with "Nobody's Fault," it was evident there were going to be issues, especially with vocals. "Over the Hills and Far Away" was a good choice, but also troublesome. Ditto "Ramble On" which started off like it was going to happen, but they couldn't seem to connect with it, as if they were lost in a dark forest of death and despair and couldn't find their way out. Actually, it was a section of the lyrics of "Ramble On" that underscored the situation.

"T'was in the darkest depths of Mordor…." Jason sang, and yes, it occurred to me, that's exactly where we were – where the band was – in Mordor, JRR Tolkien's fictitious netherworld which he described as "a dying land, but not yet dead. . . with coarse grey grass-tussocks, withered mosses and great writhing, tangled brambles."

"The Ocean," was another great set choice, but they were to deep in the thicket of Mordor now; there was very little they could do except wander through it aimlessly. I felt bad for them. I could see in their eyes they knew it was a miss.

The finale, their namesake, "Dazed and Confused," had moments of pure brilliance, and the breakdown would've been goose-pimple inspiring – especially Joe's guitar and bow action, and the call and answer between vocals and guitar – but, in order for a breakdown, or "come down" to deliver its full effect, it has to come down from a higher place. We have to have been emotionally soaring in order for the free fall plummet of a breakdown to do its magic on us. Alas, there was no great height from which to fall.

Again, huh? I can't argue with Ed's assessment of what he heard; I'm sure mistakes were clearer in the crowd than on stage. But at no time did death, despair, or Mordor cross my mind, and at no point did we think one of our tunes was a miss.

In fact, we had a blast playing up there. The sound system and crew were top-rate, some of the best we've worked with. The light show was amazing. And we demolished all five of those songs, in a good way. Whatever Ed thought he saw in our eyes, he read wrong. From stage left, it sounded and felt like one of our best performances, certainly the most intense half hour of music we've played in the ten months I've been with the band.

It was a great experience to play alongside such talented acts last night, but it felt pretty awful to walk away empty-handed after all the work we put in. I'll remember that next time someone tries to talk me into a battle of the bands. On the other hand, I find Ed's sensational narrative entirely forgettable. I'm really proud of my part in the show we put on, and I know my bandmates feel the same way. It wasn't perfect, but I'd take the whole thing, note for note, if we had to do it again.

Our first round was May 16. We had a 20-minute set and filled it with two songs: "Kashmir" and our take on Zep's "Whole Lotta Love" live medley. They run the event American Idol style; each band plays their short set and stands there while three judges tell them how they did. It turns out one of the judges hates medleys. Imagine someone who hates hearing bands play "Stairway" or "Freebird" or "Smoke on the Water". That's how much he hates medleys. But we made it through, just barely. We actually tied in point total with Oingo Boingo tribute Dead Man's Party. The judges voted for a tiebreaker and chose us. Dead Man's Party later advanced on the wildcard slot as well. Check out the judges' blog and videos and pictures from the show.

So we rolled our way into the semis. Dios mío, man. Forty competitors down to ten. The show was just a few days ago, June 13. This time we had a 25-minute set. That means three songs, coming from Zep's catalog. We played "The Song Remains the Same", "Since I've Been Loving You", and "How Many More Times". These three are among my favorite songs to play with this group. I practiced TSRTS to death for the whole week leading up to the show, then filled it with clams upon performing it. That is one tough opener. No one but my favorite person mentioned the screwups though. "Since" went really well. Everything just disappears when I play that solo. It's my favorite Robert Plant performance ever, and our singer, Jason, nails it every time. The judges commented that we took a huge risk playing such a long, slow song in the middle of a 25-minute set when the audience expects to be rocked. They said it paid off big time. It hadn't occurred to any of us that it was risky, but we'll take it. "How Many More Times" got the people moving good and hard. It was a great closer, even though we botched the special extended ending we threw together right before the show. (Lesson learned, please.) And I got more compliments about the violin bow than I've ever had after a show.

In the ever-awkward post-performance critique, we received nothing but positive remarks from the judges. I think. I wasn't really listening. We ended up with the highest point total of the evening, advancing to the finals this Sunday, June 20. We'll be competing with Radio Karma, Damage Inc., and Super Magnetic. Check out the judges' blog and videos and pictures from the show.

I won't divulge our planned setlist for Sunday, but verbs like "kill" and "slay" and "facemelt" have been thrown around in band emails.