Groups â€órockâ€™ mall
Published 8:00 pm, Saturday, April 12, 2008
Music echoed through the Midland Mall Saturday night when The Anonymous Delegates took the Rock Band stage.
The popular video game Rock Band involves four band members singing and playing guitar, bass and drums while being scored on accuracy. A competition at the mall Saturday night also took stage presence into account, and four bands attempting to get the crowd excited.
In the end, The Anonymous Delegates won after playing Metallica's "Enter Sandman" and Coheed and Cambia's "Welcome Home." Band members included Courtney and Nathaniel Plane, of Troy, and Midlanders Jake Saint Onge and Owen Barba.
Barba, 8, was the youngest competitor and drew in the crowd with his skill. He made it on the team after previously challenging Nathaniel Plane at Game On in the Mall, which hosted the competition.
"He ended up beating him by a ton," said Barba's dad, Tom Barba. The Planes then saw him at the mall and asked him to join them in the competition. "We just happened to be here at the right time."
Tom and his wife, Kendra, bought Owen an AC/DC shirt for the competition, though he wasn't quite sure who the band was. In the end it didn't matter, with his team scoring high in points and impressing the crowd.
"We're really proud of him," Kendra said. "He did really good."
John Levy, owner of Computers To Go and Game On, said the cool thing about Rock Band is that it draws people of all ages together and allows players to express themselves.
"Everybody likes music," he said. "It's just so much fun because you're doing it together."
Levy hopes to host another competition at the mall in a couple months.
Second place finishers Viva la Freak scored points by competing in more difficult skill levels. Band member Christine Mialki, 13, of Midland, said it was nice to get to play in front of spectators at the mall.
Bandmate Molly Rossman, 13, Midland, said their two songs went well.
"We have been preparing for this for so long," she said.
Third place went to The Posers, with Midlander Stephanie Murrell, 16, revving up the crowd with screams in Flyleaf's "I'm so Sick" and pretending to break the guitar after finishing The Rolling Stones' "Gimme Shelter."
"It went pretty well," said her brother and bandmate Adam Murrell, 24. "It's cool that they did it, had Rock Band here."
Bandmate Nathan Phillips didn't get the chance to show off his true skills.
"It was nerve-wracking," he said. "In practice I would throw the drumsticks, and I was afraid I would have thrown it and hit someone."
Fourth place went to a last-minute entry, Beefcake. The band of Beaverton friends saw each other at the mall and decided to enter the competition.
"While the points weren't there, the stage presence was and we appreciate it," Levy said, before taking the microphone himself for a song.
Who the bands were
First place: The Anonymous Delegates
Nathaniel Plane, 27, Troy
Courtney Plane, 26, Troy
Jake Saint Onge, 21, Midland
Owen Barba, 8, Midland
Second place: Viva la Freak
Christine Mialki, 13, Midland
Molly Rossman, 13, Midland
Patrick Hof, 14, Midland
Kaylyn Berg, 12, Midland
Third place: The Posers
Adam Murrell, 24, Midland
Stephanie Murrell, 16, Midland
Nathan Phillips, 14, Midland
Kevin Bobalek, 18, Midland
Fourth place: Beefcake
John Garvie, 17, Beaverton
Jamie Bunting, 17, Beaverton
Josh Burns, 17, Beaverton
Max Faber, 18, Beaverton