Dear Diary,

I ventured to Rosebud Saturday via the 54C for a unique experience of judging… Dear Diary,

I ventured to Rosebud Saturday via the 54C for a unique experience of judging the third installment of the semifinals of this year’s Graffiti Rock Challenge. The winners of the first two weeks of competition were the hard-rocking Luca Brazi and the punk rockers Science Fiction Idols. This week’s competition featured Strangeway, Brad Yoder Band, Motor Psychos and Top Ten Idols.

Ever since they announced the bands that would be in the competition, I was really looking forward to it. I had already seen Strangeway in concert and listened to both Brad Yoder and Motor Psychos.

The Challenge is, of course, a local battle of the bands that is judged by local music journalists from several different publications: The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, The Tribune-Review and yours truly from The Pitt News, to name a few.

The night began fittingly with good old rock provided by Strangeway. The young band, only together 6 1/2 months, took the stage and played the only way they know how – they rocked. With great stage presence, great instrumental talent and creative lyrics Strangeway has the potential to take their music to the next level and be a very successful rock band.

Following Strangeway was a return act from last year’s competition, Brad Yoder Band. They made it to the finals last year but fell short in their quest for the championship. This year they came out looking to redeem themselves and make it back to the finals. Their style of music is a bit different from that of Strangeway, and everyone else on the bill for that matter. Brad Yoder Band is a five-piece folk-rock band. The band sounded good and the lyrics were creative and brilliant, but I couldn’t get over the fact that Brad Yoder, the lead singer of the band, had the same sound to his singing voice as he did in his speaking voice. A medium-high pitch nasal sound that reminded me of Kermit the Frog in a balding white man’s body.

Next up, the leather-clad death rocker chicks and dude from Motor Psychos. The band is a four-piece consisting of three women and a male drummer. All decked out in their Goth gear, the Motor Psychos took the stage roaring their aggression through the entire set. They brought a lot of fans with them and handed out green cut-out skulls glued to a stick that had the band’s name written on the forehead of the skull. The crowd that they brought really got into them but that was it, the other fans in attendance didn’t really catch on to the screaming and loud noise. When their set finished, I was beginning to wish I had grabbed my bottle of aspirin before I went out the door.

The Top Ten Idols wrapped up the night. With the look and sound of a lighter Jimmy Eat World, Top Ten Idols took the stage and rocked their way through their set. They played songs that rocked, then played songs that were moody, then threw in some mellow tunes. Throughout the set’s great mix, the Idols showed they have a musical arsenal of wide range.

The night finished with rousing applause from the crowd and then it was time to tally the votes. At the end of the calculations, it turned out that the band I thought would definitely win didn’t. I thought for sure that Strangeway would walk away victorious but I think the fact that they were the opening act may have had an impact on the judge’s scores.

The winner of the night was Brad Yoder Band, who will find themselves in the finals for the second year in a row, this year joining up with Luca Brazi and Science Fiction Idols on March 8 at Rosebud.

Stop by Rosebud tomorrow to check out the last night of the semifinals, featuring Trip Show, Poverty Neck Hillbillies, Delaneys and Flowdown.