A big year for old friends

In the early months of 2003, my friend Rich and I were the local music team at WBRU, The Original Alt Rock (as we used to say) in Providence, RI. And with great power comes great responsibility. So it was our job to get on stage between every band at the 2003 WBRU Rock Hunt (unfortunate name, really. Say it out loud 5 times fast. NSFW.) and thank the sponsors of the event and the judges the station had pulled together and of course everyone in the audience for coming. And, at the end of the show, to announce who had won the night. A task I dreaded. I thought ALL the bands were so good. And, by the way, all the bands WERE so good. You hear me play Mona on PulverRadio all the time. (Aside: I definitely did not expect that site to still be working...they've been broken up for years. And they still have mp3 downloads FTW!)Mona - Always (mp3, right click to download)Four bands made it to the finals. Monty's Fan Club, Just Before August, The Mercy Beat, and Zox. JBA and TMB are, unfortunately, also no longer with us. But what a SHOW! From beginning to end, wow after wow after wow. Zox eventually went home with the gold, as it were. But the members of the audience were the real winners that night. Seriously.Well, fast forward to 2006, and two of those bands continue to have successful touring careers and have signed exciting indie deals. Zox now has a home alongside Gogol Bordello and countless a-list punkers on Side One Dummy Records, and Monty's Fan Club (now known as Monty Are I) now record for Stolen Transmission. So yeah, big year for old friends, 2006 was. Congrats all around.