Friday, August 26, 2011

NYBD for Newbie's


Hello NYBD Newbie’s!!!!!!!!

If you are reading this it is likely that you are considering participating in New York Band Draft 2011. Here is some information that will be important for you in making that decision. Please read it all before you make any decisions!

What we do in a nutshell:

The New York Band Draft is a musician’s social event that combines elements of Fantasy Football with your typical Battle of the Bands to encourage the creation of new friendships and new music. Here’s how it’s done:

1) Musicians (that’s you) from an extended network of friends are asked to commit to five weeks of intense musical creation. There is a $10 registration fee and you get a very nice T-Shirt for that. ALL proceeds go to the prize package.

2) The essence of each participant is reduced and presented in a statistics slide for each musician, similar to those of NFL stats. Slides include what instruments you play, for how long you’ve been playing, current and past bands you’ve been in, and who your influences are.

3) Captains, chosen by The Commission, study these musicians’ stat slides and assemble their dream teams according to one very important ruleàNo team shall contain players who are currently in musical projects together.

4) Captains then draft their teams at a very emotional and exciting “Draft Night.” Since not even the captains know who they will actually be lucky enough to draft, everyone meets their newly formed bands on this night. Trust me, it’s an awesome night of energy.

5) Teams are then given 30 days to write two original songs and chose one cover song to perform at a competition. This year, we have two “conferences” or “leagues” that will run simultaneously. Winners will be chosen based on a not so complicated process which takes into account the audience’s opinion and three judges opinions as to which band is the best.

6) The two teams that win each respective conference will then be given another week to achieve some additional goals before meeting for a night of competitive, creative rock and roll awesomeness which we call the NYBD Super Bowl.

7) The winners of this event takes home a cash prize (last year it was $750.00 but his year we plan to raise about twice that amount) as well as other prizes including a recording session at a fully equipped recording studio, a photo shoot from a professional photographer, and a bunch of swag from our sponsors.  


IMPORTANT DATES:

            It is very important that you be serious about your commitment to us. A lot of people are counting on you if you commit! There are five important dates that you must be aware of, and three of those dates require your attendance. You must be available for all of the dates in red if you are to commit to NYBD 2011.


Registration Deadline:

Friday, September 9th via e-mail

We ask that participants register by September 9th to assure that the commission has enough time to accommodate you. The registration fee is ten dollars that you are asked to give to us by Draft Night. You must submit your stats to us by this date so that we can create your stats slide!!

New York Band Draft 2011 Draft Night, Freddy’s Bar, Brooklyn:

Saturday, September 24th, 8pm

While you don’t have to attend this event, we highly recommend that you do because it is too much fun! On this night you will be picked by your Captain and you will meet your new band. You don’t have to be there to get picked, but like I said, you probably don’t want to miss this.

Conference Finals, King Killer Studio, Brooklyn:

Friday October 21st and Saturday October 22nd,   8pm

You must be available on these nights!!!Because of the success of last year’s NYBD, this year we are running two simultaneous “conferences” to accommodate more people (because that’s more awesomer). Each league will have their own competition, and the winners of each league will then meet the following week for the Super Bowl. You will only play in one of these conference events depending on what conference you are drafted to which you will find out on Draft Night.



New York Band Draft 2011 Super Bowl Extravaganza, Fontana’s Bar in Manhattan:

Saturday, October 29th, 7pm (that’s the Saturday before Halloween which is going to make it awesome!)

You must be available on this night!!! At this event the two best bands from each conference will battle it out for pride, braggin’ rights, first and second place, facial discracials and…oh yeah….A TON OF COLD, HARD CASH!!!! Last year we raised nearly 800 bucks for the winning band. This year we’ve got twice the number of participants, so you do the math!!! You could be taking home some serious cashola!



A bit about how awesome we are:

-       Last year, a television production company heard about our event and decided that it might make a great reality television program. They set up shop and filmed our events and even followed around our participants for a day. With this footage they are creating a television pilot that they will shop around to the major networks. Keep your fingers crossed, you might become famous!!!

-       I think it is safe to say that EVERYONE who witnessed last year’s event was absolutely astounded at how awesome the music was. For weeks people basked in the glory of their accomplishments and that of their fellow musicians. It was a truly magical night.

-       Our event generated over 700.00 bucks and a this year we are striving to get twice that amount for the prize money!!

-       One of the bands that formed last year is still playing together and numerous friendships were formed because of NYBD.


We hope you choose to be a part of this awesome experience. If you do, please RSVP to carstendvogel@gmail.com no later than September 9th.

For more information about NYBD please visit our blog at, http://newyorkbanddraft.blogspot.com/


Thanks,
Commissioner Carsten


NYBD 2011 Kicks Off September 24th!!!

**********PLEASE READ THIS ENTIRE COMMUNICATION AS IT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT COMMUNICATION OF THE ENTIRE NYBD EVENT************

New York Band Draft season is about to kick off and The Commission is very happy to be bringing you this very exciting news about this year’s event.

The venues have been booked and they are awesome! They are as follows:

-Draft Night!!!!, Saturday, September 24th, 8pm.

 *****This date is a different date than the one mentioned in the first e-mail so please double-check your calendars******

This year’s draft night will be held at Freddy’s Backroom and Bar! If you don’t know Freddy’s you are in for a treat! Esquire magazine voted Freddy’s one of the best bars in America and Time Out NY said, “It’s possible that Freddy’s is as near a perfect saloon experience as you’ll ever encounter.” They promise to help “blow it up” with major media outreach as well!

Freddy’s Bar, 627 5th Avenue, Brooklyn, N.Y. between 17th and 18th street.
Subway: R to Prospect Avenue in Brooklyn
Bus: B63 to 5th Ave & Prospect Ave


- Conference Finals!!!!, Friday and Saturday, October 21st and 22nd, 8pm.

This year we are running two simultaneous “conferences” to accommodate more people (because that’s more awesomer). Each conference will have their own competition, and the winners of each conference will then meet the following week for the Super Bowl. You will only play in one of these conference events depending on what conference you are drafted to which you will find out on Draft Night.

The guys at King Killer Studio have been nice enough to offer their space for both conference finals and we are going to pimp that awesome warehouse space out with awesome sound and lights AND KEGS!!!! That’s right, this event is going to be a keg party with some of the coolest musicians in New York!! There will be a 5$ charge at the door for those not performing and a cup will cost you 5 bucks as well.

King Killer Studio, 69 2nd Avenue, Brooklyn N.Y., between 8th and 9th street.
Subway: F or G to 4th Ave stop, OR the R to 9th Ave stop.
Bus: Commissioner Pat loves the bus but I say fuck it!


-NYBD Super Bowl Event!!!!, Saturday, October 29th, 7 pm.

We couldn’t possibly ignore the birthplace of our awesome idea and the bar that has been so generous with us in the past so this year we are happy to announce that the end all be all performance night, the big momma, the quintessential moment, THE SUPER BOOOOOOWWWLLLLL will happen at Fontana’s Bar!!!!

At this event the two best bands from each conference will battle it out for pride, braggin’ rights, first and second place, facial discracials and…oh yeah….A TON OF COLD, HARD CASH!!!! Last year we raised nearly 800 bucks for the winning band. This year we’ve got twice the number of participants, so you do the math!!! You could be taking home some serious cashola!

By the way, October 29th is the Saturday before Halloween, which promises to make this year’s Super Bowl extravaganza extra festive. What better way to celebrate Halloween than with the illustrious participants of NYBD? Did someone say costume contest?

Fontana’s Bar, 105 Eldridge Street, New York, N.Y., between Broome and Grand street
Subway: B or D trains to Grand Street, F or J trains to Delancey street.
Bus: Commissioner Pat loves the bus but I say fuck it!

-Important Stuff

-Registration—We ask that participants register by September 9th to assure that the commission has enough time to accommodate you. The registration fee is ten dollars that you are asked to give to us by Draft Night. Your ten bucks gets you another awesome shirt this year that we hope will be black and silver. Any left over cash will go towards making the event better or to the winning band/bands. 

*******Extremely Important*******
This year our event is much more ambitious. We need your help getting our goal of 80 players involved. Please spread the word to any and all of your friends immediately to help us recruit some new blood! You can help out by forwarding this e-mail to anyone you think may be interested. I have also created a short synopsis of what NYBD is all about that should help to explain what we do here to newbie’s.  It can be found on our blog. Please direct anyone who may be interested in participating there.

- Captains—We are currently accepting nominations for Captain. Please feel free to nominate yourself as well. The Commissioners will choose willing Captains in the coming weeks so please help us out pronto.


- Da Blog—The blog is up and running!!! The blog is your primary source of information regarding NYBD. This includes rules, how the event works, personnel, captain’s logs, photos, music, voting for band names and all that jazz. Last year we had an amazing 9,500+ hits in one month! This year we are going to monetize that shit and make some money (and give it to you!!)!!! Please visit the blog regularly for updates. Here’s the link.



-The Face Book Page—The old FB page is going to be replaced with a new one. Please DO NOT post to the old page. We will send out the name of the new page just as soon as we set it up.

­Rules of Competition—NYBD 2011 will be run in a very similar way to last year’s event with some minor changes. Please use the Blog’s “archive” tab to access the rules (Click on the September tab to find them). We will not be providing a free practice space this year because it was a source of much discontent (for which I take full responsibility for and apologize for). There will be some additional requirements for the four bands that make it to The Super Bowl. You will be notified of these new and exciting tasks just as soon as we have worked out all of the details. Winners will be decided in a similar way to last year but we may tweak the process a bit to streamline it. You will receive notification of any changes via the blog.


That is all for now. Thanks for reading this entire e-mail. Remember to help us recruit as that is THE MOST IMPORTANT TASK LEFT TO BE TAKEN CARE OF. Please feel free to contact me with questions or concerns at any time during NYBD 2011. My email address is carstendvogel@gmail.com

Sincerely,
Commissioner Carsten