DOES THIS MAKE ME A NOVELTY ACT?
And if so, is it Thomas Conner's fault?

So I entered me a contest. Yup. See, back in September in his Tulsa World column, Thomas Conner mentioned a songwriting contest being staged by Duck brand duct tape, with $2500 going to the author of the best original song incorporating duct tape in the lyrics. I probably wouldn't have even thought about entering, but Conner explained in the first paragraph that he was only mentioning the contest "because I can think of several local musicians who'd have a serious shot at the prize (hey, Ross, eyes front)."

How do I shrug off a challenge like that? It took a while to write, it took a while to record (and edit: the original version was nearly 30 seconds over the 4-minute limit), and I got my entry in the mail just under the wire.

Curious? Well, you can't vote, but you can go hear my entry, and like 150 others, on the official website. Go here to see the lyrics and listen to the best I could do. You can browse around and check out the rules and judging criteria and such while you're there, or go here and check out all the other folks who had nothing better to do this fall. As of Sunday the 15th, they still haven't posted all the last-minute entries, but here is my personal favorite so far, although I admit I've neither listened to the song nor read the lyrics yet...

Anyway, it's all up to the judges now, and I should know soon if I've won, if I've placed, if I've received an honorable mention, or if this is in fact The Greatest Injustice Since The Engine Hearts, Ira, Tom Skinner and I All Lost At The Spot Awards. I'll let you know.

-- RmG³, 12/15/02

Addendum: The Duck Tape Club folks have now finished posting the entries -- all 163 of them -- and have also posted this message:

Due to the overwhelming interest and participation in the Rock about the Roll contest, our judges have requested more time to fairly review each individual entry. Therefore, we have postponed the announcement of the winners of the Rock about the Roll contest until Thursday, January 2nd. In so doing, we have given the judges ample time in between the holidays and their other Duck Tape duties to evaluate every submission. We thank you for your patience and understanding - we think you'll agree that the judges have a very difficult decision ahead of them! In the meantime, Happy Holidays!

So I guess I'll let you folks know as soon as I know, sometime around the first of the year. Stay tuned.

-- RmG³, 12/20/02

Hey folks. Welcome to The Site. It's new, it's raw, and I don't have the first clue what I'm doing. All of which should be pretty obvious right now.

As the Year of the Ross comes to an end, it seems like it's finally time to get some web presence, especially since I've been promising it for months... and after a brief incident involving acoutsicross.com, here it is.

Eventually, I'll have all kinds of great crap on display here, including all the News From Around the Bend stuff I've been threatening for years to put online.

For now, I'll be putting up relevant show dates as they find themselves becoming booked.

I'll be updating weekly (well, weeklyish) or more often as needed. So come on down to a show sometime; meantime, stay tuned.

-- RmG³, 11/15/02