Friday, January 19th The Ignorance, a three piece rock ‘n roll band from Sacramento opened the night with a talent-show stunt that featured the bass player doing a phenomenal harmonica riff. One 9 Shangrali reached for the high bars, with a bushel of funky originals that turned the room into a dance party. The bass player and vocalist of this spunky quartet, continue to work with George Clinton, and the P-Funk Allstars, and have for several years. The long winter nights will be well spent in the studio gettin’ their funk together for the new CD to be released later in the year. After getting off a ship that had just landed on Earth from Planet Groove, Aquarius, rolled out a magic carpet ride to a hip-hop soundtrack that caused temporary disorientation among the audience – this terrific band will return to its Planet, but not before jetting into Round 2! By the fourth band of the evening, Swampdonky, it was time for some homegrown rock‘n'' roll. Who’s your donky baby? It’s great to see a tight drummer who sings, and lays a solid foundation for this brand of good originals. The Devil Himself came out on stage from Santa Cruz, California. The progressive metal added their flames to an already burning set at this great Room. Soul Catcher came all the way from Fresno to display their talents as an in your face, get over it, riff-oriented hard rock band. This hot night just got hotter when the kings of Funk, The Funkanauts, stepped on the stage and the announcer said: “Brothas from planet Funk…they are our guides to the Good Groove”, and were the light at the end of the tunnel to end a great night at Rockit Room. Second place for these funky-nauts, and off to Round 2. Saturday, January 20th Nideit gave a “we’re back” homecoming performance returning to Emergenza from Escalon, California. It was Dave’s birthday – everybody buy Dave a cool one! The Common You was an uncommonly creative experience with six youngsters with extreme talent, especially the girl on drums—she did an amazing drum solo, the likes of which the other in-house festival drummers took urgent notice. What do you get when you have one front man who sang for Ronnie Montrose, and a second front man who opened for Bon Jovi? You get 2 Endeavor. The band is an acoustic-electric band that mellowed the pace a bit from the hard-driving sounds heard earlier in the evening. The next band, Pinpoint Mercy, an alternative rock band, came in second place, after causing their fans to get up and rally hard. Frozen Smile is not in the least bit humorous but rather a serious, group of dedicated musicians, hailing from Oslo, Norway. This quartet has graduated from Emergenza School once before, and has been together since 1973—it’s a joke, son. This performance was the first time that Frozen Smile used a live drummer—previously they plugged in their drum machine, with an exploding teddy bear on top! Ain’t no party like a Zootzilla party, ‘cause a Zootzilla party don’t stop. Funk is not on the verge of extinction. Rockit Room nearly drowned in the rapids of Zootzilla’s, Underwater. Congratulations, Zootzilla on your terrific performance that not only brought you to the #1 slot, but also won you a 2nd Round invitation. Nice going, guys! Monterey based band, Without Meaning, hit the stage with a full frontal assault on the ears with their punk hard core flavor. There were several memorable moments of flaming hot guitar licks and shrieking vocals that gave extra meaning to their good work. A high spot in the evening was their original title, “Getting High In The Crematorium”. As the first round drew to a close, the last band, Davine Featuring Damien Carter, sang impressive Soul covers like they were born to do. The lead guitar player has worked with Santana and Malo, and Pete Escovedo. This