We have been holding onto this announcement for a while and we are proud to finally reveal it. Internet sensation and Guitar Hero II World Series of Video Games Champion Freddie Wong has stepped up to bring his unique style of entertainment and flair to The Rock-A-Thon stage. We are sure Freddie will provide excitement and passion to the crew. When asked to describe himself, he replied with the following. In his own words…

“While there are no doubt busloads of teenagers who could annihalate Freddie with technical ability in just about every song in Guitar Hero or Rock Band, few can rival his ability to showobat on a plastic guitar in a manner traditionally reserved for actually talented musicians. It’s this utter disregard for self image that launched Freddie to fame in the first place with a YouTube video with 6.7 million views of him playing Rush’s YYZ while wearing chains and a glittering red party shirt. As of this writing, his YYZ video is the most viewed Guitar Hero video on YouTube featuring a grown man actually playing the game. In addition, his Bike Hero response video took Activision’s viral concept to the next level, featuring Freddie playing Guitar Hero from a screen in the back of a car while riding a bike.

Freddie’s brief stint as a pro gamer started in 2006 when he won first place at the Dallas World Series of Video Games, which aired on CBS. His career as a performer was kick started by a front page article in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer about his WSVG victory in what would prove to be the slowest news day in Seattle history.

In addition, Freddie’s Rock Band band “Hellanor Brozevelt” won an MTV sponsored nationwide search for the best game band, and performed at the Rock Band west coast midnight launch party in Los Angeles. In addition, Hellanor Brozevelt performed in Ibiza, Spain for the Rock Band 2 European launch, netting them the dubious honor of being the first video game band to tour internationally.

The novelty of Freddie’s emphasis on performance over technical playing has taken him around the world – he most recently performed alongside Joe Satriani at YouTube Live, and will challenge Finland’s best player at DigiExpo in Helsinki later this year.”

We welcome him to the crew and look forward to rocking our faces off with him. For more info on Freddie Wong visit his personal home page: http://facerocker.com or his twitter account http://www.twitter.com/fwong

About a month ago I was surprised by a package that arrived at our door. It was a large oblong box and I was confused at what it was until I popped it open to reveal the new Wireless P-Bass by MadCatz. It was great, they even sent it to me in a light green! So this November 27th, we will be using our “Rock-A-Thon Green” as we call it, “Surf Green” as Mad Catz calls it, Fender Precision Bass. Be sure to check out Mad Catz’ website for more details on this and many of their other custom Rock Band peripherals.

About Mad Catz Interactive, Inc.

Mad Catz is a global leader in providing innovative peripherals for the interactive entertainment industry. Mad Catz designs and markets accessories for videogame systems and publishes videogame software, including the industry-leading GameShark videogame enhancements, under its Mad Catz, GameShark and Joytech brands. Mad Catz also designs and markets mice, keyboards, headsets, PC gaming controllers and other PC peripherals through its Saitek brand, and designs, manufactures and markets proprietary portable earphones under its AirDrives brand. Mad Catz distributes its products through most of the leading retailers offering interactive entertainment products and has offices across Canada, Europe and Asia. For additional information please go to www.madcatz.com, as well as www.gameshark.com, www.airdrives.com, www.saitek.com and www.joytech.net .

When it comes to wireless gaming, one thing that you need to keep an eye on is how much battery life you have. But The Rock-A-Thon will not have to worry about stopping every 6 hours to change batteries because Energizer® Advanced Lithium has stepped up to supply us with batteries for the event. With Advanced Lithium we won’t have to constantly be checking the power meters in between setlists and will be able to rock all night to keep you the viewer entertained!

About Energizer
Energizer Holdings, Inc. [NYSE: ENR], www.energizer.com, headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri, is one of the world’s largest manufacturers of primary batteries, battery-powered devices and flashlights. Energizer, a global leader in the dynamic business of providing portable power geared toward the new digital age, offers a full portfolio of products including the Energizer® MAX® premium alkaline brand; Energizer® Ultimate Lithium; Energizer® Advanced Lithium and Nickel Metal Hydride (NiMH) Rechargeable batteries and chargers.

The Energizer® product line also includes specialty batteries for hearing aids, health and fitness devices, as well as for keyless remote entry systems, watches and other uses. Through its flashlight and lighting products unit, Energizer helps bring consumer insight and innovation to these important household devices. Energizer continues its role as a technology leader with Energizer® Energi To Go®, portable battery-powered chargers for cell phones.

We at The Rock-A-Thon would like to welcome the first of our special guests that will be joining us to make this happen, Ciji “StarSlay3r” Thornton. Some of you may remember Ciji from WCG Ultimate Gamer on SyFy or have seen her placing very high in other music game tournaments across the country.

Photo taken by Kara Leung karaface.com

StarSlay3r has been gaming competitively since 1998. In 2006 she decided to step it up a notch and leveled up to “Pro” status. StarSlay3r is a Free Agent that competes in tournaments for games in all genres and across multiple platforms.

While Ciji is known for her past as a Guitar Hero player, she has a total of over 30 top 5 finishes in 7 games across 3 genres. She currently is playing competitively in many games including Rock Band, Need For Speed,  Street Fighter 4, and BlazBlue. On top of working and gaming, StarSlay3r also takes time out to help out charities. She has been known to help raise money for The Autism society of America, breast cancer research, To Write Love on Her Arms, Starlight Childrens Foundation, and helping the homeless in southern California.

We are honored and excited to have Ciji join us on November 27th and thank her for her support as well in getting us in touch with many other potential sponsors and support staff. More information coming as it breaks!

For more information on Ciji “StarSlay3r” Thornton and her other ventures, visit her personal webpage at http://www.starslay3r.com

Welcome to the official launch of The Rock-A-Thon 2009 Website! This has been 9 months coming but it is finally here. The cast and crew that have been working on this are proud to welcome you. Now that we have a location, and we are now reaching out to corporate sponsors, now is the time for YOU to get in on the action.

You may ask yourself now, what IS the Rock-A-Thon? Well, to put it as plainly as we can, it is a celebration of charity. Right when people start to look for way to help their fellow man, we step in to give you the means to help out a wonderful organization, Child’s Play. Child’s Play is the charity by the gamer, for the gamer. In an effort to combat the negative stereotype that gamers get, they stepped up to give us an opportunity to show how much gamers can do when they we band together for something possitive. That is to help children in hospitals take their mind off their worries and enjoy losing themselves, if not for a moment, in the comfort of a game, a book, or even a movie.

How we plan on going about this is to marathon play a game that all of us love, Rock Band. And we intend on playing all of it, yes that’s right, From Rock Band to Rock Band 2, the latest DLC, and every song in the Rock Band Franchise to date. With over 800 songs to date we are forecasting that our team will be playing for over 3 days straight. Did we mention that we are playing on all Expert?…

(final design may vary)

Our first means of business is to start taking donations to help us cover the costs of the website and of the host location. Meridian has been so wonderful as to pretty much donate the space itself, but we still need to pay for the around the clock staffing and security. Rest assured, 100% of the proceeds will be going to Child’s Play. That is what this started out as, what it continues to be, and will always be.

So what better way to kick things off in the donation aspect than to offer the chance to have one of the offical Rock-A-Thon T-shirts sent directly to your door in time to wear while we are rocking out for charity! We are now taking early donations and everyone who donates over $30 will receive a Rock-A-Thon T-shirt of their very own. We will be running a limited ammount of these shirts closer to the event, and they will not be available to the general public once the event kicks off, so jump on board now and lock in this design!

Well, that does it for now, more info, announcements, and news as things develop. We will even announce the special guest cast members as we get closer to the event. So as I always say, Stay Tuned, this are going to get FUN.

-Paul Anthony