Latest news and a break

By the way, we do have a drummer - Wayne! In addition, it's me and Phill handling the male vocals. So The Pongs have been workin' hard - workin' hard around our day jobs, anyhow. I (Mike) am "on the road" in a non-musical way until September, but practicing when possible. So The Pongs will hopefully pick up where we left off in September. Stay tuned!

Drummer and Male Lead Singer still wanted!

We Pongs are underway - learning the songs and approaching our first practice. We have nothing holding us up, but we'd still like some additional personnel.
For now, drum machines are still the plan. But it turns out that Sean owns some electronic drums! So if you're a good drummer who's willing to lower her/himself to electronic abomination, let us know!
We want to go electronic because it's true to the genre, but also because we can turn them down to a volume that won't have my neighbors calling the cops!
Phill and I can sing for now, but we still probably need a lead singer with good range and personality, who's not tied down to a keyboard. Could it be you? HUH?

Welcome Sean!

I'm extremely pleased to welcome guitarist Sean -blank- to the band! He's a really amazing guitarist and a truly dedicated musician - we'll be his 3rd current band! But we're just part-timers, so we're glad to have him however much he's available.
Sean's abilities go far beyond what most of the songs we'll play demand, so hopefully he can just sail along and not have to work too hard. But when something more kick ass and complicated comes along, there's no doubt that he'll knock it out of the park!
It may be that Sean is the last piece of the puzzle we'll need, but we're talking about getting a real drummer after all. And we'll probably need a great male singer, too. We'll see!
For now, full steam ahead!!!

Welcome Erica!

   I'm very happy to welcome our female vocalist Erica Scalmato Bodaford! Both of us were fired from Delorean Dust Covers! I was because I was opposed to playing "Soul Man" and Van Morrison songs in what I was led to believe was an 80's band, but I'm not sure about Erica. But I do know it's their loss and our gain! I also know it had nothing to do with her singing, because she's really good! I know it also wasn't her personality or stage presence because those are also great! I suspect it's because they want to move into more manly man music.
  They never gave Erica (or me) enough to do, and I always thought that was dumb. She'll definitely be busy in this band!
  I'm glad that Delorean was foolish enough to let her go, because she's going to be just right for us and definitely add to the "fun" goal of this band. AWESOME!!

Welcome Phill Price!!

Awesome!
2 days on Craigslist and this blog, and we've found a great keyboardist!
I'm very happy to announce Phill Price's entry into the band. He has an amazing amount of talent and experience, and will probably be "first chair" keyboards while I take the easy stuff and maybe the key bass. We'll see.
This is a huge boon for the band, so I'm totally psyched!
Phill has played in a very eclectic range of bands, including a very successful-looking (hey - they play casinos!) 80's cover band in PA, where he's moving from. We'll definitely be hard-pressed to "compete" with them, but they seem to be full-timers.
Anyway, I believe Phill will bring a lot to this band as well, and I hope it will further encourage the rest of you reading to join!

Join The Pongs!!!

If you're reading this, you're aware that I'm starting a band named "The Pongs".
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This will be a dance band playing fun music from the New Wave era of the early 80's.
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The goal of the band will be to play local clubs and events around town, doing the usual 4 sets of 11 songs. The two guiding principles are Fun and Dancing. This will be a "hobbyist" band for people with day jobs. One or maybe two practices a week at my house, and no late weeknights. If everyone is up for it, maybe we can play a show or two out of town, but that's a talk for another day.
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I'm Mike Gargiulo, a 41 year old professor of animation at SCAD. I'll be on keyboards and backup vocals. I can play a little guitar and maybe sing lead here and there, but there are more talented "front men" out there. I've been in many bands and I have good ideas about what works and doesn't. I'm a responsible, friendly, easy going guy, and hoping to find folks who are similar. Mostly I just love playing live music!
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My vision for the lineup is:

Male Vocal

Female Vocal

Additional Keyboards (in addition to me)

Guitar.

Bass will be played by the keyboardists, and drums by machine.

(Even better if some of those slots are combined into one person!)
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Why drums by machine? Simply because there's less to lug around, and we'd be able to practice in my living room without the neighbors calling the cops! Also we can use a much cheaper PA and play smaller clubs. It also helps to have fewer people to coordinate schedules and personalities with. Besides, drum machines were heavily used in the 80's. Similar reasons for lack of bass - unless the bassist is also an awesome lead singer!
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The Grooveshark gadget on this blog lists the 100 plus songs I've chosen from which we the band members can pick 44. (4 sets of 11 songs.) Most should be familiar, and all (I hope) fit in the same genre. I want the band to be very specifically focused on just the New Wave genre. I tried to avoid some of the overdone cliche songs where possible. 2 songs that I couldn't find on Grooveshark were: "Never Say Never" by Romeovoid and "In Your Eyes" by P. Gabriel. (WTF?)
Here are the Youtube links:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3kFPBtc9BE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tqCXpSQYyI
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If you are interested in joining, please email me at animike00@hotmail.com or call 214-681-7570!
We can even arrange to hold auditions online!
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Thanks for reading!

Mike