York / Lancaster / Harrisburg PA area?

[drhollen]

Hello,

I just moved from the Washington D.C. area to York, PA and miss the various Rock Band events that I frequented in that area.

Is there any Rock Band or Guitar Hero events going on in the York / Lancaster / Harrisburg area of PA? Anybody out there with a restaurant/club that would be interested in starting one - I could help get one going.

If nothing else, I'm interested in getting together with RB enthusiasts and playing some at my house. I am a platinum guitarist, expert bassist, hard drummer and pathetic vocalist. Have ION drum setup with dual-pedal and Kickbox adapter.

Dale

[drhollen]

It appears that I found two events by reading the local nightlife news leaflet. Zinger's in York has a Guitar Hero night each Wednesday and this Thursday, Mar. 12th, West York Inn is having a Guitar Hero night sponsored by Coor's Light from 8-10. I don't know if either of these places also will include Rock Band with GH. I plan on attending both to check them out - perhaps meet others with more info on Rock Band events.

[drhollen]

Went to Zinger's last Wednesday. Small local bar. They have a combined karaoke, DJ and Guitar Hero night. I was the only one playing Guitar Hero. There were a few karaoke people. The sound was very good and visuals were decent on big screen TV mounted high. They has PS2 with GH2, GH3, GH:80s & GH:A. No Rock Band. I asked about it and he had heard of RB, but never played it. Probably not going to get it. Food was passable. Not really interested in going back.

Last Thursday, I went to West York Inn for the GH night sponsored by Coors Light. This was not a recurring event, but one time only. Bar had more patrons, food was very good, but they didn't even turn down the house music so we could hear the GH event. Other than the three Coors people who showed up, only myself and one other guy were there for GH. They had GH3 only on a PS2. The TV was old CRT rear projection mounted very high - sound was TV speakers and had to compete with house music. The interesting thing was this was the first time I saw and played on Peavey Riffmaster guitars. These were heavy wooden guitars with Coors Light logos. Looked cool, but played horrible. Not only was one whammy bar broken, but the tilt sensors were a waste of time - not working, or go off when you didn't tilt (worse than RB1 guitar). Worse yet, the buttons were so slow that I couldn't effectively use hammer-ons with any precision. Basically this guitar is meant to look cool for someone playing on medium - but is a liability on any higher level. And at $400 a pop, WAY too expensive.

I spoke with the other guy and he does play Rock Band. I asked about Rock Band in any local club but he hadn't heard of anything.

So this was even more disappointing than Zinger's. So, I'm back to playing at my own house.

Any other local forum member in the area interested in coming over and playing?

Dale

[drhollen]

There is supposed to be a weekly Rock Band night each Sunday starting at 8PM at the Red Rose Restaurant & Lounge on E. Market St. a few miles east of York. It is played on the Wii. I am planning on checking it out this Sunday.

Dale

[drhollen]

Red Rose Lounge no longer does Rock Band. That stopped months ago, but the event listing was never removed from the the bar scene newspaper where I read about it.

So it looks like York, PA is pretty dead for RB events.

Ironically, it seems like I've had more fun playing Rock Band 2 with various people at the local Best Buy than GH at the two other clubs I mentioned in earlier posts. They have a good setup and all the instruments work. I played for a while there today with a few people who walked up. The best other player was actually an 11-year-old girl who can play all songs on expert (except Visions - but who plays that anyway...). We were gold-starring songs and impressing the "crowd".

[drhollen]

There will be a live Rock Band event every Wednesday evening starting tomorrow, May 6th, 2009 at the Wild Tuna Bar & Grill in York, PA. It is on Rt. 30 on the west side where the old Cheeseburger in Paradise used to be. Supposed to be prizes. Starts @ 9PM.
http://www.myspace.com/wildtunayork

The system is Xbox 360. You can bring your equipment. They have RB1 + RB2. I was told screen would be 61" plasma. They have RB1 wired drums for now.

I plan on bringing my system (460 songs currently), stage kit, drum throne, Les Paul wireless and a RB2 wireless Strat .

I'm pretty stoked. Spoke with manager tonight and he is planning on this to be an regular thing each Wednesday and sounds like he is willing to do what needs to be done to make this work well.

Dale

[drhollen]

I enjoyed the Rock Band night at the Wild Tuna Bar & Grill in York, PA this past Wednesday - the first time they held the event. It is scheduled to continue each Wednesday night at 9:00PM.

This place has great potential, but until there is better advertising, the main problem will be not enough people. There were only three who played on Wednesday, but perhaps the lousy weather hampered things a bit - there was a downpour. I shut down at around 12:30AM.

I was very happy to see that it was non-smoking. The drinks seemed fairly cheap ($5 pitchers) and Wednesday is $0.25 wings at the bar and half-price appetizers in the restaurant. I had the salmon and some cheese sticks and enjoyed them.

The setup was decent. The stage was in the corner near the bar. It has a nice 58" or 63" Samsung plasma screen that is easy to see. We only used the TV speakers this past week since there wasn't many people there, but the manager said that we can pump it over the house speakers after 10PM.

I brought my equipment listed in previous post and auto-calibrated the system. They had RB1 drums, which were in suprisingly excellent condition - probably not played much previously. They worked fine.

I did have a printout of all of my songs and left a few copies at the bar. Even though there were only three people who played, a number of people at the bar did take a look at the list and asked to hear a few songs.

I will be there this Wednesday with my system like before and plan on continuing to show up each week. I will consider bringing my ION drumset if there begins to be more interest.

Dale

[drhollen]

Just wanted to post an update to perhaps get some more interest in the Rock Band 2 night at the Wild Tuna Bar & Grill in York, PA on Wednesday evenings @ 9PM.

The crowd is getting better and we have 12-15 people showing up. I continue to bring my system (song count is 514 and rising weekly) and wireless guitars. If I have time and it isn't raining, I sometimes bring my ION Drum Rocker setup in my truck. This week looks like good weather, so I'll try to bring the ION this Wednesday.

[jwoodson213]

Does anyone do Rock Band Wii events? Just got Rock Band recently and would love to watch some other people play to help get better. Really loving the game. I know Hooters has Wii Bowling in York so wasnt sure if there was Wii Rock Band anywhere or not.

[drhollen]

UPDATE: Event cancelled. This bar is now out of business...

There really isn't any meaningful difference between the Wii version and Xbox 360 version or PS3 versions. The X360 and PS3 have far more downloadable songs at this point, and offer higher resolutions and I think a bit faster framerates. The Wii version is a bit cheaper since it uses the Wiimote in the guitar to handle the wireless. Gameplay should be the same and it really doesn't matter unless you want to bring your own equipment.

Why not come out to Wild Tuna Bar & Grill Wednesday to check it out. I bring some equipment as well as my downloaded songs - a pretty large list of about 520 songs. I'm sure will have no problem playing the X360 version.

Dale