Crazy, Nutty, Wacky

Posters advertised an "all-day rock festival" at Qualcomm Stadium on Sunday, July 15. Tickets were $20 to see some 20 metal bands play in a fenced-off area of the Qualcomm parking lot.

The bands, including Buckley's Ghost, Metal Brigade, and Fuzz Huzzy, played for two prizes in a battle-of-the-bands-style competition. The "best guitar shredder" and "best rock band" would each win recording contracts.

But the winners were not announced on Sunday. Event coordinator Delmus Jeffery says he did not know exactly when they would be named. "I don't know the specifics on that part."

A website (whosgottalent.com) started taking votes on Wednesday, three days after the show, on who should win in each category. Jeffery says those votes would be used to help judges decide who the two winners were. "They asked me not to reveal who the judges were. They were musicians, business people, doctors."

Once the winners are named, Jeffery says they will receive recording contracts -- on a label that doesn't exist.

"It is a label being set up by the people at the Doctors Weight Loss Clinic." Jeffery says he did not know what it meant to win a "recording contract" or even what the name of the label would be.

According to Jeffery, the new label and contest were underwritten by the Doctors Weight Clinic. No one contacted at the San Diego or El Cajon Weight Loss Clinic could answer any questions about the contest. One staffer at the El Cajon clinic said only Joyce or Alfred Vargas at Applause Theater could answer questions about the contest. A call to the number given for Applause Theater was not answered.

Jeffery said the performances at the Qualcomm show were videotaped. "The plans are to make Who's Got Riffs a weekly reality TV series. We want to mix live footage of the bands playing along with footage of them just hanging out. We want to show how crazy, nutty, and wacky they are.... Once the pilot is ready we'll air it on a national basis." Jeffery says no network has yet agreed to air the pilot.

Jeffery guesses that there were around 400 people who attended the event, including the 20 bands, their friends, and the crew.

"Looking at their website, it seems like a popularity contest," says guitarist Tony Jenkins, who played the show with his band Hard Echo. "There didn't seem to be too many people from the record industry [there]. I'm waiting to see what happens. I looked at it as a way to get more fans. If we had to pull money out of our pocket to play, we'd be pissed. But we did sell CDs and T-shirts."