2008 Torturethon

[JohnnyRoyale]

What is the Torturethon? In brief, you choose a song that you claim to hate, agree to listen to it over and over repeatedly for as long as you can and the longer you go, the more money you raise for a charity from sponsorship. But this year we’re adding another option: You can choose a radio station that you hate if you want, or anything else you might think of creatively.

The minimum is to go for at least two hours, but most go for eight hours as a standard; and yes, some go WAY over that amount! Also, at least twice an hour you have to post in the thread (that you will create) on our message boards on how you are feeling, what you think of the song, and anything you really feel like talking about. Profanity and pictures are not only allowed, but encouraged! At the end, we will declare a winner based on duration, creativity and level of torture for the song/station, etc.

Past songs of torture have included “MMM-Bop” by Hanson, “She Bangs” by William Hung, “With Arms Wide Open” by Creed, “Lala” by Ashlee Simpson, the inaugural song four years ago (that created this idea) of “We Built This City” by Starship, and even “Karma Police” by Radiohead. So, you have to choose a song that you hate. Can you lie? Well, yes, but this IS for charity, so play by the rules!

As for sponsors, many on our boards will sponsor you, but we ask that you try to gather up as many sponsors on your own as you can. About 50 cents an hour is usually the norm, though some people sponsor for more and some less.

This year the event will happen between Oct 20-Nov 2 and you choose when you will participate. Although weekends are fine, typically our boards are the busiest during weekday work hours, so that’s where you’ll get the most replies/views to your posts.

In past years we’ve chosen the Joe Strummer Foundation and the Bryan and Kathryn Harvey Family Memorial Endowment as our charities. This year, we’re going with Fractured Atlas; a site designed to help artists get health insurance. It's based out of New York, but provides links and services to other states in the US.

Well, it's getting to be that time again. So when should we do it this year? The site re-launch will be sometime around the second week of October and it could be great if we could do the Torturethon that week. Maybe Oct 13-20? Yes? No?

Also, we need to look at charities. I certainly vote for MusiCares

[Nate]

Can we push it back to the 20th?  I'd like to take part this time and I know I'll be out of town the week of the 12th-18th.

[JohnnyRoyale]

Can we push it back to the 20th?  I'd like to take part this time and I know I'll be out of town the week of the 12th-18th.

Doesn't matter to me, I'll just be a spectator

[whigsgeek]

Crap, I forgot to check my calendar yesterday for the week of October 20. Will post availability asap.

[Cockney Rebel]

We're out of the country most of October

[JohnnyRoyale]

Well, early November would be cool too, but we don't want to get any later than that because the holidays start creeping up and we should stay away from that.....

More thoughts?

[JohnnyRoyale]

What about charity ideas?

[damnable]

Charity

American Red Cross (for disaster relief, i.e. Hurricane Ike)
http://www.paybyweb.com/mainsite/redcross._091508.asp?gclid=CM6vwOSQ7ZUCFRsRagodXUMQeg

That's my vote, since you know that it's not a scam, and they're fairly non-political.

[Nate]

In the past, we've done the Joe Strummer charity, right?  What was the first one?  Something to do with New Orleans?

A couple of ideas I had...

-Fractured Atlas is a site designed to help artists get health insurance.  It's based out of New York, but provides links and services to other states in the US.

-Since this is an election year and all, maybe Rock The Vote is a good idea.

[JohnnyRoyale]

While not taking away from anything MusiCares does, they already have a lot of big sponsorship from wealthy celebrities.

Since we often try to "help out the little guy" at Randomville, I think we should go with Fractured Atlas because it's kind of small and unique.

[JohnnyRoyale]

Fractured Atlas will be the charity and there is a sign-up thread as well.

After you have signed up, just create your own thread on the song/station/whatever of your choice.

[JohnnyRoyale]

Fractured Atlas has officially agreed to be the recipient this year!

[whigsgeek]

JR, will we be donating via PayPal again this year?

[JohnnyRoyale]

Either that, or write me a check. Whatever is easier for the donor

[JohnnyRoyale]

Okay, the t-thon is officialy open.

Who's going to step up and do this???