Battle of the Bands winners still rockin strong

Here's a little update for everyone.

Remember Jaci and Those Guys? They were the Resource One Credit Union Battle of the Bands winners at the Real. Texas. Festival. this year.

As such, they will be on the bill for 2011. By the way, headliners are about to be signed and an announcement will be forthcoming soon.

Anyway, it's been a bit of a whirlwind for Jaci and Those Guys -- fronted by the effervescent Jaci Butler. Since winning first place at the festival battle of the bands, the group won the battle of the bands contest at the City of Richardson's Wildflower Festival.

In fact, the group was invited back to perform a song or two with Wichita Falls' own Bowling For Soup on one of the main stages at Wildflower.

The band has played many different festivals and fairs, and in June, the band traveled to Boston to compete in the Berklee College of Music battle of the bands.

And, in true Jaci and Those Guys fashion, they won it, too.

They spent five weeks in Boston studying music and performance at Berklee College. Folks, this is a big deal.

Berklee College is one of the prestigious music academies in the country. It differs from Juliard in that it seems to focus more on contemporary music where Juliard seeks to classically train its students.

Berklee College alumni have won all of music's top honors such as Grammy awards and even Oscars. Quincy Jones is an Oscar winner and a graduate of Berklee College.

Other Berklee College alumni inlcude Donald Fagan of Steely Dan, guitar slingers John Mayer and Steve Vai, Natalie Maines of the Dixie Chicks, Aimee Mann, Joey Kramer of Aerosmith, jazz greats Al Dimeola and Diana Krall, Melissa Ethridge and more.

It's mission is to teach musicianship through the music of the time. It's a genius concept really ... taking something the students are already passionate about and fanning the fires of that passion.

Jaci and Those Guys also finished as a top finalist in the Slurpee Battle of the Bands ... a nationwide contest.

Speaking of nationwide contests, the group also entered a competition that could have earned them a slot on the famous -- or infamous depending on how old you might be -- Vans Warped Tour.

The Warped Tour is one of the largest touring productions of the year. It comes to Dallas each year around the Fourth of July and features headliners a little on the edgier side of things.

Still, good music is good music. As much as the older types want to talk down the edgier stuff, good musicianship is difficult to ignore. It's musicianship that sets guitar players apart from guitar owners -- drummers apart from folks who stomp on a double kick drum pedal and hammer cymbals.

Aaron Gillespie of The Almost and Underoath is an example. Sure, that's hard, edgy music. But Gillespie is a fabulous drummer and musician.

It's good that young players like the players in Jaci and Those Guys want to put in the time to become better musicians. And, it appears there is no better place to hone those skills than a place such as Berklee College, or for guitar players, the Guitar Institute of Technology (GIT) in California.

It makes us proud at the Real. Texas. Festival. to see some of the "up and coming bands" continue to fast track their careers. I suggest you keep an eye on Jaci and Those Guys. It would seem they could break through at any moment. Right now, just about everything they do turns to gold and they are really seizing the momentum.

At the festival, we couldn't be prouder of Mark McKinney and the success he has enjoyed since breaking into the scene in 2007-08. Sunny Sweeney, one of the 2010 festival artists, is starting to pick up steam as well.

Check out Jaci and Those Guys at www.myspace.com/jacibutler, and be sure to check them out on one of the main concert stages at the Real. Texas. Festival. in April of 2011.