The Making of the American Anthem / Song for a Soldier by Cookiehead
See the video below of the American Anthem / Song for a Soldier, created by Cookiehead as a tribute to our troops. It was recorded at the Intermedia Post studio in Paramus, NJ, and the video was shot and edited by The CSI Group, also of Paramus, NJ. For more info on the production, CLICK HERE.
I-Roq Baghdad Band Tournament June 14, 2009 Victory Base Complex Baghdad, Iraq
They ROQ'd!
"Thank You! Thank You! Thank you! for all that you and the team did to coordinate this event. The troops had a GREAT time!!! You have no idea how much it means to all of us here to have the opportunity to kick back and just have fun. This event made it possible for everyone that participated to forget where they were for a couple of hours. These opportunities are more precious than gold and less than infrequent.
Your support for the troops is/was absolutely amazing. The generosity of all the sponsors is/was inspiring. The excitement on people's faces when they won prizes was priceless! The expressions reminded me of my youngest daughter, on Christmas morning, when she was Six. I am sure you know the expression that I am referring to. We don't see it here very often here in Iraq. Thank you!! MAJ Ernest Reinhart, Camp Victory, Iraq, 6-15-09
I-Roq Baghdad is on facebook! or search IROQBAGHDAD on facebook.com to join us! You'll find lots of cool shout outs, pictures and the latest info on this wonderful project. If you are on facebook and haven't joined our page, you're missing something!
I-Roq also on Twitter () for those who "tweet" and will soon be on YouTube! Search: IROQBAGHDAD.
AaSP is also on YouTube (search AaSP1111).
Blog : .
American Anthem/Song for a Soldier Original Music written by Doug Salomone; performed by Cookiehead Recorded and Mastered at Intermedia Post studios, Paramus, NJ Thursday evening June 4, 2009 Music Video produced by CSI Group, Paramus, NJ
The American AnthemSong for a Soldier was specifically created and written for the I-Roq Baghdad event by Doug Salomone of Cookiehead and produced by Adopt-a-Soldier Platoon. The idea was to create a patriotic piece to honor our troops at the event.
COOKIEHEAD is: Doug Salomone, guitar; Bob Koerner, bass; and Jeff Prosetti, drums. The American Anthem/Song for a Soldier is a compilation/rendition of God Bless America, America the Beautiful, Star Spangled Banner and a new song called Song for a Soldier, previously written as Glasgow Boogie but renamed to honor our troops. Slide show with pictures from the recording session below.
Recording session produced by Mike Goldberg, Intermedia Post with Adam Ritchie. Video by Sam King of CSI Group and Alan and Alex (also at CSI) Krutchkoff. A music video was created by CSI Group, Paramus, NJ., and sent overnight by FedEx to Baghdad. Special thanks to these generous and caring companies for their time and use of their considerable resources. For more info on American Anthem, CLICK HERE.
, Paramus, NJ , Paramus, NJ Cookiehead, North Jersey
Image:
A pretty smile and a poster at the Lakers-Magic NBA game says it all and salutes our troops in Baghdad!
To view AaSP Slide Show Video created for I-Roq Baghdad Click on screen below.
Shout Outs
Recap of last year's I-Roq with Col. Romine (for more clips of last year's event CLICK HERE)
I-Roq Baghdad Band Tournament
June 14, 2009
For the second year in a row, there will be an I-Roq Rock Band Tournament in Iraq. "I-Roq Baghdad" will be held on Flag Day, June 14, 2009, (also the birthday of the U.S. Army) on Victory Base Complex (VBC) in Baghdad. Last year's tournament was at Camp Anaconda (now called Joint Base Balad). VBC comprises seven bases with a total population of roughly 65,000 American and Coalition Forces, contractors and U.S. Dept. of Defense civilian workers.
I-Roq Baghdad will provide a source of temporary relief from the stress of war and a chance for the troops to have some fun and entertainment. Last year, Col. Ralph Romine, then Garrison Commander at Anaconda, said:
"We almost forgot we were in a war zone ... You have no idea what this meant to us."
Col. Romine is back as Emcee again this year! As the details become more clear, we will continue to post them below. Scroll down to see the latest updates.
The lead supporter is Microsoft Xbox with MTV Games. The team includes: "Major Nelson," Vince K., Michael M., Kat S., John S., Larry H., Craig M. and Andy C. from Microsoft; Col. Ralph R., 1LT Lisa T., 1LT Matt D. and MAJ Ernie R. from VBC; Jeff D. and Chandra C. from Ten Gun Design; and Eric O. from Cables to Go. What a team! You guys Roq!
For more information on last year's I-Roq Band Tournament (CLICK HERE).
The winner - HOTT GARBAGE!
The final teams have been announced! (as of 6-14-09) Hott Garbage; RIP TOA; and The Steampunks! Congratulations guys and good luck tonight!!!
Teams participating (as of 6-12-09)
1) Hott Garbage 2) The Flying Blind Burrito's 3) Knee on Your Stomach 4) RIP-TOA 5) Santeria 6) Old Lady Garage Band 7) CA Masters 8) Eric Nelson Experiment 9) Must Be Nice 10) The Eated Cookies 11) UPS 12) The Steampunks 12) Plain Brown Tee's 13) DIC1 (oomoo) and 14) Iraqnaphobia
June 10 Update: Excitement is building for I-Roq Baghdad! Today, "Major Nelson," the Microsoft Xbox Live Director of Programming, arrived with his cameraman today in Baghdad! Our team (MAJ Ernie R. and LT Matt D.) picked them up in Kuwait and flew with them into Baghdad on an AF C130. So we'll be hearing lots from Major Nelson over the next couple of days. Also, last night we received the American Anthem/Song for a Soldier music video from the team at CSI Group in Paramus, NJ. It was terrific and we immediately shipped it to Baghdad courtesy of FedEx. Great job by CSI, Intermedia Post on the audio and, of course, Cookiehead for creating and performing a wonderfully patriotic song for our troops.
June 7 Update: One week from I-Roq Baghdad! This past week a lot of activity has been going on. We got a shout out from the legend Les Paul, pioneer of the electric guitar (see above) and Cookiehead (Doug Salomone, Bob Koerner and Jeff Prosetti) recorded an American Anthem for the Troops for the event. The recording was made and mastered at the Intermedia Post studios in Paramus, NJ. Mike G., the chief audio engineer there and new AaSP supporter, was on top of his game! Sam K. from CSI Group, also in Paramus, NJ, brought the big HD Sony camera and recorded the event and got some great shots! Alan and Alex K also shot video with the small Sony HD. CSI is now editing the footage. Thanks to everyone at Intermedia Post and CSI Group for contributing their time and resources to make something special for our troops! (Thanks Joe, Mike, Adam, Ray, Kurt, Sam, Alex and teams for this wonderful donation.) And thanks to Dougie, Bobby and Jeff for your commitment, support, heart and incredible musical talent. After the video premiers in Baghdad we will upload it to both this page, the and YouTube.
May 28 Update: The cookies have arrived. The salt water taffy has arrived. We're waiting on one set of prizes. The posters are being hung up. The banners have arrived. We have 12 teams to date. Everyone is getting psyched. The AXE Shower Gel arrived. Lisa is keeping Matt very busy. Ernie has the cables and the tech stuff is in his hands. Col. R. is ready to go! And on Wednesday night, four of us went to the new Citi Field and thanks to Mets VP Jay H., we were able to spend time behind the batting cage. Ryan Church, Mets Right Fielder, came over and provided a Flip "shout out" to our troops. And Kevin Burkhardt from SNY also gave a nice "shout out" to our troops (see these above). More shout outs are coming! It's all about providing some enjoyment to our troops. And speaking of enjoyment, Cookiehead has been practicing their American anthem rendition of God Bless America/America the Beautiful/Song for a Soldier. We hope to record it on Thursday and get the video to Baghdad. We're using Intermedia Post in Paramus, NJ, who offered up their studio! Thanks Joe, Adam, Mike and team! And the CSI Group in Paramus, NJ, has offered to do the video for us! Thanks Kurt, Sam, Alex and team! Dougie says it's gonna rip their faces off! Hooah!!
May 20 Update: The cookies from the Hackensack Pastry Shop have been shipped. And today, Paul and Margaret T. shipped the Goldenrod salt water taffy. Here's what Paul had to say yesterday: "Taffy has been picked up, boxed and labeled. Tomorrow early AM to the Post Office for shipment. Taffy will be on its way to Iraq tomorrow. Everything going according to plan, and should go well tomorrow. Kathy and all the people at Goldenrod are very very nice. They had everything ready when we arrived, and gave us all the help we needed. Wonderful people! " Thank you Paul and Margaret for a job well done! Oh you guys will LOVE this taffy!!! Thanks to Kathy and Rick for this wonderful donation.
All the prizes have arrived we are told by Col. Romine. Things are looking good!
May 16 Update: OK! More good stuff happening! The USO has kicked in four e-Laptops for competition prizes (thanks Kevin M) as well as 300 phone cards. Nice. And our good friends at the Hackensack Pastry Shop in Hackensack, NJ, are donating Italian pastries for the winning teams, judges and our hard-working VBC event team! (thanks Kathleen and Jack). The e-mails about the cookies from VBC are pretty funny. Everyone likes cookies. And speaking of good friends, our Special Friend Linda P. from the Piedmont Patriots is sending some Univ. of GA hats, t-shirts and foamy footballs for more fun stuff for the audience. On Friday, the AXE Shower Gel and shower tools got packed and readied to ship (thanks Allan, Brian and Joe, Fidel, Tim, Luis and Ricardo in advance for lugging those heavy boxes).
May 12 Update: AaSP bought 2GB flash drives (to throw into the audience) from MicroCenter in Paterson, NJ. at their cost (thanks JP D. for your courtesies to our troops and Maria M. for handling). They were shipped out today along with Zunes and Xbox 360 games from our buddies at Microsoft. Also a surprise gift courtesy of Mike E. and Charlie C. of PC Richard & Son, Paramus, NJ. (Thanks guys!)
May 10 Update: Bands have begun to register. So far we have Hott Garbage, the Flying Blind Burrito's, Knee on Your Stomach, RIP-TOA and Meow Meow Fishies. All the Flip Minos have arrived for the 7 MWRs (thanks again to Best Buy friends Tom S. and Rana A. for special pricing) so we will have some cool video to share. AaSP also sent some super duper Brazilian Cafe do Ponto coffee to throw out to the audience. Other things are also in the works (we're not done yet!)
May 5 Update: AaSP shipped its prizes to VBC today, both the prizes from Atlas Air and also some great door prizes made possible by donations from the Blue Star Mothers of North Jersey #3 (thanks Alice and Gail for facilitating!) and from individual AaSP supporters (thanks Gene, Monica and Lilyam). And The Goldenrod of York Beach, ME, makers of some of the tastiest salt water taffy on the planet, is donating 60 lbs. of their famous "Kisses" for the competing team members, the judges and the troops responsible for putting on the great Flag Day show (thanks Kathy and Rick!). And thanks to our friends Paul and Margaret who will pick up the taffy, pack it up and ship it to Iraq for us! And last, thanks to Charlie C. and Mike E. at PC Richard & Son from Paramus, NJ, who took such good care of us with the prizes for the troops, great pricing and special gift.
May 1 Update: Cables to Go came through again this year and donated all the cabling for the stage, which includes USB, RGB, Video and Audio cables in 50 ft. lengths with boosters and couplers. Great stuff. Thanks CablestoGo.com and Eric O. Also, AaSP purchased Flip Mino USB camcorder sets for the 7 MWRs on Victory Base Complex to shoot video of the preliminaries so you can all enjoy it and donated four more Flips for prizes.
April 26 Update: Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings stepped up and offered a significant donation for prizes for I-Roq Baghdad (thanks John!). And AXE Shower Gel is donating 1,000 of its shower gel products for the event participants and attendees (thanks Mark and team). Microsoft Xbox and MTV Games are sending sets of Xbox 360 and Rockband for each of the 7 bases on the Victory Base Complex (VBC) so teams can practice and the VBC can hold its preliminary competition. And Ten Gun Design will be creating the promotional material for the event as their contribution. What a team! Baghdad will be Roq'ing ... with fun! With about 65,000 American and Coalition forces and civilians on VBC, this event will benefit a LOT of worthy and brave men and women.
(Click on image to view)
Victory Base Complex Registration Flyer
Click Here to view the registration flyer on Victory Base Complex. Potential registrants can use this link to print the flyer and turn in to your Mayor Cell.
The first I-Roq Band Tournament was held at Camp Anaconda (now Joint Base Balad) in 2008. The first place team was "Dakota GI," a team of North Dakota ARNG combat engineers. They are shown here with BG Gregory Couch, commander, 316th Sustainment Command (Expeditionary) and their Xbox prizes. (For cool videos, pictures and more info on the first I-Roq Band Tournament, please click on the image.)
Copyright 2007-2009 Adopt-a-Soldier Platoon, Inc. No material on this website may be reproduced in any form without expressed written permission.
