Quest 4 Quest Day 3. The night we made contact

Last night, a few brave SoB souls made there way to Drinkers West in Philly to listen to Quest spin records. Thanks to Kelly Christine Delaney, Dave Fiorito, the crew from Philly Union Talk, and the Philadelphia Union intern Lewis LaBar. Our fearless SoB's stayed until after 2 am, armed in one custom Philadelphia Union jersey, one SoB scarf, a note from an SoB elder, a copy of the game schedule, and hopes and dreams of Questlove becoming part of The River End crew.

Talking to Kelly about an hour ago, she said the set was unreal. Anyone who has seen Questo drum or DJ has come to expect the amazing, though. After 2am, they waited for the moment. In discussion with Kelly today, she said that Quest spoke with them for a bit. He once again confirmed that the team played in Chester and fist bumped our crew. The good news, Quest has his custom Philadelphia Union jersey and SoB scarf. The bad news, we have yet to confirm a game appearance for Questlove. Until then, enjoy these picture from last night. Thanks again.

Although I am hoping for breaking news tomorrow, I have a feeling it will be a non-Questo-news day. Until we have more ?uest news, keep sharing our favorite Roots/Quest music. Keep our Quest 4 Quest alive.

Quest 4 Quest Day 2: Drinkers West, Philly, PA

A little over 48 hours into 'Quest 4 Quest'. In contact with Quest news, Sara Shepherd became his favorite newbie when she used the term 'rappy'. Always the articulate speaker, we are glad to have Sara on our side.

SoB's at Drinkers West tonight... Our boy Questlove will be spinning records at Drinkers West in Philadelphia, PA tonight. One of our Sons of Ben member, Christine Kelly, will be attending. In her possession is a gift for Quest from the Sons of Ben.

Due to my work schedule, I will be unable to attend the event at Drinkers West, but I would like to hear that our Philly SoB's made it out to support Christine, Questlove, and our quest 4 Quest. Here is the link to Drinkers West. http://www.drinkerswest215.com/ . Quest will be spinning from 10pm to 2am.

I changed my blog profile picture to a design made by one of our Sons of Ben member. We have dubbed this the 'Jolly Questlove'. 

Currently, I have some folks in NYC and in Philly checking to see if they have any contacts direct to Questlove, Jimmy Fallon, or The Roots.

I hope to have a post tomorrow about our success at Drinkers West. DOOP! And I leave you with some Questlove.

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Quest 4 Quest Day 1

For those of you who may not have seen the latest overambitious venture from our Sons of Ben, late the other night, member Scott Kessler mentioned how cool it would be if ?uestlove from The Roots came to Chester and sat in The River End with us. Well, wheels in other heads started spinning, and by the time Scott had finished Seder, we had a twitter movement, #quest4Quest. 

The idea is simple. We want ?uestlove to come to The River End for a match. Maybe he can help our drummers out (good luck). 

Well, sometime in the last night/ wee morning hours, contact was made. ?uest reached out through his twitter account to @TheRiverEnd to confirm that PPL Park is in Chester and to acknowledge that he has seen our tweets. 

So we know ?uestlove really is out there, and we know that ?uestlove has seen the first round of Sons of Ben tweets to him. Keep it up, SoBs. #quest4Quest, in one day, in actually less than 14 hours, got ?uest's attention. Keep it positive, keep it fun, let's make #quest4Quest happen.  

I may not update this blog every day, but when #quest4Quest news breaks, I will be there. 

-jeremy

The Stache-ing hour is almost upon us

We are only a few days away from our Philadelphia Union home opener, and of course, Stache Bash to Help Kick Hunger. So far, everyone has made Stache Bash a success beyond anything that any of us could have imagined. We have already raised over $2000 for HKH through the tee shirt sales. The gentlemen at http://www.barktees.com/ have been put to the test with us and have been awesome.

Additionally, we have had an excellent response for the raffle. It seems that every day, we have another company or private person set up to offer us raffle items. We are very excited, and very overwhelmed. We have also had several questions about the raffle, and it became clear to me that I needed to do one more post leading up to Saturday that was raffle related.

Raffle tickets will be sold for $1 per ticket, $20 for 25 tickets. Each item will have a bucket next to it to put the ticket(s) in. For example, if you want to 'bid' on the Phillies tickets, there will be a Phillies ticket bucket to put your ticket(s) in. When we draw the raffle, we will draw from that bucket. The tickets are purchased cash only. I know that this sounds like an obvious thing, but I have had some folks ask me if they can purchase tickets via debit card. We will be drawing raffle tickets throughout the tailgate, saving the bigger items (Flyers tickets, Phillies tickets, signed Stache Bash shirt, etc) later in the tailgate.

Here is a (hopefully) finalized list of raffle items.
$1 per ticket, $20 for 25 tickets
Beneath The Skin Tattoo, Pottstown, PA- $60 gift card.
Barnabys- $50 gift card
Iron Hill Brewery,-$25 gift card
McFaddens, $25 gift card
AMC Theaters, 2 movies tickets plus $25 gift card
Currie Hair, Skin, Nails- Spa Package
Philadelphia Flyers- Villie Leino autographed puck
LiveBreatheFutbol- 2 LBF tee shirts
Beard Care Gift Set from Blue Beard Orginals (www.bluebeardsoriginal.com)
MLS Rumors- 1 Philadelphia Union tee shirt
Jeff Webber- Custom etched ‘Stache Bash beverage glasses
Andrew Sherlock- a raffle to win a pair of Sherlock designed custom slip on shoes.
Stache Bash tee shirt signed by the 2011 Philadelphia Union
2 Flyers tickets- first playoff game of the 2011 season, suite level, standing room, plus
$25 gift card for McFaddens
Philadelphia Phillies, 2 tickets April 7 vs. The Mets (3:00pm) plus $25 gift card for
McFaddens
2 Phillies tickets for 6/16 (1:05pm game) vs. Florida Marlins plus $25 gift card for McFaddens
Signed player pictures from Earl Gardner
$50 gift certificate from 333 Belrose Restaurant in Radnor, PA
Stache Bash Banner signed up the 2011 Philadelphia Union team.
Bark Tees tee shirt package

I believe this is all the items, although there could be a surprise or two come Saturday.

Other exciting news- There will be a piece during the ABC Pregame show Saturday about the Bernardine Center, Sons of Ben, Help Kick Hunger, and Stache Bash. There may be cameras from channel 6 around the tailgate from time to time on Saturday. Let's make sure we are there in great numbers and vocal. Let Philadelphia and MLS see that that the greatest fans in MLS are not in Seattle, but right here in Philadelphia. Spread the word to anyone you know coming to the match to come by our tailgate.

Our home opener is almost here. We have raised a lot of money for The Bernardine Center in Chester. This has been not about myself, Scott, or anyone else involved, but about the Sons of Ben, the Philadelphia Union players and FO, and the Philadelphia Union fans, who have stepped up, spread the word, and made this a success. I am proud to be a part of the Philadelphia soccer family. A special thanks to Uncle Gordon, Spike Eskin, and Danny Bonaduce from WYSP for helping get the word out, Judah Levine from the Philadelphia Union for the excellent piece on the Union web page, and Union players Kyle Nakazawa and Jordan Harvey for being so vocal about this via Twitter.

weMUSTache!

weMUSTache!

As we enter our 3rd full week of promoting Sons of Ben 'Stache Bash to Help Kick Hunger, things have progressed quicker than Scott, Chrissy, Sarah, Mark, and I could have imagined. As we approach as possible huge announcement to boost our cause, we look at what has gotten us to this point.

Word of mouth. This has been about us, about the Sons of Ben. This has been about our ability to use our social networking tools, our belief in each other, and our desire to help families in our Chester, PA community. I've heard the stories of people telling their parents, coworkers, and random people on the street. This has been about the Sons of Ben family doing the second best thing it does. (The first, of course, is supporting our team.) We have help each other. To paraphrase Justin Lee, we are a family, and if one of us gets behind something, we are all behind it.

It is true. And it is the spirit of the Sons of Ben. It is the family. To some, this idea is great, to others it is the worst idea since Shavar Thomas, but we work together. We have had the honor of other supporter groups and fan groups jump on board to Help Kick Hunger. The Illegitimates, The Tamany Saints, the Corner Creeps, and The Bridge Crew are all 'Stache Bashing with us. This is the Philadelphia soccer community at its' finest. Call Seattle 'Soccer City USA', but we know that the most noble, most vocal, most devouted, greatest fans in MLS are right here in the City of Brotherly Love.

As the Philadelphia Union gets closer to First Kick on March 19th at Houston, and our home opener, March 26th versus expansion side Vancouver Whitecaps, we, as a fan base, are gearing up for an awesome year two. We know that we have solidified our keeper position with Mondragon, and look for another incredible year from LeToux. We have two SoBs in camp with the team (Pfeffer and Richter). We have a fan base that gives 90+ minutes back to their team every game, and the best capo in MLS in Corey Furlan. There is a lot to be excited about going into March 26th. 

And then there is Bashgate. As a few SoBs spend countless hours on the phone, twitter, fb, and email, many have asked what they can do to help. As we get closer to March 26th, we will reach out to folks for help with Bash related issues. For now, the shirt is the thing. We have done well on sales, but we can do much better. There are 3000 seats in the River End, and over 18000 seats at PPL Park. All of us have a friend or family member that sits outside the River End, we know some parent who has a kid in youth soccer. We have a friend who is a soccer fan who has yet to be to PPL. It is time to reach out to those folks. Ask them to help us Help Kick Hunger. We are all a part of the orchestra. We all have a chance to play a part in this symphony. When I look at the Sons of Ben from the stands on 137 and around PPL, I see more than a game, more than a fan base. I see passion. I see dedication. I see a family. I see something unique, not just to Philadelphia, but to MLS.

Herb Brooks once said that great moments were born from great opportunities. What we have here is great opportunity. We have a chance, each one of us, to be a hero. We will be able, on March 26th, as we look at PPL Park, as we sing the National Anthem, as we sing, as we support, as we DOOP, and as we celebrate our first home victory of 2011, to not only look at PPL and say we helped build this, but to look at our community in Chester, PA and say that we helped strengthen our community, too. We have a chance to not just be weekend warriors. We have a change to not be exclusive, but to be inclusive. To say, once again, to our community that we are part of us, you of us, and we will do what we can to help.

This is our challenge, my challenge to you. The challenge is to reach out to friends, family, old teammates, coaches, anyone, SoB or not, River Ender or not, season ticket holder or not, soccer fan or not. There is nothing that inspires people more than personal contact. Explain to people who have never heard of the Sons of Ben, 'Stache Bash, or Help Kick Hunger what we are all about. This is your great opportunity, your great moment, our great moment. Time to take this to the next level. Reach out to Help Kick Hunger.

To continue to quote SoB Brody Chacha, 'weMUSTache!'

With Great Mustache Comes Great Responsibility; Sons of Ben 'Stache Bash Limited Edition Tee Shirt!

WeMUSTache! It started with an idea, 'Wouldn't I look silly with a mustache?'. It turned into folklore within the Sons of Ben family, and it has turned into a fundraiser to benefit Help Kick Hunger in Chester, PA. Introducing the Sons of Ben 'Stache Bash Tee Shirt! The Brotherly Game, in conjunction with BarkTees, has officially released the 'Stache Bash Tee Shirt! Featuring Philadelphia finest citizen, Ben Franklin, with a handlebar mustache, the shirt will make you think, 'I'm a proud Philadelphian, I am proud wearer of 'stache, and I am dead sexy!' The 'Stache Bash shirt is a limited edition shirt to celebrate the soon to be announced 'Stache Bash; part of the Sons of Ben tailgate at our home opener on March 26th, 2011 at PPL Park in Chester, PA.  The shirt is for sale at BarkTees (link at the bottom) for $14.99 and comes in mens, womens, and childrens sizes. On each sale, $8.50 will be donated to Sons of Ben Help Kick Hunger to benefit The Bernardine Center in Chester, PA (http://www.bernardinecenter.org/ )

What can you do to help? We encourage you to grow your 'stache. If you can't grow a 'stache, purchase a fake one. If you can't purchase a fake one, find a marker and draw one. Use the 'stache (I assure you, someone will ask you why you grew a 'stache) to raise awareness of the the Sons of Ben, The 'Stache Bash, The 'Stache Bash Shirt, Help Kick Hunger, and The Bernardine Center in Chester, PA. Encourage everyone you know to buy the shirt and Help Kick Hunger.

I look forward to March 26th. First we 'stache, then we 'Stache Bash! Then, as we DOOP together, watching our Philadelphia Union destroy the expansion side Vancouver Whitecaps, we will doing so knowing that we have 'stached to Help Kick Hunger in Chester, PA!

For those about to 'stache, we salute you!

Order your shirt here. http://www.barktees.com/Stache-Bash-ALL-PROFITS-TO-HKH-5999.htm;jsessionid=05BF78C3571A7D9170498CAEEFB4AF1C.qscstrfrnt05