The Showdown

Posted by Brett Hooton Dec 21, 2006

I know all of you were up late last night, waiting with bated breath in holiday anticipation. Was Santa coming early this year? No, silly, but it was another arbiter of holiday cheer, Mr. Stephen Colbert.

Last night was the climactic guitar-dueling encounter between Colbert and the object of his latest faux-tiff, The Decemberists. For those of you who have not been following along, you can catch up by reading my previous blogs. The feud has grown to epic proportions rivaling that of the Capulets vs. Montagues.

Here’s how it went down. First, Colbert, who pulls no punches in matters of revenge, had Henry Kissinger let the audience know that it was “time to rock.”

The Decemberists then sent in their guitarist Chris Funk, who pulled off a pretty rocking solo with an appropriately demonic guitar. But, was it just me, or did his version of “retro cool” look a little bit like North Pole, elfish chic? Nevertheless, a valiant effort.

Then Colbert took the stage and quickly faked a finger injury. As you knew he would, he brought in a ringer, Peter Frampton, who (as you knew he would) rocked out old school.

The contest was decided by a celebrity panel featuring Anthony DeCurtis of Rolling Stone, Grammy-winning producer and engineer Jim Anderson, and New York Governor-elect Eliot Spitzer. Man, for being on air only a few seasons, Colbert has some impressive connections.

I won’t spoil who played his way to victory for you. But I will say this, before the show is over there will be an All-Star Guitar Jam, featuring many of the night’s participants. Check it out.

When will you have a chance to see Peter Frampton, Chris Funk, Robert Schneider, Cheap Trick's Rick Nielsen, and Stephen Colbert (using Frampton’s famous vocoder, you know that funny voice thing) on stage together and rocking out to a TV theme song?

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