We all had a great time checking out the competition at the first Clean Shave Check-In at The Casanova Lounge here in San Francisco. Judging from the first week of growth (there were walruses, handlebars and even Dali-styled ’staches to behold) this year’s Mustache Pageant is bound to be a doozy.

We continue to maintain our first place position. Shout outs to our latest donors: Diane and Jane, whose generous contributions have brought us to a total of $1,371 raised.

Name: Andrew “I’ll be your Huckleberry” Kippen

Typical facial hair routine?

Beard, Goatee, Conquistador, Mustache

Last time you grew a mustache and why? Dec. 20, 1980. 2 months before my eventual exit from the womb I began growing a mustache after the runaway success of WKRP and its star DJ, Dr. Fever (played by Howard Hessman). My attempt to capture the hearts and minds of the American public and my parents were thwarted by an early delivery and the release of Tom Hanks’ hit series Bosom Bodies (in which both male leads were mustache-less).

Follicle type/texture? Delicate flavors of raspberry and chocolate with a hint of coffee.

Best thing about growing a mustache? Being able to turn any moment awkward with one look.

Iconic Mustache of Choice? Turkish Freestyle Champion, Memili Rüstüoglu.

If your mustache was a musical instrument, what would it be? The tin flute from Riverdance, rife with melodies both mirthful & somber.

Favorite hair growing music? Jeopardy Theme Song.

What’s your mustache’s favorite fighting move? Anything from Berry Gordy’s The Last Dragon, a Kung Fu Musical.

Any upper-lip tips? “All the masters know, that you need the Glow, you need the Glow, the Glow to grow…To reach that upper level, your mind body and stache must be one. It’s a sacrifice, it takes hard work, it’s a way of life. When you got the glow, you fear no one, when you got the glow, your body’s strong so don’t let go of the power of elevation.”

Write a mustache haiku:

grow, wax, trim, feather
mustache follicles flocking
hair hubris forgiven

There’s no day like today - give to a good cause!

Donate via Andrew Kippen’s Donor’s Choose Page

or PayPal

In First Place and Feelin’ Good! A big thank you to: Johanna, Ronald, Will, Gayle, Henry, Harlene, Diana, Kara, Thai-Ann and Seiku!. With your contributions, we were able to knock the competition out of first and second place, bringing our 8 day total to $1,251.

Meet today’s Mustache of the Day:

Name: Jason Gruhl

Typical facial hair routine? Shave on the 3rd Tuesday of every month.

Last time you grew a mustache and why? September 23rd, 1994. I was trying to get to first base.

Follicle type/texture? Blue Velvet.

Best thing about growing a mustache? It hides my botched beauty mark tattoo I got a few years back.

Iconic Mustache of Choice? The M. Francis Stramaglia I

If your mustache was a musical instrument, what would it be? Trumpet

Favorite hair growing music? Warrant

What’s your mustache’s favorite fighting move? Throwing left over bits of hot dog mustard in your eye.

Any upper-lip tips? Run as fast as you can if anyone ever says the words ‘Dirty Sanchez’.

Write a mustache haiku:

Please sir, you must ash?
My name is moustache jackass
Please forgive me sir.

Moved by Jason’s haiku? Give to a good cause.

Donate via the TuneUp Media Donor’s Choose Gifting Page

or PayPal

After some very generous donations over the weekend, we’re pleased to report that the donation total for this first week of growing is at $818. Big ups to our latest donors: Cindi, Moses, Kimberly, Tim and Afam.

Meet today’s Mustache of the Day:

Name: M. Francis Stramaglia I

Typical facial hair routine? lather, rinse, repeat.

Last time you grew a mustache and why? 1939 I grew the famous Mustache of Glory to help end the Civil War.

Follicle type/texture? type: 2A/2B, derived from a co-occurrence homogeneity and dominant edge contrast.
texture: very sleek and shiny because there is a medium curl pattern which allows the light to reflect off of the hair giving it a shiny finish.

Best thing about growing a mustache? Provides a secondary habitat for phthirus pubis that promotes a sense of accomplishment and well-being, can reduce the effects of chronic mental illness, give you more energy, increase your self-esteem and confidence, and help you minimize symptoms of schizophrenia or your chances for relapse.

Iconic Mustache of Choice? the William Powell.

If your mustache was a musical instrument, what would it be? A Commodore 64 running Instant Music(TM) routed through a DOD Grunge FX69.

Favorite hair growing music? That a cappella Kool Moe Dee album (can’t remember the title) where he covered Boris performing Penderecki’s Polymorphia, which is clinically proven to stimulate hair growth using the breakthrough Sonic Capsules Force that accelerates the metabolism of 5-alpha reductase (DHT) inhibition properties by enhancing the action of the hair follicle in the war against hairless lips and is clinically proven to pregrow hair in women.

What’s your mustache’s favorite fighting move? Mustache to the face with your mustache, mustache to the head (standard or right hook) then front snap mustache to either the groin or mid section.

Any upper-lip tips?

• 3 drops of essential oil of thyme
• 3 drops of essential oil of lavender
• 3 drops of essential oil of rosemary
• 3 drops of essential oil of cedarwood
• 1/8 cup of grapeseed oil
• 1/8 cup of jojoba oil
• 3/4 cup of motor oil

Write a mustache haiku:

Mustache, vile, silent,
The repugnant mustache wakes,
Hot mustache spittle.

Want to cheer these chivalrous young men on their fantastic follicular journey?

Donate via the TuneUp Media Donor’s Choose Gifting Page

or PayPal

And the plot thickens. A quick shout out to our latest donors: Audra, John, LL, Elizabeth, Kellie and Lisa. Our four day tally is $459, putting us in 3rd place. Your very thoughtful donations have already provided materials to help low-income students tap into their creativity, replaced a 5th grade class’s 25 year old set of dictionaries, and bought a Kindergarten class a fresh arsenal of math supplies. We’re so pleased to be part of this project and urge those of you who can to donate (we know we’re in the middle of a recession, but that’s why donations make even more of a difference).

And now, TuneUp Support Guru, Arnold, tells us why he’s excited about Mustaches for Kids (with a special cameo from the iPhone’s Mustache app).

Donate via the TuneUp Media Donor’s Choose Gifting Page

or PayPal

With the first day of Mustaches for Kids behind us, we’d like to thank our very generous first donors! Big shout out to Yessica, Erik, David and Ariel!.

As promised, we’re going to be bringing you regular updates from all of our growers here in the office. Meet today’s featured TuneUp’s Mustaches for Kids (or Mustachios para los Niños) Grower:

Name: Will “Kublai-Kahn-Could-Only-Dream-of-a-’Stache-This-Sweet” Luo

Typical facial hair routine? 500 push-ups, 100 pull-ups, chew 10 packs of gums, and watch at least 15 minutes of “Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan” and 20 minutes of meditation before lifting my razor close to my face.

Last time you grew a mustache and why? On a trip to New Delhi and Mumbai in 2007, to try to blend in with the locals.

Follicle type/texture? Right now it’s about 100-grit silicon carbide sandpaper.

Best thing about growing a mustache? It catches krill in the bay for extra calories during triathlon training. and the ladies love it of course!

Iconic Mustache of Choice? Borat.

If your mustache was a musical instrument, what would it be? The spoon!

Favorite hair growing music? The Imperial March (Darth Vader’s Theme).

What’s your mustache’s favorite fighting move? Rocky. it’s an underdog at first, but will catch up eventually!

Any upper-lip tips? Always use a cigarette holder so you won’t dry out your lips too much when you smoke!

Write a mustache haiku:

if you hide your stash
in your mustache, it better
be a big ass ’stache!

Want to be a cool kid too and contribute to a good cause?

Donate via the TuneUp Media Donor’s Choose Gifting Page

or PayPal

Dearest Readers,

Donate via the TuneUp Media Donor’s Choose Gifting Page

or PayPal

In the meantime, check out Japanese pop sensation “Kimura” with her hit single “Mustache”!

Gabe here, CEO of TuneUp. Things are cranking away here at headquarters and we are getting great feedback from our Mac beta testers. 1.0 release will be soon. Really soon. We promise.

Here’s a great (unsolicited) post from one of our users regarding his life-changing experience with TuneUp:

“I was lost in the wilderness, no hope and direction in life. My life’s story was just one big mess of ID3 tags and album art. Sleeping on the streets one night, a man came up to me, offered me something to eat, and spoke to me about TuneUp. I’d never heard anything like it before. Would TuneUp really save me from my mess? Would it wash away my badly formed ID3 tags? I had nothing to loose, so when the man asked me if I’d let TuneUp into my library I said yes. Since that day, everything has changed. Sure, it didn’t happen over night, but over a week or two, I noticed glistening, beautiful album art I’d never seen before, I found albums I thought were lost forever. Now, I have a job, and a beautiful girlfriend, all thanks to TuneUp.” - Mark

I saw TVOTR at the Warfield last night. Simply put, they blew my face off. Love these guys and their latest album, “Dear Science”.

Check out this cool vid of “Golden Age”.

Even though Election Day was a few days ago, the results still have us amped (after all, North Carolina just announced that they went blue). Let TuneUp’s (Post) Election Day playlist carry you on into your weekend:

Tiffany here - one of the most recent additions to the TuneUp family.

At the latest The Mountain Goats show at the Filmore on Friday night, the opening act Kaki King provided a virtuoso performance to ring-in the headliners. Her album “Dreaming of Revenge” is full of emotional twists and turns set to her lovely acoustic guitar skills. Supposedly, she mastered her unusual playing in New York City subway stations, wherever it’s from, its awesome to listen to - and even cooler to watch.

Check out her mad picking/strumming on this video:

Note how she doesn’t even have to look down as she’s wailing on that guitar like it ain’t no thang. Rock on.

CMJ officially kicked off yesterday, and sadly, we’re too busy finishing TuneUp for Mac to consider making the cross country trek from San Francisco to New York.

Are any of you TuneUpians attending?

CMJ artist, Passion Pit, is bound to put on a good show.

Loving this video for “Sleepyhead”:

Passion Pit is currently on tour with Yelle.