10
Jun
2003
MidCoast Fine Arts re-invented its annual pastel competition this year. The high-school-driven event was moved to the Bettendorf Family Museum campus and expanded beyond a visual-arts competition to a "trade show" of sorts that showcased our area's high-school talent in digital media, film, and music.
On Saturday, May 24, more than 300 students attended this exposition organized to showcase how art can play a role in one's professional career. Local professionals in arts-related fields were on-hand as both exhibitors and judges. Students whose work showed the top merit were awarded various job-shadowing and internship opportunities with these local professionals.
Part of this event was a musical competition among high school "affiliated" bands and high school "garage" bands.
The "affiliated" bands were nominated by the Bix Society, the Blues Society, the Quad City Jazz Festival and music educators. The judges of these seven bands were Nate Lawrence of Homefolks Communications/Polyrhythms Productions, and Connie Gibbons, director of the River Music Experience. A first-place award of $250 went to the North Scott Jazz Combo. The Bix Beiderbecke Youth Jazz Band received an award of $150. Meanwhile, the Corey Kendrick Quintet of Bettendorf and Corporate Rock of Pleasant Valley were awarded the opportunities to perform at the August 1 ArtStroll event in downtown Davenport.
The "garage" bands were nominated through contacts with KORB 93.5 and through flyers throughout Quad Cities high schools. Yours truly, with the assistance of my 13-year-old son Max, judged the three bands that performed on stage in the former Eagle Foods parking lot. The judging criteria included technical skills, originality, stage presence, and teamwork.
The competing bands were Terminus from Pleasant Valley, Stick Figure Angel from Moline High, and Deficit from Pleasant Valley.
Terminus clearly showed the more polished set of the three, exhibiting great teamwork and technical skill on all levels, especially the stage presence and vocals of lead singer Nate Johnson (age 15). Terminus, which played mostly originals and some covers, has been practicing only six months in the basement of drummer Robert Shawver (16).
Johnson discovered music through playing saxophone in the school band. Shawver has been playing drums scholastically since sixth grade. Guitarist Thomas Bolkcom-Smith (15) started by learning trumpet in band, and bassist Phillip Schissler (15) is self-taught.
The band claims influences such as Incubus, Radiohead, Rage Against the Machine, and Tool. The name Terminus was revived from a previous version of the band from a year ago and denotes "the end of the punk era," according to the band. "We didn't want to play what other people were playing," said Bolkcom-Smith.
"The emo-punk all sounds the same," Schissler said. "Every band at Pleasant Valley is punk but us. We've had problems with other bands who won't invite us to play at gigs." When asked the differences between the punk era their name refers to ending and the band's current sound, the response was that punk is less musical, while their sounds have more meaning and are more musical.
Meanwhile, Stick Figure Angel suffered greatly from a guttural death-metal voice of Sam Littig (15), who when asked what his lyrics were about, responded, "Stuff." What can you expect from a singer who has only been with the band for three days?
Deficit's shining moment, besides the lead singer successfully conducting a back flip on stage with out breaking any bones or equipment, was the song "Shiny Apple." The lead singer deftly sang the lyrics, "I see a shiny apple. I take a bite from the shiny apple. The shiny apple is good." Humorous and effective at once, this song showed me that while Deficit is new to the game, they are cognizant of not taking themselves too seriously and are working hard at the mechanics of song writing and execution.
Terminus was awarded a first place cash prize of $200 and Stick Figure Angel and Deficit were awarded runner-up prizes of $50 each. Terminus will be invited to perform at an upcoming Gallery Hop in the Rock Island District.
Volunteer organizers from MidCoast Fine Arts shared they were pleased by the turnout during the day but were surprised at the low numbers of fans for the garage bands in the early evening. They stressed that more publicity in the schools for this portion of the event, as well as more awareness among the emerging high-school talent, could improve attendance at next year's event.
On Saturday, May 24, more than 300 students attended this exposition organized to showcase how art can play a role in one's professional career. Local professionals in arts-related fields were on-hand as both exhibitors and judges. Students whose work showed the top merit were awarded various job-shadowing and internship opportunities with these local professionals.
Part of this event was a musical competition among high school "affiliated" bands and high school "garage" bands.
The "affiliated" bands were nominated by the Bix Society, the Blues Society, the Quad City Jazz Festival and music educators. The judges of these seven bands were Nate Lawrence of Homefolks Communications/Polyrhythms Productions, and Connie Gibbons, director of the River Music Experience. A first-place award of $250 went to the North Scott Jazz Combo. The Bix Beiderbecke Youth Jazz Band received an award of $150. Meanwhile, the Corey Kendrick Quintet of Bettendorf and Corporate Rock of Pleasant Valley were awarded the opportunities to perform at the August 1 ArtStroll event in downtown Davenport.
The "garage" bands were nominated through contacts with KORB 93.5 and through flyers throughout Quad Cities high schools. Yours truly, with the assistance of my 13-year-old son Max, judged the three bands that performed on stage in the former Eagle Foods parking lot. The judging criteria included technical skills, originality, stage presence, and teamwork.
The competing bands were Terminus from Pleasant Valley, Stick Figure Angel from Moline High, and Deficit from Pleasant Valley.
Terminus clearly showed the more polished set of the three, exhibiting great teamwork and technical skill on all levels, especially the stage presence and vocals of lead singer Nate Johnson (age 15). Terminus, which played mostly originals and some covers, has been practicing only six months in the basement of drummer Robert Shawver (16).
Johnson discovered music through playing saxophone in the school band. Shawver has been playing drums scholastically since sixth grade. Guitarist Thomas Bolkcom-Smith (15) started by learning trumpet in band, and bassist Phillip Schissler (15) is self-taught.
The band claims influences such as Incubus, Radiohead, Rage Against the Machine, and Tool. The name Terminus was revived from a previous version of the band from a year ago and denotes "the end of the punk era," according to the band. "We didn't want to play what other people were playing," said Bolkcom-Smith.
"The emo-punk all sounds the same," Schissler said. "Every band at Pleasant Valley is punk but us. We've had problems with other bands who won't invite us to play at gigs." When asked the differences between the punk era their name refers to ending and the band's current sound, the response was that punk is less musical, while their sounds have more meaning and are more musical.
Meanwhile, Stick Figure Angel suffered greatly from a guttural death-metal voice of Sam Littig (15), who when asked what his lyrics were about, responded, "Stuff." What can you expect from a singer who has only been with the band for three days?
Deficit's shining moment, besides the lead singer successfully conducting a back flip on stage with out breaking any bones or equipment, was the song "Shiny Apple." The lead singer deftly sang the lyrics, "I see a shiny apple. I take a bite from the shiny apple. The shiny apple is good." Humorous and effective at once, this song showed me that while Deficit is new to the game, they are cognizant of not taking themselves too seriously and are working hard at the mechanics of song writing and execution.
Terminus was awarded a first place cash prize of $200 and Stick Figure Angel and Deficit were awarded runner-up prizes of $50 each. Terminus will be invited to perform at an upcoming Gallery Hop in the Rock Island District.
Volunteer organizers from MidCoast Fine Arts shared they were pleased by the turnout during the day but were surprised at the low numbers of fans for the garage bands in the early evening. They stressed that more publicity in the schools for this portion of the event, as well as more awareness among the emerging high-school talent, could improve attendance at next year's event.
