Shoreline Youth Jam 2011 showcases diverse talent

By Scott Becker

RBCA Board Member and Shoreline Youth Jam Committee

Fate Descends Takes Grand Prize on a night with many highlights 

Fate Descends won the Grand Prize at Youth Jam 2011

Friday night, March 4, marked the first time the Youth Jam music competition brought to the stage contestants from all over the City of Shoreline. The 200+ audience who witnessed Shoreline Youth Jam 2011 in the Shoreline Community College PUB, heard and saw performances from nine different acts working with a range of musical genres and instruments – soloists to pop bands delighted the crowd. Performer ages spanned 8 to 18. The breadth of talent brought amazement to many faces, and the competition judges were brimming with positive comments for each act.

“Great job making the transition from local event to citywide. The new venue, acts and judges were outstanding!” said Jack Malek, RBCA Board and Treasurer.

After an evening of many stellar performances, the event MC, trumpeter Jason Parker of The Jason Parker Quartet, directed the three judges to award Grand ($300), Second ($200), and Third ($100) prizes, with optional Honorable Mention in Musicianship, Creativity, and Performance certificates available at the judges discretion. Each performer also received a certificate for participation.

Misoneism, blue guitar duo, took Second Prize

After a short deliberation, Grand Prize was awarded to Fate Descends, a rock trio. Second Prize went to Misoneism, a blues guitar duo, and a returning act from last year. Third Prize was awarded to Alejandra Guido, singer/guitarist/songwriter.

Alejandra Guido took Third Prize

The judges also decided to award separate certificates recognizing special strengths in each of the three judging criteria.

• Honorable Mention: Musicianship was awarded to Karen Haining, a solo pianist. 
• Honorable Mention: Creativity was given to Freak Out, a pop rock group.
• Honorable Mention: Performance was awarded to D-Frost, a pop rock/RandB act.

The Grand Prize winning Fate Descends closed the show with a driving encore of one of their original compositions. 

Judges: Josh Rawlings, Leah Stillwell, Doug Reid

The three volunteer judges represented some of the Seattle area’s more noteworthy working musicians and youth mentors;

• Josh Rawlings, keyboardist of The Teaching, Soul Kata, and many other groups;
• Leah Stillwell, singer with The Leah Stillwell Trio,
• SCC’s own Doug Reid, trumpeter and music professor.

The judges were lauded by the audience with applause for their thoughtful comments to the musicians on stage after each performance, and the encouragement to all kids on hand to keep music and performance a part of their lives.

“I had a great time. It was an awesome night full of wonderful talent,” said Leah Stillwell after the show.

Doug Reid also expressed pleasure in being involved with Youth Jam this year.

Josh Rawlings later wrote: “Thanks all for a very memorable experience! Had a blast, and I was getting flooded with nostalgia of doing events like this when I was their age...man, does it feel good to be giving back!”

The acts and musicians in the competition:

Budget String Band

Devon Peterka - fiddle

Zeth Peterka - acoustic guitar

Alejandra Guido

Alejandra Guido - acoustic guitar & vocals

Kapur/Pope-Levinson

Max Kapur - piano

Jeremy Pope-Levinson - bass

Freak Out

Abe Friedman - vocals

Matt Bell - guitar

Jack Powell - guitar

Dylan Russian - bass

Aidan Weed - drum

Ivan Brown

Ivan Brown - vocals

Misoneism

Stefan Petersen - acoustic guitar 

Julian Anderson - acoustic guitar

D-Frost

Bogui Adjorlolo - vocals, drums and tenor sax

Koissi Adjorlolo - vocals, trombone and drums

Drew Nisco - keyboards and alto sax

Josiah Salo - guitar

McKay West - bass

Karen Haining

Karen Haining - piano

Fate Descends

Zack Dixon - vocals and guitar

Saul Fleming - bass

Connor Lewis-Smith - drum

Members of Fate Descends consult with a crew member

Much thanks to the initial co-sponsors of the event, Richmond Beach Community Association and Ridgecrest Neighborhood Association, for the belief in Youth Jam to get behind our transition to city-wide event.

Many sponsors followed with donations and other forms of support, including: Shoreline Community College, Arctic Printing and Graphics, Silver Platters, Shoreline Teen Programs, The Vera Project, Guitarville, EMP, JandJ Music, El Corazon, Fourfold Architecture, Lupe’s Tienda, MGS-Tech, Dimitriou’s Jazz Alley, Henry Art Museum.

Special thanks to the 2011 Shoreline Youth Jam Committee and event crew members. The folks behind the scenes included Stefanie Gendreau-Stroud, Matt Stroud, Sheri Ashleman, Arthur Peach, Lisa Surowiec, Kenneth Husted, Joseph Lee, Jerry Fleet, Patty Hale, Joy Cunningham, Terry Rosback, Andrew Somora, Suzanne Gugger, Amy Stapleton, and a number of other kind folks from SCC, and our very musical Shoreline community.