The Santa Ynez Valley Chorale in the News

Third Place: Danielle Reyes Second Place: Roy Bilkey First Place: Britni Alleman. Congratulations to our winners and to all of our contestants! Thank you to our wonderful audience, volunteers, judges and sponsors. Valley Idol 2010 was a terrific success and we hope to see you all back next year!

SB RESIDENT SEIZES 'VALLEY IDOL' CHALLENGE
By Alonzo Orozco, Contributing Writer, Santa Ynez Valley Journal

A capacity crowd of some 350 folks settled into Solvang’s Veteran Memorial Hall to enjoy a fine array of talent at last Saturday night’s “Valley Idol Singing Contest” finale.

“We didn’t have anybody who didn’t rise to the occasion,” boasts Shannon Casey of the 12 contestants and former champion who performed in the 3rd annual event sponsored by the Santa Ynez Valley Master Chorale.

A part-time Santa Barbara tour guide, Britni Alleman, went home with the 1st-place prize, singing a tune titled “California Burrito” by Chuck Ragan.

“Just being with all of them (the people she loves) for such an occasion was wonderful and winning felt great on top of that,” exclaims Alleman, describing how she felt about winning the event. Planning to take music classes in the fall, she may also find the $1,000 prize and free studio recording session donated by Erickson Sound Lab to come in handy.

Casey, who in the past has served as president of the Chorale board, said the reason the talent pool was so deep in comparison to previous years was partly because of the minimum age limit being raised to 16 this year.

There was also an increase in radio advertising, including stations such as MIX 96.7 and Crazy Country for the event that helped in attributing to last weekend’s success.

The evening started out with last year’s winner, Morgan Laughlin, singing her rendition of Carrie Underwood’s hit “Some Hearts.” The contest, derived from the popular TV show “American Idol,” then went into full swing as the enthusiastic audience purchased $1 tickets to cast votes for their favorites after hearing each finalist perform during the 1st round of the competition. All the proceeds go to the Chorale to help in realizing one of the community choir’s goals of producing entertainment that promotes music in the Valley.

The top four vote-getters moved on to the 2nd round, accompanied by two other survivors chosen by the three judges who had a hand in selecting the finalists for the contest during the preliminary round held a couple of weeks ago in the Parish Hall at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Los Olivos. Those three include Bear Erickson of Erickson Sound Labs, Lynda Kelley of MIX 96.7 and Allen Koehn, a former Presbyterian minister from a Princeton seminary who actually found employment years ago dressed up as the cartoon character Woody the Woodpecker around the time of Hollywood’s Golden Era.

Round 3 saw the three remaining finalists perform one more number each to determine the champion. Danielle Reyes, originally from Santa Barbara, who for the past three years has sang for Cottage Hospital’s “Circle of Remembrance,” was rewarded 3rd place with one of her songs being a “pop music” piece. While Roy Bilkey, a student at Cuesta College, earned the 2nd prize with “Waggon Wheel” by Old Crow Medicine Show that he performed while also playing the guitar.

Bilkey was also richer in more ways than one. “‘Valley Idol’ was one of the only times I have ever played in front of a crowd, so this experience was a huge confidence-builder for the future,” explains the student who also works at a feed store. He ended up taking home $500, courtesy of El Rancho Market, Rancho Olivos Olive Oil, owned by the proud founder of the event, none other than Casey herself, donated the 3rd prize of $250.

While not exactly in the stratosphere of “American Idol,” a local singing competition was no less nerve-wrecking for 20 contestants vying for the title of “Santa Ynez Valley Idol 2010.” “I’m still shaking from it,” said Santa Ynez resident Elia Gonzalez. “I decided to sing on the spur of the moment.” The 3rd annual Valley Idol Singing Contest kicked off Saturday afternoon in a packed Parish Hall at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Los Olivos.

The preliminary round of the contest saw singers and musicians performing a wide variety of musical styles, including country western, classical, pop and hip-hop.

Gonzalez sang “Fallen” by Alicia Keys - a tune she hums to in the shower, the car and just about anywhere. Because she signed up at the last minute, she sang the song a cappella. But that didn’t stifle her ability to channel emotion into the song. “The room was full of your voice,” said musician and judge Bear Erickson. “Your command of the rhythm made me feel the band and the track.”

Gonzalez has just started taking vocal classes at Santa Barbara City College. “My friend egged me on,” she said, adding that she also performed for a poignant reason. “I also wanted to do it for my dad, who’s very ill. He has always told me to go for what I love.”

Lompoc resident Kirsten Rasmussen had already performed at a closed audition in Santa Barbara before she heard about the event going on up north. Amped up by the earlier performance, she sang a passionate rendition of an R&B song by Mary J Blige. “It all started with Barney,” the 16-year-old said with a laugh. The competition was presented by the Santa Ynez Valley Master Chorale, which is a non-profit performing arts group that presents a three concert series in both December and May.

“This year, the bulk of the people who auditioned were very strong singers,” noted Shannon Casey, chair of Idol. “We had a high caliber of singers, and we’re looking forward to a very tough contest and a spectacular show.”