Dirty Spanglish at the Talent Show audition
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Turn down the rock and roll, it’s Dirty Spanglish at the Bakersfield High Talent Show - By N.L. Belardes The auditions were held a few weeks ago at Bakersfield High’s Little Theatre. That’s on the south side of the Harvey Auditoriun, one of Bakersfield’s finest theatres. I love it as much as the Fox Theatre in downtown Bakersfield for its ambience and “big stage” feel. And you can squeeze more than a thousand folks inside.
Little Theatre at the Harvey Auditorium, Bakersfield, CA
The Late Greats were at the audition, the only other rock band trying out. And they both got in. It was a rockin’ evening…
The Late Greats: a band named after a Wilco song
During the actual Talent Show, the night was to open with rock and close with rock. The only problem would be turning the rock down. I’ll get to that.
BHS auditorium begins to fill up a half hour before the show starts
Will there be a Talent Show at your school?
I showed up with Jordo from the alt country band
Black Dog. He’s Lando’s brother and a talented violinist. They write original country tunes and also perform acoustic Wilco covers. The Late Greats were to perform “I’m Always in Love” from the Wilco album
Summerteeth. That means closet Wilco junkies would be showing some unity at the Talent Show.
Oh yeah, my kid Jordo. He seems to know everyone at BHS because he’s one of those cool seniors. He showed me to the “green room”, a room not really green, but where everyone hangs out waiting for their turn to perform. Right away, Alix Lamb walked up, fanned two decks of cards and started performing tricks. I was stumped.
Alix Lamb fans the trickery
Soon Matt Munoz and Lydia Gonzales from bakotopia.com and MAS Magazine arrived. They had the real journalistic goods. Matt interviewed
Dirty Spanglish with his cool pocket-sized video camera, while Lydia staged a photo shoot, snapping fun photos of the boys in a bathroom—true Dirty Spanglish potty humor—and got them to jump out of lockers, literally. Except for bassist, Nick. He pouted in a bathroom stall.
You'll have to see the MAS magazine images of this photo shoot when it comes out.
Bassist Nick pouts because he is locker challenged
Bakotopia, Matildakay.com, Noveltown.net, and Paperback Writer all sponsored the show. Bakotopia wrote for the show’s program:
Yo Dirty Spanglish, Bakotopia honors you and sends you positive vibes to kick the doors down. You guys got the skills, now it’s time to show the crowds what real noise is all about! Congratulations on being true punk patriots! Keep it dirty…Spanglish that is!
Bakersfield High’s 6th Annual Talent Show featured 16 competitors: dancers, a magician, an acoustic act, two rock acts, and solo singers galore. The show was hosted by Sherece Stancil—she wasn’t afraid to kick off her shoes at one point—and Tyrone Brazzell. He could dance, hold an audience and look debonair.
Yes, they should have their own TV show.
Talk about hosts beaming with confidence. Their professionalism and quick-witted humor carried the entire evening—so did Tyrone’s moves. Their back-up band was truly right off a late night talk show. They jazzed up the evening with transitional songs and weren’t afraid to cheer for their own favorite performers throughout the evening. They even performed their own jazzy rendition of “Donut Shop” after Dirty Spanglish performed.
The Late Greats perform
This might be Alicia Bean... someone correct me...
Personally, I hadn’t been nervous all evening. I know the kids in Dirty Spanglish have performed to larger crowds. It was the sound I was worried about. “They’ve got us turned down,” Lando said. And there were no monitors. The singers couldn’t hear themselves. That’s never good for a performer. I asked Lando if they were nervous at all during the show. He said, “A little bit, because of the whole deal with not hearing the singing. Otherwise we were pretty pumped up and ready to do it.”
Still, I wasn’t nervous. But there were some solemn moments for the band, and moments of anticipation. As other contestants performed, Lando sat and tuned his guitar in a back area. He seemed to be going over in his head about his band’s performance.
Maybe I was growing nervous after all. I watched as they stood for a moment to view one of the acts. They were silent, stirring, kids on a mission to entertain. The glanced at the crowd. Anticipation set in. They had a sparing amount of time to set up. Or that’s what it seemed like.
Suddenly Lando said, “Hold my guitar.” Holy crap was he talking to me?! “Don’t touch the strings, and don’t bump it on anything!” I had no idea where he was going, but Dirty Spanglish was about to go on. I stood still. I was now a deer caught staring into the stage lights like it were an oncoming semi of rock and roll distortion. I didn’t dare move or twitch a muscle in fear that Lando’s guitar might suddenly explode in my hands. My heart rate jumped. Lando seemed lost in a sea of backstage darkness. Any travesty would suddenly be my fault. How do these kids take such pressure?
Finally he came back, grabbed his guitar, and the band took their place behind the curtain.
Lando jumped onto an amp for a moment of total rock godness, the band toyed with their instruments—bass thumped, guitar strings raked and drums pounded—which pumped up the crowd. I suddenly thought,
they have nerves of steel.
And then the giant curtains opened. Lando jumped off the amp and hit a chord. It was time to perform their cover of
The Filthies “Donut Shop.” Two of the three members of The Filthies attended Bakersfield High. It was a moving tribute to Bakersfield’s rural rock punk kings.
Only problem I could tell? The sound. The band was too quiet. Oh, they rocked. In fact, they got to play two songs during the night. But this was a Bakersfield High School Choir Event. And we all know what a lot of choir folks think of rock and roll. Yet rock is meant to be performed loud. Hell, so is country music and so is jazz. I wanted to run onstage and pump up the volume. Sherece and Tyrone came on stage as total air guitar monsters of rock. It was a hilarious and fun moment as their back-up band jazzed some “Donut Shop” riffs.
You have to appreciate that the kids in Dirty Spanglish heeded the call of adults who tempered their sound. They’re respectful and I appreciate the band for it. Had they had their sound blasting in the auditorium they still might not have won. The talent during the course of the evening was that good.
Right after their performance, a quick celebration
Some moments backstage: Late Greats and Lando from Dirty Spanglish
There was a moment of confusion. The band was about to perform another song. They took to their instruments. The curtains started to part… a sudden change of plans to announce the winners. The curtains closed, kids poured onto the stage and eventually Dirty Spanglish slipped through the curtain just in time to win second place in the People’s Choice category.
Latin Mix won first place People's Choice
Drummer Kris from Dirty Spanglish celebrates after announcement
Criston Moore won the Grand Prize with a moving rendition of “Over The Rainbow”. That was the first time I’d heard a male sing the classic number, and I’d never heard it performed in such a contemporary soloist style. I swear John Legend was performing the piano for him as he swooned the crowd. Screaming had reached a fever pitch.
Criston Moore woos the ladies
After the awards Dirty Spanglish rocked the house with “She’s A Jones Soda”. It was party time in Bakersfield High’s Harvey Auditorium, even though the sound was still too low for rock and roll…
Performing at the end of the show...
The BAKOTOPIA Review (Click for exclusive
photos/vids)
-6th Annual BHS Talent Show, February 8th, 2007, Harvey Auditorium
High school productions don't often move passed the usual song & dance routines most parents are used to year after year, but that was not the case during my visit to the BHS campus last week for the 6th Annual BHS Talent Show.
As photographer Lydia Gonzales and I met local blogger NL Belardes backstage to document the efforts of some of BHS's brightest talent, I was immediately impressed with the professionality and seriousness displayed by participating students.
Directly below the BHS Harvey Auditorium stage, students warmed up, practiced lines, dance steps, card tricks, while others joked around, and behaved as high school kids do, punching each other, laughing, and of course, talking on their cellphones.
Lydia and I immediately approached young punks, Dirty Spanglish, and directed them to a side room for an exclusive interview with one of the more popular bands on the under-21 set.
As we entered the next room, we were greeted by BHS senior, Danielle Alcala, who was also practicing her "Exhibition" act, to perform a selection from "Grease." As an "Exhibition" act, Alcala would not be judged on her peformance, but would perform during the tallying of the votes at the end of the show.
After a nervously funny interview with the Dirty Spanglish boys, and clowning around with some photo taking, it was off to see the talent. But before we headed upstairs, we were stopped by one of the show's performers, Freshman Alix Lamb, who showed us a preview of his act, a cool card trick. We agreed to check it out, and were very impressed. Funny how young kids like Lamb, have the ability to out-do adults attempting to do the same trick. It reminded me of a so-called "professional" local magician, who bored his audience so badly during a show, they gave him the boot after the third try. Not Lamb, he was confident, and had a kind of "punk magic" air about him. Hilarious...
We headed upstairs, entering a side door into the packed Harvey Auditorium.
I haven't been in the Harvey Auditorium, since Kern County Honor Band rehearsals back in the day. It was quite the time warp.
Then...it hit us...."the teen spirit"....
Remember your old locker room? Phewww!!! Turn the air on!!! It was hotter than a
Lamont packing shed in there.
I knew we probably weren't going to last the whole show with funky hot air filling our lungs, but decided it woudn't be very nice to ditch the kids, so we stayed.
After a shaky start, the show began to flow really well, with some very nice vocal acts..
Sophomore Solange Igoa, also the daughter of Bakersfield singer and popular MySpace MILF, Mystic Red, gave a fine rendition of the Simon and Garfunkel classic, "Scarborough Fair."
Magician Alix Lamb was up next, to repeat the trick we saw, but added some new twists involving a Vanilla Pepsi can and some loose pocket change contributed by an audience volunteer. It was a little hard to see the card trick from the audience, unless you had binoculars or bionic vision, but cheers poured over the young Houdini anyway.
Junior Cassie Pederson took the mic next with another vocal offering, the song "Strong Enough." At first I thought she was going to sing the Sheryl Crow song of the same name, but thank god she didn't. I didn't recognize the tune, but she pulled it off, in tune, and too much applause.
Yesterday's Prayer, a guitar duo and drummer trio, did their best to show some emotion, but relied heavily on the eternal strum guiding their song. Unfortunately, the sound system didn't do the band justice. I'm sure in a different setting, the band would have done a much better job. Kudos to the the guys for sticking it out.
The suits came up next with Junior vocalist Criston Moore. Backed by piano accompaniment, the two performed the eternal, "Over The Rainbow." With a combination of lights, clearer sound, and matching suits, class was Moore's game.
After hearing "Rainbow," a million times over the course of my lifetime, I had to force myslef to listen again. Reminding myself this is high school and to be nice again, it was refreshing to hear a soulful rendition of the song with a little RnB influence, even a little falsetto during one of the songs two endings. Bravo! The kid won me over!
Next, it was the dancers turn..
Latin Mix are two BHS couples who combine Broadway inspired choreography, with some added nightclub flavor. Performing a song called, "Cha-cha," this was not your parents version of the dance. As soon as the song started, the dancers tore it up! This was original, and something the audience and myself had been waiting for, real energy! Sliding, swinging, smiling, they had my vote.
A couple more quality singers, and it was time for the moment we had come for, Dirty Spanglish!
Now, I've been in high school talent shows before, and they're not always fair. The bands usually don't get the best attention from the "stage crew," and because musicians don't usually associate with the cheerleaders, they are often considered the outcasts of the "popular" high school social scene. For them, it's all about the stage....
Not this time.
Just the mention of the name, Dirty Spanglish, drew roars of applause. A band finally more popular than the prep scene? Things sure have changed since my day (No, I'm not revealing my high school years,) because the Dirties were throwing down. Performing a tribute to BHS alumni, The Filthies, the quartet could easily be your favorite band,based on the "coolness" factor alone. Good job, ye olde punks of yore!!
Finally the votes were tallied, the hosts took a bow, and the awards were handed out. I can't remember all the winners, but I will tell you this, Dirty Spanglish won "Judges Choice," and crooner Cristin Moore won the top prize.
Great job by the hosts of the evening Sherece Stancil and Tyrone Brazzell, who kept the lengthy show going with their wit and great stage presence. Also, the funky back-up band who performed between acts. Those guys were the BHS's answer to The Roots!
Good job, kiddoes!
-Matt Munoz
www.bakotopia.comLabels: Bakersfield, Bakotopia, bands, blogging, Dirty Spanglish, Matt Munoz, media, talent show
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