By Morgan James
Over 100 people came out to join in on the fun as we kicked off our newest session of the CV Open Mic Competition 2016 at The Block Sports Bar & Grill in Cathedral City! Incredible music, a special comedic performance, and exciting audience giveaways from the Mary Pickford Theatre excited the crowd. Several new faces as well as old friends were among the energetic crowd taking videos of each other’s impressive performances and cheering each other on. This week’s guest judge, professional drummer and sound man, Allen Ash, had the tough job of scoring each amazing band and artist. Once all of our talented musicians graced the stage and the votes were tallied, it was “System” aka Marco Thoma who was awarded 1st place. The skilled rapper decided to take home a $25 gift certificate to Record Alley and will now move on to the Semi Finals January 4th. If he wins there, System will compete in the Grand Finals on January 11th for an MTV Quality Music Video Production from Desert C.A.M. Studios/Winmill Films and award winning Director Chip Miller, plus a $500 trip to Las Vegas from Crater Lake Spirits, as well as an Artist Development Session from Grammy nominated Producer Ronnie King, a Promotional Photo Shoot from Rav Holly, and a Boss RC-1 Loop Station Pedal from Guitar Center Palm Desert. 2nd place was awarded to songstress Giselle Woo who serenaded the crowd and chose to take home 2 tickets to the Mary Pickford Theatre. 3rd place went to Courtney Chambers who gave a strong performance and chose a $30 gift certificate to Bobby Mao’s as her prize.
THANK YOU to ALL our performers at the CV Open Mic Competition for putting on a great show AND making the environment so supportive for all of the artists involved: CJ Wilson aka CJ Swagg, Seth Miller, Dillan Baillard, Aaron Rodea, John Montez, Daniel Scopelitis aka D Puppet, Devin Birdsong, Francisco Sanchez, Desiree McCaslin, T. Lambert, Joe, Michael L McDonald aka Mac, Jim Holiday, Giselle Woo, Mike Sick-boy, Marco Thoma aka System, Dave Strauss, Jacob Cantu, Razor J, Courtney Chambers, LaRon Tremaine Williams aka L Boogie The Man, Sandy Mintz, Ivy the Giant, Bunkz, Maddhatter, Juan Rivera, Frank Ayala, Johnny Maravilla, Mario Quintero, Max Powell, John Clark, Jim Johnson, and Adriel Chavez. Also a big thanks to Johnny Carmona, our amazing sound technician. I hope to see you all next WEDNESDAY at THE BLOCK SPORTS BAR & GRILL in Cathedral City! Look for coverage of each week’s event and the announcement of winners in the next issue of Coachella Valley Weekly! SPECIAL THANKS to all of our sponsors: Desert C.A.M. Studios/Winmill Films & Chip Miller, Ronnie King Music, Crater Lake Spirits, Rav Holly, Guitar Center, CV Weekly, Canyon Copy & Print, the Mary Pickford Theatre, and The Block Sports Bar & Grill.
Be sure to “LIKE” Facebook.com/CVOpenMicCompetition for updates! ALL AGES ALLOWED and YOU may compete EVERY week! PLEASE NOTE: Due to our overwhelming number of interested performers, sign in starts at 7pm and will be closed at 7:45pm. BRING YOUR FRIENDS, FAMILY and FANS and note that the competition usually ends around 10:30pm so be sure your friends and family know to stay until the end to voice their vote!!! For questions or information about sign-up, please see Facebook.com/CVOpenMicCompetition or contact creator and host, Morgan Alise James at MorganAliseJames@gmail.com or (714) 651-1911.
