By Morgan James
Week #9 of the CV Open Mic Competition 2017 at The Block Sports Bar & Grill in Cathedral City was a thrilling show as new audience members discovered the fun and the performers showed up in full force. What an exciting show it was! T-shirts from The Block Sports Bar & Grill were given away to several of our cheering fans as they enjoyed great food and Crater Lake Rye Whiskey Specials! Live video feeds filled social media and photos flashed throughout the night. It was a close call once our judge tallied the scores, but our big winner for 1st place was talented rapper, Alpine Alien aka Tony Ballard. The confident, energetic performer took home 2 movie tickets to Cinemark Theatres and will now move on to the Semi Finals May 17th. If he wins there, Alpine will compete in the Grand Finals on May 24th for an MTV Quality Music Video Production from Desert C.A.M. Studios/Winmill Films and award winning Director Chip Miller, plus a trip to Las Vegas from Crater Lake Rye Whiskey, as well as an Artist Development Session from Grammy nominated Producer Ronnie King, a Promotional Photo Shoot from Rav Holly, and an artist merchandise package from Brutal Bee Music Group including logo design and 25 t-shirts, stickers and more! 2nd place was awarded to newcomer, Freido aka Alfredo Arias, whose first open mic performance gained praise and earned him a $25 gift certificate to Stuft Pizza Bar & Grill. 3rd place went to MCKG aka Gabriel Reyes who took home a $25 gift certificate to Murph’s Gaslight.
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: L Boogie Da Mann and Zack No Slack of Desert Pirates, Christopher Guzman of Who Shot the Drummer, Moses Osmosis, Luis Hernandez aka Wrekless, Erick Estrada aka Zero Sum Game, Nasty Dawg, Solus Lupus, EB Stone, Cino, Wrist Lock, Frankie Lopez, Gabriel Reyes, Alfredo Arias, Tony Ballard, and Jeff aka Grain of Stone Grain. 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 this 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 Rye Whiskey, Rav Holly, Stuft Pizza Bar & Grill, CV Weekly, Canyon Copy & Print, Brutal Bee Music Group, Murph’s Gaslight, 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 to join us for excitement, music and fun!!! 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
