Local High School Bands Rock the Concert Hall Pavilion in Olde Towne

Every dream has to start somewhere, and one group of local high school students this weekend got a chance to start living theirs.

The Gaithersburg Concert Pavilion outside City Hall in Olde Towne on Saturday hosted the first-ever Talent Show sponsored and organized by the City of Gaithersburg Youth Services division.

"We just wanted to give them a chance to get up on stage," said Maura Dinwiddie, Recreation Program Coordinator and one of the principal organizers of Saturday's event. After a round of auditions held at Gaithersburg High School earlier this year, a dance group, three bands and two soloists were chosen to perform at the Talent Show, which, unlike the ever-popular Battle of the Bands competition, deemphasizes rivalry and promotes community through music.

Sabor Latino kicked off the event with a Bachata dance set to music from West Side Story and Aventura. Yasmin Cruz, one of the dancers and a student at Gaithersburg High School reported that the group had been practicing everyday after school despite not receiving any school funding for its activities. A well-coordinated and energetic routine on stage demonstrated a successful coaching effort on the part of the team's two captains and dedicated and loyal alumni who return to work with current students.

Four Court Formula, a four-person pop/punk/alternative music band took the stage next. Made up of Wooton High School seniors Sergey Feldman, Sean Hamilton, Will Forthman, and a new freshman member, Sean Avjian, the band played four songs before dashing off to a Homecoming dance in black suits and ties.

Just before a 15-minute intermission, solo singer and acoustic guitar and keyboard player, Brendan Lim, a Clarksburg High School 9th grader, strummed off three songs, including a cover of "We'll Be a Dream" by We the Kings, a Paramour cover and an original song titled "Over You." Afterward, Brendan mentioned that he has been playing piano for ten years and guitar for just the past year. After graduating he hopes to study music at The Berklee College of Music in Boston, Mass.

William Wilson, Jr., Master of Ceremonies, a city employee and Gaithersburg High School alumn, ushered the crowd, composed primarily of friends and family members of the musicians, toward the Slice of Olde Towne pizza cart parked on the Concert Pavilion lawn, the Gaithersburg High School Student Union Bake Sale to raise money for after school activities, and encouraged everyone to pay a visit to Javeria Ahmad, a young Henna artist, also from Gaithersburg High School.

With dragon decals on her Prussian blue acoustic guitar and a sleek fedora, Amanda Lee rocked the Concert Pavilion after intermission with five plugged-in songs, including covers of U2's "Where the Streets Have No Name," Bless the Fall's "Hey Baby" and an original song titled "I'm Never Coming Home."

"I've been singing ever since I could," Lee said as she strode off to find her bass player in the audience, which only grew as the sunny afternoon wore on.

The soulful, loud and energetic Pulse turned heads with "In Concerto," a song expressing the lead singer, Joshua Bernstein's "rage against ADHD medication." An 8th grader at Jewish Day School, Bernstein coralles a band of five, with Adam Landa on rhythm guitar, Mikey Ambrosino as lead guitar, Kyle Lefelar on drums and Trevor Mooney on bass. Mooney coolly clenched a guitar pick between his teeth throughout the group's performance.

The closing act, Midweek Crisis, winner of this year's Battle of the Bands competition, consists of Awa Sal Secka as lead singer, Graham Evans on bass, and Andew Lloyd on guitar. The band, made up of 11th graders from Gaithersburg High School, was formed when its members started practicing together in 8th grade.

Encouraging students to play cover songs, Youth Services Director for the City of Gaithersburg, Tim "Smitty" Smith reports that he does not want to crush their creative spirit, but he knows what the crowd wants; it wants to hear something familiar.