Battle of the Bands marks 10 years

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By Krystle S. Morey

This Saturday more than 20 bands, singers, dancers, and more talented acts will compete for the ultimate local music title: winner of the FFA Battle of the Bands.
They’ll be competing for the grand prize of $500 in cash. New this year, the $500 prize is open to singers, dancers, bands and anyone who wishes to participate.
“The idea of including everyone is to create more excitement and to reward everyone’s preparation and skill,” said Ally Arnado, Granville FFA president.
This is the 10th year the Granville FFA has hosted its Battle of the Bands. This year’s theme is “A Decade of Rock.” Past themes have included “Back to the Future” and “School of Rock.”
As part of the event, the club will bring back acts from the past including last year’s winners: The Saints of Nowhere. Videos of some of the vintage acts will be shown. There will also be “loads of prizes.”
The curtain will rise at 7 p.m. on Dec. 3 in the Granville High School auditorium. The traditional laser show will welcome the crowd and this year’s mystery guest.
FFA Advisor Terry Wheeler, and business teacher at the school, hinted at who the mystery guest will be: “Our character is a character we have done before.”
He added: “You might just hear a KISS song.”
Advance tickets, which can be purchased from FFA members or in the main office, are $10. Tickets can be purchased at the door for $12. Battle of the Bands T-shirts will be sold separately.
The event is open to the public, parents, students and fans of rock. All funds will be used to help FFA students travel to conventions and competitions and to help students purchase their FFA jackets.
School-aged performers from Granville, Greenwich and other local communities will compete for the grand prize this Saturday. A few Granville High alumni will also return to perform. Last week, more than 20 acts of all genres had already auditioned to perform, including Soaked in Bleach and Five Star.
“These kids are just so talented,” Wheeler said.
Performers interested in competing can contact Wheeler via email at [email protected] or via phone at 518-642-1051 x2220 right up until the day of the event.
Audience members will determine the winner of the battle by voting via a survey website. The last couple of years, audience members would vote using twitter, but organizers found that not enough students are using Twitter still.
“Two years ago, we had enough people tweeting on our board that we actually crashed Twitter worldwide for a few seconds,” Wheeler said. “It was pretty exciting!”
The Battle of the Bands event isn’t just about good fun and loud music. It a learning experience too. The students do all the planning, marketing, stage setup and more for the event.
“They do everything from the idea to the finished product, the tickets, the sales … they come up with all of that stuff,” Wheeler said.
The students spent this week decorating the stage and setting up the technical equipment that will be used during the show.
“You’ve got business, marketing, technology, music, art … it’s a fully-functional educational event for the kids,” Wheeler said.
The Granville FFA, which has 80 members at the school, came up with the Battle of the Bands in 2006.
“We were looking for a fundraising idea,” Wheeler said. “We said, ‘what do we not have here, and what can we do without selling products to somebody.’”
“We don’t have a lot of live entertainment here for kids,” said Wheeler, who doesn’t miss the chance to participate in the festivities. Each year, he picks a star to perform an act.
For the first event, Wheeler dressed up as Ozzy Osbourne, the notorious English singer, songwriter and actor whose popularity peaked in the 1970s. Over the years, Wheeler has graced the stage as several of the music and comedic greats including Elvis, Gene Simmons of KISS and Larry the Cable Guy.
“The first couple of years I did it was because nobody else would do it,” he said.
As an educator, Wheeler said participating in the event is an invaluable experience.
“The kids still want me to do a character every year,” he added.
Wheeler said he’ll dress up again this year, but he declined to reveal as whom.
“It’s going to be a blast,” he said. “If you don’t show up, you’ll be missing a lot.”