Do you have what it takes?

Lions Camp Merrick seeks rising stars for ‘Idol’ competition

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Click here to enlarge this photo Staff photo by STACY SNEED Amber Clark, 19, auditions at the BrewHouse in La Plata for Lions Camp Merrick Idol. Judges for the idol competition are seeking talented singers for its September show. E-Mail This Article | Print This Story

With auditions held for the second week in a row, budding singers are keeping their fingers crossed, hoping for a shot to prove they have talent. The Lions Camp Merrick Idol competition offers an opportunity to showcase local singing talent and provide a venue where contestants can compete for a $1,000 prize.

The nonprofit Lions organization provides traditional camp opportunities to children with special needs, specifically deaf or hard of hearing, blind and⁄or diabetic kids 6 to 16.

Last year, Camp Merrick officials decided to produce a talent competition, and because of its entertainment value and financial success, decided to hold another contest this year. The show is modeled after the FOX network’s popular ‘‘American Idol.”

Singers Sara Cauler, Monique Brooks and Amber Clark were some of the potential ‘‘idols” who auditioned last weekend. The judges for the competition are Mike Gahan, Byx Bullock and Greg Floberg.

Nineteen-year-old Clark of Hughesville apologized emphatically as she ran into the door at the last minute with a friend at Friday’s audition. She asked if she was too late as two of the judges were wrapping up their evening of auditions.

Clark who was one of eight finalists in last year’s competition was welcomed to approach the stage to show the judges what they might have missed last year.

The remaining crowd in the BrewHouse Live venue in La Plata waited until she approached the stage. A few skeptics in the audience listened closely until she began to belt out Aretha Franklin’s ‘‘Chain of Fools.”

One competitor nodded her head in approval and said, ‘‘She’s good.”

But Clark might have been a little better than good as she received applause as she exited the stage. Whispers of her talent floated in the air after her performance.

She might have the ‘‘it” the judges said they were looking for, as Bullock and Floberg appeared to be drawn to her performance.

Bullock who owns Bullock’s Piano Salon in White Plains said, ‘‘Every judge looks for ‘it’ and when you hear it, you know it. With Norah Jones, the first time you heard her, Did you not say she has it? Alicia Keys, the same thing, with the first time hearing her. You don’t have to be a music critic to hear it, you just know it.”

‘‘The last five [singers] I heard are contenders and are going on. We had weaker talent [in previous auditions], but tonight I’m really glad I’m part of it,” he said prior to Clark’s performance.

However, his comment was directed to include Cauler’s and Brooks’ auditions.

Cauler, 25, of Waldorf sang ‘‘Angel” by Sara McLaughlin.

‘‘I saw the announcement in the paper, and I thought it would be good for auditioning practice. I chose something pop specific. I found a track which I could practice with. It’s a good song.”

Brooks, 20, of Upper Marlboro chose an Ella Fitzgerald classic, ‘‘Someone to Watch Over Me.”

‘‘I wanted something that showed a little bit of my range, but wouldn’t mess with my nerves,” she said admitting she was nervous about the audition. ‘‘My piano teacher suggested I audition, and I thought it would be fun. ... In the fifth-grade I auditioned for a musical and that’s when I started singing. You’ll be able to hide your nervousness a little bit. But I was nervous even about driving here because I’ve never been to the BrewHouse before.”

‘‘I really like the song you chose,” Bullock told Brooks after her performance.

Cauler, who is able to read music and play instruments such as the guitar, piano, flute and clarinet, also seemed to have what the judges were looking for.

‘‘Tonight you could tell the singers had performance education,” Bullock said. ‘‘[Auditioning] takes guts.”

Gahan, who is a member of Port Tobacco Players and a part of the Family and Friends Quartet, said he looks for pitch and whether they can hold it.

‘‘That’s very high in my book,” Bullock interjected.

Gahan said, ‘‘Most choose the right one for themselves.”

Floberg, who is a development⁄executive director with the camp and who has 40 years of singing and guitar experience, said he knows it’s easy to lose pitch and tone during auditions.

Other things the judges look for in their participants are whether they are really into the song and the audition.

‘‘If they are really showing they are really into it, it shows. It’s something you don’t just see, but feel,” Gahan said.

Show business is about appearances too, Bullock added.

‘‘People who are attractive and are what the public wants and would want to pay to see, is also important,” he said. ‘‘[Luciano] Pavarotti [the famous Italian tenor] wasn’t attractive, but there’s only one Pavarotti. [Judges] are only going to remember two types of people: the exotic girl who is different and beautiful or the man who just got the look. You’ll accept a Pavarotti because he’s so damn good ... but we’re just looking in Charles County.”

Last year’s Camp Merrick Idol winner was Sue Davis.

‘‘She had the talent from semifinals to finals. The crowd liked her. She sang a song everyone could identify with. She just worked the crowd. She’s a natural, and we had a lot of talent last year,” Floberg said.

Cauler disclosed to the judges that she picked up her song the day before and memorized it the day of the audition. She had to use a cheat sheet to help her along.

‘‘You lose a few points for that,” Floberg said soon afterward.

Clark, who said she’s been singing for 17 years — according to her mom she started performing at age 7 when she was at church. She chose the Aretha Franklin song simply because she ‘‘loves it.”

‘‘It’s fun, and I don’t really get nervous anymore. I don’t really get nervous until afterward. The adrenaline makes me feel good. And the audition it something to look forward to, I guess,” said Clark, who is the only female band member of The Wanderers.

Despite who might or might not move on to the next round, Bullock said it’s important for hopefuls to continue auditioning.

‘‘Keep learning and listening. It’s the key to staying alive in music and listening to what appeals to you,” he said.

‘‘Make the song your own to some extent. Bring the feeling out,” Floberg said. ‘‘I was looking for songs with all-around appeal. Opera only appeals to a small group of people. People enjoy listening to songs they’ve heard before. The old stuff is familiar, and they love it.”

Gahan said, ‘‘Never stop trying. It took Ray Charles many years to find his own voice. And eye contact ... if the contestant is looking at the judges, it works. They are making a connection. You just know when they’ve got it and when they don’t have it.”