Our director told us during class today that for in the Advanced Mixed Tier II Division, Bonita Vista "The Music Machine" was actually in 2nd Place and Mt. Eden "Monarch Mirage" was in 3rd Place. Two judges had Bonita Vista in first and only one had Mt. Eden in first. And the scoring was according to Ordinal Ranking. Thanks!
Actually Chaparral took 4th, Vista took 5th, Apple Valley took 6th, and Otay Ranch took 7th!
Also,
Mady Minas from Eastlake Spotlight Ladies took home Best Female Performer.
Romeo Bautista from Eastlake Center Stage took home Best Male Soloist.
Jaime Melendrez (also from Center Stage) took home Best Male Performer.
I don't remember the name of the Best Female Soloist but I do believe she was from Chaparral!
If I remember correctly, Vista was 4th. Don't remember the rest.
Actually Chaparral took 4th, Vista took 5th, Apple Valley took 6th, and Otay Ranch took 7th!
Also,
Mady Minas from Eastlake Spotlight Ladies took home Best Female Performer.
Romeo Bautista from Eastlake Center Stage took home Best Male Soloist.
Jaime Melendrez (also from Center Stage) took home Best Male Performer.
I don't remember the name of the Best Female Soloist but I do believe she was from Chaparral!
The live stream was, in the best way possible, insane.
When I think of a live streamed competition I think of the ones with the camera at the back of the hall, one angle, 360p and not the best sound. (Not to dismiss the competitions that do that, even that in itself is deserving of praise.) But your live stream did so much more. Not only was it in the highest quality (and ran flawlessly) but it felt like you were watching some televised performance. The host interviewing judges, directors and performers was a great touch as was having the camera on stage during awards.
Probably the best live stream of any competition. Or anything. Thank you so much for it.
SoCal was an incredible experience this year for so many reasons. Sometimes it's difficult to articulate feelings, but this competition really felt like an EVENT and we did our best to share that with everyone through the live stream. Essentially we were running it like a television show this year, and there are so many moving parts that it's getting difficult to do everything we want with the budget we have (hint: it's zero). Still, there is nothing more that I enjoy than helping to preserve the quality of these INCREDIBLE shows in the best way I possibly can. To hear such wonderful feedback here, on Twitter, through personal messages, and even in the live chat room in the two seconds of free time I had to glance at it really means a lot. We will keep pushing forward to make things better and better each year!!
I want to take a moment to thank some individuals who were there on Friday and made the live production possible to exist at all. First and foremost, I want to put a spotlight on Matt Asano. Tony did the same last night by presenting him a service award, and it's really important to me to echo that sentiment. He's been my main camera operator since I started my company 2 years ago, helping to shoot everything from the Burbank Prodigal masterpiece to last night's incredible show and I simply could not pull these things off without him. He does a lot more than camera work and as a Chula Vista alum he's also working double duty to make the actual event run, so he can't get enough praise. I got home from Thursday's prep at 4 in the morning, but he didn't sleep at all - he spent the night at the venue and was up essentially 48 hours to make sure the show was perfect for every group who competed there. Never once have I heard him complain and I'm blessed to know him as a friend. Matt, you rock and I hope you know how much I appreciate you.
I also want to thank Christina Moffitino for being our correspondent "host" last night and making all of those between-group interviews happen. I had this idea after last year's show as a way to fill the time while choirs set up, but it was important to me that we got someone charasmatic to take the mic - someone who both knows what show choir is all about and could also keep the conversation flowing. I thought she did a tremendous job and is a big reason why this year's stream was so wonderful. She drove down from L.A. just to do this show and I couldn't be more grateful.
Lastly, I want to thank Mr. A for giving me free reign to try new things and push boundaries in the show choir world. We put his event on display for the whole planet to see, and his trust in allowing me to handle that means an incredible amount. From the live interviews with staff and students to throwing a camera up onstage last-minute so we could see the emotion and reaction of the winners, I was able to do so much more with this show than I normally am able. Show choir competitions are not easy things to manage by any stretch of the imagination, but he is always willing to take the jump and see how far we can take it. That creative freedom is what actually makes the 17-hour work day fun. I have no idea what we will do next, but I do know that thanks to him the sky is the limit.
This was another unbelievable year of show choir and there's no party that celebrates it more than the SoCal competition. Thanks to everyone from the Midwest for enduring the brutal time zone differences with us, and know that you are all welcome out this way if you want to experience the Cali flavor of show choir live and in person! Celebrating the music and the people is what this really is all about to me, and this year's event was one of the best yet.
Shout out to Häakon for that excellent live stream, everybody involved in organising and running that competition and to all of the amazing groups competing. I'm happy for Powerhouse finally winning a much deserved first place!
The SoCal drought was 9 competitions, right? Last win in 2004?
Incredible day of show choir in SoCal! Mr. A's emceeing was on point, Häakon's feed was flawless, and so many memorable performances. Many congrats to Powerhouse! Such a deserving group. And to Hart for ending the year with 4 consecutive GCs!
btw, if anyone knows names of best soloists/performers/additional captions, let us know and we would be happy to post them!
Thanks for posting these - I just recently started to watch the feed so I missed earlier awards.
Apparently Eastlake took 3rd in those divisions, as well, so I updated that above. Did they announce any additional placements beyond third for the intermediate mixed division?
If I remember correctly, Vista was 4th. Don't remember the rest.
Carlsbad Encore took 1st in intermediate women with Burroughs Decibelles taking 2nd.
Burroughs Soundwaves 1st in intermediate mixed. Burbank Out of the Blue took 2nd.
Thanks for posting these - I just recently started to watch the feed so I missed earlier awards.
Apparently Eastlake took 3rd in those divisions, as well, so I updated that above. Did they announce any additional placements beyond third for the intermediate mixed division?