{"id":12510,"date":"2014-07-03T10:15:52","date_gmt":"2014-07-03T14:15:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/?p=12510"},"modified":"2014-07-03T09:50:11","modified_gmt":"2014-07-03T13:50:11","slug":"on-stage-youth-is-served-at-flash-music-challenge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/?p=12510","title":{"rendered":"On Stage: Youth is served at Flash Music Challenge"},"content":{"rendered":"

Eight local bands to battle at Kennett venue, Sat. & Sun.<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

By Denny Dyroff<\/strong>,\u00a0Correspondent, The Times<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"TheFloats\"<\/a>

The Floats are among eight local bands taking part in the \u201cThe Summer Music Challenge — Battle of the Bands\u201d at The Flash in Kennett this weekend.<\/p><\/div>\n

Many of the area\u2019s music venues are taking a little break over the Independence Day holiday but not The Flash.<\/p>\n

The Flash (102 Sycamore Alley, Kennett Square, 484-732-8295,\u00a0www.kennettflash.org<\/a>) is going full tilt on July 5 and 6 with \u201cThe Summer Music Challenge — Battle of the Bands.\u201d Eight bands will be vying for the title. Three from the preliminary round on June 5 will advance to the finals on July 6.<\/p>\n

On Saturday, the doors will open at 4:30 p.m. Tickets can be purchased at the door or on line at a cost of $8. There will be limited seating and all seating will be on a first-come, first-served basis. There will also be standing room.<\/p>\n

Each band gets to play a 15-minute set with the goal of impressing the judges and audience enough to get an invitation to the next round. Music will start at 5 p.m. with .<\/p>\n

Lower the Standard will perform at 5:30 p.m. followed by The Absolute Sky (6 p.m.), The Dream Catchers (6:45 p.m.), The Floats (7:15 p.m.), Vinyl Artifacts (7:45 p.m.), The Young (8:15 p.m.), Skugg (8:45 p.m.) and Three for Five (9:15 p.m.) There will 30-minute intermissions at 6:15 and 8 p.m.<\/p>\n

\"MattandMarissa\"<\/a>

Matt and Marissa are among the eight bands competing this weekend at The Flash in Kennett Square.<\/p><\/div>\n

On July 6, the doors will open at 1:30 p.m. and the music will start at 2 p.m. with each band performing a 30-minute set. At the conclusion of the three acts\u2019 performances, the grand winner will be announced.<\/p>\n

The various bands feature many young musicians from all around Chester County but the school with the most musicians in the event is Kennett High. Skugg and Three for Five have a number of Kennett students and grads, including Bryan Moriarity who is a member of both bands.<\/p>\n

\u201cSkugg is Liam Warren on guitars and vocals, Miles Wistar on drums and me on bass,\u201d said Moriarity, a Kennett grad who is heading to Penn State in the fall. \u201cWe had been jamming together but were in different bands. About three months ago, we started making our own music.<\/p>\n

\u201cLiam came up with the name Skugg. It has no real meaning. But, we do have a unique sound. We\u2019re influenced by funk and by bands like Cream and Queen. You could say that we play heavy punk rock.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"1979693_634717146607493_8264529498113601358_n\"<\/a>In Three for Five, Moriarity plays trombone along with Jeff Hauptschein. The band\u2019s huge line-up also features Jason Kim on bass, Sanjay Yeleswarm on trumpet,\u00a0 Jake Zeneszk on guitar, Jack Weber on drums, Matt Madonna on vocals and Toni Adetayo, P.J. O\u2019Sullivan and Joey Kitching on saxophones.<\/p>\n

\u201cThree for Five has been together a little over a year and we\u2019ve played a lot of shows already,\u201d said Kim, a Kennett grad who now attends Northeastern University. \u201cWe have a lot of instruments and a ska sound. But, I wouldn\u2019t really consider us as a ska band. It\u2019s more punk with horns.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Floats are a family affair with a pair of brothers —\u00a0Matt Subers (guitar, backup vocals) and Chris Subers (drums) — and a cousin Sean Grahn (bass). Rounding out the quarter is lead vocalist Aubrey DeMedio.<\/p>\n

The family vibe came naturally for the Subers. Their mother Robin Saddic Subers and their aunt Kim Saddic Makki had a family vibe going when they were top-flight athletes at West Chester Henderson a few years back.<\/p>\n

\u201cMe and my brother started playing together about five years ago and Sean joined us a year later,\u201d said Matt Subers, who will be a senior at Bishop Shanahan in the fall.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were doing an open mic at Chaplin\u2019s in Spring City about three years ago. Aubrey was doing karaoke that night so she joined us. She started out as a guest singer and now she\u2019s our lead singer.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe play a bunch of styles from classic rock to modern pop. Our main influences are the Red Hot Chili Pepppers, the Foo Fighters, Led Zeppelin, Evanesence, the Black Keys and Rush. One of our recent shows was at the St. Joseph\u2019s Carnival in Downingtown a few weeks ago.\u201d<\/p>\n

Matt & Marissa hail from Denver. But, it\u2019s but not the Denver in the Rocky Mountains — it\u2019s the Denver just outside Reading. The acoustic duo features\u00a0Marissa Cutts on vocals, rhythm guitar and ukulele and Matt Anderson on lead guitar and occasional vocals.<\/p>\n

They joined together musically in December 2012 and began playing cover versions of rock classics. Matt & Marissa\u2019s list of influences includes the Beatles, Amy Winehouse, Bob Dylan, Simon & Garfunkel, John Mayer and Dawes.<\/p>\n

With the Dream Catchers, if you do an internet search for a band with that name, you\u2019ll find an Australian trio that plays Celtic folk, an acoustic pop band from Iceland and a retro band from Romania. You won\u2019t find the trio known as the Dream Catchers that will be at The Flash this weekend.<\/p>\n

This version of the Dream Catchers is a trio of\u00a0 young musicians from southern Chester County — Ryan Dowdall on guitar and lead vocals, his brother Kevin Dowdall on drums and Ben Berdulay on bass.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just graduated from Avon Grove,\u201d said Ryan Dowdall. \u201cMy brother still goes to Avon Grove and Ben is from Oxford. We\u2019ve been together for a little while now.\u00a0 Recently, we won another battle of the bands and got some studio time. So, we\u2019ll go for an EP soon.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur band is a total \u201970\u2019s band. The music we love is all from the 1970s. Aerosmith, Tom Petty and the Black Crowes are big influences. With my guitar influence, it\u2019s Jeff Beck. My brother is a natural drummer and John Bonham is his favorite drummer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lower the Standard is another band featuring students from Kennett High and Unionville High —\u00a0Jack Duncan on guitar and vocals, Shawn O’Donnell on guitar and vocals, Steven Stewart on bass and Alec Weaver on drums.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe started in December last year,\u201d said O\u2019Donnell. \u201cJack went to my school (Unionville) so I knew him from there. Steven played drums in another band and Alec had the same music teacher as me.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve played 15 gigs since we started — Newark, West Chester and some Philly shows. I\u2019d describe our music as indie-pop-punk. Bands we like a lot are Say Anything, Blink 182, Brand New Day and Modern Baseball.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Absolute Sky is a musical project by Branden Bauer.\u00a0\u00a0According to Bauer, he writes the songs and The Absolute Sky is \u201ca rotating cast of amazing musicians and friends of mine.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Philadelphia-based singer-songwriter-guitarist recently released The Absolute Sky\u2019s debut album \u201cForever, Just Like This.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Flash will also present a show on Sunday night — an \u2018Open Mic\u201d night featuring Sam Kwietniak. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. and the music is slated to start at 7 p.m. Admission is $4 and there is a $4 BYOB charge.<\/p>\n

On July 9, The Flash will host \u201cTeen Night\u201d — a summer dance party and concert featuring DJ J. Gillie and Kevin McCove, two of the area\u2019s top young hip hop\/R & B artists. Showtime is7 p.m. and tickets are $16 in advance and $20 day of show.<\/p>\n

July 9 is also the date of another area show — a show with an unusual format that will be held at Burlap & Bean Coffeehouse (204 South Newtown Street Road, Newtown Square, 484-427-4547,www.burlapandbean.com<\/a>).<\/p>\n

\"MichaBoyette\"<\/a>

Micha Boyett and Catherine Prewitt are the co-headliners for unique words and music performance, July 9 at Burlap & Bean in Newtown.<\/p><\/div>\n

Micha Boyett and Catherine Prewitt are the co-headliners for the free show that lists a starting time of 7 p.m.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re calling it \u2018A night of Music and Words,\u2019\u201d said Boyett, during a phone interview this week. \u201cIt\u2019s a combination of a concert and a book reading, which is pretty unusual. I\u2019m excited to be a part of it.<\/p>\n

\u201cCatherine will come on first and play a few songs. Then, I\u2019ll come onstage. I\u2019ll probably reads a chapter from my book \u2018Found\u2019 — maybe one about my struggle with faith — and then have a Q&A session. After that, Catherine will come back and play more songs.\u201d<\/p>\n

The full title of Boyett\u2019s new book is \u201cFound: A Story of Questions, Grace, and Everyday Prayer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Boyett lived in Devon for a number of years — close to Conestoga High, her husband Chris Hohorst\u2019s alma mater.<\/p>\n

\u201cI got a degree in English at Hardin-Simmons and then a MFA in poetry at Syracuse University,\u201d said Boyett. \u201cWhile I was in Syracuse, I got involved with Young Life which is a Christian ministry that works with kids. When I finished my masters\u2019 degree, I wanted to write and to keep working with high school students.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe moved to Philly when my husband got a job there. That\u2019s when my book started. It\u2019s about the struggle of having spiritual life along with motherhood. It\u2019s a memoir about trying to rediscover prayer — what it means to have a spiritual life when you have no time.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had my first child in Philly. As a mother, I was staying at home full-time. It was really hard to know who I was. It was hard to make sense of it. I wanted to make that mundane time into something useful. I wanted to learn how to live a more contemplative life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Boyett completed the book once she moved from the East Coast to San Francisco. \u201cFound\u201d came out in April of this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cWriting about motherhood has given me a new perspective — a new platform,\u201d said Boyett.<\/p>\n

Prewitt, a Philadelphia-based folk singer and songwriter, also creates works that have her Christian faith in their DNA — and also was a writing major in college.<\/p>\n

\u201cI started writing in college when I was majoring in creative writing at the University of Pennsylvania,\u201d said Prewitt, during a phone interview earlier this week. \u2018Most of my work in music grew out of writing. I\u2019m always going to be a writer. I\u2019m taking poetry classes right now.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I graduated from college in 2009, I started taking songwriting more seriously. I did a year-long fellowship focused on Christian theology at the Trinity Forum Academy on Maryland\u2019s on the Eastern Shore. I was also writing songs and studying music theory.<\/p>\n

\u201cI moved back to Philadelphia with all new songs. I began playing shows last summer and throughout the fall. I was playing the Tin Angel, World Caf\u00e9 Live and The Fire. Most of the time, I play solo — just me and my guitar. Every now and then, I\u2019ll play with a pianist and a cellist.\u201d<\/p>\n

Prewitt recently released a five-song EP titled \u201cChanticleer, Certain Hope.\u201d<\/p>\n

The title is taken from Chanticleer, an estate with a awesome garden in Wayne that is open to the public.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wrote a lot of the songs on the EP there at Chanticleer,\u201d said Prewitt. \u201cMy influences include Sufjan Stevens, Paul Simon and Patty Griffin. But, I don\u2019t really think of myself as a songwriter. I\u2019m a poet and a vocalist who makes music.\u201d<\/p>\n

Also on July 9, the World Caf\u00e9 Live at the Queen (500 North Market Street, Wilmington, 302- 994-1400,\u00a0www.queen.worldcafelive.com<\/a>) will present a concert by Marshall Crenshaw and the Bottle Rockets at 9 p.m. Tickets are $20.<\/p>\n

Crenshaw, who performed at the Flash back in May, tours solo most of the time but now and then performs shows with a full band.<\/p>\n

\u201cI play shows occasionally with the band the Bottle Rockets,\u201d said Crenshaw, during a recent phone interview from his home in upstate New York. \u201cMore often, it\u2019s just me by myself.\u201d<\/p>\n

Crenshaw, who has established a reputation as a talented singer-songwriter, rarely tours and only does a handful of live dates each year.\u00a0\u00a0His latest\u00a0endeavor is a subscription-only service that addresses the recent changes in the music business by cutting out the middle man (the record company) and distributing new recordings directly to fans.<\/p>\n

On July 3, the Ardmore Music Hall (23 East Lancaster Avenue, Ardmore, 610-649-8389,\u00a0www.ardmoremusic.com<\/a>) will once again host Splintered Sunlight. The show by the popular area Grateful Dead tribute band will start at 9:30 p.m. Tickets are $10.<\/p>\n

\"KJM-Cadets-3362\"<\/a>

On Sunday, 10 of the world\u2019s top competitive drum and bugle corps will be appearing at PPL Park (in Chester for the \u201cDrum Corps: An American Tradition.\u201d<\/p><\/div>\n

On\u00a0July 6, 10 of the world\u2019s top competitive drum and bugle corps will be appearing at PPL Park (1 Stadium Drive, Chester) for the \u201cDrum Corps: An American Tradition\u201d\u00a0event. This is the region’s first appearance by these groups which hail from Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Georgia, Ohio, North Carolina and Massachusetts.<\/p>\n

\u201cDrum Corps: An American Tradition\u201d begins at 6 p.m. Tickets are $25 forValue Reserved, $35 for Reserved, $55 for Premium Reserved and $85 for exclusive VIP seating. Tickets are available online at\u00a0www.yea.org\/tickets<\/a>\u00a0and at the box office the day of the event. For more information, call (877) 512-TUBA.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Eight local bands to battle at Kennett venue, Sat. & Sun. By Denny Dyroff,\u00a0Correspondent, The Times Many of the area\u2019s music venues are taking a little break over the Independence Day holiday but not The Flash. The Flash (102 Sycamore Alley, Kennett Square, 484-732-8295,\u00a0www.kennettflash.org) is going full tilt on July 5 and 6 with \u201cThe […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12505,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51,4],"tags":[4869,4870,4860,4576,4859,4868,4866,4861,4862,107,4863,4865,4867,4864],"class_list":["post-12510","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-entertainment","category-featured","tag-catherine-prewitt","tag-drum-corps-an-american-traditio","tag-lower-the-standard","tag-marshall-crenshaw","tag-matt-marissa","tag-micha-boyett","tag-skugg","tag-the-absolute-sky","tag-the-dream-catchers","tag-the-flash","tag-the-floats","tag-the-young","tag-three-for-five","tag-vinyl-artifacts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12510","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12510"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12510\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/12505"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12510"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12510"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12510"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}