By Bill, Marlene and Susan from Andes Works!
Fire Department and Auxiliary volunteers man the grill.
The first annual Andes “Battle of the Bands” was a great success! Even the rain held off until the following day. The participating bands were all committed and talented musicians receiving fervent applause from the audience of over 100 people. In attendance were Andes Town Supervisor Marty Donnelly and his wife Yvonne, Peg Ellsworth from The MARK Project, and surprise guest Joe Ferla. A four time Grammy winning Sound Engineer, Ferla oversaw the sound mix for our show in Andes and for Jezz Harken’s and Terry Doyle’s flawless simulcast over WIOX radio. The three judges, Lonnie Chin, Kally Lauther and Tristan Tait, all recent graduates or current students from Andes Central School, determined the outcome of the competition: First Prize was awarded to Atlas Arrows, from Binghamton; Second Prize to Avid Rox from Walton; and Third Prize to Hello, Seattle from Oneonta.
The band P2 Performs.
4 time Grammy winner sound engineer Joe Ferla oversees sound mix – with Russ Kanser of Kanerous Prod at the sound board.
Our communities may exist miles apart, but they are connected by people who embrace the challenge of redefining ‘possible’, especially when it’s for the community! On July 14th, the Andes “Battle of the Bands” celebrated the entrepreneurship, the expertise, and the compassionate spirit of many people from different communities who came together as one with the desire to create a musical venue for younger musicians. We received the help and support of people not only from Andes, but also from Stamford, Roxbury, and Margaretville. We had zero dollars for advertising, but The Catskill Mountain News, The Walton Reporter, the Watershed Post, The Andes Gazette, The Delaware County Times, and The Daily Star believed our event to be newsworthy and gave us the print coverage we needed. The collective commitment from the Margaretville Telephone Company and WIOX Radio put the Andes “Battle of the Bands” on FM radio! People were tuned in via 91.3FM, and by streaming over the Internet! Putting this event together (in just three months) we experienced the rewards of local entrepreneurship as well! Those of us from Andes Works! who participated in the organization and set-up of this event want to thank the amazing people from our Fire Department and Auxiliary who were always ahead of us, who volunteered a lot of personal time, and sweat, toward making this a successful event for Andes. A special thanks to Andes Fire Chief Joe Berghammer who is as compassionate as he is commanding. And to Dick Winner, who understood the importance of establishing a venue for our community, and all those involved in the construction of the Fire Hall Pavilion, Thank YOU for this amazing gift to Andes. The Pavilion played an important role in the success of this first annual Andes, “Battle of the Bands”. We are so proud to announce that WIOX Radio, and Joe Berghammer along with Andes Works! are gearing up for: Gotta Get Band – July 20th – Andes 2013! (more info re 2013 to come at: www.andesworks.com) ~
WIOX Jezz Harkin with Andes Town Supervisor Marty Donnelly