by Lin McNulty
Winners, all:
From Top Left, Allmost Canadians, Conrad Wrobel, The M&Ms. Cali Bagby, Gregory Books, Yuko Korikawa, Kellen Comrie, Matthew the Magician, and Jake Perrine
Photo(s): Orcas Issues
An appreciative audience was treated to music ranging from Bruce Springsteen, Puccini, and Led Zeppelin’s RobertPlant/Jimmy Page, to an original composition and a Japanese song, to stand-up comedy and magic for the Orcas Has Talent Finals on Saturday, February 9.
This popular annual event is sponsored by Orcas Island Prevention Coalition and Point Blank Leadership group as their only fundraiser for the year.
The competition began at The Grange on Saturday, January 19 with auditions for tonight’s Adult Competition, as well as the Junior Finals. Tonight’s Finals at Orcas Center were hosted by John Clancy who adeptly kept things moving at a comfortable pace, with an overflow crowd watching via live feed from the Madrona Room.
The first round thrilled the audience with acts presented by the following:
- ALLmost Canadian, the energetic, enthusiastic band made up of Julia and Christian Bailey, Emmy and Lisa Carter, Kellen Comrie, Cole Smith, and Brynna Gregg.
- Conrad Wrobel in a hilarious stand-up routine outlining his years of bad car luck and the lessons learned;
- The M&Ms, the captivatingly-cute girl singing group who won the Juniors finals, along with the ability to compete with the adults;
- Cali Bagby who flat-out stunned the audience with her lyrical, powerful operatic voice;
- Greg Books with his rhythmic and courageous super-20 baritone sax;
- Yuko Horikawa with a poignant delivery of a Japanese song of heartbreak during apple blossom season;
- Kellen Comrie who totally owned the keyboard in his own original piano composition;
- Matthew Laslo White, with an astonishing magic trick that will always have me puzzled; and
- Jake Perrine, in an exuberant cover of Springsteen’s “Born to Run.
It was voting by the audience which relieved the judges, Bob Shipstad, Susan Osborn, and Gene Niery from the difficult responsibility of having to choose not only the winner, but those who would move to the next round.
After the first vote, the second round brought back ALLmost Canadian, Cali Bagby, Kellen Comrie, Matthew the Magician, the M&Ms, and Jake Perrine to again thrill the crowd.
It was then time for another vote from the audience, and the third round was down to Cali Bagby, Kellen Comrie, and Matthew the Magician.
As final votes were being tallied, Stormy Hildreth, second place winner from the Junior competition, sang a heart-felt rendition of “Over the Rainbow.”
Kellen Comrie, Orcas Has Talent winner receives a big hug after the announcement. Photo: Orcas Issues
Vote tallies were delivered to the host by Jim Shaffer-Bach, who delighted the audience with his improvised costuming and delivery method.
With such powerful talent on Orcas Island, it was not easy to pick the winner.
In the end, following Round Three, it was Kellen Comrie who walked away with the well-deserved $500 Grand Prize.
The audience, as well as all performers, walked away with smiles.
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Nice article, Lin. It was one of our favorite Orcas Has Talent shows ever! Please note that the M&M’s also made it to the second round. They were thrilled because they got to wear their fancy dresses. Thanks, Ed
Orcas Has Talent, 2013, was a wonderful show! Our 1st – you can bet it won’t be the last! We were gifted with an evening of such fine talent! Kellen is an amazingly gifted pianist as well as a composer. He was well deserving of this award as were others in the competition.