Star Quest district auditions come to an end

Patricia Plummer sings the Alicia Keys’ song ‘Falling’	Mark Demercado, sings ‘One in a Million’ at GT district Star Quest	A member of Zig Zag Tribe sang a Rastafarian rap- style song
KGB first debuted the previous Saturday in West Bay and returned last Saturday with resilience and made space for a spot to return in the semi-finals
A local guitarist sang while he played a tune and made his way into the semi-finals

This local singer sang with all his heart and made it to the semi-finals	This artist fought to return, unfortunately he didn’t make it to the semis

by Christopher Tobutt

Wednesday, August 18, 2004

Excitement mounted at the last of the district rounds of Caymans Star Quest talent contest took place last Saturday in George Town at the Family Life Centre on Walkers Road.

In keeping with the pattern set by previous auditions, many more contestants registered this week than in previous weeks, with total numbers of performers reaching 62 in number. The hopeful contestants nervously waited outside the auditorium, waiting for their number to be called, like patients in a dentist’s waiting room.

Among them was Patricia Plummer, who is no stranger to fame, having previously headlined the highly successful Hot Steppers dance troupe.

“I’m excited,” she said. “I’m here like everybody else to try to win, but in a way I was scared to come, because I don’t think that I have a chance.”

Inside, one of the performers, Mark Demercado, who was taking a day off from working at Superior Auto, enthralled the audience by singing ‘One in a Million,’ in his rich baritone voice. “I think that you’re an excellent crowd-pleaser,” one of the judges remarked, as another congratulated Mark on getting through to the semi-finals.

Performer Shari had come back for another try after failing her a-cappella performance in West Bay the previous Saturday. This time she was armed with a backing tape, and despite a technical hitch when the backing tape refused to work, her tenacity paid off: “Professional performance, congratulations, you are through,” the judges said.

Rastafarian band, Zig Zag Tribe’s hard-hitting lyrics, “Look at you in your limousine, your heart is dirty, but you’re clothes are clean…” went down well with the audience, but the judges had their reservations, and the band failed to go through to the finals. With one or two exceptions, the audience was extremely supportive throughout the audition, especially where they could see the performers had the courage to try something original, or when they could see that they approached the performance with extra verve, and could often be heard cheering amid the performances, or clapping along to the rhythm of a song.

Cable and Wireless’ CEO, Tim Adam, explained why the telecom company wanted to support this event: “This is a fantastic way to do one of the things that we in Cable and Wireless strive to do, which is to help people reach their full potential,” he said. Patricia Plummer finally got her chance to perform, after a long wait, and held the audience spellbound with her rendering of the Alicia Keys’ ‘Falling’.

“I just want to win,” said Patricia, “I hope everybody will come out there and support me. I want to make everybody proud,” she said.

The semi-finals of Cayman Star Quest take place Saturday at the Triple C School Hall starting at 10 am.

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