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Colgate Country Showdown: The next level
Updated: Saturday, September 26, 2009
Two local singers are among eight competing tonight in state final
Two local singers will compete tonight with six others in the Oregon final of the Colgate Country Showdown at The Mill Casino-Hotel in North Bend.
Clint Guevara, 18, and Melanie Mullins, 23, both of North Bend, are the local contestants, representing radio stations KBDN and KSHORE.
The winner will receive $1,000 and advance to the western regional of the national competition, also at The Mill.
When the KBDN final was held July 29, Sara Martin was declared the winner. But earlier this month, contest officials in Nashville disqualified her because she was unable to fulfill her contractual obligations, sending Guevara in her place.
Martin was too busy to meet organizers’ requests, according to her mother, Angie Martin.
After losing out to Martin initially, Guevara was excited to get a second chance. He was getting ready to start college this month at Southern Oregon University when he found out.
“It was kind of a shock at first,” he said. “Something like this never really happens. … I was in college mode. Colgate was completely out of my mind.”
He’s had a busy week, moving into his dorm in Ashland on Wednesday and then returning Thursday for tonight’s showdown.
He’ll perform two originals, both of which he used at the fair — “Put Your Hands Together” and “She’s Not Worth It.” Contestants can get up to three bonus points for original music.
“Every year that I’ve gone to see state, they pick somebody that has original music,” he said.
But Guevara didn’t want to get his hopes up.
“I’m not going there thinking I’m going to win,” he said. “I’ve done that a lot, and it just wears and tears on me.”
Mullins also will perform an original — a new one, “Time For Change” — along with the Dixie Chicks’ “Some Days You Gotta Dance.” She said she considered performing again the song that got her to state — her original “Forgotten” — but that would leave her with two slow songs.
“I’m questioning my logic because a lot of people are doing two originals,” she said.
But even if she wanted to change her mind, it’s long past the deadline, she said. She got her new song together quickly the week of the deadline.
“I wrote it on a Tuesday, went into a studio on Wednesday and turned it on Friday,” she said.
Contestants are judged on marketability, vocal and instrumental ability, originality, stage presence and talent. But Mullins had her own theory about the scoring system.
“I’ve figured out that your voice is about 90 percent,” she said. “What you look like is about 9, and everything else is about 1.”
Though this is the first year the local contest sent two winners to state, it’s not the first time two have competed there. Last year, Suzanne Randle of Coos Bay and Samantha Rogers of North Bend competed. Randle was the local winner, while Rogers, who had been the local winner in 2007, represented Newport.
This time, local organizers decided to guarantee double representation by selecting a winner for both KSHORE and KBDN, which have jointly sponsored the contest in the past. The contestants competed in the same pool through the early rounds of the competition until judges divided them into two panels of finalists at the Coos County Fair.
Like Guevara, Mullins didn’t want to get her hopes up — but she did have ideas about the prize money.
“That $1,000 would get me a pretty nice guitar,” she said.
Two local singers will compete tonight with six others in the Oregon final of the Colgate Country Showdown at The Mill Casino-Hotel in North Bend.
Clint Guevara, 18, and Melanie Mullins, 23, both of North Bend, are the local contestants, representing radio stations KBDN and KSHORE.
The winner will receive $1,000 and advance to the western regional of the national competition, also at The Mill.
When the KBDN final was held July 29, Sara Martin was declared the winner. But earlier this month, contest officials in Nashville disqualified her because she was unable to fulfill her contractual obligations, sending Guevara in her place.
Martin was too busy to meet organizers’ requests, according to her mother, Angie Martin.
After losing out to Martin initially, Guevara was excited to get a second chance. He was getting ready to start college this month at Southern Oregon University when he found out.
“It was kind of a shock at first,” he said. “Something like this never really happens. … I was in college mode. Colgate was completely out of my mind.”
He’s had a busy week, moving into his dorm in Ashland on Wednesday and then returning Thursday for tonight’s showdown.
He’ll perform two originals, both of which he used at the fair — “Put Your Hands Together” and “She’s Not Worth It.” Contestants can get up to three bonus points for original music.
“Every year that I’ve gone to see state, they pick somebody that has original music,” he said.
But Guevara didn’t want to get his hopes up.
“I’m not going there thinking I’m going to win,” he said. “I’ve done that a lot, and it just wears and tears on me.”
Mullins also will perform an original — a new one, “Time For Change” — along with the Dixie Chicks’ “Some Days You Gotta Dance.” She said she considered performing again the song that got her to state — her original “Forgotten” — but that would leave her with two slow songs.
“I’m questioning my logic because a lot of people are doing two originals,” she said.
But even if she wanted to change her mind, it’s long past the deadline, she said. She got her new song together quickly the week of the deadline.
“I wrote it on a Tuesday, went into a studio on Wednesday and turned it on Friday,” she said.
Contestants are judged on marketability, vocal and instrumental ability, originality, stage presence and talent. But Mullins had her own theory about the scoring system.
“I’ve figured out that your voice is about 90 percent,” she said. “What you look like is about 9, and everything else is about 1.”
Though this is the first year the local contest sent two winners to state, it’s not the first time two have competed there. Last year, Suzanne Randle of Coos Bay and Samantha Rogers of North Bend competed. Randle was the local winner, while Rogers, who had been the local winner in 2007, represented Newport.
This time, local organizers decided to guarantee double representation by selecting a winner for both KSHORE and KBDN, which have jointly sponsored the contest in the past. The contestants competed in the same pool through the early rounds of the competition until judges divided them into two panels of finalists at the Coos County Fair.
Like Guevara, Mullins didn’t want to get her hopes up — but she did have ideas about the prize money.
“That $1,000 would get me a pretty nice guitar,” she said.
State final
Colgate Country Showdown
The Mill Casino-Hotel, North Bend
Date: Tonight
Time: 7 p.m.
Tickets: $5
Contestants
Eight singers will compete in the Oregon final of the Colgate Country Showdown, singing two songs each. Contestants are listed with the city of the radio station they’re representing and the number of original songs they’ll be performing.
• Natalie Rae Carter, Klamath Falls, 0
• Marc Ensey, The Dalles, 1
• Windy Gish, Medford, 0
• Clint Guevara, Coos Bay “ KBDN, 2
• Jeri James, Albany, 2
• Melanie Mullins, Coos Bay “ KSHORE, 1
• Aaron Roberts, Crescent City, Calif., 0
• Katelyn Yakel, Newport, 2
Judges
• Pam de Jong
• Janice Kendall
• Jeff Norris
All three judges are involved in local theater.
De Jong has performed in two productions of “Always Patsy Cline.”
Kendall has been the musical director for several productions at Little Theatre on the Bay.
Norris is a director for Bandon Playhouse and the manager of the Sprague Community Theater.
Colgate Country Showdown
The Mill Casino-Hotel, North Bend
Date: Tonight
Time: 7 p.m.
Tickets: $5
Contestants
Eight singers will compete in the Oregon final of the Colgate Country Showdown, singing two songs each. Contestants are listed with the city of the radio station they’re representing and the number of original songs they’ll be performing.
• Natalie Rae Carter, Klamath Falls, 0
• Marc Ensey, The Dalles, 1
• Windy Gish, Medford, 0
• Clint Guevara, Coos Bay “ KBDN, 2
• Jeri James, Albany, 2
• Melanie Mullins, Coos Bay “ KSHORE, 1
• Aaron Roberts, Crescent City, Calif., 0
• Katelyn Yakel, Newport, 2
Judges
• Pam de Jong
• Janice Kendall
• Jeff Norris
All three judges are involved in local theater.
De Jong has performed in two productions of “Always Patsy Cline.”
Kendall has been the musical director for several productions at Little Theatre on the Bay.
Norris is a director for Bandon Playhouse and the manager of the Sprague Community Theater.
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The World generally does not edit comments, but we reserve the right to edit any comment that does not meet our standards.