John Danielson, WATT / TCW2 Youth Co-Chair writes…

We wish to thank Liz Cobbs for writing such a great feature article about the Washtenaw Area Teens for Tomorrow (WATT) and the Teen Center Without Walls (TCW2) initiatives. We are delighted that word is getting out on our projects so quickly. The WATT directors saw the article (published in the Ann Arbor News Saturday, February 25^th), and they could not have been happier!

I am writing you today to give you some feedback on the successes of our first event, “The Battle of The Bands and All That.”. The show went on almost seamlessly. The crowd totaled approximately 400, which made for a great audience for the bands, and a great starting start to getting our message out to the youths in this community.

After measuring crowd response with a deciblemeter, which gauges sound level, we determined our event's victors.

In third place, winning $50, was a Band from Lincoln High School called "On The Rise." Its members include Tim Finnigan, Bobby Laurence, Scotty Holmes and David Russel.

The second place winner was "Spartacus", a band from Ypsilanti High School, and they received a $100 cash prize. Spartacus’s members are Cole Stevenson, Brent Minges, J.T. Garfield, Loren Tyra, and Travis Stumbo.

The winners of the competition was crowd-favorite "The Outfit", and they walked away with the grand prize of professional recording studio time and supplies to create a start-up album. The Outfit is also from Lincoln High School, and its members include Elly Scmitt, Zach Harris, AJ Patton and Tyler Kane.

Surprisingly, The Outfit recently finished tracking their first album, and chose to trade prizes with the second place winners, Spartacus, having no need for further recording studio time.

We plan to host another similar show in the future, and our next public meetings will be held on Mondays at Cafe Primo on Whittaker Rd. in the Paint Creek Plaza.