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Williamsburg Live Singer-Songwriter Competition Local Talent Shines in the Spotlight March 2005
"Be honest," he tells the judges, made up of two major label talent scouts and yours truly. "That's the main thing. If they suck they suck." More than two hours, and 25 mostly acoustic guitar-toting troubadours later, Levitt was singing a different tune. "There was a lot of talent out there tonight," he beamed, to the agreement of the judges as they tallied up the points - the performers are judged on a scale of 1-5 in five categories including performance, songwriting ability and lyrics - for the evening's contestants. The contestants with the three highest point totals would move on to the 12-person final show 10 days later at Galapagos. "I can honestly say that nobody flat-out sucked," he continued. "They were really, really good." It's nearly three weeks later and the competition has long since finished up its four-night run. Levitt, nursing a ginger ale on a stool in the empty Laila Lounge, still shakes his head in amazement when asked about the collective talent level of the 100 total performers, but admits he's already looking to next year. "I was really impressed," he says. "The talent pool was phenomenal this year. I knew a lot of the (performers), so I knew what they could do and how good they were. But what surprised me was how good everyone, with a few exceptions, seemed to be. What's telling is that a lot of the finalists from last year didn't make the finals this year. I've gotten several requests from record labels for CDs from a lot of the performers. There's a lot of interest. The talent is that strong."
A vice president for an online healthcare information website, Levitt was soon spending his free time auditioning acts and listening to demo tapes from artists looking to get one of four 30-minute slots at Laila Lounge every Wednesday night. And, once again, he realized quickly he was dealing with some legitimate musicians. "It was really a labor of love," he says. "I was doing all of this and I was doing it for free. But it was worth it because some amazing musicians started walking in and playing. We weren't talking about some suburban open night. Williamsburg has a lot of musicians, and if you start something like this on a prime block, you're going to get some good people. Going on three years later, we're still getting them." And people are starting to notice.
Eventually, as the showcase continued to grow, Levitt made good on a promise he'd made to Platner. "I kept telling Roni I was going to do something and I was going to make it bigger," Levitt says, playing with the straw in his now half-empty glass of soda. "In October of 2003 I got the idea to start a competition. "And I guess that's kind of where we are today." The first year, 60 musicians - mostly culled from the rather extensive e-mail list he'd gathered since starting the showcase - competed for a grand prize of $500 over the course of four weeks. It was considered a success at the time, but Levitt only saw ways to build upon what he'd created. This year, the number of contestants nearly doubled, the first prize literally doubled, and, with the help of some key sponsors (guitar store chain Sam Ash among them), the entire competition was over in 10 days. And, perhaps most importantly, it incorporated more of the neighborhood as Trash Bar, Lucky Cat, Blu Lounge and Galapagos joined Laila Lounge as hosts of individual rounds of the competition. "I think one of the best things that happened this year is that (this contest) made it clear to people out there, whether it is the venues or the fans, that this scene is something that is going to get support and Gabriel has a lot to do with that," Royale says. He's one of the most committed and sincerely involved people I know in terms of the development of this songwriting scene in Williamsburg. The contest is secondary to the fact that there is a 'scene' of people out there who are not alone in their quest. His passion and support of them is the heart and soul of the whole thing." And already, there's more in the works. While he still hosts his weekly showcase, Levitt has started Jezebel Music, a promotion company that will have the first definitive website of the Williamsburg music community. It will feature a new artist every month, book shows and provide an outlet for the distribution of local music, including a live recording of the finals of the competition itself. "I think people really want to know what's going on out here," he says. "The response from the community has already been great. There's a definite buzz. The finals at Galapagos were wall-to-wall people and that was based largely on word-of-mouth. The goal is to build on that. We want to put Williamsburg and the music scene on the national map as it continues to grow." The winner of this year's Williamsburg Live Singer Songwriter Competition, Theo Eastwind, will be featured in next month's issue of Block Magazine in Uproar: Only Your Music as well as featured on this site. |
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