Tonbridge HAS talent....

So did Tonbridge have talent? Most emphatically the answer is YES. Ok a few of the 19 acts were alot stronger than some of the others but, on the whole the standard was once again very high. I did what I consider to be the easy bit sitting on the panel of judges looking like something between Piers Morgan and Louis Walsh and acting more like a slightly less cruel Simon Cowell. I must apologise to the singer in the very first act, Jack Rosies, I jokingly said that he wasn't aloud to wear hoodies and, bless him, he took it down sharpish and said that he hoped he hadn't caused any offence. If only all hoody wearers were that polite! From that moment on I had the audience against me, hissing at my every word. OK not quite that but, hey look, I was only being honest and telling it as I saw and heard it. There were many many interesting and wonderful performances by children and young adults from ages 10 to 17 from a wide variety of schools in the area so the judging was particularly difficult this year. Actually not really because this year there were three or four performances which shone out and screamed me me me much louder and brighter than the others (lovely mixed metaphors there!) Some of the acts were technically brilliant but not performed with great enthusiasm and charisma, others were the opposite: brilliantly performed but with little technical or musical skill. There was one young girl who had it all though and came out a clear winner for me anyway: Asha Parkinson played "Alfie's Theme" a solo on the saxophone and I tell you, for a girl of about eleven, she was absolutely fantastic. In fact for a man of about 45 she'd have been equally as brilliant. She had it all, and like all great performers she made it look effortless, I actually thought for a few moments that she must be miming to a backing track but it really was her; if you closed your eyes you could have been listening to The Bird himself, Charlie Parker, or the magnificent Courtney Pine it really was that good. If I were Simon Cowell I'd have signed her up right there on the spot for here is a girl with a serious musical future and make no mistake. I think that I may have embarrassed Holly Wellington during my comments in front of a four hundred strong audience by remarking that on her Twitter profile she has the audacity to claim to be "the next big thing" but settled her down by saying that she may just be right. Holly didn't win the first prize but she may have well have done as she was awarded sponsor Gift Daze's special prize of a day in a professional recording studio where they'll help her to produce a top quality demo tape. Holly has a lovely rich, slightly gravelly voice which is quite unique and she was singing a beautiful song called Through the Dark which she'd written herself. She was quite superb. The other prizes went to the Cowdrey Twins who sang a medley of harmonies and were nothing at all like those other infamous twins Jedward. They looked more like a couple of rugby players than singers but boy did they sound great. Jody Zimmerman came in joint second along side the twins, having tap danced  her heart out to "Where he ain't" Her performance was worthy of the West End where indeed she has performed already as Marta Von Trapp in The Sound of Music and in Les Miserables at the Queen's Theatre. The third prize had to be split 33 ways as the Ukelele Orchestra from TGS plucked sang and strummed to "Begging" by the Four Seasons which certainly had the whole audience clapping along and tapping their feet to the beat. They filled the stage with their lovely music; just think what a better place the world would be if every one played Ukelele! Now there's a thought my solution to world disharmony: every one is issued with a uke and forced to be able to play at least six chords! The whole night was hugely entertaining and clearly showed that Tonbridge most definitely has talent in abundance....