Battle of the Bands for a Cause - Eastland's 'Fight for a Dream'

The Eastland High School Student Council and Turning Point Productions hosted a 'Battle of the Bands" on Saturday, April 4th at Eastland High School. The majority of the proceeds will be given to the Make a Wish Foundation. Because the amount collected exceeded the goal set, they will also be able to give a donation to the three local benefits including the Josh Meador Benefit, the Dylan Preston Benefit, and the Reyna Hubbard Benefit. The event was well attended by family, friends, and fans of the five bands in attendance.

The idea to hold a "Battle" originated with J Albertson, a student at Eastland High School and a member of the Upward Bound Program offered at Highland Community College. A new requirement of this program was to put into place a community service project. With the help of the student council and Turning Point Productions (which consists of former Eastland students Kevin Strope and David Taylor), J saw his idea come to life on April 4th.

The battle of the bands, called the "Fight for a Dream", was judged by the band Downplay (who also run Turning point productions). The judging was based on talent, stage presence, performance, originality, and crowd response. Downplay watched each band and recorded their scores, then took an overall crowd response check after each band. The results were tallied up by Lane Lessman and school principal Mr. Jay Ritchie while Downplay took the stage as the closing act.

Evan Atherton from the band Everly, who took 1st place, and then graciously donated their prize money to the Make A Wish Foundation. (Photos-article courtesy of Kevin Strope/TPP)

At the end of the night the results were finalized and the winners announced by J. Albertson and Lane Lessman. Coming in 2nd place was the Milledgeville-based punk band Infidel Castrones. In 1st place was the power pop band Everly from the Savanna/Thomson area. Everly then decided to donate their cash winnings back to the Make a Wish Foundation.

Participating bands included: Haley Dorsch from Stockton, As Bees in Honey Drown from Eastland, Everly from West Carroll, and Infidel Castrones from Milledgeville. To see all the local bands and hear their music please visit www.turningpointproductions.net and click on each under the bands section tab.

"Thank you to everyone who made the night a great success," said EHS teacher MaryBeth Landherr. "We would like to thank all the local sponsors, promoters, fans, friends, and loved ones who made the event possible. The goal of the event was to promote local talent and raise money for those less fortunate."

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