2011 CABARET SHOWCASE SHOWDOWN OVERVIEW

Continuing the tradition, 3 years and counting!

BEST SHOWTUNES Contest was held on Sunday, January 23rd with guest judges F. Allen Sawyer and Ed Decker.  The
                                    winner:  Alyssa Stone.  Runners-up:  Cameron Cummings and Caleb Draper.

BEST MALE CROONER Contest was held on Sunday, February 6th with guest judges Russ Lorenson and Alan Choy.  
                                    The winner:  John Kiyasu.  Runners-up:  Tom Stafford and Jonathan Reisfeld.

BEST ART SONG Contest was held on Sunday, March 6th with guest judges Madame Jo and Kitten on the Keys. The winner: David Korn. Runners-up: Alyssa Stone, Litz Plummer and Bill Fahrner.

BEST R&B/URBAN POP Contest was held on Sunday, April 3rd with guest judges Marilynn Fowler and Erik Walker. The winner: Eric Ward. Runners-up: Dennis Sanchez and Charlie Galindo (Shakey Gibson).

BEST BURLESQUE/VARIETY/COMEDY Contest was held on Sunday, May 1st with guest judges Lady Monster and Douglas Good. The winner: Lynn Ruth Miller. Runner-up: Tom Stafford.

BEST JAZZ Contest was held on Sunday, July 24th with guest judges Linda Kosut and Jason Brock. The winner: Mark Johnson. Runners-up: Dennis Sanchez and Donald Arquilla.

BEST ORIGINAL MATERIAL (Singer/Songwriter) Contest was held on Sunday, August 7th with guest judges Lua Hadar and Katy Stephan. The winner: Benjamin Francis. First runner-up: Lauren Pehoski. Second runners-up (3-way tie): Mark Johnson, Brendan Getzell and Erika Von Volkyrie.

BEST LIVE DRAG ACT Contest was held on Sunday, August 28th with guest judges BeBe Sweetbriar and Glamamore. The winner: Norman Vane. First runner-up: Shakey Gibson. Second runners-up (tie): Rick Shaw and Papa Don Preach.

BEST FEMALE CROONER Contest was held on Sunday, October 2nd with guest judges Michael Grossman and Paula West. The winner: Alexis Lane Jensen. First runner-up: Halili Knox. Second runner-up: Shelley Crowley.

PRODUCERS' CHOICE AWARD was presented on Sunday, October 23rd. The winner: Dennis Sanchez.

THE MIKE WARD EMERGING ARTIST AWARD was presented on Sunday, October 23rd. The winner: Shakey Gibson.

THE FINAL CONTEST WAS HELD ON SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2011.

Winner, Best New Cabaret Performer: Alyssa Stone.

Runners-up (tie): Mark Johnson and Benjamin Francis.

Winner, Audience Choice: Mark Johnson.

Katya and Trauma hold theme-oriented contests for the best singers/performers. See our schedule below -- most contests are held on the first Sunday of each month.

There will be nine category/genre contests. The tenth contest will be the actual Cabaret Showcase Showdown for the season's top winner, who will receive a cash prize, plus their own solo showcase night at Martuni's.

The categories for the 2011 CABARET SHOWCASE SHOWDOWN are:

- Best Showtunes.
- Best Original Material.
- Best Live Drag Act.
- Best Female Crooner.
- Best Male Crooner.
- Best Art Songs (including folk, country, C&W, international and electic material)
- Best R&B/Urban Pop.
- Best Vaudeville/Burlesque/Variety Act and Comedic.
- Best Jazz

.
-FINAL CONTEST WILL BE HELD ON: TBA
Additionally, Katya and Joe reserve the right to select a 10th contestant as our 'Producers' Choice,' based on contests during the 2009-2010 series.
RULES AND IMPORTANT INFORMATION:
1. All contestants must prepare two (2) songs for each contest.
2. Contestants can sing to live piano accompaniment, can sing to their own piano accompaniment, can sing to 'click-track' (CD format only), can sing to guitar or other accompaniment. A capella, though allowed, is not encouraged. Lip-synching is not permitted -- there are numerous contests and venues in SF for our talented performers to enter where lip-synching is the modus operandi.
3. Winners of the 2010 series are not allowed to enter their winning category in the 2011 series. They are welcome to enter other categories.
4. The winner of each genre contest will be invited to compete for the final contest. In the event that the winner is not available that evening, the first runner-up of that particular genre will be invited to compete.
5. Terms relative to gender are not meant to be restrictive -- we are merely attempting to encourage a wider variety of contestants and to create some 'flow.' In the 2009 series, we had 17 contestants for the singular Best Crooner contest. To ease the size of that contest, we have split it into 'male' and 'female.' Conversely, 'Best Drag Act' implies a wide variety of interpretation for 'drag,' whether you are a drag queen, drag king, faux king, faux queen or any variation on that theme. Read between the lines, folks -- we are looking to promote more live singing by drag artists in SF.
6. Contestants are allowed to enter any number of individual contests.
7. All individual contests will be held at Martuni's. The final contest, however, will be held off-site.
8. There will be no individual contest on the first Sunday in June, 2011 when our 2010 winner, Cara Burgoyne, will present her solo cabaret showcase.
9. There are no individual contests near holiday Sundays for the obvious reason. These include Independence Day weekend,Memorial Day Weekend and Labor Day weekend. Other events with competing attendance will preclude contests as well, including the 2011 Academy Awards, the 2011 Pride Parade, the 2011 Folsom Street Fair and 2011 Burning Man.
10. If you want to enter the contest, send an email to Joe Wicht (traumaflintstone@gmail.com) or to Katya Smirnoff-Skyy (katyasmirnoffskyy@yahoo.com) so we can reserve a slot for you.