After show, the bottom line: Nelson’s got talent

For more than two hours last Friday night, I watched some of Nelson County High School’s most talented students take the stage and compete for the top prize of $100 in the first ever “Nelson’s Got Talent” show.

I watched some of the high school’s not-as-talented, but very brave, students grace the stage as well.

Three judges scored the 16 acts in the contest, which was sponsored by the Future Educators Association to help raise money for school supplies for an underprivileged country abroad and local education needs, said Debbie Speilman, the association’s faculty adviser.

More than 200 people packed the audience in the high school’s auditorium and watched students sing and dance across the stage.

The night’s winner, senior Brittney Ross, belted out the strong ballad “Listen,” by Beyonce Knowles, to take home the grand prize. Ross had a powerful voice and a good stage presence that earned her a loud round of applause after her last note.

To be fair, however, the audience was encouraging of all the acts and had a really great, fun energy for the evening, which probably helped the more nervous of the kids who took the stage.

Annie Saunders, who took third place (she was robbed!) for her rendition of Bonnie Raitt’s “Something to Talk About,” was one of the crowd favorites. She has a voice that can only get better with time.

The second place winner, “The Real Cheese Crusaders,” whose name I barely understood, was one of only three dancing acts in the contest. The dancing talent was there, but the moves I thought were too slow and didn’t have enough energy to warrant a second place prize.

Maybe I’m just not young enough though to understand what young people are into these days.

My two favorite acts, besides Saunders, were overlooked completely by the judges. But then again, I’m a girl who was raised on rock ‘n’ roll.

Matt Miller, Jareth Williams and Josh Miller covered Metallica’s “Nothing Else Matters,” and nailed the mellow rock-ballad about 95 percent. This was a band that anyone could see had rehearsed –– probably rehearsed all Metallica, all the time.

Williams, the lead singer, channeled Metallica’s lead singer, James Hetfield, for the vocals and the only thing they were missing was a balding Lars Ulrich-like drummer.

Members of the Nelson County High School Drum Line, Wyatt Massie, Kaye Campbell and Nik Somers, also stole some of the show, I thought, by being one of the only acts to use almost the entire stage and then some of the auditorium as they performed their marching drum cadence down the stage steps, down in front of the judges and continued marching right out the back doors of the auditorium.

That takes talent.

The late King of Pop, Michael Jackson, was also a favorite for the performers and an audience favorite as well. No matter what the students did onstage, if Michael Jackson was playing, the crowd loved it.

James Edwards, who more or less lip synched and danced to Jackson’s 1983 chart-topping hit “Billy Jean,” had the moves like Jackson, and the hair, but I can only watch the Moonwalk and hand-pops for so many minutes. Choreograph, sir, choreograph.

Dominique Ross performed Jackson’s top-10 1983 hit “P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)” and got a lot of applause for it. The energy of his performance, though, lacked the famous Jackson flair.

Keep the glove, but lose the Moonwalk, dude, it’s just not your thing.

Ashlynn Watson, Noel Quigley and Grace Mawyer surprised the audience by starting their en pointe (You know, with the toe shoes. Ouch!) ballet piece with classical music and finishing it with Jackson’s “The Way You Make Me Feel.”

Other musical acts included Elizabeth Alderfer, who performed a lovely piano instrumental piece and Megan Robles, who sang “Reflection,” a song from Disney’s movie “Mulan,” by Christina Aguilera.

Eli Tal, Katie Wood, and David Hamilton performed as a band whose name I couldn’t even understand. Honestly, I have no idea what you guys were doing onstage. Singing and playing instruments apparently.

Aaron Scheib performed Johnny Cash’s “A Boy Named Sue,” playing acoustic guitar along with it. His lyrics, what I could hear of them, were pretty spot-on to the Cash rendition. Turn up the volume on your voice, kid. The people in the nosebleeds need to hear you.

Katrina Somers wrote the song, “You’re There,” that she performed for the show. The music was low and mellow, but I thought really good for a teenage songwriter.

Raquel Iniesta overshadowed Malcolm Stewart with her voice in their duet “Seasons of Love,” from the hit-Broadway musical “Rent,” and Raven Rose finished the show with another Beyonce Knowles ballad, “Ave Maria.”

Ross shouted and cried when she won the grand prize and rightfully so. She was up against some pretty talented, and maybe not-as-talented, acts.

It takes more than talent, though, to get up on the stage and sing or dance your heart out in front of complete strangers. It takes a lot of guts, which each of the performers had in spades.

All the students definitely deserve a bravo and a bow for that bravery.