3rd Annual Battle of the Bands was a big success

On Saturday, June 24 the Battle of the Bands was held at Philip Marx Central Park. The weather made it a very pleasant day as it turned out to be the coolest day of the week. Sponsored by Lehigh Cement and organized through the Tehachapi Valley Recreation and Parks District "It's only my second year and It's getting better" said Corey Torres from the parks dept. Four bands participated this year: Squam-O from Alpine Forrest, Psycolous and Lightwell both from Tehachapi, and Red Soil from Fremont, Calif. The Judges included; Bill and Susan Dunn and Corey Torres. The bands are judged on musicianship, vocal ability and stage presence. Patrick Donahue introduced the Battle of the Bands to Tehachapi three years ago when he moved here from the Los Angeles area where he had been producing a Battle of the Bands for 10 years. "I brought excellent sound engineer Jim Ash who is from Big Bear and had been doing the sound for my shows in L.A." Donahue said. The first-place prize of $500. went to RED SOIL, with Psycolous 2nd winning $200 and 3rd place Lightwell winning $100.