Celebration of the Song

KZFR ANNOUNCES THE GRAND FINALE FOR THEIR FOLK MUSIC CONTEST CELEBRATION OF THE SONG.

The Seven Finalists:

• Dan Casamajor
  
• John Paul Gutierrez
• Angela Rose Heimann
  
• Will Morebeck
  
• Chris Schadt
  
• Adam Walter
  
• Patrice Webb

KZFR Community Radio and The Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. are proud to announce the first annual “Celebration of the Song,” a folk music contest designed to promote the work of undiscovered singer-songwriter talent in the Northern California folk music scene. This final competition is the culmination of the contest. It will be broadcast live on KZFR 90.1 FM and KVMR 89.5 FM and streamed over the internet at www.kzfr.org and www.kvmr.org. Come and be a part of this exciting event and cast your vote for the next Northern California Folk Idol! The Grand Prize Winner will be invited to perform at the California WorldFest on July 16. They will also receive eight hours of free studio recording time at the state-of-the-art Electric Canyon recording studio and a $500.00 gift certificate from the Music Connection in Chico. The outcome of the final competition will be decided by the Big Room audience and a special panel of judges.

A panel of seven judges worked over the course of 14 hours in 3 days to listen, judge, discuss and vote on nearly 90 songs that were submitted. The quality of the songs was generally high, and the voting was tough. As we suspected, Northern California is jam-packed with talented singer-songwriters. Thanks to everyone who entered. We'll look forward to next year!

See you at the Sierra Nevada Big Room on June 22nd!

Dan Casamajor
Chico, CA "No Such Thing "

Dan Casamajor is a native of Chico. He began playing and singing with a banjo ukelele when he was 13 and moved on to guitar a few years later. After graduating from Chico High School in 1966, he saw the Beatles at Candlestick Park and attended Sierra College for a year, where he wrote his first song. He returned to Chico to enroll at Chico State, and a family friend persuaded him to perform at an Open Mic at the Upstairs Coffeehouse on Second Street in 1967.

Dan returned to Chico in 1996. In 2001, he began performing at the Thursday night Open Mic at Has Beans Coffeehouse and soon became sound engineer for the event, co-hosting with host Susan Dobra and eventually recording most of the events. Open Mic moved to Café Culture on Wednesdays last September while Has Beans was remodeled, and Dan took over the Thursday event when Has Beans reopened. He has recorded and produced CDs for local artists, including Pat Hull, Serenity, Sarah Spencer, and the recent tribute show for the late Greg Tropea.

Angela Rose Heimann
Caspar, CA "Skeleton Woman"

Angela Rose Heimann hails from the craggy cliffs of Caspar, CA. She teaches music in a tiny shack she shares with a palm reader, and is the lead singer/songwriter/guitaress of the Mendocino County based band The Blushin' Roulettes. She came to California nine years ago with every intention to move back to her native land of Kent, Ohio after a year, but she was so inspired by the ocean, the redwoods and the jugband/circus/rockabilly scene springing up in her group of friends to leave the coast.

Angela derives her songwriting inspiration from real life experience, literature and the natural world. She has evolved away from the pure confessional style of folk she used to play into writing through the lens of fictional and real-life characters. She lives part-time on a sustainable, off-the-grid veggie/livestock farm, Old Mill Farm, with her dobro-playing, home-brewing beau, Cas. This year the Blushin' Roulettes will perform at the Kate Wolf Memorial Music Festival in Laytonville, CA. For more tour dates and information, visit www.blushinroulettes.com

Patrice Webb
Georgetown, CA "Photographs"

Patrice Webb is a 20 year resident of the Georgetown Divide, a little town of 1000 people on the Western Slope of the Sierra Nevada. Webb is a member of what might be called the “Gold Country Underground” of unknown singer/songwriters who help make the area a mecca for artists. She is a fixture at area open mics bringing her eclectic blend of folk, storytelling, country, and swing to audiences in the Gold Country of the Sierra Nevada. Webb looks forward to soon beginning work on her first recording project.

Webb has been very active in the local music community, and is a long time folk & Americana broadcaster and former Board Member at KFOK LPFM, a community radio station in Georgetown, California. She is also co-founder of the American River Music Camp held each summer in Coloma, California.

Webb is a Hazardous Materials Specialist for the County of Sacramento, and is married to the love of her life, Will Webb, who is a firefighter and the inspiration for many of her stories. One daughter, two grandchildren as well as a plethora of four legged critters round out what is a full and busy life spent in one of the most beautiful places in California.

John Paul Gutierrez
Chico, CA (nameless)

Chris Schadt
Chico, CA "Breathe & Believe"

Christopher George Schadt was born in New York City, July 24, 1957. Moving to Aurora, Colorado in the summer of 1962, he attended private schools and took up the guitar at age 15. While fronting the rock bands 'Closanuf' and 'Da Bobs' on weekends, he earned a B.A. in English at the University of Northern Colorado. From 1984 to 1987, Schadt played solo acoustic in the Denver area performing his original songs and 70's folk rock staples.

Chris Schadt moved to Chico, CA, in 1988, taking a job with Chico Natural Foods. He has continued to perform acoustically and formed 'The Chris Schadt Band' in the early 1990's, as well as fronting 'Jack Shat and the Know It Alls' from 2001-2006. The current version of 'The Chris Schadt Band' mixes his original material with Blues/Rock covers from the early 1970's and has just released their second CD "Dive On In".

Adam Walter
Chico, CA "The Manatee Song"

I grew up in New Zealand in the 1950s and1960s. My dad was from Connecticut and was a journalist who broadcast American folk music on National Radio; so I grew up with Woody Guthrie, Leadbelly, Browny Magee and Pete Seager in my ears. I was playing guitar and singing in cafes in my teens, with dreams of becoming a hardcore blues guitar hero like John Mayall or Eric Clapton....but music was always secondary to other activities of raising a family and paying the bills... life took me to many countries and I've worked in many occupations including seasonal labour, community work, teaching, construction, and more recently as a nurse (RN), working for Doctors Without Borders. I have three grown children.

I arrived in Chico for the first time in January with my partner Miriam (also a nurse). We've settled here, enjoying the strong community spirit, the wonderful green spaces and the great local music scene. We bought a home, made some new friends, and I've written a couple of songs, drawing on my long association with many musicians and my appreciation of many musical genres over the years. The conditions finally seemed right to put a bit more emphasis on creativity and music. So my roots are in folk/country blues and now I have the opportunity to revisit those roots while putting down some new ones here in the Valley in Northern California...

Will Morebeck
Lincoln, CA "Let That Filly Run"

I currently live on a 29 acre ranch in rural Lincoln ca. We currently raise Organic Mandarin oranges. Over the past 35 years we have raised everything from small livestock to farmers market mixed vegetables. I am currently semi-retired managing rental property.
Musically I've been playing guitar and writing songs for many years. One of my songs is in the process of being performed by a local bluegrass band. I'm mainly a soloist and accompany several singers in the local area from time to time.