e-mail this page
Printer Friendly Version

November 5, 2004

Cheers and jeers anticipated at
Apollo Theater-like event

Feeble attempts to lip-sync surely won’t fly at California State University, Sacramento’s Wednesday, Nov. 17 “Apollo Night Talent Show.”

Audience members will be encouraged to laud or jeer new talent at the show modeled after those held at Harlem’s historic Apollo Theater.

Sponsored by the Black Student Cultural Association, the show mimics the Apollo Theater’s legendary amateur nights in which audience members cheer or boo new talent. It begins at 6:30 p.m. in the University Union Redwood Room and will feature more than a dozen diverse dancers, poets, rappers and singers.

Performers will have only four and a half minutes to win over audience members. First place winners will receive $100 and an opportunity to speak with representatives from a Los Angeles-based record label.

The event marks the fourth time the association has brought a taste of one of black culture’s most celebrated venues to campus. The Apollo, which opened in 1943, is credited with launching the careers of Ella Fitzgerald, James Brown and Lauryn Hill. Sacramento’s shows have boasted more than 300 attendees.

Entertainers consist of college students as well as some high school students, who compete in a special “rising star” category.

Auditions will be held from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., Wednesday, Nov. 10 in the University Union Camellia Room.
General admission to the Nov. 17 show is $5 and $3 for Sacramento State students. Tickets are available from the CSUS Ticket Office at (916) 278-4323 or Tickets.com.

For more information on the event or auditions contact show organizer Gregory Dossie at bsca@csus.edu. Media assistance is available from the University’s public affairs office at (916) 278-6156.

####