LIHU‘E — Jesse Jefferson, Jaime Demarco and Marauelo Jaime — all members of the Rat Salad band — could not compete Saturday during the Bandwagon Battle of the Bands that livened up the food court at Kukui Grove Center Saturday evening.
“They’ve won too many times,” said Jeremy Hartshorn, founder, board president and program director for the Bandwagon Institute for the Arts. “They’re three-time winners of the Battle of the Bands, and instead they will be playing exhibition once the competition is done.”
Rat Salad will be joining Glen Phillips, the lead singer and songwriter of Toad the Wet Sprocket, when the First Bandwagon Music Festival opens at Porter Pavilion at Anaina Hou Community Park in Kilauea Aug. 13 from 2 until 8:30 p.m.
“The Bandwagon Music Festival is the first of what we hope will become an annual event for the Kaua‘i community,” Hartshorn said. “At the Bandwagon Music Festival, young players and bands will have the opportunity to share the stage with established local and national acts like the Toad the Wet Sprocket.”
Some of the other headliner bands include Stonehenge, Laghammer, The Party, Cory Mira and BW All Stars at the venue where sponsorship opportunities can be found.
“Expenses generated by Bandwagon’s facility costs, equipment and staffing costs have always out-paced our program revenue, especially when need-based discounts and scholarships that we liberally (offer are) taken into account,” Hartshorn said.
“The fact of the matter is that this program could not exist without community support. Thankfully, the community has come through again and again. We ask that you would consider how you could support us in our mission.”
Several Music Festival sponsorship tiers are available, and for more information, visit bandwagoninstitute.org.
Bandwagon Institute for the Arts, also known as Bandwagon Music Center, provides affordable music training, mentorship, equipment and performance opportunities to Kaua‘i’s youth. The center is in KGC.
“At Bandwagon, we are deeply committed to helping youth find community and fulfillment through our program,” Hartshorn said, “especially kids who struggle socially, and we provide them with healthy ways to process and overcome negative emotions such as anxiety, panic, discouragement, sadness, despair or negative self-talk.”
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Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 245-0453 or dfujimoto@thegardenisland.com.
