By Jason Genegabus

Jason Genegabus photos

Last weekend, I was lucky enough to score a front row seat (almost) to the Brown Bags to Stardom concert at the Waikiki Shell.

I’m always happy to accept when I get invited to judge events like this. It’s a great opportunity to see what the next generation is up to.

There are another two dozen pictures from Saturday after the jump. I’ll also have some video up once I have a chance to get my footage edited.

It was kind of a long week for me last week. At least I have this view to look forward to when I’m driving away from my house:

The concert was at the Shell, which mean I had to pass Kapiolani Park. I was a little surprised to see so many men walking around in skirts, until I realized the annual Scottish Festival was taking place last weekend:

I was running a little late, but luckily I got backstage in time for the judges’ meeting. Here’s what it looked like when I arrived:

Spotted a few familiar faces in the crowd. Keahiwai’s Lei Melket was talking story with Melissa Moniz from MidWeek when Hawaii Pacific Entertainment’s Lincoln Jacobe made his entrance:

A few minutes later, we were led out to our seats in front of the stage. There were a lot of judges, which meant a lot of tables:

Brown Bags is still trying to build the kind of following it enjoyed during its heyday about 20 years ago. The Shell wasn’t packed at all, but there was a solid group of vocal supporters who came out to cheer on the kids.

Backstage, the bands milled about and tried to keep busy until it was their turn to perform:

Some of the kids decided to decorate themselves to pass the time:

After about half of the bands played, we were ushered backstage for dinner as Greg Gabaylo entertained the crowd. Mayor Mufi Hannemann was on hand to show his support and talk story with some of those involved in the concert.

After we ate and watched the rest of the performers, it was time to announce the winners.

Brown Bags producer Johnny Kai was working hard on Saturday, coordinating a staff of volunteers while also taking care of hosting duties throughout the evening (with help from some of the BBTS TV show’s student hosts).

Performers lined the stage at the Shell as HI Tribe sang the Brown Bags theme song for the second time that night:

KITV’s Ben Gutierrez was also on hand to help emcee:

Some of the winners from Saturday night:

This entry was posted on Monday, April 7th, 2008 at 3:39 pm and is filed under Outside The Club, Music, Picture Blogs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.