Inner City All-Stars take tunes to Apollo
Lyndsay Knecht
Staff Writer
Issue date: 3/31/04
Vocalist Nikki Velonis will not take the stage at Fair Park Thursday with the band who hired her as their singer last fall.
The eight remaining members of the Inner City All-Stars Brass Band of Denton will try to win the crowd over without her at the Showtime at the Apollo Tour in Dallas.
An auditor at the preliminary tryouts designated the New Orleans-style funk band to compete as the only instrumental group of 15 acts that made the cut, 10 of which were singers.
Velonis, a former NT student from Bedford, insisted that she and the All-Stars "tore it up" in the audition room. Still, it came as no surprise to her that diversity amongst the acts affected the judges' final decision.
"For some reason, I had a sneaking suspicion ... I've been to so many of those kinds of auditions," she said.
Velonis also performs with the Denton jazz band Rare, one of the groups featured at Wake Up '04 on Saturday, along with Inner City All-Stars drummer Marqus Burleson.
Cary Stewart, a grad student at NT and percussionist for the All-Stars, considers Velonis a "dynamite singer" and expressed the band's disappointment with the ordeal.
"We are confident she could blow any amateur singers away," he said.
If the band rallies the most crowd participation Thursday, it will then compete with 17 acts from cities across the nation at the famed Apollo Theatre in New York City. The theatre began hosting an Amateur Night in 1934 that introduced icons like Ella Fitzgerald and Michael Jackson and inspired the TV show Showtime at the Apollo, which began airing in 1987.
Jim Austin, founder of the Renaissance Cultural Center, saw the All-Stars audition with Velonis during the preliminary round in January at the Black Academy of Arts and Letters. He couldn't get enough of the New Orleans sound and is in the process of scheduling the band to perform at the Cowboys of Color Invitational Rodeo on Labor Day weekend.
With or without a vocalist, Austin said Showtime At the Apollo's background makes the All-Stars' opportunity an honor.
"Now people are listening to American Idol and Star Search, well, Showtime at the Apollo is the original talent search competition," Austin said.
Noting that over 200 acts competed for the 15 spots for appearances at Fair Park, Austin said the All-Stars' chances will ride on the whether the crowd responds to their three minute funk-jazz medley.
"The competition is going to be high-quality," he said.
The winner from Fort Worth last year, gospel saxophonist Jock Lewis, advanced to New York and won the Apollo Theatre competition. � �
If the All-Stars are chosen as finalists, Stewart said the band will make the trip on one condition.
"We're not coming to New York without [Velonis]," he said.
The Showtime at the Apollo Tour at the Music Hall at Fair Park will take place at 8 p.m. on Thursday. Tickets can be purchased for $25.00, $35.00, or $45.00 from Ticketmaster.
