Bread & Roses successfully concluded our 3rd annual “Oh Say, Can You Sing?” contests for both the San Francisco Giants and Oakland A’s with four happy winners! Congratulations to our anthem singers Cathy Less for the Giants and Caroline Sky for the Oakland A’s. Second-place winners Shannon Bryant and Evan Karp each received five hours of recording time at Fantasy Studios. A special thanks to everyone who participated in the contest and raised nearly $10,000 to support Bread & Roses mission of healing live music for isolated audiences. We also appreciate our friends at the San Francisco Giants, Oakland A’s and Lagunitas Brewery for their sponsorship and support.
First Place Winners for the Anthem Contests
Cathy Less was our lead fundraiser this year and champion cultivator of donations by family and friends. We thank her for her generous support and outstanding vocal rendition of our national anthem. Cathy shared with us that she “last performed the Star Spangled Banner at Candlestick Park some years ago before a Giants game, at the urging of her sister-in-law, Debi Less.” Check out the video of her recent singing at the Giants game Sept 1.
Cathy sings in the U.C. Alumni Chorus, and for many years was part of the Lighthouse Singers of Marin and performs for weddings and other gatherings. She is also a very special member of our Board of Directors and supports Bread & Roses in many ways.
Caroline Sky is a beloved volunteer performer for Bread & Roses who has performed for Center Point drug and alcohol recovery center and the Cedars of Marin, a center for developmentally disabled adults. Caroline, who also performed at our spring benefit at Terrapin Crossroads in 2016, says that she “has always believed that music has the power to bridge differences, to bring people together to achieve a higher purpose.”
Caroline is a singer-songwriter who plays folk, blues, and pop on guitar and piano. The Marin Independent Journal listed "Caroline Sky" as one of the 10 Best Marin albums of 2015. In 2017, Caroline was a contestant on Season 12 of NBC's top-rated music reality show, "The Voice." She also performed in duet with Joan Baez at the 2017 Summer of Love San Francisco Sound concert. Caroline’s star is quickly rising at just 16-years-old and we are proud to have her as a dedicated volunteer for Bread & Roses.
Second Place Winners for Fantasy Studios Recording Time
Shannon Bryant writes thought provoking lyrics about human connection and love over soaring and infectious melodies and rhythms. In March of 2004 Shannon went to the San Francisco Chapter of the Recording Academy with demo in hand and became a member. As fate would have it, that very day she was selected to perform on stage with Carlos Santana in a tribute to Mickey Hart for the 2004 Recording Academy Governor's Awards. Bryant’s new album, “Light” released on February 26th, 2016. We look forward to hearing her new recording from Fantasy Studios!
Evan Karp is the creator and executive director of Quiet Lightning, a San Francisco-based literary nonprofit the Los Angeles Review of Books has called “collective alchemy,” and the founding editor of Litseen.com, recognized by the New York Times as a go-to, near-comprehensive source for Bay Area literary events. With his brother Miles he combines poetry and music as Turk & Divis. They have released two albums, “Live at Lone Glen” and “Quiet Lightning,” and are quickly gathering a following.
We congratulate and thank all of our contest participants, many of whom have been long-time Bread & Roses volunteers and supporters, and welcome our new contestants. We appreciate all who enthusiastically promoted the contest and our mission of healing live music. Our contest participants this year also included: Shana Dinha, Stephenie Hendrix, Marin Girls Chorus, Shark Alley Hobos, Marina V., and Latonya “Tonjea” Williams.
We hope even more performers will enter our contest next year to showcase their renditions of the national anthem. Thank you everyone for supporting Bread & Roses as we bring over 600 shows each year of quality entertainment to people who live in institutions or are otherwise isolated from society.
Photo Captions:
1) Cathy Less sings the national anthem at Giants game. Photo by Bill Nichols
2) Fans of Cathy at Giants game. Photo by Bill Nichols
3) Caroline Sky sings the national anthem at A's game. Photo by Bill Nichols
4) Caroline Sky with Oakland A's Staff Member Heather Rajeski and Dave Perron. Photo by Bill Nichols
5) Shannon Bryant, photo courtesy of Shannon Bryant
6) Evan Karp, photo by by Ian Tuttle