CONCERT TO BENEFIT STUDENTS

GOLDEN VALLEY HOSTING BANDS

May 16, 2005

Carol Rock

SANTA CLARITA – Sick of Detention is ready to rock the house again –

except this time it’s the band’s own house hosting the music.

 

The second annual concert on Saturday by the production company based at

Golden Valley High School – specifically in Bret Lieberman’s Yes I Can

program for students with Asperger’s syndrome and related problems – is

called Summer Meltdown and features gold-record recording artists Smile

Empty Soul.

 

The concert will be held in the outdoor amphitheater of Golden Valley and,

for the first time, is a team effort of Yes I Can programs throughout the

William S. Hart Union High School District. Lieberman’s students worked

with their counterparts at Canyon, Saugus and Valencia high schools to

screen bands and make arrangements for staffing, as well as recruit parents to

serve as chaperons.

 

‘’I am so grateful to have a teacher as enthusiastic as Mr. Lieberman,’’ said

Golden Valley Principal Jacque Snyder. ‘’He’s gotten all the Yes I Can

families involved and his heart is really into this. We’re really excited about

having the concert here. It should be a lot of fun.’’

 

Nuema Montances, who coordinates the Yes I Can program at Rancho Pico

Junior High, has 24 students and 37 mentors who meet weekly. Their time

together focuses on activities to help students with their social skills. Rancho

Pico and Saugus, Canyon and Valencia high schools worked together on this

year’s concert.

 

‘’The most important thing is that these kids feel like everyone else,’’

Montances said. ‘’The Yes I Can program raised a lot of money selling See’s

candies; some of that money goes to their field trips, some of it to putting on

the concert.

 

‘’Last year the kids got a sense of achievement that they did part of it. They

need that.’’

 

Smile Empty Soul is local success story; lead singer Sean Danielsen is a

2000 graduate of Canyon and bass player Ryan Martin is a 1999 graduate of

Valencia High. Their self-titled debut CD went gold; their new CD,

‘’Anxiety,’’ is due out in August. Their music has been featured on the

‘’Spider-Man 2’’ and ‘’The Punisher’’ soundtracks.

 

Also on the bill are Sony artists I Hate Kate (formerly Zebrahead),Fractional,

Rue, Driven, A Weekend Flight, Benny for Mayor and Mic City Sons. Unlike

last year’s show, which was held at the city’s Activities Center, Summer

Meltdown is being held at Golden Valley.

 

Along with all the schools doing fundraisers, which included several different

restaurant nights and seemingly endless candy sales, the Yes I Can program

has some heavy-hitting sponsors.

 

The Milken Family Foundation awarded a $1,000 grant for the show; other

sponsors include Command Audio, KROQ-FM (106.7), Wilbur Curtis

Beverages, Remo Drums, Anthem Boardship, prohjekt.com, nostress.com

and hlproductions.com.

 

Ryan Martin, Smile Empty Soul’s bass player and a friend of Lieberman’s

from high school, said that the group is excited about playing in its

hometown.

 

‘’We haven’t played here since early 2003,’’ Martin said. ‘’We toured for a

year and a half and have been home finishing our record. This concert is

great. I can’t think of a better way to see a lot of the kids who are buying our

records.’’

 

The concert also fills a void that musicians have been bemoaning for a long

time: the lack of performance space in the area.

 

‘’It’s totally a bummer,’’ Martin said. ‘’You want to be able to play shows in

your hometown. You’re a high school band and want to play for your friends

or other kids, but you’ve got to play in L.A. because there’s no place up here.’’

 

Lisa Lamedman, Canyon High’s Yes I Can program coordinator, said that her

students, mostly mentors for Lieberman’s students, are getting excited about

the show.

 

‘’There are posters everywhere and we’ve got more schools involved this

year,’’ Lamedman said. ‘’Last year we weren’t sure if it would work so we

kept it quiet. This year, the kids from all the schools have worked together

throughout the year and it’s a great event.’’

 

Lamedman said that a team-building day at Hart Park broke down some

barriers among schools as well as among those students who mentored or

were mentored.

 

‘’It was so great to see them appreciating each other; this is a new concept,

because these students aren’t used to dealing with each other. It was

wonderful to see them together.’’