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April 26, 2002
Blair Fair and Mr. Blazer showcase school and students
Blair held its annual Blair Fair and Mr. Blazer competition this evening, with senior Sean Cooney taking the title of Mr. Blazer.
More photographs are available here.
Cooney performed an original vocal and trumpet piece. Senior Jaron Aikens took the Runner-Up place with a performance of original rap.
The Blair Fair allows school departments, clubs and organizations to showcase themselves to the Blair community. Blair Network Communications (BNC), The English Department, and the Frisbee club were among those represented in the open house, which spanned the length of Blair Boulevard.
The Mr. Blazer contest is a talent show in which Blair students compete for the title of "Mr. Blazer." Despite the name, the contest is open to either gender, as evidenced by Tracy Lin. Lin this year was the first ever female entrant in Mr. Blazer, with an intense karate demonstration to the music from the movie "Mortal Kombat."
As part of Blair Fair, Blair actors and musicians performed a series of songs from Blair's spring musical "She Loves Me," which shows on April 27 and 28 and May 2, 3 and 4.
Other Mr. Blazer acts included senior Tony Tran, performing Usher's "U Got It Bad," junior Tom Johnson performing an original skit, and senior Chris Jackson performing an original rap with electric guitar.
Seniors Ximena Levander and Salma Alli were the Masters of Ceremonies for Mr. Blazer.
Silver Chips Online Editor-in-Chief Joe Howley was summoned onstage during Mr. Blazer to cover for a band setting up by demonstrating his ability to speak backwards.
While the judges reached their decision, Cooney was joined by fellow contestant senior Jon Leiner on the guitar in performing "Twist and Shout," the Phil Medley and Bert Russell tune popularized by the Bealtes. The passionate performance brought the house to its feet.
The judging panel consisted of teachers John Haigh, Jacob Lee, Daniel Levine, Summer Roark and Cindy Villavicencio.
During the Blair Fair, Silver Chips Online tested a new coverage method by attaching an automatically-updating web camera to a wireless laptop to provide constantly updated images of the event.
Chips Online did take photographs of Mr. Blazer and will be posting them with the next update of this story
More photographs are available here.
Cooney performed an original vocal and trumpet piece. Senior Jaron Aikens took the Runner-Up place with a performance of original rap.
The Blair Fair allows school departments, clubs and organizations to showcase themselves to the Blair community. Blair Network Communications (BNC), The English Department, and the Frisbee club were among those represented in the open house, which spanned the length of Blair Boulevard.
The Mr. Blazer contest is a talent show in which Blair students compete for the title of "Mr. Blazer." Despite the name, the contest is open to either gender, as evidenced by Tracy Lin. Lin this year was the first ever female entrant in Mr. Blazer, with an intense karate demonstration to the music from the movie "Mortal Kombat."
As part of Blair Fair, Blair actors and musicians performed a series of songs from Blair's spring musical "She Loves Me," which shows on April 27 and 28 and May 2, 3 and 4.
Other Mr. Blazer acts included senior Tony Tran, performing Usher's "U Got It Bad," junior Tom Johnson performing an original skit, and senior Chris Jackson performing an original rap with electric guitar.
Seniors Ximena Levander and Salma Alli were the Masters of Ceremonies for Mr. Blazer.
Silver Chips Online Editor-in-Chief Joe Howley was summoned onstage during Mr. Blazer to cover for a band setting up by demonstrating his ability to speak backwards.
While the judges reached their decision, Cooney was joined by fellow contestant senior Jon Leiner on the guitar in performing "Twist and Shout," the Phil Medley and Bert Russell tune popularized by the Bealtes. The passionate performance brought the house to its feet.
The judging panel consisted of teachers John Haigh, Jacob Lee, Daniel Levine, Summer Roark and Cindy Villavicencio.
During the Blair Fair, Silver Chips Online tested a new coverage method by attaching an automatically-updating web camera to a wireless laptop to provide constantly updated images of the event.
Chips Online did take photographs of Mr. Blazer and will be posting them with the next update of this story
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psst... go Coed Vball! 7-1!
David Diz Pham
True also, to NOT give Tracy the award based on her gender would be an even greater insult. Maybe you misread my meaning.
Tracy Supporter, how do you know that the decision to not make Tracy Mr. Blazer was based solely on gender? Like I said, I wasn't there, so if you really have justification, sorry.
at least he got second place!!!
everyone knows sean is mr. blazer. he does everything and is so involved in most activities. everyone knows who he is. if the title of Mr. Blazer were given out, I couldnt think of a better person to win the award.
however...
there is a competition for Mr. Blazer. who wins the title is supposedly based on the outcome of that contest. But I think the results are pretty musch pre-determined. maybe the competition is just for fun and it doesnt mean anything. that's fine. But when you have people like Tracy who come in and perform and put their hearts out there, they expect to be given a chance. if the crowd goes with them, they expect to win. so im not trying to bring up gender issues or anything. but if mr blazer is pre determined maybe the people who arent going to get picked to win, no matter how well they do, should know that.
-Amanda
I believe that the judging was done by giving equally-weighted scores for two categories, style and performance. (There was supposed to be a third, but there wasn't enough time for the question) So, the scores were added up, and an objective winner was produced.
Tracy's performance was awesome. If it wasn't the best of the night, it was one of the best. Sean's was great, too. Tracy and Sean, I think had the highlight performaces of the night. All the acts were great, and maybe there was another that was even better than those two.
BUT, in terms of style, Tracy's was mediocre. It was, I think, well put together and appropriate to Tracy's act and personality...
But Sean came on in a trenchcoat and a dress. He had guts. He definitely had the upper hand in terms of style.
That's why Sean won. It was not predetermined. Tracy had as good a chance as Sean or John or Jaron or Tony or Greg or anyone, and I sincerely believe that there was no racism or sexism or anything like that involved.
Here's a thought though: had a guy done exactly what Tracy had done for her performance, would anyone care?
On a different note, I'd really love to see more pictures from the show on Silverchips online. I was one of the contestants for Mr. Blazer, and I'm a little dissappointed that not all of the contestants are represented in the article.
Feel free to pick at, challenge, redefine, amend, or dis anything that I say.
if a girl had done exactly what sean had done for his performance, would anyone care??
also...
anyone that says sean has guts must admit tracy has guts. sean went out in a dress, tracy went out in a men's suit. i would even say tracy had more guts than sean. sean is a familiar name around blair. he had many more supporters cheering for him than tracy. and much fewer people booing. when tracy came out there were boos in the audience. she took their negative opinion in stride and forced them to cheer for her with her performance. everyone got exactly what they expected from sean. he did a great job, but it was expected he would do so. it was expected he would win.
i admire tracy so much for what she did. sex issues aside, she had to face a partially hostile audience, and even some negative comments from backstage. i know that tracy was probably extremely nervous, but she took her fear in hand and did a great job anyways. that girl's got guts!
I am going to be as honest about my feelings toward the Mr. Blazer competition and outcomes as I can. I first entered the competition because a friend kept telling me to join and thought it’d be so funny since, as most of my friends know, people joke about me being ‘a man.’ At first I didn’t even really consider entering because I didn’t want to make a fool of myself and have the entire school think I was weird. As the deadline to turn in forms approached I figured heck, it’s senior year and I’d be out of Blair real soon and why not take this chance to maybe leave my mark before graduation…and after all, it is kind of funny. The things about girl power and discrimination and stuff…I didn’t really believe in all of that. I just wanted to go out there and have a good time. Give Blair students and staff a chance to witness a fight without having to crowd around the lunchroom and involving any security or suspension.
I’d hate to say this, but preceding my actual performance, there were many ‘haters’ out there…in the audience, backstage, and even some friends were discouraging. I was astonished by the degree to which discrimination against girls, against me, that really existed. I didn’t think people would care so much that I entered. I was proven wrong by the feelings of unwelcome that confronted me. At first it was just a few friends who thought I was being stupid and foolish for trying to go up there and do karate. Then backstage right before the show, when I told this guy that I was actually competing to be Mr. Blazer, he laughed at me. Although he complimented me after my performance, I was deeply hurt by his ridiculing laughter and the mocking expression of his eyes, which will be embedded clearly in my memory for quite some time. I have performed many times outside of Blair as well as in Blair before and had never gotten booed before (even for shows that really really deserved booing). The booing I heard preceded my talent portion, proving to me that there were people out there who didn’t even give me a chance to perform before they started ‘hating.’
Immediately after the announcement of runner-up and Mr. Blazer, I was at first a bit disappointed that I didn’t even place second. But as in sports, I knew how to take a loss and didn’t think too much of not winning the title of Mr. Blazer. The title really didn’t mean that much to me, except I would’ve liked the free prom tickets…who wouldn’t? I was really happy after my performance because I knew that I won the support of the crowd and I was proud of myself for staying in the competition that was supposed to be for all guys. I was actually very terrified of performing in front of the Blair population and especially afraid of the question and answer section, which to my GREAT relief was cut out. I was proud that I didn’t wimp out.
Looking back on competing for Mr. Blazer, I do not regret it at all. It doesn’t matter to me what five judges thought about my performance. I do think that Sean deserves the title because he is so well-known and such a good representation of the school. He is the epitome of ‘Mr. Blazer’. All this arguing about who should’ve won and trash talking other competitors and so on isn’t necessary. Every competitor for Mr. Blazer deserves praise and these comments may be and are offensive to us. I’m all for…world peace……..Okay, well on a more serious note, I am glad to have performed and really flattered by all the support I am receiving out there…thanks…, but I am most glad about having experienced a bit of real sexual discrimination and fighting it head on by myself…and winning.
"Twist and Shout" was first popularized by the great Isley Brothers in 1962; their recording made the "Top 20" on the Pop charts and rose to #2 on the R&B charts that year. So it was already a popular song when the Beatles recorded it a year or so later. (Their version also became a hit.)
A bit of music trivia: the song was originally recorded by a long-forgotten group, the Top Notes, in 1961. Their version, however, wasn't a hit.
Steve Hoffman
GOOD NOTE DJs
The Beatles tend to have that effect on music....
What hurts most is the discouragement from friends who do know me personally. I didn’t want to give examples before because I didn’t want them to read this and realize who it was, but why shouldn’t they know? As a friend, shouldn’t I confront them about it so they can change? One friend thought that it was so dumb and embarrassing that I was competing for Mr. Blazer. Another asked me what I was going to do and when I told him, he said ‘so you’re just going to go up there and punch people and they’re going to fall? That’s going to be so boring, you’re going to make a fool of yourself…why are you entering anyways?’…something to that effect. I remember coming back from tryouts and a friend asked me how it went…and I said something like ‘Eh…alright I guess’…he told me how dumb and unentertaining it was going to be. He wasn’t even there to see me tryout and automatically thought…girl doing karate = unappealing and stupid. Others although did not say it outwardly, thought I had no chance…it’s obvious when someone supports you and gets all excited and when others try to suppress their doubts and proceed with the conversation.
A friend read my previous comments and asked me if he was one of those ‘haters’ I was referring to…and I told him he was. At first he defended himself, but after I told him what he did that was discriminating to me, he realized what he had done and told me he felt bad. He admitted that he just thought it’d be “lame”…because it was a girl performing karate and just didn’t think it “would be so entertaining.”
Hey, what ever happened to the question and answer part? I was looking forward to that part.
With all the hype about Tracy's performance, which was of course beyond awesome (I was one of the hundreds of people on my feet cheering for the whole fight), another form of discrimination in the Mr. Blazer competition was overlooked. After the question and answer portion of the competition was cut due to time constraints, I later found out that the question to the finalists would have been "What are you going to miss most about Blair?"
As a junior, this kinda annoyed me a little bit, because it automatically eliminated my brother and I from even getting runner-up. I'm not saying I deserved first or second, because I didn't, but taking me out of the running before I even perform is unfair. Sean was seriously considered last year, but this year the juniors might as well have been exhibition.
I understand why Sean and other seniors might be given preferential treatment, because as some people have already said Sean IS Mr. Blazer, in every sense of the word. I think that has an effect on the crowd's perception of a performer and their confidence can add points to the style category. Sean has enough style to win the competiton 10 times over.
Somebody said that at least one judge voted for Tracy to get first, and also the thing about there being two categories, style and performance. How do you know this? As a competitor, it would be very interesting to know how all of the judges voted.
And lastly, all the credit in the world goes out to Ximena, who organized the event and fought through the red tape to get past last year's debauchery and put the show on. Thanks a lot to her and everybody who came out.