by: Wesley Hague 

Who has talent or who gets out gonged off the stage? That was the risk of Emanuel Bible College’s 2007 Gong show. Even as it started, it proved that the judges were not going to give mercy as the first act by Brandon Meyers was gonged probably before it was even halfway over. Trevor Creech, who was with Melanie and Sarah, performed The Pirates Who Don’t Do Anything by Veggie Tales, told me that he was scared after Brandon’s first act thinking that they would get gonged. They did get gonged until the very last moment and managed to finish their song anyway.

Mike Sanders showed definite musical talent as he sang a self made parody of the Green Day Song, “Time of Your Life” about doing your homework. Unfortunately due to the fact that Mike’s mentor Jamie Knight being one of the judges was not allowed to vote on this one, Mike’s marks must have suffered. A little thing to remember from a number of months ago Mike sang the original “Time of Your Life” for the Coffee House last Semester.

Tim Grace tested the judges’ limits at tolerance by singing The Lion Sleeps Tonight and was then promptly chased off the stage by one of the Judges. Matt, Robin and Andrew Martin gave the crowd a musical number, but were eventually gonged offstage. I was told by Jason Edgar that they planned to not stop until they were finally gonged. Tim Chester succeeded in having the crowd in laughter by singing his own song “She Broke my Heart”, a song about his past girlfriends.  Brian Blake’s demonstration was the one of the three non-musical displays (grouping Brandon and all his jokes and poetry as one) and while he was not gonged, washing your hair will be remembered for quite a while.

Stephanie Vincent could have been the biggest tragedy of the night. She had an amazing routine using her tambourine to music but was unfortunately gonged before she was finished. Yet the audience came to her rescue and she was brought back on stage to finish her performance. The only thing that should have been gonged here was Simon for choosing to gong Stephanie.

Two more non-musical displays would then follow (while not in order). A dramatic reading of Song of Solomon which was gonged, but they were asked back up on stage later in the night to finish. And Tim Grace received a mixture of groans and laughter with a set of jokes from him. In between both of these Jamie Knight one of the judges performed a dancing number but was gonged by one of his fellow judges. And Jolene’s song “I love Celine Dion” was disturbingly humorous. The night’s performance was finished by a return from Reverse Oreo, with DeKarlo adding his musical talent singing “Taryn don’t cry.”

The judges made their decisions and the three finalists were Jolene, Tim Chester and Reverse Oreo which was at that point renamed to Cookies and Cream. Jolene came in third place by honoring her previous love of Celine Dion by singing one of Celine’s own songs. Tim Chester came in second, and Cookies and Cream stole the show with another song sung by DeKarlo.

Over all the night went well and it was enjoyed by a lot of people. To give the closing words to the night I asked the judges to give their comments on it. Jamie Knight’s words did a good job representing the entire night: “No words would ever explain what happened tonight.” Sarah Graham’s statement that “It was fun” was probably shared by most of the people who were in the audience.  And to finish it all off, Simon said, “It was a fabulous evening; very entertaining.”