You Choose: Bands rock on, give back

PALMER — The AT&T Sports Center was transformed Saturday night when the You Choose Project’s weeklong tour culminated in front of a crowd of about 800.

Inside, regular green turf for playing soccer or football took on a new look when blanketed with cables, speakers, instruments and stage settings. Outside, a growing line of local families and teens buzzed with excitement in the 30-degree weather.

“We are so excited to be here, it’s not funny,” said Danni Divelbiss-Keizur, a sophomore from Colony.

Her friend Rachael Leonard concurred.

“We’ve been waiting for this since they came to our school,” she said.

The You Choose Project’s finale show came after a seven-day schedule of 20-hour days bustling back and forth between Anchorage and the Valley to make appearances at high schools, Aces games and even the Alaska State Cheer and Dance Competition.

At the schools, the bands involved — local band Stadium and Hollywood-based Elvis Monroe — played short sets before assemblies of students, then invited recovering addicts from an Anchorage recovery center to share their stories of how drugs affected their lives and discussed with students how making positive choices can help them to reach their goals.

“I think that music is such a powerful message carrier alone. We’re not here to tell kids not to do anything. We’re trying to tell them to make good decisions,” said Todd Burman, Elvis Monroe bassist. “If you make good choices, you can achieve your dreams.”

When the Elvis Monroe group wasn’t at a school promoting the cause, it was making sure to take in as much of Alaska as it could in the members’ down time.

Guitarist Ben Carrey and vocalist Bryan Hopkins stopped by an Aces game Thursday to perform the national anthem. Burman, Carrey, Hopkins and drummer Ryan MacMillan have also been making connections with the schools they’ve visited, stopping at the South vs. Service high football championship and the Alaska State Cheer and Dance Competition to cheer on students they met at assemblies earlier in the week.

Their determination to give back to kids they’ve met this week doesn’t stop at appearances. At a two-hour sound check Saturday evening, MacMillan met with Marty Foster, a senior from Wasilla High, behind the drum kit to go over some basics on drumming.

“He let me know to keep it simple when playing and to play with a statement. He’s awesome,” Foster said, drumsticks in hand.

Jessica Jordan, a Colony High senior, was also at the sound check, spending time with Hopkins and Carrey going over a planned performance of the Lifehouse hit “Hanging By A Moment.” Carrey also spent some time on the neighboring basketball courts shooting baskets with kids.

You Choose focuses on a drug-free message, using the musicians’ platform to share their stories on drugs or alcohol in their lives and where they are now.

Hopkins has never had alcohol or drugs in his life, and has used this to show kids that they too can do it in a way that can help them reach their dreams.

“It wasn’t a religion or peer-pressured thing that made me not interested,” Hopkins said. “It was just one less thing to have to deal with on the way to getting to my goals.”

This message is what the project has been delivering to schools throughout the week, making stops at Bartlett, Service and South high schools in Anchorage, and Wasilla and Colony in the Valley.

Members working on the tour all said they were excited to see kids’ reactions to the shows, but admit it’s been a lot of work to make it happen.

“I had no idea what exactly was going to happen. But I knew one thing,” Dave Velasquez, founder of the You Choose Project, said. “Our project would work and kids needed it. We pushed until it connected. Meeting with people, explaining, getting turned down for months. Now, we’ve made it happen. It’s exciting to see it all together. United Way, Mat-Su Health (Foundation) have been super helpful.”

Gretchen Geist, project coordinator for the Mat-Su Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition, has worked with Community Sports Inc. and the Sports Center’s Night Courts program, which encourages kids to get off the streets and onto the courts with free pick-up volleyball and basketball games Fridays from 9 p.m. to midnight.

She said she recognized the You Choose Project’s ability to succeed and gave a “go ahead” to make it happen.

“It’s really incredibly exciting; I can’t wait for how far this program goes. As a substance prevention program, it’s great. We know statistically that the command tactics just don’t work, so giving kids the message to choose is the way to go,” Geist said.

Sponsored by United Way and the Mat-Su Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition, the show’s large audience was made possible by giving out 1,860 tickets to middle, high and home schools in the Valley on the Monday prior to the show to encourage kids to attend. As the project gained buzz around the area, though, calls to the AT&T center asking for tickets were numbering in the hundreds.

“I think when people are bored, bad things happen. … Night Court’s success here at the center shows that kids need a place to be at night. That we can offer that for tonight and kids are excited really means something,” said Velasquez backstage after watching the crowd grow during opening act Corey Bjerken’s set.

Stadium and Elvis Monroe were met with the same excitement offered at the schools as they played, the crowd participated in sing-a-longs and chants, and sported patience when some technical difficulties arrived. That energy was high and still palpable even when the show ended at midnight to give way to a signing and picture session with all the bands.

Hopkins felt the same energy. “Eight hundred kids that did show made it seem like thousands. It was so loud, so much fun. The right way to end,” he said.

Kids waited in line to have their chance to take pictures with the band and talked about the show.

“It was a great show and inspired me to live a better life,” said Samantha Carlton, a 10th-grader at Mat-Su Career and Technical High School.

“They’re all amazing. They should definitely come back again,” said high school students Brittany Musley and Ka’La Garcia. Garcia said she traveled from Anchorage to see the show a third time.

Though the success of the week and the shows are a major triumph in the work of the You Choose Project, work still remains in order for the cause to continue. The bands want to maintain their connection with the kids and continue to be available to offer inspiration and excitement to their lives.

“For all the kids, go to Facebook and “like” Elvis Monroe or Stadium, and youchooseproject.org. Let us know what they thought, how we affected them so we can come back. We’d love to be back,” Hopkins said.

Dylan Gette-King is a senior in high school. View a full photo gallery from Saturday’s show online at frontiersman.com.