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Lots of gusto, few entrants

A talent show draws just three performers, but the host has hope.

By Stephanie Garry, Times Staff Writer
Published February 29, 2008

Drew Giordano, 17, of St. Petersburg plays his guitar for a few spectators at Ferg's Sports Bar on Thursday night.
	[Edmund D. Fountain | Times]

The promo music for the night's show pumps up. It's Kool & the Gang, celebrating good times. A voice-over touts the host as an Emmy award winner.

"Welcome to the stage, Jimmy Danelli!"

Danelli, an energetic 56, bounds to the corner of a room at Ferg's Sports Bar, where two giant amps are propped on stilts. One man claps loudly.

It's the opening night of a 10-week talent contest, American Idol style, and the crowd is sparse. Danelli, a TV writer who worked on the Emmy-award-winning Winnie the Pooh, moved to St. Petersburg four months ago to care for his elderly mother.

"It's starting to grow on me," he says. "If I were to compare it to L.A., it's a lot more laid back. It's kind of, um, what would be the word for it ... esoteric."

Now he's trying to bring some Hollywood sparkle to the city.

So far, the response has been lukewarm. Three contestants performed, and a handful watched the inaugural show.

"Right now, it's kind of lame," says David McMahon, 49, who is scouting out the venue for his daughter Erin. At 13, she's in the voice program at John Hopkins Middle School.

But Danelli's enthusiasm can't be dampened.

"Oh, yeah, yeah! Give it up for Drew! Just imagine, he said he was a little nervous," Danelli says, as he takes the microphone after Drew Giordano, 17, plays a soulful solo on his electric guitar.

Giordano, a junior at St. Petersburg High School, has played for bigger crowds with his band, Ramble, but doesn't mind Thursday's turnout.

"Most of the time I play, I'm just by myself or with my dog," Drew says.

Christian Phosy, a sixth-grader at Bay Point Middle School, sings "Crank Dat Soulja Boy" by Soulja Boy. He comes to Ferg's every Thursday while his parents play poker and just happens upon the contest.

"I just go with the flow," says Christian, 12. "Whenever a new song comes out, I learn a dance."

Kelvin Fielding, an Englishman whose day job is real estate for Tourtelot Brothers, is the last contestant.

Wearing a blazer and a tie, Fielding says he used to write sitcoms, though the British Broadcasting Corp. rejected him.

"I'm not as famous as you," Fielding tells the host.

He runs through his comedy routine, touching on politics, Frankenstein and a variation on the crossing-the-road joke. He gets a mixed reaction.

With that, the first night is over. Danelli tells folks to put their ballots into the box.

Over the next eight weeks, performers can return as many times as they like. At the end, the 15 top vote getters will perform for a panel of judges. The winner receives $500.

The slow start doesn't deter Danelli. He just thinks the word needs to get out.

"The people who were here seemed to enjoy themselves," he says.

Stephanie Garry can be reached at sgarry@sptimes.com or (727) 892-2374.

IF YOU GO

Talent contest

Thursday nights at 8 p.m., Ferg's Sports Bar, 1320 Central Ave., St. Petersburg FL, 33705, at 8 p.m.

[Last modified February 29, 2008, 01:10:44]