Singer Elena Loper Named 2007 ‘Pali Idol’

Freshman Elena Loper, an experienced singer and member of Palisades High’s drama department, was voted 2007 Pali Idol at the school’s fifth annual singing contest last Friday night. The event is the longest running of its kind in Los Angeles, and is a local spinoff of Fox TV’s popular ‘American Idol.’ The program featured a group of 11 finalists, who performed and were then narrowed down to the three top singers, via audience vote. Each of these three then performed another song, followed by a final audience vote. Leadership teacher Chris Lee and 2006 winner Ernestine Collins co-hosted the event. In the first round, the judges’ votes and the audience’s votes each were weighted as 50 percent of the final vote, while the final round consisted of all audience voting. The judges included Principal Dr. Gloria Martinez, PaliHi chorus teacher Josh Elson, Pollyanna Jacobs, Bill Clark, and Bill Faggerbakke. Jacobs works with Scott Z. Burns Production, the recent winner of the Academy Award for ‘An Inconvenient Truth.’ Clark, husband of PaliHi science teacher Sarah Crompton, is a guitar/banjo player and vocalist for the band Rose’s Pawn Shop, and director of photography for Al Gore’s cable network, Current TV. Faggerbakke voices the character of Patrick’a pink starfish’on the popular Nickelodeon cartoon ‘Spongebob Squarepants.’ Loper, the second-to-last performer in the first round, sang ‘Lo and Behold,’ by James Taylor, showcasing her smooth, jazzy voice. The audience clapped along, led by Ernestine Collins, who popped out from backstage to make sure they stayed on beat. ‘You have such a mature voice,’ observed Faggerbakke. ‘That gospel feel and exuberance was right on.’ For the second round, Loper chose Sarah McLachlan’s ‘Angel,’ a powerful song with much less of a jazz feel. ‘I’m somewhat speechless,’ Jacobs said. ‘You have an amazing voice and control and poise.’ Clark agreed, admiring Loper’s ‘soul and power.’ Loper, a resident of Pacific Palisades, said later that she has always loved to sing, and joined the choir at her school and church when she was very young. ‘I saw ‘The Little Mermaid’ when I was two years old and I’ve known I wanted to sing since then,’ she said. She has recently been working on classical pieces, but her varied musical influences include the Beatles, Aretha Franklin, Sarah McLachlan, and Simon and Garfunkel. Loper sang with Dana Green at the Adderley School in the Highlands and participated in the annual talent shows at St. Matthew’s School. At PaliHi this year, she has been in the drama department’s ‘Medieval Nights’ show, was a cast member of ‘Robin Hood: Men in Tights,’ and is now directing a scene for the spring Shakespeare Festival. ‘I was really honored and surprised when I won,’ said Loper, ‘because the people that I was up against were so talented. The experience has been so great and I’m so thankful to my support group.’ Loper won $300 as Pali Idol, and hopes to donate it to a charity. She is considering sending it to aid the refugees of Darfur or to support stem-cell research. The other two finalists, who each won $50, were seniors Sean Kubota and Jordan Lloyd. Kubota accompanied himself on guitar both times he was on stage. For the first round, he sang the rock song ‘Drive,’ by Incubus, adding his own twist by beatboxing in the beginning. In the final round, he sang a song he had written the day before, even recovering after an initial mishap with the microphone. Faggerbakke observed that it was ‘amazing that you can sing this song so passionately,’ while Elson commented on his nerve, calling the performance ‘wonderful.’ Lloyd’s first choice was Stevie Wonder’s ‘You Will Know,’ which suited her mature, soulful voice. She engaged the audience by raising her arm to snap along to the song, encouraging them to join her. ‘I really felt like I was at a smoky jazz club,’ Lee remarked. Lloyd’s second song was ‘Beautiful,’ by India.Arie, which she sang a cappella. Faggerbakke admired her ‘easy warmth,’ while Elson joked that he ‘taught her everything she knows.’ The other eight contestants were Paul Ahn, Ahlysha Gopaul, Rachel Grim, Talia Hovanesian, Shannon Kinnard, Tasha Solomita, and Lauren Tizabi. They each received $20 gift cards to the Gap. Pali Idol was organized by senior Patrick Kim, who said that it ‘turned out well’I’m proud of it.’ His co-organizer was Gabby Nunez. Lee said during the show that the 2007 program was ‘by far the best year.’ He observed more audience support as well as more types of music, which diversified the show. ‘Everyone did a fantastic job,’ he explained later. ‘They really stepped it up.’