DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM Leilehua High's Kim Anderson was surrounded by rejoicing friends Saturday night when her victory in the Star Quest talent search was announced.

Shining stars

Aiea student Kim Anderson
wins first place in Brown Bags'
successor, Star Quest

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By John Berger
jberger@starbulletin.com

A star debuted, and Hawaii took notice, as charismatic Kim Anderson took top honors in the inaugural Star Quest High School Talent Search.

Anderson, representing Leilehua High in the statewide competition Saturday, received 472 points out of a possible 500. She owned the crowd as soon as she took the stage, and earned enthusiastic applause even from supporters of other contestants.

She said the crowd's response boosted her hopes, but as the 34th contestant in a field of 41, she had no expectations of winning.

"I never competed against so many people before, and they were all good," she said. "But I was so happy to be here. I thought even if I didn't win, maybe somebody would see me and discover me. I just want a chance."

DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM The Jawaiian group Puna, above, from Hilo High School, clinched second place in the state finals of Star Quest, held Saturday night at the Stan Sheriff Center on the University of Hawaii-Manoa campus. From left, the band members are Jacob Bernabe, Joey Bernabe, Nathan I.K. Dutro Jr., Richard Kaleohano and Daniel Lopaka Kenoi; not shown is the sixth band member, Ian Miller.

Anderson received $500 cash and other prizes, including the promise of exposure on Oceanic Cable 16 via a series of half-hour specials that will begin airing later this month.

Puna, a six-piece Jawaiian band, did Hilo High proud, coming in second. Aiea freshman Shawna Masuda was third.

"I was here for the experience," Masuda said, a veteran of intermediate school-level talent show competitions. She hopes to record and hit Broadway after college ("Juilliard, hopefully"). Masuda studied voice for two years, "to bring up my confidence," and piano for eight.

Behind Williams, Puna and Masuda came an impressive field of talented soloists, duos, bands and dance groups representing 41 schools. The lineup included Jawaiian and alt-punk groups, several singer-songwriters and many acts singing karaoke style.

Most of the singers and several of the Jawaiian bands performed familiar pop chart hits, but others -- such as Cyndi Powell (Kaiser), the three Liamedo sisters of No Limitz (St. Francis) and singer-keyboardist JP Lam (Punahou) -- went with originals.

"My passion pretty much is writing songs," said Lam, who has been "seriously" writing and studying music for four years, and plans to continue his musical education at the college level.

The smooth-moving show was a near-perfect finale to the state's most ambitious talent contest, created by Tai Okamura and launched on a shoestring budget in November as a replacement for KIKI/I-94's Brown Bags to Stardom contest.

DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM Shawna Masuda, a freshman from Aiea High School, sang her way to third place.

Brown Bags, created in 1981 by Kamasami Kong, ruled for two decades as the major annual talent contest for teenage entertainers. When I-94's mainland owners decided to kill Brown Bags, Okamura stepped in with Star Quest and improved on the concept. I-94 had limited the neighbor islands to one finalist per island. Okamura opened the contest to all those qualified, and the neighbor islands were well represented.

Teresa Batungbacal (Maui High) worked the stage with the assurance of a seasoned entertainer; Kamaka Fernandez (King Kekaulike) accompanied himself on ukulele, adding a moment of beautiful traditionalist Hawaiian music. Both hope to become recording artists.

So does Anderson, who said she had been planning on joining the Air Force after high school, but would like to go straight to college. "Maybe I can if somebody discovers me," she said.

Consider it done.

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