Imagine local luminaries onstage, performing show-stopping song and dance numbers—for all the world to see!
That’s exactly what will be happening at 3 p.m., Sunday, Nov. 12, at the Palm Springs Cultural Center. It’s called Lip Sync Battle!
Members of Palm Springs organizations including the police and fire departments, Greater Palm Springs Pride, DAP Health, the Palm Springs Unified School district and others will compete in a performance battle to raise money for Palm Springs Parks and Recreation’s youth engagement programs and ONE-PS’ new-neighborhood development program.
During a recent phone interview with Shann Carr, the event’s emcee and producer, she explained how the event came to be.
“I produced a Lip Sync Battle maybe five times at the Cultural Center around 2014-2015,” Carr said. “It wasn’t all organized, and I wasn’t part of something (larger). I just made people do it for fun.”
The Lip Sync Battle idea resurfaced when Carr was thinking about possible events that truly put the fun in fundraiser.
“I have been a representative for the ONE-PS neighborhoods organization for seven or eight years, and they were looking for a second fundraiser,” Carr said. “I’ve curated their Modernism home tour for the last five or six years, so they asked me what else I’d done before, and I’m like, ‘I did this lip sync a long time ago,’ and they were like, ‘That sounds fun’—so we went for it.”
Went for it, they did—and even Carr is a bit overwhelmed by the number of participants.
“I like to do things kind of big—but this turned out pretty big,” Carr said.
Ten local organizations will be represented by either a solo performer, a duo or a larger group. Some examples include news anchor Kitty Alvarado representing the Palm Springs Fire Department, Justin Lawler representing the Palm Springs Police Department, and Mike Thompson and Lex Ortega representing the LGBTQ Community Center of the Desert.
“We lost a bunch of contestants at the very beginning because people said yes, and then they chickened out, or their lives became very busy, which is happening to all of us,” Carr said. “Every single one of us is overwhelmed already with the season. I moved to town in ’98, and everybody used to say, ‘You can roll a tumbleweed down the main street, and you won’t hit anybody,’ and it was boarded up, and there was nothing to do—and now there’s so much to do.”
The range of music featured in the Lip Sync Battle will offer moments for every music fan, Carr said.
“It’s everything from dark music to bubblegum pop,” she said. “There are a couple (of songs) that are as bubblegum as you could get, and one that’s spicy enough to probably raise some eyebrows.”
Carr explained why the event is benefitting both Palm Springs Parks and Recreation’s youth engagement programs and ONE-PS’ new-neighborhood development program.
Judges include entertainers like Keisha D and drag queen Tommi Rose, as well as Jeannie Kays of the Palm Springs Library and Tamara Hedges of the Palm Springs Animal Shelter.
“City events rely so much on Parks and Rec, so we wanted to be able to give back to Parks and Rec,” she said. “One of the things they’re trying more and more to do is create youth engagement programs, so 50% of proceeds will go to Parks and Rec youth engagement programs, in hopes of finding more things for the younger people and families who are moving to town to do. The other half will benefit ONE-PS itself, but there’s a new part called neighborhood development and support.”
Carr said ONE-PS is working to bring neighborhood residents together.
“I live in Demuth Park, and I have not really been able to engage my neighborhood in doing things as a neighborhood,” Carr said. “Last year, I put on Art in the Park in the Dark in Demuth Park. … That was the first time I really saw neighbors out, and I met people I didn’t know lived in the ’hood. I feel like if ONE-PS is going to be a thing, and they’re going to put in new neighborhoods, I think it’s cool to support those neighborhoods with a few dollars. If they need to have a little coffee gathering for all the neighbors, we can help them do a mailing and send a postcard to all their neighbors saying, ‘Hey, we’re getting together.’”
While Carr was hesitant to share too much about what people can expect from the performances, she did say the Lip Sync Battle features two performers returning from her previous series at the Cultural Center.
“I work a lot in the volunteer-coordinators sector, so people either run from me when they see me coming, or they’re so excited to find out what batshit thing I want them to do next,” Carr said. “Mike Thompson, who is the executive director at the LGBTQ Community Center of the Desert, was in the Lip Sync Battle last time. … He was new in town, and it was a great way to meet people. Lex Ortega, who at the time worked at DAP (Health), now works at the LGBTQ Center with Mike Thompson. They were competitors last time, and they are a duo this time.”
The Lip Sync Battle also features 11 judges from various community organizations. Some of the more artistic judges are even taking a performer under their figurative wing, and using their background in entertainment to mentor and assist. Judges include entertainers like Keisha D and drag queen Tommi Rose, as well as Jeannie Kays of the Palm Springs Library and Tamara Hedges of the Palm Springs Animal Shelter. (Full disclosure: The Independent’s Jimmy Boegle is also a judge, but he is doing no mentoring, given his complete lack of performing talent.)
“Seven of the judges are coaching a contestant, so they get one rehearsal, and they get 20 minutes alone in the theater together with the stage crew to play the music and talk about what kind of visuals and stuff (they’ll use), and then they … can have a coffee or a beer with the judge.
“Most of the judges have some entertainment experience, and most of these contestants are not performers in any way. These are desk nerds—but they’re spicy desk nerds. We’ve got a cop, two school teachers and a principal, a bunch of executive directors. I’m really excited that they’re getting a little bit of coaching, and being the bossy old lesbian that I am, I’m certainly going to get my few words of coaching in as they do it, too.”
The ONE-PS Lip Sync Battle will take place at 3 p.m., Sunday, Nov. 12, at the Palm Springs Cultural Center, 2300 E. Baristo Road, in Palm Springs. Tickets start at $40, with group discounts. For tickets and more information, visit www.one-ps.org or www.eventbrite.com/e/one-ps-lip-sync-battle-tickets-713719994717.
