Entertainment
s
chedule
for Red, White and Kaboom
Friday, July 3
Village Green Park
6 p.m. — Live broadcast by ClassX Radio 88.9 FM begins
6:15 p.m. — Fairfield Idol Finals, song No. 1
6:30 p.m. — Blast of Brass Tour: music from Second Wind and BlueStone Ivory
6:40 p.m. — Music from Second Wind
7:40 p.m. — Fairfield Idol Finals, song No. 2 (audience voting opens after this performance)
7:50 p.m. — Music from BlueStone Ivory
8:50 p.m. — Announcement of Fairfield Idol winner
8:55 p.m. — Blast of Brass Tour: music from Second Wind and BlueStone Ivory
9:57 p.m. — Star Spangled Banner, performed by 2008 Fairfield Idol winner Morgan Curtner
10 p.m. — Rozzi’s Famous Fireworks
Harbin Park
7:30 p.m. — Music from the Rusty Griswolds
10 p.m. — Rozzi’s Famous Fireworks
FAIRFIELD — For the first time in the five-year history of the event, Fairfield Idol will certainly be a male entertainer this time.
Previous Fairfield Idol winners have been Morgan Curtner (2008), Shelby McDaniel (2009), Shelby Lutz (2006) and Ashley Brandenburg (2005).
Ethan Unklesbay, who will be going up against Tom Giusti for the finals, part of Fairfield’s Red, White and Kaboom Independence Day celebration, has competed against them all.
“I’ve been trying for five years to get this far,” he said. “This year, I decided that if I were going to win, I’d better make better song choices.”
So this time, instead of picking songs he liked, say something by John Denver, he chose tunes that would be more popular and, above all, more entertaining. Say, a song by Brad Paisley.
Unklesbay comes from a musical background. His father, Glenn, is a band director, and he and his siblings all have had extensive musical experience and training.
“I had four years of choir in high school and three years of private vocal training,” he said.
A student at Brigham Young University in Utah, Unklesbay plans to major in Spanish education, but interrupted his studies this fall to begin a two-year mission in South America.
At the Fairfield Idol finals Friday, July 3, Unklesbay will be going up against a more seasoned performer, 41-year-old father of two Tom Giusti, who moved to Fairfield three years ago from California.
“I’ve been playing music most of my life, since I was 15 or 16 years old,” he said.
In addition to being a frequent performer as a singer/songwriter in the area, he’s also had experience with competitions, having been a regional finalist in the Colegate Country Showdown last year.
Unklesbay said he’s trying to decide between the song “Let Me Entertain You” by Robbie Williams and possibly a tribute to Michael Jackson. Giusti plans to do one of his original songs, then something more familiar to the crowd to “take it up a notch,” he said.
Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2188
or rjones@coxohio.com.
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