Tag: Sam Verlinden

Sam Verlinden Parachute Performing Perfection!

samverlinden

Sam Verlinden recently attended and performed in the Parachute Festival held in Hamilton, New Zealand on Jan 28th – 31st.  Not only did Sam and his good friend Hannah Elley capture the attention of the crowd but also captured:
Best Debut Artist of Parachute 2011
which awarded them a command performance on the main stage the last day of the event.

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Recently, I wrote to Sam and asked him to present us with a behind the scene, blow by blow summary of this year’s festival. He graciously sent me the following report which exceeded last year’s experience in many wonderful ways!

 

 

 

Our 2011 Parachute Adventure by: Sam Verlinden

Our Parachute experience actually started back in Jan 2010 when we attended our very first Parachute. Having heard so much about it over the years we decided to sign up for the rock fest weekend. Traveling with my good friend Hannah and her family, we camped out in tents, caravans, airbeds, and the works.  It was so awesome; we caught the bug to do it again!

 

Hannah and I both entered “Parachute Got Talent” for some fun. I was happy to get through to the final where I placed runner up.  Following this, I couldn’t walk down the street without being hugged or high-fived or asked for an autograph – it was great!!

 

samncrowdAnyway, later that year as we watched the Parachute Website start to populate with plans for the 2011 event, we decided to audition for the Best Debut Artist stage.  We pulled together a marketing plan and sent it through.  To our delight we were accepted and invited to perform a 30 minute set on the Debut Artist Stage, “Apollo”.

Continue reading “Sam Verlinden Parachute Performing Perfection!”

Sam Verlinden Singer, Showman, Actor, Star!

sam profile picSam Verlinden of Auckland New Zealand has been a featured regular on Rivenmaster’s Place almost since its conception.  In fact, Sam was featured for the entire month of October in 2009.  Since that time Sam’s popularity on YouTube and at home in New Zealand has grown exponentially and now his acting prowess has captured the eye of both media professionals and a film graduate.

Sam is an amazing young man with exceptional musical skills.  His vocals caught my attention long before his voice showed any signs of deepening.  Sam’s greatest musical influence at an early age was Michael Jackson and he quickly learned and performed  exceptional covers of Michael’s earlier songs like “I’ll be There”, and “Ben”.  The whole time, Sam was simultaneously developing his stage acting abilities appearing in musicals at some of the larger venues in Auckland along with performing at a variety of singing engagements and shows in the city.Red Letter Band

Most recently, Sam and his newly formulate band “Red Letter” entered the Battle of the Bands Competition where they performed to screaming young fans.  I was very impressed by this young bands performance.  Not only were the guitar solos dead on, but each of them played like professionals bringing everyone in the auditorium to their feet!  While the band did not move into the final’s this year Sam still captured “Best Vocalist” and was invited back to sing with another band at the Bruce Mason Theatre where he received a standing ovation for his performance of “Stairway to Heaven”.  Sam’s immediate passion is to keep working with the band, polishing their act and abilities in order to obtain more gigs during these coming summer months in New Zealand. Continue reading “Sam Verlinden Singer, Showman, Actor, Star!”