NOTE: “Today” and “tonight” refer to Friday, Dec. 20.
PORT TOWNSEND — A Port Townsend native who earned a degree of fame and fortune as a musician and model is paying tribute to his hometown with an all-ages multimedia event tonight.
“This will be the coolest show to happen on the Olympic Peninsula, possibly ever,” said Brett Pemberton, a 2004 Port Townsend High School graduate of the presentation, “Wake Up & Start Dreaming.”
“It will be very modern, fresh and young, and there will be tons of new stuff that no one has heard before.”
The show will begin at 7:30 p.m. at the American Legion Hall, 209 Monroe St.
Tickets are $10 in advance and $20 at the door, and are available at Quimper Sound in the Undertown and online at http://tinyurl.com/PDN-Pemberton.
The show will be open to all ages, and each ticket will be entered into a drawing for a free trip to Hollywood.
Regional, national performers
It will feature a variety of regional and national performers.
“Many famous fashion models, actors and even a few professional athletes will be attending to help bridge the gap between aspiring talent and opportunity,” Pemberton said.
Pemberton, 28, appeared in the 2011 edition of “America’s Got Talent” and has worked as a model internationally in campaigns for Gucci, Armani, Ralph Lauren and others.
Pemberton and fellow model Maja Hansen hope the event will draw people who are interested in a modeling career and will use their connections to place those with promise with modeling agencies.
The musicians and models range from the regional to the international, connected by their friendship to Pemberton.
“I thought about doing a holiday show here in Port Townsend as a way to thank the community and because I’ve never done anything like this before,” Pemberton said.
“I emailed all of my friends, people I’ve worked with in modeling and music, and they all answered back in 15 minutes and said yes.”
Aside from the music, modeling and mayhem, the event will debut a new song that will be used as a theme for the Seattle Mariners beginning in the 2014 season.
Pemberton said Mariners management approached Queensryche guitarist Parker Lundgren, who also hails from Port Townsend, to write a theme song. Lundgren in turn contacted Pemberton.
‘We Are Mariners’
The pair then recruited local musician/producer Pete Lack, who created the beat-heavy “We Are Mariners,” which will have its debut performance Friday.
While there are no promises, the event’s sponsors hope some of the Mariners themselves will be in attendance to hear the new song, which Pemberton, Lundgren and Lack will perform.
Also slated to attend are Ashlyn Pearce, a cast member on “The Bold and the Beautiful”; musician Mark Mangold, who has written songs for Michael Bolton and Cher; and Japanese pop-dance duo Kento.
The concert is also meant to be the capstone on the Kickstarter campaign supporting Port Townsend singer Jazmin Van Lelyveld-Gifford, who is raising funds for her first album.
Pemberton said modeling is a tough and competitive business, and he hopes he can lend a hand to those starting out.
While models are of a certain body type, he said, those people who do not fit into that box need not buy into that value system.
“People are too susceptible to marketing,” he said.
“It manipulates people into thinking they are less worthy because someone else is good at what they do, which is like not picking up a basketball because Michael Jordan is such a great player.
“We take people who are a quintessential representation of any industry, putting them on a soapbox and glorifying them, which isn’t healthy.”
While the concert is meant to be an upbeat affair, Pemberton plans to take the stage and pay tribute to his father, David Pemberton, who died Dec. 8.
“Without him, my musical career would never have been enabled, and I never would have gone around the world,” Pemberton said.
For more information, email Pemberton at brett@brett-pemberton.com.
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Jefferson County Editor Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or cbermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
