It all started when my friend and I were at Costco getting pizza for everyone at Relay for Life: Anaheim in August 2008. Knowing that the volunteers that day spent their whole day outside in the sun setting up for this life-changing event, my dad kindly decided to buy some food for them. When my friend and I were at Costco waiting to pick up our food, we came up with the idea that we should have different dance groups perform at our school for a fundraiser to raise money for our home club.

At first this benefit concert was some random idea similar to getting together and forming a band-it was one of those big ideas that people usually brush over. From there, I decided to take action. I began writing e-mails and making phone calls to different well-known dance groups hoping that they would provide a donated performance. When I finally received replies from Fanny Pak and Super Cr3w telling me that they were interested in my inquiry, I knew that there was no turning back. I knew that I wouldn’t have been able to execute this benefit concert without outside help; I began to not only put together a committee, but I also sought the help of my Kiwanis Advisor, Lamont Miya from Kiwanis of Cypress. We began exchanging our ideas on what and how this benefit concert should go about- together with the help of Sarah Duong, Bea Mac, Grace Yellow, Cameron Cairns, and Andy Nguyen, we decided to bring in more performers including music artists such as AJ Rafael and Gabe Bondoc.   

With all these performers, I needed to look for a venue. Desperately searching for a venue, I was unable to utilize my school gym and the Kennedy Performing Arts Center. Finally, when I contacted the Anaheim Unified High School District Office in regards to utilizing the Cook Auditorium located at Anaheim High School , the operator suggested Heritage Forum as a possible venue. From there, I sent in an application to utilize the venue and later the committee and I met up with the manager of the venue for a tour. We were at awe when we saw the beauty of the venue and we immediately knew that this was the place for our event.

Once the event details were established and the Event Request Form approved, we began publicizing our event to our families and friends. I began sending out e-mails to the Lieutenant Governors of Region 3 Key Club informing them about the event and how we would sell tickets. Throughout December and January, I continued to contact the Lieutenant Governors of Region 3 and Presidents of Division 30 South Key Club in order to get updates on ticket sales and push them to publicize the event. Though we were off to a slow start, as event came closer, Feel the Beat got bigger and bigger. Soon we were getting e-mails from people all over Southern California in regards on how to purchase tickets. People from cities such as West Covina, Redlands, Laguna Hills , and West Hollywood  were e-mailing us asking about show details.  When Pre-Sale finally ended, on February 10th, we sold 982 Pre-Sale tickets and had 240 Online Reservations- this made me realize that the event will sell out.

On the day of the show, there was much excitement- the committee’s hard work would finally come to life. Upon arriving at the venue at 3:00 PM, I had seen about 10 people already waiting in line to get at the door tickets. As we settled in backstage, we greeted the performers and started tech rehearsals. At the same time, I had people setting up the ticketing booth as well as the lines. It was only 4:30 PM, when there was already a line of people waiting to get tickets- as it got closer to 5:30 PM, the line got longer and longer as it stretched around the venue. Within half an hour, there were no more at the door tickets available. Around 6:30 PM, the outside of the venue got packed- it got so overwhelmingly crowded that the police were beginning to get concerned. The Event Coordinator of Heritage Forum informed me that we needed to start moving people in in order to alleviate the crowd outside and prevent people from going on the street or else the police would shut down the event. While people moved into the venue to claim their seats, others were still in line getting their tickets. The whole process took longer than I expected and we started the show about 15 minutes late. When the show finally began as the lights shutoff and the MCs got on stage, the crowd started to scream their lungs out and I finally got to rest. It was simply amazing when realization struck my committee and I- we actually pulled it off. My amazement drastically elevated when our first performer, Gabe Bondoc, began his set- as he walked on stage, cameras began flashing from all over the venue at an astonishing rate as the attendees screamed. As the show continued, my sensation grew and I realized that I would want to plan another benefit concert the following year. All of the performers did amazing that night- Gabe Bondoc, AJ Rafael, Cathy Nguyen, Randolph Permejo, Passion, Fanny Pak, World Famous, Super Cr3w, and Kaba Modern all did such a great set; they truly made the show phenomenal.

I personally still can’t believe how successful this benefit concert turned out- at first, I thought we would have a lot of trouble selling tickets. Ultimately, in the end, our event sold out. Even though the show has passed, we still get questions and comments about Feel the Beat. However, this time, not only are they telling us how amazing the event was, but they are also asking when Feel the Beat Part 2 will be.

- Michael Nguyen
Feel the Beat Project Chair