This year, 17 bands vie for the title of the best band in the Central Valley. On April 28, the California State University, Stanislaus’s radio station, KCSS Turlock, will present their second annual One Night Bandstand.
The Grizzly Rock Cafe will host the free event from 8 p.m. to 1 a.m. and is open to all ages; however, guests must be 21 years-old or over with I.D. to buy drinks. The genesis of the event is to promote and support local talent and provide students with great entertainment. New to the event is the battle of the band aspect where bands will be competing for a video interview on the station’s website and Facebook page, an on-air interview and a recorded promotional ad. 
“We have been planning our 2nd Annual Bandstand since our 2011 ‘Rocks-Giving’ event,” said Station Manager, Kevin Skerba.  “We expect there to be just as much, if not more people than our One Night Bandstand that we did last year.  This year’s ‘Battle of the Bandstand’ is going to be a battle of the bands, and looks very promising with all of the talent that we have coming out.”
The event promises to have non-stop music as bands will be performing simultaneously on three different stages. There will be two outside stages and one in the bar with complete sound and lights. The voting process will be a ballot box format where attendees will receive one ticket at the door. As each band will have their own ballot box, voters will place their ticket in the box of their choice. At the end of the night, tickets will be tallied and a winner will be announced. 
This year’s line-up offers a more diverse collection of acts featuring genres such as rock, indie, folk, alternative, experimental, contemporary, blues and punk. True Mad North, French Cassettes, Solace In Sunsets, Every Atlas, the Josh Rosenblum Band, Broken Trojan, CAVE Women and Blunderbuss are expected to perform at the event.
“We are really excited for this year’s lineup,” Promotions Director Garrett Neeley said. “We pulled together myriad sounds from all over California including CAVE Women, which is an all female band from Sacramento. There will be a variety of instruments not typically seen at other shows. I’m really excited that we were able to pull together some of the talent from Modesto, Ripon and Turlock to really make a celebration of local music.”  
While this year’s event will be a competition, the emphasis of the massive concert is to expose students and the general public to the eclectic sounds in the Central Valley. For French Cassettes’ lead vocalist and guitarist Scott Huerta, he hopes the event will offer opportunities to expand their fan base and meet other local acts.
“We have never played at the Grizzly Rock before, but we are hoping for a warm welcoming into the Turlock music scene,” Huerta said. “We recently found out it is a a battle of the bands type gig, which, we are not really big on competing against other local bands, but I’m sure everyone will just treat it like any other gig and go for the good of music and enjoy themselves.  We are always happy to make new local band friends and can’t wait for all the bands to rock Turlock.”
In addition, KCSS Turlock will be taking donations for their Spring membership drive. Money collected from donations helps keep the radio station on the air and fund events like Rocks-giving and One Night Bandstand. At the event, the members of the station will be collecting donations and selling newly designed t-shirts for $10 and other merchandise, such as sweatshirts, pens and stickers. 
The Grizzly Rock Cafe is located at 4905 Golden State Blvd., Turlock.  The event is sponsored by Fire Temple, The Grizzly Rock Café, KCSS 91.9 FM and Kirksound. For more information visit Facebook.com/KCSS91.9 or contact the Station Manager, Kevin Skerba at 667-3903.