A night of big, musical dreams at EMP

Some of them will escape.

Freed, they will go to college, become attorneys, teachers, social workers.

Others of them will not be so lucky. They will be, to quote one local band, trapped like a trap inside a trap. Held prisoner by The Dream: making it in music.

Making a living (let alone "making it big") in this business is a longshot, but who can blame these teenagers, after Saturday night? Members of three young bands experienced adrenaline-pumping, ego-inflating moments of bliss, performing on a big stage under slick lights, as hundreds in the crowd danced and applauded and screamed and even threw underwear toward the stage.

As Brian Hurlow, the singer of Army Corps of Architects, put it: "This has been the best week of my life."

His Bainbridge Island band finished third in an under-21 competition called "Sound Off!" The equally young — mostly highschoolers, with adults sprinkled in — crowd at Experience Music Project's Sky Church went nuts for a goofy Seattle disco-pop act called Natalie Portman's Shaved Head.

The judges were not swayed, however, going with substance over style and awarding first place to For Years Blue, a serious-minded, seven-piece band from Spokane. Ranging in age from 16 to 19, these musicians were sharp and polished, as the band delved into long, brooding passages. For Years Blue flirts with Dave Matthews Band territory, with echoes here and there of Radiohead and (if you strain your ears) Pink Floyd.

So it's nice that this sixth "Sound Off!" was not a popularity contest. However . . .

In the Sky Church lobby, there is a glass case honoring Seattle rock icons Kurt Cobain and Jimi Hendrix. Right next to it is another glass case, glorifying the music-makers of . . . Disney.

Put the two together, do you get "Disneyfied rock?"

It sure seemed like it, as the "Sound Off!" finals were G-rated and safe, from the Napoleon Dynamite-like dancers of Natalie Portman's Shaved Head to the Death Cab for Cutie/The Decemberists-influenced Army Corps. The raw anger of punk, metal and hip hop was nowhere to be found.

More troubling, the performers — and almost all of the audience — were as white as a Disney cartoon. Minority performers were lacking not only in this final round, but in the previous semi-final rounds (12 bands in all).

For a music museum inspired by Hendrix, one of the great African-American musicians of the 20th Century, this is pretty disturbing. EMP might want to do better outreach to diverse musicians, in the future . . . unless, of course, it really does want to be the Disneyland of rock.

This year's winner was awarded a slot at Bumbershoot, recording time, an on-air performance at 107.7 "The End" and expensive gear. All three finalists received microphones and music software — and plenty of fuel for their music dreams.