Hello Cleveland!

James McInnes graduated from the Applied Bachelor of Business Administration program this past June, but his lifelong passion for music has taken him down a different path than his studies.

Recent graduate rides his own interpretational style of music to a rare Rock and Hall of Fame performance.

McInnes, who performs under the stage name Peter Pot , is an accomplished beatbox artist — he creates beats, rhythms and other musical sounds with his mouth.

While it’s difficult to describe his talent with words, Pot injects creativity and humour into his performances.

Such talents propelled him to the top of one of Canada’s largest talent competitions in 2008 where he was declared the winner of the Calgary Stampede Talent Search in front of some 23,000 spectators.

Pot made a particular impression on some of the Stampede Talent Search committee members and judges. The judges who took note of Pot’s performance during the contest happened to be vocal performers themselves.

Members of Calgary’s pop-R&B a cappella vocal group, the Earthtones took a shining to Pot and his creative talents.

So much so that the group enlisted the help of Pot for an entry into a worldwide contest to perform a Michael Jackson tribute at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, OH recently.

“We were the exclusive winners of this great opportunity to perform at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame,” Pot says.

Pot and the Earthtones traveled to Cleveland on June 23 to perform in front of a crowd of adoring Michael Jackson fans.

“There were many Michael Jackson impersonators and people dressed like MJ at the event,” says Pot.

When asked how the crowd reacted to the Earthtones featuring Peter Pot, he says, “Some of them stared blankly at the stage where they saw this little white guy ready to perform, but once I started my music they fully embraced me and really got into it.”

Pot thoroughly enjoyed his trip to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but the beatbox goes on for him.

“I really want to help spread the word and popularize beatboxing to Canada,” he says. And he will have plenty of opportunities to do so.

“I am returning where it all began, the Calgary Stampede Talent Search, where I will be performing as an alumnus on the final day of this year’s Talent Search finale,” Pot says.

He will be competing against other beatbox talents to earn a wild card spot among beatboxers worldwide in Austria later this month.

Pot is also heading to the Canadian Beatbox Championship in Toronto this October.

To sample a taste of Pot’s talents visit his MySpace page.

— Fred Cheney, July 15, 2010