BREAK OUT ROLE
Vendera shatters glasses, record on TV show
By Phyllis Noah PDT Staff Writer
Shattering myths is what Discovery Channel TV show, Mythbusters, tries to do. And that is exactly what will happen when Jaime Vendera of Franklin Furnace appears on the show in April. Vendera became the world record holder for shattering glasses with his voice and it is making him famous.
He is a voice coach, a musician, and an author. he is in a new band called "Burn the Sun". Vendera plays keyboards, saxophone, flute, and harmonica along with drummer Tim Odle and Bass Guitarist Howard Turner.
"Also, i interview professional singers from groups such as Saliva, Shinedown, Sevendust and TNT and others," Vendera said. "One of the guys I interviewed is Jim Gillette in a band called Nitro, and back in the 80's he used to tour and shatter champagne glasses using an amplifier with his voice."
Mythbusters contacted Jim Gillette and he was too busy to do the show so he called Vendera and told him he would instruct him how to do it.
Gillette sent Vendera an amplifier, a microphone and some wine glasses.
"He taught me how to break them over the phone." Vendera said. "On November 3, 2004, I broke my first wine glass. I broke 19 that day and i took off fro work the next day just to rest my voice."
He works as a foreman at J & H Erectors of Portsmouth and the owner, Don Hadsell, is his uncle.
"My uncle let me off work that day - he's proud of me," Vendera said. "On Friday, I broke 24 glasses and on Saturday, I flew to New York and they put me up in the Waldorf Astoria."
On Sunday, Good Morning America requested that the New York Opera come to the Discovery Building where Vendera was taken.
"The Opera had probably about 20 females and a couple of males who tried to break glasses and it just wasn't happening," he said. "I actually broke one in about 2 seconds to show them how to do it."
Then, Vendera coached all the New York OPera members how to break glass using an ampliefier.
When the staff scientist form Meyer Sound checked the amplifier, he was more than 100 decibals and the Opera singers were less than 90 decibals.
The Good Morning America staff picked one of the female opera singers, Genevieve Christiansen, to appear on the show with Vendera the next morning.
"They focused on her and they gave her two tries and she could not break the glass," he said. "It took me about 10 or 15 seconds. When that happened, Discovery's Mythbusters were really pleased and they wanted to do a show with me to prove whether a singer sould shatter a glass without an amplifier - becuse it had never, ever been documented in world history."
Paul DeHart, another foreman at J & H Erectors worked with Vendera and helped him practice for the show.
"We are working at King's Daughters Medical Center in Ashland (Ky.), and I call him my vocal sparring partner," Vendera said. "He has pushed me and believed in me and has helped me the most. He kept pushing until it finally happened when we were driving home from work in the car one day."
On Feb. 7, Vendera was flown down to San Francisco and the next day, the show was filmed in a theater.
"I didn't believe I could do this, but they all did, and when I shattered that glass the should measured 105 decibals," he said, "They wanted to see how much more they could get, and when I screamed again, I measured about 120 decibals. I am the first singer documented in the world to shatter a glass withuot amplification."
Now, he has management companies calling to give their professional clients voice tips,. He has shattered more than 50 glases with an amplifier and he has shattered 18 with voice alone.
Metal Method hired him to work on a DVD called the Ultimate Vocal Workout.
The show with Vendera breaking glass with his voicewill air sometime in April.
"I want to be the No. 1 rock vocal coach in the Untied States in the next couple of years," Vendera said. "Things are taking off."
Through his Web Site, http://www.the voiceconnection.com, he sells his books and also offers free lessons. His first book is "Rais Your Voice," a vocal instruction manual, and the second book is "The Ultimate Breathing Workout," an instruction manual for voice improvement.
He hopes his new book "Mind set," on programming the mind for success, will be out in several months.