The San Fernando Valley

Amateur Radio Club

          

          About the Membership Vice President…

 

 

 

 

 

For only being 24 years old, club member James Parlevliet, KG6QDY, has already done more in his life than a lot of people his age. Having played music in front of sold out audiences throughout the world, earned a College Degree (an Associates Degree, but a degree nonetheless), earned the respect of multiple area portrait photographers as not only one of their photographers but also as a trusted assistant, and gotten thus far a General Class Ham Radio Operators License.

Outside of being a ham, James is a tenured performing member of the Los Angeles Pierce Symphonic Winds. He has been an active member of the group since his senior year in high school, and has been a performing member with the group for 7 years. He will remain with the group until work or life takes him elsewhere. The L.A. Pierce Symphonic Winds is a 100-member wind ensemble, performing concerts during their regular 5-concert season at the Performing Arts Building at Pierce College . The building is a perfect venue due to its picturesque views of most of the Valley.

James has performed with many great musicians, such as Jim Self, Dale Underwood, Steve Piazza & Col. Arnald D. Gabriel (Ret. USAF). James will perform with the Winds in the Summer of 2007 when he and the Winds perform at the highly regarded Mid-European Band Festival in Schladming, Austria. This trip to Austria will mark his third international tour with the Winds, with having been to England, Scotland, Italy & France. Domestically, he has performed with the Winds in Las Vegas, Phoenix, Barstow, and most notably, the Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic in Chicago in December 2004. Plans are in the works for the bands first Trans-Pacific Tour, with performances in Australia, Japan and Eastern China.

James volunteers his time once a year to play music for the church-based Theater Repertoire Group of Our Lady of Lourdes musicals. His show credits with this group are Oklahoma, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, and Oliver. In his most recent production with the group, James stepped out of the orchestra pit this last year and ran the sound board for their musical rendition of “Guys and Dolls.” This proved enjoyable for James as he studied sound design and production during his years on the stage crew at Canoga Park High School .

James earned an Associates of Arts Degree with emphasis in PhotoJournalism from Los Angeles Pierce College in June of 2004. He is currently working on a Bachelors of Arts Degree, and is enrolled in the Broadcast Journalism program within the College of Arts, Media and Communication at California State University, Northridge. James will graduate from CSUN with his degree by the summer of 2008, and will continue his education and pursue a Masters Degree in Communications after graduation from CSUN.

James assists many local area photographers on a regular basis at Weddings, Proms, Formals, Bar/Bat Mitzvahs, and private parties. He regularly assists and is a second photographer for Somer Haines-Padilla of Northridge Studios, helping with dances and Senior Portraits. James knows Somer from his days back in high school, when she originally took his Senior Portraits. Four years later, James worked with Somer to learn the nuances of portraiture. He spent two days a week at her studio learning to shoot portraits, mainly senior portraits. As time went on, he expanded his knowledge to include headshots and executive portraits.

Recently, James was nominated to be one of the photographers for Sports Illustrated Magazine during the Summer Olympics in 2008, in Beijing, China.

As far as Ham Radio is concerned, James can say that he is one of the youngest members of the club that has a license permitting HF operation. He got his interest in Ham Radio from Roger Vargo N6YDT, his PhotoJournalism instructor at Pierce. Roger got James hooked and James can say that he dislikes Roger for it, but James enjoys it and hopes that as he studies for the Extra Class Test, he can look back at when Roger introduced James to the hobby for inspiration and obtain the status of the youngest Extra Class Operator in the club.

BOD

The San Fernando Valley

Amateur Radio Club