SAB Hosts Open Mic Night With ‘Stuff and Fluff’
SAB hosted their first Open Mic night of the semester this past Friday, February 10. The event took place on the first floor of the Rebecca Stafford Student Center and consisted of live performances from about seven University students including a capella, acoustic performances and a magic show.
In addition to these performances, there were empty stuffed animals available to all the students who attended along with stuffing at each table to fill the animals with resembling the store Build-A-Bear. There were over 60 stuffed animals given away at the event.
Lucy Russo, Concerts Chair for SAB, organized the event. She explained how students have loved ‘Stuff and Fluff’ over the years and they have been trying to incorporate it more frequently into events. “We went with a Valentine’s Day theme,” Russo said, “So that students could make them for their loved ones or keep them for themselves.”
Megan Pereira, sophomore and communication major, had never been to an Open Mic Night on campus before. “It was really great to see how much talent there really is on Monmouth’s campus,” she said. Pereira was there with her boyfriend and loved the stuffed animals. “I thought it was a lot of fun and very cute,” Pereira said.
The acts of the night began with vocal performances by junior Kitty Moon and sophomore Brooke McCarthy. Moon sang over a piano recording and McCarthy performed an a capella song from a play. Her liveliness and energy really brought the song to life and made it equally about the performance as well as the singing.
Following them was Arturo Romua, junior. Romua did a vocal performance of Jason Mraz’s “I’m Yours” and later in the night came back up to sing again. He performed with nothing but the microphone in front of him. Romua joked during his song about the upcoming high notes he would have to reach but ultimately hit them with ease.
Ross “the Magic Man” Bernstein later took the stage and changed the pace from vocal performances to an audience-involving magic performance. Bernstein was full of jokes on the stage. He immediately called a volunteer out of the audience to help him with his act. Bernstein performed illusions such as a magic bottle in a tube mysteriously changing direction as well as displaying multiple messages on a magic sign. Bernstein has been performing magic for 10 years now.
Sophomore Raymond Bogan followed the magic performance with his acoustic guitar, playing classic songs such as Eric Clapton’s “Change the World.” The lefty guitarist has performed at quite a few Open Mics since his freshman year at the University. Bogan has his own radio show at WMCX on Tuesday’s at 4:00 pm and mentioned how the constant strain on his voice makes singing at open mics more difficult as opposed to when his voice is rested.
The final act of the night was the University’s newly formed vocal group known as the Reztones. The group consisted of seven females and two males. Aforementioned Bernstein held down the baritone bass line vocally and the other male student in the group laid down a beat boxing drum track. The ladies of the group rotated singing over the two, allowing for multiple harmonies and tones. The group just recently formed and is looking forward to performing again at the University.
Russo said, “This event was extremely successful. I was very happy to see so many students come out on a Friday night and stay until the very end. I was also proud to see so many students fearlessly performing their talents and even coming up to perform a second time.” SAB normally hosts one open mic night per semester, but that is not to say other organizations won’t be running any in the future as well.
PHOTO COURTESY of Nick Hodgins
