Textbooks for a Song
It wasn’t exactly American Idol, but there was some fierce competition – maybe not for the title of anything – but for textbooks.
As part of the Student Activities Board (STAB) monthly Freaky Friday activity, it was the first-ever Karaoke for Books event as students competed for Utah State University Bookstore non-expirable textbook credit – enough to buy at least a couple books – all for singing your heart out.
The contest was held in the Taggart Student Center Sunburst Lounge and about 200 students filled the chairs to watch, sing along and cheer on their friends.
“We had an awesome turnout for the lack of advertising and the first week of school,” Breanne Davis said, who co-hosted the event
Contestant Brit Shepherd took the $300 in textbook-credits first prize with her Shania Twain-style outfit. She sang and danced to Shania Twain’s “Don’t Be Stupid,” and sang Brooks and Dunn’s “Boot Scoot’n Boogie” for her winning song.
Amelia Goodkey took the $150 second place prize and Aubrie Eldridge took third and received $50.
The contest began with round one as 18 entries sang their song of choice.
The songs ranged from Chuck Berry’s “Johnny B Goode” to Judy Garland’s “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” and Cheryl Crow’s “Everyday is a Winding Road” to Dixie Chick’s “Goodbye Earl.”
While some took their performance seriously, others just had fun. As three students seemed to be preparing to sing as a trio on stage, two ditched their friend just before he began to sing Eric Carmen’s oldie “All by Myself.”
Contestants Mitch Humphries and Craig Maughn sort of sang, but more danced to Destiny’s Child’s “Say My Name” and got the crowd cheering.
And when Humphries and Maughn made it to round two, it proved the panel of judges weren’t only choosing on singing capability, but for entertaining the crowd.
The panel of judges included Nic Robins, Amanda Garcia, Otto Anderson and Vice President of Student Services Juan Franco.
Robins said they judged on creativity, attitude and if the contestants looked like they were having a good time.
In all there were three rounds. In the final two rounds, the disc jockey chose the songs, causing some to get stuck with songs they never heard of.
Robins said the judges chose Shepherd for first place because she wasn’t afraid to dance and enjoyed herself on stage.
“She was good. She was fun. She had a great personality up there,” he said.
Robins said the event was a lot of fun.
“I think it was great,” he said. “It’s funny just to watch people on stage.”
On top of organizing Freaky Friday, which runs the first Friday of every month, STAB hosts many other student activities on campus including:
* The Howl – the giant Halloween party.
* Moonlight and Music, which the next performance will be Thursday evening with guitarist and singer Jason LeVausser in the TSC Sunburst Lounge.
* STAB Movie Nights. The next showing will be “The Incredibles” on Jan. 27. It will be shown at the TSC Ballroom and there will be a $1 Tsunami relief donation entrance charge.
* Mardis Gras. This party, to be held on the night of Feb. 5, is second to the Howl in size and brings an array of activities live music and DJs, a mock casino, belly dancers, drag queens and palm readers.
-joelfeathers@cc.usu.edu