Poetry and a Beverage: The mike’s open
Slowly, the rain drizzles to a halt as the candles flicker in the breeze. Frothy floats are passed around as friends, old and new, play cards under the half-covered moon. At 9:05 p.m., Rachel Youngs, guitar in hand, steps up to the mike with her faithful family following behind. Poetry and a Beverage has begun.
“What is Poetry and a Beverage?” said Bethany Youngs, ASUSU vice president of Arts and Lectures. “The correct definition is that it’s a ‘late night programming opportunity in a substance free environment.’ We like to say that it’s free music, free beverages, and free fun.”
Free music? What about the poetry?
“I think the name’s maybe a little misleading,” Bethany said. “People think it’s maybe just poetry. I’ve had people come talk to me and say, ‘I’m a writer and I came thinking it was just poetry reading, but really it’s more like music.’ There’s always a feature band that plays three 30-minute sets, and then in between those sets we have two 30-minute open mike sets.”
During the open-mike sets, people can do pretty much whatever they want. Saturday night’s installment of Poetry and a Beverage was witness to everything from acoustic covers of Led Zepplin and Incubus to an old Irish toast and everything in between, including a comedy skit by a Japanese student.
“If they want to sing a song, great. If they want to read a poem, great. If they want to tell some jokes, great. It’s really just open mike,” Bethany said.
Tyson Etherington, a junior majoring in photography, has been to Poetry and a Beverage in past years. He remarked that it was a great activity and though he wasn’t able to attend Saturday night, he will be there in the future.
Calvin Kenley, a freshman majoring in civil engineering, originally thought it was going to be some sort of a “poetry slam,” but was pleasantly surprised at all it had to offer.
“This is the first time I’ve been here. It’s really nice, kind of easy going,” Kenley said. “I really like the music and the nice outside setting.”
Early in the program, Kenley took advantage of the open mike and performed, “Heroes”, a spoken rap that says, among other things, “It’s like Sprite says, ‘Image is nothing, thirst is everything,’ and forget what you’re hearing is another campaign ad.”
Poetry and a Beverage takes place on the first Saturday of every month this semester and is put on by the Arts and Lectures committee of ASUSU. If any aspiring bands want a chance to perform at Poetry and a Beverage, they can talk to Bethany or anyone on her ASUSU committee.
“The best way is to come to Poetry and a Beverage and play something during open mike. That helps us as a committee gauge the audience reaction,” Bethany said.
-mattgo@cc.usu.edu
Matt, Rachel, Debi and Mike Youngs, from Bountiful, perform a song at Saturday night’s event. Rachel is a sophomore in finance at Utah State University. (Photo by John Zsiray)