Musically Oriented First-Year Talent Show Shines

Cat in the Cream Performers Impress Peers

The Cat in the Cream crowd was packed with brand new, only vaguely familiar faces, many of them first-years. The enthusiastic audience was ready for the fresh and often raw talent promised by last Thursday�s Freshman Variety Show. After auditioning for senior �Sco manager Hannah Blumenfeld, first-years were given the chance to take the stage and showcase their talents for the first time before an Oberlin audience.

The show of support for those onstage from new friends and roommates gave the combination of mostly original and largely successful performances its uniqueness and energy. The crowd stood, stomped and laughed to the varied performances.

The show�s MC, first-year Joe Klein, opened the show with an a cappella rendition of Nina Simone�s �Don�t Smoke in Bed� in a low, almost mournful voice. His command of the stage and ability to slip from the performance into the role of an engaging host kept the show moving smoothly.

First-year Vanessa Tobar followed with an original poem she introduced as one she had written while trying to decide on which college to attend. More than just that, the poem was about defining values and desires by choices. The piece was musical and rhythmic, personal and socially conscious. Lyrically performed, Tobar was able to convey emotion through her movements and facial expressions.

An original banjo piece by first-year Jonathan Walton entitled �Einstein�s Dreams� followed, which is part of a rock opera he�s writing. His folksy baritone was a meditation on the imagined dreaming of the scientist and namesake of the tune.

The mostly music-oriented show was broken up by an original speech by first-year Andrew McGrath, whose �History of the World, Condensed, Kind Of,� was part history lesson and part comedy routine. Racing through the well-known stories of our popular history, from the Neolithic through the Dark Ages to millennium doomsday fears, McGrath mocked the mythic qualities with which we have endowed our ancestors. He compared American soldiers in the early, unsuccessful years of the Revolutionary War to �stepchildren getting slapped around at Wal-Mart.�

First-year Ben Newhouse produced the night�s most touching moment. Noting afterward that he�d never played for more than seven people, he told the audience he was �kind of nervous� before playing a song that he�d written for a friend killed in a car accident. Audience members obviously related to the tragedy, and were moved by the tribute, a wordless expression of pain that included improvisational foot and guitar percussion. He dedicated the song to �that first college crush.�

First-year Bacilio Mendez, who sang �I Want to Go Home� from the musical Big, addressed homesickness, singing, �I want my mom,� and looking out pleadingly at the room. He attributed his selection to �frustration with the whole Presto thing. I just wanted to get out.�

Other acts included singing, dancing, human beat-boxing, piano playing and a few guitar jams. Most were original � all were well received. Many performers got a standing ovation from a portion of the crowd.

First-year conservatory student Stephen Key was impressed with the importance of music to the performers, most of them College students. �And I guess I have a critical ear,� he said.

First-year Marie Whiteford performed an original song entitled �Keeper,� reminiscent of the piano playing and soulful singing of Fiona Apple. She commented on the turnout of the crowd and the variety of performances. �There�s so much talent,� she said. �They�re blowing me away.�