Two singers, two poets for second open mic event

With less than a dozen people in attendance, four of which were performers, the second Open Mic Night finally got underway an hour later than advertised at Kwantlen’s Surrey campus on Nov. 5.

Despite the lack of audience, Johann Holekzo, one of the performers, thinks that “Open Mic Night is a good opportunity if you have some words or tunes on your mind.”

Holekzo thinks that the event can be beneficial to the audience as well. He says it’s live entertainment, which is something that he enjoys more so than listening to his stereo.

“The audience doesn’t have to pay attention to the musician and it’s a good place for people to socialize,” Holekzo said.

Kari Michaels is the main organizer for Open Mic Night, along with the newly-elected Director of Events and Student Life, Vanessa Knight.

Michaels originally planned to have Open Mic Nights every week; the Nov. 5 show was the first one since the opening event in September.

One of the biggest problems with the event is getting enough performers to come out and play, which is why the event is held once in a while instead of weekly.

To encourage performers, Michaels and Knight had pizza to hand out to audience members as well as performers on Nov 5. Michaels also decided to open up the night with poets as well as singers. Two poets, one of them Michaels, read from their works.

Arioso Strings: Kwantlen-grown talent

Jinhee Park took up violin lessons at a time when most of her peers were putting their musical instruments away and heading off to college or work.

Park was 19 when she began playing the violin and now, at 26, she is taking music courses at Kwantlen Polytechnic University, has recently learned the viola, and has started a string ensemble with a group of her classmates.

Arioso Strings was formed in January as a way to have some fun while playing the quartet music that Park had been collecting. The other members of Arioso Strings are Paul Luongo (violin), Stephanie Lowe (violin and vocals), and Eva Ying (cello).

 The quartet’s member’s other musical talents include piano, harp, guitar, ukulele and drums.

 Since January, Arioso Strings have performed at over 20 events, many of which have been Kwantlen-related.

They are surprised by how well everything has fallen into place, said Park.

“It’s pretty neat, because if we play one event and all the faculty members are there, then they ask who we are, and whenever they have events, they hire us.”

 The quartet’s latest performance was a dinner reception at Kwantlen’s inauguration ceremony, held at the Richmond campus on Oct. 3. Hours before Arioso String’s music began to waft throughout the university’s hallways, the group clustered into a small room to practice their instruments. None of them appeared nervous, and Park admited that they love performing.

That easy-going attitude coincides with the original idea behind the ensemble.

“We just did it because we love music,” said Park. “We just thought, like, ‘Oh this might be fun.’”

With regards to Arioso Strings’ hopes for the future, Park doesn’t anticipate anything too grand.

“I think as long as we have fun playing together, you know occasionally get together …that’s our hope.”

British guitarist tapped for Oct. 17 concert

British guitarist Jason Carter, renowned for his combination of Middle Eastern and Indian music, and an artist who has performed in over 70 countries, will perform Oct. 17 in the auditorium at Kwantlen’s Langley campus.

A largely self-taught guitarist, Carter has performed at the heart of international conflicts in countries such as North Korea, Iran, Northern Ireland and Saudi Arabia. Carter has been active for almost 30 years and has recorded 11 albums.

The concert is at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 17; tickets ($20/15) are available at www.TicketWeb.ca.

Review: We’ve been down this road before

Sex Drive
2/4 stars
Release date: Oct. 17

The potholes along the way are sure to entertain in the movie Sex Drive. But we’ve all been down this bumpy road before in every other teenage comedy.

The plot of Sex Drive, which some Kwantlen students got to see after the KSA arranged for a pre-release screening, has been done in other movies such as Road Trip, Euro Trip, American Pie and many more coming-of-age tales. What seem to differentiate the teenage misadventures are the only misadventures themselves.

Ian Lafferty, played by Josh Zuckerman, is tired of being an 18-year-old virgin. His macho older brother, Rex, played by James Marsden is constantly accusing him of being gay, and his best friend, Lance, played by Clark Duke, is a ladies man, who’s pressuring Ian to rid of his virginity.

So when Ms.Tasty, a woman Ian has met on the internet, tells him that if he drives from Chicago to her home in Knoxville she’ll go all the way with him, Ian steals his brother’s ’69 GTO and heads out with Lance. When Ian’s good friend, Felicia, played by Amanda Crew, goes along for the ride, she becomes the first complications of many, including a trailer park brawl, travel through Amish country and an abstinence seminar.

Director Sean Anders takes his time developing the characters by throwing them into far-out, true-to-life scenarios, such as Ian’s minimum wage job, where he walks around the local mall wearing a giant doughnut costume.

James Marsden takes on an aggressive role that he hasn’t played before, kicking and screaming his way throughout the movie. He nailed the role of the testosterone-driven young male and looks like he had fun doing it.

There were some hilarious scenes reminiscent of American Pie, without Eugene Levy, involving Ian’s step-mother, whose timing couldn’t be worse.

Mindless entertainment can be good at times, but the movie gets tiring. A lot of scenes have been done before, and some jokes fall flat. This movie has its laugh-out-loud funny parts, but for the most part it is another teenage road trip story. And to be honest, that’s getting old.

With edgier coming-of-age movies have hit the theatres, such as Superbad and Forgetting Sarah Marshall, this movie reeks of clichés and mindless entertainment.

But if you’re not sick of those movies where there’s that guy who is still a virgin, goes on a road trip with his friends, sees a lot of topless girls, gets in fights and reaches an epiphany, then you’ll like Sex Drive.

Opening up the mic to student music-makers

Wednesday afternoon the Grass Roots Café on the Kwantlen Surrey Campus became a brief oasis of music, but if you blinked you would have almost missed it.

This is Open Mic Night – a weekly event still in its pilot stage after being launched at the end of July (see details in accompanying story below). Every Wednesday, anyone with a musical bent can stand up in front of the big-screen TV and let the speakers carry their sound to whoever happens to be listening at the time.

Erika Young, a second-year marketing student, has been a regular at Open Mic Night since July. She was the first to perform Wednesday, smiling nervously as the opening notes of Norah Jones’ “Don’t Know Why” played over the sound system. That nervousness disappeared when she started singing. Despite her strong performance, a small group talking on one side of the room and the hiss of the coffee machines threatened at times to drown her out. She ended with a 1950s jazz song by Etta James, and finished to little applause from the audience.

Darryl Markiewicz, still in a black tank top and olive khakis, having come from sculpting a guitar in ceramics class, quickly went through several unintroduced songs, accompanying himself on his blue guitar, and took a few moments at the end to banter with Kari Michaels, Surrey Council Support Specialist and the organizer of Open Mic Night.

The roughly half-hour event was most notable for how low-key, relaxed and informal it was. Sitting in the cluttered KSA office before Young arrived, surrounded by Welcome Week gift bags, Michaels revealed some of the challenges that would be familiar to anyone who’s ever tried to organize a student event. One example: the sound equipment had to be trucked in from Langley at the last minute.

“Right now it’s kind of in the baby stages and we’re just getting people out to play,” Michaels said. Nonetheless, she is encouraged by the “good response” to her Facebook group, and optimistic about its future, possibly expanding into a poetry night or philosophy café. 

By Cori Alfreds

The chalkboard outside the Grass Roots Café reads “Open Mic Night, 4 p.m.” It’s 4:45 p.m. and the equipment is just being set up. Only a few seats are filled and most people are surfing the web or doing homework. So far only one person has asked about the event.

Nineteen-year-old Kari Michaels, co-coordinator of the event, apologizes for the delay and says they have been swamped with preparations for welcome week.

Michaels wants to get Open Mic Night established before she moves to Langara College to pursue a degree in Peace and Conflict. She hopes that future KSA members will keep it going and make it as popular as she would like it to be.

The event is only being held at the Surrey campus, where it started at the end of summer semester 2008. Michaels has created a Facebook group that now has 59 members. While many of the members are musicians who are interested in playing, not many of them have fully committed yet.

Michaels says that anyone who wants to play is welcome “but we give preference to Kwantlen students.” She says that right now, it’s an event for solo acts, as loud bands could annoy students.

She hopes to expand the event to two nights a week, and to other Kwantlen campuses. Michaels would like to see the Langley campus one day hold sessions on a weekly or monthly event, because that’s where the college’s music program is based. She doesn’t see it happening anytime soon, though, because there isn’t enough available space. 

Open mic nights, she says, are a great way to “use lounge space for regular activities to engage students and show them that it’s a good place to hang out.” The event also gives musicians the chance to network, talk music and even make plans for forming bands or duets.

With a pub night in the works for the Grass Roots Café, Michaels thinks open mic night has the potential to become a big event for Kwantlen students. A pub night could help generate fans for the musicians and bring out more musicians.

Once the show finally gets underway it’s worth the wait. The musicians are great, and although there is a small audience, it enjoys the performances. With a few more musicians and a bigger audience, Open Mic Night could become a Kwantlen tradition. 

Open Mic Nights are held every Wednesday.

Jazz group kicks off weekly free concert series

Kwantlen’s Langley campus-based music program kicked off Music at Midweek, a free concert series, on Wednesday, Sept. 10 with jazz from The Last Train Home: The Metheny Project.
 
The free concerts have been presented every Wednesday at noon since the music program began and are open to everyone who enjoys music.
 
“We have been working to get the word out,” said Gail Suderman, Director of Voice and Choral Studies.

Suderman, who is also in charge of booking nationally renowned musicians for Music at Midweek, said that the concerts include classical, jazz, Cuban, Asian and African music.

 “I don’t think people know too much about it,” said Program Assistant Nancy Hodgson, because Kwantlen students are “separated by so many campuses.”

In the first half of the semester students and music lovers will listen to the nationally renowned musicians; in the second half, Kwantlen music students will be the ones performing.
 
Music students definitely take advantage of the range of performances that are offered in the auditorium.
 
“It’s really fun,” said 19-year-old May Miyaoka. “There’s always a lot of variety.”

Even though 10 per cent of music students’ grades depend on attending at least 10 concerts, they don’t seem to mind showing up.
 
“To observe professionals for the first half of the semester gives them a real idea of what can be achieved,” said Suderman.
 
Joel Kroytko, a first-time attendee and Kwantlen music student, said that “hearing other musicians play can help me develop my own musical ideas through the musicians’ here.”
 
Darlene Bezalel and her husband, Ben, attend the concerts as often as they can. “We get enjoyment of seeing new things,” said Bezalel. “We like the mixture of the international flavour.”
 
Terry O’Brien, a writer and music student, said “listening to music helps my writing.”
 
Mark Goodwin, another student, agrees with O’Brien’s idea of finding inspiration in the music. “I take as much in as I can and try to relate it to my music,” he said.

The soothing jazz played Wednesday by The Last Train Home: The Metheny Project, a band that pays tribute to Pat Metheny, sent waves through the auditorium. The hour-long concert got everyone clapping.

The five-piece jazz band is made of “top-notch musicians,” said Suderman. “We are really happy to have them here.”
 
“It was tight and well rehearsed,” said Kroytko. “Well performed,” he added as he picked up his guitar and exited the auditorium.
 
Adam Rohrlick, the black-brimmed-hat-wearing guitar player for The Last Train Home, said, “I remember when I was the music student, so I hope it encourages other students to pursue their dreams.”

Information on coming Music at Midweek concerts is available online (PDF).

Cram Jam fills day with music

 

Rockers Sloan, Daniel Wesley and Ten Second Epic will headline Cram Jam 3, the Kwantlen Student Association’s most ambitious entertainment event to date.

Cram Jam, which will run from 2-11 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 26 at Clovedale’s Agriplex, is an all-ages music festival. Along with the headliners, bands from throughout the Lower Mainland will perform.

One of those, The Fury, gave Richmond students a taste Tuesday when they performed as part of Welcome Week activities. While fans gathered to watch, not-so-excited teachers cancelled classes, and some area residents filed noise complaints.

“They’re fabulous,” said Kwantlen student Minnie Huang. “I can’t wait to see them at Cram Jam!” The band is made up of local musicians who met through Craigslist last winter and is preparing to release its first album this fall.

Other local bands that will perform at Cram Jam include Exit 200, featuring two Kwantlen students, and Tenant, featuring two Kwantlen alumni.

Tickets for Cram Jam 3 are $15 if purchased before Sept. 12 and $20 after that date. For more information and to purchase tickets go to www.cramjam.ca.

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