by Matt Kim Staff Reporter ______________________________________________________________________________________________________ Four hours after the school day ended, the sound of ukuleles, acoustic guitars, voices, and the occasional drum set reverberated through Atholton’s dimly lit hallways. At the heart of the noise, students gathered to socialize and watch their peers perform. On Thursday, April 15, 2010, the second annual Coffeehouse Duck Jam hosted by the 2010 SGA was held in the Atholton courtyard. The event featured musical the performances of many talented acts and celebrated the family of ducks who annually take residence in the school courtyard. Coffeehouse-type events provide an opportunity for exposure of students seeking to share their music with their peers. “I like not being shy in front of people. It’s the one opportunity I have to show what I can kind of give to other people. It’s really fun,” said Junior Caroline White, who performed at the event. “I feel like Coffeehouse is more than just a music thing. You can just sit there, relax and have fun.” In order for the Coffeehouse to occur, much planning had to be done in a short amount of time. “It was literally before spring break. A couple weeks before, we put out the audition announcement, then we auditioned the week before break, and posted the set list on the following Thursday. We pulled it together really quickly,” said Senior Kelly Pham, a 2010 SGA board member. Senior Jessica Lee, also a 2010 SGA board member, played an integral role in putting the event together, doing a large portion of the tasks required to bring the Coffeehouse to fruition. “I did a lot of the coordinating and the planning. You have to have people sign up, and then coordinate auditions, refreshments, and the set list. Then we had to discuss who we would keep for the coffeehouse, and who would sound the best. We also had to coordinate ticket sales. It was just a lot of planning to do,” said Lee. The Coffeehouse Duck Jam was coordinated mostly independently, without much help from the 2010 SGA sponsor Mr. Piche. “[The 2010 SGA] did pretty much everything,” said Mr. Piche. “I made copies of tickets for them, sat there and took tickets, and that’s about it. They’re seniors now, so they know what they’re doing. To be honest, Jessica and the other students really took the lead on organizing and setting everything up. I tried to let them take the lead on as many things as they could.” One of the hardest parts in engineering the coffeehouse was the audition process. The SGA was presented with an abundance of talented musicians and struggled to select the best lineup. “So many people auditioned, and when they were done, we didn’t want to cut anyone. Obviously, though, we only had three hours. We really wanted to keep everyone, but then we would have to leave all the acts with only two minutes. That wouldn’t be very fair, so we did our best to pick a lineup that would please everyone,” said Pham. Although the event was called the 2010 SGA Duck Jam Coffeehouse, several people noted that the lack of coffee being served among the refreshments and the outdoor venue made it difficult to appropriately label the event as a coffeehouse. But Freshman Sean Kim, who played an acoustic guitar cover of Andy McKee’s song Drifting, explained that the lack of coffee was not a serious predicament and suggested that the event couldn’t possibly be named perfectly. “Most people aren’t going to drink the coffee anyways, but I don’t think there’s a good name for it. It’s basically just jamming,” said Kim. Lee offered the reasoning behind the naming decision and emphasized that the event was more accurately referred to as Atholton’s second annual Duck Jam. “Even though there’s no coffee, we say coffeehouse because people know what a coffeehouse is. That’s why we say Coffeehouse Duck Jam,” said Lee. “Our inspiration for calling it ‘Duck Jam’ is from last year when the ducks were in the courtyard. We also wanted to do something special for the spring coffeehouse, so in honor of the ducks, we thought it would be cute to call it duck jam.” The event started a bit later than its advertised opening time of six o’ clock PM and contained several interruptions and unexpected occurrences, including spontaneous cameo appearances from other musicians and impromptu collaboration performances during intermissions. “Duck Jam wasn’t totally organized. It was way out of schedule, and Harold Moijueh was jumping up and down because he wanted to sing with me. Ethan Simon came on and showed off during my slot. It was unexpected, but I didn’t mind,” said Kim. Junior Harold Moijueh, the event’s MC, contributed to the relaxed atmosphere of the event with his loose, improvisational style. Several times during the Coffeehouse, Moijueh joined the performers onstage to sing along. “I love music, I love socializing with people, and I love having a good time. I’ve never really MC’d before, except for the last Coffeehouse, but I pretty much just winged it.” said Moijueh. As a musical event, the performances were emphasized as the core components of Duck Jam and did not disappoint both the performers and audience. “Coffeehouse was an excellent night, and playing outside felt really great,” said Senior Chris Marks, who played bass with Sophomore Ethan Simon and Freshman Elliot Yozwiak. “It’s just a sublime feeling to get up there on stage and play there in front of everybody. It really was just a blast. I’m going to miss it when I go off to college next fall.” Although many people enjoyed Duck Jam, some felt that several aspects could have been improved, including advertisement, line up, and theme. “I think turnout was alright. There could have been more people if they advertised it a little more. Nobody knew about it. And next time, they should have some more upbeat stuff. I felt like I was coming closer to the end every time I listened to some of the depressing songs. A blues or jazz coffeehouse would be kind of cool,” said Junior Mike Zill, who played as part of Duck Jam’s closing act. While this year’s Duck Jam just recently ended, the search for next year’s Spring Coffeehouse host is already taking place, as the 2010 SGA members will graduate at the end of this year. “For the past two years, it was the 2010 SGA that hosted coffeehouse,” said Lee. “But hopefully, after we leave, some other organization will take over.” Many people enjoyed the 2010 Coffeehouse Duck Jam and look forward to future coffeehouse events. However, some believe that this year’s event may have been the pinnacle achievement of any coffeehouse in the past, present, and future. “This coffeehouse is the best coffeehouse that ever existed, or ever will exist,” said Simon. “People have talked about it for years, and they never thought it would come. Now it came, and it’s here, in the present tense because it’s going to live forever.” |