By Nick Thompson (Whetstone Staff Writer)

Despite the technical difficulties with the sound equipment that caused a delay, about 40 enthusiastic people attended Open Mic Night late in the evening of Jan. 20 in the Underground.

The event, which began a half-hour after its scheduled start of 8 p.m., was part of Wesley College’s new Alcohol Education Coordinator, Caress Roach, and Howl at the Moon’s efforts to provide safe alter

natives for students to participate on weekend nights.

Roach, who is here at Wesley on a grant to promote the education of students on overall wellness but who hopes to institutionalize the program, said she was very pleased with the crowd the event drew.

“Although the turnout, in terms of performers, wasn’t as big as I had hoped, I hope that this inspires more students to come out and share their talents,” Roach said.

Carpenter Hall residential director Robert Price opened the show playing bass guitar and singing a religious-oriented song, “Sing of Your Love Forever.”

The crowd clapped along while he performed.

He was followed by new Roe Hall RD, Andre Ifill, who read several of his original poems.

“Before the show I was a little nervous, because I hadn’t read poetry in awhile, but it was nice that I had a good crowd,” Ifill said.

Junior Arron Mennoken performed several spoken word raps that touched on putting himself through college and taking care of his daughter, who sat in the front row.

At one point his phone screen, from where he read his lyrics, went dark, but he continued on unfazed to the surprise of the crowd.

“I heard about this show yesterday, so I didn’t have much time to prepare, but it’s easy to me based off of my previous experiences performing,” Mennoken said.

Other performers included Phyllis Neal and David Ridgely.

Ridgeley performed an original song that he says was inspired by women at Wesley that he believes treated him unfairly in the past.

When he started singing, there were some jests heard from the crowd but he continued, and some in the crowd began to nod their head and clasp along.

The set came to an end with sophomore singer and guitarist Jordan Lozzi’s performance of “High and Dry” by Radiohead.

His baseball teammates came out in force to support him.

Junior Joe Lightcap said, “I really enjoyed his performance and he represented Wesley baseball well.”

Freshman Tenaj Moody, who hosted the event, said she was pleased with the outcome of the night.

“I believe the students who attended enjoyed themselves, and all of the performers came out and did their thing,” Moody said.

Audience member and sophomore exercise science major Brittany Brooks was initially skeptical of the quality of the performances for the night.

“I didn’t know how good the show would be at first, but I came out for some entertainment and that’s exactly what I got,” she said.