When I arrived in Robie-Andrews and scurried into Burnham Lounge for the monthly coffee house, a crowd of 40 or so were gathered around Kurt Perry, singing “If I Didn’t Believe in You” from the musical The Last Five Years. It was a solo act; he was focusing on the vocals. It’s a difficult song to sing without an accompaniment, but Perry did it with ease.
Julian Bones, a resident of 2nd Andrews, got up to play next. With his acoustic guitar in hand, he covered a Vanessa Carleton song, followed by a lewd, yet hilarious Irish drinking song about the life of a married man and his hormonal wife.
He called upon a thick Irish accent to compliment the song. Bones’ use of explicit language in the song yielded nervous laughter and a few disapproving frowns but he was met with applause and the laughter he was going for as he rejoined the crowd on the floor.
“Our coffee house has become a really interesting open-mic opportunity for Gorham,” says Jason Saucier, the director of Community of Arts at USM, ” Over the last four years we’ve been doing it, I’ve seen bands form, performers come just to showcase something new, and students get up and perform in public for the first time. You never know what is going to happen!”
The coffeehouse is held monthly in Burnham Lounge at Robie-Andrews Hall on the Gorham campus on Thursdays from 7 to 9 p.m. In the future, they hope to hold it every three weeks. It is open to anyone who dares to sign up or wants to watch.
Coffee and snacks are offered, and housing points are awarded to residents who attend. While singing and guitar playing is standard act, Burnham has been treated by bagpipe performances, poetry reading, and performance art; there have also been a few impromptu jams to break out on the spot.
While Robie-Andrews is known for its unique Community of Arts program, which fosters the arts within the dorm, the people involved in the coffee house expand well beyond just Robie-Andrews.
James Rossi, who played a supporting role in the most recent SPA production, The Fantasticks, ventured from Wood Hall to play two original songs. The first song he played was a soulful blues tune, raspy blues voice and harmonica included, and the second was a hard-hitting protest song about the environmental movement. The lyrics were blunt and provocative with lines like “your body has no right / to spread its greedy seed.” Rossi also had an amazing vocal range, often hitting the bass notes to the audience’s great surprise.
Kennie Farrigan of Andrews brought out a new bagpipe to play a traditional Scottish march with speedy notation. Farrigan had crafted the new bagpipe with his father recently after dreaming of an out-of-the-box bagpipe.
Travis Mencher also delivered an unusual performance, rapping “Alphabet Aerobics” by the hip-hop duo Blackalicious while using visual aid to guide the audience through the alphabet.
Over a dozen others also performed, including Stefan Henegar and Jakob Battick, both residents of second floor Andrews. Henegar played in a style akin to Conor Oberst from Bright Eyes, performing “Don’t Pass Me By” by The Beatles and a blend of three originals. Battick sat down to quickly tune his guitar and then abruptly left the room, coming back after two minutes to play Bruce Springsteen’s “I’m on Fire.” He had a unique style of playing, utilizing slowcore methods with folk. Audience members commented on his voice, ” sounds like Rufus Wainwright.”
The coffeehouse finished off with Joseph Hooper and two joiners jamming out to a Dispatch song. An improvisational act tends to spring forth from each coffee house, an interesting part of the night.
The most interesting act yet? According to Saucier, “A girl in Florida had heard about the coffee house, and she wanted to sing. She got on her instant messenger, and her friend adjusted the laptop to the microphone. The Floridian sang to the crowd through the computer. It was crazy!”