The Portland Events Board put on an Open Mic Night in the Woodbury Campus Center in Portland last Wednesday. While only about 30 people showed up, the show was bigger than the PEB’s open mic last year. Christine Bullard, the chair of the PEB, considered it to be a huge success.
After a rather slow beginning, the show began to take off when Sarah Violette, a 20-year-old Communications major, took the stage. Violette has been rapping for the last seven years. When she saw a flyer for the show in the student center, she decided to come check it out.
“So do we have any beat boxers here?” Violette asked the audience as she walked onto the stage. Brandon Banes, who had performed earlier in the evening with Travis White, decided to try. Within a few minutes, guitarist Brent Jandreau had joined the pair on the stage for an impromptu hiphop jam session. Violette stepped up on stage one more time for an encore performance accompanied by, Jandreau on the guitar and Craig Durant as the beat boxer.
The event was a ray of hope for the PEB, which has been having a hard time getting people to attend their events. Bullard would like to put on events during the day, but it is difficult to get USM students to stay on campus since many commute. She wants there to be something for people to do during the day instead of just going home in between their classes.
The PEB is collaborating with other organizations to make the Portland campus center a more enjoyable place to be. In conjunction with the School of Music, they have arranged a series of student jazz concerts in Woodbury from 11a.m. to 4p.m. on the fourth Tuesday of every month.
USM is growing as each class of freshmen exceeds the one before it, and Bullard believes that the campus center has the potential to thrive as a true center for this expanding population. For now, she said, “Our goal is to keep the students here.”
The PEB is always looking for volunteers who want to help enliven student life. If you’d like to get involved, come to any of their weekly meetings on Tuesdays from 12:30 to 2p.m. in the Student Involvement Center in Woodbury, email Christine Bullard at [email protected] or check out their page on usm.maine.edu/life.