Open mic showcases Loyalist talent

By Meagan Pecjak

BELLEVILLE, ON. (13/02/12) - Stephen Hounam is a Loyalist College student participating in the Open Mic at the college on Thursday February 16, with the band Blue Suit Jacket. He is a new member and said that "it's so nice to play with other people instead of alone." Photo by Meagan Pecjak.

Loyalist College is right on key when it comes to supporting their student’s talent.

Loyalist College will be holding an Open Mic on Thursday, February 16, in the Shark Tank pub at the school.

The show will consist of the many talents that Loyalist students have to offer. Blue Suit Jacket is just an example of one of the performances of the night.

Other performances include: Taylor Lewis, Eric Ceasar, Noah Reede and several more talented students.

Blue Suit Jacket is a local band with a dash of Loyalist college talent with Stephen Hounam, a second-year Loyalist College tv and new media student. He is new to the band and will be playing guitar, and singing back-up vocals.

“It’s so nice to play with other people instead of alone,” said Hounam.

“I am so excited to have a band. It’s actually really exciting. I have been playing acoustic solo because I just haven’t found the right people.”

Hounam said that they hope for a great turn out at the Open Mic. “I’ve been telling a lot of my friends just to shake up some interest,” he said. “Usually there’s a lot of people wherever we play.”

“We are hoping for a pretty big audience,” said President of Student Government, Chris Barnim.

“I know last year we had a big turn out. So we are hoping for that again this year.”

Blue Suit Jacket will be the closing act of the night.

Hounam said that because they perform last, Blue Suit Jacket is hoping that people don’t start clearing out before they get to perform.

Marcus Curle is a second-year electrical techniques student and a member of Student Government as the Building Sciences and Skills leader. He said that they are expecting about 100 or more people to come to the show.

When it comes to narrowing it down to a certain number of performers, the evaluation is “really straight forward,” said Curle, one of the judges for the auditions.

“If someone is kind of shy, but has talent, we would rather have them,” he said.

Barnim said that the number of people who sign up to audition varies from year to year. “We never really have the same number,” said Barnim.

The top three qualities they look for “are ability of their talent, connectivity with the audience, stage presence, and how well they work the stage,” said Barnim.

“We have some very talented people on the card for that night, so definitely come check them out.”

The show starts at 8 p.m. this Thursday, and goes until midnight.

“Come out and support the talent of Loyalist,” said Barnim.