The University News

Issue date: 10/1/07 Section: Culture

Media Credit: Matt Mercer Andrew Huang belts out a Chinese pop song to an enthusiastic audience.

Andrew Huang, first-year law, warned us the words to his Chinese pop song would probably be difficult to understand. It didn't matter. A group of female students from Cherry Street Residence Hall sang along anyway.

They were part of the lively crowd at the 13th Annual Talent Show wednesday Sept. 26 in Pierson Auditorium.

An eclectic bunch of acts took to the stage, hoping to win the $400 first prize. Not all the acts were excellent, but all were enjoyable in a talent-show sort of way.

Stephen Smith, junior, pre-med, won the $50 prize for who brought the most people to the evening. His Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity brothers showed up with him, made noise for him and left with him when he finished.

Theoretically, he was there to do comedy. He had the attitude, the delivery and the timing of a pro. However, as the audience noted loudly, he's still in search of jokes. He lost me with his bit on the homeless and dating.

Quality shined with both Mocha Jackson, a graduate student at the Bloch School and Sheri Hopkins, senior, pre-law.

Jackson opened the evening singing Nat King Cole's "Nature Boy." She dedicated her confident a cappella performance to her father, who recently passed.

"[Performing here] is helping me get over my fear of speaking," she said. "I thought my voice was shaking. I could barely breathe. I hope it didn't sound like I felt."

Hopkins tongue-twisted her way through a powerful piece of self-penned poetry, warning of dangers of the flesh. Faith-filled alliteration flowed freely.

"I pray before I go on and I clear up thoughts from my head, because I'm doing gospel and this is for God," Hopkins said. "Basically, it's minimizing me and letting Him speak, and He speaks through my pen. It has to have meaning or else it's fluff."

Her poem, "Am I Supposed to Say This?" garnered her a third-place finish and $100.

Nicole Edwards sang LeAnn Rimes' country-western standard "Cowboy's Sweetheart." I hadn't heard yodeling like that since back when "The Sound of Music" was popular. It made me pine for more Chinese boy-band fare.

Huang only finished second because of the strong last act. Formed only for the one performance, a jazz band of five students from the Conservatory of Music and Dance wowed the crowd with their instrumental version of R. Kelly's "Step in the Name of Love."

People started dancing almost immediately to the extended jam.

Herman Mehari, sophomore, had the showcase solo on trumpet, but my personal preference was for Zach Sanders, freshman, on drums. Ryan Lee, freshman, handled the keyboards, but is actually a drummer, too.

"We could only do the one song," Lee said. "It's the only thing I know how to play on the keyboard."

William Sanders, junior, and Ben Liefer, senior, rounded out the group on tenor sax and bass respectively. All of the students study jazz performance, except for Liefer who studies composition.

The evening was organized by the Activities and Program Council (APC), and was ably hosted by singer-songwriter Jason LeVasseur, from Nashville, Tenn.

LeVasseur, with a friendly, easy-going style, showed his ability to personalize his song lyrics on the fly, covering any logistical problems that occurred during the evening with class and good humor.

dlsr3d@umkc.edu

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