Image Courtesy of Quinton Cline| Cascade: Emerson Coffee House provides comfortable atmosphere for students. 

The lights were low in the Emerson Hall lobby, twinkling lights running along the ceiling and walls. The comfy chairs that normally served the purpose of relaxation had been arranged to face the large windows — now covered in newspaper — in the lounge.
Performers anxiously waited as the last adjustments to the microphones and speakers were made.

Despite the pre-show jitters that occupied the bodies of the performers, the careful comfort created by Emerson Coffee House, held on Feb. 18, gave performers a relaxed space to explore their talents.

“You don’t have to have this crazy incredible voice, it’s just like if you enjoy singing, come sing and we will just hang out and listen to you,” one of the emcees, Julie Cantero, said. “It’s not like this super high stakes event.”

One example of this is senior Kyle Sugg, whose performance took an unexpected turn.

He prefaced his performance by saying that the song was him reflecting on the “stress of senior year.” He turned to the microphone and starts to speak. About 20 seconds in, Sugg removed his jacket to reveal a bright red button up shirt and put on a Santa hat.

He then stretches his face and makes an “o” shape with his mouth and begins to slap his face with his hands, creating the melody of “Let it Snow.”

“We didn’t get to do an open mic at the end because we had enough performers fill up the spots, but other times it ends with an open mic so literally anyone who shows up can perform whatever they want to,” said the other emcee for the night, Bea Bouman.

But in light of performances like Sugg’s came performances like first-year Claire Conway’s, which opened the show.

In this past year, Conway also performed at the last Emerson Coffee House, KSPU/Linga Launch Party and the Linga Winter Journal Release.

Conway showcased two original songs and accompanied herself on her guitar with freshman Eric Peterson backing her up on the cajón for the second of the two songs.

“Events like the Lingua Launch Party and the KSPU Cover Concert or the open mic nights that they have are for people who are more comfortable have more experience performing like Claire and like Aesada who is a music major,” Cantero said.

Sophomore Aseda Bekoe-Sakyi performed a song that she wrote as well as a few covers, and performed with Noha Elbahounty. While the pair sang, sophomore Nate Canny played the guitar and Peterson again took the stage on the cajón.

The group performed five songs in total, all well-received by the audience.