Carolina Productions hosts student talent at Russell House
Toes tapped under cafe tables as students sipped chocolate-drizzled frappuccinos and slurped Marble Slab ice cream from the bottom of waffle cones. There were no ice-cold glasses of beer or stray baskets of peanuts, but instead marinara-dunked breadsticks and Carolina Dining cups half-filled with orange Fanta.
Carolina Productions hosted its first Acoustic Cafe of the semester Tuesday night, filling the University Bookstore Cafe with friends, fans and the passing student just looking for a place to study or eat dinner.
There were the regulars — loyal to the undiscovered or campus-famous talent — as well as students who were new to the event and Columbia's music in general.
Max Laffey, a third-year anthropology student, opened the night's performances in a flat-billed Red Sox cap and an RZA (Wu-Tang Clan) shirt. He showed up just minutes before his 9 p.m. set, standing in the center of the makeshift corner stage, and belted out four originals before slipping out the door just minutes after his set.
But he certainly earned that entrance, and exit. Laffey, who won last year's USC Idol competition, pleased the crowd with his acoustic singer/songwriter appeal, but sang far beyond any stereotypes. There were rapped hooks, charged vocals — which earned midsong praise from the 40-person crowd — and lyrics that slipped in golden phrasing.
His third song, one Laffey dubbed his "judgment song," perfectly displayed the songster's style. The words were daring and edgy, and they threw in references to the obscure, like the Illuminati, all which could have gone unnoticed without some fine listening.
His voice was gorgeous and the songs flowed through bitter quips like, "Underneath those boobs, you're a head case," and capitalized on choruses such as, "Supernova my soul, it's too heavy to hold."
Laffey hopes to make singing a full-time gig, and is looking to start performing in other venues around the city. And, as a note to all Columbia musicians, he's looking for a bassist and drummer.
The beauty about the Cafe, however, is its pull of student musicians. They don't all want to pursue music beyond the coffee shop's walls, and the free, small-scale concert gives them their on-stage fill.
Seth Murphy, a second-year biology student, sang covers from artists like Dispatch and the Lumineers, as well as two originals, "Take Your Leave" and "Only Company That I Need." Tuesday night was his second time performing at the Acoustic Cafe, and aside from a few summer shows at an open-mic in Greenville, it's his only outlet.
"I identify myself as more of an introvert, so I connect to people I'm closer to and smaller groups," Murphy said.
It's not something he wants to continue professionally, he said, because it would take away from the music to charge for his performances.
The third and final singer of the night was Emily Andreoli, a second-year business student, who started her set with "Shark in the Water" by VV Brown. She continued with understated soul in her voice and an acoustic guitar, adding a hint of sultry to original songs about love, heartbreak and indecision.
The lyrics played on familiar feelings and thoughts, and Andreoli brought a certain honesty to her self-written tracks with simple lines like, "I'll run back to you because the blind can't see," and, "Boy, you are everything I don't need."
Then there was a precursor to the third song of her set: "The original is kinda annoying. But I tried to make it less annoying," she said. It was "Want U Back" by Cher Lloyd. She broke down the high-energy, overly poppy hit to the acoustic, earning one of the greatest reactions of the evening.
By the end of the three 30-minute performances, students held flash cards in hand, and textbooks scattered the tops of the cafe tables. A few managed to ink out final pages of papers, and others grabbed one last blueberry scone — with a 10-percent-off Starbucks voucher from the show.
They stuck it out, and some even added a few more locals to their list of favorites.
There will be three more Acoustic Cafes this semester, and all three are already booked with local musicians. The next is Oct. 9 at 9 p.m. in the Bookstore Cafe.