As students headed out the doors of their dorms last Saturday, they were prepared for a wildly varied night of entertainment. First, at 8:00 at the Cave, was Acoustic Night, featuring student musicians. Then, at 10 in the Sayles Great Space, was a drag show with performers from the Gay 90s, which would kick off National Coming Out Week.
The students at Acoustic Night set a contemplative, musing tone for the night, with songs about relationships, life, death and philosophy, many of which were written by the students themselves. The musicians ranged from freshmen (Hannah Button-Harrison and Jonathan Walsh) to seniors (Aaron Kaufman) and everyone in between. The students in the audience, crowded in and sitting on any available surface, sipped their coffee and listened quietly. Sometimes they nodded to the beat, and sometimes, as in the case of Drew Chambers's song about a summer-camp romance that referenced Harry Potter, they burst into laughter and cheers.
Then it was time to head off to Sayles, where a catwalk and colored lights had been set up, and students crowded around to watch the ladies strut their stuff. Last year, there was a similar show in the Cave, and that one was so popular that this year's show was moved to a bigger space. Even so, some of the audience had to crowd into upper Sayles to watch over the railings. There were impersonators from Annie Lennox to Rihanna, and many students gave in to the urge to get up and dance along with them, although the glorious feathered-and-sequined girls themselves were clearly in control of the stage. Each time another student got up on stage, there were the cries from the audience – "Hey, I know that guy!" – along with plain cheers and hoots. Once, when there was a long pause between acts, students simply claimed the catwalk for themselves, dancing like crazy until the next performer was ready to take the stage.
At the end of the night, anyone who attended both shows must have felt that all their possible entertainment wishes had been satisfied. This reporter stumbled off to bed, visions of drag queens strumming acoustic guitars dancing in her head.
