Stepping up to the mic

Sitting under bright stage lights, a man holds his guitar while looking out into the crowd.

He smiles at the silent audience while adjusting his microphone. He leans in, takes a breath and speaks.

“This is the song that made me famous,” sophomore urban planning and policy major Alejandro “Ziggy” Rodriguez said. The Bronx native transferred to VCU last fall and used Open Mic Night – which was presented by the Activities Planning Board at the Commons last Thursday – to meet people.

“I wanted everybody to know who I was, what I do and give them a little quick, snippy sample,” Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez wasn’t the only fresh talent on stage Thursday night. New comer, Isaac Richard Booth, a junior women’s studies major, did two spoken word pieces. Booth said the 100-person crowd was the largest he had performed in front of- something he would do again in a heartbeat.

“I live for this,” Booth said. “I live to read and I live to hear.”

Three people hosted Open Mic Night: Jamal Parker, Jovani Allen and Leander Skeete.

“I liked the energy and the different variety of acts,” junior criminal justice major Jamal Parker said.

The array of performances at Open Mic Night included spoken word, singing, and duets on acoustic guitar. Volunteer Ashley Evans, a sophomore mathematics major, said this Open Mic Night had better talent than last semester’s.

Jovani Allen, an alumnus of VCU had other thoughts about the show.

“The best thing about the show was Jovani, Jamal Parker and Leander Skeete as the host,” Allen said jokingly.

Evans said the talent was probably better this time because the APB did not censor the acts as much as last time. Consequently, it led to acts exceeding the allotted time.

“Next time, hopefully everybody will pay attention to the five-minute time limit,” Evans said. “Last time we did it we didn’t have to cut anybody off.”