Many ears are still buzzing from the concentrated karaoke they witnessed Tuesday and Wednesday at Summerfields late night. The room was energized with students searching through a plethora of karaoke songs for the tune that would best showcase their talent. Two rotating light machines and giant amplifiers transformed the usual décor into a performance venue. When it was all over, Jennifer Matthews ’09 won first prize in the competition, Amanda Facelle ’09 got second, and Zach Webster ’06 finished third.
Some took the competition as a challenge to make a humorous spectacle, others as a singing contest, and the winners, most likely, a combination of the two. There was a hearty helping of a cappella familiars in the room, including a sizeable clique from the Wesleyan Spirits. All around, people were cringing less than is usual for karaoke.
“[The singers] are much better than expected, to be honest,” said contestant Emily Wang ’08.
Not everyone was so enthusiastic. Some of the audience members were innocent bystanders, so to speak, just trying to get their food.
“It’s annoying,” said Megan Lollie ’07, a Summerfields employee.
One anonymous onlooker described the event as “really cheesy.”
The contestants themselves, as well as many audience members, were delighted.
“What can I say, I just want to have sex with everyone—they’re so good!” said Molly Gaebe ’07. “The ones that are really bad—I just want to hang out with them.”
Gaebe herself was a big hit with Tuesday’s crowd when she and Jon Golbe ’06 performed a duet of Beyonce’s “Crazy in Love,” complete with an inflatable guitar. The duo came back later to do a dramatic rendition of Natalie Imbruglia’s “Torn.” There was no rule preventing repeat entries.
Many contestants were lured to the competition by the prize offerings. The first place prize was a set of two round-trip plane tickets to anywhere in the contiguous 48 states. Second place was an Ipod shuffle, and third place was 100 points.
“I don’t care about being embarrassed,” said contestant Annalisa Kelley ’08. “The possibility of getting airplane tickets is enough for me to do anything.”
How does one prepare for a night of dog-eat-dog karaoke? According to Jessica Jones ’08, who sang Marvin Gay’s “Sexual Healing,” the preparation process is painstaking.
“I tried to eat dinner and choose my song at the same time, so it was whatever I could sing and not choke on risotto at the same time,” Jones said.
WesIdol did not resemble its namesake, American Idol. There was no time designated for feedback from the judges, and the competition was packed from start to finish with assertive competitors.
Food service director Eric Raspet designed the program to engage a wide spectrum of the campus, using different locations to recruit different student populations. The first competition at Mocon on April 18 turned out about 30 contestants, Vegan Café on April 19 had less than 20 singers, and Tuesday’s performance at Summerfields brought in more than 30 brave performers. The finals, held at Summerfields on Wednesday night, featured nearly 20 finalists from the previous three nights.
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