The Big Ten Room in Norris University Center was filled with music and poetry when a Northwestern literary magazine, Helicon, held an open mic Saturday.
The purpose of the open mic was to celebrate the release of Helicon’s Winter 2011 online web issue. The issue includes poetry, prose, scripts, art, music clips and a film.
“It’s a chance to get everyone together and create a sense of community for Helicon,” said MJ Scheer, the editor in chief of Helicon. “We wanted to give everyone a chance to show their work even if they didn’t make it in (the magazine).”
Rachel Waxman, a Bienen senior, performed her original short story, “Pretty, Shiny Things,” at the open mic. It centers around a girl who pretends to be someone’s blind date.
“I like words, the way you can put them together,” Waxman said. “I like creating worlds.”
Musical acts were woven throughout the night’s program. Apart from two solo guitar players/singers and a beatboxing/rapping trio, NU student ensemble Aurelia performed.
Aurelia is made up of Weinberg and Bienen junior Sasha Bayan on guitar/lead vocals, Weinberg and Bienen senior Alexander Hunt on cajon/percussion and Bienen junior Samuel Suggs on bass. Their ensemble includes classical, jazz and Latin influences.
“We bridge the gap between sophistication and accessibility,” Bayan said. “We want to make music that hits to the core of people’s souls. We see our diversity in song choice as adding to the power of our ensemble.”
Although she liked the outcome of the open mic, Scheer said she would like to see future improvements for other Helicon open mics.
“We want a better venue,” the Weinberg senior said. “I’m really glad we got some music, (but) it can sometimes overshadow the more introspective artists who want to read poetry. If we could get more people reading poetry, that would be an improvement.”
