Second coming for Songwriter Showcase
JOE MULDOON, Staff Writer
Issue date: 3/11/08 Section: Entertainment
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Hall.
From drug abuse to chicken, each original piece gave the audience something to remember.
"We had the first Songwriters Showcase in May of 2007 and it was a success, a full house just like tonight," said Arthur Winer, a professor in the music department who organized the show. "Last year was more individual singer songwriters, now we have a backing band, The Polyphonics."
Audience members were sitting in the aisles and standing in the back of the hall when the lights dimmed and The Denouement took the stage.
The Denouement won the Cal Poly Music and Entertainment Industry Student Association's battle of the bands back in 2007.
Cal Poly graduate Matt Starcher, a second-time Songwriter Showcase performer, plays guitar and produced the band's first full-length album, "Low Tide."
Following The Denouement was
singer, songwriter and guitarist Nicholas Ventura. Ventura performed a song titled "Fade Away."
"It was a song that I wrote for one of my friends who is somewhat of an alcoholic when she gets sad," said Ventura.
Mat Gavin performed his songs, "Another Round" and "Dance," with some help from The Polyphonics. The audience appreciated Gavin's efforts and broke into applause after each song.
Although many songs in the show were of a serious nature - very powerful and emotionally charged songs dealing with topics of alcoholism, drug abuse and other destructive behaviors - one pair of performers chose to keep things light and comical.
Candice Brown and Matt Matsumoto, who both performed at the first showcase, performed two pieces they wrote together, "Chicken and Rice" and "Candice Brown is Angry." Both songs kept the audience laughing.
"It was one o'clock in the morning and it sounded funny; we were trying to write serious songs and we couldn't do it so we started writing funny lyrics and it kind of stuck," said the duo.
Singer and guitarist Jason Wine was the next to take the stage, performing his songs "Falling" and "Daybreak" with Alyssa Donaldson, Ryan Miller and Mat Watson.
The largest production of the night came by way of Dr. Antolini, the stage name of music student Anthony Salerno. The Doctor performed three songs, all with different styles.
"The first song I did was a cheesy pop love song called 'Come Back,' a song where the girl leaves the guy," said Antolini. "It's a fun upbeat song that I composed when I first knew I was going to be in this thing."
For his final piece, The Doctor performed "Dance Dance" with The Polyphonics, Kateri Lirio on the synthesizer and the rest of the evening's performers.
"It's really about the whole club life, the mentality of things that look so enticing to people, and it sucks kids into this life of destruction," said Antolini. "It's a very ironic song about people who cheer when they know they are celebrating their self-destruction."
Alyssa Donaldson, a returning performer, played three very powerful songs, "Come On," "Disappear" and "Breathless," with the help of Jason Wine, Mat Watson and Ryan Miller.
"Breathless" was a personal piece about Donaldson dealing with the loss of a loved one.
To close the show, Justin Kalama, a first-year landscape architecture student, performed three songs about love, relationships and faith. Kalama became involved with the project after Winer heard him practicing in the music building.
The music department is putting on another Songwriter Showcase on May 15.
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