On March 14, California Lutheran University students will have a chance to show off their talent. From 7-10 p.m. the Pederson Hall resident assistants will be hosting a talent show in which all Cal Lutheran students are welcome to perform.

“I know that personally I love sharing my appreciation for music by performing for and collaborating with other people,” said event host and Pederson resident assistant Cooper Smith in an email interview. “Our hope for this event is exactly that to bring people together in order for them to have a venue to show their interests and talents, ultimately network and become friends with others as a result of sharing their talent.”

The event will be held between the Pederson and Thompson halls, in what Smith said is an “intimate” setting.

One artist the audience will have to look forward to is Cal Lutheran junior Christophe Bassett.

Bassett, a musician who is comfortable playing multiple instruments, said he has decided to play the guitar for the show.

“I’m going to play an original experimental piece on acoustic guitar. It will be entirely improvised but I plan on taking influences from Middle Eastern music, free jazz, modern classical and delta blues,” Bassett said. “Probably the most interesting part of what I plan to do is that I’m going to be getting some interesting textures by using heavily detuned strings and unison tunings,” Bassett said. “It will be an emotional and intense piece, which is difficult to do without using electronics.”

Some people in attendance may recognize Bassett from his performance in this year’s Rock the Campus.

Smith said he is hoping this event will allow students to share their talents with one another, and that the show will be an opportunity for building community on campus.

“A huge part of being a resident assistant is building community, not only in a single hall but across the campus,” Smith said. “This is a pretty big endeavor but having an awesome opportunity like this to bring people together over similar, or bizarrely different interests is another way of making new friends, becoming inspired, challenged and overall included in the CLU community.”

Although Christophe Bassett was quick to sign up upon learning about the show, some Cal Lutheran artists are not as interested. One of the uninterested artists is rapper and poet Jamin Watson.

Watson recently performed at Cal Lutheran’s open mic night, “The Need” and said in an email that he does not plan to perform at the talent show.

“The reason why I performed is because I wanted to get something off my chest. It’s that feeling that stops you from getting to sleep until you tell people, anybody and everybody,” Watson said.

Any students who are interested in performing in the talent show are encouraged to contact Cooper Smith at [email protected].

Cody McElligott
Staff Writer
Published March 11, 2015