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Printer-Friendly ModeLocal cafe brewing up monthly talent, recognition
November 8, 2010 —
Coffeehouse events stretch far and wide throughout the Saginaw area and are not just limited to the Rotunda.
This past Friday night, Magic Bean Café in Saginaw Township held its First Friday open mic night. The event welcomes various musicians, poets, comedians and other locals to show off their talent.
The Magic Bean hosts a new artist each month, and this night acts as an opening reception where guests may speak with the artist. This month, Geoffrey Pelkey was chosen. Pelkey is an alumni of the university.
Pelkey says he hopes to inspire local artists with his work.
“Follow your creative ambitions,” says Pelkey. “And get your work out there.”
A lyrical poet with over 40 years of writing under his belt, Michael Watterud, was the featured poet at the reception, and says he wants more students to participate.
“Sharing and listening helps you with your own challenges,” he said.
Daniel Destrada, a young rap artist who calls himself “Diesel” on stage performed his music during the reception. Diesel also added a fun free style game onto the end of his routine to get the crowd involved.
Other musicians included the acoustic duet, “Traeder,” which consisted of Carrie Traeder on vocals and David Cline playing the acoustic guitar. Cline is an instructor in the education department at SVSU.
The duet has a long-standing tradition of playing at the event, and was one of the original acts when the cafe opened.
Although acoustic performances are fairly common at these events, Cline said that with his duet, you never know what you’re going to see.
Lisa and Eric Rechsteiner, owners of the café, always look forward to seeing a few SVSU students at the events they host. She hopes people will continue to take advantage of the opportunity to speak their minds and get involved in the community at other similar events.
Though the event was only a few seats away from a full house, Christi Griffis and Jeremy Benson, organizers of the event, are always looking to stir more interest. First Fridays takes place, as the name implies, on the first Friday of every month at 7 p.m.