Photos by Julia Naman
Free coffee, free cookies and free canteens were enough to create a line of students out the door of the Sandbar on Friday night. Oh yeah, and the free musical entertainment may have had something to do with the crowd.
The Board hosted its second Coffeehouse of the semester, featuring acoustic sets from student musicians. The show opened up with junior Amber Blu and junior Joelo Beech, who did a soulful cover of “Officially Missing You” by Tamia. Those who couldn’t find seats sat cross-legged on the carpet or stood in the back to hear the performers.
Next up was senior Wilson Howard, who played three original songs accompanied by guitarist and senior Andrew Duff. Howard made it a point to clarify after the show that two were “eternal best friends.”
Howard, whose voice is a bit like Fleet Foxes’ Robin Pecknold’s blended with Howard’s own Tennessee roots, said he has written more than 100 songs, 40 of which were written this past year. After graduation, he plans to keep working on music and leading worship for The Well on Thursday nights. His music is available on soundcloud.com/wilsonhowardmusic.
The show sightly broke from tradition when senior Katrina Warme performed two original poems. She called up Duff to play guitar behind her on the second poem, which she said was a first. Though Warme said she didn’t begin spoken word until sophomore year in Buenos Aires, she already has a book of poems coming out called “The Littlest Phoenix,” which should be on Amazon before Christmas.
Senior John Anderson took the stage next with his electric guitar. He also has merchandise for sale — Anderson recently released his self-recorded album titled “Shark” on Spotify under the stage name John Lowell, and he carries around copies of the album with him available for purchase.
“If you don’t like the music, you can still buy a CD,” Anderson joked before playing an original titled “The Same Boat.”
He gave the stage to freshman Lizzie LeBleu — also from Tennessee — who performed two original songs. Though she just played acoustic guitar, LeBleu used a loop to record over herself, adding percussion and harmonies until it sounded like there was a full band with her. She said she wrote her second song the night before.
“I’m starting this less than 24 hours young, so we’ll see how this goes,” LeBleu said.
Her songs were amazing, and to my surprise, LeBleu told me after the show that she has only been singing and playing guitar for three years. She is also recording an EP, and she said she’d love to play music in her future if it works out that way.
Anderson rejoined LeBleu, and the two closed out the show with a cover of “Holocene” by Bon Iver. Anderson played guitar and sang while LeBleu quadrupled her voice with the loop pedal. Did I mention they had met the day prior?
To get involved with The Board’s Coffeehouses, make sure to email spb@pepperdine.edu with a sample of your music. Like The Board’s Facebook page to stay up to date about its upcoming events.
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Follow Julia Naman on Twitter: @jnamangraphic
