“Kelly G! Kelly G! Kelly G!” The chants rose until students broke into a thunderous applause as science teacher Kelly Garton sat behind the drums, jamming with students in one of the most successful Coffeehouses in recent memory.
Coffeehouse is an event held a few times a year for student musicians to display their talents while raising money for Instruments of Change, a Florida-based charity that donates musical instruments to disadvantaged children.
Although it was only the second Coffeehouse of this school year, the Jan. 30 show went particularly well, with an unusually large crowd. Tickets cost $5 each, and concessions were sold throughout the night.
In this last Coffeehouse, many of the acts came from groups that weren’t chosen for the highly selective spring Talent Show.
“So many people tried out [for talent show] and everyone put so much work into their talent show audition,” said senior Jake Parsky, who runs Coffeehouse. “We thought that whoever didn’t get in should get a chance to play in front of people.”
The new line up brought unprecedented energy into the WAUD, differing from Coffeehouse’s characteristically slow-paced, acoustic acts, which were still present, but in a smaller quantity.
“A lot of times people kind of just sit around the WAUD hearing music but not really listening to it,” senior Fidel Cano Renteria said. “That wasn’t the case last night. Everyone was into the music, standing up, dancing and having a great time.”
The night’s success was mutually agreed among the attendees.
“I thought it was the best Coffeehouse in history,” said senior Ben Scheer, who played keyboard for different acts. “We had a great turn out, great hype and great music.”
Each subsequent performance added to the groovin’ atmosphere, with songs by Hozier, Grouplove and Lady Antebellum.
Senior Lila Hobby auditioned for Talent Show with a cover of “Love Shack” by the B-52’s, but didn’t make it.
“I didn’t want to give up on it even though it didn’t get into Talent Show,” Hobby said. “It was such a fun song to practice and try out with, so we decided it would be awesome to do it at Coffeehouse.”
Coffeehouse’s informal environment provided a great outlet for the band, named Shack Attack.
Other bands, like Red Hot Chili Peppers cover band JJ Squared brought the crowd to its feet while jamming to “Under the Bridge.” The lights were turned off and dozens of phones illuminated the crowd.
“It was incredible,” senior guitarist Ilya Belikow said. “I always daydream about playing in front of a lot of people, having everyone singing along and that was exactly what I envisioned.”
But perhaps the biggest hit of the night was Garton’s spontaneous performance. He performed “Red Clay” by Freddie Hubbard with juniors Grayson Jobst, Rian Adamian and Andrew Wright.
Garton, who was filling in for band director Terry Alvey as Coffeehouse sponsor, was not expecting his night to end with him behind the drum set. According to Garton, bassist Jobst and guitarist Adamian asked him halfway through the night to see it he wanted to play with them, and he willingly agreed. They then corralled Wright to accompany them on trumpet.
“The guys were like ‘hey let just jam’,” Garton said. “It was fun—that’s what music is all about.”
Jobst enjoyed the experience of sharing the stage with a teacher.
“It was probably the most insane experience of my life,” Jobst said. “[Garton] just came out ripping like the hardest I’ve ever seen any drummer rip. My face lit up—it was so cool.”
Video by Taameen Mohammed.
