By Shane Mead | Reporter
The After Dark Variety Show, presented by the student productions committee, kicked off family weekend. The show aims to showcase Baylor’s many talents to new freshmen and their visiting families. Friday night’s show was emceed by First Gentleman Brad Livingstone.
This year’s crowd saw an assortment of musical performances from singers, songwriters and musicians alike in a packed Waco Hall.
“I get very emotional singing in front of that many people,”said Vale, Colo., senior Langley Cerovich, a singer-songwriter who performed in both the first and second acts of the show.
In the first act, he paid homage to his Irish roots by performing an original song in Gaeilge.
“It’s just a lot about what it means to grow up as an immigrant and as an Irish person,” Cerovich said. “It was weird writing it like that, but it’s perspective of my ancestors probably four generations, five generations ago.”
In the second act, Cerovich performed a jazz duet piece with another singer and a pianist, both of whom he had high praise for.
Cerovich also praised the variety show for its ability to highlight many of the talented musicians at Baylor.
“College is like, the really unique place where you have all these crazy talented musicians,” he said. “There’s so many here that are super talented.”
During the 9:30 p.m. showing, Clayton, Calif., junior Ben Williamson performed “Little Wing” by Jimi Hendrix on electric guitar — his first time performing in the After Dark Variety Show.
Everything went smoothly for Williamson during the 6:30 p.m. show, but at the 9:30 p.m. show, the battery powering his pedals died sometime between when he set up and when his performance started.
“It was kind of embarrassing in the moment because you don’t want that to happen on stage, obviously,” he said. “It was at the worst time because it’s like, right when you’re about to start.”
Since the show had a different layout this year, different performers set up on stage at the same time, each awaiting their turn to perform. The spotlight shone on whoever was performing at the moment. This meant Cerovich stood on stage as Williamson struggled.
The silence was awkward and the lights were shining bright on Williamson, but in the heat of the moment, his improvisation skills kicked in.
“I think it just somehow dawned me that I should use Langley’s guitar,” Williamson said. “I just kind of shouted a little bit over to him, like, ‘Langley, can I borrow your guitar?’ Fortunately he said yes.”
Cerovich recalled the experience and how impressed he was with Williamson.
“This man goes out there and absolutely shreds on acoustic,” Cerovich said. “It was the craziest thing.”
Despite the mishap, Williamson said he was able to recover and have a successful night performing at the After Dark Variety Show.
Like Cerovich, Williamson views the show as a great opportunity for musicians like him to live out their passion.
“My friends hear about it a lot, or I’ll tell my classmates about it, like they’ll know I play guitar. But I feel like there’s never really a chance to put myself out there,” Williamson said. “I love having these kinds of opportunities.”
Williamson recommends that anyone who with a talent use the After Dark Variety Show to their advantage, as the show is not just limited to musicians.
“I would say if you have a talent, definitely give it a shot playing at After Dark.”
