December 4, 2019 | The Clarion
Arts & Life
Page 3
Shining iight on open mic night
By Amber Vance
staff Writer
Open Mic Nights are underrated weekly
events that add to the culture at BC. They are
a great opportunity for students to share their
talents with their peers, gaining experience and
confidence performing for an audience while
in a casual setting.
These events were started by CAB and were
originally held outside Bill’s Boiler House up
to the hours of the coffee shop being altered.
For a few semesters, Open Mic Night was
discontinued until Ryan Burnette and Arianna
Ruiz started the BC Fine Arts Club and paired
with Dal Davis to form a budget to sponsor the
BC FAC House Band.
House Band is a group of musicians that
performs frequently on Open Mic Night.
Members of BC FAC House Band are Justin
Queen on guitar, Reed Windham on bass guitar.
Raleigh Durham as the drummer, Eli Bloom
on the saxophone and MacKenzie Douglas
on keys.
“I enjoy it as an outlet outside the classroom,”
said Windham, a member of House Band.
Windham is a music maj or at BC and appreciates
the opportunity to play music without being in
a classroom setting.
“I feel like it brings people together and gets
them out of their rooms. I just like being able to
sing and not be judged,” said Caro Addams, an
Open Mic Night participant. “Open Mic Night
brings out the best in people and allows you to
receive good feedback.”
“We used to get a lot more performers. Back
in 2015, around 10 to 15 a night. Now we
only have a handful of regulars, depending
on the week, but it’s looking like more people
are starting to get on stage lately,” said Ryan
Burnette, current president of the Fine Arts
Club. “Aside from performers, though, we
usually get a good-sized crowd in Coltrane that
is actively listening to music; maybe 20 to 30
over the course of an Open Mic Night, 40 if
it’s an especially good night.”
“We encourage student participation in Open
Mic Night because it adds a vibrant atmosphere
for Coltrane, giving it something unique, and
because there aren’t a whole lot of outlets
on campus for people who want to perform,
but aren’t performing arts students. Even the
ones who are, want to branch out from all the
classical music they play for their major,”
Burnette said.
Keep in mind that Open Mic Nights are not
just for musicians! Students have been known
to perform other talents like poetry reading. If
you have an interesting talent you would like
to share then you should be at the next event.
Open Mic Night takes place each Sunday
evening at 8 p.m. in Coltrane Underground.
Come join the fun and showcase your talent
or support your peers at the next Open Mic
Night on Dec. 8!
Potoo: An Appalachian bird
By Soloman Turner
Contributor
According to the Cornell Lab of
Ornithology: Neotropical Birds the Potoo
is a solitary, nocturnal bird genus that is
endemic of the South and Central American
Tropics. They are related to the North
American Whippoorwill’s of the Southern
Appalachians. Like the Whippoorwill, its
name slightly resembles the calls it makes
which can sound like “po-TOO,” an owl
like “oorroo” or like a human convulsing
“BUAAaa.” Either way the Pottoo’s call
is just as unsettling in the tropics as the
Whippoorwill’s is in the Appalachians.
All birds in this genus are medium sized
weighing about 1-1.5 pounds with long tails
and round heads on thick necks. Their most
prominent visual characteristic are their huge
yellow eyes which are large in order to be
able to locate flying insects in the dark. They
also have very wide mouths that allow for the
easy capture of prey.
Their genus has no color differences
between males and females and their
coloration is a complex configuration of
black, brown and grey feathers resembling
tree bark of Hymenolobium, a preferred
roosting tree. This is where they sleep during
the day. They sleep upright and motionless
and appear to the casual observer like broken
tree branches.
Unlike many of the birds in the Appalachians,
they do not form nests and instead lay a single
egg in a crevasse or depression of a tree. Their
eggs are chalk white with gray colorations and
hatch after about a month.
The habitat that they most favor are edges of
humid evergreen forests that give them easy
access to open areas and in tree canopies near
bodies of water where they can easily fly and
catch their prey.
These birds are classified as “Least Concern”
by the International Union for Conservation
of Nature as many of the seven species of
Nyctubius have large range and substantial
population. Although it is hard to locate them
due to their camouflage and their nocturnal
nature the population of Potoos are suspected
to be declining due to habitat loss just not
rapidly.
In parts of rural Brazil, the Potoo feathers
are believed to have powers ensuring chastity
and warding olf seduction in ceremonies. As
a result, Potoos are routinely hunted for body
parts and rarely for sustenance.
Photo from abcbirds.com
Up-close, wide-eyed profile of a Potoo bird