Bradley Halpern, Senior Staff
UR Idol, held in the May Room on Feb. 1, was an excellent combination of talented musicians and humorous commentary. The event featured 10 student performances and a judging panel that included Dean of Students Matthew Burns, the “Madonna of Danforth” Dawn Marshall-Hosier, and Manager of Music Performance Programs Josef Hanson. Sponsored by the lower Resident Advisor staff of Susan B. Anthony halls, this was the seventh annual UR Idol event.
At the conclusion of the performance, the audience’s votes were tallied, and the top three performances were named: Senior Alex Murray’s original composition, “Place to Fall” took first; Freshman Tobi Abubakare’s violin performance of “La Folia” by Arcangelo Corelli took second; and senior Sarah Sheppeck’s original composition, “Just the Same” took third.
In addition to three original compositions (the third was junior Ethan Lipkind’s “Love”) and Abubakare’s violin piece, performances ranged from popular music like sophomore Allison Eberhardt’s rendition of Christina Aguilera’s “The Voice Within” to old favorites like freshmen Colin McCormack and Dan Hassin’s performance of Harry Chaplin’s “Cats in the Cradle.”
Like many of the performers, Lipkind, Sheppeck, and freshman David Libbey, who performed “I’m With You” by Avril Lavigne, accompanied themselves with guitar.
Others enlisted the help of friends. McCormack was accompanied by Hassin on the piano, and junior Michael Nagelberg’s performance of Elton John’s “Your Song” was complemented by junior Josey Topolski’s violin.
Performers ranged from serious to silly. Abubakare’s performance was filled with emotion as she moved with the swells of the music. At the other end of the spectrum were juniors Jake Arthur and Andy Brink a.k.a. Brother Bear’s performance of “Minnie the Moocher” by Cab Calloway, which turned into something of a comedy routine. They joked about themselves throughout the performance, requesting that the audience grant them a third place spot in the awards, claiming that “first is for the talented, second is for the pretty… and third is for pity.”
Judges offered commentary after each piece: Dawn filled the role of the sweet, endearing judge, Hanson offered musical commentary, and Burns pronounced biting, scathing, but admittedly witty remarks about the performers. After one performance, Burns humorously declared, “Some people bring happiness wherever they go; some people bring happiness when they go.”
For every facetious comment Burns made, Dawn made up for by showering performers with compliments, announcing how a song “made [her] heart melt” or was “just beautiful.”
UR Idol offered the chance for talented musicians to demonstrate their skills and perform for an audience in a fun, casual setting. Both performers and audience members enjoyed the combination of humor and music that is the trademark of the event.
At the end of all the performances, deviating from his characteristic style, Burns summed up UR Idol: “This has been a fun night. We’ve had a lot of talent here.”
Remus is a member of the class of 2016.
