Outside, it’s cold, windy and the fifth day of April. Inside Boylston Hall, it’s warm, cheerful and the first day of Gaypril. To kick things off, BGLTSA is hosting an Open Mic Night. You can tell by the bongos in Ticknor Lounge.
I’m kind of an expert on Open Mic nights. I went to a guitar camp for three summers and, before you make the tired American Pie joke, let me tell you it was much cooler than band camp, except for the fact that every night was Open Mic Night. All campers were invited to play. After about a hundred crappy renditions of “White Room” and “All Along the Watchtower,” I learned to stay away. Due to careful research at the events I did attend, though, I have determined that all Open Mic Nights share the phrases “Come on, does somebody want to go next?” and “I wrote this song myself.”
Because I go to Harvard now, I expected BGLTSA’s Open Mic night to be a little more spectacular than those of my past. Before the entertainment begins, there are refreshments, including a nice cake from Finale. The expensive dessert, combined with the boxes of cool T-shirts (“BGLTSA All Stars—Come Play for Our Team!”), seem to be promising signs of the quality entertainment to come.
After welcoming everybody to Open Mic Night, and warning that the only microphone is broken, BGLTSA co-chairs Stephanie M. Skier ’05 and M.C.D. Barusch ’06 introduce the evening’s first act, a self-written song played on the guitar. The refrain is, “Let me stay one more night in your arms/Let me stayayayayayayay one more night in your arms.” Next, a guy tells a “true story” about his first time. It was with a male model in Lebanon, who went on to sleep with the guy’s best friend, Natasha. It was her first time too. “He was just sketchy. Then he turned out to be in the Lebanese Mafia…he was actually married.” After that hard-to-follow act, there are two poetry readings and one more guitar performance. This time, it’s a Counting Crows cover.
Then comes the inevitable “Come on, does somebody want to go next?” Apparently, nobody does. Skier promises everybody that if they wait around for half an hour, a live band will arrive. There are murmurs of problem sets to be done. People begin to pick up their coats and wander out the door.
Many exciting BGLTSA events will follow this one—“Gaymes,” club nights, panel discussions and a sex toy party are among them. For now, though, Gaypril has begun with a cheery, supportive whisper. Despite the absence of “White Room,” this Open Mic night seems an awful lot like those of yore. Rather than being disappointed, though, let’s be encouraged. In a month that celebrates awareness and promotes acceptance, recognizing that BGLTSA students at Harvard are so similar to a bunch of preteen rock star wannabes leads to further realization that we may all be more alike than we thought.