Music and poetry rocked the house as the Barge hosted their monthly Open Mic Night on Friday, February 4. Hosted by sophomore Will Hazzard and first-year Domi Burek, Open Mic Night was a huge success from start to finish as many Hamilton residents and Colgate students showcased their talents. First-year Sammi Le­roy got the crowd pumped with a rendition of “Forget You.” There was barely any place to stand in the Barge as students and residents enjoyed a variety of music offerings. Following Sammi’s power-packed, quirky performance, rookie Amy Mcbeth crooned to Taylor Swift’s “Last Kiss.” Amy’s performance came with a warning label: at the beginning, she said, “You don’t have to au­dition for open mic night, which is good for me but not great for you guys.” Her warning proved to be useless as the crowd loved her performance.

After Amy, a crowd favorite Dagan Rossini took the stage as he performed “Blackbird” by the Beatles and “Follow Me,” his own piece. All three of the aforementioned performers ac­companied their song with a guitar. The next performer, Hamilton resident Daryl Wilson, chose to perform with the piano instead. He set a soulful mood with “Diving for Pearls” and a couple other songs. Daryl’s turn on the piano enraptured the audience. First-year Priya Agarwal exclaimed “Wow!” after his per­formance. Daryl’s performance as followed by Will Betz on his guitar. Betz performed his “hot pink Oasis set” including “Wonderwall” and “Champagne Supernova.” Betz was fol­lowed by Gus Hobbs and Kevin Blank on the guitar, accompanying Caitlin McGonagle as she sang “Breakeven.”

Not to be outdone by all the music, the night featured its share of poets. April Bai­ley performed two of her slam poems as fans cheered in the background. Visiting professor Andre Lopez gave quite an interesting speech on poems and vaudeville in his performance. He followed it up with a recitation of two col­lective poems and two of his own poems on the Red Sox. Casey Schmidt performed an “angsty” piece followed by a “not-so-angsty” one in her first impromptu poem-reading at the Barge. Schmidt’s poetry was followed by Arielle Sperling singing “Torn” and “Someone Like You” as Dan Matz strummed an acoustic guitar in the background.

Sadly, Open Mic Night drew to a close with Kevin Blank’s attempt at performing on his guitar. The night ended with witty banter between the hosts after which Haz­zard performed “California Summertime” with an acoustic guitar strum-a-long. Even on the coldest month of the year, the Barge was heartily warm, filled with the smell of hot chocolate and echoing with talent­ed musicians and poet: so gather all your friends and make sure to catch the next open mic night!