WOMP Gives Students the mic

On Feb. 19, the Gamut Room presented a new music initiative, Wednesday Open Mic Performance (WOMP). Spearheaded by Eyal Levy ’14.5 and Mitchell Parrish ’14, WOMP is a weekly series that allows student musicians to perform in the hope of developing a more vibrant music scene on campus.

Approximately 40 students filled the Gamut Room for the inaugural WOMP, which featured two prescheduled headliners in addition to eight open mic performances at the beginning of the event, totaling two hours of live music by students.

“The first night exceeded all expectations,” said Parrish. “I was overwhelmed with the energy in the crowd and everyone seemed legitimately pumped to be there.”

WOMP was designed as a vehicle for student bands and performers to showcase their talents, as well as give other students the opportunity to listen and support their peers.

“There is a growing music scene on campus, but it’s fragmented,” said Parrish. “There are tons of musicians and several active bands on this campus, but not many people know them. Even worse, most of the musicians don’t even know each other.”

WOMP grew out of a musician meet-up proposed at a Middlebury Music United (MMU) meeting. The concept was formalized into a weekly event, and the idea of adding open mic performers in addition to the invited musicians was introduced as a way of making music more accessible.

Following the eight open mic performances, Weyland Joyner ’14.5 and Sam Finkelman ’14 took the stage together, followed by Leif Castren ’14, who concluded the night.

“I wanted to perform because I’ll take any chance I can get to play live music — it’s my favorite thing to do,” Finckelman said. “When Mitchell [Parrish] asked Weyland and I to throw a few songs together, I jumped on the opportunity.”

“I also think it’s incredible when musicians on campus get together. There’s a lot of talent here at Middlebury, and I wanted to meet more musicians and show younger students that performing here shouldn’t be a big deal,” he added.

Finkelman and Joyner played folk, bluegrass and blues music including songs by John Prince and Warren Zevon. The duo also debuted a song written by Finkelman.

Castren followed with songs by The Devil Makes Three, The Tallest Man on Earth and Ray LaMontagne.

“Playing music for people is fun as well as a good challenge,” he said. “Since I hadn’t performed in a long time, it was a really novel experience to be able to get up on stage and sing. For me, it was a test of how comfortable I am with performing.”

Castren said that he hadn’t played in front of a large audience for two years, and noted that WOMP allowed him, and will allow others, to improve stage presence.

The headlining musicians were specifically invited by Levy and Parrish to perform.

“A lot of the venues on campus that organize music are very stigmatized,” said Awa Goodwin ’14 at the inaugural WOMP. “This is a really cool way to get a lot of people to come forth and share their music in a way that’s open to a diverse group of people. It’s too bad that music doesn’t reach a lot of people on this campus, so this is definitely an event worth attending.”

Parrish hopes that future WOMP events manage to garner equal attention.

“My goals is to make WOMP an institution on this campus,” said Parrish. “The Gamut Room is one of the coolest student spaces on campus, and when you combine it with good food and live music, there’s nothing better.”

WOMP is held in the Gamut Room every Wednesday night at 9 p.m. Headliners are scheduled through April 23, and interested parties are encouraged to contact Levy and Parrish via email.