Despite big names, Release seemed mediocre
This being my fourth year at Chadron State College, I’ve come to expect certain things. There’s basketball in the cafeteria in the spring, canons go off when we make a touchdown, and Release is the time when we can all go and listen to some great poetry and music.
Unfortunately, this year’s event didn’t live up to the expectations I’ve come to have. Don’t get me wrong, this year’s show was good, for the most part. It simply wasn’t the show that I had hoped for. Instead, several performances soured what could have been a sweet show.
The show began fine enough, with an a capella group. However, just after that, high school student Michael Kruse sang a Phantom of the Opera song.
Now, I don’t want to bash anyone, so I will start by saying that Kruse sang beautifully. However, when I walked through the doors of Release, I was not looking for a variety show.
As “The Music of the Night” continued, I could hear the audible sighs of people behind me feeling the exact same way. We were there looking for upbeat dance numbers, original music, and slam poetry.
Instead, the audience members were subjected to several minutes of uncomfortable shifting in their seats while Kruse cockily flipped his hair out of his eyes as though he’d just given us all a huge treat.
As he sat down at the piano to start his second number, I even heard a fellow audience member whisper, “please play a pop song, please play a pop song.”
The uncomfortable act seemed to drag on, and, as I mentioned, I believe that Kruse did well. But I wasn’t there to see a high school talent show.
Kruse’s act was nothing compared to the train wreck that was the group “Loud.” If I were to even try to describe this group, it would require me using a lot of “$#%@ &$@* !@#$.” Half the time, I couldn’t understand a word they were saying. And when I could understand what they were saying, they were screaming the “n” word into their mics.
Armaub Collins, from Omaha, could have easily lip synced to the song he insisted on poisoning the audience’s ears with. Instead, they played the original recording loudly over him while he “rapped” to it. The two voices were layered over each other. It was loud. It was crass. It was just plain not well done.
Now, I wasn’t going to let a few performances, these, included, ruin my Release. In the second act, things seemed to pick up. There was a block of performances packed with awesome, starting with Ariel Tiensvold and “Valerie,” continuing to an amazing performance of “Rolling in the Deep” sung by Jazzy Seumalo, and finishing with the only act that got a standing ovation: Night of Country Swing, (NOCS.)
NOCS blew the audience out of the water while they threw girls in the air, and flipped them around in amazing feats of strength. They were met with screams and excitement, and I believe I was one of the first to jump out of my seat after the group finished their performance.
On top of that, Jovan Mays and Marty Lastovica, former coordinators of the event, returned this year to present their stunning original poetry and music. These groups and people made Release automatically better. But I still left disappointed.
Perhaps one of the greatest disappointments of this year’s event was that last year, Release was allocated $2,500, and put on a fantastic show. This year, Release was allocated $5,000, and put on a mediocre show.
Most of this year’s money, admittedly, went toward bring Kay’Vian, a signed name, from New York. Although Kay’Vian was the excitement of Karl McFarlane (this year’s coordinator) Kay’Vian wasn’t nearly as exciting to me as seeing my fellow classmates or community members perform original pieces.
My hope is that future Release programs try and incorporate things its audience has come to look forward to, which is seeing community come forward with its original art. We don’t need New York labels or Omaha screamers. We just need good art and a community-feel to Release.
Sara,
Michael Kruse, though in high school, is taking college classes at CSC. I felt very proud of him for having the guts to try out for the show. Another high school group tried out, but weren’t chosen. Getting up in front of 700 people is pretty amazing for a 17 year old and it so happens that he was quite nervous given the venue. So if he seemed cocky it was only a cover for his true feelings.
Yes, he is my son, so of course I would be seen as biased. However, the fact remains that he is extremely talented and that is why he was chosen to participate, as he has been in many other events for school and the community. He has worked hard to learn voice and several instruments and takes pride in listening to and performing many different types of music.
Maybe Phantom of the Opera isn’t everyone’s thing. But the show is supposed to be about diversity, obviously in your opinion only pop music is acceptable. As an adult, I wasn’t particularly impressed with the rap and some of the poetry was a bit political for my taste. However, I applauded and supported those acts the same as others I really enjoyed. That is what Release is about.
I am very proud of Karl, as he specifically wanted to bring in talent from other places, not just the college. He chose a wonderful variety of entertainment, planned the acts to slowly build the excitement of the audience and had things coordinated well. He took a lot of time and worked with a lot of different people and groups to bring this show together.
The event remains to be free to the audience to keep the spirit of what Jovan had started so long ago and passed on to Marty. They both welcomed and supported my son in this show and were extremely proud of Karl for continuing the tradition.
Michele Rickenbach
CSC Employe
First of all, before you state that you are a lifestyle writer, have the knowledge of the
concept. Entertainment equals variety!!! Entertainment is also confidence. Putting Micahel Kruse on blast like that was not acceptable by me. First of all he is a performer and flipping his hair like that shows confidence and is a part of his performance. Know your material my love because stating an opinion that makes you look foolish.
Release is a DIVERSE showcase and every year they bring this to the table diversity, sometimes Chadron Nebraska tends to lack. The show was very upbeat and had all the things you stated that were lacking. Were we at the same show? Obviously NOT!!! I know many did not understand the LOUD group but this is not their first year here at the Release concert. Also it is not the first time so many indecent language has been used at the event.
With saying all of this, Release was AMAZING AND HAVING THAT DIVERSITY IS SOMETHING THAT IS LACKING AROUND HERE, HENCE WHY STUDENTS DONT FINISH HERE AT CHADRON STATE COLLEGE. Accept change and things will change.
Phantom of the opera music is EXTREMELY difficult to sing well. And Michael sang it WELL. I would love to see you perform next year, since you seem to know so much about performances and how they should be done!
Hey Displeased,
Just because Sara didn’t enjoy some parts of the show doesn’t make her wrong. It says OPINION at the top of this page. She’s merely stating hers. Everyone is free to love or hate the show just as you are free to disagree with her in your cowardly anonymous comment.
Sara had the courage of her convictions to publish this opinion with her name attached. You didn’t even have that.
Michael obviously has a loving supportive mother, and I’m sure he got way more accolades than criticism for his performance. “Release” is supposedly about showing off the diversity of talent and wealth of ideas in the Chadron State College community. However, part of public performance is opening oneself up to criticism.
If everyone had to like the show it would be a celebration of forced conformity. They’d probably call it “Constraint,” and nobody would enjoy it at all.