Union Board event showcases local talent

When Tessa Angermeier left the stage after her 20-minute set, she was immediately greeted by a new fan.

Graduate student Ian Michalski was studying in the Indiana Memorial Union Starbucks Wednesday, but didn’t expect to be serenaded.

“They were very relaxed in their music style and tempo so it wasn’t too distracting to get work done,” Michalski said. “At first I wasn’t excited. I thought I might have to move depending on the quality of the work and nature of it, but I was pleasantly surprised by the first three acts, especially Tessa Angermeier.”

Michalski approached Angermeier just seconds after her performance for the Gallery Evening Music Series.

“You were amazing,” he said. “And I love everything you do.”

Angermeier was just one of five performances by IU student artists at the IMU Gallery.
Union Board’s Live from Bloomington committee organized the music series, which began at the beginning of the school year.

Last night was the first performance of the spring semester.

“My whole committee is very rooted into the whole local scene, so I’m just like, ‘who has a friend who wants to play?’” Union Board Committee Director Connor Foy said. “I go to the Bluebird, house shows and just talk to bands after they play sets.”

The music series is a biweekly event. The committee plans to have five performance this semester.

In addition to Angermeier, students Juan-Jose Trip Jaramillo, Sam Moorin, Carson Verplank, Alex Fowler and Ali Michel performed.
Angermeier, a junior majoring in Music Management, has performed for IU Dance Marathon and at Kilroy’s Dunnkirk and Potbelly’s.

A singer, songwriter and guitarist, Angermeier said she has been to the music series once or twice a month in the past.

“I just came up with the songs I was going to play about five minutes before I went on stage and wrote them on a napkin,” Angermeier said, laughing. “I feel like in college it’s really fun to just play songs that other people know and can sing along with you.”
Facebook invites to the event were sent to about 500 people, Foy said, and the artists then sent invitations to their friends and family.

The majority of the audience was students working on homework who weren’t expecting the music.

Angermeier said she didn’t mind.

“It’s a really captive audience,” Angermeier said. “Every time I’ve ever played here I’ve had a really good response, and everybody’s just so nice. I love it. Everybody that runs it is so fun to work with.”

Foy said Live from Bloomington is creating a CD with a compilation of all local artists’ music. The committee also wants to have a music festival next month in Dunn Meadow, he said.

The music series is most importantly a way to showcase local talent, he said.
“It’s just to showcase local musicians, whether it be people in bands or people just getting up there who want to sing and play guitar for other students,” Foy said.

“It’s really just to facilitate a local music scene, show the students what a great opportunity it is to see all these artists around that are not only limited to Jacob’s or the house scene, but there are tons and tons of people in Bloomington that this showcases.”