Landon Austin tonight/How not to host a talent show

   Pitt Greensburg welcomes pop star Landon Austin tonight in Furguson Theater.  SAB held an open mic night last week, and voted on the best performer, who gets to open for Landon.

   April Leon and her accompanist won the overall competition.  While I'm not diminishing Aprils accomplishment or talent, SAB handling of the open mic night was awkward to say the least.

   As with most open mic nights, SAB did not hold a sign-up to try out.  Holding a sign-up could have attracted more performers, as signing up ensures everyone gets a designated time to try out.  Performers were reluctant to assert they way to the stage.  As a result, a select few acts monopolized the stage.

   The event was also a free-for-all.  No time or song limits were given.  Moreover, some of the more desperate performers hogged the stage for multiple songs as voters streamed out of the room.  Some of the performers were bad with a capital suck.  Where was Simon when you need him?

   SAB held the the try outs in the Coffee house, as they do with most open mic nights. Such a small, intimate venue may encourage more performers to try out, SAB failed to accommodate at least half the voters who resorted to standing in the hallway of Village Hall.

   However, SAB's biggest misstep was not keeping a master list of the performers.  Voters wrote in their pick and drop it in a ballot box.  By the end of the night, most performers names were forgotten and the remaining voters selected the only performer they remembered:  the last one to take the stage.

   Wanting to see how the votes were distributed, I asked the hosts to see where they tallied the votes.  They had already thrown the sheet away.  No announcement made to the winner, save for a whisper after the room cleared out.

   While I'm not diminishing April's ability, no doubt the awkward way in which the event was handled effected the results.  I believe SAB should have instituted a panel of judges rather than let a room full of clueless college student pick a winner.