Students show off talent at Coffeehouse event

The tranquil ambiance of the dimly lit Community Room in the Saratoga Public Library, adorned with homey Christmas and tea lights and seats and tables, welcomed performers and viewers alike for the Coffeehouse event on the evening of Feb. 3.

Students from Saratoga High as well as from public and private schools in the county gathered at this event that was organized by the Saratoga Library Teen Advisory Board (TAB) to listen to and share teen talent in the community.

After a cordial beginning to the Coffeehouse open-mic night, performers began their official performances.

Senior Alyssa Peck, one of these performers, played the keyboard while singing “All You Wanted” by Michelle Branch, followed later by the Glee Club, who performed an a capella piece of “Paradise” by Coldplay.

“I really liked the Glee Club’s performance because I love the way they sang the whole song without any music or accompaniment but they somehow managed to make all the background notes too,” junior Ashley Joshi said.

This act was followed by slam poetry about SATs given by members of the Slam Poetry Club, senior Alex Mabanta and freshmen Samir Ingle, Yvonne Ye, Annie Kung and Charles Li.

Senior Fredrick Lee, who prefers to be called “Fantastic Fred,” performed a hypnosis act in which he tried to hypnotize eight students including junior Ashley Joshi and senior Arnav Dugar.

Lee selected one volunteer in particular to completely hypnotize through a process called “fishing” by testing each of the volunteers to see who he could hypnotize the best. Once he selected a couple of volunteers, Lee continued to work with them specifically.

At the end of his act, to show that his hypnosis technique worked, Lee successfully hypnotized one volunteer to think that he was stuck to the ground and could not move.

“The hypnotist was pretty cool because it’s not something you see every day, which made it really unique and interesting,” Joshi said.

At least 100 people attended the event.

“I personally really enjoyed the Coffeehouse because it was an event that allowed me time to relax,” Joshi said. “It had a really laid-back atmosphere, and the food, while unhealthy, was really good.”