Economics major… psychology major… biology major…art major. Sitting next to you in a class, they are just students. But have you ever wondered about their hidden talents? Is he making a rhythm on a desk and the floor? Is she juggling with her pens? On November 5, the students came out to remove their masks. The UMB Talent Show IV was hosted by Chuck Zeogas and Caitlin Bourbeau. The opening performer was Ryan Muldoon, who played beatbox, creating music with his mouth. It was amazing to hear the beat of drums and the scratch of record as a DJ does coming out from his mouth. “Faster!” and Muldoon escalated the speed of the beat, to kick up the audience who were now also cheered with the arrival of boxes of pizza. The next performer was a sophomore UMB student, April Rodgers, who attracted the audience with her crystal voice. “I just arrived at [the Ballroom], so my breath was a little high,” Rodgers commented after her performance. It was an a cappella singing, and when she raised her voice by octaves, it rang in the air as if to fill the autumn blue sky appeared behind her through the glass walls. She has been training her voice all her life, and now she is on a process of recording songs. UMB Talent Show IV invited not only the UMB students but also some performers from outside. While general performances like singing were taken place on the left side of the Ballroom, on the right was set as a wrestling stage for the Regional Wrestling Federation to perform three matches. Later in the Talent Show, three bands, Grey Star Morning, September Twilight, and Beantown Project, arrived and performed their original scores. For more information about them, visit www.greystarmorning.com, www.septembertwilight.com, and www.beantownproject.com. Christina Navarro, a junior UMB student, performed with Mathew Maier, who is a member of band, Oddway. Navarro was a well-known student to the Talent Show, and this was her third time performing. After singing songs, she, yet, commented that she was nervous during her show.

Navarro and Maier prepared for this event for about a week, but if they counted the time they’d spent, it would be “just one day,” said Maier. He is not a UMass student, and this was his first time visiting the campus. “This is a beautiful place” he commented, and then Navarro joined, “it was a cool stage, people were supportive, and we really had fun.” For information about Oddway, check www.oddway.com. Performers today were also students from UMB Graduate School-Andrew Yakoobian was one of them. Taking out cards, at first, he started amazing series of magic that never allowed us to get out of his mystic world. One of the unbelievable tricks occurred inside of a lemon. First, he politely borrowed a purse from an audience member, checked a bill inside; then, burned the bill in the purse. Yakoobian then took out the burned bill, now worthless black dust, and threw it away. The poor guy who had lent his purse received an empty purse and was asked to stay in his seat for a while. Yakoobian started juggling with two lemons and a knife, and asked the guy to say, “stop” when he saw enough juggling.

“Stop!” he yelled. A knife was in Yakoobian’s right hand and one lemon landed next to it, and another lemon was falling down and he stabbed it with the knife. “Let’s open this lemon.” Opening his hands first to show nothing there, then he cut the lemon, and from inside came out the bill he previously burned. After a short silence, and a huge applause inevitably exploded. “I’ve been doing this for fifteen years,” answered Yakoobian after his performance wearing T-shirt where ace of each design lined up. Although he mostly performed tricks that one probably had seen before, he added his own flavor, and for him magic is not to confuse the audience with the mystery but to entertain them. “A bill inside a lemon was a classic one, but combination with juggling was my original idea,” he continued, “the audience had fun with my performance, and so did I.” The Talent Show ended around 8 p.m. followed by the after party. The show was sponsored by the UMB Talent Show Club with great help from numbers of groups including Follet (UMB) Bookstore and the Undergraduate Student Senate.