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Liquid Café’s first big event brings good show, packed house

Shoreline’s Liquid Café held its open mic event, Essence of the Soul, Friday, Oct. 24. Presented by SCC’s Dead Poets Society, the event showcased local artists, including poets, rappers and bands. Admission was free, though donations were gladly accepted. All ages were admitted.

The Liquid Café, a new establishment, is located on North 160 Street near Aurora, in the complex west of 7-11 — in short, just down the hill from SCC. The proximity of the café to the college makes it a natural place for SCC students to congregate. The interior is hip but comfy: Ikea couches, chairs and tables adorn the main space, while computer stations run the length of one wall. The outside is nothing special and offers no seating, but does provide ample room for smokers to escape their studies.

The café offers a wide selection of drink options, including espresso, bubble tea, smoothies and bottled pop and juice. My girlfriend, who has had bubble tea before, tried the coconut variety and said it was good; I, who had never tried the tea, had some of hers and decided it was OK, although the floating balls that are supposedly edible were not things I wanted to experience just then.

Tea expertise (or lack thereof) aside, I do hold my own as an espresso taster and ordered a mocha. It wasn’t something worth rearranging my morning coffee routine. In fact, it tasted somewhere between burnt and ass. Don’t bother. The drinks were both moderately priced: one huge bubble tea and a 12-ounce (single, I assume) mocha were $3 and $2.50, respectively.

I didn’t see much food listed on the menu, or anyone eating anything.

By the time the main event started, the house was packed, and I got the feeling that the café may have taken on more than it could handle. SCC’s own Michael Richards (aka Alive Poet) kicked it off. With the appearance of a natural performer, Alive gave a short but heartfelt spoken-word performance. Alive was also responsible for much of the organization and success of the event, and emceed much of it. Alive delivered another well-performed, politically driven piece later in the show.

Next up was Blind Sage, who performed two rap-influenced pieces. While I got the impression he had a lot to say, and could make out every word he was saying, I still had no idea what he was talking about. I have found this to be the case with many performers at these types of events: they know what they mean and expect the crowd will as well, even when that is not always the case.

Rapper Left-E-One took the stage later. His first piece, a short freestyle, was disappointingly shallow, aimed at attacking unnamed MCs. Thankfully, he switched gears for his next one, a prepared piece about overcoming barriers. Quiz 10 took the mic next, with three raps on life and politics.

The band Babylon, from South Seattle, performed a set. My feeling was that something in the band needed to change: either the vocalists should tone it down or the band should get louder. To say that Linkin Park’s vocalists met an amateur Dave Matthews Band would not be an inaccurate description of the fusion in terms of style. The band did, however, do a pretty nice job of coming up with improvised music for the other performers throughout the night.

Following an intermission, the Christian band X Factor came on. The vocalists included earlier performer Blind Sage, who was a little more coherent this time around. They gave an enthusiastic performance, getting the crowd involved in the fun they appeared to be having on stage. Though their lyrics were Jesus-centric, they didn’t have as much of the typical carefree-praiseband feel, as they blended life issues into their rhymes.

Other performances that night ranged from mediocre to good. If the performance itself was less than great, at least the stage antics were usually entertaining — the organizers managed to attract a pretty good line-up. Noticeably absent from the roster, however, were female artists; while the crowd was pretty evenly split, few women volunteered to get up on stage. Perhaps this could be taken as an invitation for more to do so next time around.

In approaching open mics, my feeling is that as long as the performers aren’t boring me to death, they’re alright by me. I have been to events where stabbing myself with a dull fork would have been preferable to enduring any more from the people on stage. This one was lively, and I actually had a pretty good time.