“It’ll Be Okay”: Setting Stone Hosts Second Virtual Coffee House
Article and Screenshot Photos By Waxy
OXFORD, OH On Friday, May 22, 2020 Talawanda High School’s Setting Stone Literary Art Magazine held its second virtual Coffee House on Instagram Live. Recent THS graduate Betsy Philips hosted the 45-minute event and concluded with the comment “doing live streams has brightened up my quarantine.” At one point 56 users were logged on to watch the last Coffee House of the 2019-20 school year.
Mr. Aerni played acoustic guitar and sang an original song he wrote called “How You Hold the Weight.” The audience gave a lot of virtual applause and some requested that Aerni audiorecord the track that had powerful personal lyrics like “It’ll be okay / but these Ohio skies keep staying gray / Everything I love is gonna change.”
Next up was Emma Schrimper who sang a little-known song by British singer Gabrielle Aplin called “Waking Up Slow” (2017). One user typed that Schrimper has “the voice of an angel.”
Phillips noted that both Aerni and Schrimper’s song choices, like much music today, were inspired by the quarantine and pandemic.
Next, a last-minute addition to the setlist, Ben Nachowitz played the lead guitar on a cover of Dire Straits’ “Sultans of Swing” (1978).
THS band director Michael Marston played ‘Under the Sea” from Disney’s The Little Mermaid (1989) on the steel drums. Marston said his daughter showed him how to use Instagram Live. One user said that Marston and his fellow band director Richard Gonzales should do a music battle, but Marston said he wasn’t sure if Gonzo does Instagram.
A Coffeehouse staple this year, Damon Byrd was joined by his friend Chloe to do a cover of Dolly Parton’s “Jolene” live from a bathroom. When asked why the bathroom, Byrd said he’d rather keep that to himself.
Recent THS graduate Peter Averbach closed out the virtual show with a stand-up routine that started with him wearing his grad cap while playing a little “Pomp and Circumstance” on a plastic neon recorder. Much of Averbach’s act had to do with a little “investigation” he did into THS commencement speaker and alum Gary Owen’s potential relationship to the Illuminati. Averbach said he was able to get some intel by joining the Illuminati himself through their affirmative action program. Averbach said that the Illuminati’s points on a triangle symbolize their control over 1. Government, 2. Chat Rooms, and 3. Dating Sites. Averbach lamented that the dating sites were having issues once he joined the Illuminati. He ended with telling the audience that there was a bounty on his head.
After Averbach left, Phillips realized they hadn’t done their promised last “movie review,” so Averbach logged back on to the livestream and Betsy asked him to review the film “Sonic.” Averbach responded: “It was not the worst.”
The Setting Stone is hoping to publish its print magazine in August and has posted a sneak peak of the layout on Instagram. You can see previously published work at http://settingstone.org/ and follow them on Twitter and Instagram @settingstonemag.
