Featured Photo by Cadee Havard
Story by Cadee Havard
Once every month, Middle Tennessee State University’s chapter of Omega Delta Psi presents an artist showcase series titled Bluelight, which has been an ongoing tradition for several years now. Sept. 25, ODP kicked off the series for the semester at Hop Springs in Murfreesboro.
ODP is a co-ed fraternity for students involved in the Recording Industry including audio production, film and video, music business and anyone else with interest in the RIM Department. The intimate performances at Bluelight incorporated several singer-songwriters including Sav., Anna Shinholster, Josie James and ODP’s very own president Alex Wons.
Sav. kicked off the night with some original songs, including her new single written with close friend Mia Perrin. Perrin and friends joined Sav. on stage for the performance of “Irish Goodbye,” a recent collaborative release that tugs the heartstrings of listeners.
Wons presented a mixture of upbeat and solemn piano tracks, opening up with an ironically amusing song about an ex. The energy from his performance contrasted nicely with the gorgeous vocals offered by Anna Shinholster in her acoustic originals.
To end the night, Josie James brought a captivating energy to her creative original tracks, including a song written entirely with plagal cadences. Plagal cadences are commonly called “amen” cadences, and are used to end many church chorales.
“Performing at Bluelight was like a breath of fresh air,” Wons said. “This was my first time performing in 10 months. As a leader of ODP I usually am running all over the place making sure things go smoothly, especially on the audio side of things since that is what I’m most interested in.”
He went on to say that he’s glad to be confident in his team, which allows him to take a step back and do things like perform at ODP events. As far as taking the event to Hop Springs, Wons said, “they have been amazing to work with. I hope as we get more comfortable doing shows there, [the attendance] only grows in size.”
Wons said that he hopes Bluelight becomes an event that reaches outside of just ODP. He hopes that the series can expand to both the general population of MTSU, and even outside of MTSU.
“Bluelight is one of the best things ODP has to offer in my opinion. We put on a multitude of events to service the three Recording Industry majors, songwriting, audio, music business. Bluelight is one of the few events we have that benefits everyone. Our songwriters get to perform, our music business students get to book artists and plan the show, and our audio students get to run the sound and record every show,” Wons said.
ODP encourages students to watch for Bluelight fliers. Everyone is welcome to come. They are sure the organization will live up to expectations with the amount of talent they showcase.
To contact Lifestyles Editor Destiny Mizell, email lifestyles@mtsusidelines.com. For more news, visit www.mtsusidelines.com, or follow us on Facebook at MTSU Sidelines or on X at @MTSUSidelines.
