The Beanery is your new study spot

UConn’s William Benton Museum of art reopened its café this semester.

It’s been doing open mics for a while, every Tuesday since the start of the Fall 2015 semester. You’ve probably seen a poster in a dining hall or, if you procrastinate enough to read it, a mention in the Daily Digest.

But you probably haven’t stopped by yet. Here’s why you should.

The Beanery offers a wide range of talented performers and a tasty points-accepting café. (Free sandwich if you perform). It’s also a nice place to unleash your inner pretentious liberal arts undergrad, complete with a weird seating arrangement and deformed, naked statue by the door.

Here’s some of the regular faces from the Beanery and this is only a fraction of the talent present:

Tristan Sayah, a Theater major said: “I like to try something new every week I perform.”

Sathia, a Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Anthropology double major once served as a makeshift MC and has been MCing ever since. He gives the Beanery a welcoming feel and announces performers. He also stalls between sets, which is good, because stalling is a lost art.

A man of many talents, he also leads the Hip Hop Cypher in the student union on Thursdays from 9 – 11.

He said: “Special thanks to Susan Herbst for giving students a space to express themselves through music #thankssusan”

Sathia can be stalked individually here and with his rap collective here.

Kalimur, a well known band in the UConn community (members include students Brett, Alex, Jonah, Tyler) often perform at The Beanery, though not always in full strength.

Brett said: “The open mics at The Beanery give an incredible and consistent creative opportunity on campus to perform in front of awesome people and loud latte (espresso?) machines…but mostly awesome people.”

The one man band Josh Gluck made his debut performance with some Johnny Cash tunes and not one but two instruments, including Tristan Sayah’s guitar.

There’s also been a big stand-up comedy presence at the Beanery. Scott Finke, a senior majoring in complete and utter savagery, is known for his jarring tale of his encounter with an impulsive concert bouncer whose indecent exposure boundaries are somewhat confusing. But you’d have to come to the Beanery for the full story.

Scott says “It’s great to have a place where the audience can kick back and performers can try new things without feeling a ton of pressure. Good vibes all around.”

This is just a small sampling of the performers that have surfaced at the Beanery. All acts are welcome and encouraged. Just not Eastern students.

I didn’t even manage to get photos of everyone who performed this particular night, but there was a first-time comedian with green pants who had some solid jokes about UConn’s squirrel population, a gifted guitarist, and several others.

The author Ben Schultz, a third semester DMD major, has also been known to bring some dry humor and awkward high school stories to the Beanery stage.

#BeaneryattheBenton