The pastel fliers advertised a performance by singer/songwriter Jen Chapin. The CDs for sale in the back of the salmon-colored room were Jen Chapin’s. But green-eyed sophomore Natalie Pascarella stole the show.

Pascarella, who opened for Chapin at last night’s acoustic event in the Jabberwocky Caf sponsored by the Music and Entertainment Industry Student Association, sat in a mahogany chair in front of the small stage, keyboard at her fingertips. She gave the crowd a brief, shaky hello, and announced her first of seven cover songs: Norah Jones’ ‘Come Away with Me.’

She pressed her fingers to the keys, her mouth opened and a low, strong voice emerged. Several members of the audience glanced at each other, eyebrows raised. She sang with more tenderness than Jones, her eyes closed or open, staring only at the keyboard.

She glanced up, once, at the audience, her cheeks flushing as she finished the song. She flashed a smile, and in her perky, high speaking voice, announced her next song: Jewel’s ‘Foolish Games.’

‘Oops, sorry,’ Pascarella said after singing the first line, the only proof of her nerves, and began again, her voice as rich as the coffee being served in dark red paper cups.

Nearly 50 students crowded the small caf, lounging in and on the arms of the soft maroon and mahogany chairs. Many sat in a semicircle only several feet from the music industry major. After Pascarella sang covers of three Joni Mitchell songs, Desree’s ‘Kissing You’ and Fiona Apple’s ‘Never Is a Promise,’ the students unfurrowed their brows and released their breath. They burst into applause, standing in ovation.

Pascarella, who had never before performed alone in front of an audience, received hug after hug.

‘I’m blown away,’ said Emily Fox, a sophomore music industry major who is in many classes with Pascarella. ‘She has a really big talent not a lot of people get to see.’

‘I was really nervous,’ Pascarella said, fiddling with the lavender stone of her necklace. ‘But it was really exhilarating and fun.’

When the night’s main act, Jen Chapin, a folk and jazz singer-songwriter based in New York City, took the stage, the half of the crowd that remained was ready for a fresh sound. The thirtysomething singer, backed by her band, bassist Stephan Crump and guitarist Jamie Fox, sang with a powerful, sharp voice, evoking Alanis Morissette and Ani DiFranco. Her lyrics, laced with metaphors, toyed with repetition and intensity.

‘Oh, solitude, you give me a moment, and I wrap it round my body here,’ she sang, sitting on a chair, her hands resting on her butterscotch pants. ‘I’m gonna let you fill my mind, ’til I find a way to fight against fear.’

Chapin acted distant from the audience during her first few songs, but as she eased into her near dozen song set, she began to explain each song to the dwindling crowd. Before one song, ‘Passive People,’ Chapin explained that she was trying to write a song to vent her political frustrations without being annoying or preachy. The trick was to add a sneaky little dance beat.

‘How many times do you sing along to a Bob Marley song and realize you’re singing about the revolution?’ she said.

The piece – including the line ‘So the dollars aren’t evenly splayed around, oh baby yes, I’m sure they’ll trickle down,’ seemed more playful than her others. But her song ‘Little Hours,’ the first single to her latest album, ‘Linger,’ may be too playful for the airwaves.

‘Don’t pick a song with a naughty word in it right after Janet Jackson flashes the world with her boob,’ Chapin said, shaking her short brown hair.

The Music and Entertainment Industry Student Association learned of Chapin through Jabberwocky event coordinator and SU class of 2004 graduate Dana Wise, who interned at Hybrid, Chapin’s record label, said Sarah Villagio, senior music industry major. When looking for a woman to open for Chapin, planners figured Pascarella would be the perfect fit.

The head of Hybrid was enthusiastic about having the New York City-based Chapin perform in Central New York, Chapin said.

‘He’s into the whole Orange spirit,’ Chapin said.

The small, intimate space pleased Chapin, who had performed in several large auditoriums at other colleges but found they were not as fun as when a group of students is just hanging out, Chapin said.

‘I liked this better, it’s more instrumental,’ said Vince Insalaco, a freshman music industry major, comparing Chapin’s set to Pascarella’s piano covers. ‘It sounded good – kind of jazzy, somehow.’

Published on November 18, 2004 at 12:00 pm