What is at 9 p.m. on Sundays in the Coffeehouse, characterized by an impressive (at times bordering on ridiculous) number of colorful signs, and has a house? Not Swing House, not Beta, but SoundBoard, of course. This week’s featured artist, the illustrious Skyler Silvertrust, created SoundBoard as “an attempt to get people to go watch some music other than jazz or classical at this school,” a noble cause at such a music-focused university as Lawrence. Highlighting solo acts, student collaborations, and even themed nights, i.e. Christmas Soundboard, Skyler’s organization has come a long way in recent years — featured artists have run the gamut from Paul Karner to Travis Fondow, who will be performing in a few weeks and is really not an artist at all.Despite all of his musical involvement at Lawrence, Skyler is not actually a music major, but rather just a guy who enjoys music, but is bad at theory and sightsinging. He also happens to have interests outside of music, a big problem when one studies in the conservatory. Forced to take violin lessons when he was just seven years old, Skyler never guessed that this coercion would lead him to Lawrence, where he plays in the LSO and just recently gave a truly impressive recital.
Skyler’s raw musical talent, however, does not end with the violin’s sweet tones. In fact, he’s pretty excited about the new rap duo “Goofus and Goofus,” which includes both he and James Eric Prichard, and features “innovative raps about love and other such feelings.” Our featured artist also enjoys experimenting with hip-hop mash-ups on his computer, but don’t think that he is entirely hardcore. At the end of the day, what Skyler really likes to do is watch his favorite Astor Piazzolla DVD or rock out to Busta Rhymes “Break Ya Neck” and. the Mountain Goats. Not even a little hardcore.