by Gary Smith
Horizon Reporter
“I want this to be like a word orgy,” said two-time individual poetry champion Buddy Wakefield, and that is just what his performance was.
The Heiner Theatre was full by the time Naaman Brooks, a student at Whatcom Community College, took the stage. You may recognize Naaman from around campus, he is quite tall and he always has a smile on his face. When the lights went out and Brooks starts to speak, the crowd was silent. After the performance however, the crowd was anything but silent. Brooks received a standing ovation.
After Brooks exited the stage, Buddy Wakefield appeared from stage right. After some banter with Naaman, he began.
Wakefield, who has performed in Bellingham more than once, was happy to be back. He has a stage presence that one might equate with a famous musician. Which makes sense because there are times during Wakefield’s performance where he has musicians perform with him.
Wakefield is also somewhat of a comedian. He makes the crowd laugh throughout the night, he tells jokes and is sometimes erratic on stage, one time even going into a yoga pose.
The audience was an assortment of young and old. When Wakefield first started his performance he did it without a microphone. That was quickly corrected due to complaints of a few audience members saying, “Not everyone in the crowd is young. We can’t hear so well.”
“ It’s free, so that’s nice,” said student Margaryta, 18,who attended on a recommendation from one of her friends. The fact that it was free to everyone was also nice for Capucine, 19 who had never heard of him before.
