There was no discernible sound outside to indicate the event was happening, but you could see it through the steamy windows as clear as you could your breath. Retreating into Has Beans Café Saturday night brought not only warm relief for your extremities, but also for your eardrums.

Wild Oak Records’ Songwriters Guild presented its Songwriter Showcase Saturday at Has Beans. The event started promptly at 8 p.m. and featured four performers: Andrew Whitehead, Jonathan LeRoy, Erin Lizardo and Chris Landis.

Wild Oak Records is Chico State’s, student-run record label formed in October 1997. The showcase was presented by Wild Oak Records’ Songwriters Guild, “a student run organization that promotes and provides an outlet for the craft of songwriting,” according to its Web site. The event was also sponsored by Safeway, which donated a tray of hors d’oeuvres consisting mainly of a variety of meats and cheeses. 

The performers played their songs, spotlighted by a deep-red stage light, to a captivated audience from the slightly-elevated stage outlined by Christmas lights. In fact, Christmas lights provided most of the lighting for the evening, hanging in the windows and adorning a small Christmas tree.

The earthy tones of the café, aromas of freshly made coffee and a cozy audience provided a warm shelter from the crisply cold night outside the café’s doors. Based on the passion each artist exhibited, it was evident they poured their souls into each and every one of their songs.

In order to get to the Songwriter Showcase, each artist had to compete in one of the two prior songwriters competitions, also presented by the Songwriters Guild.

The first competition was held Oct. 15 at Woodstock’s Pizza, and featured 16 artists competing for two of the slots in the showcase. Both the audience and the artists themselves were able to pick one of the performers to go on to the showcase. The audience chose Lizardo and the artists selected LeRoy.

The second competition was held Nov. 16 at Has Beans, and featured 13 artists. The competition was slightly different from the first in that it had a judges’ pick instead of an artists pick. The judges selected Whitehead while the audience selected Landis.

Each of the songwriters was allotted a 30-minute set in the showcase, which they used to perform their mostly original material (a few covers were performed as well). They performed mainly by themselves – with a few guest performers speckled throughout – accompanied by their acoustic guitars.

The evening’s master of ceremonies was Jesse Joseffson, 21, who is wrapping up his first semester with Wild Oak Records.

Joseffson, a Chico State senior majoring in music industry and recording arts, serves as the coordinator of Wild Oak’s Songwriters Guild. He was pleased with the audience turnout. He wasn’t expecting there to be as many people as there were, which he estimated to be above Has Beans’ 150-person capacity.

 “Since there was no audience participation, like voting, I wasn’t expecting there to be so many people,” Joseffson said.

The audience consisted mainly of college students, but there were also a few older adults as well as some high school students.

One of the college students in attendance was Mike Herman, 20, who attends Butte College. He heard about the show through a friend who is familiar with the artists. Herman had never been to a show at Has Beans before.

“I had nothing to do and I love music,” he said.

 A musician himself, Herman said he enjoyed the show but echoed the main concern of the night.

“The sound needs to work,” Herman said, referring to the PA malfunctioning.

Even though the PA was on the fritz, the audience responded well. Everyone in the crowd was very quiet so that the artists could be heard. Whenever the next act was about to start, echoes of “sshh” reverberated throughout the room.

LeRoy, 21, a guitar player for eight years and solo songwriter for three, was one of the performers in the showcase. He was disappointed with the PA situation at first, but decided that it might have actually been for the better.

“It turned out to be kind of a cooler evening because the lack of sound made it more intimate,” LeRoy said. “If there had been sound then people would have been talking.”

Wild Oak recorded the event and may release a compilation CD featuring all of the artists. The CD may or may not be produced, depending upon whether Wild Oak will have extra funds in its budget for such a CD, Joseffson said.

The Songwriters Guild will continue to present events such as these in the future, and may also try to work with some local bands to put on some “unplugged” shows, Joseffson said. However, Wild Oak is going to try and get into the hip-hop market a little more, he added.

“There’s a huge market for it here in Chico and we want to hit hard on that,” Joseffson said.

Wild Oak also may focus on choosing one or two bands or artists, recording a CD for them and then hosting a CD release party, Joseffson said.

Overall, the night went over very well with the crowd and Joseffson was pleased with the results of the evening.

“We’re proud to represent these artists because they were proven through the audience,” Joseffson said.