The Johnsons have united once again to bless the Terra Linda students with what went down last Wednesday. The annual Jitters brought a mass of Trojans together. The packed school cafeteria and the tiny improvised stage made it a cozy and welcoming event for all. Every act brought a gratifying talent that wooed the crowd whether it was serenading the audience with a song, or splitting their sides with a hilarious comedy act.

The night kicked off with a brief vocal performance by Jasper Peterson, then rolled into a beautiful duet of Moana’s “Where You Are” sang by Frankie Berta and Anthony Judkins, dressed in Hawaiian shirts to truly complement the tropical aesthetic. Following the performance was Charlotte Norman with her rendition of “I’m Just Your Problem”. As a brief yet impactful buffer, Terra Linda icon Tommy Dickey captured our hearts with some heavy slam poetry that left the audience captivated and pondering their own existence. After such an emotional act, Joe Disanto went up in an attempt to display his dubious juggling skills only to be booed and shunned by the MC of the night, Marcus Zeidan. After such a questionable performance, I (Dylan Johnson) brought some life back into the disappointed crowd with his performance of “I Had a Wish”, one of the many unreleased songs I have written and plan to produce, ( EP coming soon).  Like many others who performed that night, I found it difficult to fully unleash my talents due to the lack of a mic stand.I found it hella hard to play guitar, read my lyrics and sing all while Marcus held the mic to my mouth.

To continue the sibling acts, Marcus brought me up (Kobe Johnson) where I collaborated with Nicholas Mcnamara, to perform a live ASMR performance. For those of you uncultured children out there, ASMR or Autonomous Sensory Meridian response, is an experience characterized by a static-like or tingling sensation on the skin that typically begins on the scalp and moves down the back of the neck and upper spine. It has been compared with auditory-tactile synesthesia and may overlap with frisson (Wikipedia). It  known to alleviate stress, depression, and insomnia. To greatly simplify, it’s noises that just tingle your senses and make you feel good. Nick and I filled the cafeteria with breathtaking laughter as well as moans and groans of satisfaction as they proceeded to manipulate everyday objects into an auditory heaven. As that excellent performance came to a close, Dylan Herschkorn and Finn Marshall produced quite the chuckle with a brief skit in which fictional character Shrek, rides Donkey across the stage.

The crowd was granted another beautiful song with Freshmen Milly Harrison and her alternate rendition of Hallelujah. Her voice , soothing and even-tempered,  hushed the chatty crowd. Danny Davis and Jason Bisey were up next with a powerful dance to “Sandstorm” , by Darude. After the electrifying dancing from them, Severo Avilez took the stage to bless the crowd with some “hot bars”. It had an intriguing start, but progressively the quality declined. The last big act of the night was Matthew Vasser with his Napoleon Dynamite-esque dancing. His moves drove the crowd wild, and after he finished, Tyler Pendleton sang “Country Roads, Take Me Home”, with all the varsity football players singing alongside. The final acts all consisted of a joke which is called Ding Dong. It basically starts with people saying “ding dong” in a song- like chant, then after about three lines t it goes “(Insert person’s) name he/she don’t wear no sock, a ding dong, I was there when he/she (verbed) them off”. Then it goes on to say a couple lines and poke fun at the person. But then as the bit proceeded, things started getting a little less innocent. The light-hearted teases became personal stabs at others lives, such as significant others, mental ability, and physical appearance. As the crowd became more and more chaotic with each passing joke, the facilitator of the event, Mr. Lubamersky, stepped in to calm the crowd and finally end the event. Jitters still persist as a thing of rambunctious beauty, and it is highly recommended that next year you make a performance or at least an appearance–Jitters will knock your socks off!