Love Jones Cafe Open Mic
Devil Den, Student Center
Central Connecticut State University
New Britain
February 11, 2026
When someone says that you have a love jones, they mean something beyond a crush or an infatuation. It’s something deep inside you, a yearning in your bones, for the only person who at that moment can cure the sickness you feel when they aren’t around. You’ve got to go back– yes, further back than the '90s movie– to the classic song by The Brighter Side of Darkness to really understand what the phrase means.
So it’s altogether appropriate that a three-hour session of people expressing their abiding affection for art in all its forms, from dance to poetry to music, would share the name of one of the great love songs. The Love Jones Cafe open mic, an annual event hosted by the Ruth Boyea Women’s Center at Central Connecticut State University, drew performers and supporters from as far north as Springfield, Mass., as far south as Bridgeport, and just about everywhere else in between. The performers were students, parents, educators and more, and they all shared the desire to speak through art.
When artists get together, the unexpected can happen. Take the impromptu duet of Malachi Sor, a senior and computer science major at CCSU, and Pyro, a lifelong poet from New Britain. The two had never met before that evening, but the spirit of the event brought them together in a spur of the moment performance that featured Sor singing Daniel Caesar’s “Best Part” as an intro to Pyro’s poetry.
Sor is a 23-year-old pragmatist. While he’s been playing guitar for nine years, he’s focused primarily on his major.
“Gotta pay the bills.” he says, a phrase that we are all distressingly familiar with. Still, Sor has the twinkle of art in his eye. He’s Cambodian, and wants people everywhere to know him and his people by way of his music someday.
Pyro, ten years his senior, has lived the life of an artist. Poetry allows him to get the thoughts out that are in his head, so that he can be seen and heard. He told me that poetry quite literally saved his life when he attempted suicide in his college years.
The evening was also a place for newer performers to step into the limelight. Unique Ori has been doing poetry and music “on and off”, in her words, since 2020. SHe said that coming out for Love Jones was a fulfillment of her desire to perform more. She sang an original song dedicated to the memory of her mother, a raw piece that thanks her for helping to build the woman that she is. (Please forgive the technical issues in my video of her performance)
“Expression is super important to me. It’s the reason I do art,” she explained.
Art can put complexity and nuance into perspective, and be catchy to boot. Wren Alexander, a sophomore psychology major, describes herself as a pop musician, a distinct label among R&B and hip-hop performances that typically find themselves at home in open mics. Alexander cites Chapel Roads and Sabrina Carpenter as music influences, and they’re evident in her upbeat style and energetic movement. Listen closely though, and you’ll hear the story of a young person figuring out how to love while dealing with their own mental illness.
There were so many strong performances at Love Jones, more than I could cover if I had ten columns to dedicate to the evening. It truly shows that art infuses all of our lives, and when given the space, people let their gifts shine. Always remember, that computer scientist that you know might be able to really sing.
NEXT
Jamil goes to check out a new exhibit about the history of the North End of Hartford.
