Entertainment: Multimedia Belt

The audience cheered as Ken Keech and his improv group, Satan's Closet, came out onto the stage Friday night. At the end of every month, Keech and other performers collaborate with the Syracuse Improv Collective to put on a show for Central New York comedy fans. 

"[I'm] always expecting a good show, always looking forward to getting together with my friends and being joyful on stage," Keech, an adviser at a local alternative high school, said. "It's a great time."  

Pulling off a successful performance in Syracuse’s Schine Underground isn’t easy. Even a talented act must face the threat of questionable acoustics and indifferent student audiences. Luckily, Cults and the Vanderbuilts overcame both obstacles with the artistic finesse of bands well-versed in small-venue performances.

“We played our first show here,” Vanderbuilts frontman Sam Kogon told the crowd between songs.

With notably less ceremony than many of the artists who performed before him, Asher Roth finally walked onto The Westcott Theater stage a few minutes after Jamie Drastik left.

“I think it’s time I play the hits,” Asher Roth told a cheering crowd happy to finally see him.

Shortly before performing his song "I Can Set You Free" for a NewsHouse camera crew, Mike McKay asked if he could take off his shoes.

“I never play with shoes on,” he said. “My fans would know something is weird if I did.”

Barefoot and smiling, McKay and bandmates Dan Deming and Justin Costello launched into song.