(Warning: Graphic Content Ahead)
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The waves were exceptionally big that day and would occasionally surprise us with a jolting soak.
I did not put much preparation into my hosting position. I just drank an energy drink, put on my best pair of leather pants, and hoped for the best. My good friend Kristen and I were assigned to the positions of “backstage hosts.” We would hang out backstage and wait for the different bands to finish their acts and then interview them about their performances. Needless to say, the organization for the show was pretty loose and most of the time I had no idea about what was going on or what was coming up. At the end of the show we had about five minutes or so to kill while the judges calculated the scores. So Kristen and I were pushed out on stage in front of hundreds of people and told to stall. It was a bit nerve-wracking, but I did my best to follow the example of my favorite New Zealand folk band (The Flight of the Conchords) and banter away the time. I believe it went ok. Nobody threw tomatoes, at least.
As far as the performances went, we had some quality bands this year. There were the “Newsies” who had fabulous choreography and very authentic constumes. They wound up taking the first place prize. Then there was the crowd pleasing “Wonderboys.” This all Korean boy band thrilled the audience with their crazy/cool dance moves and won the opportunity to perform twice by taking home the People’s Choice award.
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I hadn’t ever been to a Jazz concert before and this was an eye-opener. Listening to great music is a pleasure in itself, but to actually watch it being performed was spectacular! Mr. Davis was on the piano, his brother was rocking the drums, and a friend from Germany was plugging away on the bass violin. Mr. Davis was a very happy and rapid pianist. His fingers danced up and down the grand piano so quickly it made me wonder how he managed to hit all the right notes. The best part, however was when the bass violinist had a solo. The piano music would dim and the drummer would go to work tapping on the high hat. Then the bassist would start strumming away in low beautiful tones. His hands looked like he was a very indecisive catcher, rapidly changing his calls for different pitches!
My friend, Paul “Big Poppa” Mcmorrow and I were just sitting in the audience bobbing our heads to the beat. As I looked out over the crowd of mostly gray and white heads, I noticed that many of them were grooving just like us. The January Series is a very prestigous series of lectures and should be taken advantage of. Sure, every once in a while you’ll get soporific speaker that’ll leave you yawning, but the majority of the time the talks come from facinating and opinionated individuals that give intriguing messages.
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As you can see the new courts are flippin sweet and the opening basketball games played there were packed with spirited fans, all cheering in maroon T-shirts. Another great improvement is the new weight rooms. The old ones that we had to use last year were very small and always smelled like week-old sweat. Just reminiscing makes me want to take a couple showers! These new weight rooms have state-of-the-art equipment and no matter how many students are in there working on their bikini bodies there always seems to be enough room.
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Hand Guns from InTheBoxPresents on Vimeo.
I heard about this event on Facebook. At first it seemed impractical. I didn’t expect many people to show up and I thought that it would just be a small group of goofy ghouls walking around downtown. But my friend Joel told me that he was going and so I eagerly decided to tag along. Playing dead seemed like a great way to spend my Thursday night. We busted out the make-up and went about making ourselves look grotesque. We bloodied and ripped old clothes and painted our faces white and our eyes dark.
“You look horrible!” Joel said sweetly.
“Thanks. You too.”
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