 "Photo: EMILY JOYNTON/MANITOU MESSENGER")
Dancing under a shower of balloons and confetti, the attendees of the After School Special charity ball simultaneously experienced a return to the joys of childhood and supported Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, an organization that matches underprivileged kids with mentors.
“This is more than a concert,” said Jon Chang ‘11, coordinator of the Music Entertainment Committee. “After School Special is the best party of the year. We have face paint artists, a balloon artist, a caricature artist, cannons that shoot glitter and confetti, board games, three awesome bands, Sesame Street mash-up music, cartoons and a wonderful cause.”
Holding an annual charity concert in the Pause began with last year’s Glitterball, an ‘80s-themed glam-rock event. It was a collaboration between MEC and Twin Cities nonprofit organization Rock the Cause.
“Around this time last year, Rock the Cause was looking to host their first college show, and MEC was looking to host its first charitable event,” Chang said. “We found each other at the same time. It was love at first sight … or maybe lust. The product was Glitterball. It was a good first date, so we decided to do it again this year.”
MEC began planning the After School Special event last April, with a process that included coordinating with Rock the Cause, finding volunteers and contacting the bands to perform. According to Chang, each of the bands that played at the event was selected because of its ability to emulate the event’s theme and get the crowd involved.
Student band Dropping Trou took the stage first with barely contained enthusiasm, joking around with the audience and launching into their opening number – a raucous version of the Spongebob Squarepants theme song.
Next was White Light Riot, who quickly won over the audience with performances of songs from their new album, featuring masterful guitar riffs and powerful beats. White Light Riot has well-established relationships with St. Olaf and Rock the Cause.
“All of the piano and all of the drums on our new album were recorded at Urness Hall, so you guys are a little piece of history,” lead singer Mike Schwandt said. “We did the very first show Rock the Cause ever put on. We like [CEO and co-founder] Scott Herold and his organization, and we hope it can just keep growing because we really like what they’re doing. It’s nice to actually be playing music for a good reason other than just self-gratification.”
32 Below, the last band to perform, got everyone, including the country music skeptics, dancing until the end of the night. The band has been on tour for 200 days out of the past year, and is “one of the hottest up and coming country bands out there,” Herold said.
“Something I’ve wanted to do all year is add more diversity to the music we bring here, and 32 Below definitely accomplishes that,” Chang said. “My intention when we book a band is always that somebody who is into that genre will be an absolute fanatic for the band, but even somebody who usually likes a different type of music will enjoy them also.”
Although the audience only saw the polished final product, there were some challenges in putting the event together.
“Having these great bands there along with the professional techs and the people from Rock the Cause definitely made us want to play well,” Ryan Trostrud ’11, lead singer for Dropping Trou, said. “Unfortunately, we only really got two weeks to put together about eight songs which also made things a lot more stressful.”
The band managed to make the most of the situation and may even be able to partner with Rock the Cause in the future.
“It was definitely a positive experience, Trostrud said. “The people from Rock the Cause let us know that we would be getting a lot of public relations out of this show and that they might help us play some shows in the Cities with them again. I think the whole experience will be motivation for us to put together our own set list and will definitely help us move forward as a band. If it gets us out of the St. Olaf bubble, then great!”
While the quality of the music was high, the amount of good done was even higher.
“We ended up getting a lot of volunteers for Big Brothers Big Sisters; 14 people made a year-long commitment to be mentors next year,” Chang said. He was not deterred by a low turnout. “It was a really neat thing to see. Last year we had about 440 people show up to Glitterball but only three of them signed up to volunteer, so to have 14 out of less than 100 is amazing.”
In the current economy, the nonprofit sector is actually experiencing growth. Herold emphasized how beneficial it is to become involved with these organizations.
“Charities are struggling to get young people involved, and in the void after the baby boomers, the need is greater than ever,” he said.
Successes like the After School Special make the work he does worthwhile. “It’s a lot of sweat, but in the end when you get to hand a check to a charity and see young people having a great time getting involved in volunteering, it’s definitely worth it,” Herold said.
joness@stolaf.edu
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