(Front) Junior Will Kimmel
strums his banjo during a
“Whiskey Fingers” performance
during the street fair.The music by
the lake was made possible by a
solar-powered music system, lent
by Appalachian State University.
(Top) Alumni Justin Parker ‘I i
and “Weez” head down to the
lake and excitedly greet friends.
(Middle) Junior Will Kimmel
rocks out with senior Sarah
Stangl.
(Bottom) Sophomore Noah
Wernstedt-Lynch looks shocked
by the handprint on his face, but what
would Serendipity be without a lot of
face paint and glitter?
...f niLE nusic
FILLS inE m
By Alex Lindberg
Staff Writer
This year's Serendipity started with a bang — or maybe a thrum — with the
Meadowfed dinner on March 29 hosting two local jazz bands. For the entire weekend,
most of campus was filled with music. The weekend climaxed with two of the best
concerts in recent Serendipity history: the trance and electronic sound of Wowser Bowser
and RJD2 on Friday night and the funk and blues rock styles of Africa Unplugged and Holy
Ghost Tent Revival on Saturday night.
Headliners RJD2 and Holy Ghost had each played at Serendipity before, and both students and
community members were ecstatic to hear them play.
"I traveled all the way back from the beach to come see these concerts,'
said former Greensboro resident Joseph Fitzpatrick. “Holy Ghost and RJD2 were
two of the best performances I saw at Serendipitys past. It's great to see the
college bring them back."
The Friday night concert started with Wowser Bowser getting the crowd riled
up, throwing balloons for them to play with and playing music that could be heard
all over campus.
“It was a really lively show," said senior Tali Raphael, a trance and house music
aficionado. "This is my fourth Serendipity and (Wowser Bowser) fit the enthusiasm
of the event, as I would have hoped them to."
Unfortunately, due to how loud the event was, a noise complaint was filed by
neighbors of the college, and the performers were asked to tone it down. Because of this,
RJD2 was unable to play as loud as the crowd would have liked.
“I still had a lot of fun, (RJD2) talked to the crowd a lot and got the people
dancing," said senior Caroline Corbett. “It was great how he could just throw on
a random record and make it sound good, like something you just want to dance
to. He gave off a good energy and because of that, the crowd had one too."
Though most agree that RJD2 was great and gave the students something to
dance to, some were disappointed with the overall sound of his music.
“The music didn't engross me as much (as Wowser Bowser's)," said
Raphael. “It was a chill playlist but unless you were up close, the music seemed
underwhelming."
On Saturday was the Africa Unplugged and Holy Ghost concert. Many
were wondering how the bands would play with the noise complaint from the
previous night. However, as soon as the concert started, people's doubts quickly
subsided. Africa Unplugged's medley of percussion beats could be heard all
around campus.
"The show had a lot going on," said senior Bennett Christian. "With the
eight or nine folks up there playing, there were lots of different rhythms. (Africa
Unplugged was) a fun band for people to just dance to (and) the crowd just ended
up getting into it because of the band's enthusiasm."
Finally, it was time for Holy Ghost to take the stage. The band changed their music
from their normal smooth style to a rock/dance mix for the crowd. Despite having
recently lost a singer, the band managed to create a style that got everyone in the crowd
on their feet and moving along to the music.
“They appealed to both the people who wanted to dance and the people who wanted
to chill," said Corbett. “They created a new sound for themselves and that, with their
usual enthusiasm, got all of us excited."
True enough, even after the concert was supposed to be over, the members
ran up on stage again in response to the crowd's shouts for an encore.
After that, band members stayed around to hand out free copies of their
music, sign autographs and talk to fans.
“(Holy Ghost) really loves their fans," said friend of the band John Nolan. “They
know that their success is because of their fans and love to give back whenever
they can, especially when it comes to their music."
We love playing at Guilford College," said Stephen Murray, Holy
Ghost's banjo player and singer. "The people here just love to express
themselves in such creative ways. It's incredibly rewarding to get
to watch that, let alone be the cause of it."