Dan Deacon – 4.18.08, Old Club, Swarthmore College, PA
Dan Deacon’s Swarthmore show at Old Club was an occasion marked by flagrant disregard for societal rules. No one made me pay anything at the door and once I got inside there was more freeness in the form of beer (even if it was warm, who cares). When I had to piss I was instructed to go in the communal bush on the side of the building. Sure, I had to wait for the woman in front of me to finish popping her squat before I could go, but it is a minor complaint. The real irony is that if this had of been happening at the Sheraton Hotel, I would have been waiting for someone to stab me with a switchblade and mug me, but because it was happening at a college it was about as dangerous as romper-room.
And that’s pretty much how the show went. Totally safe, totally fun, like pure bliss. If there is a Heaven, it is gonna be Saturday Morning cartoons and Dan Deacon. Deacon was as much musician as he was a crazed electrician-maverick and one-man light show. Garbed in an ensemble that may only be described as pure color, Deacon set his gear in the center of the floor, proclaiming himself the antithesis of all that is and will ever be superstar DJ. Sure it is dance music, but it is punk-DIY-ethos at its finest.
If your child is going to have a birthday party, all I’m saying is hire this man to play it. If you do, I guarantee when Christmas rolls around, the kiddies won’t be hollering for Santa Claus, but rather for Deacon Claus.
Photos of the show are at flickr.com.
I disagree that “the collegiate” do not understand the gravitas of “free”. All “the collegiate” I know had/have a high respect for “free”. It’s a pretty important part of college, at least it was at my college.
I have much a greater appreciation for free now than I did in college. Grad school honed my ‘respect’ for free things to a ridiculous level, one of no shame.
Erin – That’s good to know 🙂 I only write from the standpoint of my experiences. I’m glad to know that they aren’t universal.
I’ve always been a scavenger. College, real world, makes no difference. You can ask Adrienne what kind of crazy stuff I’ve convinced her we should keep in the house over the years.
I work for a well regarded scientific institution. And even there, if there’s food left after a luncheon meeting, random staff members begin to circle like buzzards, zeroing in to pick the proverbial carcasses of club sandwiches, pasta salads, and cookies.
I’m not ashamed to say that I’m among these carrion fowl. Sometimes my boss, knowing my proclivities in these regards, will tip me off about a sweet cache. Other times the secretary sends out a general e-mail about leftovers, and the swarm of buzzards multiplies to become more of a piranha-like feeding frenzy.
Might not be any such thing as a free lunch, but the illusion of one sure has a pleasant savor to it.
Is it me or is the George Costanza look-alike sucking on a bong in the second panel?
wonderful pictures from the show.
the show was surprisingly tame, in a good way. a couple weeks before when Blitzen Trapper came their photographer Jade chipped her tooth because the crowd was a bit too raucous.
i’m pretty sure dan saw me peeing behind a bush outside when he was entering Olde Club from the back. sad that the campus is also an arboretum, but nice that there is no fear of getting knife. and yep, pretty much everything at swarthmore is free.
oh yeah, Olde Club is spelled with an e, i guess it’s classier that way.
Hah. Yeah, the bushes around those buildings take a beating during the year.
Mike should have known it was spelled with an ‘e’, but he can’t spell his way out of a wet paper bag.
Word.