Looking for entertainment on Dandelion Day? Most students will find it staring right a keg. However, if you are looking for things to do that don’t involve alcohol or if you just need something to occupy your time while you are in the midst of a drunken stupor, there are a number of activities on campus.
There will be rides and novelties on the Residential Quad beginning early in the morning. Some of the entertainment provided by the Campus Activity Board include the Octopus ride, booths containing a psychic and a caricaturist, a slide, an obstacle course, a video booth and a station handing out photo buttons. There will also be several vendors on the quad to complement the other forms of entertainment. They include Nancy’s Fried Dough, Dick Francis Foods, Lakeshore Record Exchange and Cindy Macca Jewelry.
While the rides and booths will open in the morning most of the D-day events don’t begin until noon. The Sigma Nu Fraternity will provide musical entertainment from noon to 4 p.m. An hour later, UR will provide free pizza from a food tent similar to the one that appeared on the quad during Convocation. The baseball team also welcomes the Thoroughbreds of Skidmore at the same time. An hour later, at 2 p.m. the band Jump Little Children will perform on the Residential Quad. Finally UR students will be provided with a free dinner at the tent at 7 p.m. followed by musical entertainment at 8 p.m.
“We’ve played music previously on D-Day,” DJ Jeffrey Lehn said. “Sigma Nu president Sriram Anne asked to have our spot where we can set up and they offered to have us spin on stage. We’ll be mixing it up with everything-some pop, rap, classic rock, punk, R & B and reggae. We’ll be playing while the band is breaking down and setting up.”
“We pretty much got the gig by communicating and selling it,” Anne said. “Every D-Day we have done our own thing. Usually we out play the local band.”
This year, Jump Little Children might have something to say about that. Although the band doesn’t have the starpower of George Clinton- who some students wanted to come on D-Day- Jump Little Children has made tremendous headway across the nation. They have spent the last week touring throughout the South, including appearances last week at the Springfest at Vanderbilt University and an Atlanta Braves baseball game. The Springfest included several bands including SR-71 among others.
The five members of Jump Little Children are all around the age of 30 and each hail from different areas in North Carolina. They are a pop-rock band that also plays blues and jazz hits. The band has made appearances at several House of Blues locations throughout the country.
The members of Jump Little Children each have a unique perspective on life and are not your normal band. Ward Williams, the bass guitarist has a profound interest in Buddhist meditation and tries to meditate as often as possible. His philosophy on life is “to live in the present, admit that you are not in control and be kind to yourself.” Jay Clifford, the band’s lead singer spent a semester taking vocal lessons and now enjoys spending his free time making bread. “It’s not a very typical rock band thing to do,” Clifford admits. Jonathan Grey, the group’s upright bassists regards Muhammad Ali as one of his heroes. “I’m sure he’s a human like anyone else, but he seems to have done a lot of good for being such a powerful person.”
Although you may be a little groggy and might not remember what you are hearing on Saturday, Jump Little Children could be worth your time. Any music, in fact will sound good in the condition that most of the student body will be in on Saturday afternoon.
Rybaltowski can be reached at mrybaltowski@campustimes.org.
