[Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band at Courtyard Cafe, 4/9]
Check out photos, video and a review of what really went down after the jump. (This wasn’t an ordinary show, to say the least.)
“Thank you for being here…all three of you” were the first words out of Traci Eggleston of Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band’s mouth. And, though her math was only about six people off, her sentiment was dead on. Where…was everyone? Sure, there was an awards show and tests and life and things and the sun was down and it was a day, but less than ten people in the audience was an embarrassing situation, made immediately worse upon playing when it was obvious about how fantastic they were live.
The show, though, was short-lived. During the first song, an angry man came onstage from the back and started scolding half the band, while the other, assuming oblivious, kept on going. Soon, though, a navy polo-wearing Illini Union drone came onstage and shut the show down, forcing MSHVB to stop playing for twenty minutes while a meeting next door concluded.
Yep, you heard it — Mt. St. Helen’s Vietnam Band were too rock n’ roll for Champaign-Urbana, even with a single-digit audience count. Entering into an extended banter (as posted below in the video section), the band, dressed in matching khakis, vests and ties, began to talk about, well, whatever we wanted to talk about. Questioning the audience, chattin’ about philosophy, quizzing each other about what books we were all reading, personally getting asked if I had any questions (twice), the band could probably have made quite the Aristocrat joke, if only the intermission was spent crafting humor instead of Eggleston changing into a denim jumpsuit and a chat about drummer Marshall Verdoes’s trouble with fractions and tossing objects. (He’s in the 8th grade.)
It was, all in all, one of those shows. One of those ridiculous, bizarre, hilarious, fantastic shows. (An extravaganza, to say the least.) Make sure you don’t miss them next time around — you’ll never know what might interfere.
Video:
“Who’s Asking”
Banter
Live Vicariously:
Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band on MySpace
Sorry I missed this. Hope whoever is booking the awesome shows this semester has a Word with Whomever about this show being interrupted so rudely. Unbelievable. Glad the band remained in good spirits throughout.