Music for the Earth

As the guitarist of Tally Hall climbed up on a table in the middle of Donovan’s Pub with a megaphone screaming the lyrics to their version of Biz Markie’s “Just a Friend,” every Colgate student in the room knew that this was a concert definitely worth the trudge down the hill.

As the culmination of the Focus the Nation’s day of awareness for the threat of global warming on the environment, the group decided to have a concert with Colgate’s own Earthman Embassy and the Ann Arbor- based headliners Tally Hall last Friday February 1. Although neither group has songs specifically about global warming, the members of both bands are environmentally aware and emphasized the importance of such an awareness to the audience between sets.

Focus the Nation had a table set up before and during the concert where audience members could fill out and sign letters to be mailed to their individual state senators and representatives in Congress. This table was created to help promote action instead of just discussion about global warming; at the booth, students could aid in pushing environmental awareness into the political sphere even more.

“I think the booth where we could personalize and send letters to our representatives and senators was what really helped raise awareness,” first-year Becky Fisher said.

Earthman Embassy wasted no time in kicking off the concert with a bang. They set a fun and casual mood that lasted for the duration of the concert. With Ben Taylor playing guitar, George Zeitler on the piano (and even breaking out some mad kazoo skills at one point), Michael Petersen on bass and the Viking horn adorned Tommy Crocker on drums, Earthman Embassy is sure to be staple around Colgate.

“Earthman Embassy, was really great. What I liked, apart from their energy, was their unique style which can be hard to find among small start-up type bands,” first-year Medvis Jackson said.

Before Tally Hall took the stage they began their concert with a slideshow that illustrated what a creative band they are. After the short movie/slideshow set to their own music, the band jumped onstage and never let the energy and excitement waver for a moment. Guitarist Joe Hawley, drummer Ross Federman, bassist Zubin Sedghi, guitarist Rob Cantor and keyboardist Andrew Horowitz together incorporated many levels of interaction with the audience and even added a few surprise songs such as their own unique version of “Just a Friend.”

“Tally Hall not only has really good music, they also interact with the audience to make the concert more personal,” said first-year Caroline Callahan.

“Apart from them [Tally Hall] being University of Michigan alumni, they performed with full enthusiasm, effort and were visibly having as great of a time as we were having. The Pub was not only packed with students, but with energy and smiles as well,” said Jackson.

As the concert came to a close the audience realized that Tally Hall had one more surprise up their sleeves; the band whipped out their acoustic guitars, portable xylophones and random percussion instruments from Chile and sat down in the middle of the audience to play two intimate songs as a finale. The entire audience that had been screaming and dancing just moments before suddenly became hushed and silent as they made room for the band members in a huge circle encompassing all of Donovan’s Pub.

“The band was great! They were so fun the best part was definitely when they sat down in the middle of the crowd and played a song,” said Fisher.

When Tally Hall announced that they would be selling copies of their debut album, “Marvin’s Marvelous Mechanical Museum,” for only $5 and that proceeds would be given to “the [global warming] cause” many students flocked the merchandise table, only too happy to be helping fight global warming and supporting such a wonderful band.

“I think it’s important to keep in mind that Focus the Nation was day long event full of lectures that delved into greater depths the problem of global warming,” said Jackson. “With that said, while the evening was mostly musical in nature, there were stickers passed out, and a drive of letters. In general, the concert seemed to be just the means of ending the informative day with a bang of relaxation and good times.”