Harkness show presents ska and punk

A mixture of ska and punk rock for a cause

"This is the most money I have ever held in my whole life. You know, this money is gonna feed a lot of mouths. I would cry, but I am too punk-rock for that. But, thank you to everyone who came out and supported," said Jeremy Cobb, organizer of the Harkness punk benefit, as he fondled a handful of bills.

Saturday night, in Harkness basement, the punk benefit show for Salvation Army had a pretty good turnout, especially considering that the Harkness party committee neglected to obtain an alcohol permit, so one of the benefit's major lures, beer, was not able to be provided, turning away some weak students at the door. Nonetheless, it was a night of punk rock and ska.

En was the opening punk band, and is comprised of four Barrows residents, with college first-year Mike Schaffer as the lead singer. En has only been playing together for two weeks, and unfortunately, they were a bit, shall we say, "under the influence," (although, I must stress no beverage was served ) and that fact combined with lack of playing time together leads me to say that this is not a very tight punk rock band just yet. Mike even said in the middle of their set, "If anyone comes up to me about this tomorrow, they are dead." But, I must add that their rendition of the Dead Kennedy's song "Too Drunk to Fuck" was staggering, especially when Mike gyrated and mooned the crowd. Also, Mike's touching story about masturbating to a porno and having his mother walk in on him really hit a soft spot in my icy heart. To En, I say, "Practice makes perfect" because really with some more practice they will be so much more confident, and they actually will play together. . .

Following En was yet another band that was playing their first gig, Skatastrofè, who are also opening for Mephiskaphleles at the 'Sco this Friday. They opened with Operation Ivy's "Healthy Body, Sick Mind," and with Operation Ivy you can not go wrong. Also, Cobb did a mean falsetto on a cover of the sappy '50s song "Stay," which was also phat because they skanked it up. I am looking forward to hearing this band develop more of a punchy energetic sound. I know they have it in them but, just like En, they need more time to mold together as a band.

Next came Bippy, and they played one hell of a set. A highlight for me is when Mr. Lead Singer, junior Art Ettinger says, "Everyone is going to know all of the fucking words to this song," and Bippy lapsed into R.E.M.'s "The One I Love," but Bippy made it so punk. Bippy played a lot of their other tunes that use the word "fuck" incessantly, but that is why the kids love Bippy. If you are a Bippy fan, you would definitely be proud of their performance that night. Maybe they were showing off for Anti-Flag who came on next.

An indicator for if Anti-Flag rocked is that the punker-than-thou kids who came in from Cleveland decided to actually stand and watch this band. Anti-Flag are a very likable political punk rock band which spoke on subjects such as cops, welfare and unfairness toward women. One of my friends came up to me a day after the show and asked me if it is the cool thing to do to talk politics to the audience in between songs - I guess Phish doesn't preach in between jams or something. But, they were well worth waiting for, and they did a great Mission of Burma cover.

Harkness' benefit was a success concerning both turnout and money. While the quality of the bands varied, it was fun, loud and intoxicating.