Under the tall trees of
an arboretum sits a group of tents. Crickets, a mockingbird and a
lonely guitar come together to form a new song whilst its’ player awaits the
arrival of tent citizens, those who will be camping there for the next week.
The 9th annual Tent City is organized by Campus Peace Action, a
grassroots activist student group at UCF currently led by Lowen Gruseck.
Gruseck is also a member of Sleazy Cheese and has a solo project called
Lowenbehold. A friendly community atmosphere permeates tent city, as anyone who
needed help received it. The shouting of hungry college students signaled the
arrival of the evening’s meal, Puerto Rican Vegan food!
Anyone who came with an
instrument was free to jam, including Philip Bauer on clarinet and Francisco
Sabatier, who played Latin style guitar music as part of a sound check before
the arrival of those scheduled to play. In the beginning, the lack of stage lighting
reduced the performers to ghostly figures. That is, until someone parked a van
close by and left their headlights on. Like most free shows, performers brought
their own equipment, some of which could be seen as a creative way to recycle
or save money. Stu Sauce, for example, used a vacuum cleaner that doubled as a
microphone stand.
Of all the bands, the
one most that the audience seemed most impressed with was Afeefa and The Boy,
featuring Andrew Schmitt-Grijalva (percussion), Glen Samuels (piano and cello),
Jay Yerkes (lead guitar) and Afeefa Ayube (vocals and rhythm guitar). They were
originally a duet formed by Ayube and Yerkes, but after meeting Samuels and Schmitt-Grijalva at Austin’s
Coffee and Film, the current
line-up was formed. During their set, the audience looked completely captivated, rocking
back and forth in a hypnotic daze during each song. If you’re going to listen
to their music, make sure you’re not doing anything else, cause the songs will
steal all of your attention and make you forget your troubles.
More info:
http://www.facebook.com/Afeefa.and.theboy
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