This 2013 Culture Shock will have a performance venue in the Side Stage that does not only comprise of music, an example is the Wesley Willis Live Band.
“I think it’s awesome,” said band front man Cory Rabiea when asked about playing on the Side Stage. “We don’t have all that much of a presence we really just want to play at an event that will draw more of a crowd.”
The Wesley Willis Live Band will be playing their improvisational comedy rock at 7:45 p.m. on Saturday when Marnie Stern will be on the Main Stage. The premise of their style is that they will ask the crowd for titles to their songs and improvise the lyrics from there with the chorus being the title of the song – this is all done in the style of Wesley Willis.
Rabiea also said that each of their songs are interchangeable with each other emphasizing their performance style.
“We don’t care if we look like a train wreck because we are,” said Rabiea.
The inspiration of the band Wesley Willis was a musician and visual artist who is known for work such as “Rock ’n’ Roll McDonalds.” Willis made music to cope with his schizophrenia.
Rabiea described Side Stage as coinciding with the main stage to promote more campus centric acts. Culture Shock is also trying to promote nonmusical acts for the Main Stage.
With Side Stage being outside, Rabiea expressed, “I really hope drunk people from the beer tent come yell at us.”
He claims that people shouting without inhibitions create a wealth of material.
During the performance, projections will be displayed that are all made by Visual Arts student Olivia Fox. Otherwise, according to Rabiea, we won’t know what key we will be playing in. He also said the visual aspect aids the performance instead of the crowd looking at four people and hype-man fumbling over what they are doing.
Rabiea enthusiastically ended, “Drunk people get at us.”
