A dance floor packed tight with flailing limbs and throbbing head-bangs can produce a more energetic atmosphere than an ADD-inflicted brain -- and when Girl Talk is behind the music, the crowd can expect nothing less. This Saturday, Alumni Hall will transform from the dull upstairs area of the Hopkins Center where all legitimate room draw nightmares are set into the performance venue for one of the hottest deejays in music today.
Friday Night Rock and the graduate school social programming committee have teamed up for this night of dance party indulgence; space will be very limited. Locating the party in Alumni Hall tears most undergraduates away from their typical weekend pathways, but the show will be worth it -- for those who get there early enough to get in. Doors open at 9:30; the show starts at 10:00.
Unlike most FNR shows, the Girl Talk show will have limited space, and the grad students' presence is also an ingredient in this unusual recipe for a campus concert.
Girl Talk is Gregg Gillis, a 25-year old biomedical engineer who morphs into a rocker-deejay armed with a laptop by night. He remixes beats off the base of famous singles old and new, creating a new, catchy, charged-with-adrenaline dance-tastic repertoire of songs. Based in Pittsburgh, he works on mixing music and lining up his ever-revolving concert material on a daily basis after he returns home from an intense occupation; he flies all around the globe to perform shows almost every weekend. Gillis began making music at Case Western University in the early '00s and quickly attracted a tight-knit East Coast fan following. Gillis is also known for his live antics -- he bounces and tears off clothing just as much as his raving, gyrating audience -- and could probably inspire energy in the most sedated onlookers.
"He crafts sloppy -- in the best way -- glitched-out, amphetamine-driven party tracks," Sean Adams '07 said of Girl Talk's sound. "Some math: Girl Talk plus a laptop minus a shirt equals party."
After two previous record releases, Girl Talk's recent "Night Ripper" album struck a nerve with MTV viewers, indie kids and celebrities alike. As Adams puts it, "[He's] basically blowin' up the blogs."
It's difficult to tell how Friday's show will go -- we're not at home in Fuel anymore, hipster friends -- but for those who squeeze their way into Alumni Hall, a high-energy, bombastic dance-fest seems imminent.
A story on Tuesday ("Girl Talk will rock ot for FNR - and graduate students," May 8) incorrectly stated that Girl Talk will perform on Friday, May 11. In fact the show will be on Saturday, May 12.
