Although a shirt created by the 2008 Dimensions team claimed that the College is equivalent to "Hogwarts + Disneyland," Dartmouth is now finally living up to the moniker. The Disneyland part has always been true: Few students would dispute that Dartmouth is "the happiest place on Earth." But now that Harry and the Potters are coming to Fuel on Saturday, it seems as if our school has got the Hogwarts part in the bag as well.
Harry and the Potters is the independent project of brothers Paul and Joe DeGeorge, fans of the megapopular novels by J.K. Rowling who began giving spontaneous concerts in their backyard dressed like two Harry Potters in 2002. Since then, the Massachusetts-based band has released three studio albums, "Harry and the Potters" (2003), "Voldemort Can't Stop the Rock" (2004) and "Power of Love" (2006).
Harry and the Potters are considered the pioneers of the special-interest genre dubbed "wizard rock." Several groups created by Potter uber-fans have followed: Draco and the Malfoys, The Remus Lupins, The Swish and Flicks, and The Whomping Willows, to name a few.
"Imagine if Harry Potter quit the Quidditch team and started a punk rock band," the DeGeorge brothers write on their web site in describing wizard rock. "Take that one step further and imagine that he stole a time-turner and decided to start that band with himself from a different point in time."
With songs such as "Save Ginny Weasley," "Gryffindor Rocks" and "Cornelius Fudge is an Ass," Harry and the Potters retell the Harry Potter story through music and humor.
"We always try to make our shows unique and unexpected experiences that attempt to capture some of the magic of these books we love so much," the brothers say on their web site.
The Harry and the Potters show is made possible by the almost singlehanded efforts of self-professed super-fan David Schmidt '09.
"They came to play a show in White River Junction in my freshman year when they weren't as big as they are now," he said. "It was a really small venue, with like 15 people watching them perform. It was hilarious."
Schmidt said he thought of bringing the band to campus this year because he wanted others to experience the excitement and humor of their performances.
"It's something that's open to everyone," he said. "It's really fun and not necessarily the most serious music."
The event is sponsored by Programming Board, Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity, Phi Tau coed fraternity, Sigma Delta sorority and Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity. Several members of the ultimate frisbee team -- of which Schmidt is a member -- chipped in five to 10 dollars apiece to sponsor the show.
"I'm still short about $200," Schmidt said. "Of course the show is still going to be free, but we're going to have a little donations jar set up at the door."
The show this Saturday promises to be magical, if you'll excuse the pun. The band goes on at 9 p.m.
The original version of this article incorrectly stated that a T-shirt sold at the Dartmouth Co-op said that Dartmouth was equivalent to "Hogwarts + Disneyland." In fact, that shirt was created by the 2008 Dimensions team.
