While many students were on Foss Hill watching the pyrotechnic feats of the flame-throwing campus group Prometheus, a very different group held a different kind of show at the nearby Westco Café. The Wesleyan Democrats—WesDems—held a fundraiser to raise money for the Democratic National Convention.
The WesDems recruited some of Wesleyan’s star performers to sing, play music, and perform stand-up routines for a crowd of Democratic supporters. The performance raised $250 for the Democratic National Convention by asking for $3 donations.
“Our original idea was [inspired by] Doug Bennet donating $1,000 to the Bush campaign for the 2000 election,” said WesDems member Annika Brink ’05. “He actually later donated $500 to the Bradley campaign and I think he’s changed his mind about Bush since then. But we thought, if Bennet gave $1,000, we’ll use Wesleyan’s antagonism towards him to motivate [students] to raise $1,000 for Kerry in 2004.”
According to Brink, because the University does not want to endanger its tax-exempt status for raising money to support groups, the WesDems, which receives money from the University through the WSA, was unable to raise money directly for Kerry’s campaign. Instead, the money will go to support the Democratic National Convention.
The first person to take the stage at the fundraising show was Adam Stone ’05, who told a deadpan story about his bike being stolen by one “Jorge Bach”—whose name, Stone pointed out, bears an eerie resemblance to that of our president. Stone riffed on the connection between stand-up comedy and politics, then introduced his doppelganger brother, Todd Stone ’05, who elicited laughs from the audience before introducing Wesleyan’s all-female a cappella group, the Cardinal Sinners.
The Cardinal Sinners sang some of their popular favorites, including the American folk song “This Train Is Bound For Glory.” Following them, Axzyr De Leon ’07 plunged the show back into politics with a reading of his slam poetry. He may have spoken for many at the event when he addressed President Bush directly, yelling, “What you are fighting for is not what we are fighting for!”
Two stand-up comics, Liz Jones ’05 and Vijay Chaudhuri ’07, performed next. Jones discussed some of her early forays into politics, including an awkward moment in which she spilled nachos on Michael Dukakis during a baseball game. Chaudhuri skewered both Democratic and Republican figures in his routine, ruminating on Bush’s potential pick-up lines: “Are those scud missles in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?”
A capella group Quasimodal then took the stage, followed by Aaron Sussman ’07, who delivered a funny, part-angry rant relating to current politics. The last performers were Rory Bradley ’07 and John Cusick ’07, who cooked up their own brand of hilarity by playing original songs with lyrics taken directly from web journals and Bush gaffes.
The audience peaked at roughly 60 people. Even when the crowd shrank to nearly 15, they were enthusiastic with their applause. Kat Aymeloglu ’07 particularly enjoyed Bradley and Cusick’s set.
“It was awesome. I had heard some of their songs before,” Aymeloglu said. “It’s too bad there was so much other stuff going on tonight.”
Elizabeth Levitt ’06 concurred.
“I saw Rory Bradley and John Cusick performing, who were excellent,” Levitt said. “Their music was very entertaining. [There were] a lot of talented performers.”
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