ACRN Pre-New Year's Bash / December 5, 2013 / The Smiling Skull

By: Abbie Doyle, Copy Editor

What a strange thing it was to be alive in the Smiling Skull Saloon last night. Imagine walking up or down West Union in the POURING RAIN (damn it, global warming, give us snow!) and ducking into the Skull for shelter, alcohol or companionship. Okay that last one might be a bit of a stretch, but surely it’s happened in the past.

So you’re inside the Skull, and what do you see? Colored Christmas lights and Christmas trees, first of all! It was very festive and made the place look a thousand times friendlier, until you noticed the typical semi-ratty looking older men at the bar, hunched over their drinks and shiftily eyeing the nearby youth. Then there were the underage students trying to catch the bartender’s eye, the gaggles of students sitting and standing, and then the guy onstage wearing a Santa hat and headphones while manning a turntable.

If nothing stood out to you, you probably don’t visit the Skull very often (it’s worth the trip, at least once). But if you are a frequent visitor of the ever-so-quaint Skull, a DJ providing the tunes for the saloon is about as out of place as it can get.

Well folks, last night ACRN hosted its annual Pre-New Year’s Eve Bash at the Skull with the contributions of three DJs: Santa-impersonator Kashmerik, DJ Barticus and Overwaves. The show was originally supposed to be at the Union, an environment that would have made much more sense. However, due to extenuating circumstances, the bash was moved to the Skull.

Now, where to begin? Kashmerik performed a set of dubstep remixes filled with seizing bass lines and managed to engage in casual conversation with the audience at the same time. He was both entertaining and festive in his Santa hat. 

After Kashmerik’s performance, DJ Barticus took the stage in a flat bill reading “YOLO” in the Rastafarian colors of green, gold and red (no comment). He proceeded to play somewhat generic remixes of pop songs, like Robyn’s “Dancing on My Own” and “Roar” by Katy Perry. Some women in the crowd enjoyed singing along to these tunes, but that was about the friendliest response he received. You could tell he was super into what he was doing, but it was hard for that energy to flow from DJ to audience.

Finally there was Overwaves (rocking a fabulous new haircut), who was definitely far more spirited than the previous acts. By this point in the evening the haze of alcohol was rather thick, and the bash—which started around 10 p.m. and went on till after midnight—was much less uncomfortable. A member of the ACRN family, Overwaves created a far more enthusiastic atmosphere than his forerunners.

By the end of the night, mostly everyone was drugged, sleepy and ready to go. While the Skull wasn’t the desired venue for the night, it was an interesting change of pace and, no matter what the situation, the ACRN crowd is always a great one to be around.