The Eastern Michigan University chapter of the Delta Zeta sorority held a benefit concert featuring six local artists, at Crossroads Bar & Grill in Ypsilanti Friday night.
The concert is the second of three events of the Mr. Greek Pageant, which started in the last week of September. The main goal of Mr. Greek, as event organizer Ashley Kerby explained, is to raise $1,500 to send a child to the Painted Turtle camp, where terminally ill children can go to celebrate being kids. The first event managed to raise $1,000, which Kerby was very happy about.
The first performer of the night was Joey Stinson, who named Jack’s Mannequin, Yellowcard and Something Corporate as some of his main influences. Stinson was impressed with the turnout and thanked the sorority for all that they’d done.
He was followed by Bring Down the Mountain, a Blink-182-esque pop-punk band. As such, they covered “All the Small Things” wonderfully. Words to Remember came next, a punk band that brought to mind The Menzingers.
The Rabbit Done Died was the most fascinatingly unusual band to play the benefit. While everybody else stuck to the basic guitar, drum and bass lineup, this band brought in horns, vocal howls reminiscent of Tom Waits and intensely droney songs. It takes guts for a band like that to perform in front of an audience that has a good chance of being turned off by them, but they had my full attention, especially during their thrilling final song.
The show ended with Algernon, who played metal music that I actually enjoyed (not an easy task), and Wake Up Jamie, which is the pseudonym of Eastern Echo Life Editor Jess Salisbury. Wake Up Jamie had one of the most notable moments of the night with “Dance Floor Song,” which featured EMU student Hassan Hachem rapping.
People cheered every time Hachem would come in, and Eastern Echo Creative Director Jerome Nichols rightfully described the song as, “Ellie Goulding mixed with LMFAO.”
“Eastern Michigan has a great community, unlike any other,” Kerby, who had a huge part in putting everything together, said earlier that night. “We can make a difference. That’s what being in a sorority is all about.”
She showed a lot of optimism, which paid off. By the end of the night, they had reached their goal by raising over $1,500.
The concert was a success. Many people showed up, Delta Zeta reached their goal and six great local artists got to play for a big crowd.
Kerby said she hoped Mr. Greek would break down the stereotypes of fraternities and sororities, and this event was all the persuasion I needed. Besides, stereotypes are uncool.
