Taking a Dip and Making a Splash:
Dan Dives into SPLASH Festival

Dan Gayle

Ebbtide Staff Reporter

Splash. Man, that was fun. I got to Salsa dance. I got to sing. I got to eat free dessert. Mmmm. Dessert… The best part was that I got to meet new people and have a great time. Listen up people! You had better be at next year’s Splash, or you’ll be sorry.

I had no idea what the Splash festival-thingy was. I just heard that there were going to be bands and maybe refreshments. Oh, and I guess that various groups on campus were going to set up display tables or something. And an art show apparently.

Why did I go? I don’t have any idea. I figured that it would be better than sitting on my butt at home doing nothing.

So I showed up a little early so that I could do some work in one of the computer labs. I knew that members of the Ebbtide were going to make their presence known, so I waited around for our Distinguished Editor to arrive on campus. Man, was that dumb. He was, of course, late. At least I got some work done for another class. Anyway, when Mr. Editor decided to finally arrive, we went to the PUB to see what the deal was.

First of all, we had a nice introduction to the evening’s festivities by the greeters at the front door. Very nice job guys!

As we walked into the PUB an angelic light hit my eyes. Heaven! Food! Free food! No, wait... Free DESSERT! Sweet! Various ethnic specialty deserts were laid out for our munching pleasure as well as coffee and bottles of water. Seriously, folks. If you had wanted more people to show up all you had to do was advertise that there was going to be free dessert.

The wonderful folks at the Spindrift, SCC’s literary journal, were kind enough to share their table with the Ebbtide, so somehow I was tricked into sitting at a table for way too long. Man, that was boring. But, I did meet some super-duper people and received a free copy of the old Spindrift, so all was not lost.

Photo By Sandy Lam Funkngroove kept the beat alive with blues, jazz, and funk.

Splash had two stages set up for people to gather around. One was the main stage set up in the cafeteria area of the PUB and one was a small open mic stage set up in another room. Funkngroove played on the main stage for most of the night. They kicked butt. They have like 30 members on stage, so you don’t know who is coming or going, but they sounded really stinking cool.

On the open mic stage various individual performers took the opportunity to demonstrate their talents. There were a few solo acoustic acts, members of the Wordsmithies group read some poetry, and the Hip Hop Elements group really let the fur fly with their lightning fast rhymes and their sick beats. (I also was able to perform a little ditty on the guitar. A first for me at SCC!)

The Association of Latin American Students turned up the heat by teaching us how to Salsa dance. They needed volunteers to dance with, so being the non-dancing dancer that I am, I volunteered. It was a blast to get up on stage and do my thing. Too bad others had to see my public display of humiliation, but I was having fun, so there you are.

All in all, it was great fun. I got to meet some excellent people and eat free food. I got to dance and I got to sing. Wow. And to think, I could have stayed home and picked lint out of my belly button. Next year, I expect everyone to be in attendance. At least, arrive sometime after me. I wouldn’t want you to get all of the free dessert before I had a chance.