By Sasha Moedt (The Cascade) – Email
Print Edition: October 17, 2012
The Sociology Anthropology Undergraduate Society (SAUS) was getting saucy Thursday night, with two bands ready to get up on the stage at AfterMath, Anth-Soc trivia cards on the table, and a new $3 shot called the Indiana Jones (get it? Because of archaeology?). Needless to say, UFV’s social scientists were pretty happy.
The music was blaring, and the place was filling up. SAUS board members wandered from table to table selling the 50-50 draw. They had a deal – $10 for the amount of tickets that can be measured from finger tip to fingertip, arms spread out. Good idea in theory, but perhaps they weren’t expecting the giant guy with the wingspan of an albatross sitting with his buddies at the back of the pub.
Students, delighted that they could use what they learned in the classroom in the real world, filled out the trivia cards.
The bands took a while to get on the stage. Daniel Moir and his crew got on first. Moir’s done pretty well as a Canadian musician—from Edmonton—at age 20. He sang some quiet folksy-pop music that smoothed the atmosphere in the darkly-lit pub. CIVL worked the sound. Moir has a very soft, mellow voice that matches his young, boyish face, and he had an honest, almost solemn or shy presence that made him feel pretty authentic.
Between the bands, Sophie Thomas, SAUS president and Caity Therrien, secretary, read out the trivia winners. Of course I didn’t bother guessing the questions – as an English major, the phrase Homo floresiensis doesn’t ring any bells. Apparently, it’s the smallest human species that ever lived, standing at three feet tall. But, the species is nicknamed “the hobbit” by anthropologists … So I think we English majors can mingle with the Anth-Soc types after all.
Those who did guess correct won some cool stuff: gift certificates for shoes at Lady Fern and food at the Roasted Grape (both in downtown Abby), a Storm Brewing hoody and a beach bag filled with goodies. Mr. Albatross and his friends won the 50-50, of course.
This is THE SHOES came on loud and awesomely bluesy. Jereme Collette started off with heavy beats on the kick drum and electric guitar, and Sabrina Robson just blew everyone’s mind with a sexy, husky voice that was so powerful. Robson played the harmonica and smashed the cowbell with equal energy, and Collette rocked his beard (it just made that raw, rough vibe stronger). Robson’s vocals alone could have kept me there.
SAUS president Sophie Thomas was the one who brought forward the idea of bringing them out to Abbotsford; she knew them through her partner’s family. “I actually met them a few months ago at a wedding, and had got chatting with them,” Thomas explained. “They were quite keen on getting out to the Valley, so, I had heard them and then I presented the SAUS board members with the music – that this was a really excellent opportunity, let’s get them out, students will love them … Jereme was actually an Anthropology student himself so there’s that interesting connection there.
It can’t be denied that This is THE SHOES really made the night. Sophie Thomas said that “the goal with looking at a band like them was primarily wanting to focus on a local band, somebody related and fun and that was going to be stimulating and enjoyable for the students as well.” It certainly was that!
All in all, SAUS board members were happy with the event. “It ran smoothly! This was our first pub night, so there were little details we didn’t even think to take into account, like the kitchen closing at 8 p.m., we just assumed that it would be open,” Thomas laughed. “So that would probably be the one glitch of the night.”
“Other than that, we had tremendous amount of support from Brad at AfterMath and from the SUS board members and from CIVL … to get us all the information we needed in order to have it run smoothly, so because of that support it went very well.”
