Best Of BC Street: The Festival In Review

Free cotton candy, mini burritos, hot coffee, and freshly baked pastries made for a welcome interruption to last Friday’s class schedule. An outdoor festival in O’Neill Plaza, hosted by the Residence Hall Association, brought together Boston College artists, local vendors, and city street performers for the three-hour event. Ten BC acts made their way onto the ever-freshly-cut grass in front of O’Neill, as well as Kilted Colin, an off-color Boston street performer who worked unicycles, bagpipes, twerking, and several strip tease segments into his routine.

The Heights rounds up the best of BC Street, bringing together the most memorable food, faces, and failures of the outdoor festival.

Most Trouble Finding Stage: Guys?

Any band title ending with a question mark demands some raised eyebrows. Lead singer Anthony Perasso, A&S ’17, and the rest of the Guys? trio seemed to struggle to figure out just where they were supposed to be performing. The pathway through O’Neill Plaza was where the stage was to be, but evidently, no one told the Guys? They set up behind a table and never really got the sound system working, either. Respect for powering through it, though.

Best Food-Related Pun That’s Also A Band: Jammin’ Toast

The free-lovin’, acoustic kids of Boston College brought good vibes to O’Neill Plaza for their afternoon set, with Kamau Burton, A&S ’17, acting as the dynamic frontman to the group for Friday’s show. Jammin’ Toast is known for just meeting in Stokes Amphitheater in the morning, and inviting whoever wants to come and play with the band members. It’s an “open source” band, if you will, and it actually works quite well. The mixed bag of musicians involved makes for some interesting live performances.

Most Likely To Be Banned From BC: Kilted Colin

He was wildly entertaining, but also a public menace. Kilted Colin earned the distinction of being the first (and hopefully last) man ever to ride a giant unicycle in his boxers through O’Neill Plaza while playing the bagpipes. Colin insisted on performing for a sizable crowd, so before getting into his routine, he would dance suggestively while shouting, “Look at me!” to students passing by—and dropping his pants from under his kilt when enough eyes were on him. “A” for effort and performance. “R” for restraining order. While he might not have reflected BC’s recently stated goal of including Jesuit values in its programming, there’s always room for a little bit of gray.

Most Epic Fall: Masti

There’s little not to like about MASTI, BC’s modern Indian dance company, which won top prize at last year’s Showdown. So, when a dancer fell to the grass Friday afternoon, slipping off a carefully choreographed human staircase, knees might have been scratched, but the performance was still very much intact. MASTI finished strong, dominating in a rather undefined space that’s usually only used for investment banking tailgates and solicitation.

Most Grass Stains On Leggings: DOBC

The Dance Organization of Boston College is flexible—not only in the most literal sense of the word, but also in its style and choice of performance venue. The grass of O’Neill Plaza was hardly the first place you’d want to perform a contemporary dance routine involving frequently rolls, sits, and falling to the ground—but DOBC did it. The outdoor performance venue, dare I say, actually add to the routine, making it all seem more rugged and raw (and muddy) for all parties involved.

Best Vocal Performance: Juice

What started as a performance from duo Ben Stevens, CSOM ’17, and Burton quickly evolved into a Juice party, with Christian Rougeau, A&S ’17, randomly joining in the action mid-set with his electric violin. The highlight of Juice’s performance came by way of a cover of “Super Rich Kids,” modified by the band to target the “rich kids” of BC walking past O’Neill Plaza. The performers added harmonies on top of the chorus of Frank Ocean’s original song, improving on the Channel Orange song. Despite the tough acoustics of O’Neill Plaza, Juice breezed through some tough three-part harmonies—with Stevens showing off his gravelly voice atop the cool mix.

Most Valuable Player: Cotton Candy

Cotton Candy was there to start off the festival, and cotton candy was there to shut it down. We award the entirely-sugar-based-treat top honors at this semester’s BC street for its perseverance. Vendors came and went, but the cotton candy table held down the fort.