STOMP!

On Wednesday the 20th I went to my second big Biola Alumni event, accompanied by Tad, Amanda, and Amanda's boyfriend Ben. Before seeing Stomp at the Balboa Theater in downtown San Diego, they held a lovely hors devours reception at the Bristol Hotel. Amanda and Ben met us at the condo and we carpooled down to the hotel.

The reception was on the top floor of the hotel, in a ballroom that was open air (there is a ceiling, it's just retractable.). I imagine it's a lovely location forn evening summer wedding reception. We mingled with a few of the people there and greatly enjoyed the food. Free food, even if it is appetizers, is still very welcome to us students. They did a little presentation about what's new with Biola, mostly building projects and the like. There was a current student there playing guitar and artwork on display by an alumna who lives in San Diego.

After the presentation they did the drawings for Biola apparel prizes (I didn't win anything, but Amanda did.) and we walked as a group over to the theater. Tad had studied the maps and directions and was able to lead the way, tkaing a short cut through Horton Plaza. We arrived in our seats just in time for the show to start.

It was quite an interesting and fun show. If you're not familiar with Stomp, it's a percussion group that uses every day items to make music. There were numbers using brooms, sinks with rubber gloves and water, decks of cards, newspapers, lighters, and trash cans. The lighters number was one of my favorites with the combination of the clicking noises and the flickering lights. It reminded me of the the book The Outsiders, hehe.

Something I didn't expect about the show was how much comedy was involved. It's all non verbal, but that made it even more fun. For example, in one of the numbers with brooms, one guy walks out with a mop, looks round, and then goes off stage to get the right "instrument".

After the show, we took a few pictures outside the theater, and then Tad went to get the car to pick us up. Amanda, Ben, and I enjoyed the stylings of a saxophone street performer, who ended up being joined by two of the Stomp performers, styling on the metal newspaper boxes. It was way cool. When they had finished, we walked up to say hi. Ben got his program signed, and we all took a picture with them.

I had a really good time. It was great to get to spend more time with Amanda (and Ben) and to have a fun night out in San Diego. :)