In
a benefit for the University of
Maine's Respect, Education,
Action, Community and Hope
service group, Bear Vocals and
the Maine Steiners gathered a
crowd of about 70 people on
Thursday night in the Donald P.
Corbett bulding. Despite it
being St. Patrick's Day, the
fundraiser was a success. The
event raised well over $100 for
REACH.
REACH plans on using the money
raised for its upcoming trip to
Panama this May. There, they
will be working with Sustainable
Harvest International to connect
with local farmer and improve
their agricultural practices.
Bear Vocals started off the
event with a rousing, spirited
set of four songs before turning
the next hour over to the
Steiners.
"Bear Vocals was awesome, as
usual," said Steiner Lee Pidacks
at intermission.
The two groups appreciate and
respect each other highly, and
both appeared to enjoy each
other's performances.
The Steiners came on
well-dressed for St. Patrick's
Day, including one member decked
out in green and orange, the
traditional colors of Protestant
Ireland. After having been on
tour for the entire second week
of Spring Break, many of the
Steiner's voices and bodies were
still tired, but they hacked on
through their first set,
sounding just as strong as ever,
if a bit raspier. And I do mean,
"hacked" - there was a bit of
coughing and a lot of
water-chugging on stage. Towards
the end, even the
computer-generated background
behind them was getting tired -
as they neared the end of their
last song of the set, the laptop
from which the backdrop was
being projected went into
hibernation, and their last few
notes were illustrated by the
Window's XP symbol flashing over
their heads. Then, they, too
stepped off the stage for
hibernation. Um, for
intermission.
During the intermission, there
were the typical off-stage
antics that the Steiners have
become notorious for, including
Pidacks being groped - on the
chest - by Stiener James Wieland.
When asked for comments, Wieland
promptly turned and interjected
a few hysterical but unprintable
comments about Steiner Jason
Paquette's dating life - or lack
thereof. Paquette said he is
"hot, single, [and] likes long
walks on the beach."