The Orion Online

Issue date: 11/19/08 Section: Entertainment

Media Credit: Brian Randle The only member of Rotting Gnome to show up at Cafe Coda on Saturday, Pleasant Valley High School junior Noah Elshafie, 16, wildly entertains a crowd of teens with his wailing vocals and animated onstage antics. Techno and trance dance music filled the small venue. [Click to enlarge]

By the time 8 p.m. rolled around Saturday at Cafe Coda, no music had started as scheduled. There were only five people inside. The two-member band Giant Party! showed up five minutes before the show and started setting up equipment.

None of the members of opening band Rotting Gnome were in sight until 10 minutes after 8 p.m., when only one of the four members, Pleasant Valley High School junior Noah Elshafie, 16, showed up.

The small turnout started to grow as middle and high school students filled the venue, ready to dance.

The only instruments he had were a synthesizer and an iPod. Being the only member of Rotting Gnome who showed up, he had to do something to get the audience members out of their seats and dancing. He cranked his iPod and began jamming away.

Synthesized remixes of old Nintendo game themes, such as "The Legend of Zelda" and "Super Mario Bros.," got the teens on their feet, filling the empty space in the middle of the room. The crowd created its own drug-free rave with the members of Giant Party! joining in the fun with glow sticks to set the mood.

After 15 minutes, Elshafie announced he was out of songs to play. The crowd cheered for more.

"Do vocals Noah," an audience member shouted.

Elshafie set down the synthesizer and picked up the microphone.

"I have a cold, so bear with me," he said.

The music transformed into louder, heavier-hitting techno and trance, and the audience continued to rave the night away.

His cold didn't interfere with his singing and antics as he wailed into the microphone, jumped around onstage and ran into the audience to join the rave. Elshafie's set ended and he cleared the stage so Giant Party! could take over.

"I want you all to gather around here," singer Alex Rich said.

The audience gathered around him at the front of the stage as guitarist Ken Bedene began strumming along with prerecorded techno music on an iPod playing through the speakers.

A bubble-blowing Spider-Man toy, strobe lights and a screen playing Nickelodeon show "Yo Gabba Gabba!" added to the youthful rave effect.

A large group began dancing but then drifted away, leaving only a handful of dancers in the back of the cafe .

"You guys aren't dancing enough," Rich said.

A few people, such as Pleasant Valley High School senior Brian Ayala, 18, stayed away from the dance floor but still enjoyed the show.

"Their music sounds really cool," Ayala said. "It's different and unique from other forms of music."

Bedene dropped his guitar and hopped into the crowd, urging more people to get up and dance rather than sit and talk to friends. Most of the teenagers who sat down stood back up and began to rave again as Bedene roamed around the crowd, raving with them.

A cover of Flight of the Conchords' "The Most Beautiful Girl (In The Room)" surprised some audience members who had never heard the song before, such as Chico State freshman Jessica Taylor, 18.

Lyrics such as, "'Cause you're so beautiful. Like a tree. Or a high-class prostitute" made Taylor and others laugh.

"That was so funny," the liberal studies major said. "That was my favorite song they did."

Some audience members, including hairstylist Holly Berry, 24, came just to see Giant Party! but enjoyed both bands.

"It was techno fabulous," she said.

The event brought about 40 people, said Cafe Coda night manager Nate Thompson, 23. He enjoyed the music and also liked how the event brought out a lot of young people.

"It's nice having somewhere for them to go on a Saturday night that will keep them out of trouble," Thompson said.

David Wangberg can be reached at
dwangberg@theorion.com

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