Barenaked Ladies Kick Off New Series

Chickity China the Chinese chicken, this Saturday the Barenaked Ladies had Harvard students laughin’ and kickin’.

The Ladies (who are actually all male) brunched with 40 students at the home of the Adams House Masters and rocked and talked with 250 more at Lowell Lecture Hall.

The Canadian rock band’s visit was the first in the new HarvardLIVE! series, a collaboration between the Harvard Concert Commission (HCC) and the Office For the Arts’ (OFA) Learning From Performers Program. The Barenaked boys were also the recipients of the first HarvardLIVE! Arts Achievement Award.

Previously, Harvard has booked guest performers based on the availability of high-capacity venues, said OFA Director Jack Megan. The strategy proposed by HCC heads Tyler O’Brien ’07 and Daniel “Zak” Tanjeloff ’08 and adopted by HarvardLIVE! is to work around the availability of prominent performers, even if it means that attendance is restricted due to space constraints.

“It’s better than not having them at all,” Megan said.

While approximately 600 students entered the lottery for the $10 tickets to Saturday’s jam session, only about 250 lucked out.

The intimate, “Unplugged”-like venue, however, guaranteed great views for all and provided fodder for a few jokes.

When guitarist Ed Robertson requested a lyric sheet for a new song, he joked, “By no means should you do this in an exam.”

Learning From Performers Program Manager Thomas Lee credited the group’s “world view,” “articulation about what they do” and lyrics as reasons why they were perfect HarvardLIVE! candidates.

Not only have they just released a new album and are beginning a U.S. tour but “they are absolute pros at this type of event,” O’Brien said.

Prompted by moderator Tracy E. Nowski ’07, the Ladies articulately discussed everything from Easy Mac and back beards to suicide and politics—and of course, nudity (“As you get older, it’s less funny and more sad”).

The topic that came up most often, however, was Canada.

When fellow Canadian Nowski asked what they thought made them distinctly Canadian, Robertson’s response was: “We offer free health care at all of our shows.”

And the 40 students invited to the warm-up brunch were selected from “a list of music-oriented groups on campus...and the Canadian Club,” said O’Brien.

“They support the Canadian culture—like FUBU: for us, by us,” said Canadian Club member Zachary B.S. Sniderman ’09.

The band was not completely Canada-centric, however, and expressed interest in Cambridge’s own curious customs.

After Nowski explained Primal Scream, drummer Tyler Stewart exclaimed, “You’re making me Yarvard Hard.”

Robertson opened the band’s usual improvisational song with, “Parked my car in Harvard Yard, I’d say it with an accent, but I’m not a Harvard bard.”

Harvard bards or not, the Ladies certainly have a Harvard following.

“They just ended up being really nice, laid back guys” said Shirley L. Hufstedler ’07, a drummer for the campus band Plan B for the Type A’s.

“For the last 20 years,” said lead singer Steven Page, referring to the music industry, “the fans have come last in the chain of importance. We’re trying to flip that back around.”

Later that day, as the Ladies drove by Hufstedler and her bandmate on their way to their next gig, members of the band shouted out the window: “Oh my god, it’s Plan B for the Type A’s!”

—Staff writer Nina L. Vizcarrondo can be reached nvizcarr@fas.harvard.edu