Vol. 3: Unlimited Enthusiasm Expo featuring an exclusive interview with Paul DeGeorge
After years of attempts, on Friday and Saturday, the 18th and 19th of July, I finally saw Harry and the Potters live for the first (and second!) time. I didn’t see them in their traditional venue of a library, but in the traditional venue of any other indie band: a club in the City.
Walking along a street in San Francisco, the Chocolates and I saw the enormous line waiting for entry into Bottom of the Hill, the venue Harry and the Potters were preparing to play in during that leg of the Unlimited Enthusiasm Expo. We soon found out why the line was taking so long; at the doors, Paul of HatPs and Justine of Math the Band were wearing Santa hats and writing name tags for all those entering. But there was a catch… they were Christmas-ifying everyone’s names. Say hello to “Dinah the Halls.”
I finally made it inside and was blown away by what I saw. The stage was decked out with inflatable beasts, the merch tables were overloaded with options, Wizard Rock the Vote was present, free cookies, and enough fans to make any social person terribly excited! I hadn’t realized it at first, but the Unlimited Enthusiasm Expo (UEE) is designed to re-create the feeling of the “talent show on the last night of summer camp, where everybody’s pumped because it’s the last night and they’ve had such a fun week at camp,” Paul told me the following Sunday while driving to Portland, OR for their next stop on the UEE tour.
The idea for the Unlimited Enthusiasm Expo first came to Paul when he and his brother Joe decided that they didn’t want to do the same old summer tour. They had been touring for 4 years and always did the same basic thing – it was time for a change. “We don’t think of ourselves as a normal band, but more of an event. So we got together with groups who shared a similar approach,” said Paul.
Surprisingly (to a Wrock fan), not a single one of these other bands is a Wizard Rock group. Uncle Monsterface and Math the Band have been touring with the Harrys, and Jason Anderson and the Best has been performing alongside them for a stretch of the tour. “These are our favorite bands to see playing,” a fact that led to Paul and Joe’s decision to tour with them. Each of these groups has a unique approach to music and performance, making UEE a true experience for any attendee.
As Paul told it, they don’t care if they have to drive 10 hours between every show – they just want to give the audience “non-stop audio-visual pleasure.” In my opnion, this goal has absolutely been achieved. When asked what the main purpose of the Unlimited Enthusiasm Expo is, Paul quickly and cheerfully responded, “Fun! It’s all about fun and having fun. That’s why we go on tours – because we’re having fun doing it and the people who come to our shows are having fun.”
I can’t say that everyone was filled with as much enthusiasm as the performers, but I didn’t see a single person who wasn’t having lots of fun. This tour has been going for a while and is slated to run through the beginning of August. The performers seem to be constantly performing or travelling to their next performance. And the tour is called “Unlimited Enthusiasm”… How is this possible? Paul stuck with the camaraderie of his fellow bands. “We all just pick each other up when the other is having an off day.”
Despite Paul’s interview-ready response, Marty (of Uncle Monsterface) had another form of inspiration for his enthusiasm. “Energy drinks, power drinks, and a small and dynamic dinosaur named Edmund. He has sweet shoes. Dancin’ rainbow shoes.” Whatever inspires the enthusiasm, be it great friends or a dynamic dinosaur, the enthusiasm is truly unlimited, just as the name of the tour indicates.
But what about when everyone is having an off day? One word: Disneyland! This actually worked for the bands one day in Southern California. There was no show and Disneyland was close at hand. “We brought Unlimited Enthusiasm straight to Disneyland!” Paul proclaimed happily. While waiting in line for Space Mountain, the enthusiastic bands decided to call for a fun check and, to their great joy, got a good 200 people in line to start cheering mightily!
So it is that the members of the Unlimited Enthusiasm Expo have brought real passion to various places across the country, and intend to spread even more. My recommendation: if you read this before the tour is over and you are anywhere remotely near one of the remaining shows… GO! Check out the tour list and make it happen – it’s well worth the effort.
Next time, look forward to some information about the upcoming event Wrock for Darfur! It’s going to be amazing!
‘Til next time,
Dinah Saur
Previous editions of Straight from the Dinah Saur’s Mouth are available here. You can contact Dinah via email at WrockDinahSaur@gmail.com
