Free for All

IT wasn't H.R. Puf'nstuf. It wasn't even Oreo Doublestuff. By 8:00 last Saturday night, people were talking anxiously, especially the thousand fans at Sanders Theatre, about the Din & Tonics and their mysterious "Free Stuff" Jam. By 11:00, everyone at the concert was armed with a fantastic doorprize. And the Dins were being hailed as the "hottest group on campus."

Sponsored by Piedmont Airlines, the concert's "free stuff" motif conjured up exotic images: a round-the-world ticket, a spring break trip, perhaps even a week with the Dins in Bangkok on their 1988 summer tour. What the Dins' peers, parents and other sophisticated patrons received was much more creative: cucumbers, Dippity Doo, a can of tuna and a thousand other trinkets.

For those who do not believe, as comedian George Carlin professes, that life is just a big collection of stuff, the question remains: why the stuff? Din President Alexander F. Beckett, who created the theme, answers, "We went right for students' instincts. We knew the tackiest gimmick would draw people in."

Once the Dins had promoted the idea, by postering and word-of-mouth, Piedmont actually offered to donate a few round-trip tickets and t-shirts to the cause. But self-styled Stuff Manager Bruce Condit and the others decided that "crap for everyone was better than a few good doorprizes."

Even aside from the stuff, though, the jam was the best a capella concert at Harvard in recent memory. The Dins performed everything from a song with a South African beat to a heavy metal medley. Even members of other Harvard singing groups conceded that the concert was unique, and that the Dins flowed seamlessly among diverse and unusual singing and dancing styles.

Din President-elect James McMahon was instrumental in what Beckett calls the Dins' "search for new sources." Having studied the South African singing group Ladysmith Black Mombazo, McMahon arranged both the dance and the music for a risky version of "You Can Call Me Al," soloed by Larry "Wheel of Fortune" Witdorchic. McMahon's fused all of Ladysmith's guttural African sounds, along with Paul Simon's quiet New York nasality, into one arrangement.

The result, something almost never experienced at an a capella concert, was an electrified standing ovation. Almost never, that is, until they got an even louder and longer one for their heavy metal, strobe-light and steam extravaganza. This medley, which included songs like "Born to be Wild" and "Back in Black," was arranged in typical Din fashion, says Beckett. "Everybody was involved and threw in something."

Can the Dins top the "Free Stuff" Jam? Since they did not rehearse the special effects showstopper, and it still went off so well, Din Mike Kelly says, "The only way to top that may be to let Ed Yim eat a live hand-grenade."

Their freshness extends to comedy, the part of their show that they either create during the 48 hours before the performance or improvise onstage, as when Din Junhee Lee offered the first stuff. While holding a can of WD-40 motor oil up to the audience, Lee asked front-row fan Karen Kasch if she had a car. She said no. Lee said, "That's perfect. It's yours."