“I want you to quote me on this,” said Mike Wallace, better known as Mike Wallz, when he arrived at Happy Valley Freez just after 6 p.m. yesterday. “Rain, sleet or snow, we must go.”
It takes more than a steady drizzle to get in the way of Wallace’s determination, even when that drizzle turns into a heavy downpour and the survival of expensive DJ equipment is at stake.
Last night, Wallace and his radio program, “Off the Wallz” presented a hip-hop concert on the patio of Happy Valley Freez to raise money for The LION 90.7FM.
Anyone who has listened to “Off the Wallz” knows that anything can happen, and things were certainly no different at last night’s block party. Rather than following a predetermined setlist, the event seemed to adopt a more relaxed attitude by allowing any of the performers to step up to the mic whenever they pleased.
Wallace said Happy Valley Freez’s pit-like location made it a good place to hold a benefit concert.
“It’s kind of a secluded area, but it’s also an area that a lot of people pass through,” said Wallace (senior-telecommunications).
The block party was DJ’d by Penn State student Stan Daniels, who also goes by the name DJ Mr. Geek’d.
The lineup primarily consisted of four student rappers, including Wallace, Malik Elarbi, Rahim Blocker and Seth Goldsmith.
When Goldsmith (senior-telecommunications), also known as Crystal Seth, finally took center “stage,” he insisted the rain didn’t bother him at all.
“I feel like I’m part of the Earth right now,” he said.
Before launching into his set, he also announced that he would be premiering a new music video featuring Bubba Sparxxx on his YouTube channel later that night.
Wallace, accompanied by his “Off the Wallz” co-host Aidan Graven on acoustic guitar, brought the party to a satisfying conclusion with a freestyle serenade of a Happy Valley Freez cashier.
The pair was then joined by Crystal Seth for a low-key rendition of a song he and Wallace recorded this year called “The Free Life.”
“There’s not too many people that can pull off an event like this in the pouring rain and still have the time of their lives,” said Wallace, who estimated there were about 100 people who came to check out the concert.
“It doesn’t matter for us whether it’s 20 people or 20,000 people,” said Graven (senior-economics). “We’re still having fun.”
To email reporter: jda5167@psu.edu
