Extracurricular student bands helped keep the excitement high for the Johnson Earth Day celebration Thursday, March 24. With music on the quad during the day and a bonfire concert at Lowpo in the afternoon Johnson students were able to take full advantage of the solar power provided by the Solar Bus despite the cloudy conditions.

 In Johnson tradition, the Solar Bus arrived for Earth Day to add to the festivities in a green fashion. The Solar Bus is a 1982 Crown Supercoach bus that has been converted to run on biodiesel and generate solar power. It travels to events ranging from concerts to movies in order to provide clean energy and educate people about the use solar power.

 On the quad, the band Cosmic Riff performed a set in front of the solar bus and plugged all of their equipment into the solar panels. Even though a large crowd did not amass for this performance, the quad was pleasantly serenaded by the Jazz Fusion quartet for over an hour. Sit in drummer Jack Snow and bassist Justin Burgess held it down while Pat Mcginn on the keys and Carmelo Rodriguez on the sax vamped over tunes such as BB King’s Thrill is Gone and Float On by Modest Mouse.

“I thought we played a good show considering how wet and rainy it was,” said McGinn. “ We were stoked to see as many people as we did.”

 Later in the day a bonfire was lit at Lowpo and a large number of students, staff, and community members joined together to celebrate Earth Day and the music at hand.

 The band Up On The Roof performed in the cold for nearly two hours. Up On The Roof seemed to be a good match for the event because their upbeat funk styled originals went well with the overall vibe of the day. The slightly untraditional grouping of instruments in this band included Henry Clark on the electric mandolin and vocals, Mike Harris on Bass, Benj Spound on drums, and Zach Shoester on lead guitar and vocals.

 “The festivities went down perfectly and the cause was genuine. It was a great way to celebrate Earth Day with amazing people and an awesome fire.” Clark says.

 Even though the weather was not ideal, it was clear that the band was well rehearsed and the crowd responded to this in the end by leaving the warmth of the bonfire to dance on the stage with the band through the second and last encore.

Extracurricular student bands helped keep the excitement high for the Johnson Earth Day celebration Thursday, March 24. With music on the quad during the day and a bonfire concert at Lowpo in the afternoon Johnson students were able to take full advantage of the solar power provided by the Solar Bus despite the cloudy conditions.

 In Johnson tradition, the Solar Bus arrived for Earth Day to add to the festivities in a green fashion. The Solar Bus is a 1982 Crown Supercoach bus that has been converted to run on biodiesel and generate solar power. It travels to events ranging from concerts to movies in order to provide clean energy and educate people about the use solar power.

 On the quad, the band Cosmic Riff performed a set in front of the solar bus and plugged all of their equipment into the solar panels. Even though a large crowd did not amass for this performance, the quad was pleasantly serenaded by the Jazz Fusion quartet for over an hour. Sit in drummer Jack Snow and bassist Justin Burgess held it down while Pat Mcginn on the keys and Carmelo Rodriguez on the sax vamped over tunes such as BB King’s Thrill is Gone and Float On by Modest Mouse.

 “I thought we played a good show considering how wet and rainy it was,” said McGinn. “ We were stoked to see as many people as we did.”

 Later in the day a bonfire was lit at Lowpo and a large number of students, staff, and community members joined together to celebrate Earth Day and the music at hand.

 The band Up On The Roof performed in the cold for nearly two hours. Up On The Roof seemed to be a good match for the event because their upbeat funk styled originals went well with the overall vibe of the day. The slightly untraditional grouping of instruments in this band included Henry Clark on the electric mandolin and vocals, Mike Harris on Bass, Benj Spound on drums, and Zach Shoester on lead guitar and vocals.

 “The festivities went down perfectly and the cause was genuine. It was a great way to celebrate Earth Day with amazing people and an awesome fire.” Clark says.

 Even though the weather was not ideal, it was clear that the band was well rehearsed and the crowd responded to this in the end by leaving the warmth of the bonfire to dance on the stage with the band through the second and last encore.

Extracurricular student bands helped keep the excitement high for the Johnson Earth Day celebration Thursday, March 24. With music on the quad during the day and a bonfire concert at Lowpo in the afternoon Johnson students were able to take full advantage of the solar power provided by the Solar Bus despite the cloudy conditions.

 In Johnson tradition, the Solar Bus arrived for Earth Day to add to the festivities in a green fashion. The Solar Bus is a 1982 Crown Supercoach bus that has been converted to run on biodiesel and generate solar power. It travels to events ranging from concerts to movies in order to provide clean energy and educate people about the use solar power.

 On the quad, the band Cosmic Riff performed a set in front of the solar bus and plugged all of their equipment into the solar panels. Even though a large crowd did not amass for this performance, the quad was pleasantly serenaded by the Jazz Fusion quartet for over an hour. Sit in drummer Jack Snow and bassist Justin Burgess held it down while Pat Mcginn on the keys and Carmelo Rodriguez on the sax vamped over tunes such as BB King’s Thrill is Gone and Float On by Modest Mouse.

 “I thought we played a good show considering how wet and rainy it was,” said McGinn. “ We were stoked to see as many people as we did.”

 Later in the day a bonfire was lit at Lowpo and a large number of students, staff, and community members joined together to celebrate Earth Day and the music at hand.

 The band Up On The Roof performed in the cold for nearly two hours. Up On The Roof seemed to be a good match for the event because their upbeat funk styled originals went well with the overall vibe of the day. The slightly untraditional grouping of instruments in this band included Henry Clark on the electric mandolin and vocals, Mike Harris on Bass, Benj Spound on drums, and Zach Shoester on lead guitar and vocals.

 “The festivities went down perfectly and the cause was genuine. It was a great way to celebrate Earth Day with amazing people and an awesome fire.” Clark says.

 Even though the weather was not ideal, it was clear that the band was well rehearsed and the crowd responded to this in the end by leaving the warmth of the bonfire to dance on the stage with the band through the second and last encore.