Mumbo Gumbo visits an empty CSUS

On the evening of the Union's grand opening, the Sacramento band Mumbo Gumbo played a free concert to hundreds of empty chairs in the University Ballroom.

The turn out, a couple hundred people, was a big disappointment to Dean Sorenson, the program advisor for UNIQUE, the student union's event-planning club.

Even with the small turnout, Mumbo Gumbo rose to the occasion. Those that did attend, seemed to enjoy themselves as they danced on a rented dance floor that looked like a black Hefty trash bag taped down-- complete with ripples for people to trip over.

Normally Mumbo Gumbo draws hundreds of people when they play in Sacramento; they normally pack a dance floor. They normally don't have a fire alarm going off before they play.

This event was anything but normal.

The band's drummer, Rick Ladder, admitted that the booking was last minute and that they didn't have a chance to put it in their concert line-up mailouts. UNIQUE limited its advertising to the campus. Sorenson said this was deliberate.

"The concert was meant to be for the students," he said.

Sorenson is the guy that can be seen at noon on Wednesdays yelling things like "Come to the nooner! You'll like it-- it's free!" to students passing by on their way to the union from the library quad area.

But not many people seem to know what a "nooner" is. It's free events for students every Wednesday at noon. Sorenson said UNIQUE will keep trying to bring the students of CSUS free entertainment. He just hopes more students start taking advantage of the events.