Despite a premature end to the night, traditional TAP returned from summer vacation to campus last Saturday night in Hitchcock in the form of Patriotic TAP. Also returning, albeit after a longer hiatus, was a 21+ room serving up beer and associated munchies to those of age.

"One of the problems with TAP is that it gets too overcongested with people," said Joshua Podell '03. "So the environment enabled me to be [with] a controlled number of people and I knew most of the people."

Owing to careful, extensive planning and an increased security presence, SoCo was able to serve beer until the party's early end, never having to worry about their kegs being confiscated by campus police-they had received licenses from the town.

Students who presented valid ID were allowed to drink free-yes, free-beer in Hitchcock basement while their underage schoolmates were forced to look elsewhere for drinks, unless they were content to grind the night away upstairs in the ballroom.

"I think it ran very smoothly," said SoCo co-chair Missy Mordy '03. "Campus police and student security were very pleased with how it went. The only problem of the night wasn't with the 21+ lounge, but with the noise upstairs."

The room provided an alternative to the Beirut-filled, close-quartered environments at other parties. "We were going for a lounge-type environment," said Mordy. "We weren't looking to have drinking games, but a social environment where people could go downstairs to drink, then back upstairs to party."

The night ended pathetically early-at around 12:45 a.m.-after a series of noise complaints about the party. Even though the drinkers dispersed, most agreed that the night was an overall success.

Despite the relative earliness of last call, the 21+ room is not likely to bow out of the scene any time soon. "We're hoping it will continue," said Mordy.

Knock your Zox off

In the absence of Thursday night TAP, on the first night of the Unknown series, students welcomed the band Zox to campus. While the standard lineup of electric guitar, bass guitar and drums was nothing special, the band featured something a little off the beaten track, something that raised a few eyebrows and caused a couple smiles: a fiddler-not just any fiddler, though, but an electric fiddler.

However unexpected the lineup was, this combo's performance was music to the ears of many Amherst students, who found themselves dancing, jumping or grinding the night away, depending upon their moods and levels of inebriation.

Jason Blynn '04 offered up his critique of the band, recognizing their distinctive musical quality. "They fuckin' rocked," he said, enthusiastically. "They were awesome!"

"Awesome" was used more than once to describe Zox. "It was awesome, a lot of fun," said Emma Seidler '04, echoing Blynn's comments.

"The problem with TAP is that they need live bands, not a DJ that plays the same shit all the time. They need live music," said Blynn, praising the change in offerings on the unofficial first night of the weekend.

Seidler agreed that somehow TAP didn't quite measure up to this new live performance craze: "It was so much better than TAP and way more fun," she said. "There was great energy."

Blynn seemed to think so. "It was exciting because they hardly ever get a good crowd for these things, but there was a really good crowd this time," he said.

Of course, both Blynn and Seidler said that they had heaps of fun. So, there you have it: Zox blows the socks off Thursday TAP.