Punk N’ Pie serves as a popular campus-wide event that brings students and their families together. Students from all majors and concentrations audition to perform in front of their friends. Memories of skillful and entertaining acts followed by free pumpkin pie makes this talent show a perfect Friday night shindig. Each year, Punk N’ Pie features new contestants so feast your eyes on a quick look at three of the standout acts.
The Dynamic David Dio
“Magic, for me, was never about prize money or anything like that. It was just honestly to share joy with other people,” said David Dionson, junior kinesiology major. “If I can share joy with a bigger amount of people, I think that’s fun.”
Dionson, who performs under the stage name David Dio, has a passion for magic. Dionson will perform a magic act with a story centered around helping an undeclared undergraduate freshman choose a major. His theatrical charisma and sleight of hand will leave you baffled and bemused as you struggle to figure out the secret behind his trick.
“Everyone thinks it’s for the girls… for most magicians it actually is, but for me… I was kinda shy just to talk to people in general,” Dionson said. “I had trouble making conversation with anyone. I know I was good with my hands because I did music, but I wanted to start a conversation in a non-weird way. I used magic as an icebreaker.”
Dionson uses magic as a way to connect and express his happiness to other people. His love for magic makes his act one to look out for.
The magnificently versatile “Chopsticks”
“We played duets together and we said, ‘It’d be cool if we did Punk N’ Pie,’ so we learned a new duet,” said Bryan Botka, junior music education major.
Botka and junior music in worship major Chloe Rogers will perform a piano duet of the widely known piano song, “Chopsticks.” The more they listened to the song, the more they realized the versatility of the song and how the melody fits with a plethora of different modern songs. They decided to mix “Chopsticks” with all kinds of modern songs that the audience will definitely recognize.
“We’ve had a really fun time preparing this, and so I think we just want people to have a good time listening to it, which is why we’re including stuff that hopefully people will recognize,” Rogers said.
The Vainglorious Varicolored Vegetables of Victory
“We are playing a medley of Veggie tales songs on a variety of instruments. To say any more would ruin the mystery, depth and overall theological profundity of the act. You can also thank sleep deprivation, a thesaurus and Kara’s love of alliteration for that linguistic masterpiece title,” the band said in an email.
Junior music education major Kara Machos, junior computer science major Clayton Dungey, junior intercultural studies major Kathryn Homoki and freshman music major Emily Homoki came together in one humorous and clever effort to have fun as well as light up every face before them on McNally Field. They were previously friends, and simply wanted to take a break from the mid-semester stresses of October. As a group they look forward to playing off of the crowd’s energy and making their parents proud.
“We’ve enjoyed the collaborative creation with the other talented members in this group, but most importantly proclaiming the tales of the veggies,” Machos said in an email.
