By Erin Miller

Editor in chief

Before the doors to the Fieldhouse were opened for Airband Friday night, the ushers were warned: don't take the time to rip the tickets, just take the tickets whole.

The advice was well given. As the doors opened, students literally ran through the Fieldhouse lobby, rushing to reach the limited floor- seating available. Within minutes, not only were the floor seats full, but also the lower lever of the bleacher seating on the east and west sides.

Two former first place winners, The Smooth Criminals, who won Airband 2001, and Pop Odyssey, a group consisting of several members of the winning act of 2000, Boylicious, returned Friday night along with seven other student acts and one surprise entry.

The judges (Jacqueline Rhodes, assistant dean of Multicultural Student Development, Pablo Villalta, Spanish department, Ron Baylor, alumnus, Charlie Huizinga, assistant director of grounds, and Elise Davies, co-chair of Club Canada) awarded top honors to The Smooth Criminals, whose performance of Michael Jackson's ``Thriller'' was supplemented by costumes of torn suits and stage makeup that created the appearance of the ``living dead.''

The act remained true to Jackson's original music video in setting and appearance, and the band themselves were flawless in their synchronization of movement. Their faithfulness to the original concept also brought the group the award for best set design.

Taking second place was The Immaculate Collection, a group devoted to the many musical styles and versions of Madonna. The audience enjoyed the group's dance interpretation to three of Madonna's biggest hits, ``Vogue,'' ``Like a Prayer'' and ``Ray of Light.''

Costumes for the Immaculate Collection were also well picked, particularly with the use of red, black and white costume colors in ``Vogue;'' the choir robes used in ``Like a Prayer'' also added to the effect.

By far the biggest surprise of the evening (despite an allusion to the event in Chimes that same Friday morning) was the appearance of President Gaylen Byker. Byker's performance solicited an overwhelmingly positive response from the student body.

Byker's act was indicated in the program by a series of question marks, and although his act was supposed to be a secret, many students knew long before the photos of Byker practicing appeared in Chimes. However poorly kept the secret may have been, students did not anticipate just how far Byker would go to prove his affection for the student body.

Using four songs - five if both versions of the Calvin alma mater are included in the tally - Byker encompassed several different genres of music, including a Jock Jams-like ``Whoop, there it is;'' high school dance favorite ``YMCA;'' a classical solo and the pop hit ``My Heart Will Go On.''

Randall Buursma, Student Academic Service adjunct, was one of the driving forces behind the Byker act. He approached Byker two years ago, suggesting that Byker enter Airband. While Byker's schedule did not work with either Airband 2000 or 2001, he went back to Buursma last spring and asked that the act be planned.

Most of the video was shot in December following the end of exams, and additional footage was completed in January. Members of the Airband Committee were not informed of the act until after administrators had determined that it would show at Airband. The original time given to the committee was seven minutes. As the show approached, that time increased to as long as 11 minutes - nearly 50 percent longer than what regular acts are allotted - but was finally reduced again to about 10 minutes.

Although Byker did not officially enter Airband, he was able to participate and was treated as one of the regular acts. Response was so positive that Byker went on to win the prestigious ``People's Choice Award,'' and its accompanying $200 prize.

Buursma said he was impressed with both Byker's performance and willingness to take on the project, as well as with student reaction.

``While President Byker may not be the most natural, gifted actor Calvin has ever had, I do not think there has been a president who was willing to risk as much as he did for the enjoyment of students,'' Buursma said. ``It also strikes me that Calvin students deserve some credit here. Their enthusiasm contributed to President Byker's success. The students could have heckled or not have been willing to appreciate President Byker's efforts. Instead, they cheered him on. I think that says something about the quality of

students at Calvin.''

The final award, Best Video, was given to Sandstorm for their intro video.

Other groups competing were Remember the Knights, J9, Encore and Charlie's Angels.

Emcees for the evening were seniors Adam Stout and Travis West.