It is hard not to notice the life-size mannequins, clad in antique lace and jersey wrap dresses, at the top of the hill approaching the Mill Street intersection. The Studio logo — painted in bold, white paint — is striking. Bright colors, chunky textiles and antique laces inside the store beg to be admired and touched, while Sader’s vintage Singer sewing machine whirs away. Studio’s one-year anniversary is this week.

Studio — Sader’s workshop, studio and showcase for other local artisans — is home to her clothing line FX Dressed, dubbed “hippie romance.” Studio and FX Dressed demand is so high, Sader recently hired a sales representative to showcase her work in the northeast region. She has been a featured designer in downtown Bangor’s Bella Luna and at Bar Harbor’s Macey’s, as well as other boutiques from Biddeford to Winterport. In addition to boutiques, Sader is a member of the Maine Etsy Guild and does much of her business online. Etsy is a Web site for people to buy and sell handmade items.

“I’ve … picked up other clothing and am turning into more of a full-service clothing store,” Sader said.

With a sales representative as extra motivation, Sader is working hard for March, when she will announce her fall and winter 2010 line. In order to be “mobilized and organized” for next fall and winter, Sader is increasing production to meet demand and display at trade shows.

An Orono native and self-described “townie,” Sader envisioned a small business where she could combine her work studio with a retail store environment.

She said customers still enter the store surprised and unaware of the store’s existence.

“[Studio’s] definitely good for the local economy,” said Aya Mares, a Studio model and collaborator and third-year UMaine student.

Mares said, despite having lived in Orono for 13 years, she had never set foot in any of the previous stores occupying the space until Studio opened up. She described the location’s previous store windows and displays as dim and uninviting.

“[Sader] doesn’t keep the windows separate from the rest of the shop,” Mares said, describing Studio’s eye-catching window mannequins and their regularly changed ensembles. Sader has even used live window mannequins in the past to attract attention.

“[Studio’s] so new and so refreshing and right in the intersection of town,” Mares said.

“She’s willing to encourage creativity in the community.”

Third-year student Emma Thieme sews a few hours a week for Sader and now has her own line of Studio-featured accessories — mostly bracelets and embellished, crocheted headbands.

“She lets me take free rein. It’s really nice of her,” Thieme said of Sader’s encouragement and support. “She knows Orono needs a place where things are affordable. She doesn’t mark up to MSRP, and she sells at what [the prices] should be. She understands the budget of a typical student.”

“I like to support local [business],” Sader said.

She described her average customer as female, between the age 25 and 50 and “post-college with salary,” but said there is something for everyone in her shop.

In addition to FX Dressed, Sader carries makeup, gifts, jewelry, buttons and other accessories by featured local artisans, as well as some of her own tea and herbal products.

A blue “vintage closet” is closer to the back of the store by the fitting rooms and filled with purchases from a Boston-area apparel auction. Sader makes the trip on a bi-weekly basis, as an antiques apparel dealer. She regularly competes with movie costume designers and New York City vintage shop owners for the best pieces and prices.

To the right of the vintage closet is Sader’s limited-edition recycled line.

Her mountain of textile scraps and “yo-yos” speak to her efforts. Yo-yos are floral-like embellishments sewn onto select apparel items, made from recycled fabrics. Below a table of hair barrettes is a basket of felted balls of wool. Using recycled scraps of wool, Sader makes toys for children and pets.

Studio’s increasing scope of production as well as its establishment in Orono gives Sader hope for the future. Ideally, she would like Studio to become a full-service retail shop where she can represent her line, as well as those of others and to have her work space elsewhere. She wants to further establish and standardize FX Dressed so that apparel items can be patterned, cut and sewn by others. Studio’s ideal setup would afford her more time to design and promote.

Studio will host a trunk show Dec. 13. For more information, check out Studio’s Facebook group, FXDressed on Etsy.com or FXDressed.com.

“He was a really committed guy — committed to the university. He loved the university; he loved students,” said Robert Dana, dean of students at the University of Maine.

Percy was employed at the university through a federal program aimed at employing retired senior citizens part-time. He was the only person at the university employed through the program, Dana said.

Percy originally worked at Maine Bound, shuttling students and performing tasks such as repairing tents. Later, he was appointed caretaker of the arcade, where he meticulously cleaned the room and games and attended to students’ needs. He became a fixture of the arcade.

“Percy was a genuine Mainer,” said Kenda Scheele, associate dean of students at UMaine. “He loved the University of Maine. He was born and raised here. His family is from here. He was the heart of UMaine.” Scheele worked with Percy when she first came to UMaine and said he truly enjoyed the work he did for the university.

Percy was always more than willing to talk to students. He would often get involved in long conversations with students about the arcade, gathering opinions on particular games and ways to make the room better.

Less than a week before he died, Percy could be heard in the arcade speaking animatedly with a student about the history of the popular arcade game Dance Dance Revolution. But it was unusual to see the student do most of the talking; usually Percy was eager to entertain any willing ear.

And that attitude — willing to talk or listen to a student — made Percy the distinguished character he was.

David Welch, a UMaine student who frequents the arcade, said Percy was supportive of the arcade’s visitors.

“He very much liked his job and was very much concerned with the students having the arcade,” Welch said. “It certainly was his place.”

When students had concerns or suggestions about the arcade, Percy was eager to listen. He took time to respond with handwritten notes to suggestions, posting them on the wall of the e-Sports room.

“I think that’s what made him able to connect to people, is that he was very genuine. He wished nobody ill will, he was always willing to help and he loved students,” Scheele said. “It kept him young to be around campus and to be around students.”

When The Maine Campus wrote an article featuring Percy in December, Scheele said he “got such a kick out of that.”

“He took about 10 copies, brought them to everyone he knows, sent them to his daughter in California,” Scheele said.

Percy did not deteriorate near the end of his life, Dana said. Though he had medical problems, he continued to live by himself and perform all his own chores, such as mowing the lawn and shoveling the snow at his Bangor home. He also remained mentally strong.

“He was right on his game, I tell ya,” Dana said. “Sharp as a tack.”

Percy died while leaving work, Dana said. An ambulance took him to Eastern Maine Medical Center, but he was pronounced dead before he arrived at the hospital.

“I think he would have been thrilled,” Dana said. “I think he would have wanted to die with his boots on.”

Percy is survived by a son and a daughter.

Three generations will be on stage Saturday, including Arlo Guthrie, the influential ’60s folk singer, his daughter Sarah Lee Guthrie, her husband Johnny Irion and a slew of children and other relatives.

As the family’s tour bus rolled through Pennsylvania on Monday, Sarah Lee Guthrie spoke with The Maine Campus about her career, her family and what audiences can expect at the show.

Sarah Lee officially began her career in 2001 when both she and her husband released solo albums and toured together to promote them. However, she appeared on her first recording when she was 2 years old, singing on a version of “Garden Song” Arlo recorded. When she was 12, she made a record with her family singing kid-friendly versions of Woody’s songs.

“When I was 14 years old, I sang a Pete Seeger song at one of the shows and it ended up that they recorded that show and made a CD out of it,” Sarah Lee said. “I sort of got the spotlight bug then.”

Sarah Lee forgot about folk music and began listening to punk acts like Minor Threat and Black Flag as a teenager. When she was 18, Arlo gave her a job as a tour manager on a tour with The Black Crowes and members of The Grateful Dead.

“I really got turned on to great music that tour,” Sarah Lee said. “It was a tour that I’ll never forget — it changed my life. Once that tour ended, I moved out to Los Angeles to be around some of those cats that I had met on the tour. Within a week I met Johnny.”

Johnny turned Sarah Lee onto folk, bluegrass and blues music that she had grown up around but never really listened to. She said she stole a bunch of her dad’s old music and discovered all of it for the first time. From there she learned to play guitar and joined her dad on the road.

The three generations on stage include Arlo, Sarah Lee, her brother and sisters and seven grandchildren, according to Sarah Lee.

“Of course, most of the night we’re paying a tribute to the first generation, which is Woody,” Sarah Lee said. “So in a sense you get four generations of people playing music. I think we’ve been a really lucky family to be able to play music together, and it’s something that is sort of lost on a lot of families these days. It wasn’t that long ago that that’s what people did.”

Sarah Lee said families used to rely more on entertaining themselves when they weren’t surrounded by iPods, DVDs and TV. She hopes the show will inspire other families to make music together.

“There’s so much going on in the world today, and it’s a beautiful part of life to play music with your family. There’s nothing that replaces that in today’s world, in today’s media,” Sarah Lee said.

As Sarah Lee spoke, screams from kids packed on the bus were audible. She said there were 18 people on the bus and the chaos in the background portrayed a true sense of what the Guthrie family is like.

Sarah Lee’s family has recently released a children’s music album, “Go Waggaloo.” The album features vocals from her whole family on songs like “’Cuz We’re Cousins” and “Take Me to Show-and-Tell.” Some of the songs, like the title track “Go Waggaloo,” contain lyrics written by Woody that were never set to music.

Sarah Lee said they plan on playing a few songs from the kids’ album. In addition to the little kids, Sarah Lee’s nephew is 18 and is starting out as a singer / songwriter / guitarist.

“He’s never really played a show for himself, so this is a really cool way for him to do one of his songs,” Sarah Lee said. “My sister, who normally runs the record company, is a great singer / songwriter herself but doesn’t always get to do that because she’s in the office. She’s my dad’s right-hand man. She’s doing one of her songs.”

Each generation is represented on the tour and the crowd will hear some of Arlo’s classics, some of Sarah Lee and Johnny’s originals, some of Woody and much more.

While Sarah Lee’s children’s album might have drum machines and references to Xboxes and DVDs, she still believes music hasn’t changed much over the years.

“That’s the great thing about music, is that it takes a really long time for it change, and the times don’t often change that much,” Sarah Lee said. “A lot of Woody Guthrie’s songs, he wrote mostly back in the 1940s, 1950s. Mostly we find that the migrant worker songs that he wrote so many of are completely relevant today. In a sense nothing has changed. A song that is 60 years old sounds like it could have been just written.”

She said many songs written during the depression still ring true today as America tries to pull itself out of an economic downturn.

“A song like ‘Keep on the Sunny Side’ [by June Carter-Cash] is ringing true, and people are really comparing it with their lives today,” Sarah Lee said.

See Sarah Lee, Arlo and the whole family at The Arlo Guthrie Family Rides Again Tour, taking place 8 p.m. Nov. 21 at the Collins Center for the Arts. Tickets are available in the CCA box office, online at collinscenterforthearts.com, or by calling 1-800-622-TIXX.

The concert will be in support of the Campus Bands compilation, which was released earlier this semester in Bullmoose Music, the University Bookstore and on iTunes. Multiple artists with ties to UMaine contributed a song to the collection.

Organizer James Gilmore said the bands have been working hard to tighten up their sets.

“I’m in quite a few sets, and I’ve seen a lot of progress,” Gilmore said. He will be performing in his bands, GreenerSide and 2 Days Later, and as a solo act.

“Everything looks like it’s going to be very diverse too,” Gilmore said. “On the album they were diverse as well, but even more so now because the instrumentation has changed for a lot of groups.”

Gilmore said rehearsing has been easy with 2 Days Later, but GreenerSide’s drummer lives in southern Maine, making their practices more difficult. For his solo project, he has had to find musicians from around campus.

“The single that I put on the Campus Bands album, I’m now taking Rachel Joyce, Brian [Harris] from 2 Days Later, Luke [Finnemore] from 2 Days Later, Jacob Beach from GreenerSide and Augusto [Bertado], who’s a teacher’s aide in the music department who’s amazing at violin,” Gilmore said.

“I have been rehearsing with a few different people preparing some new collaborations along with some of my new songs, both of which I’m very excited about,” said performer Rachel Joyce, through e-mail.

According to Gilmore, it was difficult for many bands to organize a full band performance because members come from all over. Many are going to be solo acoustic acts because of this, but Gilmore hopes this will make for a great mix. Four or five of the acts will be full bands.

While Gilmore has adopted the annual UMaine Battle of the Bands setup with two stages in the Union, he said that there is no competition.

“All of us, at this point we’ve all played in battle of the bands type things and, at least for most people I’ve talked to, we’re not so into competitive music,” Gilmore said. “It’s a weird thing to assess so we’re kind of trying to stray away from that. It should just be playing for fun.”

Socrates was a large, pink-eyed white rat I purchased from a pet store last January. I had kept him for nearly a year, thinking he was fine by himself. He functioned normally and appeared healthy. He was friendly and eager to be held and petted. The following summer, I found out I was wrong.

I contacted Robin Rushlau at Mainely Rat Rescue — an organization that saves unwanted and often misunderstood pet rats — and she suggested a major diet overhaul for Socrates. She said to avoid store-bought food, which is nutritionally incomplete and can cause health problems. She also recommended I neuter him, so that he could live with the two females I was going to adopt.

Socrates drastically changed. He put on weight, his coat became shinier and fuller, and he became much more active. When finally introduced to his new lady friends, I was able to see how imperative it is for rats to have cage mates. Socrates was a big squishy bean bag to the new girls. They would pig-pile on top of him as he slept, and he’d happily close his little eyes as they excitedly groomed him and stomped all over him.

When I adopted another rat from MRR late last summer, he was the mediator when the females were introduced to one another. Two of my females, Maria and Rosa, proved to be extremely dominant, and the new female Cynthia wasn’t much better. When they started in with their typical rat “boxing” — where they sit on their hind legs and push, grab and paw at each other — Socrates stepped in. He ran up to them, sat on his hind legs and simply put his paw out in between them, as if to say, “Enough!” When all four rats were put back into their cage, Cynthia ran to hide behind Socrates while he slept.

It wasn’t unusual to find the two of them cuddled up in a hammock or sleeping in their little plastic hut. He was a friend to everyone. As soon as you called his name or made a kissing sound, he would eagerly come running to the front of the cage to greet you. Socrates spoke with his silence.

Last Sunday, I opened up the cage to check on the rats. In the little plastic house laid Socrates’ lifeless body and Cynthia, with one tiny paw resting on his face.

I had never expected losing him to be hard. Losing any animal, big or small, is always difficult and emotional. This time it just felt different. Not only did I lose a part of life as I knew it, so did his three friends.

My boyfriend mentioned to me that day that now I had room for another rat. Well, I did have room — I technically had room for several more, but I was so upset I told him I didn’t need more rats.

Less than 24 hours later, I broke down and had two more rats reserved to adopt through MRR. There are always animals that need homes. I had the room and the funding to give two more a happy life. I decided to do just that.

One of my professors had a similar experience. Melissa Spencer, head of the equine program at the University of Maine, adopted her horse Muffin in 1983 when she was 12 years old. Muffin was 5 years old and a retired Standardbred pacer. It is a fairly common misconception that a retired Standardbred is worth little. Spencer made it clear this is not the truth.

Muffin was awarded a silver medal by the Maine Dressage Association in 1992 and was pinned National Champion several times in the Standardbred Pleasure Horse Organization. Before Spencer met her husband or had her children, she had Muffin. Spencer and Muffin were a part of each other’s lives for 26 years.

Spencer had to put Muffin down about a year ago.

Losing an animal is losing part of your life. What we never lose is what we learn from them. Although sometimes the pain is overwhelming, if we close our hearts and doors, we’ll never know what others are waiting to touch our lives.

“A pet is never truly forgotten until it is no longer remembered.” — Lacie Petitto

If you have any pet- or animal-related questions you would like to see discussed in this column, please feel free to contact the writer at jessie.darkis@umit.maine.edu.

Norma and Arthur Lewis, played by Cameron Diaz and James Marsden, respectively, are faced with a decision when Frank Langella’s character, Arlington Steward, arrives at their suburban home early one morning in December 1976. Steward leaves a mysterious box in their custody. It is topped with a button protected by a glass dome. He gives them 24 hours to choose between taking the moral high ground by keeping the dome closed, or embracing a financial windfall and pressing the button. After some hand wringing, a choice is made. But that’s where the story begins, not where it ends. When Steward arrives to begin the next phase of his relationship with the couple, things get ugly. Conspiracies are uncovered, secrets are revealed and nothing will be the same for this couple ever again.

Unfortunately, the more “The Box” tries to explain its labyrinthine plot, the less sense it makes. Exposition builds at a dizzying rate, incorporating government conspiracy and alien invasion subplots, and the simple moral conundrum gets lost in the shuffle. Director Richard Kelly seems desperate to rationalize everything that’s going on, and that was a mistake. He isn’t content to have Steward represent a supernatural power — he wants to propose a plausible explanation, and it doesn’t work at all.

Diaz and Marsden are good choices for the leads. Both are attractive and earnest, and it’s hard not to be sympathetic with their characters’ financial struggles, especially in light of the current economic climate. Their son, played by a bland Sam Oz Stone, is something of a nonentity. It’s hard to recall a poignant moment he’s involved in. Recent Oscar nominee Langella brings seriousness to a role that could easily be laughable. The actor’s gravitas may be the movie’s most important asset. A campy Steward would have steered the film into the realm of self-parody.

Kelly is known for favoring obtuse material. His “Donnie Darko” was a cult hit, but the follow-up, “Southland Tales,” was an epic disaster. He’s fond of big, engaging ideas that give people plenty to chew on and discuss as they leave the theatre. “The Box” is arguably more accessible than either of his previous works but still rests off the beaten path enough that it will alienate people expecting something more straightforward or less dense. Despite its flaws, “The Box” remains intriguing, but as its mysteries are solved, the prevailing sense is one of frustration rather than satisfaction. If anything, the movie is an interesting, flawed failure.

Grade: C-

“Heartbreak Warfare,” “All We Ever Do Is Say Goodbye,” “Half of My Heart” and “Perfectly Lonely” are just some of the overly sappy titles gracing his album. This is a sad return to the John Mayer that wooed crowds of screaming girls with “Room for Squares” and “Heavier Things.” These albums might represent the Mayer that most people love, but he’s doing little to push the creative envelope.

“Continuum” was a blues album with a pop disguise. It had some of the greatest modern blues ballads, showcasing Mayer’s true skill with the six-string. His voice is great, but Mayer is best when he is hammering it out over the 12-bar blues with legends like Eric Clapton. Aside from “Waiting on the World to Change,” “Continuum” was an immaculate record — he even covered Hendrix.

“Battle Studies” should have continued along this path of great blues-based songwriting. Instead he went back into his pop music comfort zone, squandering his real talent. Not to mention he has Taylor Swift sing on a track. Yuck.

The album has few good moments scattered throughout, proving the good John Mayer is still hidden somewhere in there. He sings, “Who says I can’t get stoned / turn off the lights and the telephone,” a throwback to the goofy Mayer that audiences first fell in love with. Some songs, like “Assassin,” have some unique instrumentation that can be admired, but it does little to salvage the record as a whole.

He doesn’t seem to be shy about turning up the overdrive and playing a few fuzzed-out riffs, but just as you think he will rock out, he turns wimpy again. However, he does bust out some great solos that can’t be denied. He still likes to flaunt that.

The one standout is clearly out of place on the album. A cover of blues god Robert Johnson’s “Crossroads” is the best song by lightyears. It’s a natural choice, being such a blues standard, but he does it with class. It ends after just two and a half minutes though, making fans wait until the live show for the extended vamping section full of the solos it deserves.

It is not so much that Mayer made an album full of sappy breakup songs that makes “Battle Studies” fail; it’s that he just wrote bad material. Blues music is about being sad and lonely, so why write pop music? The songs on “Continuum” were not the most lyrically profound, but he was able to showcase his beautiful, raspy voice over great instrumentation and song structure. The latest work relies on simply constructed pieces that pleased his record company.

John Mayer fans will most likely fall in love with this album, especially if they favor his first two CDs. It just would have been nice to hear him break up with some of his old ways rather than his slew of bombshell celebrity girlfriends.

Grade: C-

The self-described “progressive, funk-rock-fusion jam band” combines prolific musicianship, danceable grooves and a fun-loving attitude to concoct its infectious audio brew. Influences run the gamut from metal to jazz, while their funked-up covers have included Les Claypool, Tracy Chapman and the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

“There’s a little bit of something in our music for everyone to enjoy,” Michaud said.

“It’s definitely a progressive style of music,” added Bernier. “It doesn’t sound like anything you’ve ever heard.”

Hailing from Aroostook County, the members of Restless Groove were raised on metal. Their original band, Bernstein, formed when Bernier and Michaud were in high school. Along with an old vocalist, they covered hard rock and wrote original metal.

When all members made their way to the University of Maine, they formed Boheme. Boheme played on campus with moderate success, but lineups changed as members came and left throughout their education. After a brief stint as a band called Trifecta, the current members of Restless Groove came together to become the band they are now. Bernier, Michaud and Gerard have been playing together off and on for six or seven years.

Their transition from being metalheads happened slowly. The discovery of Primus’ work ignited the band’s creativity and sparked them to craft similar music.

“We all got exposed to different music, and we have a lot of influences from different bands from every genre, and I think that you can still hear some traces of metal in our music,” Michaud said. “I think it’s just going to happen no matter what.”

According to Gerard, the band’s songwriting goals became clear after they realized there was a very small market for metal — they wanted to make people dance.

“We didn’t want something where you go see a band at a bar and everybody’s just kind of like sitting there,” Gerard said. “We wanted to keep people at the bar until 1 [a.m.]”

The band currently has 10 complete original songs but will only play an average of six or eight per night. The rest is filled with a myriad of unique covers which often turn into extended jams, according to Bernier.

“We’re definitely huge into the improv thing,” Gerard said. “We’ll take a song and try and turn it into 15 or 20 minutes.”

Restless Groove learned the power of pulling out crowd-pleasers from their mistakes as Boheme, which relied almost solely on original material. They said they would like it if their originals got the same reception as their covers but realize their place as a developing band.

“We try to organize our original songs so that musicians want to hear our stuff and think it’s good, as well as the average Joe Schmoe that listens to whatever type of music,” Michaud said. “When we’re playing at a club or something, people can get up and dance and just enjoy the music for what it is, and then musicians can also watch and appreciate that there’s a lot of good musicianship behind it as well.”

The band rehearses in Brewer in the house Kirkpatrick and Bernier reside in. Kirkpatrick has set up a recording / rehearsal space in which he has immersed himself to learn the intricacies of recording, according to Bernier.

Rehearsals often entail songwriting workshops, cover song run-throughs or strictly vocal rehearsals. The band admitted some rehearsals end up with everyone sitting in front of the TV with a beer.

Last Friday, Restless Groove took the stage at the Bear Brew Pub. Their distaste for genre definition and their love for variation became apparent with songs like “Car Wash” by Rose Royce, “Deeper Underground” by Jamiroquai and “Give Me One Reason” by Tracy Chapman. Their original songs were jammed-out jazz rhythms full of solos from each musician. Gerard and Kirkpatrick displayed their talents by swapping the roles between upbeat rhythms and solo shreds.

Spectators wasted no time in showing their approval as songs concluded with cheers of approval, and eyes remained fixed upon the performers until the end of the set.

The four band members had strong command of their environment and exhibited comical stage presence. Side comments and jokes were common between songs, which showed their genuine pleasure for performing.

The band members were seemingly chilled out and down-to-earth but would assume metal stances or prop their legs on amplifiers. Their seriousness intensified as their set list progressed into more technical jams and covers.

The band played “The Awakening” by Primus, dumbfounding observers with lightning-fast bass solos mixed with drum fills and odd rhythms. They are humble musicians who don’t hesitate to step aside in order to highlight the talents of the other members in the group.

The band sees the local music scene as a great starting point — far beyond the nonexistent scene they came from in the north.

“So far, people have been appreciating our music, and we go watch other bands play,” Michaud said.

“There’s definitely not that many bands around here,” Bernier said. “There could be more.”

Michaud said they were surprised when they came to Orono, expecting more bands at a university the size of UMaine.

Gerard said the band was proud of playing at Chickenfest, which they called the highlight of the music scene each year.

Restless Groove plans to release their debut album in early January. Gerard described it as a progressive concept album that fans of Dreamtheater and Rush will enjoy.

The album, with the working title “Forest of Dance,” tells a story with an environmental twist, according to the band.

“It’s sort of like ‘FernGully’,” Bernier joked.

The band plans to head to the Portland area this summer to play, but has set its sights on festivals. According to Bernier, Restless Groove can be summed up as a festival band that makes people feel good and move around.

“We’ve all been in bands before, and I guess we could say we took it seriously,” Michaud said. “But this is the first band we’ve all been in together were we want to go somewhere with it … We’re trying to stick together, work hard and promote ourselves and really take it to the next level as far as playing music goes.”

As people filtered into the venue, Ten Shekel Shirt began to prep for their performance on stage. Lights began to dim and the crowd grew silent as lead singer/songwriter Lamont Heibert walked to the mic and introduced himself and the band.

The band kicked off the night with songs from their latest album “Jubilee.” According to Heibert, the entire album was inspired by stories of children escaping sex trafficking. In one song they sang about a girl who came to a safe home after being enslaved for four years.

At least 150 people filled the seats at the venue. Although this was shy of the amount of people anticipated to attend, the atmosphere was incredible and the night was a hit.

After a few songs, Heibert began to tell his story of how he became involved with Love146, a non-profit organization dedicated to the abolition of child sex-trafficking and modern-day slavery. He shared an inspirational story about a girl he met in San Francisco named Elizabeth, who was saved from a brothel.

The band continued to move the audience with songs from their introspective album, such as “Sparks” and “Fragile.” Though the songs dealt with weighty subject matter, Ten Shekel Shirt sent a strong message of hope and inspiration to the audience.

Ten Shekel Shirt ended their performance with more songs written for children who are captured for sex-trafficking called “Daylight” and “Over The Room.”

 “Your smile is the most courageous thing I’ve seen,” Heibert sang with intense veracity, as a video of rescued children played behind the band on stage intensified the song’s tone.

Next up was The Wrecking — originally from Portland, Maine. They were nominated for best music video for the Gospel Music Channel and lived up to their reputation of sonic rock and melodic urban music.

There was a streak of pure confidence within the band as they performed, for the first time in front of an audience, songs from their new album “The Catalyst EP.” The band flowed from song to song, performing “The Sound of the Resistance” and “Breath.”

Halfway through their performance, lead singer Doug Elder told of a personal experience where he was asking God what his purpose is. He brought the tone down by singing a song by One Republic, “Stop and Stare.” Soon the audience joined in to sing along.

“The concert was so great,” said Annette Spencer, who attended the concert. “We traveled from Phillips, Maine to come see them.”

At the end of the show, the audience began to yell for an encore.

Initially, the concert seemed be over, but as the crowd persisted, Elder returned. “You all are awesome … I’m going to stay and play one last song for you guys,” he said.

Elder played a song that had familiar lyrics incorporated into it from Joan Osborne’s 1995 hit, “One of Us.”

Audiences filed out after the moving performance with the music and the message still ringing in their ears.

From a musical standpoint, this game is what I have been waiting for. It boasts 94 original mixes and mash-ups, many done by legends such as DJ Shadow, DJ Jazzy Jeff and the late DJ AM. This is not a game but a musical experiment that finally gives DJs the rockstar status they deserve.

What I cannot do is comment on the gameplay, as I have not yet had a chance to test my plastic DJing skills. However, I have been surfing the internet non-stop since the game’s release a few weeks ago to listen to its setlist. I have listened to Daft Punk’s “Robot Rock” versus Queen’s “We Will Rock You” countless times and have yet to come across a mix that lacks any luster. Kid Cudi gets mashed up with the Black Eyed Peas, Justice with Public Enemy and Rihanna with The Killers, to name a few of the standout tracks.

It’s not hard to tell that “DJ Hero” is in a world of its own compared to the “Rock Band” and “Guitar Hero” games. Perhaps because the mixes themselves are works of art, creative masterpieces.

“Guitar Hero” lets players play along with some classic songs, but the songs were not made to be played this way. I’m sure the Beatles didn’t imagine “The Beatles Rock Band” when they wrote “Helter Skelter.” But DJ Shadow had the game in mind as he created his mash-ups, according to an interview in Rolling Stone magazine.

Ever since “Guitar Hero” and “Rock Band” 7first appeared, musicians and music fans have been up in arms. Musicians have decried these games for simplifying their craft. It takes most people years to become proficient at guitar, but now people can master technical riffs in an afternoon. Music fans are threatened by the sudden accessibility of rock music to an unimpassioned audience.

“DJ Hero” has little to no transferable skill to the real thing, but at least the principle is the same. Gamers and DJs are both manipulating the playback of songs. “DJ Hero” gamers shouldn’t be showing up at any clubs or weddings, but at least the game is more like the real thing than “Guitar Hero” or “Rock Band” are.

True music enthusiasts can appreciate the game’s compositions as well. Instead of turning 14-year-olds on to played-out classic rock tunes, “DJ Hero” reimagines some of the best current music. Instead of players committing musical heresy by making Kurt Cobain sing Bon Jovi songs, they are making the DJ vignettes in the game mix tracks by artists they love.

“DJ Hero” will hopefully turn the world on to an art form few people know about. Most people wonder what DJs really do besides just press play. The art of mixing, beat-matching, sampling, scratching and mashing are lost on the majority of people.

Rockstardom should not be reserved solely for shredders like Eddie Van Halen and Kirk Hammett. Lightning-fast scratchers and mixers like Daft Punk and DJ Grandmaster Flash deserve their place as well. If “DJ Hero” proves anything, it’s that there is a DJ heaven where DJ AM is spinning away right now.