Sam Gunnerson, of JabberJosh, unveiling the doughnuts
I’m going to go ahead and call “National Doughnut Day” a success after what happened at the Jackpot on Friday night.

Local garage rockers/comedians JabberJosh and Wichita 8bit bad boys Powerlifter were set to open for The Blind Shake when they paid homage to everybody’s favorite pastry. Before JabberJosh even started playing, they unveiled three boxes of Dunkin’ Donuts and spread them across a table for the few (and very lucky) concert-goers who came out to the Jackpot. They even busted out a tablecloth for the occasion. Powerlifter also showed their appreciation for the fatty treat by substituting the word “doughnut” for several of their lyrics in their first song of the night.

Powerlifter
After all the doughnut discussion, it was time to get down to business. In between expressing their intense man-love for JabberJosh and extreme hatred for the current Kansas Governor, Powerlifter put on one heck of a show. Lead vocalist Matt Wiseman jumped into the crowd quite often, and even sometimes halfway started a pit. In the following video, you can see some of those offstage antics, which included dragging his butt across the floor (happens at about 2:00 in).

The band created most of their songs on Game Boys, although this was my first time seeing them with an actual laptop in tow. Both members have a history of hard rock; Wiseman has played with Ricky Fitts (a band known to cause a major ruckus at their shows, including the Eleven Productions Birthday Bash back in November).

Powerlifter
Speaking of ruckuses, Powerlifter tends to do fairly well in Wichita, judging by random fan videos on YouTube. Crowd surfing, mosh pits, and overflowing audiences are usually involved. Powerlifter brings that same excitement to their live shows when they’re on the road, but I’ve yet to see Lawrence audiences catch on to acts like this with that much enthusiasm. But we’ll go to the ends of the earth to make sure everyone knows how we feel about doughnuts (go figure).

There was no shortage of Kansas pride in the room. The duo spread out a Kansas flag underneath their equipment, and gave shout-outs to NuWay (a loose meat burger joint out of Wichita).

Here’s their big hit, “Buffalo.” The band gained a lot of popularity after posting a music video for the song. The 8bit masterpiece gets your heart racing a little bit, and just about makes you feel like you’re in a Scott Pilgrim fight scene.

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Fally Afani is an award-winning journalist with a career spanning more than 20 years in media. She has worked extensively in radio, television, newspapers, magazines, and more.

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