Revelers at a house party at 457 W. Mifflin St. were informed of the party's impending close by the appearance of a man with an acoustic guitar at approximately 2 a.m., Sunday, March 30.
The man, identified as Mitchell Harbrook, a UW-Madison senior and friend of party host Sam Koonen, proceeded to play through a set of popular and alternative hits spanning the last several decades of rock 'n' roll history in a performance that coincided with the emptying of the house's full-size keg and a general exodus of guests.
Harbrook's set began shortly after he emerged from Koonen's bedroom, where he had extracted the guitar from a pile of neglected personal affects and tuned the instrument in secret. Harbrook initially failed to draw the attention of party guests, first attempting to secure a seat on the crowded sofa next to UW-Eau Claire sophomore Susan Dufresne, before taking up position sitting cross-legged on the living room floor.
Everyone was still pretty talkative at that point, so I didn't really notice [Harbrook] until he was most of the way through ""Wonderwall,"" Dufresne said. ""I think he might have been trying to get us to sing along, because he repeated the last chorus like seven or eight times, which didn't seem right.""
Harbrook eventually brought the 1995 Oasis hit to a close, by which point several seats on the sofa had become open, allowing him to relocate. Guests who remained in the living room were then treated to a rendition of the Pixies' ""Where is my Mind?,"" with an unidentified man joining in on the high parts while on his way to the bathroom. This was followed by an extended intermission, during which
Harbrook mulled over his repertoire while repeatedly striking the guitar with the palm of his hand.
Almost all of the remaining party guests vacated within the next 20 minutes, but reports indicate that further highlights of Harbrook's performance included a duet with Koonen on the Beatles' ""I'm Only Sleeping"" that ended in a dispute over the correct lyrics and an abortive, 37-second version of Lou Reed's ""Walk on the Wild Side.""
