The Johnsonian

Issue date: 4/8/08 Section: News

Freshman Brady Darity carries his iPod and speakers to class, providing a daily soundtrack for himself and students passing by.

Every morning, Brady Darity performs the usual "get ready for class" tasks.

He brushes his teeth like every other student. He puts on clothes like every other student. He grabs his book bag and heads for class, like every other student.

But there is one thing he does differently from a typical student: he picks up his fourth generation iPod with 20 gigabytes of space, sticks it into his Logitech mm50 speakers and perches the set on his shoulder, blasting his music for all of campus to hear.

A seemingly simple gesture, it is one that has created a sensation at Winthrop. Darity has become popularly known as that iPod Boombox Guy.

He has two Facebook groups about him: one proclaiming love for him and the other wishing he¹d look into the definition of public peace.

But the one question all of these students want to know is: why?

A freshman majoring in visual communication design, Darity is unintentionally Winthrop¹s answer to John Cusack's character in the 1980s movie "Say Anything." But unlike Cusack's character, who stood outside his ex-girlfriend¹s window playing their song in an effort to win her back, Darity¹s reason is simple.It's entertainment.

"I just started using them over the summer at the places I went. It became an entertaining companion walking around at the beach and whatnot," he said. "Some people say I am just copying Radio Raheem from the movie 'Do the Right Thing,' but I haven't even seen it."

Whether he is copying anyone or not, Darity and his speakers propped on his shoulders are a common sight for some students walking to and from class.

He operates rain or shine and, depending on who you talk to, this can be either good or bad news.

"I just feel that people, when in public, need to respect the airspace of those around them, and he isn't doing that," said Robert Lawson Berry, a sophomore history major.

Berry is the creator of the Facebook group, "I feel that the iPod Boombox Guy doesn't show respect to public peace."

"He does annoy quite a lot of people on campus, to be certain, but it's probably not that his music is 'crappy,' or that he wants to express himself that angers most people," Berry said. "It's that he feels it is acceptable to blare his music in public when he could simply wear a set of headphones and not annoy anyone."

Continued...

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