Momentary Prophets Jake Hull and Ted Packard were joined by a special guest today as they lugged their instruments into the second floor performance room of Fantasy, an eclectic clothing, goods and music store on Jefferson Ave. Hull slung the guest over his shoulder and set him against the wall. His massive head slumped over his chest, where it stayed until the two-man band started playing. After “Little Bird,” Hull stopped and introduced us to their guest, a large cardboard cutout of Conan O’Brien.

The band—2008 alumni of CNU—have befriended Cardboard Conan because they’ve started the “Conan Campaign,” an effort to get the band onto “The Tonight Show,” which O’Brien takes over from Jay Leno in March. A performance by Imogen Heap on “Late Night with Conan O’Brien” first provoked Hull to ask himself if the Prophets would be able to play on the show, too. Hull then asked Packard for his input, which was positive. “Conan seems like a really cool guy,” Packard said, “and he might like our music.”

The campaign therefore has manifested itself as a series of music videos and non-music videos that have both explained the band’s motives and forced the band to rerecord “good versions” of their songs for the project, according to Hull.

By the end, they hope to have a CD and a DVD from the 10 to 12 videos—which are filmed and edited by Sophomore James Cheeseman—that are planned and, as Packard says, “the videos are going to fit together like a puzzle piece,” forming a complete puzzle with his hands. “We’re going to save Conan and he’s going to rescue us Later this week, the third video—and the first episode in an overarching plot—will be published on YouTube. “The thrust of the campaign,” explained Hull, “is that we just want to play the show through our own efforts.”

Their effort so far has netted them a small but intensely loyal fan base from CNU, which made up most of the 30 audience members at Fantasy on February 15. The other part came for the first band to perform that day, Mason Porter, a folk band from Philadelphia, Pa. Their music, which tended to focus on images of rain, snow and Jesus Christ, was very true to traditional Appalachian folk music and the members harmonized very pleasingly.

The Prophets’ performance showed a good deal of growth since they last performed on campus as they mixed old and new while adding Senior Logan Byrd on a big, red cello on a few of the songs, such as “Last Dance.”

They also debuted two instrumentals and a song about unrequited love, “Dogwood Blossom.” The first instrumental, “Golden Pudding,” served as a sweet introduction to “Little Bird.” The unnamed second one, however, served as background music as Hull gave each person a rose and invited each to dance with someone in the room.

That sort of fun-loving attitude hasn’t dissipated since graduation. Life after college, however, hasn’t been different for the duo. Hull explains that, while he misses being in school, it’s really not that different, despite the fact that he’s working two jobs to pay loans and support himself. Music, however, is the overarching theme in his post-graduate life. Without it, he says, “My life would be pretty vacuous.”