The Swirling Eddies are a Christian band based in Southern California whose first live concert_Vertigo: The Swirling Eddies Spinning Vortex Fun Club_ Volume 1, Issue 2 1990 [was at Biola on March 9, 1990. The show was a double bill, with the Eddies opening for singer Randy Stonehill.

The band is largely a pseudonymous side project of Daniel Amos, a band active since 1974 under a variety of names. While Daniel Amos had developed into a serious band with thoughtful lyrics, the Swirling Eddies were always more of a joke. Their first album, 1988's Let's Spin, was released as part of a "Guess The Eddies" promotion in which the band members all took on ridiculous fictional names (Camarillo Eddy, Berger Roy Al, Spot, Arthur Fhardy, Gene Pool, Hort Elvision).

The concert at Biola was in support of their second album, Outdoor Elvis (1989). The band played a few other shows at the Troubador in West Hollywood, at Randy Stonehill's 20th anniversary concert (May 12, 1990), and at the Cornerstone festival in Illinois (June 29, 1990). The band referred to the Biola show as "The Amos 'n' Randy 'n' Eddie Tour," an allusion to the popular "Amos 'n' Randy" tours that Daniel Amos and Randy Stonehill had done in the late 1970s.

The Swirling Eddies 1990 concert at Biola has become legendary among Eddies fans. The many rumors about it include that lead singer Terry Taylor was dressed in drag for at least part of the show, that drummer Ed McTaggart wore an ill-fitting bath robe, and that the band encouraged dancing (in violation of Biola's dancing policy]). The title track of the first Eddies album, "Let's Spin," is a likely concert opener and includes a resolution to "dance in the streets 'til the cows come home and there's revival in the land," to "do the shimmy shimmy shake, the shing-a-ling, and the missionary stew, and ... the cha-cha too," plus a celebration of "doing curlies on the floor" and "dancin' to the righteous rag." There was an unusually long intermission between the Eddies' set and Stonehill's, with conflicting reports about what happened offstage during that time. Another rumor is that the Eddies were banned from Biola after the show.

The entire set list for the show is not known, but the Eddies only had two albums worth of songs in 1990 and the set list for the June performance at Cornerstone is known (http://www.danielamos.com/concerts/cstone90se.html). According to a review inThe Chimes, the Biola set included "Let's Spin," "I've Got an Idea," "Driving in England," and "Hide the Beer, the Pastor's Here." "Hide the Beer" is a song about the hypocrisy of ignoring serious sins while being scrupulous about things like alcohol use and R rated movies. It ends with the refrain "Hide the Beer" being sung as the names of Christian colleges are shouted out. "Biola!" is the first name shouted in a long list that includes Bethel College, Westmont College, Calvin College, Azusa Pacific, Moody Bible Institute, Multnomah Bible Institute, and many others.

Mark Joseph's review in the Friday, March 16 issue of The Chimes does not make the Eddies portion of the concert sound as wild or subversive as the legends would have it.

Concert Roars with Eddies and Stonehill
By Mark Joseph
The Chimes, Friday March 16, 1990, Pages 4 & 6

Biola’s social board coordinator Steve Porter was expecting a normal sized crowd for last Friday night’s concert at Chase Gymnasium –which in Biola’s case means 500 people, 600 tops. What he got instead was a jam-packed crowd of enthusiastic fans who had come to see one of today’s hippest, ‘artsiest’ bands open for one of the founders of Christian music.

In addition to the GAG couples and the chickens who couldn’t get up the courage to ask anyone, there was a sprinkling of who’s who in Christian music throughout the audience. In the back was singer/musician/engineer extraordinaire Mark Heard diligently taping Stonehill’s music for an upcoming live record. In the audience among others, were Cindy Cruse of the Cruse family, Sandi and Heather Stonehill, Frontline recording artist Rick Elias, and Frontline execs Mike MaClane and Tony Shore.

The Swirling Eddies, formerly DA, Da, and Daniel Amos, opened up with their eclectic mixture of dance/punk/new wave rock and roll. Their concert attire was the usual stuff, form fitting skirts and bathrobes, the former of which were probably intended for females.

I confess I lost these guys sometime after 1976 when the song “Shotgun Angel” made you proud to be a Daniel Amos fan. There were a few “Eddies” in the audience though, most notably a few who danced circles around the gym and convulsed on the floor, but for the most part the audience reaction seemed to be polite at best.

The Eds did manage to connect on two songs though. “Let’s Spin” saw a fair share of audience members doing the spin, while “Hide the Beer The Pastor’s Here,” a cult favorite, found some singing along.

Other tunes included “I’ve Got An Idea,” and the group’s first number one hit “Driving in England.” When the band’s set was over, the audience broke into applause that didn’t seem to be aimed at an encore.

After a 30-minute intermission, it was Stonehill’s turn to try his blend of eccentric humor and gritty music via an all acoustic set. From the opening guitar strains the 20-year veteran rock and roller won over the audience with his acoustic renditions of classic Stonehillian cuts like “King of Hearts,” “Good News,” “Hymn,” and “Shut De Do.”

For the more recent Stonehill fan there were several cuts off of his latest record “Return to Paradise,” including “Stand Like Steel,” and “Starlings.” Unlike the opening act, Stonehill was called back for an encore by an obviously appreciative audience, and the artist responded with among others, the cuts “Turning 30,” and the energetic “What Do You Want From Life,” off of his “Wild Frontier” album.

Although some expressed disappointment at the Swirling Eddies performance, while others professed to have been stumbled, generally the reaction appeared to have been positive to the concert as a whole. Coordinator Porter was particularly delighted at the great number of off campus people who showed up. “I was happy to see them because it gives them a chance to see what Biola is all about,” he said.

As for the long delays before and between shows, Porter said he was unhappy but placed the responsibility on his and his staff’s shoulders.

From many standpoints this was probably the most successful concerts in recent Biola memory. Certainly it was from a financial and turnout standpoint. The one faux pas may have been the combination of Stonehill and the Eddies whose fans tend to be poles apart in musical tastes. For an Eddies fan the Stonehill show may have been a drag and vice versa.

Hats off to Porter and all the others who worked hard to bring this show about, and kudos to the artists who rejected Russ Taff’s philosophy of selling T-shirts for $22, charging a measly $12 for their T’s.

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