Quinton Harris is on an intergalactic mission to rock the world and boldly go where no master of space funk has gone before. He just isn't admitting all of that yet.

Harris (a.k.a. Lt. Wiggles) bides his time as a mild-mannered college student, studying hard, and keeping on top of schoolwork. He even volunteers for local theatrical productions alongside his mom. When night falls, Harris hits the town spinning records and trying to get all of us to shake our collective bootie.

"[I'll play] anything upbeat, funky, that you can dance to," Harris said. "I've been really getting into old disco."

A true performer, Harris will spend a typical weekend running from one gig to the next. Last Saturday, a whole gang of professionally trained dancers did the Charleston and the Tango as Harris played bass in the orchestra pit for "The Boyfriend," a Fairbanks Light Opera Theater production. In between acts he worked on an exam for a software engineering class, and then, after providing a bass line for the rest of the heavily choreographed musical, he hopped in a car and rushed over to spin records at a costume party already in full swing.

Harris showed up wearing a grass skirt and coconut bikini top. He wasted no time connecting the huge subwoofer he had lugged up the stairs and got to work destroying the lull that had set in among the partygoers. Before long the girls had taken over where he began, and boogieing commenced in every square inch of the house.

It was one of those moments when everyone just let loose all of a sudden, when you could imagine how stupid they would look if the music weren't playing. Ogres, French whores, and lumberjacks, all squirming around in silence. But the music never did stop, not until the early morning, and the ghouls and goblins lapped it up like kittens on cream. Stationed on the loft above the main room, Harris slapped records onto his futuristic looking turntables and occasionally ran downstairs to shake it with the rest of the party.

The weekend after next, you can catch Harris at the Pub where he'll be dropping beats all night long. In a few weeks, he'll be back on the air for Technosis, his radio show that airs Saturdays from 8 to 11 p.m.

photos by Casey Grove/Sun Star

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