In the spirit of Arts Crawl, but not as a planned part of it, was a house show by Lucas Carpenter Friday night. To describe Carpenter’s live performance as entertaining would be an understatement. He’s a one man band, high-tech style.

He does something that, up until I saw him for the first time this summer, I’m not sure I even knew existed. It’s called looping, and while my description does not do it any creative justice, it is basically the process of recording the live song in individual parts, and then playing them simultaneously or at random through a pedal board. For anyone who hasn’t witnessed this in person, it’s incredible.

Penn State students would have had the opportunity to see this phenomenon at work this winter as Carpenter played SPA’s Noontime Concert Series, but he only played acoustic. This however, was not his choice. Almost all of Carpenter’s gear was stolen from his van in Brooklyn, New York in November, leaving him to continue his shows with only an acoustic guitar. Despite the tragic situation, Carpenter often jokes about the thieves taking all of his t-shirts, and recommends that anyone in New York should be on the lookout for a gang wearing “Lucas Carpenter” tees. He has since been able to raise funds for some new equipment.

The show was held at the Biever residence in State College, also the location of the Singing Onstage performance and training studio. Before Carpenter, the band Curbside Shenanigans played a set that included great covers of both the Killers and Panic! At the Disco.

Here’s Lucas Carpenter performing “Try so Hard” at Friday’s show:

Show Lucas Carpenter some love by visiting his Facebook page and “liking” it. Also, consider donating to him on Feed the Muse and help him pay for the rest of the equipment lost during the robbery.