Dan Reimold

Boom Box Guy JJ has been a University of South Carolina staple since spring 2004.

For roughly a decade, Jeremiah Shepherd has pursued his undergraduate and graduate degrees while "simultaneously [making] himself into a campus-wide sensation with his ever-present boom box."

Shepherd, 28, has regularly wandered across the USC campus blasting music from an "old beat-up boom box" once owned by a bricklayer.

He said the quirky musical performances -- often carried out via cassette mix tapes or the radio -- began as a joint venture with his friend Elliot.

When the pair first enrolled at the university, he said they were "saddened at the lack of craziness and characters we both assumed were going to be a hallmark of college life."



According to Shepherd, "There were a few people who were strange but for the most part everyone was serious or hanging on their telephone. One day we found a boom box and we thought it would be fun if we could walk this dinosaur of technology around. Mostly we wanted to give something to talk about, and we were prepared to dare to be stupid."

Far from stupid, the pair's dare almost immediately began making people's day.

"Our original thought was that everyone was going to hate it because it was so obnoxious, and we were going to have to leave like a bat out of hell," said Shepherd, a native of Clover, S.C. "However, we found that people absolutely liked it, loved it and wanted some more of it. Walking by most people we were able to break those chains and make them happy. Sure there were some that wanted us dead or alive, and there still are, but we found that if we could make folks happy, then it was worth it."

Since becoming "the sole bearer of the boom box" in 2005, Shepherd has experienced a range of ups and downs. He said the boom box has blessed him with business opportunities, research collaborations, dramatic weight loss (from the walking and boom box lifting), frequent party invitations, fast-forming and long-lasting friendships, "unexpected celebrity" and occasional hero worship.

At the same time, he has been threatened, beaten, nearly arrested for noise violations, mistaken as "some weird homeless guy" and banned from a few local bars, restaurants and clothing stores.

All the negatives, however, take a backseat to a perfectly chosen song.

Shepherd's standout memory as Boom Box Guy JJ occurred one afternoon at USC while he was walking to class. Noticing a crowd, he momentarily lowered the volume on the boom box radio.

"We had this very opinionated preacher that would constantly spew fire, damnation and said all the students were on the highway to hell," he said. "I knew of this person, and I saved a special tape just for him. I popped it in, walked to the front of the crowd and started blasting ‘Why Can’t We Be Friends’ by War. There was a joyful eruption from the crowd. People were swinging, swaying and dancing in the street. All was great, until a police officer walked up and pulled me away. When we got around the block, he burst into laughter and said that was great but he didn't want anything to escalate. I laughed and said that's fine, and continued on my way. It was the best day ever."

"Why Can’t We Be Friends" is one of Shepherd's favorites, but it pales to the love he holds for "I Ran (So Far Away)" by A Flock of Seagulls.

He said the 1982 anthem was the first song he blasted on the boom box. A few months from now, it will also be one of the last.

In August, after more than 10 years and a ton of tunes, Shepherd is set to receive his Ph.D. in computer science and officially close out his studies at USC. At around that time, he also plans to perform "the last dance of Boom Box Guy."

Yet, he hopes even after he permanently lowers the boom box volume, his music man persona and its larger meaning continues to resonate with individuals brave enough to “dare to be stupid.”

As he wrote in a Facebook post to his friends and fans late last semester, "One thing I know for sure is I will always be your Boom Box Guy, because the spirit of the boom box will always live on. Every one of you has that spirit. The side of you that stops caring about what others think and can fearlessly walk to your own song. The part of you that can pause, forget about your troubles for a moment and make another person smile. The piece of you that chooses neither right nor wrong, but chooses what is awesome. I expressed these by hoisting a boom box onto my shoulder and carrying it around week after week for years. I encourage all of you to express that part of yourself in your own way. That is the spirit of the boom box, and that will live on forever."

Dan Reimold, Ph.D., is a college journalism scholar who has written and presented about the student press throughout the U.S. and in Southeast Asia. He is an assistant professor of journalism at Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia, where he also advises The Hawk student newspaper. He is the author of Journalism of Ideas (Routledge, 2013) and maintains the student journalism industry blog College Media Matters. A complete list of Campus Beat articles is here.



This story originally appeared on the USA TODAY College blog, a news source produced for college students by student journalists. The blog closed in September of 2017.