Homecoming: Behind the Scenes

Hello blogosphere! The music committee is absolutely thrilled that Rogue Wave and the Ting Tings agreed to play at William and Mary, but I want to take this chance to give everyone a closer look at the process that went into booking them.

The music booking industry, as I'm sure many of you know, is complicated and at times really quite frustrating. We've been discussing the Homecoming show for four months and putting in offers to bands for the past three. As a committee, we always strive to: 1) ensure that we bring W&M a spectacular event, and 2) appeal, whenever possible, to sections of the campus that have not been represented by our past acts. Being turned down several times before finally having an offer work out is an entirely routine part of this process.

We put in several offers this fall that were declined (whether due to scheduling conflicts, our low budget, or various other factors). Spoon, M.I.A., Old Crow Medicine Show, Rilo Kiley, Girl Talk, Flobots, Michelle Branch, Death Cab for Cutie, De La Soul, and the Cool Kids all turned us down. De La Soul even did so twice. This is nothing to take personally in the music business, it happens to every venue all the time.

In addition to formal offers that were turned down, we also contacted agents about well over 100 other bands that students routinely request. The agents were able to tell us right away that these bands were unavailable. Among these were: The Decemberists Fleet Foxes, the National, Ben Folds, Sarah Bareilles, Sufjan Stevens, State Radio, Eric Church, Matt Nathanson, Feist, Andrew Bird, My Morning Jacket, All American Rejects, Matisyahu, Queens of the Stone Age, Robert Randolph, the North Mississippi Allstars, Gavin Degraw, the Hold Steady + the Drive by Truckers. The simple fact is that 95% of bands we contact agents about are either unavailable or uninterested.

This blog post, though it might seem a bit glum, isn’t. These are the realities of the music booking industry, and UCAB has been coping with them for years. Keep giving us feedback, and we’ll keep trying our absolute hardest to bring what you want to William and Mary! It’s taken hours and hours of work and frustration to arrive at Rogue Wave and the Ting Tings, but we are ecstatic with the result.

Stay tuned: next week I may have an announcement about a show later in the semester. If I don’t, expect a post about who I think would win a battle between the greatest musicians of all time: Bruce Springsteen and Prince.

sean o'mealia

Parent's Weekend UCAB Free Family Fun!

Are your parents coming to visit this weekend and you don't know what do do? Here are some UCAB events that would be fun for the fam. Plus, all these events are free!

Friday:
Fridays @ 5: Steel Train, SC Terrace
Slam Poet Bassey Ikpi. 9PM Lodge 1

Saturday:
Street Fair: 11AM-1PM. SC Terrace. Inflatables, air brush tattoos, cotton candy, and carnival games! Perfect place to go before the football game.

See you out there!

Announcing the UCAB Interns 2008-2009!

First of all, I just want to thank everyone who applied this year for the UCAB intern committeee. You all were great, and it was so hard to pick just a dozen or so. That being said, congratulations to our newest members and welcome! We have our work cut out for us this year, but if anyone could plan about 9 events in a month for this semester and next, we can!

UCAB will now be graced with the presence of sophomores Roshni Uttamsingh, Anne Foster, and Brian O'Donnell and freshmen Caitlin Floyd, Lina Yeh, Ashley Newell, Ella Carroll-Smith, Jason Gangwer, Andrew Fickley, Kevin McCrory, Kelsey Conway, Lora Faris, and Olyvia Salyer!

If you can't tell, I'm pumped about this group of people and know they will be a valuable addition to the organization as a whole!

~Taylor, Intern Coordinator

THANK YOU!!!

The comedy committee had our first big show of the year on Friday with Rob Riggle, from the Daily Show. Thank you to everyone who came out and made the event a success! We had a huge turnout, which means that in the future we will be able to bring more exciting and big comedians to campus. I especially loved the huge graduate student turnout we had at the event! Rob was hilarious, as was his opener, Adam Lowitt. Adam actually is one of the executive producers for the Daily Show (little known fact) and was able to impart to our students a few pointers on how to get started in his line of work. Both Adam and Rob were incredibly nice, and loved the campus so much that they volunteered to do a Q and A after the show.

Again, thanks to everyone who helped out and came to the show! We hope you enjoyed it! If you loved Rob Riggle, hit up our next show on October 18th- Rip Michaels in Lodge 1.

Interested in Travel?? Get Lost with Doug Lansky!!

Are you interested in travel? Studying abroad? Have you ever thought about taking a trip around the world or a crazy road trip across the good 'ol U. S. of A? If you have, then you are in luck! UCAB is bringing travel expert, Rough Guides and Lonely Planet author Doug Lansky to campus this THURSDAY September 25th at 8pm in the SC Commonwealth. He brings an informative and humorous look at travel and provides excellent tips and advice to students looking to get their feet wet in the world. Barnes and Noble will be selling some of his books after the show. Hope to see you there tomorrow night! It's FREE!

On another note, the Contemporary and Cultural Issues Committee is planning for speakers and events for the Spring. What do you want to see on campus? What issues are hot topics right now that you want the campus to get more involved in?? What speakers do you want to listen to?? Let UCAB know and we'll try our hardest to provide it for you!

UCAB Love,
Clara -- Contemporary and Cultural Issues Chair

Homecoming show announcement!

Finally! After months of anticipation, UCAB has booked a Homecoming show! We over here in UCAB HQ are ecstatic. On October 25th, Lake Matoaka Amphitheater will host not one, but two great bands!

Rogue Wave, the headliners, are an awesome live act and a great pop band. Gorgeous harmonies meet soulful vocals meet laid-back grooves -- this is exciting stuff. They've toured recently with The Decemberists, Jack Johnson, Death Cab for Cutie, and Guster, among many others. Rogue Wave songs have recently been featured in Scrubs, the O.C., Heroes, and the Napoleon Dynamite soundtrack. Check them out, you'll love them!

Equally exciting are The Tings Tings, our opening act. "Shut up and let me go" has been getting a ton of radio play and just won "Best UK Video" at the MTV Video Music Awards. Their debut album "We Started Nothing" was #1 on the UK charts this past summer, as was their other awesome single "Great DJ". The Ting Tings have exploded over in Europe and are on the cusp of doing so in America; we're unbelievably lucky to have them.

Two outstanding up-and-coming bands FREE with a William and Mary student ID. Homecoming in Williamsburg: what an incredible tradition!

Intern Developments

Hi, guys! This is just to let everyone know that the intern application window has closed. We have 19 great candidates, and interviews will be over by Wednesday, September 24th. Stay tuned to meet the newest members of UCAB!

~Taylor, Trusty Intern Coordinator