Brittany Ballantyne
Equinox Staff
As fall makes its way to Keene State, so does Pumpkin Fest, Pumpkin Lobotomy, and the Social Activities Council fall concert. Performing their electro-beats this year on the Mabel Brown Room stage are artists The Cataracs and Timeflies. The Cataracs are known for their song with the artists of Far East Movement, “Like a G-6,” as well as “Dancing in the Dark,” “Bass Down Low,” and “Top of the World.”
They are classified as an American hip-hop indie-pop group from California. Timeflies has a few popular songs of their own as well, including “Cars, Money, and Fame,” “Detonate,” and “Turn it Up.”
Colleen Butler, SAC’s concert coordinator, talked about just how much goes into planning this event and seeing the event through.
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Butler says in order to book artists, she contacts an agent and “basically I let him know the date of the concert and throw ideas at him [the agent], I can say what genre and he’ll tell me if they’re available and how much they are. If I want to go forth with getting them, we have contracts and all of that. He’s kind of the middle man so it’s more professional. They’re [the artists] more likely to answer an agent than a college student.”
This event has been in the making since it was first discussed in July of last academic year. Butler said many steps go into this process including security, hospitality, preparing the green room for artists with food and anything else they may want, and transportation. Technical aspects of setting up the show include lights and sounds checks.
“I basically have to make sure artists are there on time, that it’s running smoothly, and keep it on track,” Butler said.
Butler said these artists were chosen “because I wanted to do something different than what we’ve had in the past, I wanted to try something electronic because it’s really popular right now among the college campus.”
Erin Zoellick, also of SAC, had proposed Timeflies as a special guest. Zoellick said she has been listening to Timeflies since the summer and feels they have great potential.
“My little brother’s best friend made me listen to them all summer and we were joking, ‘What if they came to Keene?’ When our first opener backed out, I showed them to Colleen,” Zoellick said.
Butler said Timeflies was much cheaper to book than she had thought. She also said at the time they were booked, Timeflies was not as big and pointed out that they have been getting even bigger since.
The original opening artist unfortunately did not work out, Butler said. Mash-up DJs known as Super Mash Bros had been in contact with SAC about putting a show on at KSC but did not give definite answers in the time necessary to book them. The artists were unsure of going on any tours this year due to working on a new album.
“I had to make a decision, I needed to act now,” Butler said.
“People don’t realize they know who is coming until you tell them the songs they [the artists] have,” Butler said.
“Even if you don’t know the artists, it’s still gonna be fun because it’s like a dance party,” Butler said, adding that “if you like that kind of music you don’t need to know the artist to enjoy it, the atmosphere is fun-it’s something different than we’ve ever had before.”
She also said, “I feel like the concert coordinators in the past did the concert music that they liked, their preference,” and spoke of the spring weekend concert of last year.
For that concert, Butler said, “We all just threw out our ideas and had a brainstorming session, we put surveys online about the genre but not everybody [of the student body] answers. Some just ‘ex-out’ and don’t think about it.”
The outcome of that survey and brainstorming session was the genre of hip-hop, which was the beginnings of Lupe Fiasco and Sam Adams putting on a show on the KSC campus.
“For those students who might have been disappointed in the past, if you join SAC you have a huge say,” Butler said.
She spoke of how she “mentioned Lupe and Sam and it ended up happening!” and said, “What we put online really does make a difference.”
When asked what she was most excited about with the fall concert, Zoellick said, “The chance to meet them and I’ve been listening to them for so long and I want them to do well, I want other people to like them just as much as I do.”
“I’m just so excited! I’ve been giddy since she [Butler] got the contrac,t” Zoellick said and referred to Timeflies as a baseball team she is rooting for.
Sophomore Carissa Ackroyd talked about how she felt last year’s spring concert that she attended went.
“I liked how tickets were cheap and how the gym was set up with all different people, and we got to see them playing basketball beforehand. It was really cool to have someone famous on campus just chilling and playing basketball!”
As much as she liked the concert, she said she “didn’t like how long we had to wait for the concert outside; it was really cold!”
Ackroyd spoke of The Cataracs and Timeflies and said, “I don’t really know who they are but I also didn’t know a lot of Lupe songs before the [spring] concert but I had a lot of fun. They’re really fun and even if people don’t know who is starring in the concert they should still go.”
Acroyd says this concert “gets people on campus to have a good opportunity and experience, I know a lot of people like different kinds of music.”
Butler said, “It’s my first experience running a concert in this position. I’m excited to be able to hear them and it’s really gonna give me a lot of experience and knowledge.”
Butler plans on getting involved in music management when she graduates from KSC.
When asked why she felt students should purchase the fall concert tickets, Ackroyd said, “I feel like they should buy tickets because this is a once in a lifetime opportunity to be at college and buy tickets this cheap. The atmosphere is really awesome, everyone’s so close because it’s in such a small gymnasium. It’s like front row seats for $5! I feel like it seems more up close, you’re not all the way back in a huge stadium, you can see them [performers] from everywhere.”
Tickets go on sale for $5 for KSC students on Monday, Oct. 31 and Tuesday, Nov. 1 in the Student Center and will be available for purchase online on these dates as well. Each student is allowed two tickets for this price. General public tickets are $20 if tickets don’t run out before they are on sale on Monday, Nov. 7 and Tuesday, Nov. 8 from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. in the Student Center.
Brittany Ballantyne can be contacted at bballantyne@ksc.mailcruiser.com