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| ‘The Spot’ hosts performance
showcase |
Stephanie
Marshall
Entertainment Beat |
The Music and Entertainment
Industry Student Association (MEISA) is sponsoring a Performer’s
Showcase Saturday at The Spot.
The showcase will be composed of five finalist bands, according
to a press release.
MEISA promotes bands that are not well known by the public, freshman
Tammy A. Hsu, a member of MEISA’s promotions committee, said
Monday.
MEISA has been planning this event since last summer, Hsu said.
To narrow the selection down to the five finalists, the entire club
got together and listened to the demo tapes sent in from all the
different types of bands, Hsu said.
The only restriction on entering the contest was one of the band
members had to have a valid Appalachian State University I.D., she
said.
“MEISA voted by tally on Jan. 22, and the five finalist bands
were posted on Jan. 24,” Hsu said.
The five finalist bands include Bum’s Lie, One Truth Freedom,
Bullettrane, Zenith Cadillac and Clint Alphin, according to the
press release.
Bum’s Lie is a reggae band, One Truth Freedom is a pop rock
band, Bullettrane is a ska band, Zenith Cadillac plays funk fusion
and Clint Alphin is an acoustic electric songwriter, senior MEISA
President Edward E. Brunson said Monday.
MEISA tried but was unable to sponsor the Performer’s Showcase
last year due to miscommunication with music technology professor
Michael S. Fleming, engineer and head of the Robert F. Gilley Recording
Studio, Brunson said.
This year MEISA talked with Fleming early enough to reserve the
recording studio for the winner of the Performer’s Showcase,
Brunson said.
The five bands will be competing for a slot in the March or April
MEISA monthly concert series and a professional demo recorded at
Appalachian’s Mariam Cannon Hayes School of Music, according
to the press release.
“We did everything we needed to do to get them a high-quality
demo to shop for a record deal,” Brunson said.
MEISA has combined the December songwriter showcase with the April
demo contest into the one Performer’s Showcase, Brunson said.
MEISA searched all over Boone and the High Country for a place to
hold the event.
The Spot is affordable, professional and has enough room for people
to have a good time, Brunson said.
“It has a very nice stage, lighting and sound quality,”
Brunson said.
The Spot’s owner, Norman Bedford, has done a lot with MEISA
and has been very patient and understanding, Brunson said.
Judges will be Fleming, Telaina Odom, former member of MEISA and
the entertainment agent for Caribbean Cafe, a senator from the Student
Government Association, the president or vice president of Appalachian
Popular Programming Society (A.P.P.S.) and Stephanie Marshall, entertainment
writer for The Appalachian, Brunson said.
This event for music majors is a credited concert that will count
toward their semester concert total, Brunson said.
“This is an annual event that has changed in complexions,”
Dr. Arthur E. Unsworth, MEISA faculty advisor, said Monday.
The funding for the Performer’s Showcase comes from money that
has been building up in the MEISA treasury, Unsworth said.
The showcase will start at 10 p.m. Admission is $5 at the door.
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| Weekend Excursion back in Boone,
at Legends tonight |
Stephanie
Marshall
Entertainment Beat |
Appalachian
Popular Programming Society (APPS) is starting the second semester
off with a bang, bringing a band to Appalachian State University
whose members once were Appalachian students themselves.
Weekend Excursion, consisting of Appalachian
alumni, is coming to Legends tonight.
Weekend Excursion is a popular, fun band that
always puts on a good show that brings in the crowd, Peter D.
Van Schoick, stage shows chairperson, said Tuesday.
Weekend Excursion’s members include, but
are not limited to, lead guitarist and backing vocalist Chris
Groch, rhythm guitarist and backing vocalist Jeff Foxworth and
drummer and backing vocalist Cas Edmunds, according to the Weekend
Excursion Web site. This Raleigh-based band
got its start in 1995 while the members were still seniors in
high school. Their first show was held in Edmunds’ basement.
According to their official Web site, that year they ended up
making a demo tape that was sold in a local dentist’s office.
After graduation the band headed off to become
students at Appalachian. When they received an overwhelming response
to their demo tape, they brought in John Plymale to record their
debut, self-titled CD, according to their Web site.
From then on, the band was forced into juggling
its time between school and weekend tours. The time paid off because
they again recorded with Plymale in 1998 for a second EP, “Five
to Six.”
While at Appalachian, Weekend Excursion was
involved with the fraternity scene, Van Schoick said.
After college, the band went on to record their
third EP, released in 2000, called “Radioactive,” which
would become one of North Carolina’s hottest sellers released
that year. The band also spread their touring radius from Florida
to Washington, D.C., according to their biography on the Web site.
In 2001, violinist Mike Ferry announced that
he would be leaving the band, which was a shock to all, including
the other band members, according to www.SamHillbands.com.
Mike Ferry left the band to go to graduate
school at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Van
Schoick said.
Weekend Excursion recently released their debut
with The Redeye label called “Take Me Home.”
This new release is the first song-writing
contribution of Fisher and the first without the violin work of
Ferry, according to the Web site.
“Kick off the new semester with a party,
Weekend Excursion style,” Van Schoick said.
The tickets are $7 in advance and are being
sold at the information desk in W.H. Plemmons Student Union or
$9 at the door.
The show starts at 9 p.m. with an age limit
of 18 years or older. |
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