Many UCLA students spent their summers relaxing or barely
scraping by in summer school. Jason Kaminsky, Todd Hawkins and the
Campus Events and Cultural Affairs commissions had more on their
minds: providing a good first impression for incoming students and
a memorable kick-off celebration for all of UCLA at this
year’s Welcome Week concert during the Bruin Bash event.
However, this proved to be anything but easy to pull off.
“There’s no doubt I got more sleep during the school
year than I did all summer,” said Hawkins, the Cultural
Affairs commissioner, referring to the immense around-the-clock
planning and preparation for the concert, which will take place
today at 7 p.m. at UCLA’s Los Angeles Tennis Center with
co-headliners Thrice and Common.
Campus Events Commissioner Kaminsky concurred.
“I was making phone calls and answering e-mails (about
Bruin Bash) even while I was studying abroad in Hong Kong this
summer,” Kaminsky said.
Both commissions began brainstorming ideas for headlining acts
as far back as May, even before the Jazz/Reggae Festival. Among
some of the names thrown around, aside from Common and Thrice, were
Keane, the Von Bondies and Kings of Leon, but many didn’t
progress beyond the brainstorming stage due to financial or
logistical dead ends. Of course, this did not quell the rumor
mill.
“It’s really fascinating how fast word can
travel,” said Kaminsky. “We would merely mention a name
in a meeting and suddenly everyone would be talking about it and be
saying, “˜Hey, did you hear who’s playing for Welcome
Week?'”
Of course, Hawkins and Kaminsky know full well how delicate and
frustrating it can be to get everything to come together at the
right time.
“Our jobs aren’t over until after about 2 a.m., when
the artists are not only finished playing, but also off-campus and
back at home,” Hawkins said. “As long as they’re
on campus, they’re our responsibility.”
The intensive planning and attention to detail is important,
because due to the nature of negotiating and putting together such
a large concert with high-profile acts, a lot can go wrong in a
short period of time. Last year, Pennywise was supposed to headline
the Welcome Week concert but ended up getting pulled after
misgivings by the university at the last minute. The commissions
had to scramble to find a replacement, which ended up being the
Doors tribute band Wild Child.
This year was not without its share of panicked cancellations.
Dan Lopez, the Campus Events concerts director, was heavily
involved in finding a headliner for Bruin Bash and, at one point,
it appeared he had helped score a big name for the event: Seth
Cohen’s favorite band, Death Cab For Cutie.
“Since I didn’t have class at the beginning of
summer, I had a lot of time to devote to trying to book Death Cab
for the show,” Lopez said.
Lopez had completed every aspect of the concert booking process,
which began with coming up with a band that he enjoyed and felt
students would as well, and then contacting the band’s agent.
After this, Lopez and the commission sent a proposal and it
appeared everything was on track.
Unfortunately, the release date of Death Cab For Cutie’s
new album, “Plans,” changed, and the band was forced to
shuffle its schedule and pull out of the Bruin Bash show just a few
weeks prior. However, this year, there was enough notice, and the
commissions were able to still put something intriguing
together.
“When Death Cab fell through it was pretty heartbreaking
for me, but it happened early enough that it allowed me to focus on
other things,” Lopez said. “We started working on shows
for the fall, and in Thrice and Common we were able to get
headliners that everyone will enjoy, so we’re happy that
things worked out in the end.”
With Bruin Bash, both commissions hope to do more than simply
put on a fun show, though that remains the main goal.
“We hope we can create a safe environment for students to
come to and meet new people and enjoy top-of-the-line
entertainment,” Kaminsky said.
“We really hope to build Bruin Bash into a tradition and
get it to the point where people know that it’s coming every
year.”
After Bruin Bash, Campus Events has a series of shows booked for
fall quarter, including Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Architecture in
Helsinki, The Hold Steady and Diplo, among others, in both the
Cooperage and Bruin Plaza.
Lopez hopes students have good experiences at Bruin Bash and
will be encouraged to check out some of these shows and gain some
trust in Campus Events’ choice of acts.
“We’re covering our bases well (with Bruin Bash)
““ since it’s free and you can enter whenever you want,
you can see one or both of the acts if you don’t like rap or
rock,” Lopez said.
“Normally you’d want to avoid that when planning a
show, but in this case everyone will be able to find something that
they like.”
For more information on this week’s events, visit the
Welcome Week Web site at www.welcomeweek.ucla.edu.