Last spring, the Campus Events Commission was riding high. Fresh
off the success of spring shows by artists such as The Roots, The
Walkmen and Xiu Xiu, the commission booked a plethora of shows for
this past fall, continuing to satisfy the student demand for live
music.
Now, one year later, Campus Events is closing the year in a
different fashion. Problems with budget constraints, artist
scheduling and booking prevented the commission from closing the
year with the flourish it did 12 months ago, but in spite of these
difficulties, Campus Events was still able to deliver a compelling
year of live performances.
“There weren’t a lot (of concerts) spring quarter,
but in the last two last quarters we had 10 concerts in 10 weeks
and the (quarter) before that, six,” said outgoing Concerts
Director Daniel Lopez. “NYU has their concert series ““
they have about four or five concerts a year, and they also charge
$7. You have to appreciate that you are getting all these free
concerts.”
Campus Events kicked off the year with the annual Bruin Bash,
which encountered far fewer problems than the previous year’s
incarnation. Pennywise was scheduled to headline Bruin Bash in
September 2004, but its booking fell through at the last minute and
the band was replaced by Wild Child, a The Doors tribute band, to
the disappointment of many. This year, however, Campus Events was
able to secure rapper Common and rock group Thrice.
“Although I didn’t get to see the show much,
I’ve gotten to the point where the enjoyment comes from
seeing others have fun and enjoy themselves,” said outgoing
Campus Events Commissioner Jason Kaminsky, who produced Bruin
Bash.
However, also unlike last year, this spring quarter did not
close out with a large end-of-the-year concert. In 2005, Campus
Events and the Cultural Affairs Commission teamed up to bring The
Roots to a crowded Bruin Plaza. Instead, this year ended with a
series of smaller concerts by lesser-known artists such as
Aceyalone, Moving Units and Phantom Planet.
The commission tried to compensate for the lack of a big
year-end show through programs such as the Spencer Tracy Award
show, which honored actor Morgan Freeman, and the Jack Benny Award
show, which brought director Kevin Smith to UCLA.
Part of the reason for the smaller programs were budget
constraints. Campus Events gets a set amount of funds for all the
films, concerts and speakers it brings to campus. However, this
year the allocation of funds was not what the commission was
accustomed to dealing with.
“We didn’t have the sort of funds that we had when
we had The Roots,” Lopez said. “Unfortunately, we
didn’t have that huge show.”
Finding cheap bands that also provide quality entertainment is
one of the hardest jobs for Campus Events employees. Each staffer
acts as an agent who tries to book acts within a limited
budget.
“A lot of small bands that we had this year seem to be
blowing up ““ Architecture in Helsinki, Diplo and Moving
Units,” Lopez said.
Another band, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, failed to perform its
fall show because of a miscommunication regarding musical gear. The
band was, however, indicative of the types of indie-centric acts
that have historically performed in Campus Events concerts.
Although there were a few groups from other genres, most of the
acts booked this year were of the indie rock persuasion. There were
some sought-after acts that fell through, due to costs or the
artist not being available in the L.A. area at the time. Among the
acts the commission tried in vain to book this year were Death Cab
For Cutie (for Bruin Bash) and Gnarls Barkley, which wanted more
money than Campus Events could offer.
In spite of these budgetary issues, Campus Events hopes to
continue offering intriguing programming options to UCLA
students.
“This year we had a lot of smaller events, more
up-and-coming acts, more indie crap,” said Eric Chao,
incoming Concerts Director. “Next year, I want to try to
bring a different mix ““ more bigger name acts. It’s the
nature of working with a college budget ““ trying to find a
balance between more expensive, better-known bands and (less)
generally known bands.”
Although they are only in the preliminary stages and nothing is
confirmed, Chao and next year’s staff are in contact with
Death Cab For Cutie and The Strokes to see if they will play at
next year’s Bruin Bash.
Despite its problems, both Lopez and Kaminsky were content with
this year’s programming.
“I thought we had a very successful fall and winter
quarter. At the end of this year, we were able to get three major
bands,” Kaminsky said. “I’m pretty pleased with
that.”