Correction Appended
For the fourth year in a row, UCLA students can look forward to
two well-known musical acts playing for free during Bruin Bash
tonight at the Los Angeles Tennis Center. But just because
they’re playing for free doesn’t mean they came easy.
Campus Events and Cultural Affairs, the two student commissions
responsible for booking the acts, will present L.A. pop-rockers
Rooney and rapper Xzibit. The two student groups secured their
artists only in the last few weeks, abnormally late for the Bruin
Bash concert. The lateness was not caused by lack of effort on the
part of the organizers, however. “I’ve been working on
artists since April,” said Hawkins, who is also last
year’s Cultural Affairs commissioner. “It goes from
having an artist who’s going to do it to them saying they
can’t do it. We’ve had times where we thought we were
getting Justin Timberlake for cheap, then his manager cancels the
next day.” The difficulties encountered by Campus Events and
the Cultural Affairs Commission point not to student laziness or
procrastination, but rather to broader changes in how musicians are
promoted and where they seek exposure. “(Mainstream artists)
are not playing to colleges as much as they used to because the
entertainment industry has become saturated,” Hawkins said.
“There are so many more opportunities to get promotions or
draw a crowd. Like iTunes ““ that’s promotion right
there before the album even hits. They don’t need (to see)
that young demographic anymore because they’re already
reaching it before actually coming to a university.” The
reduced reliance on college crowds for publicity means that
universities must put up more money than ever to get big-name
artists ““ money that an already cash-strapped public
institution such as UCLA might not necessarily be able to front.
“Bands that are popular ask for extraordinary amounts of
money,” said Zorina Chen, special events director for Campus
Events. “(The challenge was) finding the perfect balance of a
band that was big enough to enjoy but that wouldn’t use all
of our funds. We wanted a band that was young, upbeat and that
people had heard of. Rooney is a pretty well-known band for our age
group.” Ravi Dehar, the Campus Events commissioner, said that
the two commissions even considered pooling their financial
resources in order to attract a single more well-known act, but
ultimately decided against it. “We’ve toyed with the
idea of combining our budgets and booking one artist, but that
artist may only play for the same amount of time as one of the two
artists otherwise,” Dehar said. Additionally, part of the
overall purpose of the event is for the commissions to work
together in order to give students a good time. “Last year,
we were able to help each other and make sure the show’s
artists complemented each other. We’ve done a good job in
making sure that continued this year,” Hawkins said.
“Both commissions need each other in terms of putting on the
event. When you see the artists we submit, they’re different
because we try to cover the spectrum (of taste) of the university
as much as possible.” According to Hawkins, increased funds
must come from somewhere if UCLA is to continue hosting a
high-quality, free event featuring popular artists with
wide-ranging appeal. He alluded to Black Sunday, the
fraternity-hosted block party that fell victim to overcrowding and
was replaced by the Bruin Bash concert in 2003, as an example of
why the commissions need more resources. “What we’re
going to have to do is ride on the university harder to get more
support,” Hawkins said. “This event is obviously meant
to get students off the streets. If (the university) wants to get
the people off the streets, they need to financially support it. I
would hope we can get some corporate sponsorship also. …
We’re offering $15,000 or $20,000 to an artist. USC is
offering $50,000 or $100,000.” Chen, who handled sponsorship
for Bruin Bash, agreed that having more financial support would
make booking acts easier, but was wary of opening the event up too
much to corporate aid. “I think there would be pros and cons
to having more money,” Chen said. “We could get bigger
bands, but we don’t want to sell out and exploit the
students. If you have a company that gives you a lot of money, they
think they can have control over the event.” It may have been
more of a struggle than ever for Campus Events and the Cultural
Affairs Commission to line up artists this year, but Dehar, for
one, was able to bring some good news out of the dead ends.
“We came in contact with a lot of other bands we wanted to
play but who couldn’t, so now we have a lot of concerts lined
up that are bigger names than normal because we were able to find
them earlier,” he said. And despite the difficulties involved
in getting the concert bill together, organizers are still excited
for an event where students get to enjoy big-name entertainment at
a no-name price. “I want students to say, “˜We feel good
we come to UCLA,'” said Hawkins. “There’s
this whole week of different events happening, especially for new
students and transfer students. The feeling of “˜Oh, I’m
nervous’ changes when you’re in a comfort zone and
you’re entertained.”