Midvale Magic

Six days out of the week, Taylor Fugit’s apartment at 447 1/2 Midvale looks like any other.

But come Friday night, black lights will reveal the words “Midvale Sessions” painted on the wall, while more than 100 people, most of them UCLA students, pack into the apartment to experience one of the area’s newest concert series.

Midvale Sessions, which takes place on Friday night of every other week beginning Week 2 of the quarter, is the brainchild of four Bruins: Fugit, a third-year ethnomusicology student, Matthew Flesock, a third-year history and geography/environmental studies student, Aaron Rabkin, a third-year history student, and David Chong, an alumnus.

Midvale Sessions originated from an idea for a campus talent showcase for Fugit and Rabkin’s show on UCLAradio.com.

But the idea remained a distant fantasy until the fall of 2010, when Flesock, Rabkin and Fugit moved into an apartment together, which they thought would provide the perfect venue for their proposed shows.

“I was just sitting at home over winter break thinking, “˜We really have to do this,'” Fugit said.