Bet you thought we were dead, huh?

Welp, it's over.  IT'S ALL F*CKING OVER!!  NO MORE FEST, NO MORE RESTLESS NIGHTS, NO MORE MIDDAY SPRINTS TO THE OFFICE TO CHECK EMAIL!

Just kidding.  Almost everything is resuming as it has been, just in different forms.  Now my FEST consists of tying up loose ends and preparing for next year, the restless nights are now attributed to finals, I guess the only thing that has really changed are midday sprints to the library to make sure I get my hands on books that have finally re-surfaced from the inter-library loan system.

The concert went amazingly, shockingly well.  According to the talent it was the smoothest a college show has gone and I have absolutely zero reservations about putting Wiz or Chromeo on my resume as recommendations. Hopefully pictures will soon come, especially the one of me with my arms wrapped around Dave 1. I think I held on a little too long for his comfort,  but the combination of his leather jacket, his cologne and his overall french-speaking demeanor said "Hold on and inhale creepily" rather than "Let go at the appropriate time".


I have to say thank you to everyone that helped make it happen, and I also want to share a series of my favorite victorious moments in movie history that I think really help show my gratitude.

So, graduation happens in less than a week.  There has been a lot of discussion as to what will happen with this blog because we've garnered quite a few readers and we're not entirely sure what we will do. Who knows where racketsoup will go?  Will it stay with the DAB office?  Will it continue with me to New York City?  Will it magically end up over there in Australia? (Yeah, I see you guys reading this about 7 times a day, I plan on making a trip down there soon...)

To be continued...

OH MY GAWWWWW EEZ TOMORROW

Crazy week so far... 

-Tying up loose ends with travel arrangements with Wiz, Chromeo and Hood Internet
-Making sure we have credentials for all of the volunteers/staff
-Getting Hospitality ready
-Dealing with onslaught of special passes requests (don't worry, they are told no)
-Checking the weather every hour on the hour
-annndddd starting finals papers.

Right now I'm about to jet off to get laminates and some more last minute stuff.  For those of you reading this there is free ice cream in the atrium today AND Chipotle coupons, please make sure to arrive early as I am working it and those happen to be two of my favorite things (I can only practice self restraint as long as the medication allows me to).

SEE YOU TOMORROW!

RL

The final countdown...

In exactly one week, there will be a stage constructed on the Quad and in exactly one week and one day, there will be a concert on that stage.

I can't WAIT, but there is still a lot to be done and in the wise words of Rebecca Black time is "tickin' on and on".

Right now we're organizing volunteers, setting up hospitality food/car orders, taking care of last minute plan changes, sacrificing small animals to the weather gods in hopes of sunshine and dealing with what has apparently been deemed "FEST Ticket-gate, 2011".  I hope there is a t-shirt made out of all of this, where we will make sure to sell one per student id and ration them out 1k per day and make sure seniors get priority.


In other news incase you are wondering what my other-other-other job is, it's choreographing and set-designing for music videos, please take a look at something I did just the other day with my BFF Beyonce.

SOLD OUT

Holy SHIAT.

We sold out in RECORD TIME.  Over 1,500 people lined up yesterday morning to claim their tickets and the line did NOT die down all day.

Naturally there are already people who are pissed, but what can we do?  We have a FIRE CODE to oblige by because if we don't, we get in trouble and FEST can't happen again, which really isn't the goal. Plus, all of the negativity is being negated by the positive- we have an after hours act, the weather is nice, and there will be 4,000 screaming fans in the quad in just 9 or so days AND the Bulls are going to reign the universe.

Make sure to tune in to Radio DePaul this Friday at 2:30 where you can win tickets.

WHY, WHY, WHY!?

Sometimes I question my sanity in becoming the FEST coordinator.  There isn't a second that I'm not thinking about it and it has done what no other task in my life before has done, it has made me lose my appetite.  Normally I feel no shame in eating at least three meals before 11am, but I just found myself staring blankly at the Chipotle menu and not even salivating.  Many are looking forward to May 27th because they will see the likes of Chromeo and Wiz Khalifa on campus, I am looking forward to May 28th because I plan on returning to my normally scheduled snack of a burrito and chips.  The combination of restless nights, hunger and severe anxiety has led me to believe I will morph into Satan in just a few days time, so for those of you who are fated to encounter me... I apologize in advance.

We have an offer out for an after hours act, I understand this is late in the game, please do not voice your concerns silently in your head.  I am aware of how bad that is, but unfortunately that's the way this whole process works sometimes.  If I could have it my way we would have had all of the acts offered and signed back in January so that I could pay attention in my classes and not run in to inanimate objects while walking to school.  I would also have practiced my speech before the Big Reveal instead of getting up there and sounding like a fool, alas, we do NOT get do-overs in life, so I must make the best of it.

I'm about to venture back down onto the ground floor of the Student Center... has anyone else seen the droves of kiddies?  Are they freshmen?

PS- Saw Surfer Blood this weekend... they absolutely KILLED it

Guess who's back?

Yes everyone, I'm still alive. As Rachel has already posted we are more than excited to announce that this year's FEST line up will be Wiz Khalifa and Chromeo! I'm so stoked to be working this event...even though I'm running security. So all of you planning to go all out and bust a Bluto from Animal House....I will find you. In all seriousness though, as long as everyone is ready to have fun and rock out without fainting or puking, we will be cool.

Anyways, at Big Reveal we also announced the winner of Battle of the Bands which was the talented DK and DJ Step. Seems like second time was the charm for this Hip-Hop Duo. They were rolling pretty deep with the DK crew, but it was still a close race. All of the bands are defiantly worth a solid listen to because they were all effin fantastic.

Well...I've had a migraine all day so I'm going to get out of this office and enjoy Star Wars day. May the 4th be with you everyone. Yep...that just happened.

Also be sure to check out the FEST 2011 page for all the latest updates on FEST and FEST related fun!

Adios until next time.

LP

This would be a NO NO!

Wiz et Chromeo

So, we FINALLY revealed two of the acts for FEST 2011 and I am proud to announce that Wiz Khalifa and Chromeo will be playing this year.

Besides being close to a total melt down from nerves during the Big Reveal, I am strangely relaxed right now.  Sure, there are already negative comments, but quite frankly, I know I did as much as I could to get the people there that students wanted to see and with afore-mentioned prices, scheduling conflicts, etc., this is what it is and I am SO looking forward to dancing to Chromeo backstage in between panic attacks and minor/major freak outs.

Tickets go on sale in two weeks so now we are ordering giveaways for the sales and trying to get a schedule set for that.

Hope everyone is having a great week!

RL

Moving day!

Who doesn't love lugging furniture up and down, up and down, up and down until you want to collapse in a fit of exhaustion and frustration?

I always love looking at apartments and imaging what my perfect Better Homes and Gardens layout might be, but in reality our place is full of second hand furniture (complete with questionable stains) and mismatched dish ware.  My roommate and I recently moved in with one of our guy friends, so we will see how the battle of the sexes goes.  Right now we have a collection of Vogue magazines resting against a 7 foot tall action figure from Killzone. Awesome? Yes. Charming? Not so much. But, it's just for the summer so we will see how it plays out.

Anyways, I'm currently sitting at the DAB table selling tickets for our big comedian, Bo Burnham (This Saturday!!) and just got an email saying that our offer for After Hours was denied.  Since we are supposed to reveal our entire line up this Wednesday, it's not such a great thing.  HOWEVER, contracts for the opener and headliner are in, which is who I think most people are concerned with.

We had our Battle of the Bands last night at Lincoln Hall and it was AWESOME.  5 bands that were all completely different from each other sharing the best stage in Chicago, I couldn't have asked for the night to go any smoother.  We will be revealing the winner and presenting the whopping $1,000 check this Wednesday, as well as the student DJ who will be playing in between the opener and the headliner, so make sure to come at 5:30 this Wednesday in the Student Center Atrium if you want a chance to win tickets to FEST!

The DAB office is freaking out...

Why?  Because this Sunday marks the month of May... our seemingly busiest month EVER. 

Where did April go?  Sure, we worked our tuckuses off for most of it... but we barely got to enjoy the April showers that are supposed to bring May flowers and I am NOT happy.  The anxiety of FEST grows stronger every day and the fact that this upcoming week includes 4 midterms, moving day AND Battle of the Bands (SUNDAY !!), my icy little heart can barely take it.  I have already ruined one of my sweaters this morning thanks to excessive sweating during my Berlin midterm and I am sure that it will be the first in a line of many.  For those of you who are thinking "Why doesn't she just wear anti-perspirant"... I do, it's not easy having over-active sweat glands.  And for those of you who are thinking "This is too much information", you're right.

We are just one week and two days away from announcing the line up and I am really, REALLY excited, albeit a bit nervous to hear people's reactions who expected the Black Keys or Kid Cudi to be coming. Yes, we tried to get them, no, they were not available and way, WAY too much money (think Aston Martin V12 Vanquish price range).

Anyways, we will be announcing the bands chosen to compete at Battle this Sunday as SOON as we can, there were a TON of submissions, so we want to make sure we get through all of them. 

Until next time..

RL

Reunited and it feels SO good

Ah, home.  Each of us has our own idea as to what home is.  For some, it is sitting around a large table for family dinner, for others, it's a fun day out at the zoo and for my family, it is polishing our gun collection and having target practice while sampling brie and wine (we keep the backwoods classy).  Living in the middle of the woods has its benefits.  Sure, growing up I was always disappointed because while my friends were able to walk to each others houses in the suburbs, I was contained by a river and a narrow strip of asphalt that hardly constituted as a road.  Now, though, I relish the moments when I can walk around post-shower without worrying if the creep across the alley is looking and I can go outside and scream as loud as I want without the threat of being arrested or nickels being thrown at me.

As I am only home for 48 hours, this post will remain short.  And by short, I mean that I will tell you that we are working on our Battle of the Bands and our Big Reveal event, which will be held May 1st and 4th respectively.  If you want a chance to win tickets without having to wait in those pesky lines (which I promise we are trying to alleviate this year, as our plan of electronic ticketing was recently shot down by some who shall remain anonymous), then make sure to come out to that event and listen for other opportunities.

I hope everyone is having a fabulous holiday and/or weekend and you will be hearing from me again next week!

Cheers,

RL

PS- here is some of the music I was listening to on the bus ride home...

Adele- Rolling in the Deep

The Drums- Let's Go Surfing

                                                         Lupe Fiasco- The Show Goes On

Small hiatus...

Well, if you are reading this, thank you SO much for coming back.  As you can see, it has been a while since we have posted.  BUT,  this is good because that means other things have been in motion... right?

I just got back from LA, where the sun is shining the and traffic is a biotch, but beautiful none-the-less.  My friend and I drove around doing some serious house stalking in Beverly Hills and Bel Air.  We were surrounded by Lexai, Mercedes, Jags, Bentleys and, my personal favorite, '67 Mustangs.  The wealth got a little dizzying, so we made sure to balance it out and go see some of the free-loving hippies that flock to Venice beach and sell you their "crafts" (aka, mass produced kitsch).  We also ran into Pierce Brosnan at the Getty AND Darth Vader on Hollywood Blvd, so I would rank it as a very, very well rounded trip. 

Whilst there, I was busily emailing away on my phone and the beautiful after-hours assistant, Carrie, set up an offer letter for the after-hours talent.  Fingers crossed we get contracts in and signed by the Big Reveal (May 4th)!!!

Carrie is also the DAB comedy coordinator and she has a bunch of awesome events coming up, including John Mulaney this Wednesday at 8pm in the student center (so, so hot). It's pretty amazing what a group of students can put on through out the year while maintaining 4 classes, outside jobs and internships.  Make sure to check out everything DAB has going on at dab.depaul.edu and if you have any interest in anything you see, make sure to ask questions!

Battle Submissions are in and we are ready to start the judging process, so make sure to keep an eye out for the bands that will be playing a FREE show at Lincoln Hall on May 1st,   the winner gets a $1,000 cash prize!


PS- in case you haven't already listened, check out Childish Gambino's Freaks and Geeks, it has been on HEAVY rotation over the past few days...

Procrastination...and being produtive.

Hello All,
It is currently 2:01 and I have accomplished half of my readings for the night. My brain is fried...and it has not one reason for being that way. But, it is all right. My religion homework will get done, my anthropology will be read for tomorrow...and I will wake up early to finish putting up posters in the SAC. Woohoo OPTIMISM! . 


Well anyways...as Rachel has so kindly informed you all Battle of the Band submissions are finally being accepted. Submissions normally consist of a demo or a CD of some of the band's music along with the band's contact info and will be accepted until Tuesday, April 19th. BOTB (Click it) is set to take place May 1st at Lincoln Hall where there will be a $1,000 cash prize for the winner (yea...cash money!).  So for all of you rock star/folk star/ country star/acid jazz stars out there...be sure to submit your band to BOTB...it's a great opportunity, I promise. Any kind of musician welcome!!!

(even these guys...just kidding. no cats allowed)

ANYWAYS....

I know my music updates probably aren't as exciting as Rachel and her FEST updates, but I still have some fun fun stuff happening. Tomorrow will be the year's final Student Spotlight, a student musical show case that we put together every quarter, and it should be awesome. We have three cool bands coming in. For more info check out the facebook page.

Aside from that there is just a bunch of election madness and fun going on. We are in the works of figuring out new positions for next year...always fun. It's great to see new members pumped and ready to take on positions of more responsibility. BUT, you guys probably don't really care about all that.

So I bid you all good night. It's back to the homework and planning for tomorrow's event. Sweet dreams everyone, be soothed by the sounds of Shwayze...yes, shwayze.

-LP

Progress...

Does anyone know why Myspace only provides 30 seconds to a song now for almost every one of their artist profiles?  I'm going insane.  I'm currently listening to the opener and as soon as I get into a song BAM!, it's off to the next one.

For everyone who thinks they know who is coming to FEST (besides myself, my adviser and my mother), make sure to keep an eye out for our student-video contest, which will be posted on Facebook any day now.  Students can submit a video where they guess the acts and the first submissions to get either the headliner or the opener correct get free tickets to FEST.

Also- any DePaul students interested in Battle of the Bands, this year it will be on May 1st at Lincoln Hall and there is... wait for it... a $1,000 cash prize for the winner. YEAH MONEY!  Submissions are due by next Friday in the DAB office, so whether you sound like Gwar or the Bee Gees, we want to hear it.

So far we have made GIANT strides in sorting out all of the details that no one wants to think about, but are essential to any festival thanks to the amazing Holly E.  Some of the things she has helped with: making sure we have porta potties placed to the city's guidelines, making sure that fencing is manageable and updated, making sure we have enough barricades for entrance and exit, even down to where a water supply will be available to fill up the water barrels that hold down tents for First-aid and tickets. THANKS HOLLY!



One thing that I can't stress enough to everyone is the GIANT list of to-do's that never seems to shrink. It stares at me a la Dwight when I wake up in the morning.

While booking acts is the most stressful/exciting/publicized part of FEST, that is in all actuality only one out of (yes, I counted) over 136 other tasks that I set for myself in Winter quarter pertaining to FEST.  Never again will I bitch and moan when something goes wrong at Lollapalooza or any other large, public gathering because the amount of detail and planning that goes in to it is absurd, as is the number of things that could go wrong.
 


RL

TGIF... sort of...

Well, it's Friday of syllabus week, or "coasting" week if you will.  This is about the time I look back and realize that signing up for three 300 level art history courses is going to whip around and bite me in the ass. No longer can I go to my friend's house for a sensible jug of wine on Tuesday night or watch 2 seasons of 30 Rock instead of doing the suggested reading. All of the pressures of school, FEST and work are tumbling out of the box I stuffed them into over spring break and I'll need to rekindle my affair with my coffee maker.


Another alternative to copious amounts of coffee is a good playlist.  Something to get the blood flowing when you wake up and put some extra bounce in your step when you are walking to the el, working out or just trying to get your heart started after a night out. In the past few weeks my "Recently Played" list has been heavy on the pop, dance, rap and other beat-laden tracks including:

Mondegreen-Yeasayer
Let the Beat Build- Lil Wayne
Firework- Katy Perry (shooting fireworks out of your ta-ta's? yes please)
Melody Day- Caribou
Everybody Come Outside- Pomegranates
Blame it on the Boogie- Michael Jackson
Tamacun- Rodrigo Y Grabriela
Fancy Footwork- Chromeo
When the Lights Go Out- Black Keys
Get It In- Na Palm
Summertime Clothes- Animal Collective
Any and all songs on Mariah Carey's "Daydream"

As soon as I find out where I can get this song, it will also be on heavy rotation

What are you guys listening to? 

Alright... some things that we're working on with FEST include:
-Hospitality locations
-Finalizing contracts
-Finding After Hours artists
-Setting up Battle of the Bands
-Setting up electronic ticketing (fingers crossed)
-Marketing
-Production deals
-Beer Garden license
-City license

That's a small to-do list... right? For anyone interested in helping out- shoot racketsoup an email or come knock on the DAB window- second story student center, the office that overlooks the Chinese food bar and the sub place. I am the blond who constantly looks like I'm about to have an aneurysm.

Must get back to work... thanks for reading!

RL

The real world is about to begin...

It is 12:30 am and I am currently sitting on my fire-escape which over looks Neo, the industrial/goth/awesome night club that resides on the base floor of my building. Why do I like to sit here?  Not only does the smell of 5 Guys waft through the air, but the mixed crowd of industrial-pierced/ red mohawk/ pink tutu's that parade down this alley to the club-door inspire me and  I know for a fact that some of them are actually business professionals with a corner office on Wacker.  It's a shame that when my friends and I talk to them that they feel the need  to preface their appearance with a "Uh, I don't usually do this but...".  This is not only applicable to them, but to a large majority of music lovers.  Is it so wrong to be a business-based professional who likes to shed the white collar every once in a while to get your groove on to industrial dance music?  Or to admit that you have Bach and Rihanna on the same playlist?  Or even to admit that you identify with Pitchfork as your music bible but still can't get enough of Saves the Day?  I shall leave this up to the reader to decide.

One of the reasons I bring this up is because of a sort of guilt I feel when it comes to booking bands for DePaul's FEST.  One of my main goals was to bring something different to DePaul's campus.  By different, I mean to bring someone who was not the typical hip-hop group or rap artist that seems to have dominated college shows in the past few years.  While groups like the Black Keys, the Flaming Lips, Arcade Fire, My Morning Jacket and Phoenix were all my priority, it became clear to me why this hasn't been done in the past.  One of the reasons is the inherent festival-based atmosphere these bands are conducive to.  Festivals with more than 10,000 people in attendance and much larger budgets are quick to get these artists much faster than campus shows would. There is also the issue of dates, which are assigned to us 16 months in advance by the university.  Spring is great for many reasons, first and foremost is the warmer weather, followed closely by the surge of concerts and festivals around the country.  While these are all things that we can appreciate, it does present yet another hurdle to cross when booking these bands.  I emphasize "another" hurdle because when we need to consider pricing, availability and willingness to play in an outdoor setting amongst 4,000 students, it is unbelievable how much shorter our list of potential acts gets (a certain lead singer of Wilco and a certain band that won the Grammy for Album of the Year will not look at anything outdoors or on a college campus, respectively). 

Thankfully, however, we have been working since September to provide a concert that may not appeal to the entire student body but does have it's roots in reasoning.  The line-up may not be as "big" as it has been in previous years, but one of my sincere hopes is that people will appreciate that amount of time and effort that has been put forth into bringing acts that have consistently topped the charts and have sold out in the Chicago area in the past year. 

I feel like I have just poured out a small part of my heart, so please, if you have questions/comments/concerns, make sure to email us as this is checked almost daily. We want to make sure we provide a new and comprehensive event for DePaul students so do NOT hesitate (yes, I am looking at you...)

G'night,

RL

Travis Barker ft. Pharrell & Lupe Fiasco

Travis Barker is dropping a new album titled Give the Drummer Some. There are some great tracks that have been leaked on the album and a majority of them feature some amazing artist including, Slash, Steve Aokie, and the Cool Kids. Just today a track titled If You Want To ft. Lupe Fiasco and Pharell dropped...and let me tell you, IT WAS THE BOMB. (Click the title to check it out, you will not regret it)

Full Album Listing:

1. “Can the Drummer Get Some” ft. Lil’ Wayne, Rick Ross, Swizz Beatz & The Game
2. “If You Want To” ft. Pharell & Lupe Fiasco
3. “Carry It” ft. RZA, Raekwon & Tom Morello
4. “Knockin’” ft. Snoop Doog, Ludacris, E-40 & Dev
5. “Jump Down” ft. Cool Kids
6. “Devil’s Got A Hold of Me” ft. Slaughterhouse
7. “Let’s Go” ft. Lil Jon, Busta Rhymes, Twista & Yelawolf
8. “Saturday Night” ft. The Transplants & Slash
9. “Cool Head” ft. Kid Cudi
10. “Raw Sh*t” ft. Tech N9ne & Bun B
11. “Just Chill” ft. Beanie Sigal, Bun B & Kobe
12. “Beat Goes On” ft. Cypress Hill
13. “On My Own” ft. Corey Taylor (Deluxe Edition Only)
14. “Don’t F*ck With Me” ft. Paul Wall, Jay Rock & Korrupt (Deluxe Edition Only)
15. “City of Dreams” ft. The Clipse & Kobe (Deluxe Edition Only)
16. “Misfits” ft. Steve Aoki (Deluxe Edition Only)

Read more: [World Premiere] Travis Barker “Saturday Night” ft. The Transplants & Slash http://kroq.radio.com/2011/02/28/world-premiere-travis-barker-saturday-night-ft-the-transplants-slash/#ixzz1G9PkIfjc

And while writing this I discovered the video for track #5 Jump Down ft. The Cool Kids

 

Till Next time everyone.

Peace

-LP

WooHoo Week TEN!

Welcome to the week of tears and no sleep everybody. It's the week before finals which means that it's time to forget what sleep feels like and want to kill everyone, die, quit school or just go home and cry to my mommy. WOOHOO. But, there is still a shed of light coming through all of the crap that is finals. Of course finals also calls for a time to procrastinate at new atronomical levels. Thanks to the wonderful Rachel and the beautiful Beirut I've discovered blogotheque.net! Which is a hodge podge of wonderful improptu performances by some of my favorites. CHECK IT! (Note..it is in French, but the music is still effin fantastic)

Also, in DAB related news I just had my last event of the quarter!!!! Glory be, I made it through one more quarter alive. We just wrapped up with the wonderful brother &  sister duo of Aby & Tessa. We also have a pretty sweet line up of student bands for next quarter...that I will share with you....as soon as I get contracts in. WHOOPS! Before I forget I also have to shamelessly plug one of my best friends band. They're a lil Christian Rock/Reggae band called Firepoint. I know...it didn't sound like my cup of tea at first, but they got some style. Plus, my friend Tony Mendez is one of the greatest guys ever so I'll support him until I turn black and blue. Even if you don't dig it (which you should) check out cdbaby.com and support tons of indie artists.

And I'll leave you with the beautful sound of Beruit and the beautiful faces of James Franco and Johnny Depp. Why? Because these are the things that will allow me to survive through this week.

-LP

SUCCESS!

Finally, a breakthrough with FEST.  Do we have a lineup?  In my head, we have a realistic group of bands that just might work. Is it definite?  Absolutely not... but it is allowing me to rest a little easier at night.  By God, I will have a line up, permits and all final school projects completed by March 15th or I am not a Lafranconi (Italian for "The Foreigner"... not nearly as cool as "The Avenger" but kind of close).

Now we are working on pulling Battle of the Bands together and possibly getting some student DJs to play in between the different sets. We had this a few years ago and it was awesome.  So if you read this and you are a DePaul student either in a band or a DJ then get yo' stuff together!  We gonna have ourselves a competition!

I'm really excited about bringing the student DJs back because the thousands of intoxicated  excited students get a little restless in between. If we didn't have the music to soothe them then I'm afraid they would turn into rabid beasts that would head straight for the jugular... just kidding! (sort of).

Check out the atrium this Wednesday from 5-7 for FEST updates and contests for tickets, we are only 3 months out (!!!)

In the meantime, listen to one of the coolest songs I've heard in a long time... Surfer Blood's Swim

Oh, what a beautiful morning!

Salutations my friends... it is a GLORIOUS day in Chicago.  No sub-zero temperatures here! No ma'am!  I am walking outside with merely a sweater on and it feels so, so good. Naturally, it is supposed to freeze over again on Sunday. I blame Mayor Daley (only because he is leaving and I need to blame someone).

So, after some snooping around on our stats tab, I found out that we have a large audience in the Netherlands and Russia... HELLO OVER THERE!! I HOPE YOU CAN HEAR ME! THANK YOU FOR READING!!

Currently listening to Cage the Elephant , so, so good.  I'm crossing my fingers that I'll be able to see them at the Vic in March, but given my schedule that is likely not happen.

OH!  BY THE WAY!  A local Chicago band called Empires is in a contest to land Rolling Stone's next cover.  GO VOTE FOR THEM NOW!! Then download their album.  If you haven't seen them live, I HIGHLY recommend them.  They are not only talented, but very, very se-(ahem)... good looking. 
GO HERE NOW AND VOTE

Anywho, on with FEST- so right now we are getting these huge permit packets in to the city and looking towards various production companies for pricing.  I am hitting PAUSE on the artist search because I am one more "No" away from going Cujo on these agents.  Maybe I'll tap into my German roots and bring Rammstein, they are in Chicago in May and I could probably use some of the German I know to sway them (ja! ich mag andere Bratwurst).  

 

Alright, til next time...

RL

Publish Post

                                                                        Rammstein

                                                                           Cage the Elephant

                                                                            Empires

The Strokes

Hello again,
So I'm currently sitting in the DAB office and have decided to blast The Strokes new single "Under the Cover of Darkness"

It's the bomb. Check it

LP

I've come back from the dead.

Howdy everyone,
So it's pretty much been more than a month since I've even touched this site...sorry. Rachel has done an awesome job keeping you all entertained so I don't feel too bad for the minor desertion.
Anyways,  the much anticipated Matt & Kim concert happened last night @ 7 in the MPR, and was by far one of the best things I have ever done in my life.
The MPR turned into a real venue with lights, production, sound and about 600 DePaul students. I was convinced I was going to die. Luckily, my braced leg didn't stop me and I still managed to run around like a crazy person.

Also, I now have a solid girl crush on Kim considering she never stopped smiling as she banged her effin drums.

Other than that I've been steadily obsessing over Beirut and not going to class...but I have a solid excuse of being hit by a car!

My ranting is now over. Until next time

LP

MATT AND KIM! MATT AND KIM!

Less than a week away until the sexiest duo alive takes the stage at DePaul's Lincoln Park campus.  There are only a few tickets left so if anyone is interested and a DePaul student you best run to the student center to pick them up.

In other news... the Strokes have a new single...(!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) IS ANYONE ELSE ABOUT TO PEE THEIR PANTS?

It's fresh, it's different, it's the Strokes but they are moving in a direction that isn't damaging to their careers or status.  Maybe Kings of Leon will take a cue- you can progress your sound without succumbing to commercial pressures and/or getting incredibly lazy.  Don't get me wrong, Kings of Leon is one of my favorite bands, but if I forgot about their newest album immediately after listening to it, then that sends up a red flag.

We might have a potential headliner.  HOLY SHIAT!  Still waiting to hear back from someone who could quickly become my best friend if they make this work out (if you are reading this... it BETTER work out)...

'Til next time,

RL

Where did January go?

Again, I am dumbfounded at how quickly time has been passing.  Apparently I have to register to graduate, but right now my degree conferral is saying that I am minoring in french (ha!), so now I can't register until that's dropped, which takes two to four weeks, but the deadline is in 4 days...

WTF am I supposed to do?

Spring break is coming up, so are finals, so is FEST, so is the end of the year where I will have to break out of my comfortable student cocoon and spread my beautiful big-girl wings into the "real world" (no, I still don't know what that means either). I think I'm going to just buy a briefcase and just cling to it in public so that I can be that much closer to being an adult.

FEST is still in progress. I just submitted a budget, which only reinforced the decision I made freshman year to never work with numbers again. We're still looking through artists but I have to admit, with all of the festivals going on and recording that these bands can't be torn away from, I might have to venture away from the survey in my quest for the perfect band for FEST.


In other news, I'm now writing for an online music/fashion/events magazine and just had my first article with Jesse Malin ch-ch-ch-check it out here.


Before I go to class, I recommend this video for those who are feeling a bit blue...

Why must this be so difficult...

Sorry that is has been a while, the third week of every quarter always seems to sneak up and make me regret all of my class decisions immediately...

Anyways, more disappointing news on the FEST front.  Ontop of climbing talent prices and changing artist availability, I am slowly but surely losing my mind.  This is much more difficult to take than anticipated- I expected to be slightly slightly disappointed with each act that was taken off of the list, not to get backhanded by frustration and produce tears... I NEVER CRY!  MY HEART IS ICE!

What is this new feeling??

Off to make more phone calls, hopefully this yields better results....

Well what do you know...

Ah FEST.  You are several months away yet you weigh on my mind every... single... day...

Due to popular demand, the FEST poll is reopened!  We already have a ton of responses, but the cries of the masses were heard et voila, please follow the link below to take your FEST survey if you already haven't...

http://atrial.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_1SKLhyNlA0Fjixm

Anways, I was poking around with some of the prices and my heart stopped when I saw that one of our dear potential artist's price has double.... DOUBLED I SAY!  I felt something in the back of my head pop sharply when I saw that and part of my already diminished heart shriveled up and blew away in the Chicago winter winds. Why can't these musicians be satisfied that they will have thousands of adoring and screaming fans at the show?  It's always got to be about money... (please reference 50 cent's mug below) 

There is still hope, however. I am pleasantly surprised to see how people have been voting.  Not what I expected...

I must go to Environmental Science where I will learn about how I am responsible for the slaying of the Earth and it's resources. I will then toy with the idea of becoming vegan to save the Earth from destruction, and then remember that I have a date with Kuma's Corner this week.