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