乐播传媒

Booking a cool, affordable, and name-brand band takes luck

You鈥檝e heard the saying: You can have your project done fast, good, cheap 鈥� pick any two. Similar constraints apply when booking rock bands at a college like 乐播传媒. You can have a cool band, a well-known band, and an affordable band, but probably not all three.

Which is why the Feb. 27 show by Snoop Dogg is a rare trifecta for the Chase Hall Committee, the student group that sponsors much of the social life at 乐播传媒, including signature concerts.

Snoop鈥檚 affordable? Check. 乐播传媒 landed the rapper for $60,000, about 20 percent less than his usual fee, thanks to good luck with his booking agents, says Keith Tannenbaum, 乐播传媒鈥� coordinator of student activities.

Cool and well-known? Check and check. Snoop鈥檚 a legend and still fresh, if only because the mere announcement of his show, held in venerable Gray Cage (named for 乐播传媒鈥� last Baptist preacher-president in 1927), shattered student expectations. A student summed up the campus mood: 鈥淲ow. Cool. Why 乐播传媒?鈥�

A dud of a show can affect 乐播传媒 social life all year.

Booking bands at 乐播传媒 is all about 鈥渕anaging expectations,鈥� Tannenbaum says. On the one hand, rabid music fans would love to blow the CHC budget (around $85,000) on one great show. On the other hand is CHC鈥檚 mission: to spend carefully on a year鈥檚 worth of parties, dances, and other events.

So a dud of a show can affect 乐播传媒 social life all year, and this has been true for decades. In 1982, 乐播传媒 Student Arts Editor Richard Regan 鈥�82 said this: 鈥淐HC cannot afford to risk the large sums of cash needed to attract major acts to 乐播传媒.鈥� Timing and luck have always been dealmakers. Regan noted how the Go-Go鈥檚 fee was just $3,500 before Beauty and the Beat but $10,000 after.

Some examples of the cool/well-known/affordable rule in practice:

Not cool but well-known and affordable. In 2002, students howled when the Gin Blossoms, coming off a five-year hiatus and well past full bloom, were booked by CHC. 鈥淏ut they did a great show,鈥� says Tannenbaum. Lenny Kravitz was on the verge of a four-year streak as the Grammys鈥� Best Male Rock Vocal Performer when his 1998 show was canceled due to inexplicably slow ticket sales.

In 1970, The Grass Roots (鈥淢idnight Confessions鈥�) performed at Winter Carnival, but the show drew a teenybopper crowd that seemed to embarrass the 乐播传媒ies. Peter Burch 鈥�73 wrote in the Student that CHC booked
The Grass Roots because Lewiston girls 鈥渘eed a night off from their Barbie dolls.鈥� Ouch.

Cool, not well-known, but affordable. In the mid-2000s, 鈥渨e could鈥檝e gotten John Mayer for $15,000, but the students were like, 鈥榃ho鈥檚 he?鈥�,鈥� says Tannenbaum. In 2001, few students showed up for Ben Harper鈥檚 opener: Jack Johnson.

Cool, well-known, but unaffordable. In 1984, after CHC broke off contract talks with NRBQ because of rising costs (from $5,000 to $6,200), students bitterly complained that CHC鈥檚 decision was fueling 鈥渟ocial stagnation鈥� at 乐播传媒.

Almost a trifecta. When the Dave Matthews Band played in 1995, the group was deemed to have a mere 鈥渃ult following鈥� by the Student. Joan Baez came in 1961 right before Joan Baez, Vol. 2, went gold. Bowdoin enjoyed similar fortune in 1968, landing Simon and Garfunkel right before The Graduate soundtrack zoomed to No. 1.

In fact, the Maine colleges have always eyed each other when booking bands. 鈥淣o one wants to book a band that鈥檚 appeared at the other school,鈥� Tannenbaum says. And, of course, the schools want to outdo each other. Landing Snoop Dogg 鈥渋s a win,鈥� he says. 鈥淭his is a win for years.鈥�