Chase Hall Committee – News /news Mon, 01 Jul 2024 19:56:58 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0.3 /wp-content/themes/b/bates-framework/styles/images/bates-favicon.png Chase Hall Committee – News /news 32 32 Q&A: Students click with digital marketing consultant Ashley Hart ’91 /news/2017/05/18/qa-students-click-with-digital-marketing-consultant-ashley-hart-91/ /news/2017/05/18/qa-students-click-with-digital-marketing-consultant-ashley-hart-91/#respond Thu, 18 May 2017 18:07:05 +0000 /news/?p=107750 Hart talks about her return to teach for Short Term, her dedication to marketing — and how she discovered that passion as a member of the Chase Hall Committee.]]>

In a Coram computer lab on May 3, a dozen or more students are evaluating long lists of keywords — words that they might or might not use as they craft copy for a digital ad campaign using Google AdWords.

AdWords enable businesses to place those ads that appear at the top of Google search results. In seriously oversimplified terms, advertisers pay for keywords in their ads. So on this day in Coram, the students are learning how to choose the keywords that will give them the biggest bang from a limited budget.

Ashley Hart '91 reacts to the work of three students in her digital marketing practicum: from left, seniors Tara Khanmalek and Alexandra Fisher, and first-year Abel Ramirez. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/ֲý College)

Ashley Hart ’91 reacts to the work of three students in her digital marketing practicum: from left, seniors Tara Khanmalek and Alexandra Fisher, and first-year Abel Ramirez. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/ֲý College)

Michelle E. Ashley Hart ’91, a digital marketing consultant, is guiding the students through their first foray into online advertising. Hart is teaching a Practitioner Taught Course on digital marketing, offered under the auspices of the college’s Purposeful Work initiative.

Doing business as , this Manhattan-based consultant has more than 25 years of marketing and branding experience, specializing in the digital realm. Hart has strategized for companies ranging from startups all the way up to Fortune 500s listees like Morgan Stanley and Infor, and for nine years has been the marketing advisor to the private equity firm Insight Venture Partners and 45 of its portfolio companies.

Hart’s students at ֲý have formed fictional agencies that specialize in digital marketing segments such as product marketing, social media, branding, and millennial audience targeting. They’ve published websites for fictional businesses, and the ad campaigns they’re now creating are meant to drive traffic to those businesses, creating metrics they will then learn to assess.

Hart talks with newswriter Doug Hubley about her time as a ֲý student, her return to teach for Short Term, her dedication to marketing — and how she discovered that passion as a member of the Chase Hall Committee.

What do you love about marketing?

I love everything about marketing. To me, marketing is both the left and the right sides of the brain: You’re doing the creative side with writing and design, but then you’re also evaluating the success of campaigns through analyzing data, which uses the other part of the brain. I’m a big proof-of-concept person, and metrics really give me that advantage that I did not have prior to Google’s being able to provide customer data.

When I first started in marketing, we didn’t have data to analyze. Most people viewed marketing as being the soft side of business. If I launched a commercial for Macy’s One Day Sale, I’d have to judge its

Christian Zavala '17 and Jennie Chen '20 are two members of a digital marketing team in a Short Term course taught by Ashley Hart '91. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/ֲý College)

Christian Zavala ’17 and Jennie Chen ’20 are two members of a digital marketing team in a Short Term course taught by Ashley Hart ’91. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/ֲý College)

effectiveness based on how many people shopped at the store the day after the commercial. Now I launch an ad in a digital channel, and when somebody clicks on that ad and takes action at my website, I can track that user and analyze whether the ad’s successful.

What led you into marketing?

I worked on the Chase Hall Committee, which brings entertainment to the school. And I loved it. I loved doing the events, and making the posters and all those things. And then I realized that was marketing!

When I graduated from ֲý, I couldn’t get a marketing job in New York City since I was competing against New York college graduates with marketing degrees. Luckily, I’d had experience from a ֲý

A lot of my students have good potential to succeed in this field, which is why I’ve arranged paid summer internships for four of them with my clients and partners.

internship at Lehman Brothers in Boston, so I could get a job as an assistant in sales at a Wall Street investment banking firm, Kidder, Peabody & Co. Then a new position came up at headquarters in marketing. In a way, that set my career direction, because it was a new position and it was entrepreneurial — a marketing coordinator to work with analysts covering the burgeoning high-tech field.

It was great. It was the beginning of the digital revolution, and I was able to learn a lot about that, along with the entrepreneurial skills of the new position. And it allowed me to expand on what I had learned in the Chase Hall Committee in a real business setting, managing events for the tech analysts.

What’s the scope of your Short Term course?

I can’t get into the deep levels of digital marketing in the course because there’s so much of it. But what I can do is prepare students to understand how companies use digital marketing, what tools digital marketers use, what buyers want, and how we measure success. They’re learning everything that a typical marketer would know in creating a digital marketing campaign.

Students in Ashley Hart's digital marketing practicum built websites to use for testing ad campaigns that they created. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/ֲý College)

Students in Ashley Hart’s digital marketing practicum built websites to use for testing ad campaigns that they created. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/ֲý College)

I’m also helping the students build a digital marketing portfolio, so that when they walk out the door — whatever business they want to go into — they’ll be able to show their portfolio as proof of their abilities. That alone is a big deal, since it’s a collection of all of the marketing work that they’ve produced in the class.

Instead of just showing case studies, I wanted this class to be interactive. That’s where these Practitioner Taught Courses are great. My students are all really acting as digital marketers and learning. And I think a lot of them have good potential to succeed in this field, which is why I’ve arranged paid summer internships for four of the students with my clients and partners.

What have you learned from teaching this course?

There’s something about seeing somebody “get it” — you can tell from thoughtful answers that they’re coming up with that, maybe, I’ve helped them in some small way to figure out what they want to do. I’ve learned that I really enjoy passing along my experience to my students and that hopefully, they will surpass me in their success.

How was your ֲý experience?

Honestly, it was culturally shocking, coming from the New York City area. It took, I would say, my freshman year to get adjusted.

But I had great friends, I learned a lot, and ultimately, I would have never chosen any other place to be.

In addition to arranging internships for several of her digital marketing students, Ashley Hart '91 is helping all the students compile portfolios of their work in the course to help with the post-graduation job hunt. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/ֲý College)

In addition to arranging internships for several of her digital marketing students, Ashley Hart ’91 is helping all the students compile portfolios of their work in the course to help with the post-graduation job hunt. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/ֲý College)

ֲý made me who I am today and gave me the critical thinking that I needed to go into marketing. So, ultimately, it was the best choice for me.

I went to Columbia University for a summer, just to compare, and I didn’t like the experience of going to such a large school, even though I was from that area. I liked that I was in the heart of New York City and having all this great cultural experience, but I wound up missing the intimacy of ֲý.

Why did you want to teach this course at ֲý?

I owed ֲý, to be quite honest. ֲý gave me a scholarship. Marianne Cowan, who graduated a year after me, reached out and said, “Hey, I know that you’ve specialized in digital marketing, have you thought about maybe coming to teach at ֲý?” And I thought, “This is my way of giving back — to come back and do this for a school that gave me everything.”

As an immigrant from Jamaica, and coming from a working class background, I got the opportunity to achieve the American dream from ֲý.

What are some impressions of today’s ֲý?

I am very happy to see how diverse the school has become. Like I said, the hard part my first year here was the lack of cultural diversity, and to literally see it everywhere around me now — it’s really refreshingly nice. I was very happy to see this evolution.

I ran into Dean James Reese, who was my dean when I was a student here, and probably one of the surprisingly nice things was the consistency of being able to see over the generations that Dean Reese is still here!

A marketing consultant with 25 years in the field, Ashley Hart '91 returned to ֲý to teach a hands-on Short Term course on digital marketing. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/ֲý College)

A marketing consultant with 25 years in the field, Ashley Hart ’91 returned to ֲý to teach a hands-on Short Term course on digital marketing. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/ֲý College)

 

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You’ll love it! Campus Consciousness Tour brings Icona Pop to ֲý /news/2014/10/27/youll-love-it-campus-consciousness-tour-brings-icona-pop-to-bates/ /news/2014/10/27/youll-love-it-campus-consciousness-tour-brings-icona-pop-to-bates/#respond Mon, 27 Oct 2014 20:29:25 +0000 /news/?p=81899 Icona Pop shown backstage at Brooklyn's Music Hall of Williamsburg in 2013: Caroline Hjelt and Aino Jawo. (Fredrik Etoall)As part of a environmental consciousness-raising tour, Icona Pop, the Swedish pop duo known for the smash hit "I Love It" is bound for a ֲý College performance on Nov. 1.]]> Icona Pop shown backstage at Brooklyn's Music Hall of Williamsburg in 2013: Caroline Hjelt and Aino Jawo. (Fredrik Etoall)
Icona Pop shown backstage at Brooklyn's Music Hall of Williamsburg in 2013: Caroline Hjelt and Aino Jawo. (Fredrik Etoall)

Icona Pop shown backstage at Brooklyn’s Music Hall of Williamsburg in 2013: Caroline Hjelt and Aino Jawo. (Fredrik Etoall)

As part of a environmental consciousness-raising tour produced by a Portland firm, the Swedish pop duo known for the smash hit “I Love It” is bound for a ֲý performance at 9 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 1, in the Gray Athletic Building, 130 Central Ave.

Icona Pop headlines the musical portion of the 14th annual Campus Consciousness Tour. Opening for Icona Pop are the big-beat electropop quartet Five Knives and the Canadian singer-songwriter Lowell. Doors open for the concert at 8 p.m. Tickets are $25 ($15 for members of the ֲý community) and are available at batestickets.com.

The Campus Consciousness Tour also features afternoon programming at ֲý around the themes of sustainability and empowering female leadership. Co-sponsoring the event are the Chase Hall Committee and the ֲý College Student Government. For more information, please call 207-786-6305.

Formed in 2009, Icona Pop — aka Aino Jawo and Caroline Hjelt — has ridden an infectious blend of electro house, pop and indie rock to the top of the charts. The duo may be best-known for 2012’s “I Love It,” an angsty, must-dance-to juggernaut that broke into the public conscious via Lena Dunham’s HBO series “Girls.”

The song peaked at No. 3 in Billboard’s Mainstream Top 40 ranking, and by the end of 2013 had sold more than 2 million copies. Icona Pop performed “I Love It” on “Good Morning America,” “Today” and “Late Night With Jimmy Fallon.” The song has also turned up on “Glee” and “Dancing With the Stars.”

Half concert tour, half green campaign, Campus Consciousness aims to inspire students in an electric atmosphere while making a positive impact on each community the tour visits. In addition to educating and mobilizing students, the tour is organized to have a minimal environmental footprint.

The CCT is a project of the Portland-based Reverb, an environmental nonprofit dedicated to engaging musicians and their fans to take action toward a more sustainable future. Reverb has worked on more than 150 major tours — e.g., Dave Matthews Band, Maroon 5 and Jack Johnson — and created CCT specifically to reach students where they live.

Reverb was founded in 2004 by environmentalist Lauren Sullivan and her musician husband, Adam Gardner of Guster. Reverb provides comprehensive, custom greening programs for music tours while conducting grassroots outreach and education.

Hailing from Nashville, punk rockers Five Knives are the perfect intersection of good old rock ‘n’ roll and electronic music. Known for festival appearances and supporting slots with Smashing Pumpkins and Die Antwoord, the foursome released its highly anticipated EP “The Rising” in 2013 (Red Bull Records).

Elizabeth Lowell Boland, aka Lowell, comes across like dynamite: ferocious and unrelenting. She seeks to empower not only herself but also her listeners, dealing with topics as sexual abuse, rape, abortion and women’s and LGBTQ rights. Yet her brand of pop conveys the urgency of her message via melodies that are accessible and fun.

More About Icona Pop
Icona Pop was officially born in a manner you’d hope two smart Swedish girls would unite: at a dance party under the midnight sun, bonding over heartbreak and breakbeats. Jawo and Hjelt now famously describe the resulting bonding experience as something like “love at first sight.”

Collaborating with such high-caliber producers as Patrick Berger, The Knocks, and Elof Loelv, Jawo and Hjelt have forged a distinctively dramatic sound — at once bright and dark, combining bittersweet lyrics with irresistible rhythms.

Their “Nights Like This” EP was ranked as one of 2011’s most promising debuts by Rolling Stone, Pitchfork and other essential tastemakers, while New York and London club kids instantly paid close attention. And then came “I Love It.”

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World-renowned for ‘Wavin’ Flag,’ Somali rapper K’Naan en route to ֲý /news/2012/11/08/chc-knaan/ /news/2012/11/08/chc-knaan/#comments Thu, 08 Nov 2012 10:50:50 +0000 /news/?p=60147 K'Naan, the Somalian-born rap artist whose single "Wavin' Flag" was an international sensation, performs at ֲý on Dec. 1.]]>

World-renowned rapper K’Naan.

K’Naan, the Somalian-born rap artist whose single “Wavin’ Flag” was an international sensation, performs at 9 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 1, in the Gray Athletic Building, 130 Central Ave.

The concert is sponsored by the Chase Hall Committee, a student organization at ֲý. Tickets are $30 and available at .

For more information, please call 207-786-6305.

“Love is harder than war,” says A&M/Octone recording artist K’Naan, explaining the direction he takes on his new album, Country, God Or The Girl.

“I’ve had the chance to write about my experiences in a difficult and violent life. But when the suffering and the pain is something that comes from within me, it’s harder to react and to write about that.”

With his new songs — including the album’s irresistible first single, “Is There Anybody Out There?” featuring Nelly Furtado — the Canadian-based singer and MC turns his attention to the most universal emotions and experiences: the personal relationships which everyone struggles with and rejoices in.

At the same time, though, he never loses the greater sense of the world that has defined him as an artist. Country, God Or The Girl, K’Naan attempts to address “the internal wars, rather than the external ones, which I’d been preoccupied with on my previous albums.”

The album is K’Naan’s first full-length work since his multi-platinum global smash single, “Wavin’ Flag,” a version of which was selected as Coca-Cola’s theme song for the 2010 FIFA World Cup campaign.

The exposure sent the song to No. 1 on iTunes in 18 countries and opened up countless doors for K’Naan. That’s reflected by the caliber and range of guests who appear on Country, God Or The Girl, from Nas on “Nothing to Lose” to Bono on “Bulletproof Pride,” plus appearances by Will.I.Am, Keith Richards and B.O.B.

But it was the FIFA World Cup Trophy Tour, which traveled to 86 countries that, the singer claims, made the greatest impact on his music. “I went to 22 countries in Africa, back to back,” he says. “Seeing Africa to that degree freed me from having a narrow message in my music.

“A friend told me about working in refugee camps during the Rwandan genocide,” he continues. “When people settled into the evening, though, nobody talked about the horrific tragedies that were happening. They were talking about their lost loves.

“And that hit me so deeply — how human beings are having the same conversations everywhere, even in times of war and famine. Their favorite songs are always love songs. And I wasn’t speaking to them in the place that was most important to them.”

The product of a creative family, K’Naan fled Mogadishu with his family at age 13. After learning English, partly by immersing himself in the classic hip-hop albums of the ’90s, he came to prominence in 1999 with a spoken word performance at the United Nations that caught the attention of Senegalese superstar Youssou N’Dour.

K’Naan’s debut album, 2005’s The Dusty Foot Philosopher (BMG), won the Juno Award for Rap Recording of the Year. He signed with A&M/Octone and released the follow-up, Troubadour, in 2009, winning Junos for Artist of the Year and Songwriter of the Year.

Country, God Or The Girl, K’Naan offers a vision in which the personal is the political, but the personal is also the personal. “Being known for my consciousness and activism can be limiting,” he says. “I do care about the state of the world, but it’s no less true that I care about love and betrayal, heartbreak and pain and loyalty.

“It’s dishonest to ignore parts of yourself just to sustain the idea that people have of you.”

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Rapper Macklemore and his DJ/producer, Ryan Lewis, to perform outdoor show /news/2011/09/02/chc-macklemore/ /news/2011/09/02/chc-macklemore/#respond Fri, 02 Sep 2011 18:22:05 +0000 http://home.bates.edu/?p=48411 Macklemore and Ryan Lewis

Fresh from their triumphant national touring debut as headliners, Seattle rapper Macklemore and his DJ/producer, Ryan Lewis, visit ֲý College for an open-air performance on the Library Quad, accessed from Campus Avenue between Chase Hall and the Edmund S. Muskie Archives, at 8 p.m.Friday, Sept. 16.

Open to the public at no cost, this concert is sponsored by the Chase Hall Committee and WRBC. For more information, please call 207-795-7496 after Sept. 5.

Macklemore, the stage name for hip hop recording artist Benjamin Haggerty, is known for passionate, high-energy performances. During their spring 2011 U.S. tour, Macklemore and Lewis sold out most of their shows, including those in New York City, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles and a three-night run at the Showbox at the Market, in Macklemore’s home town of Seattle, where more than 3,500 tickets sold out in less than 48 hours.

Fans find Macklemore refreshingly honest, even poetic. “Wings,” an ode to the perfect pair of basketball shoes, confronts consumerism and the childhood pressure to be “cool.” “My Oh My,” a tribute to Seattle Mariners broadcaster Dave Niehaus, received extensive airplay after the local announcer’s death.

Macklemore’s well-received freshman release, 2005’s “Language of My World” (Integral Music Group), featured production by Rhymesayer’s Budo and won praise for its fresh perspective and a striking balance of insight and levity. After a period of artistic stagnation and frustration due to substance abuse, Macklemore committed himself to sobriety and a new dedication to his music.

The catalyst to this change was establishing the partnership with Lewis, an accomplished artist in design, photography and production who also acts as Macklemore’s touring DJ. They self-released the EPs Vs. in 2009 and Vs. Redux in 2010, the latter reaching No. 7 on the iTunes Hip Hop charts.

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More tickets made available for Kinsey Sicks, celebrated 'dragapella' quartet /news/2010/10/08/kinsey-sicks-2/ /news/2010/10/08/kinsey-sicks-2/#respond Fri, 08 Oct 2010 19:50:35 +0000 http://home.bates.edu/?p=36453 The Kinsey Sicks

The Chase Hall Committee, a student organization that brings national performers to ֲý, has announced that more tickets have become available for an upcoming performance by the Kinsey Sicks — “America’s favorite dragapella beautyshop quartet.”

The performance takes place at 8 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 10, in the Olin Arts Center Concert Hall, 75 Russell St. Tickets are $6 and can be purchased at . Seating is limited and tickets must be bought in advance. For more information, contact the CHC at 207-795-7496 or this tickets@bates.edu.

A satirical singing group in over-the-top drag, the Kinsey Sicks last performed at ֲý in 2002. They have appeared all over the U.S., from off Broadway to major concert halls to an extended run at the Las Vegas Hilton. They have recorded six CDs, appeared on the national TV programs “20/20,” the “CBS Early Show with Bryant Gumbel” and “America’s Got Talent,” and were profiled at length by The New York Times.

In 2001, the girls produced and starred in the critically acclaimed Off-Broadway hit Dragapella! Starring the Kinsey Sicks at New York’s legendary Studio 54. That show was nominated for a Lucille Lortel award (the Off-Broadway Tony) as best musical and a Drama Desk award for best lyrics. In 2006, their long run at the Las Vegas Hilton was ranked by critics as one of the city’s best nights out. One reviewer called it “a feast for the eyes, the ears and the funny bone.”

The quartet is the subject of two feature films: the 2006 concert film I Wanna Be a Republican and the 2008 documentary Almost Infamous, chronicling the group’s Las Vegas adventure. The latter film won the award for audience favorite at the 2008 Pittsburgh LGBT Film Festival.

Founded in 1993, the group consists of: Ben Schatz (“Rachel”), a Harvard-trained civil rights lawyer, former director of the national Gay and Lesbian Medical Association and one-time presidential advisor on HIV issues. Schatz created the first national AIDS legal project and authored Bill Clinton’s HIV policy during the 1992 presidential campaign.

Irwin Keller (“Winnie”), a University of Chicago-trained lawyer, linguist and former director of the AIDS Legal Referral Panel of the San Francisco Bay Area. Keller authored Chicago’s gay rights ordinance, passed into law in 1989.

In 2004, countertenor Jeff Manabat joined the group as Trixie. In addition to singing, he designs the ladies’ couture. In 2008, Kansas City-based actor and singer Spencer Brown (“Trampolina”) completed the quartet.

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Two Out of Three Ain't Bad /news/2010/04/21/two-out-of-three-aint-bad/ /news/2010/04/21/two-out-of-three-aint-bad/#respond Wed, 21 Apr 2010 15:36:58 +0000 http://home.bates.edu/?p=25395 snoop-quadangles-9818

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

You’ve heard the saying: You can have your project done fast, good, cheap — pick any two. Similar constraints apply when booking rock bands at a college like ֲý. 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 ֲý, including signature concerts.

Snoop’s affordable? Check. ֲý 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, ֲý’ coordinator of student activities.

Cool and well-known? Check and check. Snoop’s a legend and still fresh, if only because the mere announcement of his show, held in venerable Gray Cage (named for ֲý’ last Baptist preacher-president in 1927), shattered student expectations. A student summed up the campus mood: “Wow. Cool. Why ֲý?”

A dud of a show can affect ֲý social life all year.

Booking bands at ֲý is all about “managing expectations,” 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’s mission: to spend carefully on a year’s worth of parties, dances, and other events.

So a dud of a show can affect ֲý social life all year, and this has been true for decades. In 1982, ֲý Student Arts Editor Richard Regan ’82 said this: “CHC cannot afford to risk the large sums of cash needed to attract major acts to ֲý.” Timing and luck have always been dealmakers. Regan noted how the Go-Go’s 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. “But they did a great show,” says Tannenbaum. Lenny Kravitz was on the verge of a four-year streak as the Grammys’ Best Male Rock Vocal Performer when his 1998 show was canceled due to inexplicably slow ticket sales.

In 1970, The Grass Roots (“Midnight Confessions”) performed at Winter Carnival, but the show drew a teenybopper crowd that seemed to embarrass the ֲýies. Peter Burch ’73 wrote in the Student that CHC booked
The Grass Roots because Lewiston girls “need a night off from their Barbie dolls.” Ouch.

Cool, not well-known, but affordable. In the mid-2000s, “we could’ve gotten John Mayer for $15,000, but the students were like, ‘Who’s he?’,” says Tannenbaum. In 2001, few students showed up for Ben Harper’s 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’s decision was fueling “social stagnation” at ֲý.

Almost a trifecta. When the Dave Matthews Band played in 1995, the group was deemed to have a mere “cult following” 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. “No one wants to book a band that’s appeared at the other school,” Tannenbaum says. And, of course, the schools want to outdo each other. Landing Snoop Dogg “is a win,” he says. “This is a win for years.”

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Press Herald interviews Snoop Dogg before ֲý concert /news/2010/03/02/press-herald-snoop/ /news/2010/03/02/press-herald-snoop/#respond Tue, 02 Mar 2010 13:03:40 +0000 http://home.bates.edu/?p=21272 The Portland Press Herald’s Ray Routhier interviews rap artist Snoop Dogg via e-mail before his Feb. 27 ֲý concert, sponsored by the Chase Hall Committee. Routhier admits to wondering about the authenticity of Snoop’s replies, given in full rap vernacular. Did Calvin Broadus (Snoop’s real name) type the unique answers himself, or did a PR expert take on the task? When asked by Routhier if he has Maine ties, Snoop replies, “I always have a blast on tha east coast with college town shows. They are tha best kinda crowds and show alotta luv so it only made sense.” Whatever the truth, the interviewee makes clear that “everyone loves Snoop Dogg, ya dig?!?”

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CHC lands rapper Snoop Dogg for Feb. 27 performance /news/2010/02/04/snoop-dogg/ /news/2010/02/04/snoop-dogg/#respond Thu, 04 Feb 2010 20:27:22 +0000 http://home.bates.edu/?p=19331 Snoop Dogg's 2010 CD/DVD

Twelve-time Grammy Award nominee Cordozar Calvin “Snoop Dogg” Broadus performs at ֲý College at 8 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 27, in the Clifton Daggett Gray Athletic Building, 130 Central Ave.

The Philadelphia-based group Dephonic opens. The concert is sponsored by the Chase Hall Committee, a student organization. Please note: This concert is sold out. For more information, please call 207-795-7496.
An award-winning rapper and hip hop artist, as well as music producer, Dogg is touring in anticipation of his forthcoming release, a follow-up to 2009’s Malice N Wonderland (Priority). More Malice: Deluxe Album and Movie, slated for release March 23, will feature five songs from Malice N Wonderland and five entirely new songs, as well as two remixes. Also included will be a previously unreleased mini-movie featuring Dogg, with cameos from Jamie Foxx, Xzibit, Nipsey Hussle and more.

was an early protégé of Andre Young (better known as artist-producer Dr. Dre). Young’s patronage helped catapult Dogg into the national sphere, with his first album, Doggystyle (Death Row, 1993), being his most successful album to date. Certified four times platinum by the Recording Industry of America, it made Dogg a household name.

After the success of his debut, Dogg’s meteoric rise to fame continued with nine more solo albums and appearances in film and television, including mainstream theatrical releases such as Starsky and Hutch (2004) and üԴ (2009).

Characterized by a laid-back style, with slow delivery and spare, rhythmic lyrics, and often incorporating freestyling or improvisation into performances, Snoop Dogg’s music is synonymous with the gangster rap of the 1990s.

In a review of his 2008 album Ego-Trippin’ (Geffin), Rolling Stone said his musical appeal is “based on the way he lives: in slow motion in the fast lane.” The New York Times said Dogg has an uncanny ability to “make those streetwise old lyrics sound new again.”

Dogg has received several high-profile industry awards, including the 2006 MTV Video Music Award for Best Dance Video for the single “Buttons” in collaboration with the Pussycat Dolls, and 2005’s Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop Conference Awards Hot Rap Track award for “Drop It Like It’s Hot.”

Malice N Wonderland debuted at No. 23 on the Billboard charts. Dogg’s voice on Malice, wrote the UK’s TimesOnline, is “like no other rapper’s — it flows like honey. . .”

Dogg was recently named creative chairman of Priority Records, parent company EMI’s newly reintroduced label, and will focus on the Priority re-launch and in publicizing and producing new West Coast artists.

According to Black Entertainment Television, Dogg’s “flexibility and resilience” have kept his name relevant and allowed him to remain “an enduring figure in hip hop . . . [Dogg] continues to prove he’s not a relic of the [gangsta-funk] era, proving that while the music may change, good flow never goes out of style.”

A seven-piece band, Dephonic blends indie, hip-hop and reggae. Dephonic’s latest LP, Dephonition! (Dephonic Sounds Entertainment) was released in December. “If I had to describe our show, it would be intoxicating, electrifying, spell-bounding and hypnotizing,” said member June Hott in an interview posted on the group’s .

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ֲý College presents pop duo Matt and Kim /news/2009/09/11/matt-kim/ /news/2009/09/11/matt-kim/#respond Fri, 11 Sep 2009 15:20:25 +0000 http://home.bates.edu/?p=12632 The Brooklyn-based electronic pop duo Matt and Kim performs at ֲý College at 9:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 18, in Chase Hall, 56 Campus Ave. Matt and Kim

The concert is sponsored by two ֲý student organizations, the college radio station WRBC-FM and the Chase Hall Committee, the principal campus programming board.

Tickets cost $8 plus tax and service charge and are available at www.batestickets.com and all Bull Moose Music stores in Maine and New Hampshire. Only 200 tickets will be available to the general public. For more information, visit www.wrbcadio.com.

Matt Johnson and Kim Schifino, noted for their straightforward dance melodies, have performed at festivals such as the Siren Music Festival in Brooklyn, Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago and the KahBang Indie Music and Art Festival in Bangor.

Their most recent release, , reached No. 170 on the Billboard Top 100 and includes the singles “Daylight,” recently featured in a commercial for Bacardi, and “Lessons Learned,” whose video has been nominated for an MTV Video Music Award.

Established in 1958, ֲý College Radio, WRBC 91.5 FM, is a leader in college radio nationally. WRBC plays music from all genres and eras. Shows are hosted by students and members of the Lewiston-Auburn community. Find the station at www.wrbcradio.com or at 91.5 FM in the Lewiston-Auburn area.

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Gogol Bordello brings punk-flavored world sounds to ֲý /news/2007/10/10/gogol-bordello/ /news/2007/10/10/gogol-bordello/#respond Wed, 10 Oct 2007 18:00:05 +0000 http://batesviews.net/?p=3779
gogol-bordelloweb

Gogol Bordello, a band that feeds a growing cult following with a frenetic mix of Gypsy, punk and world musics, performs at ֲý College at 9 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 13, in the Clifton Daggett Gray Athletic Building.

The concert is presented by the Chase Hall Committee, a student organization at ֲý. Tickets are $10 at the door (while they last) or in advance at Bull Moose Music locations, and are available for $12 (includes a $2 handling fee). Anyone with a valid ֲý ID is admitted free. For more information, please call 207-795-7496.

Since 1999, the critically esteemed Gogol Bordello has been smashing musical barriers with a supercharged Eastern European two-step rhythm churned together with punk, metal, rap, flamenco, roots reggae, spaghetti Western, dub and other sounds generated by rebels from across the globe.

The band’s philosophy is simple and pragmatic: Music makes it possible to make the contradictions of life sound harmonious, at least for the duration of a song. What they call their “transglobal rebel rock” is based on the belief that music and art can transform negative energy to positive and inspire individual action.

“The musicianship of this New York-based Gypsy-punk-cabaret collective is often dazzling, creating a culture-clash fusion of dub flamenco and other styles that reflects the dizzying immigrant experience,” wrote a Los Angeles Times reviewer. The band’s new album, Super Taranta! (SideOneDummy Records), said longtime rock critic Robert Christgau, is “the best rock album of the decade. Period.”

Lead singer and founder Eugene Hutz grew up in the Ukraine on a diet of punk-rock. As a teenager, he and his family came to the U.S. after escaping the Chernobyl meltdown and enduring a seven-year trek through Eastern European refugee camps.

During that journey, says Hutz, “we visited the village my family came from. My relatives introduced me to the essential foods and music of our Gypsy culture. My parents hid [their Gypsy roots] in the city; in the countryside I was face to face with it. My biggest musical influence was coming face to face with that ancient culture.”

Three members of the eight-member band come from Russia and another from Israel. Gogol Bordello includes accordion and violin, not to mention two percussionist-dancers, in addition to the more typical rock instrumentation of guitar, bass and drums.

Super Taranta! is Gogol Bordello’s sixth full-length recording. The ֲý stop is part of an American tour that concludes in their hometown, New York City, in November.

Super Taranta! is our interpretation of tarantella, a ritual music from Italy,” Hutz says. “I saw a painting in Tuscany of a woman in convulsions and a guy playing a violin. He’s leaning over her, playing music to cure her hysteria, put her into a trance and exorcize her demons. It was sexual, mystical and cultural, almost obscene — all the qualities of Gogol Bordello.”

He adds, “Our musical awareness isn’t based on flirtatious moments of musical fusion; we’re constantly adding new stuff that compliments our roots: the Gypsy music from the Carpathian Mountains of Ukraine.”

Hutz is driven by an inexorable creative desire. In the past two years he starred in Liev Schreiber’s film Everything Is Illuminated and was the focal point of Pied Piper Of Hutzovina. This documentary follows him to the Ukraine in 2006, as he searches for the extended family he left behind at the time of Chernobyl.

“It was a challenging experience,” he says. “The film connects the dots, joining different aspects of Gypsy culture in Hungary, Ukraine, Russia and Siberia, from its manifestations in elite society all the way down to the musicians and activists in the ghetto.”

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