For the students, by the students: Associated Student Inc.’s weekly Concert in the Plaza event is made up of bands hand picked by the student body. Every Thursday in the University Union Plaza, a concert gives students a chance to take a break from their classes and relax while watching a variety of local and well-known acts that they themselves have chosen, such as Augustana and The Expendables.
“They do the research, the proposal, they do the offer to the band, they work with the contracts to be completed all the way to payment of the bands, running of the show and evaluation of the show; it’s 100 percent students,” the program coordinator, Michelle Curro said.
A group of five students, made up of four supervisors and a manager, take pride in their hard work. Planning for fall quarter’s lineup started back in May, Curro said. Anywhere from 15 to 20 band names are pitched and then they go through an evaluation process.
Because there are only ten Thursdays in each quarter, the process of choosing the bands that perform often gets competitive. Students who signed up to be in the program’s fan club are sometimes included in the final decision making. “If we are ever in a big pickle and can’t decide what band would be best, we send an e-mail to them and say “Okay, guys, these are your two options: which one do you prefer to see at Cal Poly?” Curro said.
Student feedback is crucial in creating a successful concert series for the campus community.” We take student surveys at every event we do and at Concerts in the Plaza every week and ask students who they would want to see on campus,” music entertainment supervisor and music senior Michael Annuzzi said.
Student involvement was crucial in planning the Delta Spirit show on Nov. 13. Annuzzi said they were lucky to have booked them.
“They are going on a big tour and that one date is the only date they had available, he said. It is right on the brink of their explosion.”
Since the requests were received spring quarter, Delta Spirit’s popularity has grown. “They were recently on Conan O’Brien; they are just everywhere,” outreach supervisor and art and design senior, Kristin Savage said.
The rest of the lineup has a wide variety of different acts. “We have a very diverse line up this quarter which helps because then every student has something they are interested in,” Curro said. Some other bands from fall quarter include Damon Castillo Band, The B Foundation, Carney, Tomorrow’s Bad Seeds, David Ryan Harris and Sara Haze.
“I definitely try and mix everything up getting from reggae to indie to pop rock. (There are) Definitely a lot of up-and-coming artists that students may have heard of,” Annuzzi said.
Today San Luis Obispo’s own Damon Castillo Band will take to the plaza stage today. “They have played major events with huge names and toured the country,” Annuzzi said. “A lot of people are really excited about seeing them and often students say they are one of their favorite artists to see at Concerts in the Plaza,” he said.
David Ryan Harris will perform Nov. 20. “He is in John Mayer’s touring band and he has a solo career; he sells out large venues all over L.A.,” Annuzzi said. “It will be great to have a large name like him,” he added.
“No matter what show or if I haven’t heard of the band, every time I go to them I am always like “Wow, that was awesome,” Savage said. “It’s tons of fun and people are coming together. It’s just a really cool event every week,” she added.
For a schedule of concerts for fall quarter or to join the fan club visit www.asi.calpoly.edu.