You're obviously free to disagree, but as a senior who used to be on its executive board, I think Concert Board (CB) is, bar none, the worst organization at Tufts. Did you know that they have about $180,000? Can you believe that? After four years of unimaginative, underwhelming bookings, some of which I'm actually expected to pay to see, and a truly backwards mandate, I think we should take that money, buy a yellow Lamborghini, and let every student drive it for a day.
That would be infinitely more exciting than almost all of the Concert Board shows I've seen. Admittedly, Broken Social Scene, Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, Method Man and Ghostface were solid bookings, and while those shows weren't all excellent, I really appreciate that CB at least appeared to do more than pick a headliner based on listening to the radio for five minutes and choosing a song at random.
While Broken Social Scene may not have put on its most hair-raising performance to date in Dewick, it was a lot more entertaining and inspiring than watching a disinterested (former) superstar like Ludacris or the unlistenable Guster, neither of whom could have cared less about playing at some random college and both of whom clearly mailed it in onstage until it was time to cash their gigantic checks.
To me, this is all part of CB's main problem: how the organization views its role. CB seems to think its job is to ascertain which performers the student body is most likely to not not see, hence their ridiculous polls and sleuthing investigations of Facebook.com preferences. I completely reject this mentality.
An organization whose express purpose is to put on concerts shouldn't be scrambling to identify the musicians that the smallest amount of students hate; it should be bringing exciting but mainstream music to our school, introducing new, relevant music to some, proven, quality performers to others, and giving the whole community opportunities to enjoy great performances.
Here's an idea for how to do that: CB has more money than God, right? Well instead of blowing almost all of that wad on Spring Fling, an event that people will come to regardless of who is performing, how about putting on smaller, more intimate shows with performers who my mom may not have heard of, but who make exciting, progressive music that all kinds of people can enjoy?
Instead of flying in people like Ludacris at great expense to the student-activity-fee payer, how about getting someone like GZA while he's touring New England? Instead of The Decemberists, how about Grizzly Bear who attracts a similar audience and would cost pennies on the dollar? We could have several Spring-Fling-type events instead of the one, and we could host vital, relevant musicians instead of inexplicably coaxing the absolutely intolerable Dropkick Murphys out of retirement.
And really, how I feel about these peoples' music is completely irrelevant. I don't even really like Ted Leo, but I like that he isn't some generic Top 40 heartthrob. I actually really enjoyed Spring Fling this year, but not because of anything Concert Board did. They didn't buy me my delicious beers, convince the weather gods to give us the nicest day of the year, or surround me with a group of objectively excellent people. No, Concert Board wasted both my money and an unparalleled opportunity to provide a service that brings people together, failing to either open ears and minds to new ideas or contribute to our community in any meaningful kind of way. Yes, Spring Fling was really fun, but after four years of seeing how they operate and seeing what they have to offer, I honestly think that I'd rather be driving a Lambo.
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Mikey Goralnik graduates today with a degree in American studies. He can be reached at Michael.Goralnik@tufts.edu.
