Band Week explores musical diversity
Campus Times
April 23, 1999
Students gathered in chairs that were set up all around a temporary
stage on the University Mall last Wednesday. The free-style rap lyrics of
Mecca were audible throughout campus. Mecca is one of the bands that took
Band Week as a chance to promote its new material. Compact discs and cassette
tapes were sold after the performance.
In front of sparse, sometimes non-existent crowds, the first annual
Band Week made its debut on the University of La Verne campus last week.
But what was supposed to be a week of music and fun in the sun turned
out to be four days of performances gone unwatched.
The event featured four little-known bands from the Los Angeles area,
but most ULV students seemed to be unaware of or apathetic to their existence.
"I was walking to my room and I started hearing music," said
junior Teriy Castro, one of the few in attendance Friday. "So I decided
to come by."
Monday's band, Billy's Sister, played in the Founders Hall Auditorium
because of rain. It attracted no more than 10 people at one time, a crowd
surpassed in size only by the crowd that saw Tuesday's show.
After Monday, the music was moved to the University Mall. Hip-hop and
rap were featured Tuesday and Friday. Mecca performed Tuesday and EWC brought
their freestyle brand of rap to La Verne on Friday.
Joy the Bug, a pop/alternative band, performed Thursday under sweltering
heat, of which lead vocalist Elliot Powell said, "We're glad we got
invited to play on the surface of the sun today."
The hot temperature, however, was not the main reason for the low attendance
of the week-long ASF-sponsored event. Many students, it seemed, did not
know the event was taking place, or they were too busy to stop and listen.
"I think maybe they could put something in the mailboxes,"
Castro said. "I noticed they had posters up, but sometimes people don't
look at posters. I think it's a good idea, they just need to promote it
more."
Joy the Bug recently released their first album, "Many Mighty Massive
Malls," through Proper Pop Records.
The song "You" has received airplay on radio station Y107,
among others. According to the band's website, www.joythebug.com,
the song "will be featured in the Prosperity Pictures film "Waylon
and Buzz," starring Robert Stack and David Faustino." The film
is scheduled for release this summer.
Joy the Bug can be seen in concert Monday at the Joint in West Hollywood
at 9 p.m. They are appearing today at Borders Books in Orange at 8 p.m.
