UA has a great venue for conerts

[Jake]

I heard someone say the other day that UA has no place for concerts. I responded with, "Don't let Live Nation Hear you say that." This was a student who "claimed" to be on "the program board" at one time and claimed that E.J. Thomas is not meant for concerts and that was why "they" couldn't bring concert to campus. I responded that perhaps he was taking that position so as to have an excuse for not being good at his job on the "program board.".

If E.J. is not meant for concerts, then where was I when I saw Nora Jones, Tran Siberian Orchestra, One Republic, Seather, Colbie Callet, Bob Dylan, Jethro Tull, Stephen Nash, Bruce Sprinstien, The Cleveland Orchestra and the Akron Symphony and many, many more? I could have sworn I saw all of these groups on the University of Akron campus in Thomas Hall.

I've heard this wives’ tale before and it is usually spread by uninformed and gullible UA students who can be convinced to sell their mothers to the pigmies.

The fact is UA built E.J. primarily for concerts and with the versatility to handle Ballets, Speakers and Plays. The confusion sets in when some in Akron's arts community voice their OPINION that Thomas Hall is not very good acoustically for unamplified classical symphonies and orchestras. While there may be some legitimate basis for this claim, it remains just someone's OPINION.

As far as concerts other than classical symphonies and orchestras which are AMPLIFIED, E.J. Thomas Hall is one of the best places in Northern Ohio to attend a concert in. If you haven't tried it, make a point of doing so.

And keep them coming, Live Nation!

[zip37]

I remember reading an article in the mid 1970s from a New York City newspaper {The Slimes?] bewailing the existence of a nearly perfect acustical venue

in 'the provincial town of Akron, Oh'. That's what all the counterweights in the lobbied are for-- a movable ceiling.

[vmd9]

The sad part is that the days of having Springsteen and Dylan at UA of far from over. Thats why we get stuck with mediocre acts like Nora Jones and Colbie Caillat. TSO is only has good Christmas music, so they got the timing off with them. I feel that all the big name acts college students go to see are at Blossom. Seriously any mainstream Hip Hop artist or Country artist would be a HUGE draw at EJ or Infocision. We really have two great venues for concerts, an indoor and outdoor...They do a poor job of advertising as well, I usually don't hear about some of these concerts until after they happen. The only ones I hear about are the RHPB concerts at like Starbucks, which involve either a person reading poetry or playing a piano...

[Z.I.P.]

The sad part is that the days of having Springsteen and Dylan at UA of far from over. Thats why we get stuck with mediocre acts like Nora Jones and Colbie Caillat. TSO is only has good Christmas music, so they got the timing off with them. I feel that all the big name acts college students go to see are at Blossom. Seriously any mainstream Hip Hop artist or Country artist would be a HUGE draw at EJ or Infocision. We really have two great venues for concerts, an indoor and outdoor...They do a poor job of advertising as well, I usually don't hear about some of these concerts until after they happen. The only ones I hear about are the RHPB concerts at like Starbucks, which involve either a person reading poetry or playing a piano...

Can we get a translation service on this board??

[Blue & Gold]

TSO = Trans Siberia Orchestra

[Jake]

The sad part is that the days of having Springsteen and Dylan at UA of far from over. Thats why we get stuck with mediocre acts like Nora Jones and Colbie Caillat. TSO is only has good Christmas music, so they got the timing off with them. I feel that all the big name acts college students go to see are at Blossom. Seriously any mainstream Hip Hop artist or Country artist would be a HUGE draw at EJ or Infocision. We really have two great venues for concerts, an indoor and outdoor...They do a poor job of advertising as well, I usually don't hear about some of these concerts until after they happen. The only ones I hear about are the RHPB concerts at like Starbucks, which involve either a person reading poetry or playing a piano...

So very, very true. UA could do much better with Student oriented concerts. They have the way but just lack the will. Also, I would suggest that we have three excellent venues for concerts on campus. the PAH, The stadium and Rhodes Gymnasium. The only reason they failed to follow through with concerts in the gym is due to lack of desire. Students are not like they used to be on campus. They don't stand up for themselves very well and buy into a lot of excuses manufactured by lower level UA administrators. RHPB (Residence Hall Program Board) has always had a reputation for rinky dink events befitting a small Christian College. They could never get it together to present anything close to a major international contemporary star that would draw 3,000 to 5,000 like student organizers in the past did. Besides RHPB has a very narrow focus. They are not an all campus program board. BTW, I would n't call Nora Jones mediocre, but I get your point. Cobie Callet, One Republic and Seather are one hit wonders. And all of these shows were provided with litttle to no effort by UA. The promoter brought them to campus and not the university itself. I guess UA students will just have to settle for UA providng Pizza and Hot Dog Parties outside of E.J.

[urbanpreppie05]

I heard someone say the other day that UA has no place for concerts. I responded with, "Don't let Live Nation Hear you say that." This was a student who "claimed" to be on "the program board" at one time and claimed that E.J. Thomas is not meant for concerts and that was why "they" couldn't bring concert to campus. I responded that perhaps he was taking that position so as to have an excuse for not being good at his job on the "program board.".

Name 5 student events that you've planned from start to finish.

They are not an all campus program board.

http://www.uakron.edu/studentlife/zpn/index.php (sad it hasn't been updated in awhile though.)

[Jake]

I heard someone say the other day that UA has no place for concerts. I responded with, "Don't let Live Nation Hear you say that." This was a student who "claimed" to be on "the program board" at one time and claimed that E.J. Thomas is not meant for concerts and that was why "they" couldn't bring concert to campus. I responded that perhaps he was taking that position so as to have an excuse for not being good at his job on the "program board.".

Name 5 student events that you've planned from start to finish.

They are not an all campus program board.

http://www.uakron.edu/studentlife/zpn/index.php (sad it hasn't been updated in awhile though.)

Thanks for the site for the Zips Programming Network (not RHPB). Unlike RHPB, they are or are suppose to be an all campus programming board.

Here are some programs I and other UA students not only planned but presented: Chicago - Memorial Hall: 3,600 in attendance, The Fifth Dimension - Memorial Hall: 3,500 in attendance, Bread - Memorial Hall: 3000 in attendance, Dionne Warwick - Memorial Hall: 3,000 in attendance, Stevie Wonder - Memorial Hall: 3,000 in attendance, The Eagles - Memorial Hall: 3,500 in attendance, J. Geils - Memorial Hall: 3,600 in attendance(Homecoming), Lynard Skynard - Memorial Hall: 3,000 in attendance, Jane Fonda - Knight Auditorium (Leigh Hall): over 500 in attendance, Cheech & Chong - Thomas Hall: 3,000 in attendance, Michael Stanley Band - Thomas Hall: 2,500 in attendance, Dave Mason - Memorial Hall: over 3,700 in attendance (we slipped the fire marshall a present for this one), Brian Auger - Thomas Hall: 3,012 in attendance, Manfred Mann's Earth Band - Thomas Hall: 3,000 in attendance, McKendree Spring - Thomas Hall: 2,300 in attendance, William Kunstler Anti-war activist and attorney for the Chicago 7 speaker - Knight Auditorium: over 500 in attendance (same fire marshall), Vincent Bugliosi (chief prosecutor who put Charles Manson behind bars) - Thomas Hall: 3,000 in attendance, Madelyn Murray O'Hare ( nationally known atheist) - Knight Auditorium: 500 in attendance, Margaret Mead, world renowned Anthropologist - Knight Auditorium: 500 in attendance.

My point in answering your request is to point out that even though I was involved and in a leadership position in most of these shows, it's not about me or what I did. Many UA students made it their job to be on a volunteer programming board and actually accomplished things by doing their work and doint it well. They didn't go around making excuses about how they can't do this and they can't do that. Did we get obstacles thrown in our way by UA administrators? You bet we did, but for the most part we persevered because we wanted to see great things happen on our campus as opposed to just wanting to belong to a program board because it will look good on our school record or resume. Gotta get that Honor A- Key Award!

When administrators told us we couldn't put major shows in Memorial Hall due to an alleged lack of electrical power in that facility, we came back with "no problem, we'll rent a generator" and we did just that. When they said, we couldn't bring a promoter on campus due to policy, we demanded they change that policy or give us an honest reason why not. When they said that promoters would exploit the student body for their money, we illustrated to them and the rest of the student body that that was a lie and demanded they discard the policy. They did and consequently we made money for our organization by working with promoters to bring great events to the campus. And, we filled venues over and over and over again.

When they claimed at the 11th hour that our planned Lynard Skynard concert for Thomas Hall had to be moved to Memorial Hall due to a malfunction inthe moveable ceiling, we insisted that we be allowed to come into the hall and view the alleged "broken ceiling". We were physically blocked by the Hall's staff and they won that one. Funny, we didn't have time to rent that generator for Memorial Hall for this last minute venue change, yet pulled off the concert with a great light and sound show. lack of power my arse!

So, I had to laugh at the recent student who claimed that they can't have concerts on campus because Thomas Hall is not really meant for concerts. Yeaaaaa, right! Someone has over cooked matso balls for testicles if you ask me.

The issue here is that it can be done. You just have to want to do it. I only wish we had the quality university president and other administrators back then that students have now. I have a hunch obstacles would have been much more easy to overcome if we did. The UA campus is ripe for great things to happen on it. They have many great facilities and sub-venues for activities, major concerts and presentations befitting a public university of its size and stature. I hope and trust that these opportunities will be taken full advantage of by today's students and the administration that appears to want to support them. Go Zips!

[urbanpreppie05]

Jake, your post is so big i decided not to quote it...:-)

Reading the IMPRESSIVE list of concerts/speakers makes me so, so jealous...it really, really does.

The student who told you that EJ Thomas wasnt really a concert hall is um..yeah. When I was a part of UPB/ZPN we did try to work with EJ- but, they held a high, high majority of space/time/money for events. When a group of students did want to do something- it basically was either A.Shutdown for lack of involvement, or B. When it did happen, few people came. You said that people joined these boards to help the community, which i WISH I had had then and now- sadly, people dont see the point in voluteering for anything (or the benefits that come with this position are not worth their time), something i noticed as a student and now as an administrator.

That's not to say that we didn't try-and succeed. The Annual Price is Right Game Show (now in its 5th year) was my idea. As was the Root Beer Kegger. During my time, we had the school's first ever African-american homecoming queen. ZPN also took over the movie series for the Gardner Theater as it was almost cancelled. In my perspective, when I was on the board, we focused on battles we could win and would bring as many people as possible. Looking at the super, super outdated website, i wonder if this is still the case. (FB is fine- but people STILL need updated webpages). We were a small, but determined group to put on events for a student body that is largely apathetic and even resistant to activities.

In spite of the wonderful facilities, apathy is still a factor. :-(

[urbanpreppie05]

Read this too...I brought it over from a post i made about student attitudes at UrbanOhio...

As I actually work with students every day in a Higher Education Setting, I have some insights..

The entitlement of college students has been going on FOR YEARS. I started in 2000, and the general thought of College students, even at a State School (Akron) was that this diploma was a magic ticket to a $50,000+ job outside of College. Fortunately, as I saw people who had recently graduated and were floundering, I knew there was a better way. So, I put my resume on a steady diet of work, student activities, Leadership Summits, and more work. Many of the people I went to school with and associated with did the same thing. I can remember going to class in my SU uniforms, my Program Board Shirts, Newspaper or yearbook in hand, and getting snickers from some people- because this was deemed "dorky". Who wants to put in extra hours when there could be partying and drinking?!

flush forward to now...me and nearly all of my friends, (the editors in chief, interns, program board presidents, sorority/Fraternity presidents, and SU managers) all have respectable-nice paying jobs either in our fields, or closely related. Those same ones that were laughing? Many of them are working banal jobs that they HATE and complaining about how worthless college was and how it was supposed to get them these great jobs...

Sadly, even in a two-year setting, I still see it among students. When I mention things like building your resume with volunteer service, interning, and building a portfolio (which I'm teaching a seminar on this later in the spring!) I get eye-rolling and sneers. Many students see Degrees as a magic ticket- but it simply doesnt work that way.

[Zip Watcher]

Bread - Memorial Hall: 3000 in attendance

Dude! That's awesome.

Bet that got a rise out of the crowd!

:rock:

[Jake]

Jake, your post is so big i decided not to quote it...:-)

Reading the IMPRESSIVE list of concerts/speakers makes me so, so jealous...it really, really does.

The student who told you that EJ Thomas wasnt really a concert hall is um..yeah. When I was a part of UPB/ZPN we did try to work with EJ- but, they held a high, high majority of space/time/money for events. When a group of students did want to do something- it basically was either A.Shutdown for lack of involvement, or B. When it did happen, few people came. You said that people joined these boards to help the community, which i WISH I had had then and now- sadly, people dont see the point in voluteering for anything (or the benefits that come with this position are not worth their time), something i noticed as a student and now as an administrator.

That's not to say that we didn't try-and succeed. The Annual Price is Right Game Show (now in its 5th year) was my idea. As was the Root Beer Kegger. During my time, we had the school's first ever African-american homecoming queen. ZPN also took over the movie series for the Gardner Theater as it was almost cancelled. In my perspective, when I was on the board, we focused on battles we could win and would bring as many people as possible. Looking at the super, super outdated website, i wonder if this is still the case. (FB is fine- but people STILL need updated webpages). We were a small, but determined group to put on events for a student body that is largely apathetic and even resistant to activities.

In spite of the wonderful facilities, apathy is still a factor. :-(

urbanpreppie

I hear you but please realize, people said UA students were apathetic in my day as well and we proved otherwise. It is not hopeless for today's UA students. If E.J. Thomas is stonewalling UA students, then they need to demand to meet with Dr. Proenza and register their grievances. They should remain steadfast and refuse to take no for answer. And they should go to the real press and not just the Buchtelite...The Plain Dealer wouldn't hurt.

Now a little digression. I'm going to quote page 64 from UA's 1975 Tel - Buch (Yearbook) about the 1974 Homecoming at UA. "...but an alternative was offered through SCPB's programs...SCPB voted against the traditional queen and conducted a contest for Homecoming Person...The Honor of Homecoming Person was bestowed upon Connie Bowman, who was sponsored by B.U.S. (Black United Students)"

So, it was in 1974 when in essence we had the first Black/African American Homecoming Queen and it was because the true all-campus programming board took homecoming away from the Greeks and made it a truly all-campus event. It was that homecoming that made network news on Good Morning America where Barbara Walters dubbed The University of Akron as "The Berkley of the Midwest" for having such a progressive and all-inclusive Homecoming on campus. That was when our Homecoming concert drew 3,600 students and their friends to our campus when we featured The J. Geils Band.

The University of Akron was far more conservative back then than it is today. So, I really think today's UA student can get a lot further than we did.

Also, we did not join and work on the program board to serve the community as you said, we did what we did for the university and our fellow students. Our service to the community was a collateral benefit and we were happy that it was but we always kept our focus on our purpose and that was strictly for the enhancement of the campus and the benefit of the student body. And please don't take this the wrong way but when you said that you focused on battles that you could win, I hear you saying that you and your group short changed yourselves and gave in. Students have much more power than that. After all you are the university's main blood line and you have the power to tell them so. I appreciate the activities that you brought however, it is obvious that you guys did not think big like a university student body should be thinking. When we had little student response to our events (and we did at times) we took accountability for that and admitted that it was our fault and not theirs. We obviously did not give them what they wanted. We made it a point to stop calling our fellow students apathetic. Frankly to do so is a cop-out. There is no such thing. If students are apathetic, it's the university's fault for not giving them something they want. We learned to let go of value judgments over events. We did not get into, "well, that's an act that's too nasty or too controversial." The UA administration tried to get away with this game but we wouldn't buy into it. If Cheech and Chong said "shit" on stage and the students wanted to see and hear it, then so be it.

Frankly, if you are an all-campus program board, then you have to think bigger than game shows and keg parties. Leave that crap up to the Greeks and the dorms. You have bigger fish to fry.

The ZPN should focus on drawing in thousands of students to their events and not hundreds. UA needs to start acting like a real university and that is the MO behind my wanting an on-campus arena. UA needs to start playing with the big guys and the big gals and stop being a wishy washy glorified high school trying to please the mayor and his downtown croanies.

[goodthts]

Oh to be young again.....

Saw so many good shows in Akron when bands used to play there. Saw Nirvana at the JAR and Pantera. Saw Flaming Lips, Arlo Guthrie and many local acts at EJ Thomas.

I attended too many shows at the Daily Double and Annabelles to count. There were even some shows later at Jillians. My brother played at Cavanaugh's b4 it was Northside, friends bands played anywhere/everywhere and I cannot forget the BEST venue for music...Akron Civic Theatre=best environment, best venue, coolest place around.

"THE MUSIC SCENE" is pretty weak everywhere in NEO. Cleveland gets passed over so often for significant tours in favor of Columbus or Cinnci that many acts dont even schedule Ohio dates anymore.

So anything you folks still in school or venue owners can do to attract and grow our fan-going musical choices in Akron it would be aprreciated.

Shout out to the good folks at Musica!

[urbanpreppie05]

Jake-

If we don't agree on anything else, we both agree that our posts are long. :-)

I want to thank you for pointing out that the first African-American Queen was from 1974...because even when i was told that...I didnt believe it myself...it seemed TOO late in the times for that.

I wish I still had my Tel-Buch's in front of me (RIP) to do the research from the 70s/80's. Sigh...

I realized as I read your post about us not doing concerts was not true...we DID do a combination of A Battle of The Bands/Blessid Union of Souls Concert for Hurricane Ketrina at Ej in Spring 2006. We also did a battle of the bands at the belegured Zipfest in 2003 behind the DG house. Guess what...both of these were not very well attended, and nearly impossible to get volunteers for. I know there's always been apathy and always will be, but back in your day, you didnt have to compete with an over-21 asinine drinking law (IMHO), Ipods, multiplexes, Video Games, and several consecutive tuituion increases that have already given people a negative view of college already. I'm not trying to make excuses, but engaging students now (even 5 years after college) is harder than it used to be.

While we're on the matter of surveying, the big thing that people wanted was Dave Matthews Band...want guess how much they cost?

In addition, ZPN was changed from UPB in 2004 to basically accomadate as many communities in UA as possible, ones that were from some surveys felt "excluded" including adult students, ones with families and commuters. The budget at the time was a hair over 100K. No program board can or should sink 1/4 or half their money into the budget into one single event, a responsible one does programming all year and makes the money work. You may feel that game shows, movies, and Keg parties should be left to the greeks (by the by, GPC became part of ZPn in 2005, so we worked together) but these things appeal to a signific portion of the student body that shouldn't be ignored. ZPN, i've felt should get a separate budget just for concerts and one for it's yearly programmming. Those big requests go through ASG, which is not always on the same page as ZPN. The students need to unite to get what they want- something that had started when I was there (RHPB and ZPN at the very least work together now, something that wouldn't have happened when I first started) The students need to unite and plan and band together to get these major events, which I felt was starting to come about, but may not be the case anymore.

[Jake]

Jake-

If we don't agree on anything else, we both agree that our posts are long. :-)

I want to thank you for pointing out that the first African-American Queen was from 1974...because even when i was told that...I didnt believe it myself...it seemed TOO late in the times for that.

I wish I still had my Tel-Buch's in front of me (RIP) to do the research from the 70s/80's. Sigh...

I realized as I read your post about us not doing concerts was not true...we DID do a combination of A Battle of The Bands/Blessid Union of Souls Concert for Hurricane Ketrina at Ej in Spring 2006. We also did a battle of the bands at the belegured Zipfest in 2003 behind the DG house. Guess what...both of these were not very well attended, and nearly impossible to get volunteers for. I know there's always been apathy and always will be, but back in your day, you didnt have to compete with an over-21 asinine drinking law (IMHO), Ipods, multiplexes, Video Games, and several consecutive tuituion increases that have already given people a negative view of college already. I'm not trying to make excuses, but engaging students now (even 5 years after college) is harder than it used to be.

While we're on the matter of surveying, the big thing that people wanted was Dave Matthews Band...want guess how much they cost?

In addition, ZPN was changed from UPB in 2004 to basically accomadate as many communities in UA as possible, ones that were from some surveys felt "excluded" including adult students, ones with families and commuters. The budget at the time was a hair over 100K. No program board can or should sink 1/4 or half their money into the budget into one single event, a responsible one does programming all year and makes the money work. You may feel that game shows, movies, and Keg parties should be left to the greeks (by the by, GPC became part of ZPn in 2005, so we worked together) but these things appeal to a signific portion of the student body that shouldn't be ignored. ZPN, i've felt should get a separate budget just for concerts and one for it's yearly programmming. Those big requests go through ASG, which is not always on the same page as ZPN. The students need to unite to get what they want- something that had started when I was there (RHPB and ZPN at the very least work together now, something that wouldn't have happened when I first started) The students need to unite and plan and band together to get these major events, which I felt was starting to come about, but may not be the case anymore.

I hear you. Another strategy for today's UA students is to by pass ZPN etc. and just make the case that your managing director of your performing arts hall, Dan Dahl receives the overwhelming bulk of his budget from student fees. It is in the 6 to 7 million range and that's low for him. In any event, students need to demand that he and his staff use that budget for student oriented shows instead of spending the majority of it on the Akron community. Why should student organizations use their meager funds when the student body very generously already funds E.J. Thomas Hall? It's a rip off and there are some administrators on campus who agree.

[goodthts]

While we're on the matter of surveying, the big thing that people wanted was Dave Matthews Band...want guess how much they cost?

$100-200K? ridiclous

I say focus on local and regional acts first, bring some midlevel acts in several times a year and maybe a "big" act during Fall or Spring....but nothing on the scale of DMB would be doable.

Would love to see Akron have an identity as a musical destination again. Heck, it kinda is, just many people do not realize it.

[Jake]

While we're on the matter of surveying, the big thing that people wanted was Dave Matthews Band...want guess how much they cost?

$100-200K? ridiclous

I say focus on local and regional acts first, bring some midlevel acts in several times a year and maybe a "big" act during Fall or Spring....but nothing on the scale of DMB would be doable.

Would love to see Akron have an identity as a musical destination again. Heck, it kinda is, just many people do not realize it.

Right, more mediocrity. Akron has numerous venues for those types of shows. E.J. needs to be about bigger fish. We can't have all of our venues focusing on local and midlevel shows. It would make Akron look like a one horse town and the university look even hokier. UA gets millions of dollars from student fees to run its PAH, Giving students local and midlevel stuff on that big of a dime would be scandalous. And, unfortunately E.J is already getting away with this chicanery through its stupid stage door shit! I say enough with the small potatoes thinking.

Geesh, the hall is almost 37 years old. How long do you want "at first" to last? According to your time table, by the time E.J. starts bringing in bigger acts, it will be time to tear the place down.

[ZachTheZip]

Story published today about EJ Thomas' line-up

Spamalot's good. Everything else on the schedule is geared towards middle-aged housewives.

A few weeks ago, Avenue Q was there. That was great.

[Jake]

Story published today about EJ Thomas' line-up

Spamalot's good. Everything else on the schedule is geared towards middle-aged housewives.

A few weeks ago, Avenue Q was there. That was great.

I heard Avenue Q was good. Sorry I missed it. I will be seeing David Sedaris this Wednesday though. Looking forward to it.

They still need to appeal more to UA students. Giving out discounted tickets to shows they don't want to see is a real travesty, especially when they do it out of desperation at the 11th hour because ticket sales are slow. It's a dead give-away when they qualify the discount with, "not good on previously purchased tickets."

I recall a 2007 story in the Beacon, "Thomas Hall gets its new act together" bragging about the hall being more UA student oriented. I figured at the time the article was nothing more than hot air and lip service and it turns out I was right.