Student leaders to bring concert series to campus

Concerts by outside performing artists may not be an uncommon event on campus starting this spring.

Officials are hosting a concert free for students at 8 p.m. today in the Burg Theater in Kirkpatrick Fine Arts Center.

Steve Means, a 23 year-old acoustic pop /soul singer/songwriter from Nashville, will perform at the event.

Means’s music has been featured in episodes of MTV’s reality shows “The Real World” and “Newport Harbor.”

The event will be the first in a series of concerts officials plan to bring the university, said Eli Coronis, SAC vice president.

Coronis said officials’ plan is to host at least one concert per semester.

“We don’t ever bring people that tour around colleges to campus,” he said.

Coronis said his vision for the concert series is to bring different artistic performances students can attend other than those hosted by university departments.

“Hopefully the concerts will allow some students to be spectators not just performers,” he said.

Emma Velez, philosophy/political science freshman, said bringing the concerts to campus is a good idea.

Other campuses like OU have similar events and it would be “neat” to do the same on campus, Velez said.

Although Means is not well known students still will attend the event, she said.
Kimberlee Douglass, elementary education sophomore, agreed.

“It’s a good idea because it gives these artists who may not be well known a chance to showcase themselves,” she said.

Douglass said she had not heard of Means but, after Googling his work, she was impressed.

“If all the people in this concert series are going to be as good of a singer as Means, people will definitely come,” she said.

Daniel Bowers, dance performance freshman, said the concert sounds interesting because he likes Means’s genre of music.

“I listen to pretty much everything besides metal and classical.”

George Septer, business administration junior, said he heard about the concert and may attend the event.

“I’m hoping he will be someone big so I can say I’ve seen him,” he said.

Other students have heard of Means’s music.

Luis Malanche, dance performance sophomore, said he is familiar with Means because of a family member.

“My sister is a big MTV junkie,” he said. “She liked to listen to the music after the shows.”

Malanche said he has not decided if he is attending the event.

I could actually go, it’s right after my partnering class, he said.

“It would be a good time to relax,” he said.

The event will cost about $1,500, Coronis said. The amount covers costs in Means’s contract, including hotel accommodations. An $85 dollar fee will pay for theater rental and a staff member to help with stage setup.

SAC is allotted money from student service fees attached to tuition fees. The concert series will be funded with these funds.

Means was chosen to perform on campus because of the wide assortment of music he plays and the low cost to book him, Coronis said.

About 2,200 undergraduate students are enrolled in the university and an average of 900 students attend SAC’s Free Movie Night events. The venue for the concert seats about 260 people.

The concert was scheduled on a Wednesday night because it was the only night the theater was un-booked, Coronis said.

Tickets can be picked up in front of the caf and Alvin’s Cafe in Tom and Brenda McDaniel University Center at lunch and dinner while they last.