WVKR Mug Night promises good music, fun, and dancing

Freddy Deknatel Asst. A&E Editor

There is now a cure for the case of the Mondays, and it can be found below the College Center at the Mug with WVKR Night. The bar was originally planning to be closed the first night of the work week, due in part to lack of a budget for hired DJs. But because of the efforts of Emily Ross ‘05, Mug manager on Mondays, as well as Chris Maher ’05 and Karina Czoka ‘05, WVKR employees, the Mug will now open its doors to the restless looking to extend the weekend.

A full host of WVKR employees will share weekly DJing duties and live performances are expected as well. Maher and Czoka have plans to schedule on-campus bands and to bring in an outside act from New York City once a month. But they also expect most of the night to fall on the radio DJs. “The bands would play a short set anyway, so we’ll spin before and after they play,” Czoka said.

Sept. 27 was the opening of WVKR Night at the Mug and while getting the word out was a last minute effort, a devoted crowd still found their way downstairs. With records spinning and iPods plugged in, their blue lights glowing from behind the DJ counter, the music was a steady mix of alternative and pop rock from the past decades, plus some added dance songs to get some of the crowd on the floor. The advent of WVKR Night hopes to change what is often a quiet start to the week to a more social occasion where music, old and new, abounds. WVKR DJs devote their time to music: organizing radio playlists, listening to and reviewing new CDs, or running late evening or early morning radio shows, all in the station three floors above the Mug in the College Center.

Ross hopes to pull a large crowd down to the Mug Monday nights because of the open nature of the set-up. “The night can be what people make of it,” she said. Talking from behind the bar while mixing a drink, she hopes people take to the attraction of WVKR DJs. “If people come down, Chris and Karina will play pretty much whatever you want.” True to form, the two DJs played from a list of requests this Monday, Oct. 4th, though certainly some of the highlights were a new song from Belle & Sebastian and a techno remix of Weezer’s “Hash Pipe.”

According to the DJs, the same relaxed nature of the station will exist at the Mug. According to Jake Friedman ’07, Promotions Director for WVKR and one of the first WVKR Night DJs, spinning at the Mug will be much like being on air. While there will be the same excitement, instead of an empty studio and shelves of CDs, he’ll be surrounded by a crowd. But still, says Friedman, “It’s just like being on the radio, except you have to wear pants.”

The new club component promises to extend WVKR’s visibility, as well as make Monday nights exciting again. All the voices from WVKR Night, from the DJs to the bartenders to the WVKR employees dancing on the floor, want to stress the access and atmosphere of the evening, hoping to spell a different kick-start to the work-week.