published on 04/29/05

ViCE Versa fest kicks off Founder’s Day weekend

Freddy Deknatel A&E Editor

For the second year in a row, Vassar College Entertainment (ViCE) is treating the campus to a Friday kick-start to Saturday’s Founder’s Day debauchery. The ViCE Versa Fest, held at Ballintine Field at 7 p.m., once again gives the stage to some very visible popular music acts.

Hip-hop artist Talib Kweli will headline, supported by deejay Tony Touch, the indie/pop band Rainer Maria—already familiar with Vassar from their Valentine’s Day ’04 show with Rufus Wainwright—and the trashy, playful rockers Morningwood. This year’s ViCE Versa distinguishes itself from last year’s—headlined by The Unicorns and Sleater-Kinney—in its broader musical scope and its support of Grassroots Soccer, an international AIDS awareness and educational organization that aims to mobilize the global soccer community to combat the AIDS epidemic in Africa.

Michael Chico ’05, outgoing CEO of ViCE, maintains that the show is “more of an awareness show than a straight-up benefit,” with free admission and suggested donation. “Keeping the show free for students was very important to us,” Chico said, while still giving the show a charitable focus. As for the music, Chico said ViCE aimed to have a more diverse show than last year’s that was balanced on the College’s different musical communities. “Last year’s show was essentially an indie rock show,” he said. While ViCE Versa did not want to be “completely dissonant from the indie sound” he certainly wanted to lend the show some different flavor.

Kweli, whose career launched in the late ’90s with the group Black Star, which counted Mos Def and DJ Hi-Tek as the other members, stands at the top of the hip-hop ladder with his literate, provocative lyrics that are many blocks away from rough gangsta rap and the tepid pop rap of P Diddy. Jay-Z lauded Kweli on his Black Album, rapping "If skills sold, truth be told/I'd probably be, lyrically, Talib Kweli." So there you have it; if not Jay-Z, who else can convince you to be above Sunset Hill this Friday?

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