Exploring Bard’s intimate music scene

Sam Bloch Staff Writer

Freddy Deknatel Arts Editor

Part two of The Miscellany News’ coverage of campus music explores band bookings, student impressions of performers, and the quality of venues at Bard College, Vassar’s neighbor in Annandale-on-Hudson and a desirable concert stop for some Vassar students.

The majority of shows at Bard are booked through their Entertainment Committee, a school-sponsored club that has booked a slew of moderately well-known indie rock bands over past years, including Sufjan Stevens, the Blood Brothers, and the Unicorns. But aside from their small annual budget of $11,000 to $14,000—significantly less than Vassar College Entertainment’s budget of more than $80,000—the Committee has much to be concerned about.

Even though many Bard students assert that live music is an incredibly vital part of the Bard social scene, students feel that the Committee, the primary campus booker, caters too much to a specific indie rock crowd. The Committee believes that they are in the process of losing the autonomy that Bard students and clubs pride themselves upon, stemming from what they and many students believe to be a lack of adequate campus venues.

Bard student Tim Donovan ’07, a member of the Entertainment Committee, fears that the relatively administration-free nature of the Committee will soon be lost. The Bard administration is in the midst of assuming more control over the Committee. What is now a handful of students working together to book shows and to help other clubs book shows will soon be five individually elected students and selected faculty advisors.

“Rather than a fun, non-hierarchical collective of people working toward a common good, it’s so corporate, so narc-y,” said Donovan.

Donovan also expressed concerns about the relationship the Committee has with other clubs and students, who come to the Committee to arrange funding for booking shows.

“We have worked with dozens of clubs in the past, and it was great, and community-building,” said Donovan. “Now, I fear that the fracturing of the entertainment committee will change inter-club relations.” Aside from the Committee, the only other club to book shows this semester has been the Rock and Roll Society, a small-budget group that gives students money to book bands themselves.

After the Old Gym, the Entertainment Committee’s main venue, was closed two years ago, Bard students found another place in which to hold shows: a two-car garage named Smog.

Like the Old Gym, Smog is an abandoned building that students converted into a performance space, with walls covered by students’ paintings and graffiti. Additionally, a Bard audio co-op manages an equipment room inside so that students can practice even if they do not have their own equipment.

But most importantly, according to Smog co-manager Brandon Rosenbluth ’08, as long it does not present a scheduling conflict, any Bard student can book a show with any band, including their own, at Smog independent of the Bard administration or the Entertainment Committee.

In addition to Smog, students can book larger national acts at other venues, including a campus multi-purpose room [MPR], and the Bard Hall, a chapel-like building that is the campus’ oldest.
“I think it’s very easy to book a show in any of our venues,” said Bard Director of Student Activities Andrea Conner.

But Conner also acknowledged students’ desire for more venues. “The upper administration has agreed to build a new venue if the funds can be raised fully,” she said, and noted that planning may begin in the spring of 2006.

In the meantime, students are often discontented with Smog’s tiny, dust-filled environment and level of upkeep. For some of Smog’s most popular shows, there are as many students listening from the outside as there are watching inside, according to Rosenbluth, and in November, one act was relocated to the MPR after the Smog public address system broke.

“It is pretty easy to play shows on campus, although the lack of venues, besides the one with acoustics, can make playing a show disheartening,” said Greg Fox ’08, who also mentioned the lack of availability of other campus venues.

Furthermore, many students are at odds with the number of indie rock shows held in Smog.
“I often find [Smog shows] homogenous and boring, catering to the interests of an indie rock-loving clique and not much else,” said Monroe Ellenbogen ’08. Although he conceded that the venue is a much more sterile environment than Smog, nonetheless, his favorite Bard show this semester was jazz combo Trevor Dunn Trio in the MPR.

“The location and the space itself limit the types of bands that can play,” offered Mariah Maines ’06. “At the same time, because it is located a little off-campus, I think some students feel a little alienated to go there.”

Nevertheless, David Flores ’08 stressed that students should both attend and book shows at off-campus alternatives.

For example, in Tivoli, a town a few miles north of campus heavily populated by upperclassmen, students can see weekly live jazz at the Black Swan Bar and shows by alternative folk acts in student houses. Flores also set up a show in September in an abandoned processing plant along the Hudson River.

However, Donovan conceded that despite the attractiveness of Tivoli’s intimate, relaxed atmosphere, most Bard students might share Maines’ sentiments or are simply unaware of the shows. Additionally, these shows are, by nature, are not conducive to large crowds.

“It is a great community of friends primarily,” said Donovan. “Musicians play up in Tivoli for fun or for extra secret shows.”

Hip-hop shows at Bard do not go unappreciated either. According to Henry Casey of the Bard Observer, a Perceptionists show featuring Bard hip-hop group BPM in November, estimated by Rosenbluth to be attended by approximately 300 Bard students in the MPR, was a massive success.
“It hit me that this was the biggest rap show I was going to see during my time at Bard, and I knew I had to just throw out my worries and annoyances,” Casey wrote. “The Perceptionists had the entire room chanting along with them...After their set, students were mobbing them for autographs and CDs.”

“To [the Committee’s] credit, they spent the most money on bringing the Perceptionists, at my urging,” said Noah Weston of BPM. But he then wondered “why the Committee cannot just get several cheaper rap groups to come through and provide even more of what Bard students seem to consistently enjoy.”

Though Donovan admitted students are strongly interested in seeing more hip-hop shows they are, in fact, typically more expensive than rock shows and cannot be staged as often.

To book an act like De La Soul, an influential hip-hop trio past the peak of their popularity, would be a literal impossibility at Bard: their per-show cost of $20,00-$25,000 far exceeds the Bard Entertainment Committee’s yearly budget.