Santigold chosen for '09 show

Author: Tamara Hilmes

The Middlebury College Activities Board (MCAB) announced that Santigold will perform at the College in April. In place of what has traditionally been the "big" spring concert, MCAB decided this year to split the funding between a number of smaller performances throughout the year, rather than tying up their entire budget in bringing a "big name" to campus. A total of 10 concerts were budgeted for this spring, which included acts that have already passed, like RJD2, as well as WRMC 91.1 FM's Sepomena.

"In previous years, we have had a large show, and though this won't be quite that scale, it will be a national touring act and a substantial name," said Director of Campus Activities and Leadership (CCAL) and MCAB faculty advisor Doug Adams.

That national act, it has recently been confirmed, will be Santigold, a punk indie-pop artist from Philadelphia, who has toured with the likes of Coldplay, Bjork, Kanye West and the Beastie Boys. The female artist, who has been compared to likes of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and M.I.A. in terms of musical style, signed a contract with the College earlier this week.

"Our first choice was Matisyahu," said Head of the Concerts Committee Hank Rosen '09. Rosen explained that they were unable to secure the Jewish artist who meshes reggae and hip-hop sounds after learning that the performance date would conflict with his upcoming CD release.

"Our next option was Passover," Rosen said, though he did not think the agent was aware of the holiday when the date was proposed. As there were no other dates available, the committee had to look into other options. Other groups considered included Vampire Weekend, MGMT and Bon Iver, but according to Rosen, they just "didn't work out that well."

"A lot of people don't realize that it's not easy bringing people to Vermont," Rosen said. "A lot of artists don't want to go anywhere unless it's a big paycheck-type venue."

This year, MCAB did not issue an all-campus survey with the final choices for the spring concert, relying instead on student input given earlier in the year via an overarching survey issued in the fall. Rather than giving students the choice between a handful of artists, the survey asked students what type of events and genres they would like to see brought to campus.

"Doug and I worked together to plan a survey that would focus on types of concerts, rather than giving three choices and saying, 'pick one,' which sort of leaves MCAB stuck in a box," said MCAB President Ali Levy '09.

Both Levy and Rosen discussed the problems that school-wide surveys create, one being that any student who is part of an organization and has the password to the survey program could log on and check the results, leading to potential controversy surrounding the vote, much like last year's Third Eye Blind and Cake debate.

"This is one of the reasons that we try not to use names now," said Rosen, "because when it falls through, people get upset. Last year, it blew up in our face. The margin was in favor of Third Eye Blind, but in the end, it just was not economically feasible to bring them to campus," something, according to Rosen, the previous MCAB leaders did not realize until the vote had taken place.

Rosen pointed out that another problem with all-campus surveys of that nature is their ability to "polarize" the campus.

"Even though Cake was one of our most successful events," Rosen said, "we had a large number of irate students who were upset that their activity fee was going towards something they didn't like. Being on Concerts [Committee], you really walk that fine line."

"Since we didn't do a survey," Rosen said, "it might come off as though we don't care what students want, but we do gauge student interest." Rosen explained that the committee receives "tons" of e-mails with suggestions, and students have also come forward with suggestions.

"We've only turned down one student suggestion this year," Rosen said, and only because it would have cost too much.