Cabot House Launches Free Friday Concerts

Starting tonight, Cabot House will be hosting a weekly series of free concerts by undergraduate bands.

Deadweight Loss, a four-member student band which writes most of its own music, will kick off the series of Friday night performances in the Cabot Junior Common Room. Organizers say they hope the concert will enliven the social life at the Quad and give student bands more exposure.

Cabot House Chair Gregory A. Nadeau '89 said that there are many undergraduate musicians whose talents go largely ignored by fellow students. "There are so many people who play music, but just do their own thing," he said, adding that the cost of putting on a show prevents many bands from performing. and that the University's new alchohol policy has made it even more difficult.

A University policy that forbids groups from charging admission at parties where alchohol is served virtually forces organizers to take a loss on live bands, particularly if they are not well-known, said Nadeau.

"Live music at Harvard has been very seriously injured by the alcohol policy," he said.

C. Leland Schelleng '90, the bass player for The Banned, one of the groups which will play this spring, said starting up is difficult for some bands because it costs about $300 to put on a show.

There will be no alchohol served at the Cabot House JCR concerts, but the House Committee is not charging admission or paying the bands to play.

Nadeau said the Cabot House JCR is ideal for live performances because of its large size. To make it easier for bands to play there, the house plans to install a permanent public address system by next fall so that bands will not haveto bring their own systems.

The Cabot House Committee is also looking forbands to play in a free campus-wide cookout andconcert, which the Quad Houses may co-sponsor withthe Undergraduate Council this spring, Nadeausaid. He said that he hoped the concert,tentatively dubbed "Quadstock," would become anannual event and said he hoped to include at leasttwo Boston bands in the concert.

Cabot House in the past held a regular seriesof concerts called "Cookin'" in the Cabot grill,but the concerts ended two years ago