Concerts Hit the Pub

When the Cambridge Queen’s Head Pub opened last semester, Harvard students gained a campus watering hole and an agreeable alternative to the dining halls. Tomorrow, the Pub may very well play host to something even greater: the renaissance of live music at Harvard. Well, as long as the money holds out.

Sponsored by campus radio station WHRB and the College Events Board (CEB), the pub will present a night of performances by Harvard’s own DJs Radius and Quiet, preeminent Harvard band The Sinister Turns, and New York independent rockers Nightmare of You. The entire performance will be broadcast live on WHRB, allowing Harvard students and members of the station’s greater Boston following to tune in.

“We’re all really, really excited and really thrilled about this show,” says Susan I. Putnins ’08, singer and pianist for The Sinister Turns, as well as a DJ for WHRB. “Other students aren’t really involved in [WHRB], so I’m excited to have students involved other than those that are running it.”

FILLING THE GAP

The event raises the issue of the viability of a live music scene at Harvard, say organizers.

According to WHRB chief operator Joey F. Quinn ’08, the problem lies not just with the University, but with the students themselves. “There’s plenty of rock bands, plenty of music, but there’s a disconnect between the arts community and the rest of the student body,” he says. “If there is a scene, it’s not brought to enough awareness.”

According to station president Kimberly E. Gittleson ’08, WHRB has a role to play in spanning the gap between artists and students by bringing more bands like Nightmare of You, who connect more with a college demographic, to Harvard. “We wanted to encourage smaller, more independent acts that are sort of the thrust of what more college kids listen to,” she says. Gittleson is also a Crimson editor and regular columnist for the Arts Section.

Darius P. Felton ’08, who is general manager of WHRB as well as one of tomorrow’s performers (under the moniker of DJ Radius), says that a singular event like this, while a positive step, is not enough to jumpstart live music at Harvard alone: “The student body wants small events to happen with relative frequency,” she says.

The Pub, with its performance stage, sound system, and proximity to the same equipment that has allowed WHRB to broadcast performances from Sanders Theatre, is ideal for small concerts featuring Harvard’s musically-inclined. It also has the potential to draw significant crowds, with its food and drink serving as an added incentive to attending live shows that is lacking at more obscure on-campus venues such as the Quincy Cage.

FOOTING THE BILL

But while the perfect stage for live music may now exist at Harvard, financial issues may still inhibit the potential of WHRB’s involvement in promoting live bands.

Gittleson makes it clear that the event is purely altruistic on the part of the station, which had to resort to selling more advertising time and using cost-cutting methods to pay $3,000—half of the sponsorship costs. Because there will be no door charge, and any profit the Pub turns during the event will go towards paying the staff, it will be very difficult for WHRB to recoup its losses.

“Unless people are willing to buy our 150 t-shirts, we will probably lose money,” she says. “This is for the Harvard community; it’s not just for us.”

S. Adam Goldenberg ’08, the CEB’s chief executive officer, emphasizes that the board worked closely with WHRB to come to an agreement about dividing the event’s cost.

“Though our budget is large, it is not unlimited,” he says.

Goldenberg, who is also a Crimson editor, says that the CEB has to keep in mind its funding concerns for events in the future, and that tomorrow’s concert is but one of the many events the organization would support.

LOOKING AHEAD

All parties remain optimistic, however. Gittleson and Felton each point out that attendance should be strong because the event will be free, and also because it ends before the average Harvard student’s Saturday night plans begin.

Quinn goes on to discuss the possibility of the Pub playing a future role in promoting live music.

“It’s the first show of its kind that WHRB is involved with and we think there’s absolutely space for acts like this in the future,” he says.

The students come first, according to both of the events sponsors, who stressed that there was little to be gained on their ends by hosting the concert.

Goldenberg summed up the feelings of the CEB and his constituents, saying, “We will consider this event a success if it is attended and enjoyed by undergraduates.”