Students speak out for more variety
Mike Boteilho / Assistant Opinion Editor

Join the club if you want a change
Those who are quick to judge the Appalachian Popular Programming Society (APPS) need to understand what a massive undertaking it actually is.

APPS is totally student-driven. The bands, movies and other events they plan are decided by the students in APPS. All students are invited to join, to voice their opinions and help determine what entertainment is brought to ASU.

The sad fact is, the people most critical of APPS are the ones who need to join APPS, but they don’t. They could make a change if they truly wanted to.

There are several councils in APPS: Club Shows, Stage Shows, APPS Heritage, Films, Concerts, Special Events and the Council for Cultural Awareness. Each council is open for students to join.

One complaint about APPS is there isn’t enough diversity in what APPS brings to campus. My question is, have you been paying attention? 
The flyers have been all over the campus, and the writing is on the tunnel wall frequently.

Bands such as Jump, Little Children, Far Too Jones and other bands are brought to Legends by Stage Shows. They primarily deal with regional music. They usually stick to rock, but they have also brought the rap group, 2 Skinee J’s, as well as the funky sounds of Dag and the ska-influenced music of Fighting Gravity to Legends.

Musical variety has been present in other councils as well. Club Shows, which brings local music to ASU, has brought punk, rock, reggae, swing, jam rock and much more.

A.P.P.S. Heritage has frequently brought bluegrass and big band music to the campus as well as arts, crafts and contra dances. 

The Films council brings movies every week; comedies, action flicks, award winning films (except for Titanic, for which I am glad) and ‘80s classics.

CCA, the most active APPS council, brings entertainment on a weekly basis for minority students. They bring DJs, comedians, cultural awareness events and much more to the campus. 

When you combine the efforts of the councils mentioned above, you have a diverse set of events on any given week.

As far as rap music goes, it is true that there hasn’t been as much, but that reflects the interests of the main musical councils. Even though the majority of students at ASU are white, many of them listen to rap. If there were more people on the councils interested in rap, there would probably be more rap shows. 

And while we’re on the topic of hip-hop, here are a few events going on this week.

Club Shows will have two rap groups coming to the Alpine Lounge this Friday, April 9; Samadhi Manifest and Crymson Guard. Where’s Alpine Lounge? Second floor, Student Union, near the Gold Room.

Also, CCA will help host a Battle of the DJs in the Grandfather Mountain Ballroom the same evening.

“But I haven’t heard of those groups or the DJs,”  you say. APPS member Matt Cummins would respond, “Isn’t college for breaking past stereotypical roles and trying something new?” Don’t let your musical tastes be guided by MTV. Experiment; look for new music. APPS provides it frequently. A local band can be just as talented as some of the big names.

Which brings me to my last point. APPS is a massive undertaking. There are so many factors in bringing entertainment to ASU; who’s touring, how much money they want, the council’s budget, weather conditions and when the band can play. 

It doesn’t always work out. Even if the whole student body were to vote on campus entertainment, there would still be the same problems that 
APPS deals with.

The members of APPS do their best to represent the interests of ASU students. They do the advertising, they choose the events and they love doing it. If you think they could do better, join a council and voice your interests.

Students speak out for more variety
  Variety is all that we are asking for.  

This was a statement by many of the students on campus about the shows APPS schedules at Legends.  

Every Thursday-Saturday, APPS goes out of their way to provide entertainment for many of the students, and while this entertainment is appreciated, many of the students I have talked with are asking for a change.

Many nights this year, after a show at Legends, I got to hear my roommate describe the crowd.  Sometimes it was good, but much of the time he came back with some startling memories of the lack of crowd.  “I bet there was no more than 30 people at the show tonight. I can’t believe it. the band was really good,” said former Legends employee Fred Gardin.

So I went around campus the last few days interviewing fellow students and asking them what the problem could possibly be.

“There is just so much alternative music I can listen too,” says senior Sean Callihan. “The groups are good, but I think attendance will go up if more big name groups can enter the scene.  I remember when Phish came up here, it was just wild up here. Too bad groups like this haven’t been back recently.”

Senior Jody Hill also wanted more big name groups.  “I know that Wyclef came this year, but he is no Outkast. We really need a good hip-hop artist to come to Boone again.” 

Both seniors agreed that the quality of shows has started to drop  since their freshman year, and both are beginning to wonder why.    

Why is it that four years ago, attendance at concerts was up, and now it is starting to slip? 

“It’s because they didn’t burn us out on one style of music,” said Callihan. “If they had more diversity, I would come to a lot more shows.”

Junior Derrick Sink had a slightly different opinion on the show selection at ASU. “I like the variety, but I would much rather see more big name groups once in a while.” 

Big name groups want the big time payments, and that is a problem for the small funded group. But senior Kristi Walsh has a solution to that. 

“Instead of the mass number of shows they put on, maybe save some of the money by only scheduling a few shows every year. Yes maybe the charge would be a little bit more, but hey, it would be worth it to see the top groups.” 

Aren’t the students the main group of people that APPS is trying to please?  

“They should try to please other people’s tastes some of the time,” griped junior Adam Karcz. “Swing is very popular music now, and when is the last time a ska band came to Boone?”

When is the last time, indeed?  While seeking a solution, sophomore Laura Bell came up with a quick answer, “Why not ask us [students]. We may not be part of the club [APPS], but I don’t think that one club should make all of the decisions.  Maybe if we had a survey at the beginning of school, that asked us what we wanted to see, then APPS could choose from the list of groups that the students selected.  That would make everyone happy.”

Could there actually be a way to make everyone happy at the school? Junior Mike Shook thinks not. “No matter who they bring, I wouldn’t go. I hate all of the groups that come here anyway,” Shook said.  

Yes, there may be some people that will not like anything APPS will ever do, but the main thing that students are asking for is a bigger variety of shows.  

I know it must be hard to please everyone, but listen to your fellow students, and let’s bring some different groups to Boone in the future.