Bikes, Booze, and Crappy Music

Happy Little 500 everybody! It’s that wonderful time of year that every IU student has been looking forward to. Welcome Week? Child’s play. Halloween? A mere afterthought. Winter Break? Pssh. This is the week where one school and community causes so much mayhem, that police more or less let the students run the town. This year will be just as crazy, if not more crazy than years past.The bike race is sure to be great as usual, but the concerts are what drives this event.

For some reason, almost every undergrad enjoys terrible rap music, so that is what the majority of the Little 5 concerts will have this year. “Highlighting” the concert field this year will be a concert on Tuesday that features Lil’ Wayne, Nicki Minaj and Rick Ross. Somehow, I was tricked into purchasing a ticket to this show, so I will have to prepare myself for three hours of awful music, by having a few choice beverages. Other artists that will be performing in Bloomington are:

• Gucci Mane, a rapper that has a tattoo of an ice cream cone that says “BRRR” on his face.
• Glowfest which features a poor man’s Girl Talk, with Pretty Lights and Chiddy Bang performing.
• Wiz Khalifa, who has been to Bloomington before and is a stoner’s wet dream while performing
• State Radio, the only free concert of Little 500. This group was surprisingly good, but nowhere near the caliber of past artists.

Gucci Mane: This is seriously the best we can do?

This is why I hate my generation. The Union Board is sponsoring the Lil’ Wayne concert, and they booked him

because he is “what the students want.” Crappy music may be what the students want, but real music fans want real music. We have had some great artists play at IU over the years. You cannot convince me that John Mellencamp wouldn’t show up for Little 500 if he was asked to. We’ve had the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Vampire Weekend, Wilco and other greats come here. I understand that students love rap music, but this is where the organizations sponsoring the shows should take action. Book socially conscious rappers such as Lupe Fiasco (who put on a great show two years ago,) Common, Talib Kweli or even Kid Cudi. These rappers are crowd pleasers as well as actual musicians. They don’t rap about guns, money or “hoes,” but offer actual messages and meaning in their songs.

Over the four years I have been here, there has been some terrible music played on Little 500 (Anybody remember Soulja Boy?) However, I have decided to not let the awful concerts ruin my good time. I will enjoy the atmosphere, the drunk people and the bike races. And I will enjoy all of this while listening to the Chili Peppers on my iPod.

A Huge Mistake – Little 500 & IU Spring Football

The 2011 editions of the Little 500 and the IU Football “Cream and Crimson Spring Game” will both take place this coming Saturday, April 16th. This is the first time in recent memory when scheduling resulted in both happening on the same day.  

While large crowds are not usually the expected norm inside Memorial Stadium during Spring Football, having “The World’s Greatest College Weekend” going on at the same time will not do the people setting up the event any favors.

Coach Kevin Wilson in an address to students at an event last month said they would be piping in music and making it a big party-like atmosphere so that people will make the short walk from Armstrong Stadium and the surrounding areas.

The downside to all the plans IU Football are making is that there is no buzz surrounding the event….at all.

Having worked in IU Football recruiting the last two seasons inside the Bill Lynch administration, I know how important the game is for the prospective recruits they bring in for the game. They want to make the atmosphere exciting enough that these high school kids will sign on the dotted line while in Bloomington. Places like Alabama where they nearly sell out their stadiums for the annual games honestly expect the recruits to be so blown away that they sign in the middle of the game. IU Football does not have that luxury.

This is supposed to be a turning point for IU Football. If you get past the Little 500 aura that is surrounding this campus right now, people are excited, but hiding the Spring Game behind the Little 500 just slows that momentum moving forward.

Some people would argue that it was the Little 500 organizers who moved the date back a week and IU Football had no other options. I don’t buy this argument because you could schedule it at another time. You can schedule it as a night game on the Friday before or even during the week as a standalone event. I guarantee someone thought they could get a boost from having it a couple hours before the race and they will see it was just a bad idea.

I wish IU Football the best and I will most likely be at the Spring Game because I enjoy it, but the rest of the campus has what they believe are more “important” things going on that day.