RPC books band for Homecoming Concert

By Cindy Dinh     10/23/08 7:00pm

For students, this year's Homecoming festivities will mark a departure from the traditional, most notably with a free concert by indie rock band The National. The concert, funded with $50,000 from the Office of Development, will last from 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 7 at the west quad behind the Raymond and Susan R. Brochstein Pavilion. In previous years, the Office of Development, which funds most of the homecoming game festivities, invited a keynote speaker. This year, the all- Rice picnic and headliner concert have replaced the speaker.

"This year, instead of a keynote speaker, the [Office of Development] is giving back to Rice students with a free concert on campus," RPC president Michelle Kerkstra said.

Last month, RPC asked students via Facebook to vote for a major artist to perform on campus, narrowing the decision to the top three artists: The National, Gavin DeGraw and Hot Hot Heat.

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"We gave the students' top choices to the booking agents, and they proceeded to find a band that would be willing and able to perform on the desired day," Kerkstra, a Will Rice College sophomore, said.

Though Hot Hot Heat had the most student votes, The National was selected because the other bands were already booked or would only perform at night.

"I'm really excited for The National," Martel College senior Alfonso Zapata said. "If people haven't heard of them, they could probably go to Myspace to check them out."

Most recently, the band has performed at music festivals such as Austin City Limits and Lollapalooza.

Will Rice senior Allee Rosenmayer described the music as slow and mellow.

"It's not get-up-and-dance music," she said.

Kerkstra said she hopes for record student attendance at the concert.

"It's been such a long time since we had a concert on campus," Kerkstra said. "If we get a good student response then the likelihood of RPC being able to fund such a concert again would be vastly improved."

Students can also grab a free dinner while grooving along to the band. The smorgasbord of catered food includes James Coney Island, Goode Co. Barbecue, Prince's Hamburgers and Chick-Fil-A in the Centennial Tent just prior to the concert, she said. The entire West Quad rangle will be reserved for the event and Alumni Drive will be temporarily closed.

"This is something RPC couldn't do on their own," Associate Vice President for Development Kevin Foyle said. "By [the Office of Development and RPC] partnering together it ended up being a win-win. The students can get a band that they couldn't afford."

RPC is also coordinating events for each day of the week prior to the Homecoming tailgate and football game.

"This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Rice Memorial Center, so we wanted to have events similar to Willy Week leading us to the big homecoming game," Kerkstra said.

Homecoming week will have an event scheduled every day to celebrate a particular decade of the RMC. Kerkstra said the week's events include a birthday cake, a rave at the Coffeehouse, disco night at Willy's Pub, the all-Rice picnic and Centennial Campaign concert and tailgating before the homecoming football game.

The Homecoming weekend festivities mark the next phase of the Centennial Campaign launch, an eight-year fundraising campaign that seeks to raise a large amount of money to support various aspects of the Vision for the Second Century, Foyle said.

"We've already completed the first three years [of the campaign]," Foyle said. "Homecoming weekend is launching the public phase of the campaign, where we go out and make a stronger effort of public awareness to the rest of the campus and alumni."

Other Homecoming weekend events include a Centennial Campaign lecture series featuring faculty members and their initiatives that match the Vision for the Second Century, an invitation-only black tie gala for Rice donors and a video launch on the Rice Web site.

"It should be fun for the students and faculty to watch it and see what has stayed the same and what has changed over the first 100 years of Rice," Foyle said.

The following night, RPC will also host fall formal Esperanza, which is themed the "Blue and Grey Ball.

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