Students Dance the Night Away at Spring Concert

The 2012 Spring Concert was brought to UC Merced by the Campus Activities Board (CAB) on Friday, April 27.The performances took place across the Scholars Lane Bridge in the South Bowl.

The show opened with select members from Living Legends, a hip hop group from California.  They were followed by singer/songwriter, John West from Louisiana. The main act was Travis Porter, a rap group famous for the songs “Bring it Back” and “Make it Rain.” Travis Porter is a hip-hop act from Decatur, Georgia, comprised of stepbrothers Ali and Quez.

Under the supervision of Director Gee Her, CAB took the lead in organizing the event. It is comprised of 12 undergraduate students who separately tackle the responsibilities of marketing, special events and promotions. Her mentioned that the funds came from both student fees and Resident Housing Government.

These types of events take an excessive amount of preparation in order to successful. Her mentioned CAB had been preparing for over a year, calling the artists’ agents, renting the stage, negotiating to lower the prices and setting a contract.

After surveying students for who they wanted to see perform, only high-end artists were mentioned in the pool. In estimating how much a high-end act would cost, CAB decided on the selection of the three performances. A factor that prevented the selection of a more known artist was the fact that UCM does not have a big enough venue. Some artists request to perform only in closed venues, like a stadium.

According to many students, security was exceptional. The organized work done by the police brought a safe environment and let students enjoy all the songs throughout the night. Management student Shirley Dam mentioned that she was impressed by how the police were regulating the admission of the concert. “They were scanning cat cards to make sure that only UCM students were entering the show.”  

Also, she felt that the John West performance was better than Travis Porter. She also said she felt proud when West talked about how much he enjoyed performing at UCM via twitter.

Fourth year student Karina Garate said that she and all her friends enjoyed the music and were dancing all night.

Despite negative comments by students who felt that the concert was disorganized, a waste of money and unprofessional, hundreds of students attended the show, enjoying the music on a Friday night.

“Being a scholar or intellectual is not about criticizing the works of others. It is about understanding those thoughts and ideas, and internalizing them to be able to articulate and integrate your own ideas, whether or not they are in agreement. Competency does not offer very much with no presence of sensitivity,” concluded Her after organizing the event.

Some students think that concert admission tickets should be sold to non-UCM students. Others suggested opening it to UCM Alumni, while others wanted to keep it exclusive to UCM students. Her mentioned that opening it to the public would happen in later years when we have a better and closed venue that could accommodate a bigger crowd.