Despite several setbacks, the Student Association's DJ Series will come back to life this fall after being temporarily cancelled last year, according to SA officials.
SA President Dela Yador said the series is currently in a planning phase, and a venue is being sought. Last year's DJ Series was held at the Sphere Entertainment Complex, which is now under new ownership after a spate of violence and has been renamed the Town Ballroom.
"A lot of people ask for the DJ Series," said SA President Dela Yador. "We want to have something students really enjoy."
Club Level and the new Town Ballroom are among the nightclubs SA is considering for this year's series.
"We have been collaborating more with Club Level," Yador said.
In the past the DJ Series events drew 1,000 or more students to the former Sphere for parties featuring rap and remix dance music. The SA booked well known, big city DJs such as DJ Green Lantern, DJ Envy, DJ Sammy and DJ Junior Vasquez. Most events were heavily attended, but Vasquez never showed.
SA held a total of six series events before it was cancelled last semester. A series of shootings and stabbings unrelated to SA events at the Sphere prompted the cancellation.
The last DJ Series event was in October 2004 with DJ Enough.
"It was a learning experience," said Joseph Guagliardo, former owner of the Sphere.
When it comes to a new location for the DJ series, students have different ideas.
"I like the Elmwood strip better. Downtown is more upscale," said Andrew Johnston who is entering graduate school at UB.
"I prefer to go to Canada," said Emily Polino, a senior dance and communication major. "I feel a little safer in Canada with all the problems you heard at the Sphere."
Sean Farley, a sophomore undecided major, said he enjoys the downtown area and attended Buffalo's Thursday in the Square for the first time this past summer.
"They need to do a lot more things downtown," Farley said. "There's not enough on Main Street where the trolley goes underground."
Town Ballroom owner Artie Kwitchoff said he sees a new future for student entertainment on Main Street. Kwitchoff is the former manager of the Goo Goo Dolls and has been a concert promoter for 20 years.
"I want students centrally, off the Amherst campus," Kwitchoff said. "I want people downtown, bringing life downtown. If they can have a place that's safe and friendly with live entertainment, that's what I want to offer."
The new management says it plans to make the Town Ballroom reminiscent of a former time when it opened as the Town Casino in 1945, booking such greats as Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., Tony Bennett and others before they were famous.
"Everyone you talk to over the age of 70 gets a little teary-eyed when you mention Town Casino," said Michael Lee Jackson, attorney and part owner of the new nightclub. "We wanted a great, classy venue for bands in Buffalo."
Town Ballroom is currently doing a series of soft openings and will not be fully running until some time in October, the owners said.
Photo: Courtesy of Matthew Messina, from the RMBERS' Instagram page
