Ants may be marching onto campus in the near future, but they won't be coming from the frat houses near South.
On August 30, Dave Matthews Band, in association with AT&T, announced a contest involving over a hundred college campuses, the winner of which will receive a free, professionally organized DMB concert on campus. The contest centers on AT&T customers, who must text "DMB" to 9-5-9.
"I would be ecstatic if Dave Matthews Band came. I would be the happiest girl ever," said Brittany Percy, sophomore business administration major.
Unfortunately, ecstatic students like Percy do not have an AT&T membership, thus disqualifying their text-in votes.
For non-AT&T members, the task of voting becomes far more difficult. Voters must send an invitation to Dave via attheblueroom.com in the form of photo, video, essay or audio display. Examples of these invites are posted on both DMB's MySpace and the Blue Room website. Mailing in invitations to AT&T College Football Promotion, P.O. Box 15291, Bridgeport, CT 06673-5291 and buying a school ring tone from attheblueroom.com or a AT&T handset also constitute points towards the ultimate goal.
School population is taken into consideration, as well. By making the number of votes relative per capita to each individual school, smaller Division I schools have just as good a chance as anyone else to land Mr. Matthews and his jam band extraordinaire.
And while the diehard DMB fans have surely heard and responded to the concert's voting policies, the upcoming Fall Fest and UB Football Season runs the risk of overshadowing this priceless opportunity.
Currently, UB sits at third place among over a hundred other schools, according to attheblueroom.com. This realization of possible victory has got the powers-that-be moving to make a second Fall Fest possible for the price of "on the house." After all, with the contest running from September 1 to October 15, it's only just begun.
However, the question must be posed: is it worth spending precious Student Activity budget money on promoting a free concert that may not even happen? That is the question that the Student Association (SA) is faced with.
"I think we should definitely let people know," UB sophomore Ashlee Hoover said, regarding advertisement.
"I feel it's worth the money because Dave is such a great performer and so many people know and love his music," said Percy.
It seems that very few students would reject a free concert by a musician with a reputation built off of memorable live performances.
"Though I'm not a fan, I would love to see what all the hype is about," said Jordan Raup, sophomore media-study major.
If the contest is won UB would have the daunting task of scheduling another band and venue.
" I like them; I'm not a diehard fan by any means. But obviously, seeing DMB for free would be incredible," said sophomore Kyle O'Shea, echoing Raup's sentiments.
Though nothing is official, SA hopes to use money from their budget to boost awareness of the concert-from simple posters to providing students with "community" AT&T cell phones to text in votes. Currently, members of SA are creating a Facebook group to boost awareness.
And while Dave Matthews Band is undeniably popular among the college-age group, the money could be saved for future music fests, such as the soon-to-come Spring Fest.
"I would rather celebrate Father's Day with Chris Benoit than watch Dave Matthews Band perform," said Buffalo resident Jon Smith.
Along with the risk of spending money on nothing and angering a significant, albeit minor, portion of the UB populous, there's always the risk that students simply will not vote or be able to vote, forcing them to send invitations that can easily be deemed far too time consuming to follow through with.
"I've heard how great their concerts are, and I would love to go," said sophomore Stephanie Cummiskey. "I'll probably vote if somebody told me how."
Photo: Courtesy of SUNY
