I think it’s safe to say most students would much rather listen to live music in Starkville than sit in their rooms and listen to it on the radio, computer or iPod.
I also think it’s a great thing when Starkville promotes and allows local bands to show their talents at our Cotton District festivals and in our amphitheatre.
I thoroughly enjoyed Tea Leaf Green’s concert in the amphitheatre a couple of weeks ago. In fact, it was the first time I have seen a show there. I feel this is due to the atmosphere that was present during the show. Everyone was hanging out on blankets with their coolers, litter was kept to a minimum and there were no fights or obnoxious arguments the cops had to come and take care of.
While this was enjoyable, I feel I would have enjoyed local talent playing there just as much. I think that when a small town like Starkville holds such great talent as it does, it should do all it can to promote these bands and solo acts. Right now, unless you’re lucky enough to hear about bands playing from the right people or you see marquee announcements outside of a bar, you might not get the chance to see a band play.
It hurt me this year to see that Bulldog Bash had diminished the amount of stages in the Cotton District because it didn’t give enough locals a chance to play.
One of my favorite bands, Jamie Davis and Soul Gravy, played last year on Maxwell Street and drew a crowd almost as big as that of the main event stage.
I actually didn’t even attend the Gavin DeGraw concert, not only because I don’t listen to his music, but also because it almost gave me a panic attack just thinking about walking through that crowd. I do think it’s great that the Student Association brings in big names like Gavin DeGraw, but I feel it would be better if there were more space for people of his caliber to play. I think that a good idea would be to let the “big name” of the event play in the amphitheatre and let all the smaller bands and local acts play in the streets of the Cotton District.
I also think it would be a great idea if Starkville and MSU came together and plan for bands that originated in Starkville but have left to do bigger things to come back and play in the amphitheatre for students who would like to see them together again, because sometimes bars don’t have the capacity to hold the people who would like to see them. This would only work if the same rules applied as they did when Tea Leaf Green played there.
Maybe I sound ungrateful for the effort people put into getting nationally recognized bands to come to Starkville, but I think it would save money and be just as fun if local bands were the highlight of these events.
And maybe advertisement could play a more prominent role in getting the word out about where these people will be and when. I know that there was a section in The Reflector recently announcing some people, but if you happened not to see that issue, you might not know where to go.
In fact, a Starkville favorite, Mayhem String Band, will be at State Theatre next Thursday and it will be a treat for all those who have enjoyed seeing them play here through the years and have recently missed their music.
Since they have moved away and play in different venues around the country, it would be a good idea for MSU to have a Web site similar to jambase.com to advertise for local bands and acts that don’t have the public relations capability or money for adequate advertising. After all, if we can spend the money that we did to bring Gavin DeGraw here, we can spend the money to jumpstart a Web site to support these people.
Bailey Singletary is a senior majoring in communication. She can be contacted at [email protected] .