With less than a month remaining until the annual weekend of debauchery fondly known as “Spring Fling,” The Clock has learned that there are currently no bands signed to perform at the event. The Spring Fling Committee, a joint committee of Student Senate and PACE, apparently reached an agreement in principal with the hip-hop group Naughty by Nature to headline the Saturday night concert. But last week, before the group signed the contract, they suddenly pulled out of negotiations and cancelled all plans to perform at PSC.
Shane Cutler, Associate Director of the Hartman Union Building, is confident that replacements will be found in a timely manner stating, “We still fully intend to have bands to perform… we were just caught off-guard by our headline band pulling out, and now we need to regroup.”
According to the “Projected Spring Fling 2002 Budget,” the Spring Fling Committee planned to spend up to $27,500 on signing two “Headliner Bands” (costing approximately $15,000 and $12,500 respectively) for the main event on Saturday night.
Although the committee will have to go in a different direction for the more expensive marquee band, they are close to reaching an agreement with another group to serve as the “secondary headliner.” The only remaining point of contention between this second band, which as of Tuesday morning had not been identified, and the college is a technical demand by the group for advanced sound equipment. But Wednesday afternoon, Greek Life and Activities Director, Bart Carithers, told The Clock, “I spoke to our sound [contractors], who have been in contact with the band, and the issues have been resolved.” Carithers also said that he hopes an announcement on the band’s signing will happen within the next week or two.
While musical acts have yet to materialize, it is not from of a lack of effort. Senior Rick Alpers, the co-chair of the committee and Student Body President, said, “We started looking for bands and [began] the bid process around early to mid-November… it’s been a lengthy process.” Talent like Lifehouse, Pink and Nickelback have been in contact with the Committee, but all of them eventually refused to make the trek up to Grafton County for one reason or another.
Said Alpers of the difficulties, “There are many of them actually. Some of them are that we are in a bad location…bands don’t want to travel as far as northern New Hampshire. [And then there is] the money problem, we can only offer so much; some of the big name bands like Creed want sixty to eighty thousand dollars, while we have fifteen to twenty to offer.”
Alpers further explained that Spring Fling is the first weekend in May and for many bands that falls after the end of their college-touring season. Other bands that the college can afford will not leave a specific touring area. Alpers explained, “We actually had one band that said they didn’t want to leave the Mississippi area.”
Luckily, other necessary preparations for Spring Fling are moving along very smoothly. “Everything else is coming along fine—invoices and contracts are coming in daily.”
When asked about the presence of the Bud [beer] Tent, Alpers explained, “We actually let go of the Bud[weiser] reps. We aren’t using Bud anymore; we are using Coors distributors.”
The dates for Spring Fling 2002 are Friday May 3 and Saturday May 4, and unlike past years, admission is free for PSC students if they purchase tickets in advance. Guests and same-day student tickets will be $15