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SUNY Potsdam's Spring Play Festival occurred last week, featuring several student-performed shows. Despite some confusion regarding the name change (from the familiar "One Act Play Festival") the shows themselves were excellently produced. The festival featured two events on alternating nights.
The weather this past weekend was arguably perfect. To enjoy nice weather, there were a multitude of outdoor events. The WAIH and SES joined forces to throw the "WAIHES-B-Q," a culmination of food, DJed music and live music this Saturday on May 2. It all started at 4:30 p.
The Hosmer Choir, Phoenix Club, Men's Ensemble and Concert Choir of SUNY Potsdam jointly staged the Crane Choral Extravaganza at Hosmer Hall last Tuesday, attracting more than 300 people in the audience. Such a vivacious setting at Hosmer was created not only by the overwhelming performances staged on that day, but also by the presence of the great composer and performer, Arthur Frackenpohl, former Crane faculty.
Drawing strongly from Middle-Eastern influences, the members of the progressive-ethno fusion band Consider the Source fuse a variety of styles together to create their own sonic masterpieces. Though there are only three members in the band, they manage to weave a thick tapestry of sound.
Usually when I think of percussion, I think of it being the heartbeat or rhythm of other instruments, and never really picture it being featured on its own. However, the Crane Repertory Percussion Ensemble completely opposes that assumption, as they stole the Snell stage last Friday with a nothing short of amazing performance.
GroupThought, the latest product of Potsdam's music scene, is comprised of three members who try to work equally with one another to create their music. Ben O'Brien Smith is currently a junior music performance and music business major from the Burlington, Vermont area and plays drums for the group.
The Way 90.3 FM WAIH's rave (colloquially known amongst its members as a "WAIHve") showed excellence in organization, staff and overall enjoyment factor. While attendance may have dwindled towards the end of the event, it can almost be guaranteed that those who participated left with a smile and a smug sense of satisfaction attained through the act of waving (WAIHving?) glowing things while dancing to well-crafted techno music.
The word "gutbucket," although now a somewhat obsolete term, might conjure up the image of a clunky, homemade washtub bass and the raw, raucous early New Orleans jazz associated with it. NYC-based band Gutbucket stays true to the barrelhouse implications of its name, but tends to avoid being pigeonholed by any genre-specific stereotypes.