Hip hop artist and "DJ extraordinaire" RJD2 will headline the Brown Concert Agency's fall show on Friday, Oct. 19 in Alumnae Hall, according to BCA Booking Chair David Horn '08. Boston-based rapper Mr. Lif will also perform, and the opening act will be underground hip hop artist Doujah Raze, recently named one of the best unsigned rappers in the country by Rawkus Records, Horn said.
The doors will open Oct. 19 at 8 p.m., and the concert will run from 8:30 p.m. until midnight.
Tickets - which cost $5 for students and $12 for the general public - will be on sale in the Faunce post office from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. next Monday through Friday, as well as at the door on the night of the concert.
"It's a really great deal for students," Horn said.
Horn said in previous years BCA tended to focus on one indie rock band for the fall concert, but student feedback indicated that a change was desired. "There's not enough rap and hip hop here at Brown, so that's where this show came from - sort of in response to that," Horn said.
"The fact we're having three acts is pretty big for us," Horn said. "I think (this) is going to be the best fall show for all the times I've been here."
This year's show will once again be in Alumnae Hall, which has a capacity of about 500, rather than the slightly larger Sayles Hall, Horn said.
The fall concert was last held in Sayles in 2004 but "has been moved on an institutional basis since the Sex Power God a couple years ago," he said.
Sex Power God, which was held in Sayles in November 2005, resulted in a significant number of students requiring emergency medical care and attracted national attention when it was featured on Fox News' "The O'Reilly Factor." As part of the fallout from Sex Power God, University officials decided to prohibit loud parties and other rowdy social events in Sayles, and BCA's November 2005 fall show was relocated from Sayles to Alumnae Hall just days before the event.
"(Sayles) is a very important space on campus. There are portraits and ... the organ that are very valuable to the University," David Greene, thenvice president for campus life and student services, told The Herald at the time. "It is a good space for speakers, the right kind of dinner and some cultural events, but it is probably not a good venue for large-scale social events. So we have to identify some additional spaces for students to use for that purpose."
The budget for next week's show is about $13,000 for talent - similar to the cost of last year's fall concert - with RJD2 costing $7,500, Mr. Lif $3,500 and Doujah Raze $1,000, Horn said.
Horn added that the Spring Weekend budget will also be the same this year as last year - about $120,000.
Once the fall concert is over, Horn said, BCA will start a push to have both Spring Weekend concerts held outside, in response to student polls from past Spring Weekends. Weather permitting, the Saturday concert is traditionally held on the Main Green, but the Thursday evening concert is usually in Meehan Auditorium. "The major thing that we've heard over and over again is that people really hate going to shows in Meehan Auditorium," Horn said, citing bad acoustics as a key the problems.
Their campaign will reach out to University officials, neighborhood associations, other student organizations and "everyone it takes to hopefully (move the concert outside)," Horn said. Potential problems include the threat of bad weather and possibly disruptive sound checks to be held during the day while classes are held on the Main Green, he noted.
Horn said BCA wants students to take a poll on its Web site starting after the fall show to gauge what students are interested in, how they want their student activity money spent and, specifically, whether they would like the Spring Weekend shows moved outside.
