If there's one thing I've learned as a music reporter at The Daily Collegian, it's that the music scene in State College isn't all that bad.
When I got to Penn State in 2005, I was convinced that the State College music scene was terrible. Granted, the town has an unfortunate number of over-21 shows, which exclude a good portion of students here.
Also, there were definitely times when I wished I had applied to the University of Georgia. UGA is located in Athens, Ga., which is the undisputed best college town for music. Athens spawned the B-52s, R.E.M., Drive-By Truckers, the entire Elephant 6 collective, and plenty of other bands.
Over the past few years, I've attended enough good shows right here in State College that I regret ever complaining about the scene. There are still some improvements to be made, but the hard work of the many people who book shows in town has made my time at Penn State pretty enjoyable.
On a related note: There has been a good amount of whining since the announcement of Asher Roth as the headliner for Wallypalooza this week. I want to first make clear that I'm no fan of Roth. Specifically, "I Love College" is an awful song; the rest of the album proves that he's a more capable rapper than the single implies. And no, contrary to popular belief, the song does not paint an accurate picture of college life.
Even so, there are plenty of reasons why it's not worthwhile to spend too much time complaining about Roth coming to Penn State. If you go to concerts in State College and you just wish Wallypalooza had a better headlining act, that's fine. But if you don't attend other shows around town, quit your bitchin'. "We never get any good music around here" isn't a valid excuse anymore.
For one thing, the show's free. Yeah, it's costing the university $60,000, but I can think of a couple thousand things Penn State could've done with that money that would have been significantly worse than a free concert on the HUB lawn.
There are plenty of other options. You've missed most of them at this point, since the semester's almost over, but next year is sure to have more quality shows. Just last week I saw a great Roustabout! show with The Hard Lessons and Ezra Furman and the Harpoons.
If you like classic rock, Bruce Springsteen is coming to the Bryce Jordan Center. Country? Keith Urban's playing the next day. Cherry Darling Productions and Asylum regularly book solid punk shows, and Nittany Booking brought The Ataris back to State College for a show on Tuesday. Fans of hip-hop who are (understandably) unsatisfied with Asher Roth had the chance to see T.I., Kanye West and Talib Kweli in the past few years. There were far too many shows to name in the past year, but you get the idea.
If you can't find a single thing you enjoy, maybe you don't like pop music. I'm a devoted pessimist and I can't help but admit that I was pleasantly surprised. I might even miss it for a couple of days.
Andrew Steadman is a senior majoring in journalism and is a Daily Collegian music reporter. His e-mail address is aas5066@psu.edu
