This has been a busy year for State College's music scene.

After being inspired by Barack Obama, legendary jam band the Grateful Dead decided to reunite and play at the Bryce Jordan Center in October.

The next month The Hold Steady and the Drive-By Truckers teamed up to bring a high-energy rock show to the State Theatre.

Students Organizing the Multiple Arts hosted mash-up artist Girl Talk at the HUB-Robeson Center, drawing almost 1,000 students to the free show in December.

And this week, Asher Roth, known best for "I Love College," will headline Wallypalooza, a University Park Undergraduate Association-sponsored music festival that hopes to become an annual stint like Movin' On.

And who can forget about Bruce Springsteen's soldout show at the BJC next Friday?

But this is merely scratching the surface of what has been a semester filled with a high number of concerts and art-fueled events.

With the end of the semester upon campus, The Daily Collegian asked various venues and promoters to weigh in on State College's music scene: where it's been, how it got here and where it's headed.

City Lights: Greg Gabbard

Gabbard is considered by virtually all of the promoters as a music guru of sorts, and if anyone were to have a strong opinion on the State College music scene, it's him.

"We had some really good shows, we just didn't have enough," he said.

Gabbard said that after the Crowbar shut down in 2006, there were a lot fewer shows altogether. Though he admits the scene is getting better, he still thinks there is a gap between smaller shows such as Roustabout! and bigger shows held at the State Theatre.

"We don't have any place that's really filling the need for a band that would draw between 200 and 400," he said.

With a capacity of 650, Lulu's Nightspot is aiming to fill the void, Gabbard said, but the problem is the low frequency of shows at the venue.

"They'd have to seriously book shows on a regular basis," he said.

As far as the future goes for State College's art-music scene, he believes "anything can happen."

"I'm cautiously optimistic," he said.

Lulu's: Ted Swanson

Ted Swanson, local music promoter who primarily books shows for Lulu's Nightspot, believes the scene has evolved to the best point it's ever been. For this year specifically, though, Swanson said he wishes he could have done more.

"I think if you ask each individual venue, would each of us would have liked to have done more? Absolutely," Swanson said. "Did we do the best we could with what was available? Yes."

As far as finding out if Lulu's can book shows more consistently, it's out of Swanson's hands, although having more shows is one of his goals.

"Concerts is not the primary focus of that business -- never has been and probably never will be. We can only do it when it's appropriate," he said.

Swanson said he believes what State College needs is a new venue that can hold on average 1,200 people and scalable to 1,500 to 1,700. It would be these medium-capacity concerts that would prove to be the most profitable, he said.

"Once you get all the costs involved, it really comes down to sell-outs compensating for the shows that don't sell out," he said. "The medium-sized shows is where you can actually be profitable and you can actually do shows that, at the end of the day, are worth it for everybody."

Swanson added part of the evolutionary process for the music scene would be for independent promoters to use the "perfect" venue size of the HUB for concerts.

Students Organizing the Multiple Arts (SOMA): Tim Knapton

For Knapton, the music scene isn't just about bringing national acts. Homegrown State College bands and venues, he said, are thriving.

"The local scene has exploded with things like Chronic Town, SoZo, stuff like that," he said. "Local bands became a lot more prevalent with things going on around here. As opposed to the one big band coming to Crowbar, it's more like, there are four shows going on and one is at SoZo's and another one at another local place."

One troubling thing to Knapton is the large campus music festivals -- such as Movin' On and the upcoming Wallypalooza -- don't get a collective agreement on the artists.

"It might sound elitist," he said, "but planning these music shows should be left to large groups of people with diverse interests that are passionate enough about music, however obscure it may be, that they know it'll be something beneficial to broadening the musical horizons of the entire scene here."

Knapton added he is open to the idea of a music festival joint venture between SOMA and the Asylum.

"If the potential for something like that were to arise, I'd do everything in my ability to help follow it through, " he said.

797 Lounge: AJ Madden

Venues such as 797 Lounge are taking an interest in supporting the original acts and proving a vital asset to strengthening the State College music scene.

AJ Madden, the general manager of 797 Lounge, said the first thing the new management did when renovating was put in a stage.

"We took over and thought it would be a great addition," he said.

Madden hopes to have national and local acts grace this new stage, turning 797 Lounge into a bar that could compete with venues such as The Brewery.

"We're working with Cherry Darling because we are passionate about having original music here," he said. "Local music in particular."

The venue has worked closely with Cherry Darling so far, but Madden said 797 Lounge is open to all kinds of music.

He said 797 Lounge wants to help out with local bands' attempts to take off.

"There aren't enough venues to support them," he said. "So, we want to do that."

Roustabout!: Jesse Ruegg

To say that Jesse Ruegg, promoter for Roustabout! shows, enjoys music is a vast understatement. Ruegg is sincere in his appreciation and strict with the standard he sets for live shows he will attend.

"To me, music is so important. In my life personally, it means so much. It's an outlet for expression, an agent for change and it's therapeutic. I take it very personally, so I'm a lot more discerning in what I listen to," Ruegg said.

But he understands why State College's music scene isn't a huge behemoth -- though to him, there are few negative things about live shows in State College.

"There's always this perennial frustration with the lack of a music scene in this town," he said. "If that's your complaint, then you're not looking in the right places."

Ruegg lists house parties, SOMA, Cherry Darling Productions, Nittany Booking and Swanson's work at Lulu's as prime elements of the music scene that "may be off the radar for some people," but can easily be found and enjoyed.

But there are some areas for improvement, he said: specifically, attaining a venue that can house the all-ages crowd but is also able to serve alcohol to 21+ patrons at the same time -- something the Crowbar once offered.

"When people go out to rock shows, they want to drink," he said. "That's kind of the heart of rock 'n' roll culture."

The State Theatre: Mike Negra

There's one thing that seems to be consistent among all the promoters in the town: praise for the State Theatre.

"I think people are getting used to the fact that the State Theatre exists," Executive Director Mike Negra said.

Whether it's singer-songwriters such as Amos Lee or Richard Thompson, or indie-rock bands such as Cursive, Wolf Parade and The Hold Steady, the State Theatre provides plenty of music, movies and stage productions.

But, like others, Negra said the scene has room for improvement.

To have a thriving music scene like Athens, Ga. or Nashville, Tenn., Negra believes solutions need to start at a local level and work their way up.

"I don't know if it's going to take a national act coming out of State College -- like one or two successful bands coming out of State College and then coming back," he said. "I don't think there's a quick fix."

The demand is now for low-cost covers where music is background noise, he added.

One thing the State Theatre has done to respond to a demand was obtaining a liquor license in March. Negra said the liquor license has played a role in what bands the venue is able to book now.

"We've had a couple of bands that wouldn't play the State Theatre unless we served," Negra said. "At the same time it gives us another profit stream so we might be able to pay a little bit more for a band. It gives us a little more option. We'll know a whole lot better by the end of the fall semester."

Bryce Jordan Center: Bernie Punt

The man responsible for bringing The Grateful Dead, Bruce Springsteen, Keith Urban, Kelly Clarkson, T.I. and New Kids on the Block -- to name a few -- to the BJC in the same academic year is director of sales and marketing Bernie Punt.

Ask Punt how he's doing on a typical workday and he's likely to answer with "crazy."

Punt agrees the scene is in need of a venue that can hold 800 to 1,200 people, but said the scene has evolved nicely and is heading in the right direction.

"Lulu's is booking music that would have been at the Crowbar," Punt said. "There are acts that would not have come here without the State Theatre. It's great for the cultural climate of this town."

Punt also feels local promoters have gotten a better grasp on the scene's logistics.

"I think everyone now at their respective venues are understanding the way our economy is right now, the way our market is and also becoming wiser as far as what's going to work and what's not," he said.

Punt also said promoters now have a sense of the void that's been left for medium-size shows, which could lead to a interesting remainder of 2009.

"Our schedule is going to be better than what it was last fall," he said. "We're talking acts that have the potential to fill the entire building. I know from dialogue with people that there's some things in the works that I'm pretty excited about."