For once, bigger may not be better -- at least, when it comes to Penn State's relation to the local music scene.
It's common knowledge that Penn State's mark on the chart of musical abundance is somewhat nonexistent. Whether that's because of the location, the lack of a proper music venue or a combination of sorts, it can't be denied that students are starving for some real musical artists.
Greg Gabbard of City Lights Records, 316 E. College Ave., said there's been a rather long dry spell since the closure of The Crowbar.
"They were bringing in shows three times a week," Gabbard said. "There isn't anything going on like that anymore."
When Penn State does put on a concert, the performers are rarely the smaller bands and musicians the local music scene seems to be itching for. While everyone can agree there's a time and a place for Rihanna's "Umbrella," lots of students have something different blasting through their iPod headphones.
Questions then surface: Why does Penn State only bring in popular Top 40 acts? Where are the smaller, but still deserving, artists? Why can't Penn State bring in groups like Feist or the Decemberists?
Years ago, Gabbard said, Penn State did bring in more independent artists, but those shows are now few and far between.
"The last cool big show that Penn State had was with Ben Folds and Rufus Wainwright [in 2005]," Gabbard said. "But since then, it's been kind of quiet, and I don't know exactly why."
The answers aren't exactly noticeable from an outside glance. Penn State has the Bryce Jordan Center (BJC), Eisenhower and Schwab auditoriums, as well as numerous halls throughout campus that can be rented out for concerts. Gabbard said Schwab Auditorium, specifically, would be perfect for smaller shows.
"Yeah, [Schwab] is really missing the boat on that one," Gabbard said.
Going even further, everyone knows the university has enough money and plenty of interested students.
Well, for one, the problem is definitely not the location. Although State College is located right next to Nowhere, Pa., there's another school nearby that is establishing themselves as a legitimate venue for indie artists.
Messiah College is a Christian-associated university located in Grantham and has a student population of 3,000; however, in the past year, the school has hosted performances by Feist, the Decemberists, Regina Spektor and Sam Beam from Iron & Wine.
Jeff Rioux, adviser for the Student Activity Board at Messiah College, said his mission is to educate and build community through arts and entertainment.
"We're not just doing entertainment, though," Rioux said. "We're trying to bring in music by artists who take their art seriously. We really don't think the stuff on the radio has as much artistic integrity as the artists that we're bringing in."
Rioux said Messiah College's venue holds about 1,600 people, and the university considers it a good show if 400 to 500 Messiah College students buy tickets. This isn't to say that the shows don't sell out -- in fact, it's usually quite the opposite. So if 1,200 tickets are sold to people who aren't students at Messiah College, it's obvious there's a hole in Central Pennsylvania that Penn State could fill, he said.
Gabbard believes that in order to bring these kinds of artists to Penn State, the booking agents for campus venues need to actually be familiar with this sort of music.
"The [administration] looks at the same papers we do, and they can see that these bands are playing at Messiah College," he said. "It's funny because people who go here travel to Messiah College to see shows, and that's what is really frustrating."
On Sept. 14, Feist performed at Messiah College, and many Penn State students attended. Three Penn State sophomores were asked to dance on stage during Feist's song "I Feel It All", and the Penn State Students Organizing the Multiple Arts (SOMA) president Danny Greene (senior-information sciences and technology) also came on stage during the concert to play piano. If so many Penn State students are traveling all the way to Messiah College in order to see these shows, the administration might want to consider bringing those shows here, Greene said.
Rioux said Penn State has potential, "certainly with your venue and the size of your student body. You have a lot of assets that we don't have, so you should certainly be able to do it."
If Penn State could do it, however, it couldn't happen at the BJC, said Bernie Punt, director of BJC public relations. Punt said the BJC is the third-largest arena in the state, and it uses that advantage as far as attracting traveling tours to the area.
"We have to market our location, and we can't say we're in the middle of nowhere," Punt said. "We just can't rely on our 42,000 students. Instead, we market ourselves to almost a million people across Pennsylvania."
Punt explained that the university doesn't set aside money to fund the concerts held at the BJC, and therefore, must take a financial risk every time it books an artist. The money made from selling tickets is what actually goes to pay the artist.
"If we don't sell enough tickets, then where does the money come from?" Punt said.
One of the reasons the BJC doesn't bring in indie artists, Punt said, is that the administration would be taking too much of a financial risk. Another reason, not surprisingly, is the fact that the BJC is a Goliath of musical venues.
"When you have an arena, you have to look at acts who complement the arena," Punt said. "Your venue needs to harmonize with your artist. Because Bryce Jordan Center is a big venue, we only look at the bigger acts. That's why clubs are essential to artist development."
The BJC has several configurations, meaning it can scale down the seating area to fit the stage for smaller artists. However, the smallest configuration is 3,000 seats, and by comparison, Messiah College's venue holds only 1,600.
For an example, Punt explained the Andrew Bird concert at The State Theatre, 130 W. College Ave., on Oct. 3.
"He's averaging 693 tickets sold for each show. If he came to the Bryce Jordan Center, our smallest configuration is 3,000 seats ... that won't be a success [at the BJC]," he said.
"Think about what that artist is going to see when he sees 693 people in a 3,000 configuration.
It would look like a disaster in the Bryce Jordan Center."
Eisenhower Auditorium, on the other hand, has 2,500 seats, and Punt said it can be scaled down to about 1,200 seats -- an ideal configuration for smaller artists.
George Trudeau, the booking director at Eisenhower, said if a group of students were interested in putting on a show, Eisenhower would be more than willing to help. However, the venue itself tends to book music of a different variety.
"We want to bring many different genres, including Broadway, major classical artists, orchestras, world music, jazz and family programming," Trudeau said.
"Semi-obscure independent artists" are not on Eisenhower's list, he added.
In the past, Eisenhower has worked with students to organize events; however, in order for that to occur, the students have to step up and take the responsibility of bringing the artist here themselves.
"We can provide them with whatever support they need," Trudeau said.
"There are rental and associated costs to use our facilities, but we do work with the students and make sure that the presentation is both successful for them and the artist that they've asked to perform."
Students Organizing the Multiple Arts (SOMA), although not a concert committee, has been known to throw concerts on campus in the past. There are several involved complications though.
SOMA president Greene said musical performances should never be chosen by anyone but the students.
If student organizations do want to put on a performance, they still tend to find themselves limited. A large percentage of the student activity fee is given to the University Park Allocation Committee (UPAC) for distribution among student clubs to fund such activities.
For one such event, UPAC can allocate up to $10,000 to the hosting student organization. Larger musical acts, however, tend to be much more than $10,000, and the student organization is expected to come up with that difference. Rihanna, for instance, could cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, Punt said, though he would not share the actual price.
So, the students can't afford to bring in most of the artists they want to see, and the university's available venues have different views on what deserves musical recognition.
"[Messiah College] is just lucky that they have someone who happens to mirror-image the want of the students," Greene said. "Although, I do wonder what the Messiah students would pick if they were given the chance."
