If you've been reading this blog for a while, you might have seen us complain a few times about the poor choices of musical acts chosen to play at the Bryce Jordan Center. I would like to offer a partial retraction of said complaints.

It's not that the BJC has suddenly started booking great acts. Rascal Flatts, Casting Crowns, Breaking Benjamin, Three Days Grace, Carrie Underwood, Keith Underwood: these are not the types of acts we're looking for, even if it might be what State College is looking for. The fact is, the BJC is on Penn State ground, and while I'm not entirely sure of the business model the stadium employs, I'm sure it's at least partially funded by my tuition, so it would be nice if it went toward something worth seeing.

That being said, the BJC has actually booked some decent non-musical acts for this and last semester. Sarah Silverman was pretty good, and Cirque du Soleil was fantastic. Will Ferrell should be funny, and I know Nick Swardson, Demetri Martin and Zach Galifianakis will be. I might be alone in being excited for "Walking with Dinosaurs," but whatever; it turns out I'm actually only 11 years old. Blue Man Group might kind of, sort of be music, but it's also comedy and performing arts, so for the sake of dichotomy, I'll leave it in the "good, non-musical" category.

The truth is, I don't think it would be economically feasible for a band I like to play the BJC. Of the bands I like, I can't imagine many would be able to fill the stadium, even in its intimate, 4,000-seat arrangement.

So the problem might not be that the BJC isn't trying; instead, it might just be my own interests. The bands I like are much more suited for a smaller venue -- say, 1,000 people at most. The Fiery Furnaces at Lulu's and Band of Horses at the State Theatre were both terrific shows, but neither of those venues holds more than five- or six-hundred people. The only legitimate mid-size venue is the Cell Block, which holds well over 900, but has only booked about a half dozen acts since its been open, few of which were remotely relevant.

So, in the eyes of this blog, most of our ire is now off of the BJC and onto the Cell Block, which still hasn't even tried to hold a candle to Crowbar.

Fergie? Really?!

Just when I thought it couldn't get any better than Nickelback selling out the Bryce Jordan Center, Fergie went and just made my freakin' dreams come true.

Fergie! Yes, this news is ferg-a-freakin-licious! Fergie, of the Black Eyed Peas, will be performing at Beaver Stadium during the Gridiron Bash, which I believe is some sort of fancy pep rally.

What a great event this will be. I mean, I don't know about you other football fans, but nothing makes me get more pumped than slamming back some beers, cheering on the blue and white and listening to pop masterpieces like "London Bridge" and "Fergalicious."

I'm so glad Penn State didn't get that lame band ZZ Top to perform. I mean, honestly who wants to hear rock music during a football pep rally? Not this guy. It's Fergie or nothing!

After I purchase tickets for this life changing event, I'm going straight to Wal-Mart to buy a gallon of paint (I assume Wal-Mart would have gallons of paint at their disposal) and some arts and crafts supplies. When I get back I'm going to turn on some Fergie, put the ticket in safe keeping and then just drink the entire gallon of paint to my face. But before I do that, I might make one of those cool glittery t-shirts to wear for the performance. Maybe I'll have it say "I [heart] Fergie" or "My milkshake brings all the boys to the yard." She sang that right?

Every week the Collegian publishes a bunch of concert previews. There's one in just about every issue, and usually another few in Venues. But no matter how well-written they are (and since I've written a ton myself, you know they're well-written), they always lack something:

The music itself.

Yeah, profiles and previews are nice, but if you're on the fence about going to a show, your best bet is to just listen to the band. At the Collegian, we're working on getting with the times and running audio and video with some of our stories, but until that's commonplace, just hit up the bands' websites and MySpace profiles.

This isn't exactly breaking news, but it probably deserves mention.

Whenever I interview a musician, one of the first questions I always ask is "How would you describe your sound?" It's a clichéd question, sure, but it's of relative importance when it comes to a concert preview.

As I've mentioned in past blog entries, musicians rarely have a good answer for this. At best, they offer something way too abstract to understand without hearing the music, and at worst, something along the lines of "rock and roll."

In their defense, it's not their jobs to describe their music. That's the job of music critics and reporters, and even we're not all that great at it.

But even when we do a good job, there really isn't a substitute for actually hearing the band. And while listening a few songs on a band's MySpace is hardly comparable to attending a live performance, it can at least give you a decent idea of whether or not the show might be worth your time.