Campus Activities Magazine March 2012 Issue

AWOLNATION... 22If You Want To Be On The Cutting

Edge Of A Hot New Program, Step Up To The Plate.

AWOLNATION is turning heads and attracting audiences all over the world and you can have

them while they are still affordable.

Adam Trent 10Every magician has their own twist onmagic, but Adam purposely left largervenues behind to concentrate on thecampus market.

Zach Wahls 12Zach has made it his mission to exposethe care and kindness that were part ofhis life as he was raised by two moms.

Bella Electric Strings 26Both talented and beautiful, this amazingfoursome are a real treat to both see andhear. A sensational Arts Event event forcampuses.

D E P A R T M E N T SFrom the Publisher 4

Adam Trent 10My Two Moms 12Barry Smith 15John Hodgman 16Florida Gulf Coast University 28

AWOLNation 22Bella Electric Strings 26Artist Report Cards 28Classic Rewind 20 Years Later 34Entertainment Warehouse 38Last Call with Ian Kirby 40

John Hodgman 16“Daily Show” contributor and “PC” inthe popular “Get a Mac” campaignshares areas of his expertise with Campus Activities Magazine® Readers.

This year Ian developed a process to stream-line the Reader’s Choice Awards, making it in-credibly easy for campuses to participate andallowing us to keep a running tally of where theresults were at any given minute of any givenday. This online process eliminates any humanerror in counting and processing the results.Through the integration with Facebook, theawards became a transparent process andthrough the online polling system, we were ableto eliminate any ballots that weren’t legitimate.While we did accept paper ballots by mail andfax this year, the plan will be to evaluate thesystem at the end of the awards and probablygo to an all online system next year simply be-cause it will allow us to know the status of thevoting at any time.

As of February 24, 2012 with five days remain-ing to vote, we had 5,741 online ballots and 482paper ballots. If everyone had voted in all 14categories, that would have generated 87,122individual votes. In reality, readers were not re-quired to vote in every category, especiallywhen it came to a category that was not pro-grammed on their campus or the category con-tained artists they were not familiar with.However, we suspect that individual votes willtop 50,000.

The online voting system does require that wecapture the voter’s email address to help usvalidate the vote, but be assured that informa-tion remains strictly confidential and the policyof the magazine has always been to protect ourreaders’ privacy. Our policy has always beennever to sell, barter, trade or give that informa-tion to ANY outside sources.

The awards process is monitored by our Na-tional Advisory Board, a group that consists ofdirectors, artists and agencies actively involvedin the campus activities market. We will review

the awards process next week at our annualmeeting in Charlotte and share our evaluationswith them. The advisory board has alwaysbeen key in helping us direct the path of thismagazine as well as developing new opportu-nities for campuses and artists who are part ofour family.

There are a couple of issues that both schoolsand artists/agents have recommended that willbe taken up on the agenda for the National Ad-visory Board meeting.

First, is that both schools and agents have re-quested that the representing agency be partof the artist bio on the ballot.

Second, is that on the online ballot, thereshould be a video submitted by the act.

Third, only artists and agencies be allowed tovote for the campus program of the year.

The following by students within the nominatedschools this year has been exceptional. Therehave been campuses who have gotten muchof their entire student body involved and cer-tainly that exposure is good for the magazineand the artists who play those campuses. Butthe award was originally intended to recognizethe campus that artists most enjoyed perform-ing for; the school that not only has a great fa-cility, but treats the artist with respect andmakes him/her feel at home during their visit. Aschool shouldn’t have to have the largest stu-dent body to win this award, it should be basedon the quality of the program in the eyes of theartists and agencies. In actuality, all of the pastwinners have gotten high marks from artists.

Currently, no act (or school) may win an awardfor two consecutive years. The board will helpus decide if this is a reasonable regulation orshould it be longer.

Artist Report Card Partici-pation Up 60%

We are proud to have the industry’s highestparticipation in the artist evaluation process.

While there are other groups and organizationswho actively solicit this kind of information,Campus Activities Magazine® has made it apriority in sharing these evaluations amongschools and is the only source to actively makeit available in a print document.

Early on, we asked campuses and artists howthey wanted to receive this information and theunanimous response was “in print.” Not only dowe include Artist Reports in our print edition butour Summer Advisor’s Edition collects all theinformation from the complete previous yearand provides that collection of information byartist chronologically in a resource for all cam-puses. Highlighted are the top performers ineach category and the numerical calculationsachieved. We also honor the campuses whowere most diligent in reporting on events at theircampus.

Of course, a drawing is conducted from the topfive campuses submitting the most Artist Re-port Cards during the previous campus calen-dar year and the winning campus is awardeda complete free weekend of entertainmentcourtesy of Campus Activities Magazine® andour sponsoring agency (This year’s sponsor isTalentPlus Entertainment). The contest runsannually from June 1 through May 31 with thewinner being announced in the Summer Advi-sor’s Edition. The campus has to schedule theevent with the sponsoring agency within oneyear of notification.

The Association of Enter-tainment ProfessionalsWorldwide (AEP) and

Campus Activities Maga-zine®

Campus Activities Magazine® is one of twopublications supporting The Association of En-tertainment Professionals Worldwide (AEP)under our parent company Cameo Publishing.

Unlike NACA, APAP and APCA, this is an As-sociation of Entertainment Professionals and it

RANDOM THOUGHTS & OTHER MINDLESS DRIBBLE

4, CAMPUS ACTIvITIES MAGAZINE®, MARCH 2012 www.campusactivitiesmagazine.com

Campus Activities Maga-zine® Reader’s ChoiceAwards Participation At

An All-Time High

only the campus market but corporate buyers, buyers fromspecial events, fairs and festivals, casino buyers, buyersfrom major performing arts venues, theaters and more.

What we are looking for in the campus market is differentthan that of the other associations. We are interested inDSAs, buyers for Performing Arts venues on campus andbuyers from campus venues like stadiums and coliseums.But we are also interested students involved in activities andother areas of campus life who want to pursue a career as-sociated with the entertainment industry.

Not only is AEP affordable (CAM readers can get $100 offthe annual membership of $299 if they join before March31), but there is no other place in the world where you canhave access to the incredible level of professionals associ-ated with this organization. And your campus membershipnot only includes you but is a complete campus membershipthat allows all the professionals from your campus to be in-volved and attend the annual conference in Las Vegas atthe campus member rate.

All memberships have to be approved but once you are se-lected to participate, your campus can learn from the best inthe industry. The educational sessions are interactive andfilled with dialog back and forth between all the segments ofthe industry:

• Learn the pitfalls of putting on a celebrity act. • Find out who might be best for your venue and whatthe true costs might be. • Find out why a major agent won’t return your calls andwhat your options are. • Find out what alternatives you have when the act youwant is too expensive. • Find out what to look for in a rider that will bite you inthe ass and find out what you can usually delete with-out much opposition. • Find out how low you can go when making an offerand when a routed date will save you big bucks. • Learn what the risks are when planning a developingartist over a branded act. • Find out how these pros select an artist based on whatthey know about their audience.

• And much, much more.

The conference (October 2-4, 2012) is 2 1/2 days ofabsolute interactive learning and sharing of informa-tion. PLUS you get to see showcasing acts that crosstraditional market barriers. For directors and buyers,not only will you have a unique learning experiencenot offered anywhere else, but you will have thechance to see acts that you will not see at traditionalcollege conferences. For students looking to grow intothe industry, you get to rub shoulders with some ofentertainment’s elite professionals. And until March31, any campus can join for just $199. Agency mem-berships are only $399 and showcase applicationsopen in March.

For more information, contact me at (800) 728-2950 or emailme at [email protected] apply online at www.aepworldwide.org


Adam Trent is magic RE-INVENTED. His-torically, the show for most magicians is allabout the trick, but for Adam it is all aboutthe audience.

“I remember seeing a magician when I wasin college and there were certain things thatclicked and others that didn’t. For me it is allabout getting the students on stage andtalking about topical issues...things that areimportant to them and being able to weavemy show around those things. My show isyoung, hip and very heavy on comedy.Rather than having students walk awaythinking “I couldn’t figure out that trick’, I wantthem to have a great time, laugh AND say‘that was incredible.’ For the real magic buffsout there, they will find things they will con-sider amazing and for those who hatemagic and just want to enjoy themselves,they can come away from the show sayingthey had a really great time. My whole focusis to keep the audience laughing throughoutthe show and keep the energy high.”

There are basically two types of magicians.There are those who develop their show toamaze other magicians. Then there arethose who plan their shows exclusively toentertain the audience. Adam admits that heis a combination of the two.

“Obviously my show is built exclusivelyto entertain a college audience. To dothat effectively, you have to give them notonly things that will amaze them, but de-velop a dialog they can relate to. It can’tbe the typical magic show. On the otherhand, I work hard to develop tricks that

could bewilder other magicians as well.”

Adam spends a lot of his time developingthe comedy and music but there are specifictricks that are the cornerstones of magic thathe has tweaked to make them relatable forcollege students. “There are tricks that havebeen around for hundreds of years that canimpress almost any audience. When I doone of these, I try to adapt it so it will catchthe attention of a crowd 18-22 years old.”

Adam is currently 26 years old. He starteddoing magic when he was nine but reallygot involved while in college in Los Angelesperforming at comedy clubs. My belief wasthat if I could keep the audience at a tradi-tional comedy club laughing and involved inthe magic I performed that what I did wouldcertainly cross over to college audiences.

“After I graduated I spent a three years per-forming on some of the largest cruise shipsin the world and expanded the show to per-form 250 shows in 19 countries each year.Then I decided to step away and devotedmyself exclusively to the campus market.

I just relate well to that age demographic. It’sa very smart crowd, it’s a very lively crowdand it’s an energic crowd. To me that’s ex-citing. The college audience is as real an au-dience as you can get...they’ll let you knowif it’s bad or if it’s good.”

Truth be told, Adam has earned some prettyserious chops as a young performer. Whilethere are a lot of magicians who claim to beComedy Magicians, not all that many have

put their skills to the test before the demand-ing audiences at west coast comedy clubs...a group that can be brutally honest with theirobservations.

“I went to comedy clubs because I wantedto see if I could get the same kind of laughsthat seasoned comedians could receive. Iknew I could get laughs going up againstother magicians, that was easy. I justneeded to be different and earn the respectfrom others in the comedy trade.

“And that’s what’s great about college audi-ences. They tell it like it is. They don’t feelthe need to boost your ego if you’re notgood! Sometimes you can walk into a beau-tiful 2,000 seat theater and others it is a cafe-teria. You have to be good enough to get thestudents engaged and give the school theshow they expect to see.”

Even though Adam’s history started in com-edy clubs, he will be the first to tell you thathis show is clean. “I don’t do anything that isovertly adult. I was one of the highest ratedperformers on Disney Cruise Lines andCelebrity Cruise Lines and I learned veryquickly that I could be clean and funny. Iadapted my show very well for campus au-diences and the way my show is developed,I have no reason to use profanity.

BOOK IT! To find out more about AdamTrent and how his performance could fit inat your school, contact GP College Enter-tainment at (866) 812-8248 or link to theirwebsite at CampusActMag.com

CLEAN • MAGICAL • HILARIOUS


www.campusactivitiesmagazine.com CAMPUS ACTIvITIES MAGAZINE®, MARCH 2012, 11

Many of you may remember the re-cent viral outbreak of a video of ayoung man speaking in front of theIowa House of Representativesabout what it was like to be a nor-mal, healthy, well-adjusted individ-ual, and raised by two moms.16,614,697 views as of this writing.http://bit.ly/camzachwahlsvid

Meet Zach Wahls. On January 31st,2011, there was a public hearing onHouse Joint Resolution 6, a pro-posed constitutional amendmentthat would redefine marriage inIowa as being only between oneman and one woman. This iswhere Zach felt his voice needed tobe heard. He now travels the cam-pus market, represented by Wolf-man Productions, giving hisinsightful and well-researchedpresentation to students. He sitsdown for an exclusive interviewwith Campus Activities Magazine®.

“In 2009, the Iowa Supreme Courtruled unanimously that same sexmarriage, because of Iowa’s EqualProtection Clause, was the law ofthe land,” he says. “After themidterm election in 2010, there wasa new majority in the House that dis-agreed with that interpretation of thelaw and was trying to change it toreflect what they believed marriageshould look like regardless of theIowa Constitution. I was speakingat this hearing, obviously opposedto this resolution with the familybackground of being raised by avery caring and respectable samesex couple.”

That was on a Monday night. Overthe course of the next week, thevideo went viral, in it’s first incarna-tion it racked up about 1,000,000 hitson YouTube. “I was invited onto‘Ellen,’ and interviewed live on na-tional television from my moms’ liv-ing room. I was signed to WolfmanProductions and Scott really helpedme start doing more speaking aroundthe country. I even had a literaryagent reach out to me and I startedworking on my book ‘My Two Moms:Lessons of Love, Strength and WhatMakes a Family.‘“

Fast forward almost a year later andthe beast that is the political primaryseason begins to stir. “I was work-ing on the manuscript for the bookand out of nowhere the video goesviral again. What happened was

that MoveOn.org sent the video outto their entire 6 million+ email list.People started sharing it; in fact itturned into the single most viralthing MoveOn.org has ever sharedby a factor of 10.”



From there the true meaning of viralwas apparent, as the video circu-lated through the internet at a pan-demic pace. “Soon there were15,000,000 views and it becameYouTube’s number one political

video of 2011, which blew my mind.”

There’s no doubt that Zach is still alittle shellshocked. Only a littlemore than a year out of being just anaverage college student, he’s sud-

denly met with moderate celebrity sta-tus and a purpose. “It’s all definitelystill a little surreal to me. It feels likelightning has struck twice. The firsttime it went viral, a YouTubespokesperson described to my localnewspaper something to the effect of‘going viral is like catching lightningin a bottle.‘ The crazy part to me isthat I didn’t even realize I was holdingthe bottle. I actually didn’t even knowI was being recorded. I didn’t uploadit to the Internet. I didn’t publicize it toany of my friends. The Iowa HouseDemocrats were recording the hear-ing and without warning me uploadedthe video to YouTube. The next thingI knew my phone was blowing up twodays later and things went crazy. Iwas shocked and kind of scared atfirst and wasn’t ready for it. I was a fulltime engineering student at the Uni-versity of Iowa and I didn’t have timeto deal with all of this.”

Zach makes an interesting pointnow that goes to the same mes-sage his presentations to cam-puses and the YouTube videoproject embraces. “For 95% of mylife, the fact that I was raised by twomoms has been a very, very smallpart of my identity. It really hasn’tbeen a huge aspect of myself thathas manifested itself in many dif-ferent forms. It wasn’t something Ithought about a lot. I don’t gohome to visit, walk in the door andsay ‘Oh look! My two gay moms!’They’re just my parents.”

The fact is, it didn’t matter all thatmuch. Same sex couples canraise children just like any othercouple, he says and Zach nowbrings a message of equality andpro-family values to audiencesacross the country.

For more info: Wolfman Produc-tions at 800-735-4933 or [email protected] tobring in a speaker that is veryclose in age to your students. Zachhas an average, normal and bal-anced life and can relate to stu-dents besides probably beingposted to more than a few of theirFacebook walls.

13-Time Speaker of the Year, 2011 Entertainer of the Year and Male Performer of the Year, David Coleman, proudly invitesyou to attend CAMP COLEMAN, an intimate, challenging, life-changing weekend with one day dedicated to improving yourpublic speaking skills and one day dedicated to developing outstanding relationships in your personal and professional life.

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For the last ten years, Barry Smith hasbeen creating multi-media comedy showsabout the strange things he has done inhis life. Unlike most of us, he has docu-mented his life very well with audio, video,photos and scrap books.

According to Barry, while the show isfunny, there is a little bit of inspiration aswell. “In my 20s I found myself living in thisweird little religious cult. There was a manin Montana who thought he was Jesus andI actually believed him for a while. Ten yearsafter getting out of that situation, I startedtelling people about it and they were in-trigued. I found my way from living inJesus’s’ basement to doing comedy aboutliving in Jesus’s basement.”

Now let’s be clear, this is a cross be-tween a stand-up presentation and aspeaker-type show with all the power

point images to bring the audienceinto the journey.

“When I started doing this in theaters, audi-ence members would come up to me sayingthis was the perfect show to take to colleges.

“My experience didn’t include being a liontamer or astronaut but the show is the taleof my employment history including a mes-senger, a paper boy, a process server, andaudio visual tech...just your run of the milljobs. I had so many and all along the way Iwas really just seeking a career in some-thing that I would enjoy doing and that is themessage of my show. Just because yougraduate from college doesn’t mean you areimmediately going to be doing what youwant to do for the rest of your life. In fact,you may even find yourself doing thingsthat you don’t like all that much. But if youstay true to your passion, all those things

will build on themselves and direct yourpath toward the career that is right for you.It’s all told from my personal experience andwhile it is considered a lecture, it is notpreachy but a comedy that tells my story.”

Barry adds that his show is more than justhow to dress for an interview or ace a job.

“It’s a free flowing presentation that is wellscripted in a cohesive package. There is aQ&A at the end so audience members canthrow out questions or ideas. One of theworkshops I do is on visually journaling yourlife after college and why you should chron-icle your job experiences.”

BOOK IT: For more information on Barry’spresentation and workshops, contact GinaKirkland at Kirkland Productions (866) 769-9037 or [email protected]


IIt’s hard to imagine many college students out therewho don’t enjoy “The Daily Show,” or at least aresomewhat familiar with it. There are probably even

less people who don’t remember the iconic “Get A Mac”television campaign from Apple, featuring Justin Longas the Mac and the delightfully dry and witty JohnHodgman as the PC.

John is a regular contributor to “The DailyShow” and came to be famous through there on

a complete fluke. With a background as a Yalegraduate in literature, working as a literaryagent, John was the last person who imaginedhe’d become famous as an author at 34 yearsold. He gives CAM an exclusive interview cour-tesy of United Talent Agency and tells us abouthis unlikely journey, what he thought of college,and the areas of his expertise.The great thing about the John Hodgman experienceis that when you see him in action, you know you are

truly watching someone who has had the serendipitousblessing of finding a way to fame and prosperity simplyby dabbling in only those things that hold his attentionin that moment.

“I never thought of it that way, but it’s really trueand...that makes me feel good. That’s perfect, I thinkwe should stop there,” he says, clearly tickled he’s beenable to launch the interview off in such a whimsicalfashion, though clearly a master of the ability of simul-


Story by Ian Kirby

taneously conveying a humorous twinkle in the eyeand maintaining a deadpan visage. “I’m not gonna feelthis good for another year I expect, so thank you.”

Fortunately for us, he doesn’t end the interviewthere. “It’s true, I am a dabbler by nature and some-one with many natural curiosities on the one handand a lot of inherent laziness on the other. Which isto say I can be industrious in short spurts, but to usewhat for me would be an inappropriate athleticmetaphor, I’m a sprinter, not a marathoner...and thisis why I do not write novels.”

John’s skill at writing should not be in dispute, as hisworks are 100% entertainment value. He just doesn’tlet little things like grammar, syntax or facts get inthe way of a thoroughly entertaining read. “I writebooks of lists, and indeed books that largely do not con-tain complete sentences in them.”

“These books of amazing true (and by true I meancomplete fiction) facts and historic trivia and other fas-cinating information I do not research in any way, ex-cept for haphazardly or possibly accidentally.Occasionally facts do find their way into my brain, butfor the most part I make them up. This coincides verywell with that affinity for laziness I possess as well. Ilike to believe somewhere along the line, I find a certainhigher truth somewhere in all the fabrication.”

John seems to have sprinted his way along prettywell. “I have a lot of help obviously. I came out withmy first book of fake trivia in 2005 and luckily wasasked to go on ‘The Daily Show’ as a guest to pro-mote it. I was such an avid fan of the show, I couldnot believe that I was through that looking glass andsitting on the other side of the television having aconversation with Jon Stewart. I went into a kind ofa fugue state of sheer anxiety and adrenaline, inwhich I accidentally became very confident and en-tertaining and was able to talk to him, at least in anengaging enough way that he would ask me back,not as a guest, but as a contributor. That was a re-quest that changed my life literally almost overnight.”

Before his happening upon ‘The Daily Show’ like thekid in the Coke commercial meeting Mean Joe Green,John was a humble and mild-mannered Yaley who justwanted to dabble. “The interesting thing is that Yalewas the sort of place that encouraged dabbling and idlecuriosity. It certainly rewarded hard work and discipline,for those who were willing to give it, but it also encour-aged the sort of intellectual dilettantism that is in myDNA. So, my career as a student both in college and

in life ongoing, is to learn anywhere from a little bit to afair amount about the things that interest me.”

Not too much info on any one subject or there mightactual legitimate work involved. “Whether it is thehistory of distilled spirits or Latin Americana literature,(specifically Argentine), or the various wardrobes ofthe 11 Doctors Who, to how boats work, magictricks, the allure of the great hobos of the depression.All of these things were already fascinating to meand then were filtered through my addled adult braininto a book.”

John is a true renaissance man, making it his businessto know something about everything. Well, almosteverything. “The only thing that is lacking in my educa-tion is sports. I don’t hate sports, but I tend to resent thecultural suggestion that I ought out to love them if I wantto be a normal human boy. I finally did engage in thesubject of sports in my final book of the trilogy, so the dis-senters can relax as I have now written to some degreeregarding bases ball and baskets ball.”

John hits upon an interesting bit of a cultural doublestandard here. “I don’t ask jocks to know the 11 Doc-tors Who, in fact I don’t even insist they choose a fa-vorite Doctor Who, though of course the onlyacceptable one is Tom Baker. But, I do not chauvinis-tically put that on them; so I ask them not to put theirfists on me, metaphorically and literally, to insist that Iwatch and familiarize myself with sports in all ways.All’s fair in war and sports I guess. I’m from Bostonwhere this is very prevalent. All people, be they dockworkers or CEOs, are united by their love for Boston’sRed Stockings.”

John is an unlikely hero, especially for those of us thatsit in the background writing commentary on those ac-tually talented and famous. Before the cascade ofevents that landed him on “The Daily Show,” John sayshe had absolutely no aspirations for fame or fortune.“Early on, as someone who loves popular culture andcomedy, movies and television, I had the same sort offantasies as a teenager, of being in show business. Butthat wasn’t the direction my life took. I came to NewYork instead and started working in a literary agencyand writing weird little short stories and finding my voicethrough strange humor pieces for McSweeney’s onlineand print, especially a successful run of pieces called‘Ask a Former Professional Literary Agent.‘ I wrote forsome magazines, but once in New York City with a lit-erary degree, all one’s dreams immediately die. Thescales fall from your eyes pretty quickly when you areeating salt and pepper sandwiches to survive. You take

the work you can get and for me, initially it was workingin book publishing and then magazines .”

John continued to develop his own private little life asa writer of fake facts and deranged advice for Mc-Sweeney’s and online. “I was very occasionally askedto perform at alternative comedy venues in New York,but what performing chops I had developed by the timeI brought out my book and went on ‘The Daily Show’were largely developed in bars speaking to crowds ofhipsters and nerds. At age of 34, I basically thoughtmy chances of being on television were done. I wasvery excited simply to be writing this book and have anaudience receive it. That was going to be my sole sig-nificant accomplishment in life, and a very happy oneit would have been, until I was kidnapped by televisionat a relatively elderly age and forced onto the eyeballsof the American public, which undoubtedly were blink-ing a few times in surprise.”

Let’s not forget about the cultural phenomenon ofthe “Get A Mac” campaign. The commercialsran in at least 6 countries over four years andwith dozens of installments. “I would say I hada niche audience with my books, in the sense Icould fit them into a nook in my house if I wantedto. “The Daily Show” and the Apple ads came askind of a one-two punch. I had gone on ‘TheDaily Show’ in January and had done three or foursegments, just getting used to it in a way by Marchand I was asked to audition for these ads. I was in-trigued, because I had been an Apple user for avery long time and knew they had a history of reallyinnovative products and advertising. I couldn'timagine another product that I would have beencomfortable with besides this one.”

In an interesting full circle way, John has completed achain. “I convinced my father to buy our first Mac in1984 after the companies iconic Super Bowl ad fromthat period. Now, I am again on the other side of thelooking glass, and it’s been a surreal experience. Inever expected to get the part and certainly never ex-pected the commercials to take off the way they did. Itchanged my whole life.”

He’s since released parts two and three of his book.Contact Heidi Feigin at United Talent Agencyat (310)246-6009 or [email protected] and let Johncome share the areas of his expertise and othernuggets of wisdom with your audience.

Revenge of the “PC”


Florida Gulf Coast University is situatedabout half way between St. Petersburg andMiami, in Fort Myers. With an undergradu-ate population of 12,000, as campuses go,this one is still a baby, with its first classesheld in 1997.

Joining us for the interview are members ofthe FGCU Programming Board, including

President, Stephanie Miller, VP Katie Rice,Jacob Robinson, Director of Spirit, Saman-tha Brown, Director of Comedy and JosephMcGibboney, Coordinator of Programming.

Just like most things in their youth, theschool has been going through an explosivegrowth phase. “Our projected number forwhen we are done expanding is 20,000 stu-

dents,” Joseph explains. “We’ve opened upa new residence hall every year for the lastthree years and next year there are actuallytwo going up.”

FGCU began life as a commuter campusbut has continually evolved toward an on (orvery near) campus population. “We startedoff as a commuter campus with two build-


ings and a portable, and a majority of ourstudents are still commuters, but we are lo-cated pretty much in the middle of thewoods in Fort Myers. There has been a lotof building and development going onaround us, including two new shopping cen-ters, all because of FGCU.”

The university is the hub of activity in thearea. “As with most campuses, many stu-dents don’t especially want to live on cam-pus,” Joseph adds. “They want to have thatextra freedom. We call them nontraditionalcommuters and most of them live within fiveminutes of the university. So from a pro-gramming standpoint, they are still verymuch a part of our target audience.”

There’s a strange dichotomy of residentsin the area, as the elderly set of incum-bents mix with the influx of young stu-dents. “The city started as a retirementcommunity and with the campus beingbuilt up, you may have a 20 year-old stu-dent living in the same affordable condohousing as a blue-haired snow bird. Itmakes an interesting dynamic for thearea’s attractions, Joseph says.”

The specific areas of study for the universityare broad and so therefore is the program-ming board’s audience. “We don’t have anyspecific specialties,” Katie comments. “Ourbusiness school is well-attended and ourschool of hospitality is growing also. Edu-cation and health are big here as well.”

Diversity has started to become a trend atFGCU, as Jacob informs us. “Within the lastfew years, and especially this year, the cam-pus has become much more diverse thanever before. I know last year for me person-ally coming from a high school that was60% Hispanic, it was a bit of an adjustmentto come to a campus that has a majority ofCaucasian students. This year I have seenthe diversity grow a lot and the BSA (BlackStudent Alliance) makes much more of animpact as well.”

The Programming Board at FGCU tar-gets everyone interested in somethingfun and unique to do on campus, but aswith many campuses, the incoming stu-dents tend to be the biggest focus, asStephanie relates. “I think the most suc-cess we have is with our freshmen. Theyare very much go-getters and want to beat everything. We do try to reach out toour commuter students, but the freshmanare our main goal and there are about4,000 of them on campus this year.”

Samantha lists the various committeeswhich are part of the Programming Boardincluding “Concerts, Comedy, Spirit, Lec-tures, Special Events, Promotions & Mar-keting, and Live Entertainment, all of whichactively programmed throughout the year.”

Concerts and Comedy events seem to doconsistently well, but a nice mix of events ispresented to students. “We do specialevents like Casino Night and Winter Won-derland and we did bring The GreatPornography Debate from Wolfman Pro-ductions this year. We host a very wide va-riety of events and they have all been verypopular this year,” Stephanie says. “We tryto cater to everyone, even our nontraditionalstudents. We do ‘Wacky Wednesday’ everyweek for people who don’t necessarilycome on campus at night, which features acompletely random event during the day.”

The attendance may be great at theseevents because the freshmen are gung-ho, but it doesn’t come without putting inthe marketing time. “We do a lot of pro-moting,” Katie says. “We work a lot onFacebook, we have a texting service, wehave students that hand out flyers and putup posters around campus and we placethem in the residence halls and out in thecommunity as well. Aside from all thatword of mouth has a tremendous effect.”FGCU PB proving again that when itcomes to marketing, you can’t put all ofyour eggs in one basket. Notice how one

committee on their board is dedicated en-tirely to promotions and marketing. A wisestrategy for making the most out of everyevent and justifying every dollar spent.

While it may seem to be a redundancy inthe committee structure, the Live Entertain-ment committee is one which actually seekshomegrown events rather than purchasingprofessional talent. “Our open mic nights fallunder that committee’s purview,” Samanthasays. “We are trying to get a battle of thebands going for next year also, hopefully.The events from this committee are gener-ally on a much smaller scale than those puton by the Concerts committee and oftenfeature students as the main attraction.”

Interestingly, the Live Entertainment Com-mittee cropped up not from advanced plan-ning, but necessity. “There was a void in theprogramming,” Joseph says. “We werebringing in large scale concerts and otherevents; last year we had LMFAO, Far EastMovement and DJ Benzi. “We just had Pit-bull and are bringing in Wiz Khalifa in April,but there were not very many opportunitiesfor the students to perform. This committeehas filled that gap nicely.”

FGCU’s Programming Board has a healthybudget to work with, thanks to the steadyand vigorous growth of the university and astudent activity fee is included in tuitions.“That is our primary means of funding ourprograms,” Stephanie says. “But we do alsohave an account where we put money fromconcert revenue. Other than that, we don’tfund raise or seek sponsorships for events.”

FGCU has an extremely active Program-ming Board with a solid foundation and lotsof student involvement. While Joseph isthere to advise, he stresses that the stu-dents are the true guiding force for theFGCU Programming Board, and so far, withactive participation from much of the cam-pus, they seem to be hitting the mark.


Of all the viral videos from the lastyear or so, probably one of thesingle most addicting, at least for

your humble editor, hasbeen, “Grinding TheCrack” a video featuringbase jumper JebCorliss and the hit sin-gle from our cover artistAWOLNATION, “Sail.”http://bit.ly/grindingthecrack

Apart from the 10+ million hits the songhas seen on that video, the official musicvideo for “Sail” and other threads havescored around 30 million more views.It’s been used in several television andmovie projects and now their secondsingle “Not Your Fault” appears to begearing up for a similar sort of success.

AWOLNATION will be one of the hottestticket acts in the coming years, not sincewe had Fallout Boy on our cover havewe been more excited about the talentand explosive growth potential of a van-guard band. We were given access toboth acts courtesy APA and they knowhow to pick ‘em; in the past we have fea-tured not only Fallout Boy but also PlainWhite T’s, The Dirty Heads and TheMovement, all from APA. If past behav-ior is the best predictor of future out-comes, you better check out this red hotact while they are still available and af-fordable for the campus market.

The band features Aaron Bruno, leadsinger, composer and the main drivingforce for AWOLNATION (formerly ofUnder The Influence Of Giants, Home-town Hero and Insurgence), ChristopherThorn on lead guitar (formerly of BlindMelon), Kenny Carkeet, David Amezcuaand Hayden Scott.

Aaron sits down with Campus ActivitiesMagazine for an exclusive interviewabout the band, their history, and thecampus market.

From the greater L.A. area, Aaron wasjust one fish in a very large pond of thatarea’s music market and, just like anyother artist, he had to struggle throughhis own journey to find success andmore importantly, artistic freedom. “I’vebeen in several different bands leadingup to this one, going back to sixth grade

and that awkward age around pubertywhen I first started jamming with friends.”

Aaron, now 33, explains that when hewas a kid growing up in the ThousandOaks area, there weren’t bands pouringout of the woodwork at every local highschool, the way some may pictureSouthern California. “There was onlyone other guy at my school that I knewof who really cared about music at all, atleast the sort of music I was into. Mostpeople listened to whatever was on the

radio, it wasn’t easy to find other musicalpals to bond with and discover newmusic. I was lucky enough to meet acouple of those guys early on and de-veloped my first ‘musical marriages’with them.”

Despite mainstream success being onlyrecent, Aaron feels very fulfilled with hisjourney, and looks on the positive sideof his increased experience. “One ad-vantage I feel I have is I have been doingthis for a long time. I don’t really remem-


INTERvIEW/STORY BY IAN KIRBY

ber a time when I wasn’t writing songs,ever since I picked up a guitar in thethird grade. It seemed like somethingreally fun for me to do and it was inter-esting to me that someone could hearsomething on a CD (or cassette tape atthat time) and be able to apply that tosome sort of instrument and physicallymanifest what you just heard. Thatwas always a cool rush for me and oneof the first ways I can remember inwhich I found contentment, besidessurfing. It was a great thing.”

Aaron describes the struggle betweenfinding his passion, and finding it’sapplication. “None of the other bandsI was in, between picking music upand AWOLNATION, ever ended uphaving the sort of success you wantas a professional songwriter, or anybusiness or career you choose forthat matter. It just never quite workedout. There were many times wherethere were high hopes, maybe a radiostation picked up a song or MTvplayed the video but nothing ever

translated to selling tickets or evenhalf the success we are having now.”

Aaron and AWOLNATION are stillwithin their first year of success andstill a little shell shocked. Without aclear separation between obscurityand fame, looking back and seeingwhat was different this time as op-posed all the false starts is difficult.“Part of it, to me, is just life and the uni-verse; the stars aligned, whatever. Ican’t really tell you why some of thesongs on this AWOLNATION recordhave been hit singles, whereas in mylast band I thought we had songs thatdeserved the same kind of attentionbut never saw the light of day.”

Megalithic Symphony, released on RedBull Records, has done incredibly wellfor a first release, producing two chart-ing singles already and climbing tonumber 15 on Billboard’s US Alterna-tive Album chart. Aaron went with thelabel because they allowed him utterlycomplete creative control (even refer-ring to it as a partnership), in fact he re-ally just used their studio to record theAWOLNATION record. Perhaps thisartistic freedom is part of the reasonthis release has made such an impact,perhaps it’s partly due to Aaron contin-ually getting better at what he does.“Some of it may be chance, but spend-ing hours and hours writing songs, Iguess I figured out how to understandmy instrument as a songwriter and anartist. I am very grateful that I have hadthe opportunity to do so much experi-menting before this, because it was alla learning experience.”

It also primed him to be even more ap-preciative of the new band’s successes.“I went into this project with no expec-tations of any kind. I just wanted tomake a record that blew my own mindforemost. If that happened, I could atleast feel proud of that. I felt pretty con-fident that there would be a certainamount of people that would feel thesame way, but I had no idea to what ex-tent. With me being such a huge musicnerd, I knew someone would like it asmuch as I did, but little did I know itwould finally turn into the success thathas been so elusive all these years.”


Aaron had been measuring success by hisability to release music at all. “In the past Ihave dealt with complications involving la-bels, contractual issues, legal matters,bonds and all that sort of evil ‘workin’ for theman’ stuff. I put my heart and soul into abunch of records and songs that I wrote thatweren’t even allowed to come out becauseof contractual issues. This time around,being completely free, there are absolutelyno rules or expectations except for my ownand I was going to put this stuff out regard-less of whether I had a label or not. The factthat other people wanted to partner up andhelp me out probably was a component inmaking this an undiluted project and there-fore, successful.”

Red Bull Records helped to facilitateAaron’s vision of complete creativecontrol. “They have an amazing studioin Santa Monica that I was able to useand without that, I couldn’t have doneit. Not to mention they have a brilliantengineer by the name of Eric Stenman,who happens to be an old friend ofmine. He did my first hardcore band’sCD for like $500 and I hadn’t seen himin over 10 years. When I first begantalks with Red Bull, I walked into thestudio and he was the engineer there.Again, life being strange and starsaligning I guess. I made one of my firstrecords with the guy and now as anevolved and developed artist havebeen able to work with him to create arecord finally breaking through. I madethe record in a room, mostly with just

him and I really feel lucky that I got tomeet up with him again.”

As we talk about this, we should bearone important point in mind. A pointwhich so often gets lost in today’sADHD society, where sometimes noteven singles satisfy listeners in theworld of mashups, and albums all toooften are completely lost. While mostof you are probably reading this storybecause of “Sail,” this is a great recordand all present should be cautioned notto pin this band into a “Sail” pigeon-hole. It can be frustrating for an artistto only be recognized for one smallsliver in the great pie of their catalog.Fortunately Aaron is still too enamoredwith the enthusiastic response to bejaded enough yet to complain. “It isn’tfrustrating at all, in fact its very reward-ing because most people, includingmyself, don’t ever get the opportunityto have that sort of complaint. To evenbe asked that question is a huge bless-ing really. To address ‘Sail’ specifically,it has that sort of nursery rhyme qualityand just ended up really catchy. It hassort of a soothing melody, straightfor-ward lyrics and it hooks you. I am notupset because all of my other workhasn’t had that effect, I am ecstatic thatat least one piece of it has.

“‘Sail’ was written with no expectationsof having any label support or radioplay whatsoever. I didn’t sit down tocontrive that, it was just me. I didn’t sit


Sail!This is how I show my love

I made it in my mind becauseI blame it on my A.D.D. baby

This is how an angel criesI blame it on my own sick pride

Blame it on my A.D.D. baby

SAIL!

Maybe I should cry for helpMaybe I should kill myself

Blame it on my A.D.D. baby

Maybe I'm a different breedMaybe I'm not listening

So blame it on my A.D.D. baby

SAIL!

Sail with me into the darkSAIL!



Sail with me, sail with meSAIL!

down and say ‘I want to create aspooky, epic melody with a hip hopbeat and this message.’ It wasn’t cal-culated, it was what came out of me atthat moment.”

The story of Sail’s origin is inspiringand depressing at the same time;Aaron was in a stagnant place when hewrote it, yet it also turned out to be hisboon. “It actually was a song that waswritten at a time when there was nohope for me ever touring again, or put-ting out any more records. I was doingthe best I could at the studio and waseven working another job at the time,writing half-assed pop songs for bub-ble-gum artists that were giving me andmy keyboard player a couple hundredbucks a song two or three times amonth and that’s how I was getting by.If you do the math, it wasn’t really work-ing. It was a really weird and transi-tional time in my life and I guess ‘Sail’came out of that.”

Aaron says “Sail,” more than anything,was a random sort of notation of hisstate of affairs. “That strange time forme was almost a sort of journal entrythat turned into a song. I think I got verylucky to have said something no one’sever said, or maybe not in a while, ormaybe just in a new way and it con-nected with people. That and the beatand melody just seemed to have somesort of haunting hook to it.”

It was a little bit of a surprise for Aaroneven. He described it almost as anaside, the track is even buried at num-ber 10 on Megalithic Symphony, butsomewhere it transformed from an af-terthought into an organic force with alife of its own. “I thought it was one ofthe stranger sounding songs on therecord...I was very grateful that what Ibelieved to be more or less of a centeralbum single ended up being THE sin-gle. It made AWOLNATION and my-self sort of the oddity or outlier of theclass, because this song sounds soominously different from anything elsein new alternative music.”

Despite the insane virility of “Sail” tak-ing off from sharing and people like JebCorliss (who Aaron says actually ap-proached A.N. after the song had takenoff), Aaron has even higher hopes fortheir second single, a track less darkthan “Sail” but just as catchy, titled “NotYour Fault.” I personally watched themusic video once, which by the way isextremely cool and was made in thestyle of the 1964 stop-motion Christ-mas classic “RudolphThe Red-Nosed Rein-deer” and can’t get thesong out of my head.http://bit.ly/camnoty-ourfault

“Now ‘Not Your Fault’ is charting betterthan ‘Sail’ even did. Of course that isall based on a strange and sort of ob-

tuse business related math I don’t re-ally understand, but I do know it’s doingwell. If it weren’t for ‘Sail,’ this songprobably would have never made it onthe radio. ‘Sail’ has literally built us ahouse that we can start decorating. Itjust so happens that the layout of thishouse is kind of strange, which givesus room for some interesting architec-ture and design moving forward. Ifwe’d been stuck with a standard balladas the breakout hit, it would be mucheasier to be forced into a very cookiecutter career progression from there.From here, I feel we can truly make ourown way.”

Have AWOLNATION make their wayto your campus, because this bandis super hot and will only continuetheir rise. Adam Brill and CorrieChristopher at APA are taking latespring festival dates and fillingAWOLNATION’s fall calendar aswell, so grab this band while they’restill a reality for most campuses, be-fore they follow in the footsteps oftheir agency brethren like FalloutBoy, Plain White T’s and other mon-ster successes. Mention this articleand get exclusive opportunitiescourtesy Campus Activities Maga-zine®. Get in touch with Adam andCorrie at APA at (310) 888-4200 [email protected] [email protected]


Campus Activities Maga-zine® is very excited tobring a BRAND NEWact to the campus mar-ket that we think could

be a breakout hit. You saw it here first.

Bella Electric Strings takes a very lovely andclassically trained quartet (all with impressivecredentials, check out the extended versionof this story on our site for more details) andsets them loose in a rock concert style bar-rage of contemporary and classic hits. Notonly that, but they are available for work-shops before their events, allowing for pos-sible cross-funding with fine artsdepartments, a learning experience for stu-dents and a great teaser for the concert.

Currently very successful in Las Vegas, BellaElectric Strings has some pretty impressivecredits, including sharing stages with Bey-once, Shakira and Andrea Bocelli, they alsoappeared on Season 1 of “America’s GotTalent.” http://bit.ly/bellapromovid

Recently featured in a David Foster & Friendsconcert, the girls are sponsored by Yamahaexclusively on their instruments and performmany Yamaha String Educator clinics.

They’ve been associated with other bigname acts, including Richard Marx and sup-porting parts of the string sections at ThePearl in Las Vegas for acts like Yellow BrickRoad Symphonic Rock Show and for classicrock icons and “Smoke On The Water” au-thors Deep Purple.

Bella Electric Strings is tagged as “The RockString Quartet, Period” and led by Nina DiGregorio, who plays lead 5-string violin andacts as arranger for the group. She sits downwith CAM for an exclusive interview, the firstgiven about the girls entering the campusmarket. “I started writing arrangements ofpop tunes I liked when I was in high school,but at the time, I didn’t have any money tobuy electric instruments.”

Nina is from Lewiston, New York, located up-state (way upstate- due north of Buffalo, westof Rochester and south of Toronto). “Myfriends and I had an all-girl group and I alwaysknew that when I had more money I wouldwant to get the whole electric thing going. Imoved to Las Vegas after I graduated collegeand began working with Yamaha. I starteddoing clinics for them and they would use myarrangements in the clinics to go out anddemonstrate their electric and silent instru-ments. Eventually I got a full artist’s sponsor-

ship from Yamaha, so we finally had themeans to get all the electric instruments andreally put the vision of this project together.”

From there it was a matter of building the per-fect roster. “We went through many people,and some of them didn’t have the talent, somedidn’t have the personality, etc. Finally we foundfour girls that just really fit and that’s where wehave been for about the last three years.”

Since then, they have played a wide variety of

gigs in even more locations. “We travel a lot,”Nina says. “We do many different things; weperform as a feature act for many corporatedates and we also perform in support of a lotof major artists. We were the featuredacoustic string quartet for Richard Marx in hisLas Vegas show, and we will be playing withhim again this February. On December 29th,we were the featured electric string act for themusic producer, David Foster, in his ‘DavidFoster and Friends’ concert in Vegas. Besidesworking backing up major artists, we also have


our own thing, the pure electric string act.”

Which, for the purposes of this article, is thereally interesting part. “We play really great,high energy and recognizable rock like Zep-pelin and Hendrix and contemporary pickswith electric instruments, using effects pedalsand lots of cool choreography and production.It’s a well rehearsed and formulated show.”

Not to say this is a cookie cutter show howeverand, just because they are brand new to the

campus circuit as a whole, does not meanthey are not quite adept at adapting to new au-diences. “Every gig is different, as is everygroup,” Nina explains. “Sometimes we will geta call because the crowd might be very con-servative. We bring our long black formal con-cert gowns and acoustic instruments and playcompletely classical sets. Sometimes the callsays it will be a crowd of under 40 (or even 20)single guys, so glam it up a bit and we’ll put onour sequined skirts and play Nirvana. We tai-lor our set list to the audience all the time and

have no problem working with clients on agig-specific basis. It’s the same thing we dowhen we work with major artists who needus to look and play a certain way. We havegotten very good at adapting. If we are play-ing with Beyonce, we are probably going tohave a little bit more makeup on than withRichard Marx. We tailor our look to the styleof the artist, and we can do the same thingfor schools, depending on their needs.”

This is an act a buyer can use anywhere,whether it is for the featured act in a theater,after dinner entertainment at a banquet, away to draw people at an outdoor event orany other application you can think of, be-cause their audience can be completely gen-eral. “Well, Facebook tells me we’re reallypopular with the 24-35 year old male agerange,” she laughs, “that tends to be the mostactive group.” She says this a bit tongue-in-cheek. “But all joking aside, because we playsuch a wide variety of dates, in a typical yearwe are hitting board game demographics,”she quips. That’s ages 8-80 for those of younot keeping up. “The music we do rangesfrom the things kids would recognize likeLady Gaga and the Black Eyed Peas tothings my parents would recognize like LedZeppelin and The Beatles to things even theolder generation would recognize and lovelike Frank Sinatra and Elvis.”

Just on a personal note from your editor,when we decided not only to publicize thisact for the first time ever to the campus mar-ket, but to also help them find representationand form a marketing plan, it was donebased on an experience. I’ve seen BellaElectric Strings in action, showcasing at the2011 Association of Entertainment Profes-sionals (www.aepworldwide.org) SignatureEvent and I have to say this is an impressiveshow. It’s high energy, eye-catching, relat-able to young and old, and we feel highlymarketable for campuses.

They have celebrity credits, impressive edu-cational backgrounds and resumes, hugedoses of talent and aesthetic appeal (to put

it mildly), are tied to the arts with ability to edu-cate and entertain – what more could youask? They are reasonably priced for the cam-pus market. Contact Rich at GP Entertainmentto find out about availabilities at 866-812-8248or [email protected].

For extended coverage, including CAM’s EX-CLUSIVE video, both of Bella in action andclips from Nina’s interview, check out this storyat www.campusactivitiesmagazine.com


BRANDON STYLES Kramer International

Texas State Technical College, Waco TX 10/24/11 150+ Student Rec Center 5 5 4 5 5 5 5 Our students really enjoyed Brandon. He was very entertaining! He and his wife were verydown to earth and fun to work with. Lisa Listach, Student Activities Supervisor

CHRISjONES Bass/Schuler Entertainment

Concordia University/ Wisconsin, Mequon WI 9/1/11 450 Auditorium 4 5 5 5 5 5 5 He was funny, energetic and clean. That’s something hard to find in comedy. He was ex-tremely easy to work with and related to the students well. Samantha Freese, Campus Activities Coordinator

University of Mary, Bismarck ND 10/18/11 305 Auditorium 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 Chris was amazing! The students couldn’t wait to ask me when he was coming back. Veryprofessional and on time. Plus he’s an awesome dude! Two thumbs up! Amber Flickinger, Coordinator of Student Activities

Wright State University, Dayton OH 11/14/11 150+ Endeavor Room 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 Chris was amazing to work with and Bass/Schuler always does a great job working with us.Chris put on a hilarious & unforgettable show. Our students are dying to see him again! Daniel Schraeder, Assist Dir of Res Life

CHRISTOPHER CARTER Bass/Schuler Entertainment

Colorado Northwestern Community College, Rangely CO 11/30/11 150 3 4 5 5 5 5 5 Chris was great. The students were “freaked out” at times, laughed and really enjoyed the performance Katie LaBeef, Assist Dir Res Life & Activities

DANIEL MARTIN Bass/Schuler Entertainment

Northwest Iowa Community College, Peosta IA10/13/11 200 Cafeteria 5 5 5 5 5 5 5Awesome performance. Kept the audience engaged. So much more than expected! Dan Sisler, VP of Activities

Saint Xavier University, Chicago IL 1/9/12 McGuire Hall 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 Dan is great. he goes above and beyond when working with a school.He understood our unique issues and helped address them. Emilie Boyce, Assist Dir of Campus Life

Texas A&M University/ Kingsville, Kingsville TX 1/19/12 200 Campus Ballroom 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 Daniel was awesome! We can’t wait to have him back. Morgan Hunter, Magic Chair CAB

FREDERICK wINTERS Bass/Schuler Entertainment Dakota Wesleyan University, Mitchell SD1/10/12 5 5 5 5 - 5 5 Awesome show! Very effective, actually went over the time of one hour and thirty min-utes. The students enjoyed it. Mario Palencia, Entertainment Coordinator

Clarkson College, Omaha NE 1/11/12 100 4 4 4 5 - 4 4Frederick Winters put on a great show. He does a great job with our students.

Chuck MacDonell, Director- Student Center Cowley College, Ark City KS 1/12/12 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 Frederick is awesome! Kristi Shaw, Director of Student Life

Hope College, Holland MI1/20/12 Cafeteria Stage 5 5 4 5 - - 5 It truly was a pleasure to have hypnotist Frederick Winters at our school. His act was funand involved the whole audience. It was unforgettable. Rikki Henderson, Special Events Coordinator/ Social Actv Committee jOSHUA SETH GP College Entertainment Lock Haven University, Lock Haven PA10/27/11 5 5 5 5 - 5 5 He was very engaging and passionate. Exhilarating! Annie Magara, HAC - Lecture Chair

Niagara University, Niagara NY1/25/12 135 5 5 5 5 5 5 -Great show and great teaser before hand in our dining hall. Bill Newton, Assist Director- Campus Activities


VARIETY

THE RATING SYSTEM:

5= EXCELLENT 4= VERY GOOD 3= AVERAGE 2= FAIR 1= POOR

If you want to know how good an act might be that you plan on booking, just ask another campus where they have played. Here are reports from our readers.

All ratings here had complete verifiable information and were signed by the reviewer. All reports must have been submitted by the school where the date

was played. Artists report submission forms are available to every campus in the United States programming campus activities. The form is in this issue or

you can receive the form by requesting one from your visiting artist or their agency, by visiting campusactivitiesmagazine.com or calling us toll-free at (800)

728-2959 for a pdf copy to be emailed to your campus. We only accept reports on the authentic form and only from the campus or institution. Reports may

not be submitted by the artist or their agency. Schools do not have to rate in every category, only categories that apply to their show.

HERE ARE THE CATEGORIES FOR THE RATINGS FOUND AFTER THE BUYER’S NAME AND PLAY DATE: (1) ORIGINALITY OF THE PERFORMANCE; (2) ARTIST’S

ABILITY; (3) RELATIONSHIP TO THE AUDIENCE; (4) COOPERATION / ATTITUDE; (5) ROAD CREW / MANAGEMENT; (6) AGENCY COOPERATION; (7) QUALITY OF PROMO

Campus Reports listed in RED indicate the buyer reported a perfect score in all categories that applied to their campus performance for that artist or event.

Attendance, if available follows the date.

LUCKY BAMBOO Kirkland Productions Midwestern State University, Wichita Falls TX1/18/12 200 Student Center5 - - 5 - 5 - Very popular with the students. Pricing was $1500 for 200 units. Great customer service. Matthew Park, DSA

MAMA LOU Everything But The Mime Kansas Community College, Kansas City KS12/9/11 200+ Jewell Deli5 5 5 5 - 5 5 Mama Lou’s positive message of “believing in yourself” was excellent. Our studentsloved her. Linda Sutton. DSA MASTER HYPNOTIST MICHAEL BLAINE Michael Blaine SUNY Institute of Technology, Utica NY11/14/11 190 Student Center 5 5 4 5 5 - - Eric Markson, Publicity

MCVICAR THE TRICKSTER Metropolis Management

Salve Regina University, Newport RI1/24/12 5 4 5 5 5 5 5He was hilarious and the audience loved him! The teaser was great too and everyone inour cafeteria loved it. Aubrey Gould, CAB Comedy Director

MICHAEL C. ANTHONY Auburn Moon Agency

University of Akron RHPB, Akron OH9/7/115 5 5 5 5 5 5Michael amazes students year after year. Male students giving birth is a hoot!

Tiffany Schmidt, Graduate Advisor MICHAEL KENT Fresh Variety

Siena Heights University, Adrian MI1/19/12 5 5 5 5 - 5 -Awesome show! Tons of requests to bring Michael back already!

Deanna Wagner, DSA

Rowan University, Glassboro NJ1/21/12 5 5 5 5 - 5 5 Michael was great! Awesome show. Student enjoyed it. Not too often magicians receivea standing ovation at our school. He was great to work with and would love to have himagain. Tommy Balicky, Assist Dire- Late Nite Programming

Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore MD1/31/12 250 Shriver Center 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 The most entertaining magician I’ve ever seen! Paul Tershakovec, HOP Member

Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff AZ2/3/12 600 Student Union 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 Amazing Performance! The crowd really loved Michael. I will definitely book him again! Courtney Parsons-Smith, Programmer

Sul Ross State University, Alpine TX2/7/12 75 Marshall Auditorium 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 Nice Show Jeffrey W. Blake, Director-Campus Activities

NORMAN NGNorman Magic

Lake Superior University, Sault St Marie MI1/18/12 350 Ballroom 5 5 5 5 - 5 5 Norman was amazing! People were hooked by his teaser alone. We’ve never had sucha great turn-out for a magician before. We would definitely like to see him back again. Danielle Branz, Street Team Chair- Activities Board

PETER BOIEBwah Productions

Quinnipiac University, Hamden CT11/5/11 75 Theater 5 5 5 5 5 5 5Peter Boie was extremely entertaining and performed amazing tricks that really grabbedthe audience’s attention. His pre-show in the cafeteria engaged many students in turnbringing them out to the actual event. He was very accommodating and easy to workwith. He would be a geat entertainer to bring to any campus. Steve Pagios, Assistant DSA

SAILESH Metropolis Entertainment

Lander University, Greenwood SC1/9/12 650 Auditorium 5 5 5 5 5 5 5Great Show. Keith McCaslan, AD- Student Activities

Immaculata University, Immaculata PA10/25/11 150 Alumnae Hall Theater 4 5 5 4 5 5 4This was the second time we have had Sailesh at IU in the time span of a few months.The students love his show and we always have a great turn-out. His talent is amazingand showmanship is uncomparable to others. I would suggest him to anyone for aneasy to plan event. Amanda Morrell, Programming Assistant

SUNY Cobleskill, Cobleskill NY1/24/12 Full House Bauck Theater 5 5 5 5 - 5 5Amazing performance. Crowd loved him. Worth booking again in the future. Christina Hanson, Event Coordinator

SNAKES ALIVE!GG Greg Agency

Wisconsin Indianhead Technical College- Superior, Shell Lake WI1/25/12 200+ 5 5 5 5 5 5 5Awesome as usual! Always amazes me how Tom Kessenich can even get the studentswho are most afraid of snakes to overcome his/her fears! Beck Bourque, Student Life Coordinator

TEAM M&M: MIKE “DA ROVING GUY” & MARGARET’S “ART ON YOU”Everything But The Mime Southeast Missouri State University, Cap Girardeau MO10/1/11 University Center 5 5 5 5 5 5 5They were great! Everything ran smoothly and I have no complaints. Tiffany Reicherbacher, Special Events Coordinator

Vincennes University, Jasper IN10/4/11 5 5 5 5 5 5 5Mike and margaret were fabulous! They were so easy to work with too! The studentsthoroughly enjoyed them Alli Baer, Student Activities Coordinator

Bethany College, Lindsborg KS10/8/11 5 5 5 5 5 5 5Couldn’t have asked for it to be better!. The things they do are nothing short of amazing! Ronald Atkinson, Student Activities Board Advisor


THE RATING SYSTEM:

5= EXCELLENT 4= VERY GOOD 3= AVERAGE 2= FAIR 1= POORHERE ARE THE CATEGORIES FOR THE RATINGS FOUND AFTER THE BUYER’S NAME AND PLAY DATE: (1) ORIGINALITY; (2) ARTIST’S ABILITY;

(3) RELATIONSHIP TO THE AUDIENCE; (4) COOPERATION / ATTITUDE; (5) ROAD CREw / MANAGEMENT; (6) AGENCY COOPERATION;

(7) PROMOTIONAL MATERIALS PROVIDED. ATTENDANCE, IF AVAILABLE, FOLLOwS THE DATE


Midwestern State University, Wichita Falls TX10/22/11 Football Stadium 5 5 5 5 5 5 5Always great to work with! Cammie Dean, Assist Director of Student Development/ Orientation

Auburn University, Auburn AL10/28/11 1750 Auburn University Student Center 5 5 5 5 5 5 5We really enjoyed Team Mike & Margaret! Guests enjoyed their quality creations.

Laura Barnett, Director of Tiger Nights

Georgia Perimeter College, Dunwoody, Dunwoody GA10/31/11 271 Student Center 5 5 5 5 5 5 5They were great! Team M&M arrived at 3:30pm when the event started at 6pm. Theyeven stayed a little later to control the lines. Amazing every time they come to GPC. Iwould recommend them for all ages! Justin McPhatter, Program Assistant

Texas A&M University- Texarkana, Texarkana TX01/24/12 5 5 4 4 4 4 4 Heather Haynes, Campus Activities Officer

Vicennes University, Vincennes IN01/27/12 5 5 5 5 5 5 5Awesome - The students loved them both. Cindy Beals, DSA

TIM GABRIELSONRedd Promo

Winthrop University, Rock Hill SC9/23/11 123 Dina’s Place 5 5 5 5 5 5 5Tim worked extremely well with our students and out on a great show.

Mike Rapay, Assistant Director of Campus Programming

jOSH VIETTIDiversity talent Agency

Alvernia University, Reading PA1/23/12 83 Student Center 5 5 5 5 - 5 -Josh was awesome! He got the students to engage & participate! He captivated the en-tire cafeteria. He was personable, energetic, laid back and desired to make the show thebest for Alvernia.

Robyn Schultz, Assist DSA

Utica College, Utica NY2/2/12 132 Pioneer Pub 5 5 5 5 - 4 4If there is history of low audience participation for events, bringing Josh Vietti will shatterthat. He was GREAT at pulling them in. Fantastic performance.

Bethany Piraino, Assist DSA

LEVI STEPHENSDEGY Entertainment

Methodist University, Fayetteville NC1/25/12 300 Berns Student Center 5 5 5 5 5 5 5

Doris Jackson, DSA

Mary Baldwin College, Staunton VA1/28/12 30 Coffeehouse 5 5 5 5 4 5 4Levi is so genuine. You can tell he truly loves what he is doing and greatly enjoys getting to meet and interact with students!

Erin Paschal, DSA

Augusta State College, Augusta GA2/1/12 70 Jaguar Student Activities Center 5 5 5 5 5 5 5

Jessica Haskins, Assistant Director of Campus Programs

University of SC. Beaufort, Bluffton SC2/2/12 35 Campus Center 4 5 5 5 5 5 5Levi was very kind and extremely talented. He did a great job relating & taking time tospeak with the students afterwards. Great Job!

Paige Madrid Kegley, Assist Director of Student Life

East Tennessee State University, Johnson City TN2/10/12 50 Cave 5 5 5 5 5 5 5Amazing!

Sabrinna Cappinger, CAB VP

NATALIE GELMANDEGY Entertainment

Rutgers University/ Newark, Newark NJ12/6/11 Stonsby Cafeteria 5 5 5 5 5 5 5Great performer!

Cynthia Sanchez Gomez, Student Assistant

TALL HEIGHTSTalentPlus Entertainment

Middlebury College, Middlebury VT12/9/11 50 Crossroads Cafe 4 5 4 5 5 4 -Tall Heights was AWESOME. I’d heard their music before but it was even better live! Ijust wish there’d been better advertising so more people showed up.

Sarah Chapin, Student Liaison

BREAKS8Fresh Variety

Ferris State University, Big Rapids MI1/12/12 630 Williams Auditorium 4 4 5 5 4 5 5BreakSK8 was great. We just wished they would have danced a bit more. THANK YOU!

Evan Pazkowski, Programming Coordinator

RAN’D SHINEEverything But The Mime

Palm Beach State College, Belle Glade FL2/1/12 100 5 5 5 5 5 5 -All campuses should have him perform for their school.

Leonard E. Bryant, Manager

BARRY SCOTTKirkland Productions

Olympic College, Bremerton WA1/6/12 5 5 5 5 5 5 5

Angelica Roxar, Office Assistant- Multicultural Programming

DEANNA LATSONKirkland Productions

East Oregon University, LeGrande OR1/11/12 69 McKenzie Theater 5 5 5 5 5 5 - The students and attendees really enjoyed Deanna’s performance. Mary Sharinghousen, Student Director

DEL SUGGSSaltwater Music

Brevard College, Brevard NC1/29/12 75 Dining Room 5 5 5 5 5 5 -Del is always so wonderful to work with. My students feel inspired immediately after his

MUSIC

PERFORMING ARTS

SPEAKERS

YOUR CAMPUS COULD WIN A FREE WEEKEND OF ENTERTAINMENTJUST FOR SUBMITTING ARTIST REPORT CARDS


presentations and it shows. His presence is felt on campus for weeks.

Megan Walters, Assistant Dean of Students

DELATORRO MCNEALColeman Productions

Iowa State University, Ames IA1/28/12 300 Memorial Union 5 5 5 5 - 5 5 Delatorro received very positive feedback from all of the participants. He was very en-gaging and motivating. We loved the promo video. We will definitely ask him back. Amanda Martin, TSLE Coordinator

DR jOHN CORVINOKirkland Productions

Saddleback College, Mission Viejo CA2/14/12 5 5 5 5 4 4 4 Dr. Corvino was extremely knowledgeable and personable. The students really enjoyedhis talk as he is approachable and humorous. We look forward to having him out again.It was really great working with him. Erin Long, ICC Advisor

ELAINE PASqUAPasqua Productions, Inc.

University of Dayton, Dayton OH1/20/12 300 Kennedy Union Ballroom 4 5 5 5 5 5 5 Great speaker. Friendly and very helpful. Brandy Brown, SAAC Officer

Penn State University Abington, Abington PA1/26/12 88 5 5 5 5 - - 5Elaine Pasqua is a smarty, witty, dynamic speaker who is well received on our collegecampus. She gets sensitive, important information to students in a humorous mannerthat engages her audience. Outstanding speaker! Donna Monk, Director of Health Services

Delaware Valley College, Doylestown PA2/7/12 30 Classroom 5 5 5 5 - - -Excellent! Unfortunately the turn-out wasn’t as large as hoped but the students that at-tended enjoyed it. Heidi Herb, Resident Assistant

MARC ELLIOTColeman Productions

University of California / Berkeley, Berkeley CA1/23/12 800 Dwinelle Hall 5 4 5 5 - 3 5 Marc was amazing. Very warm and easy to talk to. He struck home to a lot of student athletes. Allie Rowe, Director of Student Athletic Affairs.

Lincoln Land Community College, Springfield IL1/23/12 30 Mitter Center 5 5 5 5 5 5 5Marc was fantastic! Great presentation and interaction with students and staff.

Michelle Burger, E vents Coordinator

AARON KOMINOS- SMITHAaron Kominos-Smith

Lehigh University, Bethlehem PA12/1/11 50 5 5 5 5 - - 5 Great performance. Quality comedy Greg Mustillo, Director of Comedy

ADAM GRABOwSKIAGC Entertainment / Auburn Moon

University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg, Greensburg PA1/4/12 45 Ferguson Theater 5 5 5 5 - 5 -Adam was a pleasure to work with every step of the way and related very well to our au-dience. He knows exactly how to appeal to the college crowd. Steven Satterlee, DSA

Indiana Purdue University- Indianapolis, Indianapolis IN1/10/12 70 Campus Center 5 5 5 5 - 5 5Adam’s show was very funny and exactly what we wanted to kick off Homecoming Week. Sarah Fleenor, VP of External Affairs

Ball State University, Muncie IN1/14/12 220 Ballroom 5 5 5 5 - 5 5Very easy to work with. A crowd pleaser. Kelsey McPheeters, Late Nite Event Coordinator

ADAM MAMAwALAAdam Mamawala

University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg, Greensburg PA1/4/12 45 Ferguson Theater 5 5 5 5 - 5 -Adam was amazing! He related extraordinarily well to the audience and was very easyto work with. Students loved his material and we will bring him back again. Steven Saterlee, DSA

Rutgers University, New Brunswick NJ1/19/12 Cook Campus Center 5 5 4 5 - - 5Adam was very easy to work with and professional. He had a great attitude and wastimely. We enjoyed his time at our university and he exceeded our expectations.

Tori McIntosh, VP RUPA Comedy & Movies

Illinois State University, Normal IL1/26/12 BBC Activities Room 5 5 5 5 - - -Adam was fantastic! He truly is a talented performer who understands a college audi-ence. He’s easy to work with and delivers a great show.

Austin Arias, Graduate Advisor to The Programming Board

Manhattanville College, Purchase NY2/3/12 40 Pub 5 5 4 5 4 - 5 5Adam did a great job considering he did not get much reaction from the audience. Wouldconsider him again in the future.

Andy Fulton, AD: Student Activities

ALEx THOMAS Diversity Talent Agency

East Carolina University, Greenville NC8/23/11 600 Wright Auditorium 5 5 5 5 5 5 5

Emily Mclamb, Associate Director

ANTON SHUFORD KP Comedy

Ramapo College of NJ, Mahwah NJ 2/7/12 120 Friend’s Hall 4 4 4 4 5 - 5 4 Mellissa Louissant, Student Advisor, Program Board

DEREK HUGHES The College Agency

California State University/ Chico, Chico CA 1/29/12 UHUB 5 4 5 3 - 5 4Very creative show! A lot of fun.

Stephanie Marzillo, Music & Comedy Chair

THE RATING SYSTEM:

5= EXCELLENT 4= VERY GOOD 3= AVERAGE 2= FAIR 1= POORHERE ARE THE CATEGORIES FOR THE RATINGS FOUND AFTER THE BUYER’S NAME AND PLAY DATE: (1) ORIGINALITY; (2) ARTIST’S ABILITY;

(3) RELATIONSHIP TO THE AUDIENCE; (4) COOPERATION / ATTITUDE; (5) ROAD CREw / MANAGEMENT; (6) AGENCY COOPERATION;

(7) PROMOTIONAL MATERIALS PROVIDED. ATTENDANCE, IF AVAILABLE, FOLLOwS THE DATE


COMEDY


D’SEAN ROSS Diversity Talent Agency

Penn State Shenango, Sharon PA11/9/11 75 Auditorium 4 4 5 5 - 4 3

Jammie Tomasone, Assistant Director of Student Affairs

jARROD HARRIS KP Comedy

University of New Orleans, New Orleans LA 1/25/12 100 The Cove 4 4 4 4 5 - 5 - Dan Puccio, Program Coordinator

jAY MONTEPARE Innovative Artists

California State University / Chico, Chico CA1/26/12 UHUB 4 4 4 4 - 4 4Great performance! Stephanie Marzillo, Music & Comedy Chair

KENDRA CORRIE KP Comedy

USC Upstate, Spartanburg SC 1/24/12 Coffeehouse4 4 5 5 5 - 5 -Even though the audience was small, Kendra rolled with the changing atmosphere well.

Kara Ferguson, Assistant Director of Student Life

MICHAEL PALASCAK Bass/Schuler Entertainment

College of Saint Benedict / Saint John’s University, St Joe, MN1/21/12 300 5 5 5 5 - 5 -Fantastic performance- clean and original. We will be bringing him back!

Sam Bauchle, Programming Manager

MISSION IMPROVABLE Bass/Schuler Entertainment

Brenau University, Gainesville GA 1/12/12 5 5 5 5 5 5 5The show was great. The students had a really good time. The group was hilarious & fullof energy. GREAT performance.

Charmaine Gilmore, Director of Student Life/ Leadership

Missouri Valley College, Marshall MO 1/24/12 150 Eckilson-Mabee Theatre 5 5 5 5 5 5 5Mission Improvable was hilarious! They were so professional and worked well witheveryone.

Emily Skellett, Student Activities Coordinator

Indian Hills Community College, Ottumwa IA 1/25/12 50 Auditorium 4 5 5 5 5 4 4Will have the guys back again!

Jennifer Sanbouri, Student Activities Coordinator

Upper Iowa University, Fayette IA 1/26/12 74 Student Center Ballroom 5 5 5 5 - 5 5Mission Improvable was everything we asked for and more! The students loved theirperformance as the evening was filled with lots of laughter. Not to mention the group wasphenomenal to work with outside of the performance. We’ll definitely consider bringingthem back

T.J. Warren, DSA

Elmira College, Elmira NY 2/3/12 150 4 4 4 4 - - 3

Brandon Saylor, Coordinator of Recreational Programming

Michigan Technological University, Houghton MI 2/8/12 180 5 5 5 5 5 5 5They went above and beyond my expectations. I asked that they not incorporate alco-hol/drinking and they were terrific. When these suggestions were thrown out, they ig-nored them and moved on.

Amber Dessellier, Interim Student Health & Wellness Counselor

College of St. Mary, Omaha NE2/14/12 Gross Conference Center5 4 4 4 - 4 3Jenny Wittstock, Director of Student Leadership

PETE LEE Pete Lee

SUNY Cobleskill, Cobleskill NY1/22/12 100 Bouck Theater 5 4 4 5 - - - Travis Roberts, CAB

RON G Summit Comedy

California State University / Chico, Chico CA2/2/12 65 UHUB 5 5 5 4 - 5 4Ron G was a blast to have come perform. Stephanie Marzillo, Music & Comedy Chair

RYAN REISS Bass/Schuler Entertainment

DeVry College of New York, New York, NY1/26/12 30 Classroom 5 5 5 5 - - -Ryan was great and full of energy. This was DeVry’s first comedy show and we lovedRyan’s performance. We will definitely love to have him for another show. Andrea Sterens, Event Coordinator

THE BLACK jEw DIALOGUES Bass/Schuler Entertainment

Harrisburg Area Community College, Harrisburg PA 2/9/12 57 Cafeteria 5 5 5 5 5 5 5

Brittney Schlechter, Coordinator of Student Life/Multicultural Programming

COMING IN APRIL:The Latest Updated

Reports On

NOVELTY GAMES

And more...

PLUS: The 2012 Reader’s Choice20TH ANNIVERSARY AwARDS ISSUE!


Your School Could Win A Free

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On Your Campus!

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USAToday says, "Colleges and universities are learning to work with a new breed of parent." According to one study, campuses hosting Parent Orientation programs haveincreased from 7% in 2003 to over 80% today!

GATEWAY TO THE FUTURE:Campus ActivitiesMagazine® during the late 90’sand early 2000 became the destination vehicle forartists and agencies throughout the country. It notonly offered exposure for legendary entertainerswho exclusively worked the campus market, butbecame the door for developing national acts tocapture a youthful following.

During this time in the campus entertainment mar-ket, not only would the magazine introduce actslike Dave Chappelle, Mark Curry, Jeff Dunham,Jamie Foxx, George Lopez, Carlos Mencia, JoeRogan, Caroline Rhea, Shawn Wayans, NickSwardson, Jeffrey Ross, Jim Norton, The Leg-endary Second City and Daniel Tosh, but newfaces like Howie Day, Gaelic Storm, Randy &Jason Sklar, Edwin McCain, Dale K, speakers likeShawn Decker & Gwenn Barringer plus the bestin traditional campus music, comedy and noveltyperformers.

The February 1999 issue featured one of thecampus market’s most loved comedians, Spanky,as his “Men Are Sluts” tour was gaining promi-nence. Plus perhaps one of the most booked seg-ments of the market was featured: NoveltyGames. Games were big business and cam-puses were buying. Manufacturers were activelydeveloping new concepts and colleges had an un-limited selection to choose from. From the artssector, there was an exceptional interview jazz leg-ends Diane Schuur and Maynard Ferguson. AndHarris Goldberg, Adam Tobey and Kat Widdentold buyers how to plan a major concert.

March 1999 featured Campus Activities Maga-zine’s now Nationally recognized Reader’s ChoiceAwards and for the second consecutive year, Mike

Rayburn was the unanimous choice for Enter-tainer of the Year. Mike also took the nod for theBest Club Act. Jen Cohen won Best Small VenueEntertainer, : The Tribute won Best Large VenuePerformance, Trisha Yearwood won Best MajorPerformance, James Malinchack won Best Lec-ture Performance, Spanky won Comedian of theYear, The Spencers won Best Performing ArtsPerformance, Craig Karges won Best Live NoveltyPerformance, Wax Hands won the Best NoveltyGame and the Joey Edmonds Agency wonAgency of the Year. As a bonus, there was an ex-clusive interview with jazz legend, Herbie Hancockby Michael Brannon.

April 1999 took readers on a behind-the-sceneslook at comedian Margaret Cho. In this exclusiveinterview she talks about her own personaldemons, growing up in San Francisco and hermulti-cultural background. Margaret was the reign-ing campus comedy queen in the 80’s before sheleft the circuit for the brightlights and big hassles ofHollywood. In an interviewthat was down to earthand truly inspirational asshe delved back into amarket she always loved,she said “I feel really goodabout myself and comfort-able in my own skin. I feellucky to be alive. I couldhave died so many times.”

August 1999’s comedyedition headliner was areal coup for the maga-zine. We were able to in-terview Dave Chappelle

just as his career was hitting amazing stride towardstardom. At 25, he had set Hollywood on its head.He has positioned himself as a scene stealer withNicholas Cage in Con Air and was Tom Hanks’sidekick in You’ve Got Mail. He starred in and co-wrote Half Baked; he played Reggie along sideEddie Murphy in The Nutty Professor and landeda role in Mel Brook’s Men In Tights after crushingthe Montreal Comedy Festival. As we talked withhim, he had just signed a development deal withWalt Disney, taped an HBO stand-up special, hadtwo new movies coming out that fall and wasslated to star in and co-produce King Of The Parkwith Ron Howard and Brian Grazer of ImagineEntertainment. But this was a story about Daveand how he grew up and how he emerged at thetop of his game and may have been some of thebest eight pages we have ever written.

But this issue had a triple whammy. We also intro-duced you to Train and Aware Records as they

launched their first big hit (Remember “Meet Vir-ginia?”) Plus readers got a first look at MTV’s Dr.Drew and the scoop on his Loveline show withsidekick Adam Corolla.

September 1999 featured a comedian from thetobacco fields of Virginia who had already madehis mark in the campus market. Colleges had al-ready been clamoring for Anthony Clarke, a youngcomic with a soft Southern accent, whose honest,blue collar brand of humor and earnest mannercatapulted him to the top.

It is amazing how many real stars have found theirroots in the campus market and Anthony Clarkewas one of them. This story was about his suc-cess on college campuses that gained him the at-tention of Castle Rock Entertainment. and a dealfor a mid-season sitcom.

Plus in this issue you got to meet a new music

sensation, Howie Day and the high-energy bandfrom the film Titanic, Gaelic Storm.

October 1999:This year’s music issue was a trib-ute to Aware Records, A company that success-fully launched the career of many developingmusic artists. The starting point for many artistsunder the Columbia/Sony Music brand, readersgot to find out just how the company operated.Aware alumni included Rob Thomas of Matchbox20, Pat Monahan of Train and Adam Gardner ofGuster. We also delivered a feature story on theChristian music of David Kauffman along with con-temporary picks Smash Mouth, Soul Coughingand Citizen King. Other top picks included RedHot Chili Peppers, Tom Petty, Marcy Playground,Chris LeDoux, David Ball, Steve Wariner, AngrySalad, Saffire, Mary Wilson w/ The Supremes.

November 1999’s cover story was a feature onBrent Scarpo’s Journey To A Hate-Free Millen-

nium with special inter-views with Dennie &Judy Shepard, the par-ents of James Byrd, Jr.and responses from theColombine High SchoolMemorial. We also hada special feature on BlackArtists with an introduc-tion to Marlena Smallsand the HallelujahSingers.

January 2000 coveredthe world’s most famouscomedy dynasty, TheSecond City. No other or-ganization in history has

delivered so much laughter from its alumni. Therewas a special feature on one of NYC’s funniestpeople, Lewis Black and the fresh Christan soundof Bebo Norman.

February 2000’s cover was the history makingcoast-to-coast bicycle ride of campus comedianand musician, Mike Rayburn. And we featuredsome of the best current speakers includingWendi Fox, Bob Harris Famous Amos and more.

March 2000 honored the Reader’s ChoiceAwards winners. The Spencers took both Per-forming Arts Artists of the Year and the covetedEntertainers of the Year. Beth Wood won BestClub Performer; 1964: The Tribute again won BestLarge Venue; Teresa won Best Country Per-former; Faith Hill won Best Major Performer; Cre-ative Dating won Best Lecture; Craig Carmeanwon Best Comedian; Craig Karges became oneof the most-winning artists in the awards by takingBest Live Novelty Performance, Best NoveltyGames was Wax Hands, Campus Program of theYear was University of Akron RHPB and Agencyof the Year was Auburn Moon Agency.

April 2000 featured Weird Al’s campus tourand we went back in history with Al Franken aswe talked about his history with SNL and themessage he was bringing to college cam-puses. We also went on the road with CraigKarges.

August 2000 included not only a special interviewwith Shawn Wayans but a clean, silly and funnylook at Buzz Sutherland. We offered out comedypicks for 2001 and did a special look at a youngcomedian, Eddie Ifft and his success in the cam-pus market.

September 2000 presented a special limitedengagement college tour of Eric Saperston &Edwin McCain. What may have been an unlikelypartnership became an interesting journey. Eric’sshow, The Journey, included film clips and an-ecdotes of his experiences talking with peoplelike President Carter, Woody Guthrie and thehead of the CIA, was combined with the Leg-endary songs of Edwin McCain. Campuses hadthe rare opportunity to hear lessons learned andwords of wisdom gather from powerful peoplealong with incredible music.

October 2000 featured Elektra recording artistsLucky Boy’s Confusion. One of the hottest bandsin the Chicago Indy music scene, they quickly de-veloped a following in the campus market. Plus theWWF was out to recruit the college market. A spe-cial promotional package for the WWF on collegecampuses via satellite was offered.

November 2000 introduced you to ComedianMark Curry, best known for his starring role in theABC sitcom, “Hangin’ with Mr. Cooper.” “I’m a blackcomedian, if you want to label me like that, but thefirst question you should be asking is, ‘are youfunny?’ A good comedian can play any room, nomatter where it is.”

This issue also brought you “Love, Life and AIDS.”College students learned the real facts about a verypreventable disease. And Michelle Rathman au-thored an article on “How To Select A Speaker.” Thistaught you how to avoid pitfalls that could send yourentire program down the toilet.

January 2001 was an opportunity to revisit JayMohr. One of the campus market’s most enduringsuccesses, this strategic interview took him fromcampus shows to Hollywood production lots and

how he attributed the market for aiding in his suc-cess. Plus you got an inside look at two campustreasures, The Amazing Jonathan and Adam Ace.

In February 2001 we continued our look at thenew revolution in contemporary Christian Music.Caedmon’s Call had gained monumental successand was the appropriate follow-up to our story onJars of Clay.

We also gave you a personal look at everyone’sfavorite airhead, Victoria Jackson. Her hilariousperformances on SNL and Comedy Central madeher even more appealing to college audiences.

And while we were an official sponsor of Mike ray-burn’s historic bicycle ride, in this issue we give youhis own first-person chronicle of that adventurefrom San Diego to Coney Island.

March 2001 The third time is always the charmand nothing could bemore satisfying for MikeRayburn as he took En-tertainer of the Year foran unprecedented thirdtime. Bass/Schuler En-tertainment won Agencyof the Year, which wasalso noteworthy for anagency that was stillpractically brand new buthad a huge following.Central Michigan wonBest Campus Program.Other award winnerswere: Buzz Sutherlandwon Best Comedy Act,Christopher Carter tookBest Performing Arts

Performance, David Coleman won Speaker ofthe Year,Dave Matthews ban won Best LargeVenue Performance; Mike Super won Best LiveNovelty Performer, ThinkFast won Best NoveltyGame; Faith Hill won Best Country Music Per-former and Eric Saperston/Edwin McCain wonBest Major Performance.

In April 2001, CAM brought you a very differentBob Saget. Forget about “Full House” and “Amer-ica’s Funniest Home Videos”. He’s a mile-a-minutekind of guy with a surprisingly caustic, raid-fire wit,who thrives on the freedom of stand-up comedyand is proud of his reputation as a clean-cut lookingguy with an incredibly foul mouth.

But cheer up. We brought you a look at the popu-larity of hypnotism and great ones like JamesMapes, Jim Wand, Ricky Kalmon, Chuck Milligan,Tom DeLuca, Dan Larosa, Sami Dare, Michael An-thony, Dale K, Frederick Winters and others.

August 2001’s Comedy issue featured MTV’sAndy Dick. His wildly offbeat brand of comedymade him successful. He was impacted by the lossof his drinking buddy and one-time addiction groupsponsor, Chris Farley in 1997 - an incident that ledhim to rehab for the first time. When he did a sexu-ally explicit show at The University of North Florida,he was booed offstage and then reportedly ranthrough the audience mooning and taunting stu-dents. If was after this professional embarrassmentthat he started really trying to get his act back to-gether. He told us “After two years of sobriety, aftercrashing my car, going to jail, being chewed up andspit out by the media, let’s hope I learned some-thing. I alway send potential colleges the good andthe bad reviews. I want to be totally upfront.”

In September 2001 Comedy Central’s The ManShow was a phenomenon on television and one ofthe hottest campus tours. Jimmy Kimmel andAdam Corolla taped their Comedy Central show

with their cast of “Juggies” before a live audienceand the youth culture embraced it.

AND we introduced you to the man that would laterbecome a legend. We gave you John Mayer firstand college campuses became his faithful followerscarrying him to a huge national audience.

PLUS we gave you our first introduction to Jeff Dun-ham. Colleges were the first supporters of a ventril-oquist with unrivaled talent and crazy funny bits.

October became a month where we unveiled ourpicks for music for the next year and October2001’s Music Issue was no different. The featurestory was on The Mighty Might Bosstones: BenCarr, Joe Sirois, Dennis Brockenbough, Kevin Le-near, Joe Gittleman, Tim Burton, Dicky Barrett andNate Albert. That’s a lot of band. Starting out as alocal Boston bar band, they soon got the nationalreputation for the band you needed when you really

wanted to rock out! Theywere the ultimate CollegeBand.

We also gave you a lookat The Dark Star Orches-tra ( A real life experienceof The Grateful Dead) andThe Nadas, a band Play-boy Magazine touted as“the next great collegeband.”

November 2001 focusedon the comedy of Bill Bel-lamy. With a sensationalmovie career and a newHOT sitcom, he was one

of the hottest tickets in the campus market. Hehosted MTV Jams, worked with Al Pacino in OliverStone’s blockbuster Any Given Sunday, appearedin the romantic comedy Love Jones, did a stint inDef Jam’s How To Be A Player, starred in ScreeGems ‘ comedy The Brothers and had just landedthe starring role in a sitcom hand-crafted for him onthe WB Me, Women and Dogs.”

We also featured MTV’s newest sex and relation-ship expert for their Loveline show, Diane Farr,Barry Scott as Dr Martin Luther King and the startof a great career for The Evasons.

January 2002 not only brought readers a previewof APCA’s National Conference in Jacksonville, butgave the an exclusive behind the scenes look atThe Simpsons through the eyes of 3x Emmy AwardWinning writer Mike Reiss. Mike’s career spannedwriting 60 jokes a day for Johnny Carson to writingfor National Lampoon to writing for the film AirplaneII, the television show ALF, The Gary ShandlingShow and finally finding a home writing for TheSimpsons. He created “The Critic”, the online comic“Hard Drinkin’ Lincoln and the Showtime short“Queer Duck.” Reiss’ lecture was applauded andcritically acclaimed by colleges and universitiesacross the country.

And we took you behind the scenes with RobertEarl Keen where “The Road Goes On Forever AndThe Party Never Ends.”

That completes the first decade, but there is a lot ofgreat entertainment still on the way as in next issuewe begin looking back on the second generation ofCampus Activities Magazine®.

What an incredible two months since the CAM

Awards kicked off in the middle of January. We timed

the launch of our new website to coincide with the

Reader’s Choice Awards, and the results have been

nothing short of phenomenal. Here are details:

First off, I want to officially let everyone reading know

that CAM is providing exclusive internship opportuni-

ties for CAB and SPB members, as well as journal-

ism and marketing majors. There are a lot of

possibilities, and you could end up with a national

publication on your resume, or who knows, maybe

even working here. Contact me for details.

We also want to put out an open call for writers, sto-

ries, story ideas and concepts we should look at for

future issues. No ideas are too big or too small, and

we welcome submissions from anyone regarding the

topics of live entertainment, programming, activities

or folks interested in doing profiles of talent.

As off this writing, the CAM Awards polls are of-

ficially closed. We won’t be releasing any re-

sults until the April issue, so for now read the

great stories in this magazine and the ever-in-

creasing catalog of back issues at www.cam-

pusactmag.com.

7,354 people voted in the Awards, this is including

any non .edu or non-student (or military) votes that

we’ll be filtering out, but based on keeping a very

close eye on the votes, I think that will be a pretty

small percentage.

Added in as well will be a few hundred paper ballots,

again just a small percentage of the overall vote. The

online voting went so smoothly this year, that we’ll be

eliminating the paper ballots for 2013.

So here’s some of the interesting tidbits:

While 98% of votes came from the contiguous United

States, we did get a surprising sprinkle of participation

from abroad:

37 Votes from UK, 27 Canada, 8 Germany, 4 Spain,

3 Peru, 3 Australia, 3 Japan, and 3 Italy

We’re assuming the surprising International votes

came from our military readers, stationed across the

world and we thank them for their participation. Votes

from other countries included Israel, Netherlands,

France, Denmark, Belgium, Cambodia, Malaysia,

Korea, Colombia, Bahamas, Chile, Costa Rica,

South Africa, Norway, Portugal and a few more.

In the U.S., about half of the states showed significant

participation in the voting, with by far the most voters

coming from Ohio with a staggering 2.867 voters.

This probably is mostly due to the fact that three of

the five nominees in the Best Campus category were

in Ohio this year, as well as a few of the artists nom-

inated and it being an active programming region.

462 voters came from parts unknown (we’re thinking

these might be folks coming somehow through wire-

less networks that threw the analytics off).

6,598 of you voted via a browser on a computer, only

756 voted via mobile.

A pretty shocking 4,654 of those machines were Win-

dows based systems; 1,911 Were Mac; 523- iOS

212- Android

Browsers-

Internet Explorer- 1,800

Firefox- 1,798

Chrome- 1,565

Safari- 1,418

Some pretty interesting splits there. The next issue

will have interviews with all of the winners, the Enter-

tainer Of The Year on the cover and more in depth

coverage of your comments about your votes and

how things broke down, including which specific cam-

puses did the most to rock the vote.

The last but certainly not least important area I

would like to cover is our National Advisory Board

Meeting. I don’t have the space to list the full de-

tails here, but do want to thank our attending

Board Members and give you a cursory glance at

what changes may be coming. Head to iankirby-

writes.tumblr.com/, where I’ll be sure to post a

more in-depth analysis of our meeting.

First, thank you to our returning incumbent members

Tom Faessel of The University Of Akron, Boyd Jones

of Winthrop, Gina Kirkland of Kirkland Productions

and Chris Schuler from Bass/Schuler Entertainment,

who have been present and active for every one of

our meetings and have been a tremendous help in

guiding us forward. If you’re interested in helping out

too in some capacity, give me a shout. NAB positions

are limited but we are always willing to chat!

We’d like to welcome new incoming member of the

NAB, Sailesh, college hypnotist and owner of Metrop-

olis Management. As an entertainer and an agent, and

being based on the west coast, we thought Sailesh

would provide a unique perspective to the NAB.

Unable to attend were Bobby-Lynn Anderson of

Bentley University, Doug Hall of TalentPlus Entertain-

ment, Denise Heitkamp of The College Agency and

Mike Seymore of Cutting Edge Productions.

Some bullet points of ground we covered follow,

again head over to Tumblr to get the in depth version:

-There was a consensus to remain a hybrid publica-

tion, both print and digital.

-Artists winning a Reader’s Choice Award must sit out

one year before being eligible for the same category.

-Artists will have opportunity to mention awards earlier

in the fall semester to campaign for nominations.

-Live Novelty Category will change to Variety.

-Best Novelty/Game will change to Best Nov-

elty Company.

-The Best Campus Award will be voted on only

by artists and agencies, not students or schools

themselves.

-Work on taking Artist Report Cards submissions on-

line instead of hard copies, but keep them in print.

-Artists limited to one category per year?

-New Editorial section based on agency news up-

dates , i.e. “Associates Only” section

-Section for student/advisor updates, i.e. “Buyers

Only” section

-More written-in content contributed from readers.

Artist profiles, stories rants, raves, etc.

There are a few more things we’ll add and take away,

but that’s all the room I have here. Head over to this

story on our website or the Tumblr blog at http://iankir-

bywrites.tumblr.com/ for more info.

April is gonna be a killer issue.

Can’t wait to see you there!

Ian Kirby, EDITOR, CAM

Twitter.com/IanKirbyWrites

40, CAMPUS ACTIvITIES MAGAZINE® MARCH 2012 www.campusactivitiesmagazine.com

CA MAR. 2012PO Box 509Prosperity SC 29127

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Campus Activities Magazine March 2012 Issue