By Kenny Chang
Daily Bruin Reporter
Tragedy strikes fast, and it strikes deep. Even as Americans are
recovering from the drastic terrors of Sept. 11, things are
obviously different from previous years.
Students cannot enjoy Welcome Week as it has always been. This
year there were some grand plans in effect that fell through. For
example, Alkaline Trio was supposed to perform on Monday at
Westwood Plaza. Likewise, Biz Markie was supposed to perform today.
Both performances were cancelled due to, or in relation to, the
recent tragedies.
“We wanted to start things off really well with
high-caliber artists,” said Ryan Wilson, the campus events
commissioner. “Unfortunately a lot of people had to decline
due to being on the East Coast and not wanting to fly. As a
consequence, we weren’t able to get anybody spectacular for
Welcome Week.”
In place of the Alkaline Trio on Monday was the Mad Caddies, a
band from Santa Barbara. Fortunately, they were willing to come
down and play, as it is rather difficult to find substitute bands
on short notice.
Even better, they were willing to do it for a low price and
without bitterness about being second-stringers.
“When we originally contacted them, they said they would
play for gas money and food. They were happy to have the
gig,” said Wilson.
So as there are still performances at the Plaza, a question that
remains to be asked is: will the events on campus be affected in
light of the recent tragedies?
We’ve already seen that popular bands and music
performances have dwindled a bit in quality and perhaps quantity.
Dipping into another form of popular school entertainment, violence
sensitivity grasps the Ackerman Ballroom film series.
The sneak preview for the film “Windtalkers,”
directed by John Woo and starring Nicolas Cage, has been cancelled.
Originally set to show during Week Six, the theatrical release has
been put off until June of 2002.
“We’re going to feel the ripple effect and whether
or not it will be problematic, we’ll just wait and
see,” said Wilson.
Regardless of these setbacks in student leisure, Campus Events
looks forward to the coming year with a positive perspective. They
are already looking to book groups to perform in advance. This
allows them time to get contracts drawn up and solidified so things
are not so rushed.
In the end, events are events, and entertainment is
entertainment. Student entertainment is not at the heart of the
matter and neither are the dilemmas of student programming, but
everyone is trying to do their best to cope.
“The best thing we can do is to remain conscious, as a
staff, of what happened,” Wilson said. “I don’t
think there’s anything specific ““ you can’t
really program to help out. There’s really no remedy except
to educate ourselves and to remain conscious of the
situation.”