Battle of the Bands by Chris M. '12

Hey-o prefrosh. Are you dying of anticipation yet? CPW starts tomorrow and it’s all for you. For four days MIT crams all the awesome stuff we do throughout the year into one gigantic weekend extravaganza with an event density so high, it’s like a neutron star of awesome! There’s ice cream made with liquid nitrogen, rock band, dance parties, and more food than you’ll know what to do with (hint: give it to a hungry upperclassmen or your favorite blogger, as long as they’re both me).

But of all the people I polled about CPW, the one event they said meant more than anything to them was Battle of the Bands.* For an hour and a half one night you’ll see MIT kids like you never knew them before! Some of the most talented musicians on campus lay down their calculators, their voltmeters, and their soldering irons to strum their guitars; beat on their drums, and whatever the heck you do with a theremin to raise the potential difference from the stage to you to just nigh the electric breakdown of air! (for concerned parents, I can pretty much guarantee you there will be no lightning sparks involved in the playing of music, though it’s totally possible)

We’ll be cranking the amps to 11 (plus or minus some /epsilon) and throwing together 7 all-MIT bands to answer the question that’s been plaguing the ages: Will it Blend? Who is the greatest?

Technicolor, The Guitar Knives, The Shallow Romantics, Supa Dupa, Circle of Lewis, Castle Bravo, and Crossroads meet in the proverbial octagon on the second floor of the student center to battle it out for a shot at glory!

So how much would you be willing pay for such an event? A quick check on ticketmaster shows Lady Gaga tickets at TD Banknorth cost at least $200, but for you dear prefrosh it’s only $3! That’s 23 pico-percent of our GDP! And we’ve got kids just as weird as Lady Gaga, but much better at math. However, just in case you’re the super self-aware type concerned about how your enjoyment of Battle of the Bands isn’t doing much for charity–it is! Half of the proceeds from the event will go to Camp Kesem, a student-run camp for children whose parents have or have had cancer. So enjoy it, for the children. Plus your admission to the event lets you grab the LMC’s CD for only $5!

“But Chris” you say, “who’s going to determine the winner? Who has an ear fine-tuned enough? Who is awesome enough? Who is brave enough? Who is free-on-a-saturday-night-from-7:30-9:00 enough?”

Well dear prefrosh, it is I! Yes I will be sitting on the panel of three judges along with Chris Peterson from the Admissions Office and a super secret MyStErY judge! (you can tell it’s mysterious because every other letter is capitalized).

Plus, I heard a certain Tim Beaver is planning on being there to get his rock on. He’s been known to get a little crazy.

See you there!

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For more information you can check out the website at http://lmc.mit.edu/battle.

Battle of the Bands is put on by the MIT Live Music Connection ( http://lmc.mit.edu) in conjunction with Beta Theta Pi (really cool guys), Burton-Conner, and Camp Kesem.

*I didn’t poll anyone about CPW and I made up what they said. But they would’ve said it if I’d asked. Totally.