Campus Activities Magazine March 2012 Issue by The Cameo Group

Adam Trent

Every magician has their own twist on magic, but Adam purposely left larger venues behind to concentrate on the campus market.

Zach Wahls

John Hodgman

Bella Electric Strings

Zach has made it his mission to expose the care and kindness that were part of his life as he was raised by two moms.

“Daily Show” contributor and “PC” in the popular “Get a Mac” campaign shares areas of his expertise with Campus Activities Magazine® Readers.

AWOLNATION... 22

If 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.

Both talented and beautiful, this amazing foursome are a real treat to both see and hear. A sensational Arts Event event for campuses.

D E P A R T M E N T S From the Publisher 4 Adam Trent 10 My Two Moms 12 Barry Smith 15 John Hodgman 16 Florida Gulf Coast University 28

AWOLNation Bella Electric Strings Artist Report Cards Classic Rewind 20 Years Later Entertainment Warehouse Last Call with Ian Kirby

22 26 28 34 38 40

RANDOM THOUGHTS & OTHER MINDLESS DRIBBLE Campus Activities Magazine® Reader’s Choice Awards Participation At An All-Time High This year Ian developed a process to streamline the Reader’s Choice Awards, making it incredibly easy for campuses to participate and allowing us to keep a running tally of where the results were at any given minute of any given day. This online process eliminates any human error in counting and processing the results. Through the integration with Facebook, the awards became a transparent process and through the online polling system, we were able to eliminate any ballots that weren’t legitimate. While we did accept paper ballots by mail and fax this year, the plan will be to evaluate the system at the end of the awards and probably go to an all online system next year simply because it will allow us to know the status of the voting at any time. As of February 24, 2012 with five days remaining to vote, we had 5,741 online ballots and 482 paper ballots. If everyone had voted in all 14 categories, that would have generated 87,122 individual votes. In reality, readers were not required to vote in every category, especially when it came to a category that was not programmed on their campus or the category contained artists they were not familiar with. However, we suspect that individual votes will top 50,000. The online voting system does require that we capture the voter’s email address to help us validate the vote, but be assured that information remains strictly confidential and the policy of the magazine has always been to protect our readers’ privacy. Our policy has always been never to sell, barter, trade or give that information to ANY outside sources. The awards process is monitored by our National Advisory Board, a group that consists of directors, artists and agencies actively involved in the campus activities market. We will review

the awards process next week at our annual meeting in Charlotte and share our evaluations with them. The advisory board has always been key in helping us direct the path of this magazine as well as developing new opportunities for campuses and artists who are part of our family. There are a couple of issues that both schools and artists/agents have recommended that will be taken up on the agenda for the National Advisory Board meeting. First, is that both schools and agents have requested that the representing agency be part of the artist bio on the ballot. Second, is that on the online ballot, there should be a video submitted by the act. Third, only artists and agencies be allowed to vote for the campus program of the year. The following by students within the nominated schools this year has been exceptional. There have been campuses who have gotten much of their entire student body involved and certainly that exposure is good for the magazine and the artists who play those campuses. But the award was originally intended to recognize the campus that artists most enjoyed performing for; the school that not only has a great facility, but treats the artist with respect and makes him/her feel at home during their visit. A school shouldn’t have to have the largest student body to win this award, it should be based on the quality of the program in the eyes of the artists and agencies. In actuality, all of the past winners have gotten high marks from artists.

While there are other groups and organizations who actively solicit this kind of information, Campus Activities Magazine® has made it a priority in sharing these evaluations among schools and is the only source to actively make it available in a print document. Early on, we asked campuses and artists how they wanted to receive this information and the unanimous response was “in print.” Not only do we include Artist Reports in our print edition but our Summer Advisor’s Edition collects all the information from the complete previous year and provides that collection of information by artist chronologically in a resource for all campuses. Highlighted are the top performers in each category and the numerical calculations achieved. We also honor the campuses who were most diligent in reporting on events at their campus. Of course, a drawing is conducted from the top five campuses submitting the most Artist Report Cards during the previous campus calendar year and the winning campus is awarded a complete free weekend of entertainment courtesy of Campus Activities Magazine® and our sponsoring agency (This year’s sponsor is TalentPlus Entertainment). The contest runs annually from June 1 through May 31 with the winner being announced in the Summer Advisor’s Edition. The campus has to schedule the event with the sponsoring agency within one year of notification.

Currently, no act (or school) may win an award for two consecutive years. The board will help us decide if this is a reasonable regulation or should it be longer.

The Association of Entertainment Professionals Worldwide (AEP) and Campus Activities Magazine®

Artist Report Card Participation Up 60%

Campus Activities Magazine® is one of two publications supporting The Association of Entertainment Professionals Worldwide (AEP) under our parent company Cameo Publishing.

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

Unlike NACA, APAP and APCA, this is an Association of Entertainment Professionals and it

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only the campus market but corporate buyers, buyers from special events, fairs and festivals, casino buyers, buyers from major performing arts venues, theaters and more. What we are looking for in the campus market is different than that of the other associations. We are interested in DSAs, buyers for Performing Arts venues on campus and buyers from campus venues like stadiums and coliseums. But we are also interested students involved in activities and other areas of campus life who want to pursue a career associated with the entertainment industry. Not only is AEP affordable (CAM readers can get $100 off the annual membership of $299 if they join before March 31), but there is no other place in the world where you can have access to the incredible level of professionals associated with this organization. And your campus membership not only includes you but is a complete campus membership that allows all the professionals from your campus to be involved and attend the annual conference in Las Vegas at the campus member rate. All memberships have to be approved but once you are selected to participate, your campus can learn from the best in the industry. The educational sessions are interactive and filled with dialog back and forth between all the segments of the industry: • Learn the pitfalls of putting on a celebrity act. • Find out who might be best for your venue and what the true costs might be. • Find out why a major agent won’t return your calls and what your options are. • Find out what alternatives you have when the act you want is too expensive. • Find out what to look for in a rider that will bite you in the ass and find out what you can usually delete without much opposition. • Find out how low you can go when making an offer and when a routed date will save you big bucks. • Learn what the risks are when planning a developing artist over a branded act. • Find out how these pros select an artist based on what they know about their audience. • And much, much more. The conference (October 2-4, 2012) is 2 1/2 days of absolute interactive learning and sharing of information. PLUS you get to see showcasing acts that cross traditional market barriers. For directors and buyers, not only will you have a unique learning experience not offered anywhere else, but you will have the chance to see acts that you will not see at traditional college conferences. For students looking to grow into the industry, you get to rub shoulders with some of entertainment’s elite professionals. And until March 31, any campus can join for just $199. Agency memberships are only $399 and showcase applications open in March. For more information, contact me at (800) 728-2950 or email me at kirby@cameopublishing.com or apply online at www.aepworldwide.org

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CLEAN • MAGICAL • HILARIOUS Adam Trent is magic RE-INVENTED. Historically, the show for most magicians is all about the trick, but for Adam it is all about the audience. “I remember seeing a magician when I was in college and there were certain things that clicked and others that didn’t. For me it is all about getting the students on stage and talking about topical issues...things that are important to them and being able to weave my show around those things. My show is young, hip and very heavy on comedy. Rather than having students walk away thinking “I couldn’t figure out that trick’, I want them to have a great time, laugh AND say ‘that was incredible.’ For the real magic buffs out there, they will find things they will consider amazing and for those who hate magic and just want to enjoy themselves, they can come away from the show saying they had a really great time. My whole focus is to keep the audience laughing throughout the show and keep the energy high.” There are basically two types of magicians. There are those who develop their show to amaze other magicians. Then there are those who plan their shows exclusively to entertain the audience. Adam admits that he is a combination of the two. “Obviously my show is built exclusively to entertain a college audience. To do that effectively, you have to give them not only things that will amaze them, but develop a dialog they can relate to. It can’t be the typical magic show. On the other hand, I work hard to develop tricks that

could bewilder other magicians as well.” Adam spends a lot of his time developing the comedy and music but there are specific tricks that are the cornerstones of magic that he has tweaked to make them relatable for college students. “There are tricks that have been around for hundreds of years that can impress almost any audience. When I do one of these, I try to adapt it so it will catch the attention of a crowd 18-22 years old.” Adam is currently 26 years old. He started doing magic when he was nine but really got involved while in college in Los Angeles performing at comedy clubs. My belief was that if I could keep the audience at a traditional comedy club laughing and involved in the magic I performed that what I did would certainly cross over to college audiences. “After I graduated I spent a three years performing on some of the largest cruise ships in the world and expanded the show to perform 250 shows in 19 countries each year. Then I decided to step away and devoted myself exclusively to the campus market. I just relate well to that age demographic. It’s a very smart crowd, it’s a very lively crowd and it’s an energic crowd. To me that’s exciting. The college audience is as real an audience as you can get...they’ll let you know if it’s bad or if it’s good.” Truth be told, Adam has earned some pretty serious chops as a young performer. While there are a lot of magicians who claim to be Comedy Magicians, not all that many have

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put their skills to the test before the demanding audiences at west coast comedy clubs... a group that can be brutally honest with their observations. “I went to comedy clubs because I wanted to see if I could get the same kind of laughs that seasoned comedians could receive. I knew I could get laughs going up against other magicians, that was easy. I just needed to be different and earn the respect from others in the comedy trade. “And that’s what’s great about college audiences. They tell it like it is. They don’t feel the need to boost your ego if you’re not good! Sometimes you can walk into a beautiful 2,000 seat theater and others it is a cafeteria. You have to be good enough to get the students engaged and give the school the show they expect to see.” Even though Adam’s history started in comedy clubs, he will be the first to tell you that his show is clean. “I don’t do anything that is overtly adult. I was one of the highest rated performers on Disney Cruise Lines and Celebrity Cruise Lines and I learned very quickly that I could be clean and funny. I adapted my show very well for campus audiences and the way my show is developed, I have no reason to use profanity. BOOK IT! To find out more about Adam Trent and how his performance could fit in at your school, contact GP College Entertainment at (866) 812-8248 or link to their website at CampusActMag.com

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Many of you may remember the recent viral outbreak of a video of a young man speaking in front of the Iowa House of Representatives about what it was like to be a normal, healthy, well-adjusted individual, 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 on House Joint Resolution 6, a proposed constitutional amendment that would redefine marriage in Iowa as being only between one man and one woman. This is where Zach felt his voice needed to be heard. He now travels the campus market, represented by Wolfman Productions, giving his insightful and well-researched presentation to students. He sits down for an exclusive interview with Campus Activities Magazine®. “In 2009, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled unanimously that same sex marriage, because of Iowa’s Equal Protection Clause, was the law of the land,” he says. “After the midterm election in 2010, there was a new majority in the House that disagreed with that interpretation of the law and was trying to change it to reflect what they believed marriage should look like regardless of the Iowa Constitution. I was speaking at this hearing, obviously opposed to this resolution with the family background of being raised by a very caring and respectable same sex couple.” That was on a Monday night. Over the course of the next week, the video went viral, in it’s first incarnation it racked up about 1,000,000 hits on YouTube. “I was invited onto ‘Ellen,’ and interviewed live on national television from my moms’ living room. I was signed to Wolfman Productions and Scott really helped me start doing more speaking around the country. I even had a literary agent reach out to me and I started working on my book ‘My Two Moms: Lessons of Love, Strength and What Makes a Family.‘“

Fast forward almost a year later and the beast that is the political primary season begins to stir. “I was working on the manuscript for the book and out of nowhere the video goes viral again. What happened was

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that MoveOn.org sent the video out to their entire 6 million+ email list. People started sharing it; in fact it turned into the single most viral thing MoveOn.org has ever shared by a factor of 10.” www.campusactivitiesmagazine.com

denly met with moderate celebrity status and a purpose. “It’s all definitely still a little surreal to me. It feels like lightning has struck twice. The first time it went viral, a YouTube spokesperson described to my local newspaper something to the effect of ‘going viral is like catching lightning in a bottle.‘ The crazy part to me is that I didn’t even realize I was holding the bottle. I actually didn’t even know I was being recorded. I didn’t upload it to the Internet. I didn’t publicize it to any of my friends. The Iowa House Democrats were recording the hearing and without warning me uploaded the video to YouTube. The next thing I knew my phone was blowing up two days later and things went crazy. I was shocked and kind of scared at first and wasn’t ready for it. I was a full time engineering student at the University of Iowa and I didn’t have time to deal with all of this.” Zach makes an interesting point now that goes to the same message his presentations to campuses and the YouTube video project embraces. “For 95% of my life, the fact that I was raised by two moms has been a very, very small part of my identity. It really hasn’t been a huge aspect of myself that has manifested itself in many different forms. It wasn’t something I thought about a lot. I don’t go home to visit, walk in the door and say ‘Oh look! My two gay moms!’ They’re just my parents.” The fact is, it didn’t matter all that much. Same sex couples can raise children just like any other couple, he says and Zach now brings a message of equality and pro-family values to audiences across the country.

From there the true meaning of viral was apparent, as the video circulated through the internet at a pandemic pace. “Soon there were 15,000,000 views and it became YouTube’s number one political www.campusactivitiesmagazine.com

video of 2011, which blew my mind.” There’s no doubt that Zach is still a little shellshocked. Only a little more than a year out of being just an average college student, he’s sud-

For more info: Wolfman Productions at 800-735-4933 or contact scott@wolfmanproductions.com to bring in a speaker that is very close in age to your students. Zach has an average, normal and balanced life and can relate to students besides probably being posted to more than a few of their Facebook walls.

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13-Time Speaker of the Year, 2011 Entertainer of the Year and Male Performer of the Year, David Coleman, proudly invites you to attend CAMP COLEMAN, an intimate, challenging, life-changing weekend with one day dedicated to improving your public speaking skills and one day dedicated to developing outstanding relationships in your personal and professional life. David will share his insights, experiences and expertise that has led him to acquire 16 National Awards for Speaking Excellence! Additional facilitators include: Jim Comodeca, ESQ., Michael Gershe, Mike and Debbie Gardner, Lenny Dave, Abraham Shreve, Matt Glowacki, Shannon Mason ...and more.

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$250 per person $200 per person for groups of 2, 3, or more $150 for Active or Veteran Military, Students, Grad Students Prices increase May 1 and again on June 1.

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Speaking Topics Include: Finding your expertise and niche, building audience rapport, developing a commanding stage presence, overcoming the most common mistakes speakers make, speaking as a career, the use of humor...and more. Relationship Topics Include: Meeting others, maintaining healthy relationships, exiting unhealthy ones, practicing love, the stages of relationships, the phases of married life, the stages of dating after divorce, rekindling romance, happiness ...and more.

For the last ten years, Barry Smith has been creating multi-media comedy shows about the strange things he has done in his life. Unlike most of us, he has documented his life very well with audio, video, photos and scrap books.

point images to bring the audience into the journey.

According to Barry, while the show is funny, there is a little bit of inspiration as well. “In my 20s I found myself living in this weird little religious cult. There was a man in Montana who thought he was Jesus and I actually believed him for a while. Ten years after getting out of that situation, I started telling people about it and they were intrigued. I found my way from living in Jesus’s’ basement to doing comedy about living in Jesus’s basement.”

“My experience didn’t include being a lion tamer or astronaut but the show is the tale of my employment history including a messenger, a paper boy, a process server, and audio visual tech...just your run of the mill jobs. I had so many and all along the way I was really just seeking a career in something that I would enjoy doing and that is the message of my show. Just because you graduate from college doesn’t mean you are immediately going to be doing what you want to do for the rest of your life. In fact, you may even find yourself doing things that you don’t like all that much. But if you stay true to your passion, all those things

Now let’s be clear, this is a cross between a stand-up presentation and a speaker-type show with all the power www.campusactivitiesmagazine.com

“When I started doing this in theaters, audience members would come up to me saying this was the perfect show to take to colleges.

will build on themselves and direct your path toward the career that is right for you. It’s all told from my personal experience and while it is considered a lecture, it is not preachy but a comedy that tells my story.” Barry adds that his show is more than just how to dress for an interview or ace a job. “It’s a free flowing presentation that is well scripted in a cohesive package. There is a Q&A at the end so audience members can throw out questions or ideas. One of the workshops I do is on visually journaling your life after college and why you should chronicle your job experiences.” BOOK IT: For more information on Barry’s presentation and workshops, contact Gina Kirkland at Kirkland Productions (866) 7699037 or booking@kirklandproductions.com

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Story by Ian Kirby

t’s hard to imagine many college students out there who don’t enjoy “The Daily Show,” or at least are somewhat familiar with it. There are probably even less people who don’t remember the iconic “Get A Mac” television campaign from Apple, featuring Justin Long as the Mac and the delightfully dry and witty John Hodgman as the PC. John is a regular contributor to “The Daily Show” and came to be famous through there on

a complete fluke. With a background as a Yale graduate in literature, working as a literary agent, John was the last person who imagined he’d become famous as an author at 34 years old. He gives CAM an exclusive interview courtesy of United Talent Agency and tells us about his unlikely journey, what he thought of college, and the areas of his expertise. The great thing about the John Hodgman experience is that when you see him in action, you know you are

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truly watching someone who has had the serendipitous blessing of finding a way to fame and prosperity simply by dabbling in only those things that hold his attention in that moment. “I never thought of it that way, but it’s really true and...that makes me feel good. That’s perfect, I think we should stop there,” he says, clearly tickled he’s been able to launch the interview off in such a whimsical fashion, though clearly a master of the ability of simul-

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Revenge of the “PC” taneously conveying a humorous twinkle in the eye and maintaining a deadpan visage. “I’m not gonna feel this good for another year I expect, so thank you.” Fortunately for us, he doesn’t end the interview there. “It’s true, I am a dabbler by nature and someone with many natural curiosities on the one hand and a lot of inherent laziness on the other. Which is to say I can be industrious in short spurts, but to use what for me would be an inappropriate athletic metaphor, I’m a sprinter, not a marathoner...and this is why I do not write novels.” John’s skill at writing should not be in dispute, as his works are 100% entertainment value. He just doesn’t let little things like grammar, syntax or facts get in the way of a thoroughly entertaining read. “I write books of lists, and indeed books that largely do not contain complete sentences in them.” “These books of amazing true (and by true I mean complete fiction) facts and historic trivia and other fascinating information I do not research in any way, except for haphazardly or possibly accidentally. Occasionally facts do find their way into my brain, but for the most part I make them up. This coincides very well with that affinity for laziness I possess as well. I like to believe somewhere along the line, I find a certain higher truth somewhere in all the fabrication.” John seems to have sprinted his way along pretty well. “I have a lot of help obviously. I came out with my first book of fake trivia in 2005 and luckily was asked to go on ‘The Daily Show’ as a guest to promote it. I was such an avid fan of the show, I could not believe that I was through that looking glass and sitting on the other side of the television having a conversation with Jon Stewart. I went into a kind of a fugue state of sheer anxiety and adrenaline, in which I accidentally became very confident and entertaining and was able to talk to him, at least in an engaging enough way that he would ask me back, not as a guest, but as a contributor. That was a request that changed my life literally almost overnight.” Before his happening upon ‘The Daily Show’ like the kid in the Coke commercial meeting Mean Joe Green, John was a humble and mild-mannered Yaley who just wanted to dabble. “The interesting thing is that Yale was the sort of place that encouraged dabbling and idle curiosity. It certainly rewarded hard work and discipline, for those who were willing to give it, but it also encouraged the sort of intellectual dilettantism that is in my DNA. So, my career as a student both in college and

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

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

Not too much info on any one subject or there might actual legitimate work involved. “Whether it is the history of distilled spirits or Latin Americana literature, (specifically Argentine), or the various wardrobes of the 11 Doctors Who, to how boats work, magic tricks, the allure of the great hobos of the depression. All of these things were already fascinating to me and then were filtered through my addled adult brain into a book.”

John continued to develop his own private little life as a writer of fake facts and deranged advice for McSweeney’s and online. “I was very occasionally asked to perform at alternative comedy venues in New York, but what performing chops I had developed by the time I brought out my book and went on ‘The Daily Show’ were largely developed in bars speaking to crowds of hipsters and nerds. At age of 34, I basically thought my chances of being on television were done. I was very excited simply to be writing this book and have an audience receive it. That was going to be my sole significant accomplishment in life, and a very happy one it would have been, until I was kidnapped by television at a relatively elderly age and forced onto the eyeballs of the American public, which undoubtedly were blinking a few times in surprise.”

John is a true renaissance man, making it his business to know something about everything. Well, almost everything. “The only thing that is lacking in my education is sports. I don’t hate sports, but I tend to resent the cultural suggestion that I ought out to love them if I want to be a normal human boy. I finally did engage in the subject of sports in my final book of the trilogy, so the dissenters can relax as I have now written to some degree regarding bases ball and baskets ball.” John hits upon an interesting bit of a cultural double standard here. “I don’t ask jocks to know the 11 Doctors Who, in fact I don’t even insist they choose a favorite Doctor Who, though of course the only acceptable one is Tom Baker. But, I do not chauvinistically put that on them; so I ask them not to put their fists on me, metaphorically and literally, to insist that I watch and familiarize myself with sports in all ways. All’s fair in war and sports I guess. I’m from Boston where this is very prevalent. All people, be they dock workers or CEOs, are united by their love for Boston’s Red Stockings.” John is an unlikely hero, especially for those of us that sit in the background writing commentary on those actually talented and famous. Before the cascade of events that landed him on “The Daily Show,” John says he had absolutely no aspirations for fame or fortune. “Early on, as someone who loves popular culture and comedy, movies and television, I had the same sort of fantasies as a teenager, of being in show business. But that wasn’t the direction my life took. I came to New York instead and started working in a literary agency and writing weird little short stories and finding my voice through strange humor pieces for McSweeney’s online and print, especially a successful run of pieces called ‘Ask a Former Professional Literary Agent.‘ I wrote for some magazines, but once in New York City with a literary degree, all one’s dreams immediately die. The scales fall from your eyes pretty quickly when you are eating salt and pepper sandwiches to survive. You take

Let’s not forget about the cultural phenomenon of the “Get A Mac” campaign. The commercials ran in at least 6 countries over four years and with dozens of installments. “I would say I had a niche audience with my books, in the sense I could fit them into a nook in my house if I wanted to. “The Daily Show” and the Apple ads came as kind of a one-two punch. I had gone on ‘The Daily Show’ in January and had done three or four segments, just getting used to it in a way by March and I was asked to audition for these ads. I was intrigued, because I had been an Apple user for a very long time and knew they had a history of really innovative products and advertising. I couldn't imagine another product that I would have been comfortable with besides this one.” In an interesting full circle way, John has completed a chain. “I convinced my father to buy our first Mac in 1984 after the companies iconic Super Bowl ad from that period. Now, I am again on the other side of the looking glass, and it’s been a surreal experience. I never expected to get the part and certainly never expected the commercials to take off the way they did. It changed my whole life.” He’s since released parts two and three of his book. Contact Heidi Feigin at United Talent Agency at (310) 246-6009 or feiginh@unitedtalent.com and let John come share the areas of his expertise and other nuggets of wisdom with your audience.

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Florida Gulf Coast University is situated about half way between St. Petersburg and Miami, in Fort Myers. With an undergraduate population of 12,000, as campuses go, this one is still a baby, with its first classes held in 1997. Joining us for the interview are members of the FGCU Programming Board, including

President, Stephanie Miller, VP Katie Rice, Jacob Robinson, Director of Spirit, Samantha Brown, Director of Comedy and Joseph McGibboney, Coordinator of Programming.

dents,” Joseph explains. “We’ve opened up a new residence hall every year for the last three years and next year there are actually two going up.”

Just like most things in their youth, the school has been going through an explosive growth phase. “Our projected number for when we are done expanding is 20,000 stu-

FGCU began life as a commuter campus but has continually evolved toward an on (or very near) campus population. “We started off as a commuter campus with two build-

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ings and a portable, and a majority of our students are still commuters, but we are located pretty much in the middle of the woods in Fort Myers. There has been a lot of building and development going on around us, including two new shopping centers, all because of FGCU.” The university is the hub of activity in the area. “As with most campuses, many students don’t especially want to live on campus,” Joseph adds. “They want to have that extra freedom. We call them nontraditional commuters and most of them live within five minutes of the university. So from a programming standpoint, they are still very much a part of our target audience.” There’s a strange dichotomy of residents in the area, as the elderly set of incumbents mix with the influx of young students. “The city started as a retirement community and with the campus being built up, you may have a 20 year-old student living in the same affordable condo housing as a blue-haired snow bird. It makes an interesting dynamic for the area’s attractions, Joseph says.” The specific areas of study for the university are broad and so therefore is the programming board’s audience. “We don’t have any specific specialties,” Katie comments. “Our business school is well-attended and our school of hospitality is growing also. Education and health are big here as well.” Diversity has started to become a trend at FGCU, as Jacob informs us. “Within the last few years, and especially this year, the campus has become much more diverse than ever before. I know last year for me personally coming from a high school that was 60% Hispanic, it was a bit of an adjustment to come to a campus that has a majority of Caucasian students. This year I have seen the diversity grow a lot and the BSA (Black Student Alliance) makes much more of an impact as well.” www.campusactivitiesmagazine.com

The Programming Board at FGCU targets everyone interested in something fun and unique to do on campus, but as with many campuses, the incoming students tend to be the biggest focus, as Stephanie relates. “I think the most success we have is with our freshmen. They are very much go-getters and want to be at everything. We do try to reach out to our commuter students, but the freshman are our main goal and there are about 4,000 of them on campus this year.” Samantha lists the various committees which are part of the Programming Board including “Concerts, Comedy, Spirit, Lectures, Special Events, Promotions & Marketing, and Live Entertainment, all of which actively programmed throughout the year.” Concerts and Comedy events seem to do consistently well, but a nice mix of events is presented to students. “We do special events like Casino Night and Winter Wonderland and we did bring The Great Pornography Debate from Wolfman Productions this year. We host a very wide variety of events and they have all been very popular this year,” Stephanie says. “We try to cater to everyone, even our nontraditional students. We do ‘Wacky Wednesday’ every week for people who don’t necessarily come on campus at night, which features a completely random event during the day.” The attendance may be great at these events because the freshmen are gungho, but it doesn’t come without putting in the marketing time. “We do a lot of promoting,” Katie says. “We work a lot on Facebook, we have a texting service, we have students that hand out flyers and put up posters around campus and we place them in the residence halls and out in the community as well. Aside from all that word of mouth has a tremendous effect.” FGCU PB proving again that when it comes to marketing, you can’t put all of your eggs in one basket. Notice how one

committee on their board is dedicated entirely to promotions and marketing. A wise strategy for making the most out of every event and justifying every dollar spent. While it may seem to be a redundancy in the committee structure, the Live Entertainment committee is one which actually seeks homegrown events rather than purchasing professional talent. “Our open mic nights fall under that committee’s purview,” Samantha says. “We are trying to get a battle of the bands going for next year also, hopefully. The events from this committee are generally on a much smaller scale than those put on by the Concerts committee and often feature students as the main attraction.” Interestingly, the Live Entertainment Committee cropped up not from advanced planning, but necessity. “There was a void in the programming,” Joseph says. “We were bringing in large scale concerts and other events; last year we had LMFAO, Far East Movement and DJ Benzi. “We just had Pitbull and are bringing in Wiz Khalifa in April, but there were not very many opportunities for the students to perform. This committee has filled that gap nicely.” FGCU’s Programming Board has a healthy budget to work with, thanks to the steady and vigorous growth of the university and a student activity fee is included in tuitions. “That is our primary means of funding our programs,” Stephanie says. “But we do also have an account where we put money from concert revenue. Other than that, we don’t fund raise or seek sponsorships for events.” FGCU has an extremely active Programming Board with a solid foundation and lots of student involvement. While Joseph is there to advise, he stresses that the students are the true guiding force for the FGCU Programming Board, and so far, with active participation from much of the campus, they seem to be hitting the mark.

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f all the viral videos from the last year or so, probably one of the single most addicting, at least for your humble editor, has been, “Grinding The Crack” a video featuring base jumper Jeb Corliss and the hit single from our cover artist AWOLNATION, “Sail.” http://bit.ly/grindingthecrack

INTERvIEW/STORY BY IAN KIRBY

Apart from the 10+ million hits the song has seen on that video, the official music video for “Sail” and other threads have scored around 30 million more views. It’s been used in several television and movie projects and now their second single “Not Your Fault” appears to be gearing up for a similar sort of success. AWOLNATION will be one of the hottest ticket acts in the coming years, not since we had Fallout Boy on our cover have we been more excited about the talent and explosive growth potential of a vanguard band. We were given access to both acts courtesy APA and they know how to pick ‘em; in the past we have featured not only Fallout Boy but also Plain White T’s, The Dirty Heads and The Movement, all from APA. If past behavior is the best predictor of future outcomes, you better check out this red hot act while they are still available and affordable for the campus market. The band features Aaron Bruno, lead singer, composer and the main driving force for AWOLNATION (formerly of Under The Influence Of Giants, Hometown Hero and Insurgence), Christopher Thorn on lead guitar (formerly of Blind Melon), Kenny Carkeet, David Amezcua and Hayden Scott. Aaron sits down with Campus Activities Magazine for an exclusive interview about the band, their history, and the campus market. From the greater L.A. area, Aaron was just one fish in a very large pond of that area’s music market and, just like any other artist, he had to struggle through his own journey to find success and more importantly, artistic freedom. “I’ve been in several different bands leading up to this one, going back to sixth grade

and that awkward age around puberty when I first started jamming with friends.” Aaron, now 33, explains that when he was a kid growing up in the Thousand Oaks area, there weren’t bands pouring out of the woodwork at every local high school, the way some may picture Southern California. “There was only one other guy at my school that I knew of who really cared about music at all, at least the sort of music I was into. Most people listened to whatever was on the

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radio, it wasn’t easy to find other musical pals to bond with and discover new music. I was lucky enough to meet a couple of those guys early on and developed my first ‘musical marriages’ with them.” Despite mainstream success being only recent, Aaron feels very fulfilled with his journey, and looks on the positive side of his increased experience. “One advantage I feel I have is I have been doing this for a long time. I don’t really rememwww.campusactivitiesmagazine.com

translated to selling tickets or even half the success we are having now.” Aaron and AWOLNATION are still within their first year of success and still a little shell shocked. Without a clear separation between obscurity and fame, looking back and seeing what was different this time as opposed all the false starts is difficult. “Part of it, to me, is just life and the universe; the stars aligned, whatever. I can’t really tell you why some of the songs on this AWOLNATION record have been hit singles, whereas in my last band I thought we had songs that deserved the same kind of attention but never saw the light of day.” Megalithic Symphony, released on Red Bull Records, has done incredibly well for a first release, producing two charting singles already and climbing to number 15 on Billboard’s US Alternative Album chart. Aaron went with the label because they allowed him utterly complete creative control (even referring to it as a partnership), in fact he really just used their studio to record the AWOLNATION record. Perhaps this artistic freedom is part of the reason this release has made such an impact, perhaps it’s partly due to Aaron continually getting better at what he does. “Some of it may be chance, but spending hours and hours writing songs, I guess I figured out how to understand my instrument as a songwriter and an artist. I am very grateful that I have had the opportunity to do so much experimenting before this, because it was all a learning experience.”

ber a time when I wasn’t writing songs, ever since I picked up a guitar in the third grade. It seemed like something really fun for me to do and it was interesting to me that someone could hear something on a CD (or cassette tape at that time) and be able to apply that to some sort of instrument and physically manifest what you just heard. That was always a cool rush for me and one of the first ways I can remember in which I found contentment, besides surfing. It was a great thing.” www.campusactivitiesmagazine.com

Aaron describes the struggle between finding his passion, and finding it’s application. “None of the other bands I was in, between picking music up and AWOLNATION, ever ended up having the sort of success you want as a professional songwriter, or any business or career you choose for that matter. It just never quite worked out. There were many times where there were high hopes, maybe a radio station picked up a song or MTv played the video but nothing ever

It also primed him to be even more appreciative of the new band’s successes. “I went into this project with no expectations of any kind. I just wanted to make a record that blew my own mind foremost. If that happened, I could at least feel proud of that. I felt pretty confident that there would be a certain amount of people that would feel the same way, but I had no idea to what extent. With me being such a huge music nerd, I knew someone would like it as much as I did, but little did I know it would finally turn into the success that has been so elusive all these years.”

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Aaron had been measuring success by his ability to release music at all. “In the past I have dealt with complications involving labels, contractual issues, legal matters, bonds and all that sort of evil ‘workin’ for the man’ stuff. I put my heart and soul into a bunch of records and songs that I wrote that weren’t even allowed to come out because of contractual issues. This time around, being completely free, there are absolutely no rules or expectations except for my own and I was going to put this stuff out regardless of whether I had a label or not. The fact that other people wanted to partner up and help me out probably was a component in making this an undiluted project and therefore, successful.” Red Bull Records helped to facilitate Aaron’s vision of complete creative control. “They have an amazing studio in Santa Monica that I was able to use and without that, I couldn’t have done it. Not to mention they have a brilliant engineer by the name of Eric Stenman, who happens to be an old friend of mine. He did my first hardcore band’s CD for like $500 and I hadn’t seen him in over 10 years. When I first began talks with Red Bull, I walked into the studio and he was the engineer there. Again, life being strange and stars aligning I guess. I made one of my first records with the guy and now as an evolved and developed artist have been able to work with him to create a record finally breaking through. I made the record in a room, mostly with just

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

Sail! This is how I show my love I made it in my mind because I blame it on my A.D.D. baby This is how an angel cries I blame it on my own sick pride Blame it on my A.D.D. baby SAIL! Maybe I should cry for help Maybe I should kill myself Blame it on my A.D.D. baby Maybe I'm a different breed Maybe I'm not listening So blame it on my A.D.D. baby SAIL! Sail with me into the dark SAIL! Sail with me into the dark SAIL! Sail with me into the dark SAIL! Sail with me, sail with me SAIL!

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As we talk about this, we should bear one important point in mind. A point which so often gets lost in today’s ADHD society, where sometimes not even singles satisfy listeners in the world of mashups, and albums all too often are completely lost. While most of you are probably reading this story because of “Sail,” this is a great record and all present should be cautioned not to pin this band into a “Sail” pigeonhole. It can be frustrating for an artist to only be recognized for one small sliver in the great pie of their catalog. Fortunately Aaron is still too enamored with the enthusiastic response to be jaded enough yet to complain. “It isn’t frustrating at all, in fact its very rewarding because most people, including myself, don’t ever get the opportunity to have that sort of complaint. To even be asked that question is a huge blessing really. To address ‘Sail’ specifically, it has that sort of nursery rhyme quality and just ended up really catchy. It has sort of a soothing melody, straightforward lyrics and it hooks you. I am not upset because all of my other work hasn’t had that effect, I am ecstatic that at least one piece of it has. “‘Sail’ was written with no expectations of having any label support or radio play whatsoever. I didn’t sit down to contrive that, it was just me. I didn’t sit

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down and say ‘I want to create a spooky, epic melody with a hip hop beat and this message.’ It wasn’t calculated, it was what came out of me at that moment.” The story of Sail’s origin is inspiring and depressing at the same time; Aaron was in a stagnant place when he wrote it, yet it also turned out to be his boon. “It actually was a song that was written at a time when there was no hope for me ever touring again, or putting out any more records. I was doing the best I could at the studio and was even working another job at the time, writing half-assed pop songs for bubble-gum artists that were giving me and my keyboard player a couple hundred bucks a song two or three times a month and that’s how I was getting by. If you do the math, it wasn’t really working. It was a really weird and transitional 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 his state of affairs. “That strange time for me was almost a sort of journal entry that turned into a song. I think I got very lucky to have said something no one’s ever said, or maybe not in a while, or maybe just in a new way and it connected with people. That and the beat and melody just seemed to have some sort of haunting hook to it.”

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It was a little bit of a surprise for Aaron even. He described it almost as an aside, the track is even buried at number 10 on Megalithic Symphony, but somewhere it transformed from an afterthought into an organic force with a life of its own. “I thought it was one of the stranger sounding songs on the record...I was very grateful that what I believed to be more or less of a center album single ended up being THE single. It made AWOLNATION and myself sort of the oddity or outlier of the class, because this song sounds so ominously different from anything else in new alternative music.”

tuse business related math I don’t really understand, but I do know it’s doing well. If it weren’t for ‘Sail,’ this song probably would have never made it on the radio. ‘Sail’ has literally built us a house that we can start decorating. It just so happens that the layout of this house is kind of strange, which gives us room for some interesting architecture and design moving forward. If we’d been stuck with a standard ballad as the breakout hit, it would be much easier to be forced into a very cookie cutter career progression from there. From here, I feel we can truly make our own way.”

Despite the insane virility of “Sail” taking off from sharing and people like Jeb Corliss (who Aaron says actually approached A.N. after the song had taken off), Aaron has even higher hopes for their second single, a track less dark than “Sail” but just as catchy, titled “Not Your Fault.” I personally watched the music video once, which by the way is extremely cool and was made in the style of the 1964 stop-motion Christmas classic “Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer” and can’t get the song out of my head. http://bit.ly/camnotyourfault

Have AWOLNATION make their way to your campus, because this band is super hot and will only continue their rise. Adam Brill and Corrie Christopher at APA are taking late spring festival dates and filling AWOLNATION’s fall calendar as well, so grab this band while they’re still a reality for most campuses, before they follow in the footsteps of their agency brethren like Fallout Boy, Plain White T’s and other monster successes. Mention this article and get exclusive opportunities courtesy Campus Activities Magazine®. Get in touch with Adam and Corrie at APA at (310) 888-4200 or abrill@apa-agency.com corrie@apa-agency.coma

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

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ampus Activities Magazine® is very excited to bring a BRAND NEW act to the campus market that we think could be a breakout hit. You saw it here first. Bella Electric Strings takes a very lovely and classically trained quartet (all with impressive credentials, check out the extended version of this story on our site for more details) and sets them loose in a rock concert style barrage of contemporary and classic hits. Not only that, but they are available for workshops before their events, allowing for possible cross-funding with fine arts departments, a learning experience for students and a great teaser for the concert. Currently very successful in Las Vegas, Bella Electric Strings has some pretty impressive credits, including sharing stages with Beyonce, Shakira and Andrea Bocelli, they also appeared on Season 1 of “America’s Got Talent.” http://bit.ly/bellapromovid Recently featured in a David Foster & Friends concert, the girls are sponsored by Yamaha exclusively on their instruments and perform many Yamaha String Educator clinics. They’ve been associated with other big name acts, including Richard Marx and supporting parts of the string sections at The Pearl in Las Vegas for acts like Yellow Brick Road Symphonic Rock Show and for classic rock icons and “Smoke On The Water” authors Deep Purple. Bella Electric Strings is tagged as “The Rock String Quartet, Period” and led by Nina Di Gregorio, who plays lead 5-string violin and acts as arranger for the group. She sits down with CAM for an exclusive interview, the first given about the girls entering the campus market. “I started writing arrangements of pop tunes I liked when I was in high school, but at the time, I didn’t have any money to buy electric instruments.” Nina is from Lewiston, New York, located upstate (way upstate- due north of Buffalo, west of Rochester and south of Toronto). “My friends and I had an all-girl group and I always knew that when I had more money I would want to get the whole electric thing going. I moved to Las Vegas after I graduated college and began working with Yamaha. I started doing clinics for them and they would use my arrangements in the clinics to go out and demonstrate their electric and silent instruments. Eventually I got a full artist’s sponsor-

ship from Yamaha, so we finally had the means to get all the electric instruments and really put the vision of this project together.” From there it was a matter of building the perfect roster. “We went through many people, and some of them didn’t have the talent, some didn’t have the personality, etc. Finally we found four girls that just really fit and that’s where we have been for about the last three years.” Since then, they have played a wide variety of

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gigs in even more locations. “We travel a lot,” Nina says. “We do many different things; we perform as a feature act for many corporate dates and we also perform in support of a lot of major artists. We were the featured acoustic string quartet for Richard Marx in his Las Vegas show, and we will be playing with him again this February. On December 29th, we were the featured electric string act for the music producer, David Foster, in his ‘David Foster and Friends’ concert in Vegas. Besides working backing up major artists, we also have www.campusactivitiesmagazine.com

have no problem working with clients on a gig-specific basis. It’s the same thing we do when we work with major artists who need us to look and play a certain way. We have gotten very good at adapting. If we are playing with Beyonce, we are probably going to have a little bit more makeup on than with Richard Marx. We tailor our look to the style of the artist, and we can do the same thing for 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, a way to draw people at an outdoor event or any other application you can think of, because their audience can be completely general. “Well, Facebook tells me we’re really popular with the 24-35 year old male age range,” she laughs, “that tends to be the most active group.” She says this a bit tongue-incheek. “But all joking aside, because we play such a wide variety of dates, in a typical year we are hitting board game demographics,” she quips. That’s ages 8-80 for those of you not keeping up. “The music we do ranges from the things kids would recognize like Lady Gaga and the Black Eyed Peas to things my parents would recognize like Led Zeppelin and The Beatles to things even the older generation would recognize and love like Frank Sinatra and Elvis.” Just on a personal note from your editor, when we decided not only to publicize this act for the first time ever to the campus market, but to also help them find representation and form a marketing plan, it was done based on an experience. I’ve seen Bella Electric Strings in action, showcasing at the 2011 Association of Entertainment Professionals (www.aepworldwide.org) Signature Event and I have to say this is an impressive show. It’s high energy, eye-catching, relatable to young and old, and we feel highly marketable for campuses.

our own thing, the pure electric string act.” Which, for the purposes of this article, is the really interesting part. “We play really great, high energy and recognizable rock like Zeppelin and Hendrix and contemporary picks with electric instruments, using effects pedals and lots of cool choreography and production. It’s a well rehearsed and formulated show.” Not to say this is a cookie cutter show however and, just because they are brand new to the www.campusactivitiesmagazine.com

campus circuit as a whole, does not mean they are not quite adept at adapting to new audiences. “Every gig is different, as is every group,” Nina explains. “Sometimes we will get a call because the crowd might be very conservative. We bring our long black formal concert gowns and acoustic instruments and play completely classical sets. Sometimes the call says it will be a crowd of under 40 (or even 20) single guys, so glam it up a bit and we’ll put on our sequined skirts and play Nirvana. We tailor our set list to the audience all the time and

They have celebrity credits, impressive educational backgrounds and resumes, huge doses of talent and aesthetic appeal (to put it mildly), are tied to the arts with ability to educate and entertain – what more could you ask? They are reasonably priced for the campus market. Contact Rich at GP Entertainment to find out about availabilities at 866-812-8248 or rich@gpcollegeentertainment.com. For extended coverage, including CAM’s EXCLUSIVE video, both of Bella in action and clips from Nina’s interview, check out this story at www.campusactivitiesmagazine.com

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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.

VARIETY 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 very down 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 extremely 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. Very professional 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 IA 10/13/11 200 Cafeteria 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 Awesome performance. Kept the audience engaged. So much more than expected!

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 SD 1/10/12 5 5 5 5 - 5 5 Awesome show! Very effective, actually went over the time of one hour and thirty minutes. The students enjoyed it.

Mario Palencia, Entertainment Coordinator Clarkson College, Omaha NE 1/11/12 100 4 4 4 5 - 4 4 Frederick 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 MI 1/20/12 Cafeteria Stage 5 5 4 5 - - 5 It truly was a pleasure to have hypnotist Frederick Winters at our school. His act was fun and 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 PA 10/27/11 5 5 5 5 - 5 5 He was very engaging and passionate. Exhilarating!

Annie Magara, HAC - Lecture Chair Niagara University, Niagara NY 1/25/12 135 5 5 5 5 5 5 -

Great show and great teaser before hand in our dining hall.

Bill Newton, Assist Director- Campus Activities

Dan Sisler, VP of Activities

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THE RATING SYSTEM: 5= EXCELLENT 4= VERY GOOD 3= AVERAGE 2= FAIR 1= POOR HERE 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 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.

LUCKY BAMBOO Kirkland Productions

NORMAN NG Norman Magic

Midwestern State University, Wichita Falls TX 1/18/12 200 Student Center 5 - - 5 - 5 -

Lake Superior University, Sault St Marie MI 1/18/12 350 Ballroom 5 5 5 5 - 5 5

Very popular with the students. Pricing was $1500 for 200 units. Great customer service.

Norman was amazing! People were hooked by his teaser alone. We’ve never had such a great turn-out for a magician before. We would definitely like to see him back again.

Matthew Park, DSA MAMA LOU Everything But The Mime Kansas Community College, Kansas City KS 12/9/11 200+ Jewell Deli 5 5 5 5 - 5 5 Mama Lou’s positive message of “believing in yourself” was excellent. Our students loved her.

Linda Sutton. DSA MASTER HYPNOTIST MICHAEL BLAINE Michael Blaine SUNY Institute of Technology, Utica NY 11/14/11 190 Student Center 5 5 4 5 5 - Eric Markson, Publicity MCVICAR THE TRICKSTER Metropolis Management Salve Regina University, Newport RI 1/24/12 5 4 5 5 5 5 5 He was hilarious and the audience loved him! The teaser was great too and everyone in our cafeteria loved it.

Aubrey Gould, CAB Comedy Director

Danielle Branz, Street Team Chair- Activities Board PETER BOIE Bwah Productions Quinnipiac University, Hamden CT 11/5/11 75 Theater 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 Peter Boie was extremely entertaining and performed amazing tricks that really grabbed the audience’s attention. His pre-show in the cafeteria engaged many students in turn bringing them out to the actual event. He was very accommodating and easy to work with. He would be a geat entertainer to bring to any campus.

Steve Pagios, Assistant DSA SAILESH Metropolis Entertainment Lander University, Greenwood SC 1/9/12 650 Auditorium 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 Great Show.

Keith McCaslan, AD- Student Activities Immaculata University, Immaculata PA 10/25/11 150 Alumnae Hall Theater 4 5 5 4 5 5 4 This 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 amazing and showmanship is uncomparable to others. I would suggest him to anyone for an easy to plan event.

MICHAEL C. ANTHONY Auburn Moon Agency

Amanda Morrell, Programming Assistant

University of Akron RHPB, Akron OH 9/7/11 5 5 5 5 5 5 5

SUNY Cobleskill, Cobleskill NY 1/24/12 Full House Bauck Theater 5 5 5 5 - 5 5

Michael amazes students year after year. Male students giving birth is a hoot!

Amazing performance. Crowd loved him. Worth booking again in the future.

Tiffany Schmidt, Graduate Advisor

Christina Hanson, Event Coordinator

MICHAEL KENT Fresh Variety

SNAKES ALIVE! GG Greg Agency

Siena Heights University, Adrian MI 1/19/12 5 5 5 5 - 5 -

Wisconsin Indianhead Technical College- Superior, Shell Lake WI 1/25/12 200+ 5 5 5 5 5 5 5

Awesome show! Tons of requests to bring Michael back already!

Deanna Wagner, DSA Rowan University, Glassboro NJ 1/21/12 5 5 5 5 - 5 5 Michael was great! Awesome show. Student enjoyed it. Not too often magicians receive a standing ovation at our school. He was great to work with and would love to have him again.

Tommy Balicky, Assist Dire- Late Nite Programming

Awesome as usual! Always amazes me how Tom Kessenich can even get the students who 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 MO 10/1/11 University Center 5 5 5 5 5 5 5

Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore MD 1/31/12 250 Shriver Center 5 5 5 5 5 5 5

They were great! Everything ran smoothly and I have no complaints.

The most entertaining magician I’ve ever seen!

Vincennes University, Jasper IN 10/4/11 5 5 5 5 5 5 5

Paul Tershakovec, HOP Member Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff AZ 2/3/12 600 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

Tiffany Reicherbacher, Special Events Coordinator

Mike and margaret were fabulous! They were so easy to work with too! The students thoroughly enjoyed them

Alli Baer, Student Activities Coordinator Bethany College, Lindsborg KS 10/8/11 5 5 5 5 5 5 5

Sul Ross State University, Alpine TX 2/7/12 75 Marshall Auditorium 5 5 5 5 5 5 5

Couldn’t have asked for it to be better!. The things they do are nothing short of amazing!

Nice Show

Ronald Atkinson, Student Activities Board Advisor

Jeffrey W. Blake, Director-Campus Activities

www.campusactivitiesmagazine.com

CAMPUS ACTIvITIES MAGAZINE®, MARCH 2012, 29

Midwestern State University, Wichita Falls TX 10/22/11 Football Stadium 5 5 5 5 5 5 5

University of SC. Beaufort, Bluffton SC 2/2/12 35 Campus Center 4 5 5 5 5 5 5

Always great to work with!

Levi was very kind and extremely talented. He did a great job relating & taking time to speak with the students afterwards. Great Job!

Cammie Dean, Assist Director of Student Development/ Orientation Auburn University, Auburn AL 10/28/11 1750 Auburn University Student Center 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 We really enjoyed Team Mike & Margaret! Guests enjoyed their quality creations.

Laura Barnett, Director of Tiger Nights Georgia Perimeter College, Dunwoody, Dunwoody GA 10/31/11 271 Student Center 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 They were great! Team M&M arrived at 3:30pm when the event started at 6pm. They even stayed a little later to control the lines. Amazing every time they come to GPC. I would recommend them for all ages!

Justin McPhatter, Program Assistant Texas A&M University- Texarkana, Texarkana TX 01/24/12 5 5 4 4 4 4 4 Heather Haynes, Campus Activities Officer Vicennes University, Vincennes IN 01/27/12 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 Awesome - The students loved them both.

Paige Madrid Kegley, Assist Director of Student Life East Tennessee State University, Johnson City TN 2/10/12 50 Cave 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 Amazing!

Sabrinna Cappinger, CAB VP NATALIE GELMAN DEGY Entertainment Rutgers University/ Newark, Newark NJ 12/6/11 Stonsby Cafeteria 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 Great performer!

Cynthia Sanchez Gomez, Student Assistant TALL HEIGHTS TalentPlus Entertainment Middlebury College, Middlebury VT 12/9/11 50 Crossroads Cafe 4 5 4 5 5 4 -

Cindy Beals, DSA

Tall Heights was AWESOME. I’d heard their music before but it was even better live! I just wish there’d been better advertising so more people showed up.

TIM GABRIELSON Redd Promo

Sarah Chapin, Student Liaison

Winthrop University, Rock Hill SC 9/23/11 123 Dina’s Place 5 5 5 5 5 5 5

PERFORMING ARTS

Tim worked extremely well with our students and out on a great show.

Mike Rapay, Assistant Director of Campus Programming

MUSIC jOSH VIETTI Diversity talent Agency Alvernia University, Reading PA 1/23/12 83 Student Center 5 5 5 5 - 5 Josh was awesome! He got the students to engage & participate! He captivated the entire cafeteria. He was personable, energetic, laid back and desired to make the show the best for Alvernia.

Robyn Schultz, Assist DSA

BREAKS8 Fresh Variety Ferris State University, Big Rapids MI 1/12/12 630 Williams Auditorium 4 4 5 5 4 5 5 BreakSK8 was great. We just wished they would have danced a bit more. THANK YOU!

Evan Pazkowski, Programming Coordinator RAN’D SHINE Everything But The Mime Palm Beach State College, Belle Glade FL 2/1/12 100 5 5 5 5 5 5 All campuses should have him perform for their school.

Leonard E. Bryant, Manager

Utica College, Utica NY 2/2/12 132 Pioneer Pub 5 5 5 5 - 4 4

SPEAKERS

If there is history of low audience participation for events, bringing Josh Vietti will shatter that. He was GREAT at pulling them in. Fantastic performance.

Bethany Piraino, Assist DSA LEVI STEPHENS DEGY Entertainment

BARRY SCOTT Kirkland Productions

Methodist University, Fayetteville NC 1/25/12 300 Berns Student Center 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 Doris Jackson, DSA

Olympic College, Bremerton WA 1/6/12 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 Angelica Roxar, Office Assistant- Multicultural Programming

Mary Baldwin College, Staunton VA 1/28/12 30 Coffeehouse 5 5 5 5 4 5 4

DEANNA LATSON Kirkland Productions

Levi is so genuine. You can tell he truly loves what he is doing and greatly enjoys getting to meet and interact with students!

East Oregon University, LeGrande OR 1/11/12 69 McKenzie Theater 5 5 5 5 5 5 -

Erin Paschal, DSA Augusta State College, Augusta GA 2/1/12 70 Jaguar Student Activities Center 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 Jessica Haskins, Assistant Director of Campus Programs YOUR CAMPUS COULD WIN A FREE WEEKEND OF ENTERTAINMENT JUST FOR SUBMITTING ARTIST REPORT CARDS

30, CAMPUS ACTIvITIES MAGAZINE®, MARCH 2012

The students and attendees really enjoyed Deanna’s performance.

Mary Sharinghousen, Student Director DEL SUGGS Saltwater Music Brevard College, Brevard NC 1/29/12 75 Dining Room 5 5 5 5 5 5 Del is always so wonderful to work with. My students feel inspired immediately after his

www.campusactivitiesmagazine.com

Megan Walters, Assistant Dean of Students

ADAM GRABOwSKI AGC Entertainment / Auburn Moon

DELATORRO MCNEAL Coleman Productions

University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg, Greensburg PA 1/4/12 45 Ferguson Theater 5 5 5 5 - 5 -

Iowa State University, Ames IA 1/28/12 300 Memorial Union 5 5 5 5 - 5 5

Adam was a pleasure to work with every step of the way and related very well to our audience. He knows exactly how to appeal to the college crowd.

Delatorro received very positive feedback from all of the participants. He was very engaging and motivating. We loved the promo video. We will definitely ask him back.

Amanda Martin, TSLE Coordinator DR jOHN CORVINO Kirkland Productions

Steven Satterlee, DSA Indiana Purdue University- Indianapolis, Indianapolis IN 1/10/12 70 Campus Center 5 5 5 5 - 5 5 Adam’s show was very funny and exactly what we wanted to kick off Homecoming Week.

Saddleback College, Mission Viejo CA 2/14/12 5 5 5 5 4 4 4 Dr. Corvino was extremely knowledgeable and personable. The students really enjoyed his talk as he is approachable and humorous. We look forward to having him out again. It was really great working with him.

Sarah Fleenor, VP of External Affairs Ball State University, Muncie IN 1/14/12 220 Ballroom 5 5 5 5 - 5 5 Very easy to work with. A crowd pleaser.

Erin Long, ICC Advisor

Kelsey McPheeters, Late Nite Event Coordinator

ELAINE PASqUA Pasqua Productions, Inc.

ADAM MAMAwALA Adam Mamawala

University of Dayton, Dayton OH 1/20/12 300 Kennedy Union Ballroom 4 5 5 5 5 5 5

University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg, Greensburg PA 1/4/12 45 Ferguson Theater 5 5 5 5 - 5 -

Great speaker. Friendly and very helpful.

Brandy Brown, SAAC Officer Penn State University Abington, Abington PA 1/26/12 88 5 5 5 5 - - 5 Elaine Pasqua is a smarty, witty, dynamic speaker who is well received on our college campus. She gets sensitive, important information to students in a humorous manner that engages her audience. Outstanding speaker!

Adam was amazing! He related extraordinarily well to the audience and was very easy to work with. Students loved his material and we will bring him back again.

Steven Saterlee, DSA Rutgers University, New Brunswick NJ 1/19/12 Cook Campus Center 5 5 4 5 - - 5 Adam was very easy to work with and professional. He had a great attitude and was timely. We enjoyed his time at our university and he exceeded our expectations.

Donna Monk, Director of Health Services

Tori McIntosh, VP RUPA Comedy & Movies

Delaware Valley College, Doylestown PA 2/7/12 30 Classroom 5 5 5 5 - - -

Illinois State University, Normal IL 1/26/12 BBC Activities Room 5 5 5 5 - - -

Excellent! Unfortunately the turn-out wasn’t as large as hoped but the students that attended enjoyed it.

Adam was fantastic! He truly is a talented performer who understands a college audience. He’s easy to work with and delivers a great show.

Heidi Herb, Resident Assistant

Austin Arias, Graduate Advisor to The Programming Board

MARC ELLIOT Coleman Productions University of California / Berkeley, Berkeley CA 1/23/12 800 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 IL 1/23/12 30 Mitter Center 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 Marc was fantastic! Great presentation and interaction with students and staff.

Michelle Burger, E vents Coordinator

COMEDY AARON KOMINOS- SMITH Aaron Kominos-Smith Lehigh University, Bethlehem PA 12/1/11 50 5 5 5 5 - - 5 Great performance. Quality comedy

Greg Mustillo, Director of Comedy

www.campusactivitiesmagazine.com

Manhattanville College, Purchase NY 2/3/12 40 Pub 5 5 4 5 4 - 5 5 Adam did a great job considering he did not get much reaction from the audience. Would consider him again in the future.

Andy Fulton, AD: Student Activities ALEx THOMAS Diversity Talent Agency East Carolina University, Greenville NC 8/23/11 600 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 4 Very creative show! A lot of fun.

Stephanie Marzillo, Music & Comedy Chair

CAMPUS ACTIvITIES MAGAZINE®, MARCH 2012, 31

Your School Could Win A Free Weekend Of Shows Simply By Submitting Artist Report Cards... Submit A Report On Every Show On Your Campus!

Upper Iowa University, Fayette IA 1/26/12 74 Student Center Ballroom 5 5 5 5 - 5 5 Mission Improvable was everything we asked for and more! The students loved their performance as the evening was filled with lots of laughter. Not to mention the group was phenomenal to work with outside of the performance. We’ll definitely consider bringing them 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 5 They went above and beyond my expectations. I asked that they not incorporate alcohol/drinking and they were terrific. When these suggestions were thrown out, they ignored them and moved on.

Amber Dessellier, Interim Student Health & Wellness Counselor D’SEAN ROSS Diversity Talent Agency Penn State Shenango, Sharon PA 11/9/11 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 CA 1/26/12 UHUB 4 4 4 4 - 4 4 Great performance!

Stephanie Marzillo, Music & Comedy Chair KENDRA CORRIE KP Comedy USC Upstate, Spartanburg SC 1/24/12 Coffeehouse 4 4 5 5 5 - 5 -

College of St. Mary, Omaha NE 2/14/12 Gross Conference Center 5 4 4 4 - 4 3 Jenny Wittstock, Director of Student Leadership PETE LEE Pete Lee SUNY Cobleskill, Cobleskill NY 1/22/12 100 Bouck Theater 5 4 4 5 - - Travis Roberts, CAB RON G Summit Comedy California State University / Chico, Chico CA 2/2/12 65 UHUB 5 5 5 4 - 5 4 Ron 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, NY 1/26/12 30 Classroom 5 5 5 5 - - -

Ryan was great and full of energy. This was DeVry’s first comedy show and we loved Ryan’s performance. We will definitely love to have him for another show.

Even though the audience was small, Kendra rolled with the changing atmosphere well.

Andrea Sterens, Event Coordinator

Kara Ferguson, Assistant Director of Student Life

THE BLACK jEw DIALOGUES Bass/Schuler Entertainment

MICHAEL PALASCAK Bass/Schuler Entertainment College of Saint Benedict / Saint John’s University, St Joe, MN 1/21/12 300 5 5 5 5 - 5 -

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

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 5 The show was great. The students had a really good time. The group was hilarious & full of 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 5 Mission Improvable was hilarious! They were so professional and worked well with everyone.

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

Jennifer Sanbouri, Student Activities Coordinator

32, CAMPUS ACTIvITIES MAGAZINE®, MARCH 2012

COMING IN APRIL: The Latest Updated Reports On NOVELTY GAMES And more...

PLUS: The 2012 Reader’s Choice 20TH ANNIVERSARY AwARDS ISSUE! www.campusactivitiesmagazine.com

"Mom...Dad...You Can Let Go Now!" Finally, an Orientation Program for Anxious Parents

"Our parents loved Lenny!" - University of Pittsburgh (PA) "Lenny and "The Art of College Parenting" program is consistently the highestrated component of our Parent Orientation...6 years in a row and counting!" - McKendree University (IL) "The Art of College Parenting" is a fun-yet-informative Orientation program that addresses parent concerns, engages them in spirited discussion and alleviates their fears before they leave campus and confidently head for home.

Lenny Dave Two-Time Speaker of the Year Nominee!

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

GATEWAY TO THE FUTURE: Campus Activities Magazine® during the late 90’s and early 2000 became the destination vehicle for artists and agencies throughout the country. It not only offered exposure for legendary entertainers who exclusively worked the campus market, but became the door for developing national acts to capture a youthful following. During this time in the campus entertainment market, not only would the magazine introduce acts like Dave Chappelle, Mark Curry, Jeff Dunham, Jamie Foxx, George Lopez, Carlos Mencia, Joe Rogan, Caroline Rhea, Shawn Wayans, Nick Swardson, Jeffrey Ross, Jim Norton, The Legendary Second City and Daniel Tosh, but new faces like Howie Day, Gaelic Storm, Randy & Jason Sklar, Edwin McCain, Dale K, speakers like Shawn Decker & Gwenn Barringer plus the best in traditional campus music, comedy and novelty performers. The February 1999 issue featured one of the campus market’s most loved comedians, Spanky, as his “Men Are Sluts” tour was gaining prominence. Plus perhaps one of the most booked segments of the market was featured: Novelty Games. Games were big business and campuses were buying. Manufacturers were actively developing new concepts and colleges had an unlimited selection to choose from. From the arts sector, there was an exceptional interview jazz legends Diane Schuur and Maynard Ferguson. And Harris Goldberg, Adam Tobey and Kat Widden told buyers how to plan a major concert. March 1999 featured Campus Activities Magazine’s now Nationally recognized Reader’s Choice Awards and for the second consecutive year, Mike

Rayburn was the unanimous choice for Entertainer of the Year. Mike also took the nod for the Best Club Act. Jen Cohen won Best Small Venue Entertainer, : The Tribute won Best Large Venue Performance, Trisha Yearwood won Best Major Performance, James Malinchack won Best Lecture Performance, Spanky won Comedian of the Year, The Spencers won Best Performing Arts Performance, Craig Karges won Best Live Novelty Performance, Wax Hands won the Best Novelty Game and the Joey Edmonds Agency won Agency of the Year. As a bonus, there was an exclusive interview with jazz legend, Herbie Hancock by Michael Brannon. April 1999 took readers on a behind-the-scenes look at comedian Margaret Cho. In this exclusive interview she talks about her own personal demons, growing up in San Francisco and her multi-cultural background. Margaret was the reigning campus comedy queen in the 80’s before she left the circuit for the bright lights and big hassles of Hollywood. In an interview that was down to earth and truly inspirational as she delved back into a market she always loved, she said “I feel really good about myself and comfortable in my own skin. I feel lucky to be alive. I could have died so many times.” August 1999’s comedy edition headliner was a real coup for the magazine. We were able to interview Dave Chappelle

just as his career was hitting amazing stride toward stardom. At 25, he had set Hollywood on its head. He has positioned himself as a scene stealer with Nicholas Cage in Con Air and was Tom Hanks’ sidekick in You’ve Got Mail. He starred in and cowrote Half Baked; he played Reggie along side Eddie Murphy in The Nutty Professor and landed a role in Mel Brook’s Men In Tights after crushing the Montreal Comedy Festival. As we talked with him, he had just signed a development deal with Walt Disney, taped an HBO stand-up special, had two new movies coming out that fall and was slated to star in and co-produce King Of The Park with Ron Howard and Brian Grazer of Imagine Entertainment. But this was a story about Dave and how he grew up and how he emerged at the top of his game and may have been some of the best eight pages we have ever written. But this issue had a triple whammy. We also introduced you to Train and Aware Records as they

launched their first big hit (Remember “Meet Virginia?”) Plus readers got a first look at MTV’s Dr. Drew and the scoop on his Loveline show with sidekick Adam Corolla. September 1999 featured a comedian from the tobacco fields of Virginia who had already made his mark in the campus market. Colleges had already been clamoring for Anthony Clarke, a young comic with a soft Southern accent, whose honest, blue collar brand of humor and earnest manner catapulted him to the top. It is amazing how many real stars have found their roots in the campus market and Anthony Clarke was one of them. This story was about his success on college campuses that gained him the attention of Castle Rock Entertainment. and a deal for a mid-season sitcom. Plus in this issue you got to meet a new music

sensation, Howie Day and the high-energy band from the film Titanic, Gaelic Storm. October 1999: This year’s music issue was a tribute to Aware Records, A company that successfully launched the career of many developing music artists. The starting point for many artists under the Columbia/Sony Music brand, readers got to find out just how the company operated. Aware alumni included Rob Thomas of Matchbox 20, Pat Monahan of Train and Adam Gardner of Guster. We also delivered a feature story on the Christian music of David Kauffman along with contemporary picks Smash Mouth, Soul Coughing and Citizen King. Other top picks included Red Hot Chili Peppers, Tom Petty, Marcy Playground, Chris LeDoux, David Ball, Steve Wariner, Angry Salad, Saffire, Mary Wilson w/ The Supremes. November 1999’s cover story was a feature on Brent Scarpo’s Journey To A Hate-Free Millennium with special interviews with Dennie & Judy Shepard, the parents of James Byrd, Jr. and responses from the Colombine High School Memorial. We also had a special feature on Black Artists with an introduction to Marlena Smalls and the Hallelujah Singers. January 2000 covered the world’s most famous comedy dynasty, The Second City. No other organization in history has

delivered so much laughter from its alumni. There was a special feature on one of NYC’s funniest people, Lewis Black and the fresh Christan sound of Bebo Norman. February 2000’s cover was the history making coast-to-coast bicycle ride of campus comedian and musician, Mike Rayburn. And we featured some of the best current speakers including Wendi Fox, Bob Harris Famous Amos and more. March 2000 honored the Reader’s Choice Awards winners. The Spencers took both Performing Arts Artists of the Year and the coveted Entertainers of the Year. Beth Wood won Best Club Performer; 1964: The Tribute again won Best Large Venue; Teresa won Best Country Performer; Faith Hill won Best Major Performer; Creative Dating won Best Lecture; Craig Carmean won Best Comedian; Craig Karges became one of the most-winning artists in the awards by taking Best Live Novelty Performance, Best Novelty Games was Wax Hands, Campus Program of the Year was University of Akron RHPB and Agency of the Year was Auburn Moon Agency. April 2000 featured Weird Al’s campus tour and we went back in history with Al Franken as we talked about his history with SNL and the message he was bringing to college campuses. We also went on the road with Craig Karges. August 2000 included not only a special interview with Shawn Wayans but a clean, silly and funny look at Buzz Sutherland. We offered out comedy picks for 2001 and did a special look at a young comedian, Eddie Ifft and his success in the campus market.

September 2000 presented a special limited engagement college tour of Eric Saperston & Edwin McCain. What may have been an unlikely partnership became an interesting journey. Eric’s show, The Journey, included film clips and anecdotes of his experiences talking with people like President Carter, Woody Guthrie and the head of the CIA, was combined with the Legendary songs of Edwin McCain. Campuses had the rare opportunity to hear lessons learned and words of wisdom gather from powerful people along with incredible music. October 2000 featured Elektra recording artists Lucky Boy’s Confusion. One of the hottest bands in the Chicago Indy music scene, they quickly developed a following in the campus market. Plus the WWF was out to recruit the college market. A special promotional package for the WWF on college campuses via satellite was offered. November 2000 introduced you to Comedian Mark Curry, best known for his starring role in the ABC sitcom, “Hangin’ with Mr. Cooper.” “I’m a black comedian, if you want to label me like that, but the first question you should be asking is, ‘are you funny?’ A good comedian can play any room, no matter where it is.” This issue also brought you “Love, Life and AIDS.” College students learned the real facts about a very preventable disease. And Michelle Rathman authored an article on “How To Select A Speaker.” This taught you how to avoid pitfalls that could send your entire program down the toilet. January 2001 was an opportunity to revisit Jay Mohr. One of the campus market’s most enduring successes, this strategic interview took him from campus shows to Hollywood production lots and

how he attributed the market for aiding in his success. Plus you got an inside look at two campus treasures, The Amazing Jonathan and Adam Ace. In February 2001 we continued our look at the new revolution in contemporary Christian Music. Caedmon’s Call had gained monumental success and was the appropriate follow-up to our story on Jars of Clay. We also gave you a personal look at everyone’s favorite airhead, Victoria Jackson. Her hilarious performances on SNL and Comedy Central made her even more appealing to college audiences. And while we were an official sponsor of Mike rayburn’s historic bicycle ride, in this issue we give you his own first-person chronicle of that adventure from San Diego to Coney Island. March 2001 The third time is always the charm and nothing could be more satisfying for Mike Rayburn as he took Entertainer of the Year for an unprecedented third time. Bass/Schuler Entertainment won Agency of the Year, which was also noteworthy for an agency that was still practically brand new but had a huge following. Central Michigan won Best Campus Program. Other award winners were: Buzz Sutherland won Best Comedy Act, Christopher Carter took Best Performing Arts

Performance, David Coleman won Speaker of the Year,Dave Matthews ban won Best Large Venue Performance; Mike Super won Best Live Novelty Performer, ThinkFast won Best Novelty Game; Faith Hill won Best Country Music Performer and Eric Saperston/Edwin McCain won Best Major Performance. In April 2001, CAM brought you a very different Bob Saget. Forget about “Full House” and “America’s Funniest Home Videos”. He’s a mile-a-minute kind of guy with a surprisingly caustic, raid-fire wit, who thrives on the freedom of stand-up comedy and is proud of his reputation as a clean-cut looking guy with an incredibly foul mouth. But cheer up. We brought you a look at the popularity of hypnotism and great ones like James Mapes, Jim Wand, Ricky Kalmon, Chuck Milligan, Tom DeLuca, Dan Larosa, Sami Dare, Michael Anthony, Dale K, Frederick Winters and others.

August 2001’s Comedy issue featured MTV’s Andy Dick. His wildly offbeat brand of comedy made him successful. He was impacted by the loss of his drinking buddy and one-time addiction group sponsor, Chris Farley in 1997 - an incident that led him to rehab for the first time. When he did a sexually explicit show at The University of North Florida, he was booed offstage and then reportedly ran through the audience mooning and taunting students. If was after this professional embarrassment that he started really trying to get his act back together. He told us “After two years of sobriety, after crashing my car, going to jail, being chewed up and spit out by the media, let’s hope I learned something. I alway send potential colleges the good and the bad reviews. I want to be totally upfront.” In September 2001 Comedy Central’s The Man Show was a phenomenon on television and one of the hottest campus tours. Jimmy Kimmel and Adam Corolla taped their Comedy Central show

with their cast of “Juggies” before a live audience and the youth culture embraced it. AND we introduced you to the man that would later become a legend. We gave you John Mayer first and college campuses became his faithful followers carrying him to a huge national audience. PLUS we gave you our first introduction to Jeff Dunham. Colleges were the first supporters of a ventriloquist with unrivaled talent and crazy funny bits. October became a month where we unveiled our picks for music for the next year and October 2001’s Music Issue was no different. The feature story was on The Mighty Might Bosstones: Ben Carr, Joe Sirois, Dennis Brockenbough, Kevin Lenear, Joe Gittleman, Tim Burton, Dicky Barrett and Nate Albert. That’s a lot of band. Starting out as a local Boston bar band, they soon got the national reputation for the band you needed when you really wanted to rock out! They were the ultimate College Band. We also gave you a look at The Dark Star Orchestra ( A real life experience of The Grateful Dead) and The Nadas, a band Playboy Magazine touted as “the next great college band.” November 2001 focused on the comedy of Bill Bellamy. With a sensational movie career and a new HOT sitcom, he was one

of the hottest tickets in the campus market. He hosted MTV Jams, worked with Al Pacino in Oliver Stone’s blockbuster Any Given Sunday, appeared in the romantic comedy Love Jones, did a stint in Def Jam’s How To Be A Player, starred in Scree Gems ‘ comedy The Brothers and had just landed the starring role in a sitcom hand-crafted for him on the WB Me, Women and Dogs.” We also featured MTV’s newest sex and relationship expert for their Loveline show, Diane Farr, Barry Scott as Dr Martin Luther King and the start of a great career for The Evasons. January 2002 not only brought readers a preview of APCA’s National Conference in Jacksonville, but gave the an exclusive behind the scenes look at The Simpsons through the eyes of 3x Emmy Award Winning writer Mike Reiss. Mike’s career spanned writing 60 jokes a day for Johnny Carson to writing for National Lampoon to writing for the film Airplane II, the television show ALF, The Gary Shandling Show and finally finding a home writing for The Simpsons. He created “The Critic”, the online comic “Hard Drinkin’ Lincoln and the Showtime short “Queer Duck.” Reiss’ lecture was applauded and critically acclaimed by colleges and universities across the country. And we took you behind the scenes with Robert Earl Keen where “The Road Goes On Forever And The Party Never Ends.” That completes the first decade, but there is a lot of great entertainment still on the way as in next issue we begin looking back on the second generation of Campus 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 opportunities for CAB and SPB members, as well as journalism 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, stories, 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 officially closed. We won’t be releasing any results until the April issue, so for now read the great stories in this magazine and the ever-increasing catalog of back issues at www.campusactmag.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 nominated and it being an active programming region.

Unable to attend were Bobby-Lynn Anderson of Bentley University, Doug Hall of TalentPlus Entertainment, Denise Heitkamp of The College Agency and Mike Seymore of Cutting Edge Productions.

462 voters came from parts unknown (we’re thinking these might be folks coming somehow through wireless networks that threw the analytics off).

-There was a consensus to remain a hybrid publication, both print and digital.

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 Windows based systems; 1,911 Were Mac; 523- iOS 212- Android BrowsersInternet 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 Entertainer 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 campuses 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 details here, but do want to thank our attending Board Members and give you a cursory glance at what changes may be coming. Head to iankirbywrites.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!

Some bullet points of ground we covered follow, again head over to Tumblr to get the in depth version:

-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 Novelty 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 online instead of hard copies, but keep them in print. -Artists limited to one category per year? -New Editorial section based on agency news updates , 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://iankirbywrites.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

We’d like to welcome new incoming member of the NAB, Sailesh, college hypnotist and owner of Metropolis 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.

40, CAMPUS ACTIvITIES MAGAZINE® MARCH 2012

www.campusactivitiesmagazine.com

CA MAR. 2012 PO Box 509 Prosperity SC 29127 Change Service Requested

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