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Grizzlies lose clinching game against Spurs in OT

Friday, April 29, 2011

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Issue 70

E D I T O R I A L L Y

S T U D E N T

Last issue of the semester!

PUBLISHED SINCE 1906 http://utdailybeacon.com

Vol. 116

I N D E P E N D E N T

Sunny with 0% chance of rain HIGH LOW 73 49

N E W S P A P E R

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T H E

U N I V E R S I T Y

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T E N N E S S E E

Volapalooza hoopla signals commencement Extraordinary spring storms force concert location change, cannot stifle end-of-year celebration Will Abrams Arts and Entertainment Editor

Kristian Smith Student Life Editor As UT students and faculty prepare to close out another spring semester on Rocky Top, Volapalooza: The Kickoff to Commencement arrives to give the community a jolt of excitement before the end of the school year. One big change in this year’s event is that it has been moved from its usual venue at World’s Fair Park. “Due to inclement weather, Volapalooza: The Kickoff to Commencement will be relocating to the REC Sports Intramural Fields located at 2106 Andy Holt Ave.,” event coordinators said in a formal statement. Weather was a major issue in the venue change. “There were a lot of problems with tire tracks and mud last year,” Brian Stevens, chair of the Campus Entertainment Board, said. This year’s festivities will start with Senior Hour at 6 p.m. All seniors will be able to enter the grounds early and will receive free food from vendors including Domino’s Pizza, Sweet CeCe’s, Pitmasters Barbeque and Rita’s Italian Ice. According to Stevens, seniors will also get the chance to get prime seats for Volapalooza. “It’s a good chance to come when it’s not crowded, and (seniors) will be getting the best seat in the house,” he said. “This is our way of treating the seniors by giving them the best experience possible.” The gates for all non-seniors will open at 7 p.m., and the show will start at 7:45 p.m. The show is free for all UT students with valid ID. Besides a free concert and giveaways, outgoing SGA president Tommy Jervis, an SGA member of the Volapalooza committee, said the event will have a great atmosphere. “Everyone is finally done with school and in a good mood,” he said. Volapalooza is free for all students, but that has not always been the case. “A few years ago, it wasn’t free, and the turnout wasn’t desirable,” Jervis said. “We are all college students, and we don’t have money trees in our backyards. Having a concert of this caliber for free is huge.” But Stevens said if students each paid a

fee of $5 it could triple the budget for Volapalooza. “Vanderbilt has a two-day show and brings in big-name artists, and people always ask why we don’t mimic Vanderbilt, but we don’t have the money,” he said. Stevens’ idea is not to charge for tickets, though. He proposes adding a $5 Volapalooza fee to tuition. “Now, part of the student recreation fee goes toward Volapalooza, and if every stu-

ent, event coordinators promise to deliver as good a show as the Campus Entertainment Board has ever put on. With Girl Talk, Matt Costa, and openers The Kingston Springs, CEB (with the support of the Cultural Attractions Committee and SGA) shows that it is not afraid to dish out a little bit of everything. “We always aim for diversity and try to represent the campus as best we can,” Kyle Zanath, senior in biological sciences and a

• Photo courtesy of Kingston Springs

dent paid $5 more, we would have $150,000 more in the budget,” Stevens said. “We could make Volapalooza even bigger and better.” Stevens said he doesn’t think many students would be upset by this fee. “I think students would be fine with paying a little extra to get big name artists that you would pay $20 or $30 to go to otherwise,” he said. “People loved Matisyahu and Big Boi.” Although the event’s venue may be differ-

member of the Volapalooza subcommittee, said. While Girl Talk and Matt Costa may be more familiar to college students, opening act The Kingston Springs could be the next big thing coming out of the Nashville-area music scene. The band, which actually calls Kingston Springs, Tenn., home, has only been putting together music for a few short years and has already found itself on the Lollapalooza line-

up. Comprised of lead singer/guitarist Ian Ferguson, bassist Alexander Geddes, drummer Matt Demaio, and jack-of-all-trades James Guldry (guitar/keys/horn), the musicians have taken some time to establish themselves in the area surrounding the Music City. “I like to think of it as almost a boot camp preparing us, because if you can do well in Nashville, you can do well anywhere,” Ferguson said. “Although we’re in Nashville a lot, we’re still kind of separated,” Guldry said. “I like how we have our little (home) right outside of Nashville.” The band is currently recording a fulllength album, but for now, a seven-track EP, entitled “The Vacation Time,” is its sole collection of music. Despite not ever having been on a tour prior to last fall, the band has learned to love the bonding experience. “Being in the car together and … just doing what we love, that’s the best part about touring,” Demaio said. With performances at both Volapalooza and Lollapalooza on the horizon, it isn't too difficult for the musicians to look back and see how far they have come. “It was fun going from coffee shops to bigger venues and then eventually from Nashville to out-of-state shows,” Ferguson said. “We started in our basement and built from there … so that’s something we are pretty proud of.” The Kingston Springs may appear to be the smallest part of the Volapalooza lineup, but the group shows no signs of stopping anytime soon. “We’re starting to get bigger shows, and we have a lot of new stuff that we want to bring to the table,” Guldry said. With the mash-up skills of Girl Talk and smooth melodies of Matt Costa, the addition of The Kingston Springs brings together what event coordinators are hoping to be the perfect combination. After Volapalooza’s last concert drew more than 8,000 in attendance, event coordinators are pursuing an even greater crowd to celebrate the end of the school year. “Last year set a big bar for us as far as attendance goes,” Zanath said. “This year, we actually upped the amount of public tickets we can sell, so we are actually striving for a little bit more.” Volapalooza: The Kickoff to Commencement begins with Senior Hour at 6 p.m. followed by gates opening for the concert at 7:00 p.m.

Historic thunderstorms ravage campus

Jake Wheeler • The Daily Beacon

Softball co-head coach Ralph Weekly receives a plaque from UT commemorating his 1000th career victory before a game against Mississippi State on Thursday, April 21. Coach Weekly, who has been coaching for more than 24 years, shares more than 500 career victories with his wife and co-head coach Karen Weekly.

storm’s impact was detrimental to the campus tree population. Sizable trees outside of the Humanities Building and throughout Circle Park fell to the ground as a result of strong winds and rain. “We have lost over 50 trees, most of which were older, larger trees,” Ledford

advised she was hit in the head by hail,” Simerly said. “She received medical attention and was released.” Editor-in-Chief Damage was not limited to UT’s campus, however. Several highly populated stuSevere thunderstorms ripped through dent neighborhoods, like Fort Sanders and the Knoxville area throughout this past the Cherokee Trail area off Alcoa Highway, week, leaving several UT campus buildings experienced their own end of the and student apartments damaged and storm’s severity. maintaining lengthy power outages. Cara Rains, senior in political sciTerry Ledford, executive director ence, witnessed the storm from a of UT Facilities Services, said he has friend’s house in the Cherokee Trail not experienced this kind of damagneighborhood of The Retreat when the ing weather on campus. second round of storms came through “This is the worst storm damage I on Wednesday night. Rains said the have seen in the 25 years I’ve been friends took cover in the house before here,” Ledford said in an e-mail. assessing the hail damage to their vehiHeavy thunderstorms began on cles in the outside parking lot. Monday night, leaving many campus “We went outside and saw people buildings without power. UT’s Office looking at our cars,” Rains said. “We of Information Technology said in a noticed that my back windshield was Monday e-mail that several OITcompletely gone. My front windshield offered services were affected by the was cracked. My side mirror was gone. power outages. According to the OIT All of us had dents all over (the cars).” website, several network issues Though the majority of houses surremained after the majority of servicvived with minimal damage, Rains said es were restored by late Monday. she knew of a handful of students whose Severe storms continued into houses suffered broken windows. Power Wednesday evening, with golf ballwas still not restored to the neighborsized hail raining down on the majorhood until late Thursday thanks largely ity of campus and the Fort Sanders to fallen trees on Cherokee Trail, which area. remained blocked off to drivers from the “These series of storms are the Alcoa Highway side as of Thursday most significant that we have seen in afternoon. the UT community in recent years,” With widespread damages to vehiEmily Simerly, public information cles, many students have attempted to officer for UTPD, said in an email. reserve rental cars, but Rains said that is “Over the week, the Ag Campus, Hill, not currently an easy option in President’s House, Visitor’s Center, and C-8 Parking lot were some of the Jake Wheeler • The Daily Beacon Knoxville. “I called Enterprise, and I’m No. 247 most (affected) areas.” The Highland Avenue sign hangs down on the waiting list,” Rains said. “All In an effort to avoid hail damage, many garageless students sought after the storms that rolled through campus Enterprises in the area are out of cars. shelter for their vehicles in UT park- on Monday. The following storm on They said it will be next week before ing garages during the storm. Wednesday left more damaged cars with they get new cars.” Efforts to clean up and restore buildStudents, faculty and staff witnessed hail and flooded streets. ings on campus are still underway by the effects of the storm on campus as UT Facilities Services, with many early as Tuesday morning, including massive damage to greenhouses on the south said. “We have a laundry list of other build- employees working around the clock to ing damage.” maintain university operation with final side of The Hill. Safety was a large concern for UTPD exams around the corner. “The worst damage was the loss of a “We have quite a few dedicated people greenhouse on Monday night,” Ledford during the storms. While university police said. “(Then) the hail Wednesday night dispatched an increased number of officers that have now spent two all-nighters this pretty much took out all of the roof glass on to respond to Wednesday’s storm-related week,” Ledford said. “These type events incidents, Simerly said only one injury was result in a lot less impact to the campus all of the glass greenhouses.” community due to the dedication of these Students likely noticed fallen trees all reported to the department. “We had one reported injury, a female people.” across campus, as well. Ledford said the

Zac Ellis


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