By Eleni Himaras
Venereal diseases, a love of sandwiches and “The Lion King” are all subjects of songs by sophomore music industry major, Darren Spector, who won the title of NU Idol Monday night.
Each of the acts played two to three songs with just enough of a break in between for the next act to set up. Unlike American Idol, NU Idol accepted both bands and soloists ranging from heavy metal to comedy to the Northeastern female a capella group, The NU Acc-idents. The judges scores and decisions were held until the very end of the competiton.
The competition was put on by Northeastern Sunshine and sponsored by the Music and Entertainment Industry Students Association (MEISA) and Jamspot. The grand prize was four free hours of recording time in the Jamspot studio with a veteran production engineer.
Spector said one of his greatest musical influences is musical comedian Stephen Lynch. He plans to use his studio time to try out some new songs and enhance some old material. He is currently working out plans to perform at afterHOURS.
NU Sunshine is the working project of Cynthia Lee’s, a human resources management professor, organizational behavior class. The group created a business and organized several fundraising events to raise money to send families to Camp Sunshine, a retreat for children with life-threatening diseases and their families. The cost to send one family is $1,500.
Camp Sunshine focuses on alleviating the strain life-threatening illness can cause, not only for the sick child but also other family members, according to their Web site (www.campsunshine.org). Families attend a week-long camp filled with relaxing events. The camp also provides 24-hour on site medical support to address the physical needs of the children.
Alexandra Sorgi, RPM director and radio personality at WRBB and Ava Lawrence and Jim Anderson, both music professors at Northeastern, judged the competition.
“We don’t really get to see our students perform, just practice,” Lawrence said. “It’s great to get a chance to see the finished product.”
Lawrence is also the faculty advisor for MEISA and said the organization is anxious to get involved with other groups on campus and was thrilled they were able to help with this cause.
“It’s a small class and we are a big group and it is easier for us to do a lot of things like printing and distributing flyers and getting the word out about the event,” said MEISA President, Kim Campbell, a junior french, music literature and performance, and music industry major.
“There were some really great acts and it was a lot of fun but it would have been more fun if there had been a bigger crowd,” said Genna Morse, a sophomore behavioral neuroscience and biology major.
However, some students said despite the small turnout, it was the talent that shined.
“It was about what I expected,” said NU Sunshine member and senior music industry major Tim Pazzoli. “They were all very talented and I’m really happy they came out tonight.”
Brian Bergeron, a sophomore music industry major, also preformed in the competition saying his music was reminiscent of Coldplay, Damien Rice and Travis. He said he thought his performance went well but the crowd was kind of small and dead.
“Campus spirit is pretty stinky and it is hard to get people out to events like this,” said Bergeron.
Todd Willits, a sophomore music industry major said he, was more interested in the bands than the crowd reaction. He produces and distributes CDs and was excited about the opportunity to find “new talent on campus.” Willits produces the music of winner Spector and was thrilled that one of the musicians he works with won the event.
Other acts included the band “Project 1.9,” who derived their name from the fact that all student needs at least a 1.9 GPA to graduate from Northeastern.
Another highlight of the night was keyboardist Andy Goldshchmidt, who made no claims to be a singer but tried his best anyway with his cover of Offspring’s “Pretty Fly For a White Guy.” He brought tremendous cheers from the crowd of about 150 for his exciting performance, dancing around in a tie-dyed “Rush” shirt.
Isaac’s Dream, a local band, closed the show with their original power ballad, “Tainted Dream.”
NU Sunshine will be holding their second fundraiser at Pizzeria Uno Monday night from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. A portion of all profits made during that time will go to their charity.
