Daniel Sanders Boston College, Class of 2007 English [email protected]

This letter is written in response to an article entitled “”Mos” or “Less”” (March 9, 2005) placed in what I assume to be an objective section of your paper, “The Insider”. The fact that the author was allowed to use such a negative tone in reference to the school concert is concerning to me. It not only reflects poorly on the person’s attitude, but it drags down the Northeastern community as a whole.

Concerts are incredibly difficult events to pull off. It takes months of planning, negotiating and long hours to make a successful event. Artists can be very picky about where they play, who they play with and how much they are to be paid. Many acts are not even available when bids are placed on them, forcing the purchasers to move on to their second and third choices. Concert booking agencies have to deal with students, who often times have no experience with concert production, promotion or any aspect of putting a show on. The agents are met with student concert committees who sometimes shoot down idea after idea because of everything from budget constraints to just not knowing who an act is.

The information within the article about UMass Amherst and B.U. having spring shows is a perfect example of student misinformation. The shows at the Mullins Center and Agganis arena are promoted shows, meaning they have no connection with either B.U. or UMass. These arenas have been rented to an outside company to put the show on, the only connection to the school is the fact that the venue happens to be on campus. The author not only lists the acts that are playing these shows, implying that all of these artists are stronger choices than the ones at Northeastern, but he makes the assumption that these other artists are playing the school’s spring shows. This does nothing but ruin all the hard work your concert committee has done to put on a quality yshow for the students.

Northeastern University should be excited about the fact that they are even having a concert this year. I recall a few years ago in fact, that the Ludacris concert had to be cancelled because of the behavior of students after the Patriots Super Bowl win. Would the students rather have no concert? I don’t think so. This paper has a responsibility to the school to help promote these shows, of course not all the students will be excited about the choice of artists, but it’s impossible to make everyone happy. I think that the diversity of the acts is the strength to this years show and hopefully will attract a wide range of people. I woish you all the best for a good show, but this article is already a step in the wrong direction.