To be honest, I am a little overwhelmed with the amount of “artsy stuff” scheduled to take place over the next week. Picnic Day is a lot to swallow, which is expected – but to those of you scratching your heads as you look at MUSE today, have no fear. The “expert” in all that is artsy or of entertainment value shall bestow upon you an exclusive list of where you should be seen and what you should be doing this weekend.
Search Party. Attention all student music makers: your deadline is tomorrow! Before you go on a Safeway run to stock up on red party cups for an epic beer pong tournament this weekend, get your entry in for Search Party, the campus “talent search” brought to you by MUSE, the ASUCD Entertainment Council and KDVS 90.3 FM.
In past years, a panel of judges listens to a song by the student or alumni band and votes on three winners, which each get an interview printed in MUSE as well as some air time on KDVS to perform.
But this year’s Search Party has a new, more exciting spin. Thanks to the efforts of the EC, winners will be able to take the stage in the ASUCD Coffee House and perform for their schoolmates on May 21. This show will feature the three to four winners, and the proceeds from the door will help feed the starving student musicians that made it to the top.
Turn in a recording, full length or EP length, to the KDVS office at 14 Lower Freeborn by Friday at 4 p.m. to be eligible.
Picnic Day. Given that I don’t have much experience with Picnic Day other than the sorry excuse of an event last year, it’s hard to tell what will be good or bad. In the pouring rain I barely made it out in 2007, and definitely did not witness any live entertainment. After a thorough consideration of the Picnic Day itinerary for this year, however, I stumbled across some exciting acts taking multiple stages across campus.
One of those is the hip-hop duo Letters and Science, playing at 1:20 p.m. at the ARC Stage. Blake “Ruf Draf” Jamieson and Scott “Class Act” Stawicki are two current UC Davis students who apparently like to talk over beats. I’ve got to commend them for A) being a local hip-hop group, which in my opinion is a rare breed, B) getting their act together and strutting their stuff on Picnic Day, and C) starting their own record label out of East Davis.
Maybe you saw Butterscotch on NBC’s America’s Got Talent. If not, you can now see the Davis resident in person! Twenty-two-year-old Antoinette “Butterscotch” Clinton will stun crowds at the East Quad Stage at 2:10 p.m. Butterscotch was the first International World Female Beatbox Champion and is the best in the West. YouTube videos aren’t quite enough for me, so I aim to figure out how she manages to sing and make her own beat at the same time as I stand right underneath the stage.
Other highlights of the live music component of Picnic Day include a performance from Mushpot Records’ Please Quiet Ourselves, who is lovingly referred to as a “baby Modest Mouse.” They’ll be playing the Grandstand stage at 1 p.m. And last but not least, the Magician’s Guild all day at the Hart Stage – because who doesn’t love magic tricks?
Death Cab for Cutie. Need I explain why someone should attend this show on Tuesday? Personally, I am dying to hear more of Narrow Stairs, out May 13, and am crossing my fingers that it’s good. Word on the street is that it will be darker, dare you say, bloodier than any of the Seattleites’ past decade of tunes.
Unfortunately tickets for this event are sold out, but to those attending: If you see me during “What Sarah Said” or a song equally sappy, please hold my hand so I don’t cry my eyes out.
NICOLE L. BROWNER will repay anyone who ends up being bored this weekend with hugs. Make appointments at nlbrowner@ucdavis.edu.
