SPEC announces Spring Fling theme

But organizers do not yet have any bands lined up for 'Things That Go Fling in the Night.' "Things That Go Fling in the Night" will bump its way to campus for this year's Spring Fling. Although the Spring Fling Committee announced the event's theme last Thursday, the rest of the planning for the two-day festival remains up in the air. The 26th incarnation of the annual event is scheduled for April 17 and 18. Fling traditionally draws more than 10,000 people from Philadelphia and beyond to two days of concerts, carnival games and vendors, as well as a show featuring several major bands. College senior Sam Barton, one of Fling's three co-directors, said the Social Planning and Events Committee and its Fling committee have not yet booked a band for the event's Friday concert, which is traditionally held on Hill Field. But Barton added that the absence of a commitment from a band does not worry him. "It's perfectly normal for this to happen," he said. "It's a bit of a pain to schedule bands, so it takes a while." Last year's bill, headlined by hip-hop group A Tribe Called Quest and featuring The Toasters and Fun Lovin' Criminals, was not announced until the end of March. Several SPEC officials said last year's headlining bands were not announced on time because both of SPEC's top choices, including Bob Dylan, fell through. Most of the weekend's other programming is also not finalized. The next step for the Fling committee is to develop the newly determined theme, which they voted on by e-mail. This year's theme beat out other choices including "Where the Wild Flings Are," which might have led to copyright problems. The Fling committee will hold a contest until February 17 to determine the design of the event's souvenir T-shirt. The winner will receive a prize package of $50 in cash, a concert ticket and a T-shirt. The committee has proposed several new initiatives for this year, including a revamping of Saturday's Superblock activities. A disc jockey or music courtesy of various bands may replace last year's barbecue. A step show is still "a definite," said Wharton and Engineering junior Seema Singh, a Fling co-director. The three co-directors agreed that the weather was a big concern. The weather was so bad last year that organizers canceled much of the entertainment. Also, organizers of the separate Penn Rocks for the Homeless charity concert, scheduled for the Thursday before Fling, canceled their event. Most of the weekend's events suffered from low attendance. Singh said that if "uncooperative" weather ensues, Friday's concert will be held in the Palestra instead of Irvine Auditorium, which closed for renovations last summer.

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