Opinion Board | More of the same

When Ben Kweller was picked to headline the Social Planning and Events Committee's fall concert, many Penn students had the same reaction: "Who?"

Last Thursday the DP reported that only five out of 62 surveyed students were familiar with Kweller.

Given his lack of popularity at Penn, Kweller is an odd choice to say the least.

But even if he is an extremely talented performer and his music utterly enchanting (we wouldn't know - maybe one of those five people can help us out), the red-headed acoustic rocker is still a poor choice.

Pop quiz. What do Ben Folds, Rufus Wainwright, Howie Day, Third Eye Blind, OAR and Ben Kweller all have in common, aside from falling into very similar musical genres? They've all played at Penn in the last three years.

This isn't coincidental.

In general, college students like the emo, alternative sound and SPEC has had consistent success with these choices. Ben Folds especially, who enjoys a massive campus following, satisfied students appetite for a relatively big-name performer and the concert quickly sold out.

After the Sonic Youth debacle at 2005 Spring Fling which was only attended by 250-300 students, it's understandable why SPEC would want to play it safe.

But enough is enough.

There are plenty of Penn students who like all different types of music from rap to funk to hard rock to pop. It's too late for the fall concert, but picking a performer who strays from the emo-alternative mold and is still widely known would have been refreshing.

Hopefully, SPEC won't make the same mistake come Spring Fling.

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