Hint: one of these is cooler than the others
When we saw the words “Wharton Business Technology Conference“, we were one mouse click away from sending that baby to the trash. But then one name caught our eyes.
Yes, that’s right, ladies and gents: M.C. Hammer will be in the house.
The Grammy-winning rapper, record label CEO and reality T.V. producer will be one of the keynote speakers for the Feb. 26th event. He’ll also be bringing a decade of wireless and mobile technology expertise—and twitter savvy—to a panel covering social networking. In other words, this should be completely awesome.
No word yet on whether he’ll be donning a business suit. Fingers crossed for return of the Hammer pant.
So, in honor of this ’90s legend, let’s get it started after the jump:
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Remember that “M.U.S.I.C. for Your Mind” crew that put on the actually kind of awesome Girl Talk show?
Apparently they’re at it again– sorta. MUSIC FYM has started hardcore promoting an upcoming Lupe Fiasco concert in conjunction with (the definitely not random) SPEC, Pi Kapp, and Kappa Sig. The event’s Facebook group has like 800 people in it already.
Lupe coming here to actually perform? Sweet! Let’s all go right now and buy tickets and mark it in our calendars and– wait. There’s not actually a date yet. You can only reserve your tickets in a Google spreadsheet. And they don’t have an opener. Weeelll, MUSIC FYM, you better not be getting our hopes up– we’re trying to get our Superstar on as soon as possible.
All-star tipster Emily Kaplan sends us this snapshot of the Glee Club serenading in the Bookstore. Cute! If you haven’t stopped by the bookstore yet today, you should go now. Also, is this the Glee Club? We think so. We hope so.
Tonight’s the SPEC Fall Concert! We’re sure you all read the interviews with the bands from this week’s Street, but maybe that wasn’t enough. Maybe you want to know what Pains of Being Pure at Heart singer Kip Berman had to say about autumn, football and how much Smashing Pumpkins he’s been listening to. Good news: we have outtakes from the interview on those very subjects and so much more!
Street: This is going to be the fall concert – what’s your favorite thing about fall?
Kip Berman: Oh my God, it’s my favorite season. And my birthday’s in the fall. I love football. Birthday, football, changing leaves…I also like sweaters a lot. When fall comes around I can start wearing sweaters again, which is true to my indie pop nature. It could be seen as cliche but it’s true. I especially like argyle ones. The World Series is fun, too.
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Remember the guys we interviewed in Street last year who talked about throwing poppy seed bagels into the crowd at shows and having beef with the Latin Kings? Well now they go by Hoodie Allen and they’re a totally big deal. Time Out New York even added them to “Jamie Falkowski’s impressive survey of up-and-coming white hip-hop movers and shakers.”
Along with being hyped on a handful of major hip-hop blogs, their mix tape, entitled “Making Waves” and available for free download here, was nominated for an mtvU Woodie Award for Best Music on Campus. A Woodie for Hoodie Allen? That’s like Dananananaykroyd winning a Daniel!
It seems too good to be true, and it actually might be, unless you vote for them. Check out the full track list after the jump.
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Like real life Rock Band!
A couple of weeks ago we told you about how to enter the Fall Festival Battle of the Bands, and now our friends over at SPEC have clued us in to who made the cut. On Saturday, Oct. 10, each of the seven bands will play a 20-minute set. The battle is going down from 2:30-6, and will take place on College Green.
Your battlers are:
Mask & Wig
Pan-Am
Penn Rock
Redheads are Trouble
Sex Panther
Stone Kansas
Young Broke Romantics
Make sure to check out the band bios in the October 8th issue of Street.
Long ago, during the International Year Of Older Persons, which happened to also be the standard-setting year for all future partying, there was this way cool group of Urban Studies students at Penn. With the help of Profs Benson and Harkavy of the Center for Community Partnerships, these go-getters took their aforementioned cool, mixed it with some good ole’ fashioned passion, and created what we now know as The Rotunda. We’re pretty sure they got an A+ on the project, since this music and arts venue has now hosted over 2,000 events, all organized by a group of volunteers and staff members who are “fueled by the belief that art is a catalyst for social change.”
Hopefully you’ve checked out The Rotunda by now (We have, lots of times), and plan on checking it out again on Oct. 1. But if you’ve never been, that’s okay too, because The Rotunda is turning two whole hands this weekend, and you’re invited to the party!
Like most ten year olds, The Rotunda will commemorate its birth with a weekend-long celebration of the arts. Details about the goings on (which will include live music, art auctions, film screenings, dancing, and of course, cake), after the jump.
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Let us fill in for Pitchfork for a moment and keep you up to date on MGMT’s whereabouts. You guys know about MGMT, don’t you? Here is their story: Wesleyan, “Time To Pretend”, “Electric Feel”, Justice Remix of “Electric Feel”, Sex Drive, Tim “The Freak” Lincecum, “Kids”, Sarkozy, NHL 2K10, new album coming out. And now everybody’s all up to date! Usually when we tell awesome stories like that, people are like, “More! Tell us more! That can’t be the end, can it?” Usually it is the end, but not this time – the next thing the band is up to is a free concert right here in Philadelphia on Sunday as part of Kia Presents: The Soul Collective Tour (so catchy). To get a pair of tickets, you have to test drive the new Kia Soul at the 23rd St. Armory, but driving is so fun, right? We all miss driving when we’re at school, right? That’s why we all brought racecar beds this year, right?
Full details here and after the jump.
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We went to the football game on Saturday and sat through the entire disappointing affair. Oops, not the best way to start, guys. But no biggie – there are more pressing problems at Franklin Field these days. We’re talking about you, Penn Band. Listen, “Since U Been Gone,” “All The Small Things” and “Final Countdown” are great, but can we get something new? We have a few suggestions.
Ice Cube – “It Was A Good Day”
We need a cocky victory song. We can get the horn section playing that silky smooth guitar sample and all of the fans rapping the lyrics. We may not be able to field the best team year in and year out, but we can definitely have the most swag booming from our stands. Also can we get the band to drop their instruments and go a capella on the lines, ”Even saw the lights of the Goodyear Blimp/And it read Ice Cube’s a pimp”? Thanks.
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Earlier today we told you about SPEC’s Battle of the Penn Bands. Almost immediately, an argument (Mask and Wig vs. any other musical group) raged in several passionate comments. Unfortunately, it will be awhile before we find out who will win, or even participate in, that part of Fall Festival. But there’s more to this event, which will take place on College Green Saturday, October 10. More than Penn bands doing covers of pop songs, you say? Why yes!
After weeks of trying to trick committee members into divulging the Fall Festival musical guest before the official press release, we finally succeeded. Fine, the official press release is out. Their lips were seriously sealed! Anyway, in what they hope will be the first many Penn-wide autumn dance parties, SPEC will present Super Mash Bros, a collaboration between Nicolas Fenmore and Dick Fink, who describe themselves as “Girl Talk’s hot cousin.” The up-and-coming mash-up artists are set to hit the stage at 6:30 p.m. Luckily for those of you who like to sing along to every word at a concert, all of Super Mash Bros’ music is available for free download here.
Also keeping you entertained at Fall Fest will be over 40 student organizations, inflatables, a free yoga session (gotta be flexible for the dance party), lots of food, and the cupcake truck! We’ll keep you posted with more information as it comes our way, but for now, let’s plan on meeting at the bouncy castle. We’ll be the ones jumping way higher than you.
If you’re anything like us, at concerts you’re always thinking, “I should be on that stage, wowing the crowd with my flossy dance moves and my bomb-ass falsetto.” As part of their Fall Festival on October 10th, SPEC is making your dream possible. They’re holding a Battle of the Bands and they would like you to enter.
SPEC says:
Any band that is interested in competing need only submit a music sample either in person at the Office of Student Life, 200 Houston Hall, or online at www.sonicbids.com/PennBattle before 5:00 PM on September 25th.
It’s unclear as of now if the winner will be determined by using some type of Engineering School-designed applause-o-meter, but no matter how the contest is decided, the winning act will get the headlining spot in the Quad on the Friday of Spring Fling. If that isn’t enough incentive to enter, all the bands participating will be featured in 34th Street the week of the festival. And face it, rock and rollers, enough is never enough, is it? You always want more sex and drugs and magazine coverage.
SPEC Jazz and Grooves will take over the Rotunda on Thursday, October 1, for a night that will make any indie music fan’s heart skip a beat. Brooklyn natives The Antlers, who we got a chance to check out at the Pitchfork Festival this summer, will be joined by Holly Miranda, a vocalist loved by Kanye West and Vanity Fair alike. More information about the musical acts, courtesy of SPEC, along with the music video for The Antlers’ “Two,” after the jump.
Tickets are on sale on the walk, as well as through this website. Student tickets will be sold for $10 ahead of time and $15 at the door. Be sure to get yours before all the cool kids of Philadelphia get wind of the show. At that point, the average attendee hipness might rival that of the American Apparel ad that was Girl Talk 2009, and tickets will go like hot cakes. (Man, talk about a hip phrase.)
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Attention music enthusiasts: UTB is giving away one pair of tickets to Monday’s Jack Peñate concert at Johnny Brenda’s. The British singer-songwriter is garnering quite a bit of buzz across the pond, so you’ll definitely want to check out the first stop on his North American tour.
Want them? Send a Jack Peñate-related haiku to underthebutton@gmail.com, and dazzle us with your verbal wit.
It’s the 40th anniversary of Woodstock this weekend. You know that. You can’t not know that. The only way to be unaware of this fact would be to crawl underground with your eyes squeezed shut and your fingers jammed in your ears. On one level it’s kind of annoying; after all, we’re talking about arguably the greatest party in the history of parties, a free free-for-all with iconic performances by real deal rock stars and an audience of half-a-million-strong slathered in mud having sex and taking acid/getting stoned/popping pills like tic tacs/etc. etc. The ultimate musical cultural experience… and we all missed it.
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*headdesk*
With finals now officially here, everyone’s got studying and paper-writing on the brain. As you may have noticed, UTB is continuing to update sporadically, as we will throughout exam period. What does this mean for you? Keep sending in tips! See a crazy study fort in Van Pelt, or have an insane story from a weekend of formal-hopping? Hit us up! While we wait for your tips, Street’s editors have taken the liberty of putting together a sick playlist for you all. (We hope it is, at least — our music editors, fresh off their “Too Cool For Street” paper plate award at this weekend’s gala extravaganza, have not deigned to contribute. Guyyyys, you’re killing us.) Clicking on each song should allow you to listen — enjoy!
“Can I Kick It?” – A Tribe Called Quest
Because, yes, I can in fact kick it. –Julia Rubin
“Mirando” – Ratatat
My favvvvvvv. –Lauren Lipsay
“Oxford Comma” – Vampire Weekend
I can’t listen to music with lyrics while I study, but the grammatical namesake of this song makes me feel academic during a study break. –Hillary Reinsberg
“Let’s Get Ready To Rumble (Remix)” – Jock Jams
Jock Jams volume I, II, III, IV. for irony. –Julie Steinberg
“Wake Up” – The Arcade Fire
Not only is it the song in the freaking amazing Where the Wild Things Are trailer, but it’s called Wake Up. It’s purpose is right there in the title. I have literally been listening to it on repeat for like three days. OK, maybe not literally. Figuratively. –Jess Spiegelman
“This Is The Day” – The The
The title says it all. –Eliza Rothstein
“Walking On Broken Glass” – Annie Lennox
Sounds so sweet, actually pretty harsh. (Ha, people say the same thing about me.) –Heather Schwedel
