By Emily Bartelheim, Features Editor
The College of Wooster hosted its annual Springfest last Saturday, which was organized and run by the Wooster Activities Crew (W.A.C.). Springfest is an event that hosts performances by music artists, as well as free food and entertainment.
Free cotton candy, popcorn, soda pop and candy helped fuel students’ and community members’ sugar highs as they played on giant blow-up bouncy games, including a Velcro wall (not as pain-free as it looksÖwedgies were unavoidable), a wind tank and a bungee-chord challenge.
This year’s Springfest opened with the student band The Vageniuses, featuring students Jane Segal ’13,† Max Bent ’13, Ben Strange ’13, Micah Motenko ’13, Soona Salem ’13 and Kyle Smucker ’13. Freddie Cool and the Rest of Them followed, comprised of Brandelle Knights ’12, Jacqueline Narnor ’12,† Darius Dixson ’13, Nana Boamah ’11, Matt Roberts ’11, Chris Andrews ’10, Micah Motenko ’13, Brandon Pool ’12 and Paul Winchester ’11. Opening with their hit “Day Dreamin’,” audience members could not help but tap their feet and clap along. With such an overflow of talent, this group has never failed to disappoint.
Following Freddie Cool, this year’s guest musical artists included indie bands The So So Glos and Best Coast. The So So Glos are a rock & roll band from Brooklyn, New York. Composed of Alex and Ryan Levine, Matt Elkin, and Zach Staggers, three of whom are brothers of Jesse Berkowitz ’12. Berkowitz said the band toured across Europe and America last summer with Matt and Kim. The band members attempted to be philosophical, offering to students insight such as, “This is democracy in action,” and “This song is going to make you feel dumb, like Xanax.”
Best Coast is an indie rock band based in Los Angeles, Calif. The band is recognizable for its fuzzy, low-fidelity sound, commonly associated with surf rock.
Many college students were disappointed with the guest music artists this year. Students have said that they expected better and the student bands were a lot more entertaining. The fact that the event took place in a parking lot instead of a field added to a perfect storm of disappointment. Though Best Coast also proved insightful while telling the audience, “I’m not allowed to cuss on stage, so you all should cuss at me.”
Grainne Carlin ’11, president of W.A.C., had a lot to say on the topic. “I wasn’t happy with Springfest this year either, but it was because of the behavior of the artists, not the artists themselves.” Although the bands were not the first choices of W.A.C., but due to last-minute problems, W.A.C. did the best that it could.