A Day in the Life of Cornell Concert Commission

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Project Head: Lindsay RothfeldContributing Editor: Dani GredoñaWriter: Olivia Duell

Photograph by Andrew Fu

Shortly after 6:00 PM, doors open for the Lupe Fiasco concert and an antsy line of ticket-holders rushes into Barton Hall. The crowds are ushered in smoothly by the Con-cert Commission crews that had arrived twelve hours earlier. One can only wonder what really went down in Barton Hall on the day of the Lupe concert.

6:45 AMBarton Hall is vacant and does not look ready for the concert that will occur later this evening. CCC crew membres arrive, exhausted but excit-ed for the day ahead. Crews gather and “circle up,” introducing themselves to other mem-bers. After a quick, yet delicious and catered, breakfast, Stage Crew gets to work and begins

the long process of unloading trucks filled with stage and lighting equipment.It’s a strenuous job, but the crew laughs when they notice what the last user of the stage left behind. Ke$ha, who had just previously per-formed on the stage, left behind her set-list. Oh, and a ton of glitter, fake blood, and cake.

Photograph by Andrew Fu

Photograph by Olivia Duell

STAGE CREW

The Hospitality Crew arrives back from their trip to Wegman’s, carrying bags full of food to feed CCC members and the awaited artists. Hospital-ity also takes care of preparing the artists’ dress-ing rooms, sometimes filling strange requests. Today, Lupe wanted five pans of cornbread.

Down by the stage, the rest of hospitality is pre-paring lunch. Hospitality members are up to their elbows in deli meat and cheese, and the stage crew jokes that all hospitality does is roll meat. But Samantha Lefland and other hospitality crew members all agree that their positions are sought after. Hospitality doesn’t have to do any heavy

lifting, and they can hang backstage all night. And though it rarely happens, members of hos-pitality have the best chance to interact with the artist.

To get on hospitality, “You need to get the most karma,” says Lefland. Karma is a process where members get points for the amount of time they commit to CCC. These points can be won by at-tending meetings, working concerts, or by adver-tising at tables or with quarter-cards. Get enough karma and you get your first choice crew.

Near where the hospitality members are setting up for lunch, I talk to se-niors Sean Lawless, Pete Kelly, Mason Appel, and Rebecca Jacobowitz, who tell me more about the strange er-rands they’ve done on concert days. Entitled “runners,” these members at a moment’s notice may be asked to do some odd things. “I sat in the front of Kid Cudi’s limo giving him directions around Ithaca,” Jacobowitz said.

The crew also recalled how Further’s Phil Lesh wanted chocolate covered strawberries picked up for his wife, as it was Valentine’s Day. Jenny Lewis needed to drive to a store for chap-stick, and MIA needed some laundry done. Girl Talk requested a delivery of mouse-pads, and Cudi needed 50 cheeseburgers. Why? We may never know.

Photograph by Olivia DuellHOSPITALITY CREW

10:00 AM

In four Barton classrooms, hos-pitality puts Lupe’s cornbread and other items on the artists’ riders (a formal list of requests) on the tables they have set up and covered with tapestries. The crew works together to transform these spaces into desirable and relaxing rooms for the artists.

Unneeded chairs and tables have been pushed to the sides of the room and hidden by black cur-tains. A vase of flowers lies on one table, and lamps are placed in the corners to improve lighting. Hospitality has made the rooms look professional and welcom-ing, but there are more items that

need to be moved in.

Dan Cahalane’12, Production Di-rector, pops in to remind hospital-ity that it’s 11:00 AM, and Lupe Fiasco is scheduled to arrive in three hours. The crew picks up their speed.

K’NAAN’S DRESSING ROOM

Photographs by Olivia Duell

LUPE’S DRESSING ROOMS

Everybody grabs lunch and sits to-gether backstage. Zac Peterson, a freshman, looks at me and says, “You should do Concert Commission. I wasn’t even into music before joining.” Since he became involved, he has worked every show CCC has put on this year.

During artist sound-check, members have some down-time. CCC stresses professionalism, and no students watch or bother the artists during this process. “If the artist talks to us, it’s okay to talk back,” said Doug-las DuRant, former Executive Director of CCC. Otherwise, dis-rupting the musicians is generally off-limits.

Photograph by Lindsay Rothfeld

Photograph by Olivia Duell

Photograph by Olivia Duell

Photograph by Olivia Duell(left to right) Douglas DuRant ‘11, Harris Nord ‘12, and Justine Fields’10 reuinte for an Execu-tive Director lineage pic.

12:00 PM

Dave Rodriguez’13, Selections Director, elaborates on how they choose and work with the artists. He says that no one person is solely responsible for selections. Instead, the group organizes discus-sions, sends out surveys, and compiles informa-tion. CCC members then create a list of acts they want to bring to Cornell, and Rodriguez contacts the artists on the lists until one accepts. Lupe re-sponded to CCC’s offer within three to four days, and then planning began.

CCC’s mixture between a business and a student group helps students who potentially want to enter the music industry. Sam Breslin’12, former Selec-tions Director, knew that a position on the CCC E-Board would be a great opportunity for his future. Kate Tucci’11, another senior, says that her time with CCC has also guided her toward a career in concert and event planning.

SOUND CHECK

Photographs by Olivia Duell

4:45 PM

Crew members change into their respec-tive crew shirts to designate their positions. Security, Stage, and Hospitality members take their places in different security sta-tions around the barriers and by the water stations. Ticket-takers are downstairs by the entrance, waiting for the oncoming rush.

A group dressed in bright orange stands spread out between the barrier and the stage to keep the audience safe. Two girls hop over the barrier midway, but a CCC member is there to escort them back to the standing area. The show runs smoothly, and the CCC members look ecstatic.

7:00 PM

Photograph by Andrew Fu

Photographs by Andrew Fu

Photograph by Olivia Duell

CSHOW TIME

K’NAAN

Photographs by Andrew Fu

LUPE FIASCO

Photographs by Andrew Fu

Everyone clears out when the lights come on after Lupe’s last song, except for Concert Commis-sion. Their shifts don’t end until around two or three in the morning. Stage crew immediately needs to start disassembling the stage, and everybody needs to do a lot of clean up. At the end of it all, full day members have dedicated almost twenty-four hours of their time to CCC. Everybody is tired, but still having fun.

Harris Nord, Executive Director, looks pleased with this performance day. “Do you see how big of a production this is?” he asks, explaining that hundreds of members have come together to set every-thing up, take everything down, and make the entire show possible. And thanks to the students and their passion for the organization, the show was a success.

As the doors to Barton Hall close for the night, everyone head over to Manos for some late night/early morning snacks...But that’s an exclusive experience reserved only for the devoted members of Cornell Concert Commission.

GOOD NIGHT

Photograph by Andrew Fu

1:45 AM