Underage students can once again jam to local bands without having to venture off campus.
Ball State acoustic artist TJ Fields and local pop-rock band Dreams of University will be playing a free show in the L.A. Pittenger Student Center Tally at 8 p.m. tonight as part of University Program Board's weekly Wired! series promoting local bands and musicians.
Turnout for Wired! in the past has been light, but freshman Chris Aveline, who is training to take over the program after UPB program director Nick Hewitt, has high expectations for tonight's show.
"For [tonight]'s show, I originally started looking at local Muncie bands, and the one that caught my eye the most was Dreams of University," Aveline said. "I'm hoping they will draw a decent crowd because I know they have a really big following here in Muncie. I hope they will help make Wired! much more successful and give it more publicity."
Dreams of University started in the summer of 2006 and was recently listed as the top unsigned band in Indiana on Myspace's list of top artists and has steadily been gaining a legion of fans, playing in all-ages venues and opening spots for national and regional acts.
TJ Fields has performed around Muncie in such venues as Charlie's Library and the Living Room, when it reopened in September.
Aveline has big plans for developing Wired! over the next year, including increasing the name recognition of Wired! through more extensive marketing of shows both online and around campus. He also plans to expand the format of the program and, in doing so, eventually move the event to a larger venue.
"I hope I can develop Wired! into a full concert instead of just a band with an acoustic opener," he said. "I want to make it into a full show, which in my experience is usually three to four bands, and move it to a larger setting."
Hewitt, a sophomore public relations major, said Wired! started in February 2008 with acoustic acts as a way to enjoy local music talent before the weekend because they were easy to set up after Friday Night Filmworks in Pruis Hall.
In an earlier article he said UPB chose the Tally for its coffeehouse feel and created the event to get local band and performers' name out and provides a venue for them to perform. The first Wired! event this year featured headliner and acoustic guitar player Phil Johnson of the band Mid-American and drew in a crowd of roughly 60 students on Sept. 11.
Most of the music performed at Wired! shows is acoustic and performers usually play solo acts.
Other past Wired! performances have included unplugged artists like Ben Clark and Jim Gedda as well as bands such as Save Our Syndicate, The Day After, and When, Not If.
After the first show Hewitt said he planned for Wired! to follow a 15-minute opener, 45-minute band set format. Hewitt said UPB's goal this semester is to remaster the event and bring in a lot more bands.
"Now we have an acoustic opener with a band performing as the bulk of the show," he said.
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