Photo Courtesy of Kaila Williams

This Saturday at Beer:30, Bright Giant is back from Iowa to play with Emporia’s own Radio City and opening band The Floor is Lava.

“We just played in Iowa City last night and it was deader than hell. We really like coming and playing in Kansas actually, and any place we can get with Radio City,” said Bright Giant guitarist Josh Davis. “I think we’ll keep doing well there for sure.”

Both Radio City and Bright Giant are currently working on full-length albums, so they will have new material to play at the bar. Radio City guitarist and Emporia State graduate student Eric Murphy said in a previous interview that the record was set to release this month, but now the tentative release date is December.

“The artwork is being submitted right now, but they have to proof the artwork, which takes like a week and then they have to proof all the audio, which could take anywhere from a week to a few months,” Murphy said.

Davis said Bright Giant plans to release their CD sometime in February or March.

Saturday night will be local band The Floor is Lava’s first time on the bill at Beer:30. Sophomore business major and guitarist and vocalist for the band, Nick Yoho, said the band has played at the bar’s open mic night Thursday nights.

“We’re obviously way excited. We’ve talked about playing in the red room since we really started jamming together, before we were even a band,” Yoho said.

Yoho said that, as a band, Beer:30 is one of their favorite places to play because the crowd is so receptive and makes the band perform better.

“If you feel the love coming, you like to send it back,” Yoho said.

Yoho said The Floor is Lava’s bassist Chandler King is friends with Radio City Guitarist Matt Kosinski, so the bands connected through those two members. Yoho said his band looks up to the two bands they will be opening for.

“We look up to both of those bands quite a bit, especially Radio City because they’re from here in Emporia and we know those guys,” Yoho said.

Murphy said Radio City and Bright Giant haven’t seen each other in a month or two, but they have kept up on contacting each other by texting.

“We all text each other all the time, like it’s really weird because at first I assumed that Josh and I would be communicating, but all of us all talk to each other all the time,” Murphy said.

Davis said he’s excited to play with Radio City again and that he talks to Murphy every day.

“We’re dating road bands,” Davis said.

The Floor is Lava will open at around 9 or 9:30 p.m. Cover charge for those younger than 21 is $5 and it’s $3 for anyone over 21.

Lauren Walbridge

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Tools are scattered about the new Emporia Arts Council Building Tuesday afternoon in the 800 block of Commercial St. Alissa Miller/ The Bulletin

Sunlight from the windows lights up the gallery area of the unfinished Emporia Arts Council building set to open in January 2011.The building, which includes a theater, ceramics room and gift shop, among other things, is about three times bigger than the council’s current space.

“We want to grow everything, everything that we have, right now we’re kind of too big at the art center where we’re located currently,” said Melissa Windsor, executive director of the Emporia Arts Council. “And really just, you know, we want to enhance the arts and entertainment district in Emporia.”

The new location at 817 Commercial is 15,000 square feet total, comparable to that of the art council’s current space at 618 Mechanic, which Windsor said is about 5,000 square feet. The gallery itself is 1,600 square feet.

“We’ve been in the current space that we’re in probably about 15 years, so it’s time,” Windsor said.

Windsor said that with the help of fundraising and a lot of private donations, the EAC raised the approximately $3 million it took to build. She said the biggest donation they received was for $745,000 from the Jones Trust Fund. Windsor said the council is still looking for funding to equip the building’s kitchen with things like cabinets, sinks and refrigerators.

“We won’t have the funding for that initially, we’re still pursuing that anyway, and we’re hopeful that maybe we’ll have that by the time we open, but maybe we’ll get that pretty soon,” Windsor said.

Planning for the building project began when Windsor started at the EAC about five years ago, when board members got together and decided to do a feasibility study to see if it was possible.

“It was really started by a group of board members who knew that we had an opportunity for an arts and entertainment district in downtown Emporia,” Windsor said.

Dave Markowitz, head contractor for Mitchell-Markowitz Construction, the firm in charge of building the new center, said the company received a permit to build last November, did the demolition and some foundation work over the winter and really started building this spring.

“It seems like it’s been a long process, but I think the final product is going to be very attractive and go well with down town Emporia and I’m very excited to see how it all turns out,” Markowitz said.
The new structure includes much of the original building, which was most recently Dayton’s hobby shop. Windsor said the building was built in 1921, before the adjacent Granada Theater. Markowitz said that some of the structure of the old building supports the Granada, so engineers were more comfortable leaving it.
“Not only were we able to salvage some architectural features and get the look the architect was wanting, but it also helps support the north wall of the Granada and it stabilizes it,” Markowitz said.

Windsor said she felt that, in its current location, not enough people know about the art center. She said her goal is to expand in all areas, including ceramics and art education as well as having bigger gallery exhibits and shows.

“We want to really grow as far as a community center, you know letting people come rent the facility for other events and activities and really just, you know, enhance the arts and entertainment district in Emporia,” Windsor said.

Lacee Hanson, senior communications major and intern at the Emporia Arts Council said the EAC has outgrown their current location.

“I think that it does have a lot more potential definitely, a lot more room to grow definitely in the new building,” Hansen said.

Sometime in late January, Windsor said the EAC will have the new building’s grand opening celebration. Also, on Jan. 19, the EAC is partnering with the Center for Great Plains Studies for a gallery exhibit juried by Jim Richardson, a National Geographic photographer from Louisburg. The gallery is a part of the sesquicentennial celebration for the state of Kansas.

“We’re very lucky to have the Center for Great Plains Studies ask to partner with us on this and we feel very fortunate to be a part of it and let it be our opening event for our gallery,” Windsor said.

Hansen said she feels lucky to be involved in the EAC at this time of transition.

“We’re just trying to really build that hype, to get Emporia to recognize that the new building’s going to be a really great thing for the community,” Hansen said.

Lauren Walbridge

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A paper owl hangs in the Gilson Memorial Gallery in King Hall as part of senior art therapy major Krista Heller’s senior art show. Alissa Miller/The Bulletin.

Senior Art Therapy Major Krista Heller’s show opened in the Gilson Gallery in King Hall on Friday. Heller’s exhibit is made primarily from paper and relates to her future field with its sky blue hues and an interactive portion that allows visitors to purge secrets.

“I wanted it to be kind of like a surreal park theme,” Heller said.

The exhibit opened last week, but the reception for Heller’s senior art show is from 6-8 p.m. Oct. 1in theBruder Theatre lobby. Senior Art Therapy Major Mendalyn Garland said the show exemplified the feeling of serenity.

“I think it’s very nice to have a welcoming presence especially since she did mix the art therapy with her art exhibit; it was almost like a dream world,” Garland said.

Heller said she wanted to make an environment entirely out of paper because she thinks it is a resource that is often taken for granted. Using different paper sculpture techniques including a German technique called scherenschnitte, Heller created a garden of paper flowers, a tree silhouette background, birds that hang from the gallery’s ceiling and a paper mache willow tree.

“I really liked making the paper flowers in the flower garden and the birds, but the flowers I did get sick of it after awhile because I spent lots and lots of hours on those,” Heller said.

Along with the sort of peaceful environment Heller’s show provides, along one wall, visitors to the gallery can pick up note cards, write “secrets” on them and tape them up. Heller said she wanted to allow people to meditate and reflect while making it interactive.

Assistant Professor of Sculpture and gallery coordinator Roberta Eichenberg said many undergraduate students don’t create an exhibit where viewers actually contribute to the art. She said it is very similar to a blog called “Post Secret.”

“This is kind of a focal point of this show and it’s the thing that she’s asking you to do too is to contribute your secrets and it’s a way of purging. There have been a few projects with that concept… so it’s kind of a take on that and it’s almost like a confessional in a way,” Eichenberg said.

Heller said she began researching for this project last December. She said Eichenberg helped her with some of her ideas and bringing the show together.

“She was kind of a mentor throughout the whole thing, I bounced questions off of her and she gave me ideas of what materials and things like that to use,” Heller said.

Eichenberg said the senior art show is a professional platform for students. She said most students who put on a show don’t realize how much time it takes between creating the art and installing it in the final show.

“People don’t realize how much time it takes and I don’t really tell them how much time it takes because they don’t believe me. Everybody is like,‘that’s easy, that looks easy so it must be easy,’” Eichenberg said.

Garland said after having classes with Heller and seeing her show, it was exciting to see someone incorporate art therapy into a gallery.

“For anyone who is able to take the chance to observe it and attend it, I think it was a very nice, different approach to having an art exhibit at ESU and I was really proud of her,” Garland said.

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Faculty Senate President Joella Mehroff speaks with ASG about forming a closer working relationship with the Faculty Senate Thursday afternoon in the Memorial Union Ballroom. Kellen Jenkins/ The Bulletin

Associated Student Government held their second meeting of the year last Thursday in the Memorial Union Ballroom. President of ASG and senior social sciences major Jonathan Rivers opened the meeting and gave his remarks before committee reports proceeded.

Faculty Senate President JoellaMehrhof attended the meeting and talked about some things the faculty discussed at their meeting. Mehrhof said she plans to visit future meetings as well, putting an emphasis on a “goal of connecting” the faculty and students.

The student senate had their first reading of Senate Bill 10002, Recognition of the Korean Student Association as student organization. Senators voted and passed the bill unanimously (19-0), which would make the group an RSO. Rivers said the group had been an RSO until they were rescinded last school year. Rivers said he wasn’t sure why the group’s recognition was taken away.

“It could have been any number of reasons, we might just have not had their contact information up to date or they didn’t turn in their service hours, I’m not completely sure,” Rivers said.

Bo Moddelmog, sophomore political science major and senate operations chair, said after the senate approved the bill, Rivers and ASG vice president Ashley McCullough signed it, and now President Michael Lane has to sign it before the group is officially recognized as a student organization.

“Usually with RSOs and stuff he signs it, so then they will be an active RSO, but we consider them one now,” Moddelmog said.

BoRam Shin, senior music education major and president of the Korean Student Association, said the group is different from other student groups in that they don’t really have recruitment. She said Korean students know to come to the meetings and events, which she said are pretty irregular.

“We have some meetings just for hanging out with all of the Koreans and stuff. We have big meetings like twice a semester, we don’t really gather together always like some activities,” Shin said.

Rivers said the benefits of a group becoming an RSO are getting to check out rooms for meetings, usage of projectors for meetings, usage of catering services and most importantly, funding. Moddelmog said RSOs have the advantage of recruiting at the Huge Activities Fair every fall.

“You’ll be a recognized student organization, so you can recruit that way and you can have trips or have speakers, so now they have the ability to get money to do stuff through ASG,” Moddelmog said.

Shin said her goals for the group include finding students who are interested in learning Korean and giving them an opportunity to learn from group members.

“We wonder if there are students interested in learning Korean, we tried to get some, not just Americans, just all students who don’t speak Korean but who are interested in learning Korean,” Shin said.

Rivers said at the next meeting, the group will be able to show ASG what their organization is about during general order. He said he is excited to see what the group has to bring.

“We’re really excited about it because we want the international students coming together, forming RSOs and doing community service,” Rivers said.

The ASG meeting wrapped up with a vote on revising the student senate committee structure, ratification of the student senate attendance policy and announcements for the good of the university.

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Faculty Senate President Joella Mehrhof welcomes her fellow faculty members before the meeting Tuesday at Visser Hall. Aliss Miller/ The Bulletin

The first Faculty Senate meeting of the school year was held Tuesday afternoon in Visser Hall Room 330.

“We kind of have to reorganize ourselves and see how we like to look at each other and hear each other, and this was kind of a different set up, but I think we’ll fix that for next time,” said Joella Mehrhoof, Faculty Senate President and professor of health, physical education.

The first order of business was a group photo of the senators and executive board followed by announcements. Vice President and Provost of Academic Affairs Tes Mehring discussed the Red Balloon Project, a movement set to keep four-year institutions at their best. The project is sponsored by American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU). A discussion at http://emporia.campuspack.net/Groups/esu/Red-Balloonis open until Sept. 24 as an effort to set up Red Balloon Activities at Emporia State.

“There’s a spark to keep us as faculty interested in what we’re doing and continuing to explore new ideas, new venues for capturing student interest. To me that’s what the Red Balloon Project is about,” Mehring said.

Senators Giovanna Follo and Lynette Schreiner volunteered to serve on the Foundations Grant Committee for the ESU Foundation, which Mehrhof said allows faculty to apply for grants to do things in the classroom.

“Sometimes faculty just need a little bit of money to do an amazing thing, so these grants allow that to happen,” Mehrhof said.

Senator and assistant professor of mathematics, computer science and economics Rob Catlett called the senate’s attention to the American Democracy project, which is holding a forum between the two candidates for U.S. House of Representatives in the first district of Kansas, Tim Huelskamp and Alan Jilka. Catlett said the event will begin at approximately 7 p.m. on Sept. 27 in Albert Taylor Hall and is open to the public. He said the start time could be a few minutes earlier if the event is put on live television.

“We may have people coming from all over for this and we really want a large group of students because this will be the representative for people who live in this community and who are students in this community,” Catlett said.

Senior social science major and ASG President Jonathan Rivers said this was the first Faculty Senate meeting he attended without another member of ASG. He said going to the meetings gives a different perspective on issues facing the school.

“I think it’s really interesting hearing the faculty perspective on things because my life is the students, so hearing from the faculty sheds new light on things,” Rivers said.

Mehrhof said starting this year, she will attend ASG meetings. She said as long as she can remember, the ASG president has come to faculty senate meetings, but she doesn’t recall a Faculty Senate president visiting the students’ meetings.

“It’s kind of a nice parallel to what the faculty are doing and what the students are doing, it’s a bonding thing,” Mehrhof said.

Lauren Walbridge

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Radio City. Photo Courtesy of Casey Austen.

Bands Bright Giant from Des Moines, Iowa, and Radio City from Emporia are coming together for a second time at 10:30 p.m. tomorrow night at Beer:30. Guitarist for Bright Giant Josh Davis said this summer the two bands tried to play a show together, but stomach sickness kept the band’s drummer Will Locker off the stage. Davis and guitarist Noah Mass did an acoustic show instead.

“My drummer got some sort of food poisoning or the flu or something and couldn’t even sit for sound check, he’d just puke and puke and puke, and so our trip got cut short that time,” Davis said.

Bright Giant is opening and Davis said the band is bringing some new songs. He said they are excited to play for a college town.

“I think younger folks and that college age, somewhere in that area like our music best and those are the kind of people we want to play in front of,” Davis said.

Radio City guitarist and Emporia State graduate student Eric Murphy said Bright Giant is like a “band girlfriend” in that the bands are willing to help each other out and play together.

“They help us and we try to help them when we can, but they’re further along than we are, so it’s huge. It’s awesome that they do what they do for us,” Murphy said.

Guitarist for Radio City Matt Kosinski said the two groups met at a Record Bar show in Kansas City about six months ago. Bright Giant went on before the Emporia-based band and Murphy and Kosinski were both impressed. He said the bands have played together various times since that first show.

“We had just a mutual enjoyment of each other’s sets and then finding out that they were awesome guys too, everybody in that band is just good people and they play great music and it’s just a blast hanging out with them,’” Kosinski said.

Davis said the appreciation is mutual and both bands are scheduled to play together more in the future, including all this weekend and Labor Day weekend.

“It’s good to have bands like Radio City to trade with because we always know we’ll have solid performers with us right away,” Davis said.

Kosinski said the crowd in Emporia is usually really receptive if a band gives their all, whereas in other places the band has played, the audience doesn’t get as into it. He said unknown bands show up at Beer:30 and if they “play their hearts out” they get a response.

“We’ve played places outside of Emporia where you play balls to the wall, hard as you can, put every ounce of energy into the song and you look out there and nobody’s even paying attention at all,” Kosinski said.

Murphy said other bands from out of town have come in and noticed how much fun the crowd has and passed the word along.

“There’s just really not a lot of crowds like there are at Beer:30. Every band we’ve brought has loved it and told other bands about it,” Murphy said.

Murphy said Radio City recently finished recording their first full-length CD in St. Louis that should be released sometime in November. He said the band plans to have a CD release parties in Emporia and other cities where they play.

Kosinksi said there’s a difference between seeing a local band and a touring band play. He said he hopes people come out and see that Radio City is serious about the music and is actually becoming a band.

“There’s supposed to be a difference – local bands are just rag tag kids that just put a bunch of stuff together, and that’s the beginning of the evolution of a band. You’ll see it once you get out and about and on the road,” Kosinski said.

Lauren Walbridge

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Berch

The Granada Theatre is encouraging students to “Rock into College” with bands Between the Lines and Berch on Saturday, August 21 at 8 p.m. Granada director Jessica Buchholz said the show is a back to school celebration, but anyone in the community is welcome. The show is all ages and the cover charge is $5.

“Last year we had a movie the night of the Block Party and we thought we’d try a little something different this year,” Buchholz said, “Live music always seems to be a pretty big hit with students and the general population.”

Between the Lines is from Emporia and percussionist Victor Rodriguez said playing at the Granada was a dream for him since it was renovated. The show will be the band’s fourth performance at the theater.

“We really enjoy playing there, it’s a good venue. We’re very glad Emporia’s got that,” Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez said the band has been playing together for five years and covers a variety of music from classic rock and party songs to country and rhythm and blues. The drummer said he’s excited to showcase some of their original music on Saturday.

“We have a big repertoire of original songs considered alternative rock, but we are contemporary rock I guess,” Rodriguez said.
Berch’s lead singer Colin Elmore said his band is from Springfield, Missouri and has been playing together about a year and a half.

“It was kind of like a joking around thing at first, but we started taking it seriously,” Elmore said.

Elmore described his band’s music as “all over the place” with a sound that ties it all together. He said some of it has a country music structure, but some of it is more overdriven rock.
“I guess the best way to describe it is Coldplay with a saxophone,” Elmore said.

Elmore said Berch is touring for a few days, starting in Bentonville, Arkansas, going to Kansas City and ending in Emporia. The band is set to release their first c.d. September 17.

“I’ve heard really cool things about the area and that live music is kind of an active thing in Emporia,” Elmore said.

Unlike Between the Lines, Berch has never played in Emporia, and Elmore said they’re excited to meet new people here. He said the band cares about people and they love to make friends wherever they play.

“It’s kind of like we want to come and serve people by playing music, which sounds kind of overboard maybe, but really it’s a joy to get to go to places even if people really don’t come,” Elmore said. “We just want to meet whoever does come,”

Rodriguez said he listened to Berch on Myspace and is looking forward to opening for them.

“They sound very good,” Rodriguez said. “I know they travel quite a bit. They’re a very polished band,”

Buchholz said the Granada tries to get at least one local band to play once a month, as well as other bands from outside of the Emporia area.

“We did a lot of different shows last year for like local bands and I think it’s really important to support local music here in town,” Buccholz said.

Lauren Walbridge

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The Deedles

For the first time since May, Emporia’s The Deedles are playing at Beer30 on Friday at 10:30 p.m. Bassist Adam Smith said the band has some new material that they’re excited to play and that he never knows what to expect at the local bar.

“Usually the next morning you find random articles of clothing, flip flops, stuff like that all over the bar, which is definitely proof that people had a good time,” Smith said.

Bar owner Josh Olsen said he’s known most of the band’s members for about nine years and they frequently play at Beer30.

“They just bring a professional side of music to whatever bar they play, just from being on the road,” Olsen said.

Guitarist and vocalist Garret Briggeman said the band has gone through various changes over the years as far as members, style and name. Originally, it was called Locamachine, then the Dewayn Brothers and as of last August, they became the Deedles. Briggeman said it started out as an experimental rock band, and then moved into more bluegrass.

“It’s all just kind of been an evolution from one project into the next,” Briggeman said.

Smith said he had been involved with a band called Oakhurst in Colorado, and after touring together in 2007, he made friends with the members of the DeWayn Brothers. In April 2008, Briggeman called him to see if he could play bass for the Deedles.
“I played mandolin and electric guitar in Oakhurst, but Garret called me up and asked if I could play the bass and I said ‘No, not yet’, and he’s like, ‘Well you want to play bass in the rock band? I said sure,” Smith said.

Smith said the band’s sound hits everything from modern rock to classic rock. He said its blues, country, and the band’s bluegrass roots are still visible.

“It absolutely is different than anything we’ve ever done, I mean it’s basically just rock. It’s everything that the word rock which is also a pretty broad word, encompasses,” Smith said.

Jamie Briggeman, guitarist and vocalist, said a lot of the band’s songs are ones that she and Garret would perform acoustically because they didn’t quite fit in with the bluegrass feel of the DeWayn Brothers.

“We’ve had these songs for a long time, it was just kind of like they were on the shelf, you know, so once the bluegrass band dispersed we finally had a chance to really focus on it and make it our goal to do the songs full time,” Jamie said.

Smith said it’s difficult having the experience that the members of the Deedles do and having to start with a new band that nobody’s heard about. Despite having to start from the beginning, Smith said he thinks with all of the touring and experience they all know what to do this time.

“We have to take what we know about it and just start from the ground up, but we’ve learned so many lessons about what to do what not to do that we feel really good about this being the one,” Smith said.

Lauren Walbridge

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Although it was sunny and 68 degrees outside at 7 p.m. on Friday, the Emporia Relay for Life was held in the Emporia State HPER building in gyms D and E rather than on the track in Welch Stadium due to thunderstorm warnings. The relay lasted until 8 a.m. Saturday.

“We really wanted to make sure we had it inside so we wouldn’t have to do anything with our luminaries in the event of rain,” said Tina Khan, event chair and ESU alumni.

This was the first year the relay was held at ESU after being held at Emporia High School for 16 years. American Cancer Society staff partnerAngela Preuitt said the venue was changed in order to help the event grow.

“There wasn’t a lot of room to grow (at the high school), they’ve been doing work on the track, on the field and the sidewalks and it’s kind of been a little issue for us in the past couple years,” Preuitt said.

Forty-three teams participated and raised a total of $41,000 for the American Cancer Society. Of those teams, 20 were from ESU.

“We’ve got a lot of involvement and the community’s still involved so I think it’s great that the community and ESU are coming together as one,” Preuitt said.

The theme for this year’s relay was “Survivor Relay” and the gyms were decorated with a sort of island theme.

“It was really cool to have a play on words, survivor, as in cancer survivor and patients and treatment, but yet Survivor the show, you know it’s hip and fun, so we had that double entendre,” Khan said.

Teams signed up through the American Cancer Society Web site or by calling their hotline. They paid a $10 commitment fee and were asked to raise $100. They then received participant t-shirts and showed up to walk in the relay.

Brittney Rinehart, chair for Chi Omega sorority and junior elementary education major, said her house was divided into five teams and each was assigned a team captain. Each team raised at least $25 and the sorority raised $2,000 total.

“I had a friend that was on the committee last year and I realized that we do this every year for Chi Omega and I just decided I wanted to be in charge of it because it’s really important to me,” Rinehart said.

Rinehart said a lot of the girls in Chi Omega have been affected by cancer, and they are passionate about helping to possibly find a cure.

“People donate money and they see it as an opportunity to maybe cure cancer or fight for cancer because everybody’s been affected in some way or another, so it’s just a really good way to be involved in it and try to help,” Rinehart said.

The relay was kicked off with a lap for cancer survivors, and then all participants were invited to join. There was a silent auction with baskets donated by teams, a frozen t shirt contest, a “miss relay” contest where male representatives from teams dressed as women to see who could raise the most money, a whiffle ball game, balloon tosses, crayon coloring contests for kids and various other activities to raise money throughout the night.

“Anything that comes in tonight will go to the American cancer society for research dollars and local programs and services,” Preuitt said.

Khan said that she’s participated in Relay for Life since high school and feels that it’s important to promote awareness and raise money to fight back for those with cancer because everyone has met someone in their lives that has been affected by it.

“Kansas is really big with their college Relay for Lives and you know, if you have work or a job, get your coworkers and have a team, so every level of relay, you could do,” Khan said.

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Tie dye was the theme and covered Kellogg Circle from 6 to 9 p.m. on Wednesday as Emporia State channeled Woodstock with this year’s Flintstock event. The Paperclips opened for bands Antennas Up and John Henry and the Engine.

“We tried not to go on any avant-garde jam sessions or anything like we might have in Woodstock if that had been the case,” said Jake Briscoe, Paperclips’ guitarist.

Graduate adviser for the event Katie Moldenhauer said the nameFlintstock is a play on Woodstock, with Emporia State being in the Flint Hills. She said it’s an end of the year celebration that ESU has had for a long time and after not having it for a couple years, the Union Activities Council brought it back last year and it was a success.

“It’s a good opportunity just to enjoy yourself even if it’s just for five minutes, to get away from studying or finishing up projects or whatnot and it’s just completely free,” Moldenhauer said.

There were free corndogs, funnel cakes and popcorn as well as an inflatable obstacle course, inflatable slide and a graffiti wall for people to spray paint. Groups from around campus and businesses from the community including Airsoft Club, Greek Life and Midas Touch tanning salon had tables at the event. Senior Week had a table with a water balloon toss with a twist – water balloons filled with slime. Lacey Hansen, Senior Week chair said the slime went with the event’s theme “Nickin’ it Old School.”

“When I was asking around seeing what people really wanted to see with senior week and the Nickelodeon theme, kind of the resounding answer was slime, so that was kind of a lot of pressure,” Hansen said.

Seniors were given the chance to enter a raffle at the table and CDs and DVDs donated by CDTradepost were given to those whose names were drawn in between bands.

“Only seniors can get tickets and they can get tickets for participating in the slime activity and then get candy bars if they slime somebody,” Hansen said.

Moldenhauer said Ha Ha Tonka was originally supposed to play, but the band is currently touring, so UAC booked John Henry and the Engine instead. The Paperclips earned their opening slot by winning the Battle of the Bands in February. Moldenhauer said members of UAC went to a National Association for Campus Activities conference in Arlington, Texas, and saw Antennas Up play and decided that they would be a good band for Flintstock. The Paperclips and Antennas Up are both from Kansas City, Mo., and John Henry and the Engine is from St. Louis/ Columbia, Mo.

“We had all of UAC, the council and committee members vote on who we would like and that’s who won,” Moldenhauer said.

Briscoe said there was some trouble with wind and equipment for the bands; one had a cymbal fall and cut a microphone cable and various other pieces fell. Bassist Jason Richards said they were lucky none of the accidents happened with their stuff, but they did have to pay special attention to drummer Chris Evan’s set.

“We had to like rig up this like drum set inside of itself so everything interlocked like a Jenga puzzle,” Richards said.

Briscoe said that despite the wind, he felt good about the show. He said that if it hadn’t been in Emporia, people wouldn’t have come because of the weather, or they would have been too busy enjoying the corndogs and funnel cakes to listen.

“It feels great, we love being in Emporia. Coming to Emporia can’t be a bad time, you know what I mean. It’s a lot more inviting and responsive than a lot of towns,” Briscoe said.

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Emporia State showed its gay pride Monday night with its first ever Alternative Beauty Contest at 7 p.m. in the Memorial Union Ballroom. Students dressed in drag to compete for Mr. and Ms. ESU Drag. There were three rounds: one for talent, one based on how the contestants were dressed and one where the judges interviewed the contestants.

“As far as acting out, this is the biggest I have ever seen an audience for in 10 years, so it was awesome and the energy from the crowd, from the performers, I just loved it,” said Luke Wolford, junior sociology major and PRIDE president.

Wolford said the event was a follow up to Friday’s Day of Silence as a part of Pride week, which supports gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender rights. For Day of Silence, students took a vow of silence to bring attention to discrimination in education. Wolford said this yearESU’s Day of Silence was dedicated to Missouri Southern, a university where sexual orientation and gender identity are not a part of the university’s non-discrimination clause.

“Today is supposed to be about being loud, being fun, being as visible as possible and showing that, you know what, Friday we showed you what it’s like if we didn’t have a voice, now let’s show you what it’s like when we do,” Wolford said.

Wolford said PRIDE has had drag performances as a part of acting out before, but there has never been an actual drag competition at ESU. He said he had seen it done at other campuses like the University of Kansas where it went over well. The event was partnered with Zoiks! who performed in between rounds and the Union Activities Council.

“We thought if we opened it up to the student body, made it a competition, it would get a lot more of a positive response, get a lot more student feedback, and get more of the campus involved in pride week,” Wolford said.

The competition was judged by Professor of Sociology Giovanna Follo, Psychology professor Jim Pershing and Professor of Social Sciences Deb Gerish. Senior Physical Education andEnglish major Austin Schopper won Ms. ESU with his drag persona Valerie Wasboyskee and Senior Communications major Brittany Zirkle won Mr. ESU for her persona, Chuck Taylor.

Because of a one point difference in score, the overall winner was not one of the two finalists, but was Senior Sociology major Harrison George with his persona called Harizona Persona. Mr. and Ms. ESU were awarded with crowns and the overall winner received a DVD.

“I don’t think it’s hit me yet, I mean it’s like I just wanted to come out and have fun and stuff. I didn’t think I actually had a shot at winning and here I am, so I don’t know,” Schopper said.

The overall winner, Harizona Persona was a feminist character. George said that he came up with his drag persona while preparing for the competition. He said he didn’t want to wear a wig and shave his legs for the competition because he felt like he would be conforming.

“It just made me stop and think about it more, and this character, this feminist kind of character, which are a lot of beliefs I have anyway. It was the first chance I ever had to express them from a woman, an actual woman’s point of view,” George said.

Zirkle said that for her, being involved in it was a learning experience. She said she thought it gave people on campus an idea of what life is like for those whose lifestyle is dressing in drag.

“It definitely gave perspective to what some of my friends go through where they do put facial hair on every day and live that life, so I thought it was a pretty eye opening experience,” Zirkle said.

George said it was also a learning experience for him and that it sent the message that no matter how we dress or act, we’re all people and we’re all the same.

“I thought they did a really good job, it was entertaining and it was light but it also carried a really strong message and I was blown away that so many people attended,” George said.

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