Jessica Buchholz | ESU Bulletin

The crowd packed the main floor as Johnathan Van Risseghem, an alternative singer and guitarist from Tulsa, Okla., took the stage at the Granada Theater Thursday night. The crowd was cheering and clapping from the beginning of the set until the end.

“I couldn’t think of a better place to be spending my 23rd birthday than here in Emporia,” Risseghem said.

Risseghem played his guitar to open for Stars Go Dim, also from Tulsa, to a crowd of more than 600 people. Risseghem said he hopes to continue his music career for the remainder his life and feels it is his calling, according to an interview with musiczeitgeist.com.

“I’ll be a musician all my life – I don’t think there’s any stopping that,” Risseghem said during the interview.

The Granada was a source of much enjoyment for the artist, calling it one of the “coolest venues” he had ever seen and that he “had a blast” playing for Emporia.

As the lights dimmed after Risseghem’s performance, shouts of “Stars Go Dim” filled the Granada. The band took the stage and the crowd began to sway.

Their set list included the single “Like I Mean It” off of their upcoming, unnamed album and “Crazy” from their first album. Band members said they were impressed by the Granada’s look.

“This place is amazing, I’ve never seen anything like it,” said Chris Cleveland, the lead singer and pianist for Stars Go Dim.

Jessica Buchholz, executive director of the Granada, said she was excited about the turn out for the concert and she hopes that the Granada can help support a local music scene.

The event was sponsored by local businesses and KISS 103.1.

“We’re looking to do a couple big concerts like this a year and we’re really hoping to get local live music started up in Emporia,” Buchholz said.

She said she was also excited to see a variety of different ages at the concert and for a new group of people to be exposed to the Granada for the first time.

“I think Emporia is really lacking a live music scene (but) I think this really helps with that,” said Luke Chiddix, junior political science major.

Chiddix said he enjoyed the show and was glad that Emporia could bring in some out-of-state bands and that the town could really benefit from more events like this.’

Charlie Heptas

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