Spring Break
Steve Miller Band to play Parent's Weekend
Jonah Hein
Issue date: 9/19/06 Section: Campus
|
"I don't know who they are, but I am looking forward to seeing them play," said first-year James Deacon.
Sounds of the blues-inspired rock 'n' roll group, The Steve Miller band, will resonate through Millett Hall Oct.28.
"We wanted to do a concert (during Parent's Weekend) this year because the past few years we've had comedians come and perform for Parent's Weekend," said Gary Manka, director of student activities and leadership. "We were torn between the Blues Brothers and The Steve Miller Band, but there was a general consensus to go with the latter. I'm really glad it worked out this way."
While stating that she feels the group's music will appeal to all, Patti Swofford, director of the Performing Arts Series, said Miami students may not immediately recognize The Steve Miller Band.
Such is the case for senior Matt Kendra.
"Steve Miller Band? A bit before our time, but it might be worth a ticket for someone," Kendra said.
Swofford thinks students will be familiar with more of the band's music than they realize.
"We talked about doing The Steve Miller Band for years, and it's finally worked out that they could be here for Parent's Weekend," Swofford said. "It's going to be a weekend of hits, like 'Joker' and 'Fly Like an Eagle.'"
The decision to bring The Steve Miller band to Miami was the result of a long and tedious process of elimination.
"The Concert Board co-chairs, their adviser and I work very closely with our promoter to develop a list of bands that we think would be fairly successful Parent's Weekend bands," Swofford said. "We went through a rather lengthy process of identifying artists that would cater to both parents and students."
Manka agreed with Swofford about the difficulty of scheduling entertainers and elaborated on the process of contracting The Steve Miller Band for a performance at Miami.
"When we book the big concerts at Millett, Patti (Swofford) works with Nederlander (an outside company that deals with artists for Miami) to negotiate prices," Manka said. "The Steve Miller Band wasn't out first option. It's a great option, but it wasn't our first. It's very hard to get top-notch entertainers like The Steve Miller Band because we're located between two huge markets, Cincinnati and Dayton."
