Starstruck

On Friday night, my friend Katherine and I went to a concert at the Velour Live Music Gallery. We went to see BENTON PAUL and TRUMAN in concert. It was an amazing concert.
Nik Day, from Idaho Falls, Idaho, opened for TRUMAN and BENTON PAUL. I loved his sound, so I bought his CD! He kind of reminds me of Regina Spector (Who I have decided that I like after much consideration... She is odd, but good).Nik is not as odd as Regina Spector though. He has kind of has a bluesy pop sound. I am listening to him as we speak, or more like as I write. You should totally check him out... you can find his stuff on YouTube and Facebook... He also has a CD in iTunes called My Favorite Song.
Truman performed next... they are amazing! Ben and Chad Truman are from Nashville, Tennessee, and are the sons of Dan Truman, a member of popular country music group Diamond Rio. They have a really nice, good feeling, bluesy-pop kind of sound. Check out their CD Hold On To Love on MySpace. They also have a few songs on iTunes. They wrote a new song called "You Write My Songs", and performed it last night. I think it is my new favorite song! It is amazing... the only video I have been able to find is on Facebook, but I have "shared" some videos on my Facebook profile. Truman is pretty amazing, and they sound really great live! They also performed a cover of Kings of Leon "Someone Like Me", and it was wonderful! I hope they release another CD soon!!
Benton Paul is a musician from Highland, Utah.He has really become a musical sensation, and has fans that come from near and far to hear him play. I'd never heard of him until he opened for David Archuleta in Salt Lake City, Utah. He is now one of my favorite artists. He was awesome! He sang some songs from his CD Grey and his EP Trois, including two of my favorites, "Paris" and "Look for the Light". He performed a Cold Play cover of "Yellow", and he totally rocked it. He also performed a new song that he had written recently, but sadly I cannot remember the name of it, nor can I find a video of it anywhere. He even received an encore, and played "I Only See You". It was great close to an awesome musical extravaganza! Check out Benton Paul at bentonpaul.com. You can also find him on Facebook and MySpace, as well as iTunes.
I almost forgot! Another awesome guy from Salt Lake that performed with Benton Paul is John Allred!! He was also very good! Check him out at allredmusic.com
Photo Attributions: bentonpaul.com, http://www.positivemusicanddownloads.com/store/257/257/Truman/Hold-On-To-Love/, Katherine Vellella photos

P.S. If anyone really reads my blog, please leave a comment!!

Where have you been all my life?

The theater roared with shouts and yells as the fans held up pens, pieces of paper, cardboard and whatever else they could find for the performers to autograph. The lights went down, the crowd quieted, and the extravaganza of music began.
The Brigham Young University Student Activities Board has featured student music artists in a series known as Acoustic Explosion for over five years, but it did not start out with a theater full of screaming fans. Just three years ago, Acoustic Explosion was a small show with a small venue held in the Traditions Lounge, according The BYU Student Activities Board. As the show gained popularity, the Student Activities Board had to move it to the Varsity Theatre.
“We started getting too many people, and it became a fire code hazard, so we moved it to the Varsity Theatre, which seats close to 400,” said Spencer Glenn, a member of the BYU Student Activities Board, and the head of the February 2010 Acoustic Explosion presentation. We’ve had it there for a couple of years, and it pretty much fills up every show.”
Each month, the Student Activities Board takes demo submissions, and then, using the BYU Honor Code as a guide, they select six artists to perform. Each artist is given a fifteen-minute block to perform three songs. The Board loves a variety of genres, and has had artist perform anything from Acoustic Celtic to Acoustic Rap.
“I love going to Acoustic Explosion because I can check out all the artist and find out who could potentially be up and coming in every type of music,” said Katherine Vellella, a BYU Freshman majoring in English.
Acoustic Explosion is a free show offered to BYU students, but it is definitely not free to put on. BYU Student Activities Board has to pay for the advertising and the special price give-aways during the show with a small budget (contrary to popular belief, BYU Student Activities Board is not in conjunction with BYUSA). The banners used to advertise for Acoustic Explosion cost $75 a piece to print. The Student Activities Board has had a problem with students stealing the banners to hang them up in their dorms. Glenn said that he has caught a few people in the act, and has had to stop them.
“I actually caught a girl with an Acoustic banner rolled up outside the show… and confronted her. She tried to make up some excuse that was so weak, I can’t even remember,” Glenn said. “I just guilted her and had her give it back. I suppose I could have pressed charges…but I am a pretty nice guy.”
This is an article I wrote for one of my classes. Besides being a great form of entertainment for BYU students, it is a great way to check out artists that have a lot of potential. The line up at February Acoustic Explosion was pretty awesome. It started out with a band called There She Goes, two freshman college guys with guitars. They performed three songs, "#1 Fan", "The Hard Way", and "Lush". Their songs were kind of interesting, and they even incorporated beat-boxing, but they were awesome on guitar. The next person that performed was Daniel Wilde. He sang "Life As a Freshman, "I Refuse", and "Your Eyes". He sounded awesome! He was genuine and classic, just a guy with a guitar. Emily Brown came next with "You'd Think", "Sweetheart", and "Happier". Her singing and her piano skills were both amazing. She has a really nice bluesy kind of voice, and I really liked her songs. Ned Meservy really got the crowd going when he performed some classic covers on guitar. Then Jonny Vance and the SGC rocked the place. This band was great, with a combo of piano, guitar, bongo, and cello. They played "The Puppeteer" and "Neptune". To seal the deal, Jeff Weeks performed "Take You There", "Awake", and "On My Mind". His mix of great guitar and a gorgeous voice was an awesome close for the night. To check out more artist and their cool songs visit http://stab.byu.edu/content/ae-comp-mix. Another awesome artist that you should check out on YouTube and MySpace is Sean O'Rourke. His music is a little funky, but he is really good.

Blogplosion

Ever since I started my blog, everyone I know has started a blog. What is going on? None of those people read my blog, though. Actually, I don't think anyone reads my blog. Life has gotten especially interesting this new semester. I am having new experiences and making new friends. I am really relieved that I finished my Sociology paper so now I can just write. It seems like someone creates a new blog about some other stupid thing every day. No wonder newspaper are going out. Every one is going to the internet for all their information. I think I want to start an online magazine. I don't know how I would make an income, but if I can find a way to connect music and writing and put them into something that people would actually read, I would so do it! This is totally unrelated, but my song for today is Breakthrough by Colbie Caillet