Expected turnout

Gather up your tents, bandanas, and fanny packs in preparation for Columbia’s new fall festival: Lowlapalooza. This exposition of Columbia’s top musical groups is set to take place on Sunday, October 7, from 10 am to 7 pm on Low Plaza (hence the clever title). With the date rapidly approaching, Bwog’s Resident DJ Sean Vonzie got in touch with one of the organizers of the event–Julian Haimovich, SEAS’13–to shed a bit of light.

Julian conceived the idea for the festival while bored hard at work, “reminiscing about how awesome it was to have the opportunity to perform on Low Plaza on a beautiful day.” Julian realized that it would be a capital idea to extend that same opportunity to Columbia’s premier musical outfits. A few snazzy calls later, Julian and a few of his friends (including Ramzi Abdoch, SEAS’13, Carl Majeau, CC’13, and Geneva Miller, CC’13) set out to make their dream a reality.

Unlike Battle of the Bands, “there will be no prize” or de facto winner for the festivities. Julian wants to present not “a competition, but rather a celebration of the rich and diverse musical culture that exists at our university.” Fifteen bands were selected by a jury comprised of event organizers and Bacchanal board members (If your band didn’t make the cut, Julian has specially requested you forward all hate mail to the university’s efficient bureaucratic system for a prompt resolution instead).

The bands represent a diverse set of musical genres–acoustic, rap, rock, folk and funk–and each one is comprised entirely of Columbia students. Julian and the curators of Lowpalooza posit that “the biggest obstacles that musicians and bands at Columbia have is finding space to perform and share their work and passions with others.” Thus, Julian hopes that the festival will “function as an outlet for the vibrant but often underappreciated music scene at Columbia.” Mad props to Bachannal and CU Records for cosponsoring what’s sure to be an unforgettable (hopefully?) event.

Crowds at Lollapalooza via timetravel photographers Wikimedia Commons