Rubber Gloved on Culture Shock

This past Tuesday, I attended a meeting for the Purchase College annual festival "Culture Shock." At most, I was made aware that Mr Jeff Levin, the head organizer of this years festival, has diverted the focus for Culture Shock.

First: a brief bit of Jeff's recent history--

Jeff was nearly impeached from his position on the Purchase Student Government Association (PSGA) when fellow students were sick of being left in the dark about the upcoming music festival. People wanted to know what bands were coming to preform and Jeff replied, giving a skeleton that lacked a backbone. His lineup is incomplete. I could talk about this issue all day, but to give you an idea, here is Jeff's most recent updated schedule for the quickly approaching festival on April 16. . .

Culture Shock 09' Lineup:
THIS LINEUP IS NOT COMPLETE!!
(tentative)= contracts are in, but not signed for yet.

Friday
Streetlight Manifesto (tentative)
The Red Chord
Paper Route
Murphys Law (Tentative)
Light Pollution
TBA
TBA
TBA
TBA

Saturday
The Cool Kids (tentative)
Telepathe
The Dear Hunter
Margot and the nuclear so and sos
The Paper Raincoat
The Tallest Man on Earth (tentative)
Bread and Puppet Theater
Kiss Kiss
TBA
TBA

After party
Menya
TBA
TBA
TBA

. . . Damn, looking at it makes my tummy twist. I may just have to poop a verbal mess all over this kid. Maybe I am a mess of a musician, but, why is it that I don't recognize any of these band names?

Jeff Levin, if you are reading this Jeff, Mr. Levin, please know that forming a committee would have been a great idea for this festival. This thing is much bigger than you, or I, Jeff Levin. It is something that all students, faculty, and any interested mind will be a part of, and you, Jeff Levin, you took this all into your own hands without shaking those of your peers and asking them about the diversity that this multifaceted, multicultural campus expects in Culture Shock. I don't see what took you so long to understand that setting up meetings is vital to the health of organizing a large event. At this meeting you asked us if we were "O.K." with the decisions you made about the theme, stage placements, and selected bands. Well that was nice of you to do, I'll admit, but doing it this close to the end of the line is not helpful to us. It wouldn't make sense to change the lineup NOW, it is far too late. If you reached out your hand for help months ago Jeff, the campus would have "high-fived" you for it. Instead, we've noticed the clams in your hands after months of sweating this out, and now the success or failure of this festival is all on you.

In a recent editorial in The Purchase Independent, staff writer Chris Vaughan asked Jeff Levin a series of questions such as,

"How do you think Culture Shock has come together the past couple of weeks?"
A: "It is getting there. The impeachment set things back but it gave me more motivation. The line-up now is as diverse as I wanted it to be."
(As diverse as HE wanted it, not US. . . Interesting)

or...

"Is Culture Shock different in any way this year?"
A: "Basically the Carnival two stages and the rides. Just the overall theme."
(Yes. The Carnival is a good idea for a theme. It will distract everyone for the time period while bands are preforming so no one will notice the bands that didn't show up)

Well I am glad that we can be entertained by this:



Since Jeff Levin has given up on this:

. . . I hate to be such a damming critic, Jeff Levin, but you fucked up.