Smiles and stars out of U of C students

By James Keller

As exams, papers and the stress of the holiday season envelop students, Busking For Smiles offers a solution that works not only for fans of live music, but performers too.

"Our two motives in the club are to let people smile and let people do what they’re good at," says co-organizer Lance Farkas. "These two motives have been achieved with Unplugged."

Unplugged II, the follow up to last year’s BFS event held in March, features eight campus musicians playing original work with local musician Tariq closing the evening. According to Farkas, although more musicians–eight compared to last year’s four–may give musicians less time on stage, it will enhance the experience for the audience.

"We kind of refer to it as a smorgasbord of local talent," says Farkas. "We have artists that play folk,
alternative and pop-classical stuff. Since there’s only a couple songs per performer, it’s a little bit of everything."

The first four artists will have one song each, while the last four will each play two. Limiting each musician’s playing time was necessary given the enormous response BFS received from interested performers.

"This year we took a big step and we had a massive campus-wide poster campaign," says Farkas about the initial process. "We had three auditions and 17 people audition. It was super hard to pick because the talent was overwhelming."

Of course, while Tariq will play more than two songs, Farkas emphasizes that the main focus of the event is still on the local musicians.

"For the students that play and for the audience, it’s interesting to see the metamorphosis from a student-songwriter to a professional," he says, adding that he hopes audiences will come to appreciate the growth process. "The show isn’t supposed to feature Tariq. It’s supposed to allow the performers to see how professionals do it and perform on the same stage as them."

Regardless of how the inclusion of Tariq is received by audiences, the next Unplugged event, slated for February of next semester, will most likely not have another headliner.

"If things go as planned with Unplugged III, there’s so much talent that we’ll have all student performers," says Farkas.

Even though students will see quality live music, the fact that the audience and performers are both peers within the school also adds an interesting dynamic.

"It’s really neat because we had students watching students," says Farkas, referring to last year’s Unplugged. "People say, ‘hey, I saw that guy walking down the hall the other day and he’s in my science class, but he’s also an awesome artist, too. That’s what makes it special. You have students paying for students and put on by students, so it works three ways."

36 comments

  6. Great blog here! Also your web site loads up very
    fast! What web host are you using? Can I get your affiliate link to
    your host? I wish my site loaded up as fast as yours lol

  7. Attractive portion of content. I just stumbled upon your web site and in accession capital to claim that I get in fact loved accountyour weblog posts. Anyway I’ll be subscribing on your feeds or even I fulfillment you access consistently quickly.

  9. It’s nearly impossible to find educated peopleabout this topic, but you seem like you know whatyou’re talking about! Thanks

  10. hi!,I really like your writing so a lot!

    percentage we communicate more approximately
    your post on AOL? I need an expert in this space to solve my problem.
    May be that is you! Having a look forward to look you.

  11. Someone essentially lend a hand to make significantly articles I’d state. That is the first time I frequented your website page and up to now? I surprised with the research you made to make this particular submit amazing. Fantastic task!

  12. Greetings! Very helpful advice in this particular article!

    It’s the little changes which will make the largest changes.
    Thanks for sharing!

  13. It’s hard to come by educated people in this particular subject,
    however, you seem like you know what you’re talking about!

    Thanks

  14. Oh my goodness! Awesome article dude! Many thanks,However I am having difficulties with your RSS. I don’t know the reason why I can’t join it.Is there anyone else having the same RSS issues? Anybody who knows the answer can you kindly respond?Thanks!!

  15. I really like what you guys are usually up too.
    Such clever work and exposure! Keep up the awesome works guys I’ve you guys to my
    personal blogroll.

  16. Unquestionably believe that which you said. Your favorite justification seemed tobe on the net the easiest thing to be aware of. I say to you, I definitelyget annoyed while people think about worries that they plainly do not know about.You managed to hit the nail upon the top and also definedout the whole thing without having side effect , people can take a signal.Will likely be back to get more. Thanks

  18. It’s really very complex in this busy lifeto listen news on Television, so I just use internet for that purpose,and take the hottest news.

  19. Wow, fantastic weblog structure! How lengthy have you been bloggingfor? you make blogging look easy. The whole look of your website is fantastic, let alone the content!

  20. I blog quite often and I really thank you for your content.
    This article has really peaked my interest.
    I’m going to take a note of your blog and keep checking for new details about once a
    week. I subscribed to your RSS feed too.

  21. It’s truly very complex in this active life to listen news on Television, therefore I just use internet for that purpose, and obtain the
    hottest information.

  22. Link exchange is nothing else except it is onlyplacing the other person’s website link on your page at appropriate place and other person will also do similar in support of you.

  24. I do accept as true with all of the ideas you have offered in your
    post. They’re really convincing and will certainly work. Nonetheless,
    the posts are very short for newbies. May you please extend them a bit
    from subsequent time? Thank you for the post.

  25. It’s nearly impossible to find educated people in this particularsubject, however, you seem like you know what you’re talkingabout! Thanks

  26. What’s up colleagues, how is all, and what you wish for to say on the topic of this article, in my view its genuinely amazing for me.

  28. Sed malesuada dolor eget velit euismod pretium. Etiam porttitor finibus pretium. Nam suscipit vel ligula at dharetra. Kirstyn Hall Sanferd

  29. That is very interesting, You are a very professional
    blogger. I’ve joined your feed and look forward to in search of
    more of your magnificent post. Also, I have shared your website in my social networks

  31. Thank you for sharing your thoughts. I truly appreciate your efforts and I am waiting for your further post thank you once again.

  33. Nice post. I learn something totally new and challenging on blogs
    I stumbleupon on a daily basis. It’s always useful to read through content from other writers and use
    something from other web sites.

Leave a comment