Brandy concert takes off late after 'flight trouble'

The 616 people who saw Brandy, Day26, Chip tha Ripper and Jesty Beatz perform at Templeton-Blackburn Alumni Memorial Auditorium on Saturday waited until midnight for the headliner to arrive on stage, but the Black Student Cultural Programming Board is still convinced the show was a success.

(Brandy) was very apologetic to the audience and us

said Alicia Boards, BSCPB faculty advisor, citing flight trouble as the reason for Brandy's lateness.

After playing a 45-minute set, Brandy took pictures and signed autographs outside of MemAud after the show and even made an appearance at Wendy's, Boards said.

Brandy's flight issues could happen to anybody. Nobody can predict it Boards said. (But) everyone that stayed said she put on a good show.

Regardless of the mishaps, not everyone at Ohio University was pleased with the Sibs Weekend concert selection.

You would have to pay me to see Brandy said Matt Mueller, a senior studying electrical engineering and computer science.

Though Mueller said that he would spend up to $50 to see his favorite acts live at OU, getting popular national acts to campus is more difficult than it may seem, said Chad Barnhardt, assistant director of activities and programming at Baker University Center and the faculty advisor for the Ohio University Program Council.

There's in some ways a risk associated with bringing in a concert in terms of how many students are going to attend and how many tickets you can sell

and where the breaking point is

Barnhardt said.

Money is also a concern, regardless of how much students are willing to pay.

We have to have the money in the bank to pay the artist and pay the production right out of the gate

Barnhardt said. If we looked at putting an act in The Convo

for example

we'd have to have close to $100

000 just to move forward with the production aspect and the artist's fee.

To put that in perspective, the estimated 2008-09 Baker University Center programs budget is about $160,000. The budget is funded by a fee that is included in students' tuition bills that pays for Baker Center and includes such recurring programs as Acoustic Café, Open Stage and Free Movies. It also pays marketing fees and salaries for student staffers who work the events.

UPC's 2008-09 budget, though one of the largest it's had recently, is even less than Baker Center's at about $140,000 and is funded by the Student Activities Commission, a division of Student Senate. Because of the tuition cap set by Gov. Ted Strickland, the university cannot raise tuition to include an activities fee, said Catherine Gignac, UPC president.

Seeing larger national acts at OU has not been uncommon. In 2007, tickets for The Fray sold out in five hours. However, students may not realize how difficult it is to land bigger national acts, Gignac said. Finding an artist that will appeal to the masses is half the battle. In addition, the performer also needs to be on tour and within budget range.

Despite money concerns, UPC is still aiming to have an event in The Convo by spring, which hasn't happened since Michelle Branch and Jason Mraz performed there in 2003.

We know people want it

said Gignac, who added that UPC surveys students to gauge their interests. We made (putting a concert in The Convo) our one goal for the year.