Swine Flu Reaction at UNH

It appears that Swine Flue has gotten the best of people here at UNH. Just recently the Durham Chief of Police ordered SCOPE to purchase 5,000 masks for people to wear at this weekend's Lupe Fiasco concert. Once again SCOPE came up short and they were only able to purchase 300 masks. The masks will be available to the first 300 hundred people who ask, but don't even bother. These masks are too porous and the virus can easily seep through into one's airway. This really is not a big deal because on average only 1-2 people die in a year because of Swine Flu. Compare that to the 35,000-37,000 the die in a given year from the basic human flu. Swine Flu is just another case of the media blowing up something and scaring the public. The same thing happens every year with dozens of different viruses and diseases. Within a few weeks this will all go away and people will realize how badly they overreacted. Here is my equation I developed for the situation: Hyper Media + Ignorant Public = Unnecessary Reactions. Don't be stupid people.

Stay classy, not UMassy.

SCOPE Drops The Ball

I hate to say it but...

SCOPE, or the Student Committee On Popular Entertainment,  really dropped the ball with this year's concerts. I had a bad feeling when the homecoming weekend comedian was Jimmy Fallon. I refused to go. Let's compare this to last year's comedian, Demetri Martin, who played at UMAINE this year. First of all Jimmy Fallon is not funny. At all. He sucked on SNL, sucked harder in any movie he has been in and is the worst Late Night host ever. He made a game of Beirut with Anna Kornikova boring! I mean could watch Anna Kornikova give this lecture and I would be entertained for hours! Demetri Martin on the other hand, has a new hilarious show on comedy central and to put it simply he is a comic genius. 

Then came the Brand New concert, which I also declined to attend, because I wasn't really into them. I heard that it was a very show good, and even people who did not know them enjoyed it. The problem I had with this was that such a small majority of the campus even knew who they were prior to the announcement. There are so other bands that are not well known that would have had a better appeal then Brand New. To put it into more simpler terms, Brand New is nowhere close to the Dropkick Murphys, who played at UNH last year. 

The next concert announced was the Lupe Fiasco show. I can understand this because so many college students like him. I declined to buy a ticket because I actually like music. Last year the big rap show was Snoop Dogg, a true legend. I am not a big fan of rap, but I do like some and had I the opportunity I would have definitely gone to see Snoop.

The next show is Guster.  This is the only show that I bought a ticket for and that is because it was only 5 bucks. I wouldn't have paid $6. Guster has a history of playing at UNH, so this show is understandable but again, not really my taste of music. 

I like how SCOPE went after three different genres, I guess my taste of music would come closest to Brand New. I enjoy rock music, and I honestly can't remember that last time UNH had a real rock show. I do enjoy a lot of alternative stuff too, which most people would probably complain about if some of my favorite bands came to UNH. But they didn't come, so I get to bitch about how SCOPE blew it compared to last year. 

The best concert in the area this year was hands down The Machine, a Pink Floyd cover band, who played at the Portsmouth City Music Hall on March 6th. The Machine sounded so much like the real Pink Floyd it was scary. It was one of the better concerts I have ever been to.

Well thats all I have to say about the UNH music scene. Let me know what you think by clicking the comment link thing. 

Until next time,

The New Hampshirite