If you're looking for someone to blame for the Slope Day line-up, it's me, Eric Gregory. As Selections Chair for the Slope Day Programming Board (SDPB), I was ultimately responsible for the booking of Acceptance, Talib Kwelis and Ben Folds for Slope Day. Since my job essentially ended when the artists accepted our offers, I've been able to sit back and enjoy the mass of angry and absurd reactions students have made in response, and to be completely honest, it's all starting to piss me off. It's so easy to complain about something that you don't understand, and I challenge anyone who has serious interest in the Slope Day line-up to attend SDPB meetings and actually participate in the selection, rather than just trashing it once the announcement is made. Further, even more bothersome than my friends asking me why I didn't book "better bands" has been the coverage that The Sun has given the event, and, specifically, the band line-up. Jonny Lieberman's "Why Slope Day Won't Suck" column was perhaps the first blow; in it, he noted that: "an overwhelming 55 percent of the participants" in an online Cornell Sun poll "vehemently clicked 'boo'" when asked about the Slope Day band announcements. I've never heard anyone besides Jonny Lieberman refer to 55 percent as an "overwhelming" figure, considering that it's basically just half. I really should give him credit for concluding that Slope Day "Won't Suck", but he basically explained that it was only because it's not really about the bands, just about getting wasted and sloppy.

The thing is, these days Slope Day is about the bands. It shouldn't be, but it is. It wasn't that long ago that Slope Day didn't even have bands. But since the wild popularity of Snoop Dogg and The Game, students have chosen to focus the entirety of their excitement for Slope Day in general on the line-up specifically, judging the whole day on the music alone. Now, I can definitely relate, but it's just absurd for everyone to get angry when the announcement comes and their favorite artists aren't performing. To look back at my previous example for a moment, Jonny Lieberman is a sophomore; last year, he was a freshman: the only Slope Day experience he's had was the year of Snoop Dogg - a completely unrealistic example of the event. It seems that he's just one of an impressive number of very vocal students that treat last year's line-up as the archetype for all future Slope Days to come. Unfortunately, that's not how things work. I'm going to say it: last year was a fluke, an accident. I suggested Snoop Dogg as some strange combination of a joke and a dream, and we actually pulled it off. We were lucky, and luck is pretty much the main thing you need when you're trying to book popular acts - luck and money.

Concerts are big business these days; the most popular artists - U2, Coldplay, Green Day - receive upwards of $250,000 a night. These are the bands that everyone requests at SDPB meetings; needless to say, our talent budget didn't (and won't ever) come anywhere close to that figure. So right there, about 80 percent of the band suggestions I received this year for Slope Day were eliminated. Another 15 percent are bands that were too small to draw the kind of crowds I'm looking for. I was left with a small number of bands that are popular, but certainly not everyone's favorites. I eliminated still more when I checked tour routing and availabilities, leaving a handful of possibilities. From there, the SDPB had to take into account a number of other factors - maintaining a diverse range of musical styles within the line-up, acquiring any further funds or co-sponsorships to stretch our budget further, dealing with the wishes of both the S.A. and the Administration. After wading through all the nuanced bureaucracy of the process, we determined which artists would best represent a compromise between the conflicting interests of the students, the administration, and the S.A., and put out our offers. Honestly, Ben Folds wasn't our top choice. We put out other offers and we tried getting bigger acts, but it just didn't work out. Our co-sponsorships didn't come through; we had significantly less funds than last year; and the Administration made it clear that they didn't want another Snoop Dogg-sized crowd - last year's audience of 18,000 was phenomenal, but out of control.

Under these circumstances, with such a small budget and taking into account how impossible it is to please anyone at this school, I think the line-up is phenomenal. While The Sun has chosen to mock Ben Folds' popularity on the college tour circuit, I'm just happy that we have an artist as recognizable and entertaining as he is. Further, both Talib Kwelis and Acceptance are incredibly talented performers that are sure to please. So go ahead and celebrate or complain all you want - at this point I don't really care. This column was just my attempt to inform anyone interested in how the selections process works, and how lucky we are to have Slope Day itself - no other university or college in the country has any event that even comes close to it in terms of budget, scope or on-site alcohol sales. Besides, whether or not you're a fan of the artists performing this year, I'm pretty sure I'll see you on the slope anyway, and we'll probably high five each other and have a good time.

Eric Gregory is a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences. He can be reached at ejk9@cornell.edu. Guest Room appears periodically.

Archived article by Eric Gregory