On April 1, 5C students and Claremont community members filled Rhino Records, ready to listen to the most recent installment in a weekly music
series partnership with KSPC. The series takes place from March 25 until April 15, and all performers
are students at the 5Cs. Last Sunday featured Kitchen Hips (Aerienne
Russell PO ’12).
“When
[Kitchen Hips] was performing at Rhino, this little girl had this enormous smile
on her face and started dancing,” series performer Ryan Wieghard PO ’11 said. “She really blows me away. I have this strange feeling that she is a
personification of the American spirit in its most elevated, free-wheeling
form.”
Kitchen
Hips describes her spirit as “anti-folk old-timey lovely lady psychedelic banjo
tunes,” and she writes about “vegetables, flowers, bicycles, honey and love.”
“She is one of the most talented musicians I
know and a really confident performer,” live music director Lilly Estenson SC
’12 said. ”There were students and community members grooving to her set.”
This joining
of college students and community members through music is exactly what Estenson hopes to see as a result of the
series.
“We want
more people in the community to know about all the musical talent brewing right
here at the 5Cs and also want to give students a way to connect with the
greater Claremont community,” Estenson said. “That’s one of the coolest things
about KSPC—there is a huge 5C community attached to the station, but there are
also community members that volunteer, and it is a great way to meet local,
non-5C people interested in music.”
As KSPC
broadcasts to a 30-mile radius, its fan base extends beyond just college students.
Its past events have also reflected this off-campus focus; KSPC has
previously collaborated with the dA Gallery in the Pomona Art Gallery, the now-defunct PB&J Gallery in downtown Pomona and L.A. venues The Smell and
Pehrspace. The station has also partnered with Rhino Records several times in the
past, the most recent being last summer.
“It’s a
great experience, personally as a student, to see how shows get organized
off campus and to be involved in that process,” Estenson said. “It’s also nice to
get to interact with listeners and supporters who do not go to the 5Cs.”
Nevertheless, KSPC focuses the
majority of its time and effort on planning on-campus events, and even in this
off-campus series, they are showcasing exclusively 5C students.
The series began March 25 with
Katie Ferrara PZ ’10 and will continue each Sunday at 3 p.m. until April 15. This Sunday (April 8) will feature The Sweet Nothings, a Pitzer band, and the last performance (April 15) is by Me Lacey Flowers.
Wieghard provides guitar and vocals
for Me Lacey Flowers, and the band is completed by Will Mullaney PO ’12 on drums
and Michael Stock-Matthews PO ’13 on bass.
“I am super stoked to bring the
5C musics into Rhino,” Wieghard said. “I always felt like Rhino was a solace,
much like KSPC, to those seeking real music sustenance.”
Wieghard also volunteers as a DJ at
KSPC, and when asked to describe his band’s style, he said that “there’s
two types of music: good music and bad music. [Me Lacey Flowers] is trying to
play the former. Or at least approach it.”
In addition to raving about the
“visionary” Kitchen Hips performance last Sunday, Wieghard enjoys the “direct,
honest, alternative” music of Ferrara, the first performer.
“[Ferrara], like Kitchen Hips, also
writes really good Songs, with a capital ‘S’,” Wieghard said.
Estenson is confident that the
variety of performances in the series will represent the different
styles of live music that can be found on the 5Cs.
“The 5C Invasion of Rhino Records
really represents at least my experience volunteering at KSPC and the fusion
between students and the community,” Estenson said.
Wieghard described the differences
between his band and other performers by saying that “we probably all occupy
different universes that share the same Sun—which is love of music.” Through the 5C performances at Rhino Records, the different “universes” of the 5Cs and the surrounding community are also bonding over their “love of music.”