It's time for our exciting first look at NSOP 2008! Seems as if this year's festivities will not include the traditional Orientation Concert on the Steps. You'll recall that last year Clipse performed with the World Famous Vampire Weekend.

A Columbia Concerts insider explained that it's "not entirely clear" why there's no concert, only that "we're trying to put all of our eggs into the Bacchanal Concert basket, I guess." He also promises that the Spring Concert will be huge.

The lineup for Barnard Radio's annual outdoor BBQ and concert has been announced in an email from Milano Chowkwanyun, the Co-Promotions Director of WBAR. The show will take place on Friday, April 25th (on Barnard's lawn, Nexus be damned) and will feature the following:

Wizards of the Coast
Bear
Food Will Win the War
Liturgy
Thee Yetis
Les Sans Culottes
MegaFaun
Tickley Feather
Crystal Stilts
Cause Co-Motion
Awesome Color
Skaters
Videohippos
Japanther

Plus, the titillating promise of a "special guest." Ampire-vay Eekend-way?

Eschewing their own tradition of booking hip hop acts for spring, Columbia Concerts has booked awesome Brooklyn-based indie rockers Grizzly Bear and awesome Brooklyn-based indie rockers The National for this year's Spring Concert.

An anonymous source also informs Bwog that this year's Spring Concert will also differ from last year's because it's going to be indoors and tickets are going to cost a completely reasonable and completely worth it $5 fee.

A month after GQ featured Vampire Weekend, once again a Columbia alum is profiled in the men's mag. This time, it's blonde blogger and prospective first-daughter Meghan McCain, CC '07.

It's an odd interview, as even the writer—who happens to be the deputy online editor at The New Republic—admits. Initially, McCain treats the readers to an insider's look at her refrigerator, revealing two types of beer and twelve cups of Jell-O. The conversation then turns to her time at Columbia ("I loved it!") to her film and television recommendations: "It's a bisexual-dating show!" McCain says of A Shot of Love with Tila Tequila. "It's hilarious!"

Talk soon turns to politics, as that is (ostensibly, at least) the reason she's being profiled in the first place. Meghan on Obama: "I think universally women find him attractive. Whatever." Meghan on the early days of her father's campaign: "Over the summer, it was like we were uncool."

Anyway, you can read the entire profile for yourself if you're interested in what type of guys Meghan is into and not into. (Hint: bad boys who wear Converse sneakers and investment bankers, respectively.)

For careful listeners, the best soundtrack on campus is the rotation of Vampire Weekend, Radiohead and other indie darlings at Cafe 212. Bwog cultural correspondent Merrell Hambleton sits down with the man behind the mix.

I find Café 212 manager Robert Bell working to hang up two small bulletin boards. "I'm actually doing something with the music," he says. "The music" he's referring to is precisely the reason for our meeting—Bell, tall with longish brown hair, dark framed glasses, and a neatly trimmed chinstrap, has earned a reputation in his year at Columbia for playing some non-traditional Muzak. In fact, its not Muzak at all, it's actually, well, good. If you're haunted by memories of 212's old soundtrack, you'll likely be pleased to hear the likes of Radiohead, Cat Power or the of-late-ubiquitous Vampire Weekend while you wait in the sandwich line.

So what prompted Bell to buck the trend of non-descript instrumental world music and hit-or-miss pop (read: Ferris Booth)? The Virginia native moved to New York (Prospect Heights, Brooklyn, to be specific) in 2004, where he first "got excited by working with food" while working at an Au Bon Pain branch. But chain stores don't offer a whole lot of flexibility. According to Bell, "One thing that really bothered me... was they had this Frank Sinatra thing going on. They had it very carefully orchestrated, so in Hong Kong they had an Au Bon Pain that was also playing Frank Sinatra at 8 AM."

Columbia is more than just "Upper West Side Soweto." Chromeo's performance at Bowery Ballroom Monday night showed off the cheekier side of Ivy League music.

Despite the recent flurry of hype surrounding Vampire Weekend, they are not the only Columbia-related band selling out Bowery Ballroom. Chromeo anyone? A French grad student and T.A. by day, David Macklovitch has amassed a number of glowing CULPA reviews. However, he also doubles as Dave 1, and along with bandmate P-Thugg, the duo is known as the (somewhat ironic) electrofunk group Chromeo.

Making the night family affair, Dave 1's little brother, A-Trak DJed between sets. Spinning mash-ups from Dirty South Dance ensured the crowd never had to stop dancing. Opener Kid Sister bemoaned her current cold and lack of health insurance, perhaps as a reference to the upcoming elections. Though her bumping and grinding masked any symptoms of illness, and her sequined beret and flashy nails also helped. Vivacious and brash, but not overtly sexual, Kid Sister is a b-boy's wet dream.

Columbia is more than just "Upper West Side Soweto." Chromeo's performance at Bowery Ballroom Monday night showed off the cheekier side of Ivy League music.

Despite the recent flurry of hype surrounding Vampire Weekend, they are not the only Columbia-related band selling out Bowery Ballroom. Chromeo anyone? A French grad student and T.A. by day, David Macklovitch has amassed a number of glowing CULPA reviews. However, he also doubles as Dave 1, and along with bandmate P-Thugg, the duo is known as the (somewhat ironic) electrofunk group Chromeo.

Making the night family affair, Dave 1's little brother, A-Trak DJed between sets. Spinning mash-ups from Dirty South Dance ensured the crowd never had to stop dancing. Opener Kid Sister bemoaned her current cold and lack of health insurance, perhaps as a reference to the upcoming elections. Though her bumping and grinding masked any symptoms of illness, and her sequined beret and flashy nails also helped. Vivacious and brash, but not overtly sexual, Kid Sister is a b-boy's wet dream.

Last night, a Columbia band called The Stolen Cars played a show at the Lower East Side bar Fontana's. Bwog ventured 45 minutes south-east to catch them play with five other bands as part of a larger battle of the bands-type competition. The all-Columbia, all-Beta Theta Pi band is composed of John Luna (SEAS '08), Matt Pruznick (CC '09), Taylor Eichenseer (SEAS '09), and Danny Ferarro (CC '09).

They specialize in catchy alt-rock, and Luna's idiosyncratic and poppy vocals engender comparisons to Something Corporate. The Stolen Cars played a handful of songs, the best of which was "Home Run", a crescendoing homage to ska that features a clever mix of electric guitar (Luna played both electric and acoustic at the show) and electric piano. The band ended with "Abbey and Audrey"—at which point, Matt Pruznick had removed his shirt that helpfully read "Matt"—a favorite among the growing group of CU students in the crowd, many of who started singing along.

The Stolen Cars were followed by a band called Cocaine, the members of which resembled a terrifying cross-pollination between Don Johnson circa 1989 and Perez Hilton (see documentation at left). The lead singer began throwing baby powder at the audience, at which point Bwog left. Later that night, The Stolen Cars were announced as the winners of the competition and they were invited to play again in the next round of the contest.

- JNW