Dean influences musical genre for memorial event.
By Ian Coleman
sac-ranger@alamo.edu
The music business program’s live music show, Fredstock, will be a six-hour concert noon to 6 p.m. May 3 in Lot 7 at Courtland Place and North Main Avenue.
Fredstock Spring 2014 will feature “bluesy” bands such as Los #3 Dinners, Cryin’ D.T. Buffkin and The Bad Breath, Big E and The Wild Hares, The SA Blue Cats, and G-Man.
“The dean told me she likes blues,” Donnie Meals, program coordinator of music business, said March 5 explaining this year’s lineup.
Vernell Walker, dean of professional and technical education, oversees the media communications department, which includes music business.
Meals involves all the music business classes in the event, especially MUSB 2345, Live Music and Talent Management. He said the students handle scheduling of musicians, attracting vendors and managing the event.
“The way I teach is very hands on,” Meals said. “Rather than just talking about it, we put it to practice.”
The concert is free, but merchandise and refreshments will be sold at the event.
Fredstock started in spring 2010 to honor Frederick Weiss, a radio-television-film professor who died in fall 2008 after teaching here for 23 years and creating the music business program.
“One of the things my students are doing is they’re going out and getting vendors,” Meals said.
Meals said this teaches students industry standard practices in managing the production of live events.
“All the bands were selected by students,” he said. “The bottom line is, it is a project for the class so they know how to throw one of these events.”
Campus organizations can pitch a tent free at Fredstock if they can provide all their own gear. Vendors on the other hand pay a fee to rent space.
Beer will be sold for the first time at Fredstock 2014 by a private vendor.
Meals said he gained approval from Walker and President Robert Zeigler to hire the vendor. Also, he and his students had to adhere to Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission guidelines.
The funds raised from this event help support the music business program.
Campus radio station KSYM 90.1 FM will simulcast the concert and stream it on the station’s website.
“Since it’s on KSYM, which is streaming, it will be a worldwide broadcast. So it’s a good thing for both the bands and the vendors because they get all this promotion out of it,” Meals said.
Donors to the station’s annual pledge drive in March can pick up premiums during the event.
“It’s hardcore, hands-on training. It’s performing without a net,” Meals said. “And it’s the stuff they would be doing out there in the industry.”
“It’s because of the education we offer here … we are literally changing history here with this program and making this a better music entertainment city,” Meals said.
“We get the city to know that we exist. We used to be one of the best-kept secrets in town. Now we’re just not a secret anymore.”
For more information, call Meals at 210-486-1380.