AMPub- Behind the Scenes and All Around

The AMP Publicity Committee would love to take some time to let you in behind the scenes of those awesome flyers, fun videos, and marvelous mobiles. This semester AMP has a lot planned for the W&M community and AMP Publicity (AMPub as we lovingly call it) brings all the details of each event to you. You may not see us in person at events, and perhaps you're not quite certain how those flyers go up or who we really are, but we are working around the clock to bring you all the info you need about upcoming AMP events on campus.

This week look out for us passing out some mini cereal boxes in the Sadler Center on Wednesday to get you ready for AMPtoons this coming Friday 10/1. While in the SC, be sure to take a look at "The Jon"- our monthly newsletter conveniently located right in each bathroom stall. Around campus you might see us running around campus in bizarre fashion- don't be alarmed. We've started filming our notorious AMP videos again this semester! We'll be posting these on Facebook and right here on the blog for your enjoyment.

AMP Publicity makes sure you are in the know about all of AMP's events on campus this semester. Definitely keep an eye out- while we may seem behind the scenes, we're everywhere you want to be.

You know you love us,

XOXO AMPub

Fiasco @ 5

A little over a year ago, I was at a festival in Paris called Rock-en-Seine. Oasis was scheduled to headline the evening after Vampire Weekend. Vampire Weekend took to the gigantic stage and proceeded to roar through a set featuring many new songs, that would later be released on Contra. After they finished, the stage crew came on for the set change. After 45 minutes, it looked as if the stage crew was sort of idling about onstage, not really sure what to do, simply waiting. I started to suspect that something wrong was happening. At festivals, where they're on such tight schedules set changes shouldn't take this long. Anyways, after 90 minutes we got an announcement that Oasis will no longer be playing because Liam and Noel just got in a huge fight in the dressing room before they were meant to take the stage (surprise surprise). Apparently, Liam smashed Noel's guitar.

Heading home I was imagining how much of a nightmare that must've been for the production crew of the festival. To have to cancel a show due to issues with the artist is extremely disappointing for everyone involved, including the audience.

AMP Music faced a similar situation last week.

Last Friday, AMP unfortunately had to cancel our Fridays @ 5 show because the band failed to arrive. This is the first time anything like this has happened in recent Fridays @ 5 history.

In our contract with the scheduled band, Suburban District, we stated that they need to arrive by 3 and set-up by 3:30. For whatever reason, when 6pm rolled around and they still hadn't arrived, we decided it would be best to cancel the show as opposed to hastily throw something together.

We're terrible sorry that this had to happen. The circumstances were unforeseen and we thought we provided the best solution given what we had to work with (no artist).

Fortunately, our Fridays @ 5 series this semester will be wrapping up with a great band called Wild Nothing. They've been getting a lot of coverage on Pitcfork lately. Watch them perform the streets of Vienna here, http://pitchfork.com/forkcast/14860-your-rabbit-feet-gemini-live-in-vienna/

Again, AMP Music is terribly sorry for the cancelled show last week. Looking forward to seeing you next FRIDAY!

-AMP Music

William and Mary, brewing a large pot of comedy

There were a lot of reports of large amounts of laughter emenating from Lodge 1 this past Saturday. That's because ComedyBrew happened and people were lol-ing and rotfl-ing all over the place. 7th Grade Sketch Comedy kicked off the night with a side-splitting set of comedic sketches. Next was the student stand-up competition that pitted five of W&M's funniest jokesters against each other for the chance to win $100. Each competitor had there own distinct style, and needless to say were all hilarious. Finally, Sara Schaefer, an alum who now writes for Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, performed a set of stand-up. The crowd really responded to her W&M specific jokes, giving shout-outs to DuPont and other aspects of W&M life during her set. At the end of the night, one student comedian was crowned the winner and walked away with that $100. The five finalists that performed were selected from a pool of 20 students, and all did an exceptional job. It's great to know we have such strong comedic talent brewing here on our campus.

AMP Homebrew

"China Will Be Building Another Great Wall"

Last Wednesday, former CIA Agent Michael Scheuer gave a lecture regarding what he considered to be the three threats to U.S. security from that Persian Gulf. The turn out for this event was great; many students—representing a vast array of different majors and academic backgrounds—attended to hear exactly what Scheuer had to say. Known for his strong opinions and his witty but sometimes caustic remarks, Scheuer definitely engaged the audience and sparked a lot of questions during the short Q&A session that followed afterward.

We were really excited to bring Scheuer here because he has both theoretical and practical expertise in a variety of different phenomena (such as the rise of radical Islamic terrorism) that threaten U.S. security. His insight and beliefs, for example, about why we were attacked on September 11^th and why we are losing the Global War on Terror was even confirmed by Bin Laden himself in 2007. This being said, Scheuer does have many strong view points and not everyone agrees with him on what he thinks about every threat to U.S. security, and we thought that having him speak here at WM would lead students to actively to actively think about these issues themselves. The lecture seemed to do just that. The buzz from the lecture still hasn’t disappeared, and teachers and students alike are debating about what Scheuer had to say.

AMP Contemporary and Cultural Issues (Contempo Cult)

Is That 6?? Oh No, 7. 7 Chairs On Which That Man Is Doing A Handstand.

If you weren't in PBK from 7:30pm to 9pm last Tuesday, I'm sorry. The Special Events committee brought out the Golden Dragon Acrobats (looking a little like this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nkJv483W38&feature=player_embedded). The show constantly amazed the crowd. From throwing a ball in the air, doing two back flips and catching it, to fitting nine grown people onto a bicycle and riding it around the stage, the onlookers only paused from clapping so they could use their hands to pick up their jaws from the ground. It goes without saying, we were thoroughly impressed with the Golden Dragon Acrobats moves and flexibility. It was a mini Cirque Du Soleil right here in Chilliamsburg.

And before the acrobats, we brought back 4 Time NACA National Campus Entertainer of the Year as well as Campus Activites Entertainer of the Year, hypnotist Tom Deluca. As always, he wowed us with his ability to transform our timid best friends into dirty dancers and fruit lovers.

After having our first two events go off without a hitch, the Special Events committee is relaxing a bit before we take on the Family Weekend Street Fair. Get excited.

Lone Wolf

Cause ain't nowhere in the 'Burg I'd rather be,
ain't no-one in the 'Burg I'd rather see
then the Interns of my dreams that will make me
Be so happy and not so lonely.

For the past few weeks, well months actually, I have been shamelessly plugging away to get applicants for the fall Intern's Committee. I have made myself that girl. The girl that has confronted you at the Activities Fair, obnoxiously put flyers all over your freshman dorm and has made an effort to connect AMP to almost every conversation topic imaginable.
I'm not sorry for my actions.
In fact, I plan on doubling my efforts in the next few days. Get ready. I am down to the home stretch and I want to give everyone the opportunity to apply to be an Intern. I would hate to be confronted in a few weeks by someone who did not know that the Intern's program existed. Although, at this point, I am not quite sure that I would believe them.
There are about a million different reasons why I am so excited to have Interns and only a few dozen of them have to do with ending my Akon-like loneliness. To be honest, I just can't wait to have something to actually talk about in Executive meetings. As we gather around the table and Chairs begin to talk about their upcoming events and how great their committees are, I try not to feel bitter. I will have a committee soon enough and I may be able to answer the following Update Questions better than I currently do:

-What have you done during your first office hours? Any questions?
Questions, no. What did I do? Oh, I checked the email, the voicemail, sat alone and ate a bagel.

-What has been your favorite AMP moment during the past 2 weeeks?
Another Committee's event.

-Are all of your members showing up to things/ contributing?
I don't have any members yet. Thanks for rubbing salt in the wound.

-Anything coming up you need help with?
Lone wolf. I'll be fine.

How I would like to answer these questions:

-What have you done during your first office hours? Any questions?
Question, how did I get so lucky in having such amazing Interns? What did I do during office hours? Oh, I checked the email, the voicemail, sat with some Interns and we ate bagels.

-What has been your favorite AMP moment during the past 2 weeeks?
FINALLY HAVING INTERNS.

-Are all of your members showing up to things/ contributing?
Oh course, this may be the greatest committee ever assembled.

-Anything coming up you need help with?
(In keeping with a wolf theme). The Intern pack has it covered, but thanks for asking.

As you can tell, I am so excited to get Interns. Probably too excited, but I think it is understandable after all this time of preparation. So in closing... An additional plug:

APPLY FOR AMP!

lorafaris@gmail.com

Rockin and Rollin Into the New Year

This past weekend we were absolutely astounded by the turnout for our Welcome Back concert with Eric Hutchinson. Over 1300 people came! Thank you so much, William and Mary, for loving music and coming out to our shows!

If you want to check out more live music on campus, our Fridays @ 5 concert series has already begun! Tomorrow, we've got one of William and Mary Class of 2008's finest, Galen Curry. Check out the facebook event page here http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=158351837514092&index=1.

A year or so ago someone told us that a Fridays @ 5 show when the weather was nice out was his favorite William and Mary experience. According to weather.com tomorrow looks pretty nice. We've got the music, so all we need now is you! Hope to see you all there tomorrow!

Homebrew Reflections

First of all, I would like to thank everyone who came out and auditioned for Homebrew this past Sunday and Monday. We had close to 40 performers try out! It's great to know that so many W&M students are passionate about performing. Overall, the auditions went really well. We managed to stay about on schedule throughout the day, which has proven difficult in years past. The variety of acts that came out was awesome. Everything from quite folk duos to full on rock bands. Each performer had their own sound and style, and even though auditions lasted a grand total of 10 hours, the time flew by. The Homebrew Committee will be working this week to make their final decisions and schedule the acts for the rest of the semester. Keep an ear and eye out for upcoming Homebrews.

I Know What You Did Last Trivia

Hey All!

The Late Nite Committee has been recovering from kickoff and we started working on one of our staple events, the year’s first Trivia Night! For trivia kickoff this year, we decided to go with a 90s theme (I know! We’re excited too.) There are going to be five categories under the 90s theme- movies, sports, history, music, and fads (think pogs and dunkaroos), along with one special surprise category!

Usually, when we go about planning a trivia night, we first decide whether or not we are going to have a themed trivia night- we like to mix it up. If we decide no theme, we usually each go about picking a few categories and then in committee we narrow it down to five or six. If we decide to go with a theme, we then work on all aspects of the night to make it as thematically accurate as possible, from music to food to prizes. To make up the actual questions, members of the committees break up into pairs and make up the questions, and then at meeting we check each others’ questions to make sure they’re correct and not too difficult.

The actual event requires a lot of planning and coordination on the part of our committee- there are many roles to fill from emcee to music supervisor and many scorekeepers- so you’ll probably see us running around for most of the night. Trivia night can be stressful, but it’s also one of our favorite events!

We have some exciting things planned for this trivia night (including more of the new orange Late Nite mugs!), and we hope you all will come out on September 17^th in Lodge 1 at 9pm to see them!

Much love,

Late Nite