Tag: Dickinson College

WDCV Live at Dusk Review

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WDCV’s plan for a live concert on the Dickinson campus finally came to fruition Saturday November 4th. Concert planners worked a majority of the semester to secure the musical acts of the night: Izzy Heltai, The Split Pistols, and The Skiffs. The Social Hall made for an exciting venue perfect for dancing to the upbeat pop rock of The Split Pistols and the wacky rock of the Skiffs. The opener of the night, Izzy, graced the audience with his alluring voice and mesmerizing acoustic guitar. A one-man band from Massachusetts, Izzy captivated the audience with his original music that centered around his unique, raw vocals and deep lyrical abilities. He ended with a new song, Anybody to Anybody, off of his upcoming new EP ‘Sweet Apathy.’ Izzy wowed the crowd with his heartwarming songs, and set the stage for the following acts. The Split Pistols, hailing from nearby Lebanon, immediately introduced themselves with their loud electricity, and pushed the audience to their feet. Playing mostly original songs, The Split Pistols turned the heads of students walking by in the HUB. The lead singer, Vaughn, repeatedly jumped off the stage to dance with the audience during solos. His ability to command an audience paired with his dancing resulted in an upbeat set that was a perfect segue into closing act, The Skiffs. Also hailing from Lebanon, The Skiffs showed their love for Ween by covering many of their songs, most notably Ocean Man. They continued to wow the crowd with their funny songs and dedicated musicians. The guitarist and singer both captivated listeners with their personalities, exemplified through guitar solos vocal range.

                                              

WDCV Live at Dusk was a success, and most audience members stayed for all three sets, leaving tired but satisfied from a night of dancing. If you’d you like to check out music from the three artists WDCV brought to campus, you can find their music below. Further, both Izzy Heltai and The Split Pistols will be releasing new music in early 2018!

 

Izzy Heltai http://www.izzyheltai.com/ and can be found on Spotify

 

The Split Pistols on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/thesplitpistols/ and Youtube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCP8UGfwMsi0j_d6YLmnWFQA

 

The Skiffs on Soundcloud https://soundcloud.com/theskiffspa/ciggy-song

 

If you have any questions, email Julia Ormond at ormondj@dickinson.edu 

WDCV’s Climate Consciousness

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Community Post: Interview with community DJ Ken Shultes   

Ken Shultes, a Dickinson alum and the man responsible for reaching Dickinson’s carbon neutral goal, brings his work with him to his radio show each week. Ken’s Sustainability Jam Hour focuses on current climate change issues, and emphasizes the actions we can perform to help our environment. He believes that music is a useful tool to explain these current events in a fun, interesting way.

Ken graduated Dickinson College in 1989, and has lived in the Carlisle area almost ever since. For 18 years, Ken managed facilities here at Dickinson, but in the past three years he has been the Associate Vice President for Sustainability and Facilities Management. He is in charge of directing the college to reach its 2020 goal of carbon neutrality, in which the college will reduce 25% of its emission due to heating and cooling buildings, along with other actions. This is a huge responsibility, and requires the action of every student, faculty, and staff member. Therefore, Ken uses his radio show as a means to remind people of their responsibility to our environment and Dickinson’s climate conscious pledge.

Climate change and global warming are heavy subjects, so Ken hopes to make it a fun and approachable conversation through his choice of music. Three years ago, when the Sustainability Jam Hour first started, Ken maintained a small list of songs that he thought connected to sustainability, climate change, and nature. But as time went on, he found a multitude of songs that reflected what he believes in. By now, he can argue for almost any song’s connection to sustainability; it’s quite impressive. Although each song relates to climate change in some way, genres differ immensely throughout Ken’s show. His show features a little bit of everything, like classic rock, alternative, show tunes, kid’s music, and indie pop, although he admits he has not been convinced enough to play much heavy metal. Ken has three children who inspire his music tastes and open his mind to songs he previously did not consider seriously. After playing a couple songs, Ken spends a few minutes talking and reflecting upon what he believes these songs connect to, whether that be a certain action we should all be taking, such as turning off lights when we’re not using them, or current events that will affect our ability to properly reduce our impact upon the earth. Ken sprinkles in important, educational facts along with his music, creating a fun show that has an crucial purpose and a strong effect on its listeners.

Ken is appreciative of his time here at WDCV, as it is a creative release in the middle of his work day. He finds the Sustainability Jam Hour to challenge his ability to talk about climate change in a fun way, to make it an approachable subject for his listeners. He welcomes music as a tool to further this conversation. These days, any song he hears automatically tests him to find a connection to climate change, and he hopes his listeners can develop an ear for sustainability as well!

 

 

Listen to Ken’s show, Sustainability Jam Hour, on Mondays from 10 am to 11 am, and learn how you can reduce your impact upon the earth!

 

 

 

If you have any questions, email Julia Ormond at ormondj@dickinson.edu. Thanks for reading!

Bluegrass on the Grass Review

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Bluegrass on the Grass, a Carlisle summer tradition, took the Dickinson College Academic Quad by storm on Saturday, July 8th. Lasting 8 hours, the festival hosted five different bluegrass bands, hailing from Tennessee to West Virginia. Families, students, and devoted bluegrass fans from Carlisle and beyond alike showed up and gave their support for a festival that has been around for more than 20 years now. Festival-goers arrived as early as 8 am to claim the best spots on the Academic Quad, in the shade of course, and camped out there throughout the whole festival, proving just how loved this festival is! Children danced along to the quick fiddles, families enjoyed the crooning of their favorite bluegrass singers, hungry listeners appreciated the local food vendors, and Bluegrass on the Grass volunteers savored the support they felt from the festival lovers.

This tradition started many years ago by the infamous Davis Tracy. A retired Dickinson Counselor and faculty advisor for WDCV FM, Davis Tracy and other local bluegrass lovers hosted bluegrass concerts on Tracy’s farm back in the 90s. They wished to expand their barnyard concerts, invite other bluegrass musicians and listeners, and create a festival out of their love for bluegrass, and in 1996 Tracy and others created a reality out of this dream. Tracy and his band took the stage on the Dickinson campus for the first time in front of about 200 people, and since then the festival has grown to nearly 4,000 attendees and a multitude of bluegrass bands who have received high regard in the bluegrass world. There is no doubt that every summer, the town of Carlisle gleefully awaits this music festival.

                                            

The bands featured this year included some familiar faces, such as the Dismembered Tennesseans, but also comprised of new sounds, most notably from Mile Twelve, a relatively new band with a young, fiery sound. An astounding fiddler, Michael Cleveland, along with his band Flamekeeper, joined the line-up this year as well, and left the crowd in pure amazement of his incredible skill and musical ear. The music lasted from noon until 8 pm, interspersed with raffle contests, in which Bluegrass on the Grass merchandise and other impressive prizes were given to upwards of one hundred winners. Dennis Gotthard, a local vinyl collector, sold a multitude of vinyl to festival-goers, and impressed the crowd with his boxes and boxes of bluegrass vinyl for the true bluegrass fans. Bluegrass on the Grass was an immense success this year, attracting new faces both on stage and in the crowd. It was a lovely day filled with great music, and no doubt the town of Carlisle excitedly looks forward to next year’s event!

                        

For more information about this event, check out http://blogs.dickinson.edu/bluegrass/

 

If you have any questions, email Julia Ormond at ormondj@dickinson.edu. Thanks for reading!

Student Podcasts to be Aired

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It’s finals week at Dickinson College, and that means final essays, exams, and projects are to finally be finished!

This week, WDCV will be airing a series of podcasts from one of Dickinson’s courses, Lusomusics, a cross-listed class in both music and Portuguese studies. This course focuses on music influenced and created by the Portuguese, as well as Cape Verdeans, Brazilians, Angolans, and many other citizens of past Portuguese colonies. The podcasts present and examine four subjects that these students have learned about throughout the semester, which include Tropicalia, Bossa Nova, Coladeira, and the artist Jose Alfonso. Along with musical examples, these students explore the historical context of their music, as well as the varying instrumentation and social significance. If you are interested in world music, or want to expand your musical ear, these podcasts are perfect for you!

Tune in on Monday, May 8th, at noon to hear all about it!

Listen live by tuning your radio to 88.3 fm, or stream us at wdcvfm.com!