(December 6th) Rock For Tots

            On December 6th, 2012 there was a WUML-sponsored event called "Rock For Tots". This took place in Cumnock Hall on UMass Lowell's North Campus from 8:00 pm to 11:30 pm. The bands that played were Raindance, Choke Up, Oh the Humanity!, Old Grey, and A Wilhelm Scream. Before Rock For Tots, Smith Radio (WUML radio show from 4-6 pm on Fridays) always started with a song from A Wilhelm Scream. According to WUML Promotions Director Justin Cole, the event raised around $900 for charity.
            Before I go into the event, I'd like to give some background information on WUML. WUML is UMass Lowell's radio station, FM band 91.5 and completely student-run. They have certain shows scheduled throughout semesters, and Rock For Tots was the last one for Fall 2012's semester. The director's meetings are at 6:00 pm every Wednesday, and I went to one of these -- in this meeting, Justin Cole and other WUML personnel discussed the upcoming Rock For Tots event, and came up with the price of $10 for each ticket to attract people to Rock For Tots. There were many details surrounding why this event was important that I don't want to get into here, but this is the background for WUML and the Rock For Tots event.

            The day before this event I passed the intern test needed to become a WUML DJ for my own radio show. Since I'm a part of WUML, I went earlier to this event. I originally went at around 5:00 pm but the WUML staff looked like they were fine with the people they already had; I just had to bring in a few groceries for the bands that were coming that night and put those groceries in a nice meeting room where they'd all chill and meet together. Later at around 7:15 pm I came back to Cumnock Hall for my position as the person who would check bags and do pat-downs when necessary.

            I didn't need to do my position for bags and pat-downs at the Cumnock Hall entrance for the first half of the show since there were already other WUML interns who were doing it. During this time, I watched the rock bands play. All of them had amazing drummers. The guitar players would walk around the stage, headbanging, and sometimes even jumping. The singers walked around like the guitar players and did some dance moves. These guys were quite enthusiastic. For a while I was watching the guitar players and singer exclusively, but then I went to focusing on the drummers.

            Seeing how the drummers transition to the cymbals after doing incredibly fast bursts of drum rolls is just stunning. The audience was also headbanging and a cheering the bands on. One man next to me was actually trying to "play the drums" by doing certain movements with his arms. The drummer also stood out more because the drums were much louder than the guitars and vocalist. The drummers all looked very composed and calm despite how intense the songs were.

            I don't remember the last time I ever was at a live rock show. This surely felt like the first time I've been to one. The music was loud, and it's a much different experience than when you listen to the studio versions of the songs. I always wondered to myself: "why go to a live performance when you can just listen to the album versions?". Of course showing up to live concerts helps out the bands, but I never knew how powerful the vibrations were in these live performances. I felt myself going along with the music because of how many vibrations I felt. It surely is a way to get yourself pumped up.

            To wrap it up, I was able to meet many WUML directors in this Rock For Tots event, get the powerful experience of a live rock performance, and also chat with some friends I've made at WUML. Many WUML interns were there, some holding certain positions; in my case, I didn't do the bag checks/pat-downs position until the second half of the show. However it wasn't really necessary since from my judgment nobody was bringing anything questionable (booze, alcohol, marijuana, etc.). I also got to see A Wilhelm Scream play live. They were the last band to play, and I always heard songs from them on Smith Radio -- Smith Radio was the radio show I went to as a WUML intern.

(November 28th) Costello Gym: UMass Lowell vs. Stonehill College

                Wednesday, November 28^th was the day UMass Lowell and Stonehill College played a basketball game in Costello Gym. The game went a little overtime, from 5:30 pm to around 7:05 pm. It was a very intense game and neither team was ahead by more than four points throughout the game until the last 29 seconds and earlier in the second half (scores like 49 to 41 and 52 to 45, UML to Stonehill). There were 14 lead changes in this game and 9 times where the score was tied. It was a close game that caused a lot of uncertainty in me in who would turn out winning, because each team kept getting back and forth at each other.

                Boneless chicken wings were provided behind the honors students stand along with free blue T-shirts for the Commonwealth Honors Program. Before the game started, the national anthem “Star Spangled Banner” was sung. After this, the game started. UML had a rough start, being behind 6 points just a few minutes in already. I think the first tie was 27 to 27 when there was around 6 minutes left in the first half. I noticed a band seated in the stands, and this band had the biggest tubas I’d ever seen.

                Most of the stands had a good chunk filled, but there were still noticeably empty seats. I was sitting in the honors seating area where the other honors students were sitting as well. While the rest of the audience watched from a side view, I and other honors students watched from a back view. This picture shows what view we were observing from. It was a bit hard to see what was going on when the teams were at the other side of the court.

                Before I get into specifics about the game itself, I noticed several 3-point shots were made by UMass Lowell but the whistle was blown before these could count towards the scoreboard – it was for fouls, but it still was interesting to me and it made me think of how many “lost points” UMass Lowell had. If these “lost points” were added, UMass Lowell would have had more points than Stonehill at the end of the game. There were many hasty attempts at the hoop that should not have been taken, though. What I noticed is that there were situations where both teams were getting rebounds, but then they tried shooting where they were when the opposing team was blocking and making the shots much more difficult. Many of these shots resulted in more rebounds and failures, giving the ball to the other team. Of course some of these made it in, but they seemed quite inaccurate and impatient. In my opinion, it wasted more time and prevented the teams from optimizing their scores.

                It turns out that Bianca Simmons, a senior at UMass Lowell that’s on the basketball team, matched her career-high of 28 points for the second straight game according to the Go River Hawks website. There was frequent scoring on both teams throughout this game. As previously mentioned, the scoreboard was surprisingly consistent all throughout and each team kept going back and forth with the lead. The later part of the second half was when Stonehill stayed with the lead. While the crowd was lively the entire game (I couldn’t even hear the announcer’s words clearly from how loud it was inside the Costello Gym) they definitely increased the energy in the second half when the scores were nearing in. With 2:29 left on the game clock and 7:00 pm in real time, UML was only 2 points behind Stonehill 73 to 75. This got the crowd pumped, and I was hearing “Go UMass Lowell!” and other shouts like “Defense!” With 0:25 on the game clock, UML was behind 5 points after Stonehill made a 3-point shot. That was unfortunate for UML with such a short amount of time left in the game. In the end, Stonehill won 82 to 75.

                In half time, there were younger children who were playing on the basketball court and the band was playing more music. Then a little before the second half started both teams went back on the court and did some practice shots and runs. At the end of the game, I noticed the band playing on the stands again, but this time I saw little girls doing movements with their arms. I’m not exactly sure what it was, it must have been some rehearsed dance routine. Either way everyone seemed happy about the game, it was full of energy, and I enjoyed how it was close throughout with scoring on both teams occurring frequently.