Loyolapalooza 2009

Loyolapalooza Boasts Live Music, Food, Games and Fun – How Can You Beat That?
by Kristine Boise

Loyolapalooza is the highly anticipated festival at Loyola College, each year bringing in more than 2,000 people. Overnight the grassy area in the middle of campus is transformed into a carnival-like festival with food, games and music.

While the rides and attractions change every year, 2009’s festival will include sumo wrestling, an obstacle course, a wrecking ball game and the Drop Zone. Kids won’t be forgotten with games like the Froggy Flying Fling game, a moon bounce, a Ring a Bat game and a Tip the Fat Cat game especially for them.

This year’s music will include a student band (winner of the annual Battle of the Bands) A Cool Stick, Augustana and Citizen Cope. For more about the live bands, check out the Greyhound article below.

Hot dogs, hamburgers, veggie burgers, drinks, cotton candy, popcorn and sno-cones are free for all staff/administrators/students with valid Loyola ID card.

SGA announces music opener for Loyolapalooza

Patrick Regan
Issue date: 3/24/09 Section: News

Student Government Association has announced that Augustana will be the opening act at Loyolapalooza, the outdoor festival that is held on Loyola's quad at the end of spring semester. SGA announced about a month ago that the relaxed music of Citizen Cope will headline the event. However, even before Augustana takes the stage, Battle of the Bands winner A Cool Stick will perform a set.

Augustana will be playing an acoustic set for the Evergreen campus and its surrounding neighborhoods, which will fit well with the Loyolapalooza tradition. "This is the kind of music that comes to Loyolapalooza," SGA Vice President of Social Affairs Tracy Petruziello explained. "Citizen Cope is a very laid back sound, which is why we chose them, and [Augustana's acoustic set] will go well with that."

Augustana was formed in Greenville, Illinois by lead singer Dan Layus and bassist Jared Palomar. After moving their operation to south California, Layus and Palomar picked up some new members including drummer Justin South and key board player John Vincent Fredricks. Despite not yet signing to a label, Augustana released their debut album entitled Midwest Skies and Sleepless Mondays in 2003. The album was offered at Augustana's shows and sold a modest 1,000 copies.

Grammy award-winning record producer Stephen Short soon discovered Augustana, and became the band's co-manager, along with Michael Rosenblatt. It was Short who helped the fledgling rock band sign with mainstream label Epic Records.

On September 6, 2005, Augustana released their first album under Epic Records entitled All the Stars and Boulevards. The album featured the hit single "Boston." The unique success of their first real album was lost on the band's lead singer. "I didn't realize that this wasn't always the way it happens, to come out with your first record and get a single on pop radio," Layus recalls on Augustana's Website. "It was hard to get any real perspective on how incredibly lucky we were to be in that position."

After taking a long hiatus, Augustana released their sophomore album Can't Love, Can't Hurt, on April 29, 2008. The album displays how Augustana has matured as a band and Layus' song writing has been influenced by becoming a husband and father. Layus cites the three years touring and promoting their first album as inspiration for the songs on the second album. The songs tend to be more carefully constructed and thoughtfully written.

"We were on the road for three years, with really nothing to do but write and demo," Layus recalled "I was constantly writing songs and weeding stuff out." Can't Love, Can't Hurt features ten songs and tackles issues a bit deeper than the band's debut album.

After brainstorming for a couple days, the SGA had come up with a short list for the opening act, which included Augustana. "We considered a couple [of] hip hop [artists]," said Petruziello, "But we've already had that this year, so we wanted something different." In the end, SGA decided to pursue Augustana because they knew the band had a few new singles out recently and because they felt it fit best with Citizen Cope. Negotiations went forth without much difficulty.

However, Augustana will not be the first band to grace Loyolapalooza's outdoor stage.

On March 13, eight bands battled to earn the right to kick off the spring event's festivities. It was the original band A Cool Stick that came out on top. "They were very different-sounding," explained Petruziello, who coordinated the event. "They used a lot of instruments [such as] bongos."

A Cool Stick complemented their unique instrumentals with an even more original blend of vocal sounds. Petruziello described their vocals as "rap mixed with almost like a Jack Johnson type sound."

Though A Cool Stick was the only band that won the opportunity to play a set at Loyolapalooza, Petruziello noted that 2009 marked a huge improvement over previous Loyola Battle of the Bands competitions. "All eight bands were serious and very good."