WGUR puts on, rocks out with Buffapalooza

Buffapalooza is back again this Fall semester. The annual event sponsored by Georgia College’s radio station WGUR was held on Saturday, Nov. 5, at Buffington’s Burger Lounge and featured music by Groove Moose, The Stumblin’ Toads and Stone Free.

Emily Rivers

WGUR tries to make Buffapalooza happen each fall. Courtney Hamlett, program manager for WGUR and organizer of Buffapalooza, says that the event has been successful both this year and the past year.

“We’ve had a great amount of success in the past for Buffapalooza, and I can only hope we continue that. I can’t thank the concert coordinating team and everyone at WGUR enough for all their help and hard work they’ve been putting into this event,” Hamlett said. “Buffington’s has been absolutely amazing for allowing us to do this event with them again and we can’t wait to work with them for other concerts next semester.”

WGUR runs on sponsorships by local businesses and fundraisers like Buffapalooza. The money raised from the event will go towards maintaining the sound equipment and keeping the station up and running.

Two of the three bands that performed were local to Milledgeville.

“Groove Moose and The Stumblin’ Toads have performed for Buffington’s a few times; they are well known to us at the station and we have been friends with them for a while, so it was easy to think of them for the concert,” Hamlet said. “We were able to call both bands up and they seemed excited to play for the show.”

The third band, Stone Free, was referred to Hamlett by a friend who saw them perform in  Kennesaw and thought they would be a great addition to the show.

“The planning for the event started this summer when the staff met and came up with the idea to put on the event again” Wesley Buchanan, WGUR general manager said. “The more serious planning started about two months ago in late September.”

The goal of Buffapalooza was to not only raise money for the radio station but to get the GC community together and showcase local musical talent.

Attendees, such as junior marketing major Nikki McCarthy, enjoyed their time.

“I thought it was a very relaxed atmosphere and it was really nice to be exposed to a local music scene that I would not normally get to hear,” McCarthy said.

While the event ran smoothly, there were a few bumps in the road. An unexpected challenge Hamlett had not anticipated was that Amici Italian Cafe was hosting a band on the same night and there was no cover.

“Some folks were turning away at the $5 cover charge,” said Hamlett, “so, by midnight we lowered it to attract more people.”

Posted by Emily Rivers on Nov 10 2011. Filed under Features. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.