Ladies and Gentlemen of Iowa City, I am happy to write that Hawkapalooza will go on. After a mind-blowing scare that rain and severe thunderstorms were going to put a damper our first annual Hawkapalooza, we have confirmation that the show will not be moved inside.
As a member of the Hawks Nest Executive Board, and a founding member, this is the best news I’ve heard in quite some time. With an estimated 10,000 people flooding Hubbard park last year for the inaugural Hawkapalooza (and even more expected this year), the worst possible thing that could have happened was thunderstorms.
We would have had to move the entire event into an enclosed venue, with the max capacity being 3,500. That’s a giant hit, and with all the work Hawks Nest did to get this event going, thunderstorms would have literally “rained on our parade.”
The group of 12 of us literally planned and fund-raised, planned and fund-raised, and then planned and fund-raised some more — all summer long. This event went from an on-paper plan to a full-out spectacle with an opening act (Super Mash Bros), a pep rally (featuring Jon Miller as host and athletes from the Iowa Football, Wrestling, and Men’s and Women’s Basketball teams), and a main act (Grammy Award-winning artist Big Boi [1/2 of OutKast]) … almost like a Phoenix rising from its ashes.
But over the past few days, those indecisive weathermen decided to give us mini heart attacks by changing the weather at least 10 times.
I mean: Come on, fellas! How can the weather go from clear, to possible rain, to guaranteed rain, to thunderstorms, to guaranteed thunderstorms, to now just rain up until six on Thursday?
Your faulty calculations of the doppelganger caused some extreme chaos in the hearts of many people. I hope you realize that.
But, as I said, the show is going to go on (a dream come true).
So for those of you that read this, come on down to Hubbard Park (next to the IMU) beginning at 6 p.m. Thursday, September 2, for a *FREE* concert featuring mash-up group Super Mash Bros, a pep rally featuring some of your favorite Hawkeyes, and the man, the myth, the legend: “Sir Lucious Leftfoot” BIG BOI!
If that does not completely tickle your fancy, and you still need more convincing (I don’t see why), there will be free stuff (iPad anyone?), food, and a $1 raffle where you can win a variety of things — from 50 free boneless wings at Buffalo Wild Wings to two Press Box tickets to this Saturday’s Iowa football game! Plus, all the proceeds go to Dance Marathon (a UI student fundraiser for sick children).
Oh, and for those of you still reading, here is the set-list from a free show Big Boi just played in Miami. If I do say so myself, it’s pretty baller:
Do Dirty
Atliens
Skew it on the Bar-B
Rosa Parks
So Fresh, So Clean
Miss Jackson
General Patton
Follow Us
Daddy Fat Sax
Ghetto Music
B.O.B
Star Wars
The Way You Move
Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik
Player’s Ball
Elevators
Shine Blockas
Fo Yo Sorrows
Shutterbugg
Tell C-Bone
Kryptonite
As always, On Iowa, and Go Hawks.
-Jerry