[discussion]Carlton sings Ritsche her storyConcerts on campus usually take place in Halenbeck Hall, but that changed on Saturday night when a woman with a big voice and a big piano came to town.
At 9 p.m., headlining act Vanessa Carlton stepped onto Ritsche Auditorium's stage to a round of lavish audience applause.
Carlton performed 15 songs, including her hits "Ordinary Day" and "White Houses."
Taking a page from VH1, Carlton seized the opportunity to intimately connect with her SCSU audience.
"I'm going to turn it into a little 'Storytellers' here and pretend I'm in a living room," Carlton said at one point during the concert.
Along with performing songs from the newly released album Harmonium and her first CD Be Not Nobody, Carlton infused the show with her quirky sense of humor. The show was a mix of Carlton's humorous stories and floating piano melodies.
Carlton said she wrote "Ordinary Day" by herself in one sitting, no small accomplishment for, as Carlton put it, "someone who likes to organize my sock drawer instead of finishing a song."
"Apparently I'm second to Marilyn Manson in ruffling feathers," Carlton said of her song "White Houses."
"'White Houses' was censored on MTV and VH1. MTV thought it was too focused on sex, which I think is hypocritical because all they show is ass. The song is about sex, not completely, but mostly."
Carlton gladly played the uncensored version for the audience of about 500 people; many of whom could be heard singing along throughout the concert.
Carlton also performed songs that are not as well known, such as the unreleased "Swindler" and "Rinse."
"I play it all the time because I feel guilty," Carlton said of "Swindler." "I think of my songs as my children and I feel like this one hates me because it didn't make the album."
Carlton dedicated "Rinse" to "all the ladies in the audience who've ever stalked a man."
Carlton wrote the song for a friend so that she could see how foolish she was behaving, but confessed that it didn't help.
Carlton closed the show with her first hit "A Thousand Miles."
The show concluded around 10:15 P.M. with Carlton receiving a standing ovation and returned to the stage for a brief encore and performed "Twilight."
Amanda Griffith, UPB Concert Coordinator, described how UPB decided to bring Carlton to the campus, and said a main focus was to break the pattern in concert booking.
"The student concert committee decided they wanted to go with something a little bit different than what was done before," Griffith said. "We were trying something new, trying to get a good vibe and our school misses out on a lot of those middle artists. We get the really big ones and we get the smaller Live at Lunches, but we really wanted to hit that middle market."
Griffith said from what she had seen and heard, people were positive about Carlton coming.
"Some people weren't sure who she was," Griffith said. "We had to promote it, but we had a really good turnout."
"The concert process is a lengthy one," Griffith explained. "We have our student committee who picks the artist, approval from the board and then you make the offer to the artist and respond from there. It did take a couple weeks but we got it worked out pretty quickly."
Griffith said she hopes there will be chances to do one or two more events like Friday's concert in the future.
Among the pleased fans leaving Ritsche Auditorium Saturday was Elizabeth Groth, a high school senior from Rochester, who came to Saturday's concert with her sister. Groth has been a fan of Carlton since her musical debut and has become an even bigger fan since her sister bought Carlton's latest CD.
"I thought she was hilarious," Groth said. "(I thought) she played really well. I play piano, so I was really impressed by that."
As for McKinley Place's selection for opening act, Frieden said the band's local roots and popularity on campus.
"The concert committee picked (McKinley Place) to play," Frieden said. "They're pretty popular."
Griffith echoed her fellow club member's feelings, saying that McKinley Place was chosen for, among other reasons, their "strong vocal feeling."
The St. Cloud rockers opened Friday's show with a crowd-pleasing performance. The band performed acoustically with three of their five members: Bryan Shackle, Patrick Gibbs and Michael Kropp.
Shackle and Gibbs have known each other for many years and the band has been together for almost a year.
Stephanie Frieden, UPB Special Events Coordinator, said McKinley Place is a local group that plays in both St. Cloud and the Twin Cities area and won SCSU's Battle of the Unsigned Bands two years ago.
Friday wasn't the first big gig for McKinley Place. The band has opened for Train, Tesla and Soul Asylum.
The group triggered squeals from women with their energetic stage presence and showmanship.
The band performed softer songs such as "Rockstar" and "Black Sheep" and songs with more rock like "Simple Pleasure."
Shackle described the band's musical style as, "Rock/pop. Rock music that would be on the radio, so we put pop with it."
"We like to rock it out," bandmate Kropp said. "But the songs are melodic. They're catchy."
The band cites U2, The Black Crowes and Marvelous 3 as their biggest musical influences.
Members of McKinley Place said that aside from performing onstage, writing their own music is their biggest source of pride.
"It's an interesting process," Shackle said.
However interesting the writing process may be, Kropp described how the band's lyrics and music are assembled in a way that incorporates every band member's input and opinion.
"Sometimes we write it together, and sometimes someone will come in with the music, but in the end, everyone is writing it together."
After the show, there was a line to meet McKinley Place and buy their new CD, By Design.
Vanessa Carlton performs Saturday on the open stage in Ritsche Auditorium. Carlton performed for a crowd of more than 500 people.http://www.universitychronicle.com/news/2005/04/18/Diversions/Carlton.Sings.Ritsche.Her.Story-928424.shtml
