PR campaigns class raises funds for Relay for Life

The 4th annual Relay for Life kicks off Friday, but students have been preparing for months gathering funds for the American Cancer Society.

Departments and students organizations put on various events over the semester to acquire money before the overnight events. The mass communication department’s team, the “Walkie Talkies,” threw a benefit concert at Neon Spur over the weekend.

Over $1,400 was raised. Despite possible inclement weather warnings, the mass communication department’s PR Campaigns class held their benefit concert, Radio Therapy, to raise money for the department’s Relay for Life team last Friday at the Neon Spur. The concert was put together and hosted by the students of the PR Campaigns class.

Early trouble, other than weather forecasts, for the concert came in the form of headlining band Dr. Philgood and the Let’s Get It Ons having to cancel due to emergency surgery on their lead singer.

The night started out with Francesco “DJ iSav” Guarnieri spinning his own mix of house, electronic and dubstep.

DJ iSav served as the unspoken host of the evening, spinning remixed hits from artists like Rihanna, V.I.C., Rick Ross and others, as well as his own beats in between sets to keep the audience entertained during band set up.

After a delayed start, the Caribbean Student Organization’s ten-piece reggae outfit took the stage first.

Their cover-filled set included renditions of popular Bob Marley songs, No Doubt’s “Underneath It All,” a surprisingly decent reggae transformation of Leona Lewis’ “Bleeding Love” and the chorus line of Kanye West’s “All of the Lights.”

Unfortunately for the CSO band, technical problems with sound equipment and microphone issues plagued an otherwise good opening set. Next up was local garage punk rockers To Make Amends.

The trio’s blend of pop-punk that recalled the likes of blink-182 and New Found Glory sent the audience back to nostalgic memories of high school.

Although a much smaller band, they packed a lot of power playing original songs they’ve been collecting for their soon-to-be-released EP, as well as finishing up their set with a stirring rendition of blink-182’s “Down.”

The highlight of the night came from red dirt artist TC Fambro and the Copperheads.

Fambro and the Copperheads ripped through a crowd-pleasing set of covers of other popular red dirt artists like Jason Boland and Brandon Rhyder, as well as playing songs off of their own EP Texas Town that got just about everyone out on the dance floor.

Fambro finished his set off with excellent covers of Tom Petty’s “Mary Jane’s Last Dance” and Johnny Cash’s classic “Folsom Prison Blues” that both had just the right amount of Red Dirt twang.

The evening closed off with an all-over-the-place set from local favorites Shantell set out to keep the party going strong. While known mostly as rock band, Shantell proved to have a few tricks up their sleeve.

While they breezed through 80’s classics like “Pour Some Sugar on Me,” and “Keep Your Hands to Yourself”, they turned their set upside down by choosing to cover Nelly’s “Hot in Herre” and the opening song to The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.

Despite mixed reactions from the crowd, Shantell easily pulled this change up off and transitioned again by playing some original songs.

Like TC Fambro, Shantell also ended their set with a cover of Johnny Cash’s “Folsom Prison Blues,” this one more akin to the original.

With that, the concert was over.

The PR Campaigns class held a very successful benefit concert that was not only for a good cause, but also proved to be a great way to spend a Friday evening.