Three bands, four hours, one cause

By Ashton Smith, staff writer
Posted on November 12, 2007

Seven months after the Virginia Tech shootings, three local bands rocked out for four hours to raise money for the school. Skies Over Saturn, Super Octavius and The Season all performed in the first Virginia Tech benefit concert on Halloween night in Festival Conference and Student Grand Ballroom.

“I wanted to do a benefit concert because I have many friends that go to Tech, including my brother,” said Chris Antzoulis of Skies Over Saturn. “I remember well what happened that day and I wanted to try and help out in some way.”

While Antzoulis is happy with the turnout, he recognizes that there is always room for improvement.

“We had a fair amount of people, between 75 and 100, but I would have liked it to have been a lot more,” Antzoulis said. “I think because we did it on Halloween people were probably partying off-campus.”

Antzoulis had a goal of reaching $1,000, and while they only raise $375, he hasn’t given up hope.

“Every little bit counts, and I plan on raising more money for the cause and for others,” he said.

While the concert was Antzoulis’ idea, he did have help promoting it. 

“We got the help of the Music Industry Association to help us put out fliers and promote the show,” he said. “My friend and bass player Teagan O’Bar got a friend to make the fliers and we helped to distribute them as well.”

The band has played at TDU and The Pub and won the SafeRides Rock-Off last year.  The members are Eric Nanz, Teagan O’Bar, Jay McGill and Antzoulis, but Antzoulis said the band is not as important as what it does for people.

“My goal for concerts is to give people a show because the music is more for the audience than it is the musician,” he said. “I enjoy entertaining people and being able to help society. I believe heavily in playing for charities and fundraisers because that is what music and concert gatherings are all about: helping people and making a human connection.” 

While Antzoulis said he enjoyed performing, he thought that the true success of the concert came from the reactions of the audience.

“Music has given me great things, a focus, a passion,” he said. “I love creating music that will give a positive impact to others.  I do this because music itself can come and go, but the love that can come from such things lives on.”

Antzoulis and his band aren’t the only ones still lending a helping hand.

The JMU University Union, led by David Barnes, donated a miniature Duke Dog statue painted in Tech colors to the school. The Union sponsored one of the $1500 statues to let Virginia Tech know that JMU was supporting them.

According to Barnes, the statue was given last Friday at the Association of College Unions International Regional Conference in Charleston, South Carolina. On behalf of the JMU University Unions staff, Barnes presented the statue to the University Unions and student activities staff at Virginia Tech.

The painted Duke Dog is now home at Tech.

“As I understand it, they plan to place it in their staff conference room for now, where they can all see it and enjoy it, and they have named him Duke,” Barnes said.

Barnes added that everyone was affected by the Virginia Tech shootings and that showing support to the university was still important.

“After the shootings, our staff discussed this and thought buying one statue and having it painted for Tech was a good idea, since it has had such a big impact here, as well as Tech,” Barnes said. “Certainly this has been an event that we all have been touched by.”

Barnes said that while he and the union were helping Virginia Tech during the aftermath of the April shootings, they worked in the Squires Student Center where gifts were being sent for Tech. 

“To date, they have received over 92,000 items, from cards to posters to all sorts of handmade items, and we helped them place them everywhere,” Barnes said.

Barnes and the staff’s help did not go unnoticed.

“The Tech staff gave our University Union’s staff a framed picture to thank us and remind us of our response as well,” Barnes said.

JMU junior Arthur Burwell has many friends at Virginia Tech and was happy to hear that JMU was still contributing to the recovery.

“It just shows that after almost seven months, JMU still remembers,” he said.