Rusted Root to play Little 500 week

The band Rusted Root will play April 22 at the Kappa Sigma fraternity in a Little 500 kick-off concert. Last year, the fraternity hosted Of A Revolution, which helped raise $3,000 for the Boys and Girls Club of Bloomington. This year, Kappa Sigma said the fraternity hopes Rusted Root will bring in at least $4,000.\nThe gate opens at 4:30 p.m. with the opening band Blue Moon Revue starting its set at 5:30 p.m.\nFollowing the pattern of last year's show, both bands will perform in the Kappa Sigma parking lot. About 2,300 tickets have already been sold within the past few weeks. \nKappa Sigma President Alan Hazzard said some of the best things about the kick-off concerts are the price and the featured artists.\n"We're able to bring in a good name band that people enjoy seeing and give a relatively good price," Hazzard said. "It's a very low price, but at the same time it's enough for us to cover our costs and give money to the Boys and Girls Club."\nThe $3,000 raised from last year's concert went toward scholarships to the club's summer program, but this year's donations will be used to fund multiple interactive activities between the children and the volunteers.\nPlanning a charitable activity on such a large scale forced the fraternity to begin working on the 2003 concert during the few days directly after the 2002 O.A.R. concert.\nSenior Trey Smith, the Kappa Sigma Little 500 Kick-off Chair, began receiving input and ideas for the upcoming concert from his brothers last year.\n"A lot of the people in the house, right after the O.A.R. concert, were talking about who they wanted to have this year and Rusted Root was a name that kept coming up," Smith said. "Rusted Root's booking agent, Creative Artists, eventually accepted our offer and placed us on their tour."\nLocation played an important part in the booking, since Rusted Root will make a stop in Wisconsin before the Kappa Sigma show and plays the night after in Chicago.\nEven after selling-out last year's show, Hazzard said the fraternity did not want to change the venue or opt for a bigger band because of the intimate setting.\n"We like the feel of having it on our property, giving people the opportunity to come to our house, to experience the event and to have it outdoors," Hazzard said. "It's a great way to get the entire campus to the event since it's not too far away and provides some intimacy with our chapter and the rest of the campus."\nHazzard and Jon Barefoot, head of security for the concert, both said this event is a great way to show the positive things the greek community can do on a large scale.\n"I think it's helpful that it's not just a frat party with a band," Barefoot said. "We turn our house into a true concert venue. It's one of the few events the whole campus can go to, be involved with and be comfortable."\nHe also said the concert will be a dry event. \n"We will try to keep everybody safe and let everybody have a good time," Barefoot said.\nThe tickets are $15 before the event and $20 at the door. Tickets can be purchased at the Kappa Sigma house between 9 a.m. and midnight Monday through Thursday, between 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. Friday and Saturday and from 4 to 8 p.m. Sundays. For more information, contact Trey Smith at 331-8047 or trey@little5.com. More information can be found on the Kappa Sigma Little 500 Kick-off Web site at www.little5.com.