Still down with O.P.P.

What IU needs, concert promoter Eric Purnell is willing to provide. According to Purnell, IU's needs are quite simple: Bigger, better music venues. Big name artists. Action. Noise.\nBy establishing and promoting the first annual Fhat Fest 2003, set to take place Saturday, Purnell plans to meet at least 75 percent of those needs.\nFhat Fest features rap group Naughty by Nature as its headliner, with musical groups Rhymefest, Snake Mobb Records and Mablab. Adding to the action and noise will be an MC and DJ battle contest with a cash prize and appearances by DJ Indiana Jones of the Indianapolis-based Radio Now 93.1. Bloomington DJ Tom Slick will also take to the stage alongside the other opening acts with a 30 minute set. \nHowever, Purnell cannot yet provide a better music venue than those available in Bloomington now -- whose size and availability constraints are part of the reason he believes more big name artists don't make Bloomington a tour stop. Fhat Fest will be held at Pic-A-Chic Farms, a huge open area right outside of Bloomington that is often rented out for concert events. It will provide plenty of space for the noise Purnell hopes to create. \n"We want to create enough noise so that people out here wake up," Purnell says, speaking on behalf of his promotional company, Mizuma Entertainment, of which he serves as co-director.\nHis drive to create a huge event stems from his own dissatisfaction with the music scene available in Bloomington. As a 1998 IU graduate, Purnell remembers driving to Indianapolis and Louisville for big concerts -- and always feeling envious that none seemed to come to his own backyard. Five years later, Purnell says he still hears the echoes of his own frustrations reflected in the current student body.\n"You should be able to say, 'This show happened at the school I graduated from,'" Purnell says. "I just want to put on a great show for the students; they're all telling us what they want. It's just not being provided."\nThough Fhat Fest mainly features hip-hop artists, Purnell has many plans for the future involving a variety of artists, even tossing out possibilities like Ben Harper and Jack Johnson -- both of whom have yet to make appearances at IU. \nBut until Bloomington establishes larger venues, Purnell worries these bigger names still may not come. Comparing IU to the University of Iowa, he noted Iowa had three to four facilities set up specifically for major events. IU, on the other hand has only two -- Assembly Hall and the IU Auditorium -- neither of which are very large, even in comparison to Eliot Hall at nearby Purdue University. \nInstead of large venues, Bloomington has a fair amount of smaller ones, including the Bluebird, Uncle Fester's and several other bars, as well as local clubs Axis, Vertigo and Rhino's All Ages Music Club. While these clubs constantly rotate in different artists, next to none of the performers have enjoyed their 15 minutes of fame yet.\nThough the need seems great for a new venue, in the meantime Purnell and Mizuma Entertainment just plan to shake up Bloomington with some good music and good times at Fhat Fest. \n"We just want to blow the doors off the buildings," Purnell says. \nWith the promised intensity of all of the groups involved, the competitive DJ and MC battle, music from Naughty's newest release and the classic favorite O.P.P that's sure to get the crowd screaming, they just might succeed.