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Show Friday, Sept. 2, 2011 Page 4 „ A&EDIV•FS1011 Utah State University • Logan, Utah • www.utahstatesman.com Rockin' out the end of summer BY ALLEE EVENSEN assistant features editor Eleven years ago, headlining an international tour and releasing four studio albums may have seemed like a pipe dream to Bryce Avery. It's unlikely back then he would have thought about rocking out with a few thousand college students on a street corner in Logan, Utah. Of course, 11 years ago, Avary was just a 15-year-old kid trying to record music from his bedroom. Avary's solo-project The Rocket Summer will break a one-year silence to play on the corner of 700 North, near campus, Saturday, Sept. 3, at 7:30 p.m. Avary said Utah is one of his favorite places to play, which is why he accepted USU's offer after turning down other venues. "It's going to be an exhilarating thing to do what I haven't done in a year," he said. "I want to feel the energy of the crowd. It's inspiring to leave the studio." Senior Jane Sorenson, a graphic design major, has seen the The Rocket Summer in concert five times, since becoming a fan during her junior year of high school. She said the band is the perfect choice for a Week of Welcome closer. "Other bands like Yellowcard or Red Jumpsuit Apparatus are trendy. Everyone knows them," she said. "The Rocket Summer is something new and different. It's refreshing that his music is not played on the radio all the time." Zach Larsen, ASUSU's Programming vice president said he is sure The Rocket Summer performance will live up to the hype. "Of all of the reasons Rocket Summer is great, they have interaction with the crowd. It's phenomenal," he said. On his website, Avary sells T-shirts with the words "hopeful, melodic, epic, piano, guitar, rock." He hopes these words will describe his performance. Avary is an accomplished player of piano, guitar, bass and drums. He writes, produces and plays the instrumentals for all of his albums, which is part of the reason he doesn't like to stick one label or genre on himself. His new album will stock shelves early next year. "I want to write music that inspires. Music is that friend that convinces you not to jump," Avary said. "The new album is a step up from everything I've done in the past." Whitney Lundberg, a sophomore majoring in deaf education, said she's amped to see The Rocket Summer live for the first time. While she knows of some students who are disappointed that ASUSU Programming didn't choose a bigger name, similar to past years, she said it will open student' minds to new music. "He doesn't have trashy lyrics," she said. "He has good lyrics with meaning that you can still rock out to." See CONCERT, Page 7 THE ROCKET SUMMER will return to the stage after more than a year on Sept. 3. The concert will mark the end of Week of Welcome. the Oh places theYwent. Sierra Larsen Richard Orcutt BY NOELLE JOHANSEN staff writer special education junior Ghana economics senior "The most amazing part of the trip was just the kids: you grew so close to them. They would just tackle you, come running and smother you with hugs ... One of the hardest things in the world was saying goodbye to them. It killed me." Seattle, Alaska, China "In China, you get your bed and a foot-and-a-half next to your bed. You get your bathroom and it's like a toilet and a shower stall. You shower standing on your toilet. They say on any given night you can find one person from any given nation on the planet." I Breanna Allred math and statistics education senior St. Thomas, Jost Van Dyke, Antigua and the Bahamas Brett Cambell psychology junior Guatemala "It was all in Spanish. I didn't really do that much touristy stuff because I went alone." Erin Kelley business junior Chile, Brazil and Peru "One of the coolest parts was just getting a feel for the culture in each country. In Chile, it's the most economically developed. You go to Brazil and it's this really intense energy. Peru is more of an indigenous feel." "There was this little baby jellyfish and I had a Finding Nemo moment. I just wanted to touch it, and then they were everywhere and I was scared I was going to die." •• |