SPEC concert features alternative bands

Though Houston Hall is always packed at about noon, it was even more difficult than usual to find a seat for lunch on Friday. The Hall of Flags was converted into a concert hall Friday afternoon for a performance from the up-and-coming alternative music groups Marry Me Jane and The Rake's Progress. Almost 500 people were in Houston Hall at the time of the concert, according to SPEC Concerts Director Mike Parker, a College senior. The show was the second concert in the Social Planning and Events Committee's free concert series entitled "New Music Afternoon," Parker said. Some said they went to the show because they wanted to see an up-and-coming band in action. "Marry Me Jane is actually going to get really big," College senior Brian Green said. "I had never seen them before -- they put on a good show. The singer had a lot of energy. I was impressed." Green, who is the music director of Penn's student-run radio station, WQHS, added that Houston Hall was a good location for a lunchtime concert. "I didn't think it would go off as well as it did," he said. "But once they started, it was flawless. You have people who can get a free show while they eat or study. It's a relaxed atmosphere for the bands." Marry Me Jane, which opened for The Rake's Progress Friday at Philadelphia's Khyber Pass, is enjoying a very exciting ride on the road to success. Eight songs from the modern rock group's upcoming record have been chosen for the soundtrack of the soon-to-be-released Tri-Star movie If Lucy Fell, starring Sarah Jessica Parker, Elle McPherson and Ben Stiller. The film will be released in February, according to the band's manager, Julie Levine. And the music cable channel VH1 has targeted the group for a documentary tentatively entitled "Making It," as part of an attempt to shake the channel's mellow reputation. "An alum from [the University], Chris Vicente, has been a producer on a show called Flix and heard the group and was really knocked out," Levine said. Vicente is "chronicling their career from getting signed to making their records to hopefully success," she added. The Rake's Progress started this year's SPEC concert series last Friday. The band liked playing in Houston Hall so much that they decided to return. "We got such a great reaction that we wanted to come back and do it all over again," said the group's manager Pati DeVries. Parker said Penn is becoming a place where performers want to play repeatedly on the way to stardom. "It's become an attractive place to play," he said. "They think it's part of the circuit." According to DeVries, The Rake's Progress currently has a contest running at Discovery Discs that will reward whoever can best describe the most outrageous party ever thrown. The prize is a concert from the group and a cash reward. The contest ends November 3. The Rake's Progress has also been enjoying television coverage -- the video for their song "I'll Talk My Way Out of This One," has been featured on Beavis and Butthead. "They talk about the cows in the video basically," DeVries said. "They don't put down the band. It's very complimentary -- it's flattering." Parker added that this concert series brought pop star Dionne Farris to the University last year during the week in which her hit single became No. 1 on the singles chart.

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