Despite what posters scattered around campus may say, the Dave Matthews Band and Ace of Base will not be performing at Spring Fling 2005, according to College senior Tom Kurland.
Kurland is one of three students in charge of planning the concert for the Social Planning and Events Committee.
"Dave Matthews is not coming," Kurland said. "I have no idea who started this, but it is a total rumor. We have people going around campus trying to pull [the posters] down."
The yellow and blue posters appeared late Monday night. They were posted in many heavily trafficked locations on campus, including the high rise dormitories, the Quadrangle, and David Rittenhouse Laboratory.
The poster contains the SPEC logo and announces that the two bands will be performing at Franklin Field on Friday, April 15th for the main Spring Fling concert.
So far, no one has been identified as having disseminated the posters.
But Engineering freshman Amanda Leicht, a resident of Hill College House, said that at around 12:30 yesterday morning she saw a male who "looked like an upperclassman" come in to the building with a "huge stack of flyers" announcing the concert.
Kurland said that it was "not worth SPEC's time" to try to find the person or people behind the prank.
SPEC has been delayed in announcing the bands for Spring Fling because of circumstances "that are totally out of our hands," Kurland said. He said that SPEC extended invitations to several music groups and is still waiting to hear back from them.
A decision will most likely be made by the end of the month, and the news will be released immediately after.
He said that neither of the bands mentioned in the flier is on SPEC's short list of potential performers.
While Kurland would not specify the names of any bands who might possibly perform, he said that SPEC is trying to make this year's Spring Fling concert a "more intimate college rock show."
Planners are contemplating moving the venue of the event from the traditional Franklin Field to a smaller spot.
The last two years have featured rap artists and been held at Franklin Field.
College junior Niva Kramek said that she immediately doubted the authenticity of the posters when she saw them in Harrison College House.
"They were posted on the glass doors outside and inside the elevators, places where you are not allowed to post flyers," she said. "I thought SPEC would know a lot better than to do that."
College senior Chrissy Starkweather agreed. "I completely blew it off as not serious," she said. "I mean, just the juxtaposition of those two bands."
Kurland also said that the very idea of the concert wasimpractical.
"There's no way on earth that we could afford Dave Matthews" he said. "The band is atmospherically more expensive than our entire budget."
Not all students were as cynical as Kramek and Starkweather, however.
Engineering freshman Marc Hassan, an officer of Penn's Official Dave Matthews Band Club on thefacebook.com, postedan announcement expressing his excitement on the club's page a little after 8:30 a.m, after seeing a flyer on his way to class.
When he found out that the posters were fake, Hassan was quite disheartened.
"It was really a bummer," he said. "It was a well-executed prank whoever did it."
Wharton freshman Emily Jaffe said that word of the concert spread quickly among her friends.
"It was on everyone's away message, people were flipping out," she said. "My one friend's away message said, 'DMB and Ace of Base at Spring Fling: I'm peeing in my pants!'"
Neither the official Web sites for the Dave Matthews Band and Ace of Base nor the SPECWeb site mentioned the advertised concert.
Kurland even expressed doubt as to whether Ace of Base as a band still existed.
"I don't think they do," he said. "Maybe in their native Sweden but certainly not here."
He did applaud the makers of the posters for their creativity.
"Honestly, it would be a great show if we could do it," he said.
