Many individuals who live in Athens, as well as those who live outside of Athens, recognize there is a prominent bar scene due to the many bars that line Court Street. However, there is not much of a club scene that may be more prominent on other college campuses.
However, Ohio University Event Services is hoping to provide an opportunity for students who want a place to dance and enjoy classic motown and ‘60s music by hosting Heatwave!, a free dance party, on Saturday.
Heatwave has been in the works since October of the current academic year.
“We’re trying to find new and interesting ways to use (Templeton-Blackburn Alumni Memorial Auditorium),” Corbin Marsh, assistant director of programming, said.
The event will include dancing on stage, a cash bar, and plenty of space in the seats and various spaces within the venue for socialization. Despite appearing as a club, the experience will offer an extra element not found in clubs — the atmosphere of a historic venue.
“To me, it’s a much different experience than going to a club just for the fact that it’s on the stage of a ninety-year-old building,” Chelsa Morahan, assistant director of patron services, said.
Morahan said the entrance to the event will not be the usual entrance for regular shows at MemAud, and the arrangement of amenities such as the bar is different from what it usually is.
“I think it’s a lot of fun,” Morahan said.
In addition to the unusual set-up of the event, the music will also differ from a typical 2019 college event because all music will be played from all vinyl records from the ‘60s.
Adam Scoppa, the DJ who will perform at the event, has done similar events in Columbus for the past seven years. The event will be the first one Scoppa will DJ in Athens. In addition to being a DJ, Scoppa collects vinyl records.
“It’s kind of a purity thing when I listen to records over digital,” Scoppa said. “It’s more about the vibration of the sound.”
Scoppa believes this event is musically unique compared to other DJ’d events because of the sound vinyl records produce and the danceability the music allows.
“I do think that the vibration that comes out of a record is thicker and more full-sounding and it kind of fills the space more when you listen to it,” Scoppa said.
In addition to the sound, the idea of how vinyl records are created is equally fascinating to Scoppa.
“The records are just pretty much the imprint of a vibration that came from a voice of an artist or an instrument of an artist however many years ago the record was made,” Scoppa said. “It’s still magic to me how you can put a needle on a physical object and sound will come out, strictly because of vibration.”
Manon Rondeau, a teaching assistant for the Department of Modern Languages, was not aware of what the event was and only knew the name from the banner in Baker Center. As someone who is from France, Rondeau noticed Americans do not dance as much as Europeans do.
“Here, when I go to a party, people never dance, and I’m always like ‘I wanna dance!’ when it comes to the end of the night, but it never happens,” Manon said. “So, I know that maybe more international students may be interested.”
