Just as the Rat has seen a decline in attendance this year, the Gargoyle is also suffering from a lack of turnout at concerts held there. According to Ron Ferker of the Gargoyle Committee, this deficit of student interest reflects an ongoing trend which began a few years ago.

Early this semester the Gargoyle put on a show with the bands OneSideZero, dredg, and Bemus. Because OneSideZero had opened for Incubus while they were on tour, Ferker hoped the show would sell out.

“Only 90 or 100 people went. We paid under $3,000, and we didn’t make as much money back,” Ferker said.

These numbers pale in comparison with the 500 tickets sold two years ago for the Vanilla Ice concert. Three years ago, people were actually turned away from the sold out Parliament Funkadelic concert. According to Alex Korutz, also a member of the Gargoyle Committee, maintaining high concert attendance is difficult.

“To get 500 students to come out on a weeknight is not realistic,” Korutz said.

Ferker believes that the numbers are also on the decline since fewer students are going to the Rat. Previously, students would shuttle from the Rat to the Gargoyle on Thursday nights.

“Rat night was popular in the past; now it’s only B&D [Security] and the guy spinning records,” Ferker said.

Another reason Ferker gives for the drop in attendance is that alcohol is no longer sold at the shows. According to Ferker, until 1998 alcohol could be purchased at any closed show not marketed to people outside the university.

“Then one time we booked Reel Big Fish, 900 people came, and we haven’t had alcohol since then,” Ferker said.

While lack of alcohol maybe a factor in the attendance drop, bringing alcohol sales back to the Gargoyle will not happen soon. According to Ferker, alcohol will not be sold at the concerts until student interest and attendance at the concerts increases.

“The administration doesn’t want alcohol to be the only reason that students are coming to shows,” Ferker said.

Although the Gargoyle committee’s budget of over $38,000 increased from last year’s $28,000, Ferker cites funding as another impediment to increasing student attendance. With more money, the committee could hire more popular bands, which most likely more students would be interested in. Typically, small shows cost about $1,000 whereas a bigger name show could cost anywhere up to $10,000.

SU treasurer Jonathan Frick says that by increasing the Gargoyle’s budget from last year, they are hoping to make the venue popular again.

“We’re taking a bet on them to see if they could do something good,” Frick said.

In order to increase numbers for their shows, Gargoyle advertises shows in the Riverfront Times. If shows are expected to sell out, then they will sell only to WU students. According to Korutz, generally the shows’ audiences are about two-thirds WU students and one-third people from outside the university.

“It’s our way to give back to the community. We’re also saving SU money,” Korutz said.

The Gargoyle also hopes that attendance will increase by co-sponsoring shows with KWUR, such as hip-hop with Andrew Freeman and rock with Neil Besson. Co-sponsoring gives the committee access to a better sound system.

According to Ferker, the committee would like to fill the Gargoyle to capacity. “We hope that as attendance goes up it will bring alcohol in.”

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