After reading Randy Brachman’s inflammatory column two Wednesdays ago I felt the need to respond. Mr. Brachman’s column amounts to senseless and largely inaccurate bashing of Team 31 productions, spurred by the fact that HE didn’t have the best time at W.I.L.D. Let me quickly restate his primary complaints. The first was that no big names performed at W.I.L.D. The second was that Night Owl is a bad artist. Then Mr. Brachman ranted for some time about how he did not get a free Chipotle burrito, before stating “But the lack of burritos is not really all that important to the story.” The column ended with more complaints about the music selection (rap bashing) and ends with the request that we “get some instruments and musicianship back on that stage.”

Let me first respond to the most outrageous of Mr. Brachman’s assertions: “Now correct me if I’m wrong about this, but I don’t think there were any big names here either.” Well, here comes the correction. Talib Kweli and David Banner are both critically and popularly successful legends of the rap world. Mr. Kweli’s albums have soared as high as No. 2 on the billboard album charts (which includes both rap and non-rap music), has collaborated with other heavyweights including Mos Def and has drawn strong praise in the lyrics of one of the most famous rappers of all time, Jay-Z. As for Mr. Banner? He has had a top-10 single, is in the midst of a national tour, and has sold well over a million albums since his debut in 2003. Mr. Brachman clearly did not know this as he made his claim, and I hope in the future that he will not let his own ignorance about hip-hop lead him to make false statements such as this one.

Now there is one point on which I agree with Mr. Brachman, which is that Night Owl is not a terribly popular or well-known artist. However, I would argue that few acts that are the first opener for a six-act lineup such as W.I.L.D. are well known. The point of an opener is to kill some time and get people psyched about the acts to come, which Night Owl did a competent job of. Furthermore, the argument that Night Owl is no good because he lacks a Wikipedia entry is simply ludicrous. I could create a Wikipedia entry about myself, but would that make me more qualified to play W.I.L.D. than Night Owl? I hope for the sake of the student body that that is not the case!

Now, on to the complaints about the food. Team 31 is not to blame for the lack of Chipotle. They and the Student Union made it abundantly clear before W.I.L.D. that the quantities of Chipotle were limited, and that they, along with shutter shades, were designed to act as incentive to get people to arrive early to W.I.L.D. As Mr. Brachman’s complaints illustrate, this clearly worked, and although I received neither, I applaud the attempts of SU and Team 31 to pack the house for their concert, as any good promoter should.

Finally, Mr. Brachman complained about the genre makeup of the W.I.L.D. lineup. While I might include myself among the group of people who are not the largest fans of hip-hop, I do know that many of my peers are fans. I realize that there are many genres of music, which are all valid forms of musical expression. I refuse to knock one simply because it is not my taste. Like Mr. Brachman, were I to get my wishes, I too would have probably rather seen a rock band at fall W.I.L.D. Unlike Mr. Brachman, I, however, have the sense to know that were a rock band to play, rap fans would have as much of a reason to gripe as he does as a rock fan. This is why Team 31 has adopted the fair tradition of inviting mostly hip-hop artists to fall W.I.L.D., and mostly rock artists to spring W.I.L.D. So before knocking Team 31, Mr. Brachman should simply wait a semester and enjoy Spring W.I.L.D. like the rest of us rock fans.

Although it sounds like something my father might tell me, I would like to point out that I really enjoyed this fall’s W.I.L.D., largely because I went in with a good attitude. I hadn’t heard much live rap music, so I enjoyed the chance to hear something new. For that, I am grateful for the efforts of Team 31, and am happy to defend them against unfair criticisms.