Something Like Sound

Friday night, as the sun began to set and the Homecoming field events wrapped up, the M on Mount Zion began slowly

Green River Ordinance, Courtesy Andrew Ferguson, www.andrewferguson.net

flickering on, as it had done for decades. However, Friday night was different. After a few quick speeches from members of Blue Key and Golden Mayor Jacob Smith, the dull yellow lights disappeared as the bright white light of energy-efficient LEDs began to shine. According to Blue Key, the old bulbs cost approximately $2300 a year to maintain, while the new LED bulbs will only cost around $180.

Following the ceremony was the Homecoming concert, which featured Ft. Worth, Texas band Green River Ordinance (GRO). After dropping out of college during their senior year, the members of GRO set out to follow their dreams of a becoming successful with music. Jamey Ice, GRO’s guitarist, said “We were going to take a year off and our parents said ‘We’ll give you one year, and if you don’t get a record deal you have to go back to school.’ That year it worked out really well, we sold a bunch of records, toured the country and signed to Capitol Records last October.”

As a band that lists the likes of Jimmy Eat World, U2, Matchbox 20 and Third Eye Blind as their influences, Green River OrdinanceO lived up to expectations that night. Their set started off slowly, and after playing a mellow opening

The M switches over, Courtesy Andrew Ferguson, www.andrewferguson.net

song, the band invited the crowd to gather in and enjoy the show. As the night cooled off, the crowd warmed up. Green River Ordinance played through a number of catchy tunes and even threw in a cover of Tom Petty’s “Free Falling” toward the end of the set.

After playing for nearly an hour and a half, the concert was over. “I thought the show was pretty cool,” said Ryan Hild, “It was nice and relaxed; the band played well.” Other CSM students shared Hild’s sentiments. “I thought it was totally awesome,” said Drew Meyer, “I thought they had a really crisp, clean sound and I really liked listening to them.”

Green River Ordinance plans on touring the east coast in the near future, then supporting their record, which comes out in February 2009.