Free Money Headlines Live at Damon’s

By Broadside Staff Reporter Emily Sharrer

Alissa Karton, Assistant to the Vice President of University Life, is helping to change Mason’s reputation as a “commuter school.”

Karton is already co-chair of the planning committee for Weekends at Mason, a program that creates on-campus entertainment for students, and has kick-started a new event
called Live at Damon’s.

Every Saturday night from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m., student performers, as well as local acts, will come to Damon’s Grill, located on the bottom floor of Student Union Building I, to provide live acoustic sets, comedic stylings, and other entertainment.

Karton believes that providing more weekly on-campus entertainment will help quell the number of students leaving campus each weekend.

“We know the residential student population is growing and that student expectations for things happening on weekends are greater so we’re trying to meet that need,” said Karton.

“It’s not like this is a money making measure in any way
shape or form,” said Mark Arnold, General Manager of
Damon’s. “It’s really to provide activities for people so they don’t have to go off campus to do something.”

Karton and other students, faculty, and staff have been
meeting since September. She, along with Arnold, Gregg Toney, Executive Director of Dining and Technology Services, and others approached Dr. Sandy Hubler, Vice President of University Life and John Spado, Assistant Vice President of University Services for funding.

Live at Damon’s debuted this past Saturday night and featured Free Money, a band comprised of guitarist Dan Goldberger; guitarist Ammar Malik; bassist Danny Parker; and bongo player Zach Stein, who often plays at other local venues. Though the band has played at Jazzman’s in the past,
Goldberger was happy to have another opportunity to play
again on campus.

“I always like playing new places,” said Goldberger, a freshman. “I was excited to be able to play with the rest of my band around Mason for some of my Mason friends. We have
really loyal friends and typically we always make sure to
properly publicize a lot of our gigs. [We’re] definitely always excited to get our music out.”

Though many students weren’t aware of the new event, people that came to eat at Damon’s hung around to listen to Free Money.

“I think it’s a good turn out,” said Diana Rojas, 18, of
Herndon. “It’s good to see young talent come out; it’s really interesting.”

Sophomore Alex Zebrowski agreed that the turnout was favorable for the first Live at Damon’s. “This is the most people I’ve seen in Damon’s in a long time,” he said.

Steve Jordan, a friend of the band and Mason Alumni says this is an event he would be interested in attending in the
future.

“This is a great place to be on campus and not have to go
far to get a meal. It’s close and it sounds like it’s got pretty good acoustics,” said Jordan.

Along with the live entertainment, Arnold says Damon’s will be trying out a new all-you-can-eat rib special on Saturdays.

“It’s going to be a limited time offer kind of thing we’re
going to see how the all-you-can-eat ribs go and if it’s successful we’re going to roll with it,” said Arnold.

Though Karton was an initial driving force behind Live at Damon’s, Andres Maldonado, a Mason Alumni has taken over
booking acts for the event. Maldonado is interested in
having other acts, not just bands, to perform at Damon’s as
well as having theme nights.

“The format for Live at Damon’s could change from week to week and can include special events like ‘Amateur Night’ or ‘Karaoke Night,’ for example,” said Maldonado. "Also, Live at Damon’s is not limited to any certain genre of music so we are always looking for a diverse mix of performers.”

According to Maldonado, there has been no trouble finding acts to fill the time for Live at Damon’s.

“We definitely have acts that are interested in playing at
Damon’s,” he said, “so far we have been contacted by a comedian and a couple of DJ’s. We are not looking for any
bands in particular at this point but, we are looking for local acts that have a following,” said Maldonado.

Though Maldonado is in charge of booking the bands, Karton says a large part of making this event a success is student input.

“The goal is to have students take some ownership of this, so it’s something they want to come out and do on Saturday
night,” said Karton.

This upcoming Saturday, Shane Hines Acoustic Duo, a local band, will take the Damon’s stage for another acoustic set. Karton is confident that the event will continue to grow as more students find out about it.

“I’m really hopeful. I think it will be a decent turnout and
then I think we will really be able to tell more after this week. We all know that word of mouth is what works the best,” said Karton. “I’m very confident that Shane will bring in a really good crowd.”

If you are interested in performing at Live at Damon’s or would like to help out with the different aspects of Live at
Damon’s, you may contact Andres Maldonado at amaldona@gmu.edu.