A Funk Music Festival featuring saxophonist Maceo Parker, best known as the sax player for the legendary James Brown, and a speech by Sen. John Kerry on environmental initiatives are two of the events in this year's Spring Weekend, an annual student-planned celebration scheduled for April 23-25.
The weekend kicks off at 9pm on Thursday evening with a one-hour study break at Lobdell, and runs through Saturday evening, when the ATO Bachelor Auction at Lobdell and Mr. Spring Weekend contest at Walker run concurrently beginning at 8pm. Other events include Friday's International Fair with food, music, posters and dance from about 40 MIT international associations, scheduled for 10am-6pm on Kresge Oval.
Saturday's events include Sen. Kerry's speech "Where Do We Go from Kyoto?" at 11am in Kresge Auditorium, the East Campus Picnic at noon, Amherst Alley Rally and Carnival Games at 2pm, the Whopper Eating Contest at 2pm on the Student Center steps, and the Alpha Phlea Market, where students' services will be auctioned off on the Student Center steps from 3-6pm.
Most of the events are open to all members of the MIT community, with the exception of the study break, which is MIT students only. The Funk Music Festival, Bachelor Auction and Mr. Spring Weekend contest are open to the MIT community as well as students with other area college IDs.
The Spring Weekend Committee encourages MIT faculty and staff to participate with students in this weekend of fun, especially the Maceo Parker concert at Friday's Funk Music Festival beginning at 8pm in Johnson Athletic Center. The bands Fishbone and Five Fingers of Funk are also slated to perform. Advance tickets are available from The Source for $8 for the MIT community and $10 with any other college ID. All tickets are $10 at the door. For more information, call x3-2501.
"We think faculty and staff will have as great a time listening to Maceo Parker as the students," said Stuart Jackson, a sophomore in aeronautics and astronautics who serves as co-coordinator of the Spring Weekend Committee. Spring Weekend is held each year, but this is the first time in three years that nationally known musicians have performed.
For more information on the weekend's events, send e-mail to spring@mit.edu.
A version of this article appeared in MIT Tech Talk on April 15, 1998.
