Welcome Back Weekend begins with music, comedy, and baseball at BU Central

The one-year anniversary of BU Central, the late-night venue located in the basement of the George Sherman Union, is on September 26, but the birthday party starts this weekend.
Welcome Back Weekend, featuring live music, comedy, and sports events, begins on Thursday, September 8, with a performance by U2 tribute band the Joshua Tree. The following night, baseball fans can gather to watch the Red Sox play the Yankees in New York. Saturday night launches the Laugh Out Loud comedy series with Leighann Lord, and Sunday the space is open for Terriers and Touchdowns, a weekly gathering to watch Sunday Night Football on ESPN.
To launch BU Central’s second year as a hub of on-campus activity, coordinators have planned a series of high-profile events for the fall semester, offering students a mix of regularly scheduled activities and special one-time events. They will have the opportunity to watch live music and sports close to once a week throughout the semester, and movies, comedy, and karaoke are also on the agenda.
“All of the programs happening are brand-new,” says Josh Hiscock, the program coordinator for BU Central. “This is the first year there’s been naming and consistency to all the events.”
The line up for this semester includes the BU Central LIVE Concert Series, beginning on Tuesday, September 13 with the band Clap Your Hands Say Yeah; Mayhem Movie Monday, featuring thriller films such as A Clockwork Orange and Silence of the Lambs; and the Rhythm and Brews Coffeehouse Series, giving students a chance to perform for a live audience. Special events, such as the drag performance troupe All the King’s Men on September 22, hypnotist Fred Winters on October 21, and the Salsa Magic Latin Dance Party on November 4 will also take place.
In addition, the opening round of BU’s Funniest Student Competition, which Hiscock hopes will become a citywide event — “like the Beanpot of comedy,” he says — takes place on September 23.
BU Central also has a new look this year: the Student Activities Office has published a BU Central wall calendar for a complete overview of this semester’s events. Designed by COM junior Anand Chopra-McGowan (COM’07), “it’s really just a fantastic product,” Hiscock says. Calendars were distributed to freshmen at Splash! and will be available throughout the GSU as well.
Visit the new BU Central Web site, at www.bu.edu/sao/bucentral, for up-to-date information about events throughout the semester.
"