Oberlin Night Life

[00:00:00] Hello, I'm Grace. I'm Naiya. And I'm Una. Today we are going to be talking about a large part of college culture, nightlife. Parties, bars, concerts, these are some of the things that students participate in and seek out, especially on the weekends. Here at Oberlin there isn't a huge party culture, but we want to seek out how the party culture has shifted over the years and what students think of it.

Have parties decreased because of COVID or are students not interested in what is happening around campus? We are going to be talking to a variety of community members at Oberlin College to discuss the current status quo. First, we are going to be talking to a few different students in various years about their personal perspectives and experiences surrounding party culture.

Is Clara. I am a first year.

What was your expectations about how nightlife and party life would be?

I didn't really know what to expect. My only thing is, when I toured, I hung out with one of my friends , who used to [00:01:00] go here, and she was like, yeah, , it's exactly what you'd imagine college to be.

So that didn't really tell me anything, but I kind of took that as like, "oh, it'll be like the movies", but I always knew that Oberlin is, wasn't a party school and that's part of the reason I came here is because I didn't want a school where I felt the need to go out every night. So I didn't really know what to expect, but I, I thought that there would be definitely parties.

And since you've been here, what kind of, how have your weekends looked like?

In the beginning of the semester I went to a few (parties) and they kind of deterred me from continuing to go. Like, they were very chaotic without anything actually being done. Everyone would just be standing outside.

It wasn't exactly what I think of when I think of a party, you know. It's just a lot of people gathering outside of like, co ops. And the music was always, either like, EDM or a live jazz band, which honestly the live music is really a great [00:02:00] part of Oberlin. I think the Fevee has definitely been a better source of nightlife than the parties run by like, Athletics.

So your experience so far, how has that been in relation to expectations? Have they exceeded? Have they not?

I think I've honestly been a little underwhelmed. I think that's partially because I am used to a very different scene. And then also I've been trying to not have my entire life be my nightlife. And so I think it's partially that, but also just that when I go out, I really want to have fun and I feel like a lot of the times when I got here, I don't.

And so then at that point I'm just like, okay, especially because all of everything gets shut down so early. So you go out for like an hour. Is it worth it to get dressed up and like put on makeup just to go home in an hour?

If there were to be more parties, what would you be interested in attending?

I would go out if there were more house parties, I think. I think [00:03:00] there's definitely some sort of absence. I wish that there was a little more. Because I know that everyone who goes out to those parties, like, not at Oberlin, but at other schools, like, that is the social life. And I'm really glad that that's not the full social life here.

Although, I feel like something is kind of missing.

My name is Emmy. I'm a second year jazz vocalist in the con.

And how often would you say that you go out, like, per week?

I would say three to four times.

And when you go out, where do you go?

Uh, mostly to the Feve at the moment or to house parties.

You play a big role in organizing a lot of the jazz parties. Can you just give a little of what like a jazz party is?

Sure. So a jazz party is usually where somebody asks us if they can host us and essentially you've get a band together, you pick the band, make a set list. It's usually a one rehearsal, sort of one hour thing, [00:04:00] you don't have to be that prepared.

What's the kind of process like of planning them and have you noticed any difference in performing in parties last year versus this year?

It's, it's totally different from last year just 'cause the vibes are different this year. And also I think they're getting a bit better and learning. You learn what works and what doesn't work. You learn, don't do all the complicated stuff all the time. Keep it easy and people just want the simple stuff.

One thing that I like about jazz parties is that I feel like they mix. You get like a North Campus crowd and a South Campus crowd. Why do you think that is?

I think because people love live music and it's a great way to connect to each other. I think we're so lucky to have the opportunity to play them and I think people feel lucky that it's, it's a really great opportunity to hear these musicians who are gonna be professional musicians and get paid for this soon, you get to go for free and everybody's just like, like, it's true. Like, you know, it's, it's a really interesting environment to experience such often high [00:05:00] quality, arranged pop music. I just feel like you don't really get that anywhere else other than a place like this.

Next, we interviewed Seiami, a WOBC board member and sophomore at Oberlin College.

You had a sister who went here, right?

Correct.

So what did she tell you and like made you expect from Oberlin nightlife?

Well, the first time that I visited her was the weekend of cover band and her friend's birthday. So there were definitely a lot more festivities than there would have been normally and I think that that maybe misled me a little bit just because Yeah, I was just under the impression that there would be more going on here. And that's not to say that there's nothing going on here it's just a lot less than what I had expected.

Do you personally think that the nightlife here could improve?

Absolutely.

And how are some ways that you think it could do [00:06:00] that?

I think that people need to learn how to play better music. I think that people need to learn how to blend songs better. I think that people need to buy better speakers or borrow better speakers.

My name is Max Shiva Valiki, and I'm a senior. I feel like my experience with nightlife has been interesting, it's changed a lot, from the time that I was a freshman to the time that I was a senior, very radically.

When I was a freshman, I knew that Oberlin wasn't known as like a party school per se, but, the people that I had met in like sort of the general vibe I was getting was like, "okay there's still gonna be parties and there's still gonna be sort of a weekend life." And that was correct in a lot of ways. I think mostly freshman year was a lot of parties, in village housing and there were a couple dorm parties as well, and there were a lot of jazz parties and sports parties. The jazz parties and the sports [00:07:00] parties were the main fixture of the nightlife on the weekends.

It'd be super crowded. It'd be hot and sticky. There wasn't really much space for dancing, which I was really not expecting. There wasn't much dancing at all. And I think the general consensus from those parties was that wasn't that good, wasn't fun but then it was like, there was still a lot of hope for the next one. I think I came in with really high expectations of what it was going to be. And then I started to lower my expectations as the years went on.

Then junior year was a big shift because , we all started going to the Feve.

Much less party oriented and more genuine fun connection with friends, community oriented. My source of nightlife was the Feve or going to a house party that was comprised of all of my friends and people that I knew. And that was , much more fulfilling to me.

Then this year, at least the people that I know that have houses, don't [00:08:00] really throw parties that often. But every once in a while, there's a party that I think gets everybody together. We threw this party that was Berghain themed which was super fun and I feel like that got a bunch of people together that weren't just in our immediate circle.

Honestly, I was super stressed about it because I didn't really realize like how much work it takes to throw a party and how much direct risk is involved, when you are the one who has the house that is being thrown, like that's all your stuff and so, I sort of realized the other aspect of it, which is, "okay, there's going to be a bunch of strangers in my house who I really have no control over."

I was more worried about whether people would have fun. And trying to tailor the party to that experience was fun. Like, is the space something that the nightlife crowded Oberlin would enjoy. Is the music going to be something that they would enjoy? It was very interesting experience.

Would you throw again?

Absolutely. Yeah, it was so fun.

Over your four years, what have been your favorite kind of parties to attend? The main ones are ones where I can dance. I [00:09:00] really love when everybody is in a dancing mood . I think it's just a combination of the music and the space where everybody just gets together and really goes for it. Tank parties have also been consistently really good.

Now that you're, a senior and you are the one living in off campus housing, do you have any opinions on the exclusivity of parties?

So that's kind of complicated because when I was a freshman and a sophomore I was like, "come on, like, let me have fun", you know? So I think there's both sides, the older grades being like, we don't want freshmen and the younger grades being like, "what the heck? We have a right to be here." I think they're both super valid. My experience is when underclassmen, but mostly freshmen show up, it's usually a lot of them and it's usually pretty loud and so I think that can sometimes get in the way of the ideas that we had about just seeing our friends and going somewhere for a release and instead it turns into a stressful thing with a lot of people.

But, overall, I think [00:10:00] that the exclusivity can sometimes be harmful because that, I think also starts a cycle and I think I'm part of this cycle as well, where it's , you start as like a freshman and sophomore and you get excluded from things because you're younger and then once you get older, you sort of internalize that and you're like, "okay, now I've earned this. This means that since I've earned it, the people who are younger than me haven't earned it." So I think that can sometimes be a dangerous like cycle.

You only have one semester left, what would be your hopes or the best case scenario for your nightlife?

Okay, I want to dance a lot more. I really just want to like absolutely let loose and just dance. Because I feel like I have had fun with the nightlife here, but ,one there's not as many parties this year and so I'd like there to be more parties. And I'd like there to be more parties that involve dancing and music that you can really dance to. And I'd love to just be at another co-op party where it's a great vibe because I've been to so many that have just been like everybody from Oberlin, you know, of [00:11:00] all ages, comes together and it's like just so fun consistently.

Currently, Tuesdays and Wednesdays seem to be the most popular nights for students to hit the Feve, the bar and restaurant in downtown Oberlin. We took a trip down to the Feve to ask the owner, Matt Adelman, what the Feve nightlife scene was like before COVID.

Matt Adelman and I are the Feve, co owner of the Feve. So nightlife here has had its ebbs and flows. COVID messed everything up, like really, really bad. In the last year, like in the last even six months, nightlife has changed quite a bit here in the positive way where more people are hanging out, more people are having fun.

But the happy happy hour thing was a Friday at five o'clock upstairs opened. And it was really cheap. And there was a line. Like, at 4. 30, a line would start outside. And it was insane. It was crazy. Wednesday nights, we used to do a [00:12:00] jam, like, just like a jam night. So there was a regular jazz band that would play Wednesday nights, and they would set up in the front corner, and it was insanely cool.

It was really, really awesome.

Would you ever bring it back?

We would love to, yeah. Love to. Something, like, we're always reinventing ourselves. Something will come along.

My name is Sean Lelbach. I'm an Associate Director of Student Involvement here at Oberlin College, and I oversee the Dionysus Disco, known as the 'Sco, and also the Cat in the Cream.

How long have you worked here in this position?

I came over November of 2014.

So since you started working in 2014, how was kind of like the 2010's in terms of the 'Sco and the cat? What was the scene like?

I would say that the 'Sco definitely was a more like rock, like heavy music type vibe and of course because we do serve alcohol at that space, [00:13:00] definitely more of a bar type scene. The Cat in the Cream is a coffee house and really had more of a mellower vibe. We do a lot of jazz things there.

Were concerts there well attended during the 2010s?

I would say that both venues, that attendance was definitely better anecdotally. I would say that definitely pre COVID, attendance was much better.

Can you just talk a little bit about the impact of COVID in general and like numbers?

Yeah. So obviously when COVID came along, we kind of shut down, we were doing things remotely and there was a very slow ramp up back in because I think performance venues in general, they were like, well, how do we move forward and navigate, even though maybe , the pandemic has lessened where people had more knowledge about how to navigate it better.

There's so much available online that I don't know that necessarily [00:14:00] the students always feel a need to come to see live music to get the music things that they're interested in. Which is unfortunate because anytime that I am around when there is a live event going on, and as I'm talking to students, they're like, "yeah, this is really cool, I didn't know if I would like this." And I'm like, tell your friends to come.

I think that there's less, I would say exploration around new or maybe unknown musicians, unless it happens to be student performers. And then, of course, people come to support their friends and it's a lot of fun, you know, obviously. That's, that's why there's been a push to try to get more people to perform in the 'Sco.

What typically do you find the most successful events to be?

I would say just looking attendance wise, if you're using that metric, , definitely our indie rock things seem currently to be the most well attended [00:15:00] things and, and definitely our student led initiatives.

Cover Band Showcase is an example. I mean, we, we hit capacity with that particular event almost yearly. Um, and other things that are similar to it, like the Rando Bando Showcase. Again, we get a lot of people. I have noticed that, like themed parties as well. So I'll use like Latinx night is another one. They usually get a pretty good turnout, like around 300 people, which the space is pretty full at 300. It can hold up to 450.

It really kind of depends too on what's going on, you know, competing with that particular event too, because that can detract from it or the time of the year. If it's midterms, people may want to go, but they're going to stay home and study.

Do you have any, like, specific hopes or goals going forward for the 'Sco?

To me, cause I really view it as a space that is for the [00:16:00] students, I really want them to utilize it, and I always say this, as long as it's legal, and we figure out a way to do it, let's try to do it. I mean, I want it to evolve so that the students will utilize it more. I do feel like we're, we're doing pretty well. I feel like we get a decent number of folks that will go to it almost nightly. But, on nights when we don't have anything specific, then there's less attendance. So it would be great if student orgs would reserve it to program more, so I would love to see that.

I think if we have staff members that are into creating programming, that can then encourage them to either bring their group there and do something or collaborate. So those are kind of the main things because I don't, like to see the attendance continue to decline.

Nightlife at Oberlin is clearly ever changing. The effects of COVID are still being felt throughout the community, but students and business owners [00:17:00] are adapting to create fun experiences for everyone. Through our interviews, we were able to investigate how different groups and individuals have taken advantage of the party culture available, and how they interpret those shifts.

Thank you for listening, and make sure to go out and party!