Current politics exasperate the autumn gloom. Although the economy is emerging from the largest contraction since World War II, we are still stuck in Iraq, and the impasse in Afghanistan seems to be getting even more complicated.

Some of you may remember my column last Friday when I waxed eloquent about the myriad of musical big-wigs who are en route to our humble town. You may also recall that included in that extra-ordinary line-up were two bands known respectively as The Hold Steady and Deer Tick, and that I gave a shout out to man-of-the-hour Dan Smalls, founder of Dan Smalls Presents, Inc. Well, this weekend, Dan Small Presents … the Positive Jam. Drawing a blank? Please, allow me to explain.

This past Saturday night, the Cornell Concert Commission welcomed both new and old students alike with a free concert at Barton Hall. The contenders were Ithaca’s own Hubcap and California based Rogue Wave. While the former tried to intrigue new and old students with their alternative rock music and mentions of the ever so fine tastes of Ithaca, such as the all day music festival in Stewart Park next Sunday, the latter spent the majority of their set trying to rouse the Cornell corpses from their zombie like trance, which could have been attributed to the bleak weather outside or a general dissatisfaction with entering into or coming back to Cornell life.

The Shanghai Quartet visited Bailey Hall on Saturday for a riveting performance that had some of the rough-and-tumble feel of a rock concert. To open the performance, the quartet took on Mozart’s String Quartet in D minor, K. 421, setting an elegant yet chipper tone for the concert. They dallied with the first movement’s lightsome runs with a tempered gusto. In the Andante that followed, however, the quartet attacked a dark counterpoint, allowing it to well up with an unexpectedly inward melancholy. When the counterpoint motif came back, they erupted in a startling, hall-reverberating crescendo that brilliantly shattered the remaining façade of delicate composure the piece had initially created.

On Thursday, the Cornell Concert Commission announced that it would graciously donate $30,000 to the Slope Day Programming Board to help compensate for an estimated $70,000 loss in funding from the University. But showering funds into the Slope Day budget paints a gilded image of the increasingly bleak financial outlook that Cornell faces.

The contribution will be used to help foot the sumptuous bill for the day’s musical lineup. However, as budgets across campus continue to be slashed, why is it necessary to still pump close to a quarter of a million dollars into the annual spring festival?

Imagine it’s 6 a.m. on a Sunday morning. You’re still drunk from last night, you’ve got work and laundry piling up and it’s not even light out. Yet here you are at Barton Hall, chugging coffee and assembling steel trusses, heavy-duty rigging for light fixtures and scaffolds into a stage. You’re making signs that say: ‘Backstage Band Area’ or ‘Bathrooms Here,’ or running errands to Wegmans to buy your guests of honor their organic bottled water of choice. A truck breaks down on its way to Ithaca, so the stage you need to have assembled by 3 p.m. won’t be ready for a few more hours. But the show must go on — will go on, at 6 p.m. Screw how early it is, it’s time to get to work.

CCC

Saturday night, the Fanclub Collective put on a rather unprecedented four-act show in North Campus’ own Just About Music dorm. Now, through my three years at Cornell, and despite the fact that I have several JAM-resident friends, I have never actually been to one of their coffee-house shows (I am infinitely excited to cross it off of my list of things to do at Cornell).

The space was neat, inviting and just the right size to make a Fanclub show seem full to the brim, though I felt bad for the people who actually live there. Anyone trying to sleep at 11pm was undoubtedly having a terrible time doing so — the last band was particularly gut-bustingingly loud.

This may sound like an insane question: Why would you go to a concert? The explanations are straightforward. One, you enjoy the music the band plays; it touches you in some manner. Two, your friends are going and it might be fun; Friday nights and lab reports don’t always mix. Three, you know someone in the band; maybe they’ll give you a wave during a song, or throw you a (wood) drumstick. Four, you like live music. If you’ve heard of the Deadheads, or recognize the term “Red Sox Nation,” you know that some people have an elevated level of dedication to some bands or sports teams.

An inaugural cry of vitality kicked the Decemberists into gear with a tight, up-tempo cathartic march. Rocking to the Barton Hall rafters, the veteran Portland, Oregon band confirmed their reputation as a jaw-dropping live act while reenforcing their status as “independent super-pop” trailblazers. Busting the Sunday evening stupor, the Decemberists hitched indie rock’s scratchy, emotionally piercing dissatisfaction with a charged army of rich organs and inventive percussion.

At first, I was disappointed with David Crosby and Graham Nash's show at the State Theatre on Monday night. Mostly, this was because they didn't perform "Fortunate Son" or "Bad Moon Rising." Then I realized that I was confusing CSNY with CCR, and that expecting them to perform the latter group's hits was somewhat unreasonable. After I came to this understanding, my entire perspective changed, and I found the concert quite nice.