State In The Real – Penn State Music Scene

Author - Johnny

Heading Downtown? Need Plans? Go To TheSpot2g.com

Here at State In The Real we love the State College nightlife.  For those looking to make the most of your night out on the town you may find yourself asking the question “What’s going on?” or “Where is the place to be tonight?”  Once you’ve received texts back from all your friends letting you know they’re being indecisive as usual, you may turn to the internet for ideas.  Well here’s where I can shed some light on a solution that may minimize your time spent planning and optimize your time spent pre-gaming.  You can spend your time searching individual bar’s websites or some poorly updated local sites or you can go to TheSpot2g.com.  A recently launched website with the most up to date information that you need for your downtown adventure.  Most up to date you say?  When you first arrive at the site you’ll see a feed with brief updates on each nightlife venue in State College.  These updates come directly from the bars themselves, so those unique seasonal specials that pop up unexpectedly are always listed.  From there your decisions for the night become a lot more clear and you may actually get to fit in that ‘Power Hour’ that someone jokingly suggested earlier (although we don’t recommend it).

 

We had the chance to get a little more information from TheSpot2g.com’s Co-Founder Nathan Caschera:

SITR: What gave you the idea or motivation to start TheSpot2g.com?

TheSpot2g: It all started a Penn State tailgate.  Sam Hill and I started talking about what bars we wanted to go to later that night.  Since it was a football game weekend we knew there would be lines everywhere, so we factored that into our decision, also we knew some bars change up their drink specials for home games so we started looking for who had what specials going on.  One thing lead to another and we ended up talking about it would be awesome if there was a website where bar owners could post what’s goin on there each night.  Drink specials, cover charges, DJ’s, special promotions and etc all gaurenteed to be correct because the bars are posting the information.  A one stop shop that anyone can use to find out where is The Spot 2 Go!  We got back to the tailgate and decided it would be best to meet up the next day and talk about the idea; you know to make sure it still seemed as awesome then as it did to us in that moment.

SITR: What career or profession were/are you involved in before starting TheSpot2g.com and how did that influence it’s launch?

TheSpot2g: We all have maintained our previous jobs since we began building TheSpot2g. I am involved in bar sales throughout central PA, dealing a lot with beer systems, liquor systems and energy drinks.  Sam Hill, is a PSU student and works downtown at the Gingerbread Man.  Our programmers Niraj Pathak and Justin England are building/maintaining the site while also running their own company Innovatrix labs where they build websites for others.

SITR: What are some of your favorite places to go in downtown State College?

TheSpot2g: That’s the beauty of this site, it kind of matches how we go out.  Don’t get me wrong everyone has some go to spots but we are always trying to switch things up.  Visiting different venues and being spontaneous is the best way to meet new people.  I feel the main reason people don’t switch things up is because they don’t know what to expect

SITR: As you know State In The Real is all about the music, so we wanna know: if there were a theme song for TheSpot2g.com what would it be?

TheSpot2g: Haha this is a tough one. I guess if I had to pick a song “Shots” by LMFAO could be appropriate.

SITR: Where do you see TheSpot2g.com going in the future?

TheSpot2g: The idea is to take it worldwide.  In a much sooner time frame we are going to focus on expanding to other major colleges; right now Rutgers and WVU are getting tossed around as the next move. Eventually expanding to major cities where hopefully it becomes common place and every bar in the world will see the benefit to join.  Then regardless of where you are in the world your app (which is under development) can sort your feed to the surrounding bars and you will have guaranteed specials, entertainment, cover charges, and more posted by the bars themselves, at the palm of your hand.

Be sure to keep an eye for their upcoming app!

BA All Student Production: El Ballado De Guy Hero

Grab yourself some peanuts and head over to room 119 in the Theater Building and be ready to laugh.  This whimsical production is around a half hour and worth your time.  Be a part of a real peanut gallery and chuck peanuts at the performers throughout the entire show.  There is no admission fee and bags of peanuts are just $1.  Proceeds go to the School of Theater.  The remaining show times are Friday (3/29) at 5:30pm and Saturday (3/30) at 3:00pm and 7:00pm.  It’s going to be a nutty time!

Facebook Event Page:

https://www.facebook.com/events/458829984185366/?notif_t=plan_user_invited

LOCAL ARTIST PROFILE: DJ Cheez Grater

EDM artists are getting more and more popular throughout the Penn State Music scene.  Here’s our profile of DJ Cheez Grater:

 

Bio:
Born and raised in Flatbush, Brooklyn to a Guyanese family, Alex Matthew Balgóbin (Cheez Grater), grew up listening to mostly Hip-Hop and Dancehall-Reggae. Alex always wanted to learn how to DJ & produce when he was younger but didn’t have the time or money. “I learned how to play the piano and clarinet as a child & joined the UAlbany Pep Band during college. As an undergraduate at SUNY Albany, I discovered Moombahton at a Salsa Club in Queens while home for Winter break in 2011; it’s a recent subgenre of EDM that has become popular in NYC over the past few years. People usually ask me to describe Moombah, so I tell them it’s basically like House music slowed down to the same tempo as Reggaeton with a similar drum pattern (of course it’s more complex than that). After discovering it, I started to explore other genres of EDM but always came back to Moombahton. What I like about it is that it borrows elements (synths, vocals, etc) from all types of genres & it’s at a nice booty-shaking tempo of around 108 bpm; everyone has different taste in music but there are definitely Moombah songs out there that anyone would like. Plus, a lot of the old Hip-Hop & Reggae songs that I used to listen to have been remixed into Moombah by some of my favorite producers.”

“After graduating UAlbany with a B.A. in Anthropology in 2012, double-minor in Linguistics/Russian, I decided to attend Penn State for a Master’s degree in International Affairs the same year. I invested in my first mixer last year & mostly taught myself how to DJ. I joined the EDMC & The Lion FM to meet other people who enjoyed EDM & to get my name out there as a DJ since I basically didn’t know anyone at Penn State. Grad school can be tough sometimes, so I’ve been struggling to balance academics and my DJ career on the side. I still haven’t had time to start producing my own music yet but I’m hoping to learn next summer. Since I’ve been a student here, I’ve DJed for a few house parties, have recently opened for the PSMA Clash of the DJs at Heritage Hall, and also played at Duo for a DJ social. Playing for the HUB & Duo were probably the best moments of my life; I had a blast seeing people enjoying the same music I do. Any DJ can play Top 40 tracks and get people dancing, it’s an extra challenge to get a crowd moving to songs they’ve never heard before, especially in State College. I hope to eventually get regular bookings at parties around State College, clubs downtown, and in NYC. There are a lot of other student DJs at Penn State so I’m trying to stand out.”

“I usually get asked why I chose the name “Cheez Grater”: It’s a completely random nickname that stuck with me from high school. My friends and even family started jokingly calling me that so I just kept it. Plus, it’s always funny to hear “Give it up for Cheez Grater!” on the mic during my gigs.”

“In the future, I’ll probably continue on the career path of International Affairs and Development. I’m hoping to work abroad in Latin America and Europe. I plan to still DJ and produce part-time and hopefully get people to recognize the name, Cheez Grater.”

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Here’s his latest mix, dedicated to THON:His last one-hour mix with a wider variety of EDM genres:

Off The Record – Volume #011 – mixed by Cheez Grater by Cheez Grater on Mixcloud

 

ALBUM LEAK: The Story So Far – What You Don't See

The up and coming pop-punk band, The Story So Far, has been taking the world by storm.  The young five-piece out of California released their debut full length in 2011, and are getting bigger and bigger tours (it’s almost absurd).  Their second studio full length is set to drop March 26th, and you can pre-order it on their website or on  iTunes.  Lucky for us, a leak (torrent) was found this morning so we can learn all the lyrics before our physical copy (and other swag) gets here. Just in time for all the traveling spring break entails!