Impaired Faculties to give benefit concert for Columbia Theatre, Fanfare


Wednesday, October 1, 2014 Impaired Faculties
by: Tonya Lowentritt

IMPAIRED FACULTIES – Impaired Faculties will play a benefit concert for Fanfare and Columbia Theatre for the Performing Arts on Oct. 16, at 7:30 p.m. in the downtown Hammond Theatre. Pictured from left are Dan McCarthy, Ralph Wood, Randy Settoon, Joe Burns, and Bill Robison.


HAMMOND – Impaired Faculties will return to the Columbia Theatre for the Performing Arts in Hammond at 7:30 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 16, for a benefit concert and an evening of rock and roll.

The concert falls not only halfway through the fall semester and Homecoming week, but also at the mid-point of Fanfare, the annual month-long celebration of the arts, humanities, and social sciences at Southeastern. As with the band's previous performance at the Columbia Theatre last March, all proceeds from ticket sales for this benefit concert will go to support Fanfare and programming at the Columbia Theatre, according to Columbia/Fanfare Interim Director Roy Blackwood.

All five members of Impaired Faculties serve on Southeastern's faculty, though the band has no official affiliation with the university. Joe Burns (guitar/vocals) is a professor of communication and coordinator of the Master of Arts in Organizational Communication program; Dan McCarthy (keyboards/vocals) is dean of the College of Science and Technology and professor of physics; Bill Robison (guitar/vocals) is department head and professor of history in the Department of History and Political Science; Randy Settoon (bass/vocals) is professor of management and former dean of the College of Business; and Ralph Wood (drums/vocals) is assistant dean of the College of Nursing and Health Sciences and professor of Health Studies.

Impaired Faculties will premiere several songs from the band's forthcoming CD. To be released in early 2015, the CD is being recorded at Robison Productions, a Baton Rouge studio operated by band member Robison's brother, Tucker Robison. Two of the songs will be available on iTunes prior to the show—the socially charged "Daddy's Little Princess" and the ironic "Sex, Drugs, and Rock and Roll," the chorus of which includes the line "save my soul from sex, drugs, and rock and roll." The band also will perform a mix of other new material and old favorites.

Robinson said the concert is appropriate for all ages.

"At our last Columbia performance in March, we had an audience ranging in age from six to 96 and all points in between," said Robison. "By the end of the show a fair number of them were dancing in the aisles. We play loud rock, power pop and blues, and we want everyone in the audience to have as much fun as we are having onstage."

The band is quick to note that this is not a nostalgia act, an oldies show, or a gimmick featuring cute older men.

"We are not really that cute," says Robison, "but we are dead serious about the art of music-making, and we rock hard. The music we cover ranges from the 1950s to the present, and obviously our own original material is new, as the band has been in existence only since July 2013."

Band members are quick to note that Impaired Faculties is strictly an after-hours activity, and they have no intention of quitting their day jobs.

Concertgoers can get a preview of what to expect on a special edition of KSLU's "Rock School" that will air at 5 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 9, and at 4 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 12. Burns, who is also creator and host of the award-winning and internationally syndicated "Rock School," will interview the rest of the band about their previous musical experiences. Members will play recordings from their previous groups and projects, as well as new material by Impaired Faculties.

Tickets for the Oct. 16 Columbia show are $12 for Southeastern faculty, staff, and the general public and $5 for Southeastern students with a university ID. Tickets can be purchased at the Columbia Theatre Box Office at 220 East Thomas Street in Hammond, which is open 11 a.m. – 4 p.m. Monday-Friday, or by phone at 985-543-4371.

For more information, see the band's website at www.impairedfaculties.com and the Impaired Faculties Facebook page, which band members invite you to "Like."

 




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