Campus Ministry by day, music venue by night
By: R Jay Molina
Since the fall semester of 2011, Joel Carman, an Old Dominion University junior, has turned ODU’s Wesley House into a venue on certain days of the semester for local and regional bands to come out and share their talent.
The Wesley House is a campus ministry of the United Methodist Church, located on West 49 Street across from the Diehn Fine Arts center. Many ODU students’ bands are featured here.
The idea for using the Wesley House as a music venue came to Carman during a leadership meeting before the fall semester started. “We were trying to think of new things that we could do that would be exciting, get our name out there, just something cool that we could invite our friends to,” said Carman, who hopes to continue hosting more underground music shows, not just at the Wesley House, but wherever he can.
“It’s all about bringing people together and having a good time. Simple as that,” said Carman. Funding for the music events comes from the Methodist church. However, since the modest success that Carman has been having, the profits from previous shows are now being used to host more shows for this semester.
The Wesley House’s next music event is set for Feb. 10. Admission prices vary, but the Feb. 10 show is open to all students for $7. Local bands “Bring the Arsenal,” “My Charming Charade,” “The Man/The Martyr,” and “Still I Rise” are set to play for that show.
He credits the social networking site Facebook for helping find indie bands to play at the shows. The Wesley House’s venue page has more details regarding future events, as well as Carman’s email address for bands to contact him, at www.facebook.com/wesleyhousevenue. Carman hopes that more people will “come listen to some crazy music and have a good time.”
This is awesome, great idea. Love the idea, unfamiliar w/ the groups but love music. This is truly inspiring
Thanks for the comment! I hope you check out one of their upcoming events!