Negaunee’s Vista Theater has been a staple for entertainment in the area since 1926, providing the local community with plays, movies and musical theater.
Now, four NMU students are looking to add another aspect to the historic venue, and this time, it’s going to be a little less theater and a lot louder music.
The Fringe Collective (TFC), is slated to headline a multi-band lineup Saturday, Oct. 10 with proceeds going to the restoration of the Vista.
Saturday’s concert will be the fourth since summer, and TFC’s bassist Caleb Scanlon, a junior education major, hopes there’s a future for shows like this.
“I still think plays are their main focus right now,” Scanlon said. “I’m not really sure where their musical future is, but we really push for the concerts.
“They kind of do,” he added, “but we really make the moves about it.”
One reason the Vista has held concerts recently is because of the band’s persistence, but the other is to aid in the restoration of the venue, an ongoing process that aims to keep the venue open all year long, rather than only in the summer.
“That’s why these are all benefit concerts, is so that they can generate enough money to stay open – not only for concerts, but for everything,” TFC’s lead singer Riley Torreano, a senior biology major, said.
The ticket price of $4 will go directly to Vista plays and other community events put on by the Peninsula Arts Appreciation Council, the Vista’s governing body.
But for The Fringe Collective, music remains their motivation, and everyone in the band wants the Vista concert series to continue.
“I hope that, even if we don’t always play there, there will always be people to play there,” Torreano said.
TFC – which includes Caleb’s older brother, Cody Scanlon on drums, senior music education major Eric Marta on violin, and Michigan Tech student Jake Spear on guitar – will hit the stage at 9:30 p.m. with their acoustic-guitar driven music that, as the band puts it, “is definitely influenced by Dave Matthews.”
The concert starts at 7:30 p.m. with opening bands including Yes! Motorcycle, Cousin Curtiss and Young Dumplin’ & P-Tain.
As for the future of TFC, Torreano hopes they can start playing shows to the NMU crowd.
“Most of the stuff we’ve done – and by most of the stuff, I mean everything we’ve done -has been Negaunee. But I’d love to play in Marquette,” Torreano said. “We haven’t really catered to the college crowd so much. And I think they’d be pretty receptive to it.”
