Discuss “Disco hip-hop and a master whistler”

Coming off a successful fall concert in 2005 with Talib Kweli and J-Live, AB Concerts signed Phantom Planet and The Secret Machines to co-headline its spring concert. But with a sudden strike of bad weather that forced a last-minute move into the Wiegand Gym, attendance was poor, and the university’s response lackluster. Add on a funding cut from the Carnegie Mellon administration, and all of a sudden, AB Concerts was stuck in a rut.

But things are looking up for AB Concerts and student life: This Friday night will be Carnegie Mellon’s annual fall concert, and we are treated this year with rap group extraordinaire Blackalicious as the concert’s headliner and singer-songwriter Andrew Bird as the opener. The mix of acts, although lacking...