Foreigner may be coming to Eastern in October, but the University Board Concert Committee has been planning the event since January.

“Family weekend planning usually starts right after we get back from Christmas break,” said Mallory Taylor, University Board Concert Committee chair.

“Our office has one portion and that’s mainly the entertainment,” said Ceci Brinker, director of student life at Eastern. “We started looking at entertainment in early January and we started make inquires.”

The concert committee put together a survey so they could get student input on the acts from previous family weekends. The survey was put out in March.

“We look at the feedback and see who is out there,” said Brinker. “We will look at acts and see who we can get for the weekend.”

“We work with the Parents Club, and work with administration when picking acts for Family Weekend,” said Taylor.

The committee also works with an agent who knows the venue, the market and their budget.

“It took a lot to get to this decision with Foreigner,” said Brinker. “We looked at other acts.”

The committee looked at Journey, STYX and comedian Bill Engvall.

The committee uses the feedback from the survey, but according to Brinker that does not make or break the committees decision.

“We have to look at who’s affordable, who’s available and who is appealing to a wide range of parents, students and the community.”

Brinker said that decision is also influenced by the artists interest in coming to Eastern.

“An artist might be at the top of our list, but Eastern might not be at the top of theirs,” said Brinker.

“We had our agent price everyone from James Taylor to Bill Engvall, we even looked at the American Idol tour,” said Brinker.

“We do much more planning in advance for this concert,” said Brinker. “For student concerts we plan two months in advance.”

The advanced planning is because of how many other agencies are involved in planning family weekend and because ticket information for family weekend is sent to students homes during the summer.

Planning for Family Weekend 2007 is already in the tentative stages.

“I’m already looking at acts for Family Weekend 2007,” said Brinker. “But it’s a challenge because most acts don’t book a year in advance.”

Some Eastern students were concerned that the concert would not appeal to students.

Aisha Dyson, a senior sociology major, said she had never heard of the band and was worried they were wasting student funds on events students would not attend.

Rachael Fields, a senior Early Childhood Education major, said she had never heard of Foreigner either and didn’t plan on participating in family weekend.

“If it was someone I knew then I would probably bring my family to it,” said Fields.

Other students said that they understood that it was hard for the committee to find an act that appealed to students and parents.

“I know sometimes they have a hard time bringing in bands that appeal to the tastes of both students and parents,” said Kari Hobson, senior Dietetics major.

“I haven’t heard of them,” said John Teresi, junior History major, “But my parents were telling me about them and the songs they came out with.”

Both Brinker and Taylor said the Family Weekend Concert is geared towards parents.

“We do our very best to find something that appeals to students as well,” said Taylor.

For the Spring 2006 concert the University Board brought in country act, Emerson Drive. The act had booked multiple shows in Illinois before performing at Eastern, something that Taylor thought may have affected ticket sales.

Foreigner will perform at the Illinois State Fair in August. Taylor said that she did not think that would affect family weekend ticket sales.

“It’s really not a concern,” said Taylor. “They may end up being fantastic and people may want to see them twice.”