Sept. 27, 2004

Contact: Gordon Ovenshine 724-738-4854; gordon.ovenshine@sru.ed

For photo of Dr. McKinney: CLICK HERE

SRU HUMANITIES DEAN BILL MCKINNEY TO HEADLINE

OCT. 16 FUND-RAISER FROM BEHIND DRUMS

SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. -- It’s not something you see often: A college dean banging the drums for a good cause – with band mates he met in college 25 years ago.

But that’s exactly what will happen from 1 to 6 p.m. Oct. 16 when Making Trax performs rock, blues and alternative music outside the Slippery Rock University Ski Lodge to raise money for Kaleidoscope, the university’s arts festival held each spring. Admission is $5 per person.

SRU’s Bill McKinney, dean of the College of Humanities, Fine and Performing Arts, and three friends formed the band as undergraduates at Bucknell University. They dubbed themselves “Making Trax,” since all lived in Bucknell’s Trax Hall. Later, they and adopted “The World’s Most Over-Educated, Under-Rehearsed Band” as a slogan because they live in different states and the four of them hold two doctorates and five master’s degrees among them.

It’s going to be a fun afternoon. We’ll play a variety of songs that we hope will appeal to everyone and get them dancing!” McKinney says. “It will be a mix from Stevie Ray Vaughan to Smashmouth and everything in between.”

The band will perform in a tent next to the Ski Lodge.

#PN, PR