OUR VIEW: Guitars were unplugged or not?

There was a bit of irony in the air Thursday in the Taggart Student Center Ballroom.

The annual event “Guitars Unplugged,” sponsored by the Mortar Board at Utah State University, featured some of the best guitar talent around. Students in attendance rocked out to Pure Element, Debbie Martin, Outside, Justin Crook, Crowd of One, Matt Gause, MCU, Sarah Graves, Michelle and Khyl, Matt Ahern, Chance and Jasmine Erickson.

As of 9 p.m., 291 tickets had been sold. People could enter for $3 or for $2 and a can of food for the Food Bank, who will soon receive about 150 cans of food. Truly, talent was in abundance on the stage. The show was entertaining, and people who normally don’t get to perform had their chance at USU stardom.

However, the Mortar Board should think of renaming the show.

“Guitars Unplugged” is a great name for a show featuring acoustic guitars being played through a microphone, not for electric guitars or acoustic-electrics.

The point of MTV’s “Unplugged” was to take away the cords and amps of top musicians. Why can’t the same thing happen at Utah State? People enjoyed the show, but they came for the unplugged part – which was great – not the plugged. In the future, anyone planning to plug his instrument in should have to wait until the end of the show as a kind of bonus performance.

The name of the show could be changed to “Eclectic Guitars” or “Some Plugged, Some Not.” That would work. Just remember what people are expecting when using the name “Guitars Unplugged.”