Rather than write about what the media seem to believe are equally important national political issues of North Korea’s nuclear ambitions, the anti-Obama “tea parties” or the Obamas’ new dog, Bo, I am going to stray from my norm and keep it local. 

However, I will keep it political and do the most political thing possible: voice the good, but find something to complain about anyway.

Specifically, I am complaining about Veishea 2009 — an undeniably vast improvement from Veishea 2008, but an economic and musical plight on a student body rife with economic debt and lacking in musical exposure.  

Beginning with the good, last year was not a very difficult  Veishea to improve upon. 

As I walked around this past weekend in jeans and a T-shirt, I warmly recalled last year, when I walked around in jeans, a T-shirt, a hoodie, a jacket, gloves, and a wool hat — and still froze — just to hear a one-hit wonder of the ’90s from 500 feet away.

No offense, Eve 6, but those are the facts, and I couldn’t bring myself to pay for the up-close listening privilege.

In addition to this year’s warm weather and a significant improvement in bands — Trapt, Halestorm and Cartel — who put on a good show even from afar — and could all be called at least two- or three-hit wonders — I was happy to be warm enough to stand outside and watch the diverse collection of lumberjacks, adult circus variety show performers, Chad Taylor the chainsaw man and the fire and light show. 

Yet with all of these positives, I still can not comprehend one clear fact: as the quality — or at least “big-nameness” — of Veishea bands has gone down, the ability of the student body to fully enjoy the musical performers has gone right down with it.

It simply makes no sense. 

According to the Daily’s history of  Veishea edition, past free performances included big-name musicians such as Diana Ross, Sonny and Cher, Billy Joel, the Goo Goo Dolls and the Black Eyed Peas.

 The freaking Who came in 1990.

Along with them, Iowa State has hosted some pretty cool big-name dudes, including Bob Hope, John Wayne, Harry Truman, Ronald Reagan and Lyndon Johnson. 

My girlfriend has said Veishea even had some pretty kick-ass performers in 2007: Chris Cagle, Story of the Year, Mike Jones and Saliva.   

There is no reason for the quality to collapse. As students, we pay a pretty hefty — and notably annually increasing — fee to attend Iowa State, and Veishea is, apart from the education and degree necessary to make a good living, one of the most direct returns on our investment. 

Eroded economy and blighted budget or not, the administration could do a hell of a lot better in the bands it offers us this one weekend a year.

Regardless of how famous and talented they are, bands have to eat too. If the public can’t pay as much, bands don’t shut down and go home to collect unemployment — they lower their prices and keep on trucking.  

Although the administration could do much better with the bands it books, the glaring problem assuredly involves the tickets it institutes and the chain-link fences it erects. 

 An insignificant fraction of the student body paid for tickets last year, and did the quality of bands go down this year because of low revenue? Not at all — the bands did improve. 

But if Iowa State can claim they need to put up fences and charge us for tickets, I have a hard time believing the bands wouldn’t be willing to take less if they were forewarned that for that extra $1,000 they would be losing any and all crowd presence — what makes a concert a concert. 

Although it might not be true for all bands, the majority seem to like what they do.

They like knowing people are enjoying their music, and they like knowing that thousands — not hundreds — of people are there to do nothing but listen to their music and look at them.

So, ending with optimism, Veishea 2009 had great performers, better bands and — most important of all — a general cross-campus aura of happy people enjoying themselves.

All that Iowa State needs to do to make Veishea 2010 even better is write off the wristbands and forget about the fences — and booking an all-star lineup of the best currently touring bands — Aerosmith, Bruce Springsteen, Coldplay, Dave Matthews, Disturbed, Fall Out Boy, Godsmack, Hinder, Incubus, Jimmy Buffett, Keith Urban, Kenny Chesney, Lynyrd Skynrd, Metallica, New Found Glory, Nine Inch Nails, Phish, Rascal Flatts, Slipknot, Staind, The Fray, The Killers, Toby Keith, U2, and of course, Yanni — wouldn’t hurt either.

 —  Steve Adams is a graduate student in journalism and mass communication from Annapolis, Maryland.