Eight days before Veishea, the Entertainment Committee finally announces a band. Drum roll please … bring on the Black Eyed Peas.

The committee’s months of negotiating with acts produces this — a band no one has ever heard of and in all likelihood won’t hear about again anytime after Rock Veishea?

What gives, Veishea folk?

Tom Duncan, entertainment co-chair, said one of the best things about signing Black Eyed Peas was, “We may be catching a band on the upswing.”

Well, if you’re shooting to catch a band on the upswing, why not just sign a local act on its way up, such as Mr. Plow? We’ll tell you why. It’s because there is a place for bands “on the upswing.” It’s called the Battle of the Bands.

Rock Veishea is supposed to bring a national act in to Ames to pacify the droves of students who aren’t very happy about spending their weekend dry.

Of course, it is difficult to please all the students all the time, but surely Veishea could please some of the students once in a while. There was a lot of griping last year about the Goo Goo Dolls, but there were also a lot of people who went to the show and enjoyed it. We find it hard to believe that Black Eyed Peas is just ready to explode onto the ISU campus.

So who’s to blame here? Veishea committee members insist that they began looking for a Rock Veishea headliner just as early as they usually do (about November), and they were also saying last week that they weren’t worried that no band was signed with Veishea a little over a week away.

The problem is probably not the committee members, though. It is hard to believe there is a Veishea conspiracy to sign a no-name band on purpose. It would be, however, an excellent idea to start making some calls before the snow falls next year.

The problem is Rock Veishea itself. It cannot be an easy task to convince a band with a major national following to commit to playing a show where only the Cyclone Family, ISU students and their closest friends are allowed to purchase tickets. For a band that would have wide appeal, such as the Red Hot Chili Peppers (who are playing in Iowa City with the Foo Fighters a few days after Veishea), it would be terribly unfair to their fans to play such a limited, xenophobic show.

Maybe it would be just one more bargaining chip in a towering pile (or lack thereof) of chips, but we think ISU students have proven in the past two years that the Cyclone Family is ready to adopt once again.

And if that saves us from having to sit through Black Eyed Peas, it is without a doubt worth the possible risks. It’s no fun to wax nostalgic about the day when Veishea could draw in Tonic.

Iowa State Daily Editorial Board: Sara Ziegler, Greg Jerrett, Kate Kompas, Carrie Tett and David Roepke.