A retrospective narrative on the formation of Bloomington Delta Music Club
Full story originally published here at bloomingtondeltamusic.com.
Elliott Obermaier wandered through an IU involvement fair looking for an outlet for his musical passions in August of 2019. He found none.
Sam Boland walked the same field for a news story. Terminally pessimistic, he wanted to find out why the involvement fair was a waste of time. What were they missing? Why did it suck?
Enter Elliott Obermaier.
“I was looking for a place to connect with other musicians,” Elliott told Sam. The two were no more than familiar faces at the time. Bloomington is small. The music scene is smaller. “I wanted a place to play casually with others. I came here searching for a space to pursue my musical passion outside of Jacob’s or a band and it just doesn’t exist.”
Sam turned the recording device off.
“Why couldn’t we do that?” he asked Elliott.
That attitude would become imperative to the pair as they set out to create the exact space Elliott described. It remains their approach to most things today.
It started as two Co-Presidents. Quickly they learned they couldn’t do it alone.
Enter Kaleb Weisenfluh. Vice President. Outreach Chair. Hip-Hop and R&B Musical Director. Most importantly, member number three.
The trio began to make phone calls to friends. Brains were picked and a skeleton for the organization began to form. They met with advisors and Union Board directors. A logo and a social media presence developed. Flyers were hung. Equipment was purchased. Overpriced coffees were drank.
On October 6 at 10:05 PM the official club application for Bloomington Delta Music Club was submitted.
On October 24 at 7:00 PM they held their first meeting.
Eight people showed up.
Fast forward 16 months.
Add 140 members. Singers, basses and guitars. Horns, drummers and strings.
Enter videographers, photographers and designers. Producers, songwriters, and creatives.
An executive board forms with media, marketing, finance and outreach chairs. A social media manager emerges.
Enter musical directors specializing in jazz, blues and rock, pop, and acoustic. A production director develops.
An entire subsection dedicated to women in music steps into the picture. The call themselves the Women of Delta. They are talented, suspenseful, ominous and groovy. Ollie Grcich, Emma Spartz and Lucy Bailey lead the way.
The club continues to expand.
They play at Alumni Hall, Culture Shock, and IUDM. They do sets at Kilroy’s Sports, First Thursdays, and Hutton Honors College.
They partner with TedX, BuildOn, and Student United Way. They do shows for Timmy Global Health and Students For A New Green World.
They raise over $5,000 for these charities.
A website is built and content begins to flow. Creators working on photo, video and written content step into the spotlight. With opportunity, they thrive.
Bloomington Delta continues to give students the opportunity to play on IU Bloomington’s campus and at venues throughout the community. They now record live sessions and work on recorded studio content.
Over a year since the club’s inception things look much different, but it still feels the same. The love that drives this crazy group continues to grow as more people get involved.
Now this bunch of hooligans continue to express their passion for music. That passion quickly translates into passion for the club.
At the end of the day, it’s about love. Love for music. Love for the vision. Love for the people who’ve believed in the vision. Love for challenges. Love for parents. Love for emails. Love for each other.
Love for everyone who’s stopped to listen along the way.
Without love, those two guys in Dunn Meadow don’t get anywhere.
To everyone who’s loved along the way, thank you.
It’s nice to appreciate the past and how far we’ve come. It’s better to look ahead and envision where we might go.
With love always,
SB&EO.
