Billiken Club (noun):

A mediocre sandwich at Wackadoo's Grub and Brew.

An up-and-coming, hip and happening venue for musicians at Saint Louis University.

It's about time-er-with regards to No. 2, that is.

As a campus, collectively, we've sung a slow and sorry song for musical involvement at our University. The musicians who play here are few and quiet. And nearly every year we complain about the acts at Spring Fever and other campus events.

We also complain about student apathy. Well, apparently, one group of people recently cares.

The Next Big Thing Committee, headed by John O'Brien, building manager of the Busch Student Center, selected a choice handful of bands to play Friday nights on the stage at Wackadoo's.

The stage at Wackadoo's will be graced by a gamut of good musicians from across the country : Mal Madrigal, from Omaha; Thirty Days to Boston, from Minneapolis; and Sleeping at Last, from Chicago.

In purchasing stage lighting and maintaining a new sound system last semester, The Next Big Thing Committee developed the tools for University music to prosper. They've set the stage for prime-caliber music for future years.

Having such a venue does more than benefit musicians and music lovers on campus; it will attract the same group of people from off-campus. Last week, lots of locals showed up to see St. Louis band Yowie play.

Maybe music can be an admissions tool, too-developing talent on our campus would make an excellent selling point.

Little more than a decade ago, a dark and smoky stage in Reinert Pub brought music to campus. The Riverfront Times, once upon a time, named it one of the top five places to see a concert in St. Louis. Since then, our place of bands and beer has become a cellar of stale cafeteria food.

Other campus venues still make music in St. Louis. The Gargoyle at Washington University brings bands weekly that we get-maybe-once a year through Student Activities Board. And so the ideal of a great campus venue still exists. We've seen it.

We wonder: If the Billiken Club brings new bands to campus who enjoy our stage, when (and if) these bands make it big someday, can we bring them back? If yes, then the Billiken Club serves to benefit SAB as well.

Come out to the last few Friday night Billiken Club shows. This Friday, after Spring Fever, Sleeping at Last, on Interscope Records, will play. And on April 30, the Plastic Constellations, a cool new group from Minneapolis, will rock the stage.

Support the Billiken Club. They've hit an upbeat lately. With luck, and a regular turnout, they'll be making music for years to come.