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• O.A.R. supports war efforts with current college tour

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O.A.R.

Following the success of their sixth studio album, All Sides, O.A.R. toured the country for not one, but two summers. Saxophonist Jerry DePizzo, explained the band’s experiences coming into the current fall tour.

As DePizzo stated, “Yeah, touring for All Sides was a little squirrely. All Sides was released in 2008, but we toured that summer and the summer of 2009. It was the fan reception of the music that caused us to step it up. We felt that we needed to show something new and different, and we ended up with better light shows ... we also tried adding some acoustic parts to our shows.” Nevertheless, the All Sides tour was “really successful,” DePizzo said.

Now, roughly one month after finishing the All Sides tour, O.A.R. is hitting the road again, this time for a fall college-emphasized tour. CU’s own Assembly Hall is prepared to host the band on Wednesday, Oct. 28. “Every fall and spring, we tour colleges. We got our start touring colleges, and we like to go back and do that,” DePizzo said.

Throughout the current tour, O.A.R. will be promoting the IAVA, the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America program, and the Open Up Your Arms campaign.

The Open Up Your Arms campaign is a joint effort launched by O.A.R. and the IAVA, to engage and mobilize Americans by asking them to provide support for our nation’s men and women in uniform. The campaign focuses on ensuring veterans access to top-notch health care, a fair chance at a good job, and the opportunity to pursue a quality education on the new GI Bill. Any interested parties can add their name to the pledge by visiting the official web site at www.openupyourarms.org.

“Our goal is to have 11,111 people send in their pledge by Veteran’s Day, on November 11th. Regardless of how you feel about the war, we need to raise support for our warriors,” DePizzo explained.

With the upcoming fall tour, O.A.R. will be playing alongside Elmwood, an up-and-coming act out of Tennessee. While on the road, the band will focus on writing new material for their next album.

“We’re just looking forward to entertaining and playing and making people feel good,” DePizzo said.

Don’t miss out on the O.A.R. experience when the band visits Assembly Hall on Wednesday, Oct. 28 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are still on-sale and range in price from $27 to $32. UI students are afforded a $4.50 discount with valid ID.