By CANDACE MIERS

Contributing Editor

Music and chatter filled the crowded Student Center last Tuesday for more than four hours.

Music Fest 2005, hosted by the Union Board, included Porter Davis and The Hudsons, two bands from Austin, Texas.

"This is the first time [the Union Board] has put on Music Fest," John Lary, coordinator of Music Fest and a senior history major, said.

"We wanted to give Louisiana Tech students the opportunity to hear these bands when they wouldn't get a chance to otherwise."

Lary said he met the two bands at a conference in Texas, liked their music and decided to invite them to perform at Tech.

Chagrin, a local Tech band, opened for the two guest bands.

Eight spotlights shone on the stage while The Hudsons, who performed first, played.

The shaggy-haired trio played songs like "Hibernation" which describes people who like to sleep a lot.

The original lyrics like "The early bird gets the worm, but the early worm gets eaten" had the crowd laughing and clapping.

Stuffing faces was another thing the laughing music listeners had in common.

There were three long tables set up in the Student Center, Main Floor, with food and drinks. One table, the seemingly more popular one, with Mexican food, and the other with Indian food, both of which were complemented with uniformed Aramark servers, had students lined up to eat.

The third table was set up with drinks.

"I came here to be with my friends and hang out," Terrance Robinson, a freshman biology major, said, "I didn't even come for the free food."

Lary said the food, which was not originally free, turned out to be because of technical difficulties with the registers.

For one reason or another, students' mouths were moving, and their ears were listening to Porter Davis.

Porter Davis, the jeans-wearing male duo, had several different instruments playing at once along with their singing.

Bells were tied to their ankles, spoons were tied together, homemade shakers were shaken and the students were watching.

"I've played for a lot of college campuses, but I really like the students here," Daniel Barrett, the lead guitar and vocals for Porter Davis, said.

"I also like that Tech decided to have a Music Fest for no reason at all, just to listen to music."

So, not only did the students seem to have a blast, as seen by the smiles and chili sauce on their faces, but so did the out-of-state performers.

Phoebe Hunt, fiddle and back-up vocals for The Hudsons, said, "The Union Board went the extra mile, A+."