Students of The College of Extended Learning’s Music and Recording Industry (MRI) program are putting on a music show at Slim’s. The event is scheduled for Monday, April 17 at 8 p.m. and features Mouth to Mouth, Humboldt Squid and Karate High School. The MRI program offers courses surveying fields such as publicity, artist management and audio production.

Every year, MRI’s courses spend a semester planning and executing a public music event.

Slim’s owner Dawn Holliday leads Behind The Stage, an MRI course where students gain real-life concert experience by learning how to book, promote and oversee a performance.

This year, music business publicity instructor Jennifer Otter is also including her pop music marketing class in the event planning. Otter, who is the former regional marketing director for Interscope Records, teaches students how to publicize the shows through radio, print and guerilla marketing.

According to MRI student, Zrinka Divic, students submitted music from musicians and bands they knew or liked. After a listening session, each class chose whom they thought was the best fit for the show. "Jen [Otter] then handed these CDs over to Dawn who made the final decision of who was going to play," said Divic.

Divic’s role in the project is handling the local press, including college papers, weeklies and zines.

"The classes got together on a couple occasions to establish what is who's role in this project, we got split into four groups to cover the publicity aspect and our main mode of communication with each other and other classmates is e-mail," said Divic.

Prior to this event, Otter taught her classes how to write press releases, pitch letters, assemble press kits, and how to use those marketing tools to get publicity.

"This is a great exercise for me seeing how my aim to get into the publicity aspect of the music industry," said Divic, who is taking both of Otter’s classes this semester. She considers the classes beneficial.

"I have an undergrad degree in marketing but have always had a passion for music so I thought this program could help me combine my skills and interests," said Divic.

MRI student Amy Heiden, 22 agrees. Heiden designed her own major, music business management and is currently taking the Pop Music Marketing class. "We are learning the basics about costs, types of marketing and what marketing tactics are essentially the most effective for the industry," says Heiden. "If I chose to pursue a career in marketing, I'll have a great foundation of the skills needed to begin my career."

San Francisco’s Mouth to Mouth features singer Jonny Scullion, lead guitarist Alex Lasner, Scott Funkhouser on bass and keys, drummer Andrew Keating, and rhythm guitarist and keyboardist Davar Saleh. Mouth to Mouth recently played the Captiva Showcase music festival South by Southwest. They are currently in the studio, working on their second full-length album.

Bay Area rockers Karate High School (KHS) have been gaining airplay on Live 105’s Soundcheck and recently released "Arcade Rock." KHS are currently preparing to embark on a nationwide tour, throughout May and June. Band members include Paul McGuire (vocals and keys), Gabe Ausiello (guitar), Ray Bautista (keys), Ken Kaiser (bass) and Sean Martin (drums).

Indie and punk rock band Humboldt Squid comes from Santa Cruz and formed in 2004. The two piece band features Mark Quinn on drums and Marc Brown on vocals and guitar.

Slim’s is located at 333 11th Street in San Francisco. For more information, please visit www.slims-sf.com or www.cel.sfsu.edu/music.