An Interview with Sebastian Tesauro
By Sarah Valiante
We sat down with Sebastian Tesauro to discuss what exactly “Nelson Fest” is and what the experience of being in a campus band at William & Mary is like. Tesauro ‘26 is a William & Mary third-year undergraduate student studying History and Environmental Studies. He participates in his campus band Doggy Life Jacket, The Stairwells acapella group, WCWM Radio, and Compost Club.
What is Nelson Fest?
It’s a backyard music festival in my backyard ‘cause we have this awesome porch that will definitely function well as a stage. So I had the idea when I moved in and thought “holy crap let’s put one together.” It features a DJ and three bands playing and people coming and enjoying live music because we need more live music.
What do you think about live music at William & Mary? What has your experience been like?
It’s lame [Laughs] it stinks! We need more of it. Live music brings me so much joy and it’s a fun and good thing. This campus is lacking. I don’t really blame the student body, I blame the town. We don’t have spaces for it. Our one space The Meridian is amazing, but it’s not very big and it usually ends pretty early. I mean, more people could be interested in it. We either get like cover bands at “dartys” or Meridian and there’s no middle ground. So this seeks to be a middle ground, I suppose. I want to bring more live music to William & Mary culture and also have fun on a nice day in March.
Awesome. What have been the highs and lows of this process?
I’ll start with the low because the high I don’t know yet because it hasn’t happened yet. So we also have been only planning and not the fun bit yet. It has been a bit stressful trying to coordinate everything and having to coordinate with the cops and the neighbors. It’s a lot to organize with the equipment and the bands. I’m also a little stressed about turnout. It’ll also be awesome. The highs… the people involved are really excited about it, but I don’t have a good sense of excitement outside of my circle. I’m really excited. I think it’ll be a lot of fun. It’s been fun to make the poster and it’s just been fun to have a project, like a creative project like this.
Do you have any tips for people looking to start a campus band or do something similar with live music?
You’ve got to like pester people. Oh my god, you just have to ask around and ask, ask, ask. You just have to work at it pretty hard and having a manager helped us out so much. I wouldn’t really be able to organize us all alone. There seems to be heads of the scene like John Dietz ‘24. He was the king of the music scene and so I look up to him as inspiration. And so, I seek to create alliances between people and groups like to try and create a culture. Like, knowing other people also involved in music. Working hard and communicating.
Anything else?
Come by if you enjoy music and a nice day even if it’s just for a bit!
Nelson Fest is on Saturday, March 22nd on Nelson Avenue, Williamsburg, Virginia from 1-6pm. Entry fee is $3.
