Tricked Out Dorms: Cribs of ASU Boys

Kids, it’s time for the second episode of SPM Cribs, but this time it’s all about the guys. From Tempe to Downtown and all the way to West, these boys had dorms rad enough to make it on our top three list of pads. How does your room stack up?

 

Hey SPM, my name is Mitchell Weeks, and this is my Hassayampa crib.

4 suitemates

1 recording studio

2 disco balls

 

 

In one of the halls of Hassayampa, songs like “Stu’s Song” from the Hangover entice (and sometimes annoy) Tempe students. At the beginning of the year, business communications freshman Mitchell Weeks liked to leave his door open and play on his Yamaha keyboard.

After a few complaints (relating to a basketball hitting the wall) from his suitemates, Weeks purchased a good set of headphones so he could continue playing his music, no matter the time of day. This passion helped transform his at-first “boring” dorm into the cool, music-inspired space it is today.

Posters cover two of Weeks’ walls, creating a place to relax and zone-out after a day of classes or a practice with all-male ASU a capella group “Priority Male.”

“There’s a lot of music influence with the posters,” he says. “Music is a big part of my life. I like having all these music posters up because I always thought it would be really cool to be on stage and play for a bunch of people.”

Tired of looking at the "overly-white" side of his dorm, Weeks bought the majority of the posters online and spent about a day setting up his wall. He also snagged a few of the other posters, like the one of Vampire Weekend, from concerts he attended this year. From his favorite band Rush to the ever-classic Beatles, only the most talented musicians grace Weeks’ walls.

But the poster wall only ranks third in the list of Weeks’ favorite spots in his room. (The Keurig on his nightstand placed second). For Weeks, his recording studio easily ranks number one.

With software on his laptop and a keyboard next to his bed, Weeks has everything he needs to start recording.

“I love it because I love playing the piano, and I just recently started singing and I love singing too,” he says. “I’ll just make up stuff on the piano all the time.”

While he has yet to officially record any tracks, Weeks hopes to find more time to write music soon. In the meantime, however, study sessions with music blasting and disco balls rolling will suffice.

With added touches like concert tickets and collages of friends and family lining his walls, Weeks shows off what means most to him in his crib. He plans to add even more posters to his collection when he moves to The Domain this fall.

 

 

Hey SPM, my name is Jesus Gutierrez, welcome to my sliver of Casa de Oro.

1 roommate

1 black-light

57 photos

Everyone generally embraces the saying, “a picture is worth a thousand words.” In the case of interdisciplinary arts and performance freshman Jesus Gutierrez, that is a heck of a lot of words. 57,000 to be exact.

To ease the transition from high school to college, Gutierrez originally printed out 114 pictures of his friends and family to decorate his space. Many of them were selfies: hundreds of ecstatic faces line Gutierrez’s walls, reminding him of the good ol' days.

“They’re all happy pictures," he says. "They all have their own good memories. One of my favorites is probably the one of me planning prom my junior year of high school. It was a lot of fun. I called it my 'baby' because it took nine months to create, nine months to plan.”

As a member of student government for all four years of high school, Gutierrez seemed like any other high school student looking to take the college route. In reality, he wasn't so sure college was right for him.

“During high school I wasn’t sure of going to college or not,” he says. “I thought I could just go to work for the rest of my life. But then junior year I had an epiphany. I came to visit ASU and I did a bunch of ASU events and I thought, ‘This place is for me.’”

This ASU spirit is reflected on his West campus walls. From pitchforks to photo strips featuring him and his friends at ASU events, Gutierrez says ever since applying he’s been “bleeding maroon and gold.” In fact, his favorite part of the space is his orientation tag.

“After not wanting to go to college, it shows where I am,” he says.

But that sense of ease and welcome that Gutierrez felt after his first tour at ASU was not the only thing that persuaded him to go to college. His responsibility as the oldest of his siblings propelled him forward as well. That’s why the wall directly next to his bed is dedicated to his family.

Another of Gutierrez’s memories lights up his crib each night. On his windowsill, three water bottles filled with yellow highlighters glow under a black light with he letters “A,” “S” and “U” etched onto each of them. A trick he learned as a theater tech at his high school, the bottles create a dim light that is easy on the eyes after a long day.

By this light, Gutierrez spends the evenings that he’s not hanging out with his friends looking at all his photos and reminiscing about his favorite memories. While only half of the photos remain now, he hopes to replace the ones he took down with new photos he’s taken while at ASU with his new friends in college.

 

Hey SPM, it’s JJ Williamson, and this is my Taylor Place crib.

1 roommate

38 records

1 great-grandfather-era record player

When social work freshman JJ Williamson arrived at Coachella last year, he worked a little backwards. Unlike many of the music fanatics attending the three-day long music festival, he didn’t have a vinyl record to his name. But after his friend bought one during their stay in Indio and the duo listened to it, he was hooked.

“When I heard it, the sound was so wholesome and I just wanted to start collecting,” he says. “It kind of became an addition after that.”

Not even a year later, Williamson vaunts all of his 38 records on the walls of his downtown dorm room. From The Killers to Walk the Moon, Williamson features his collection by hanging them up with string, tacks and a little putty. But the album he plays most is probably “Gorilla Manor” by Local Natives. He thinks he’s listened to it in its entirety approximately 50 times.

“All the lyrics are all just so meaningful from it – you can take a lesson from every one of the songs,” he says. “‘World News’ … talks about how we should be thankful … even for the little things.”

After noticing his grandpa wasn’t using his great-grandpa’s record player, Williamson asked if he could put it to use. His grandpa agreed and the player soon became one of Williamson’s most prized possessions.

“It sounds so good,” he says. “My dad lent me some of his really nice speakers, so it just sounds so much better than some of the ones that my friends have, the ones from Urban Outfitters. They don’t sound nearly as good as mine.”

But a record player that's older than Williamson comes with its hassles. When the needle broke, finding one that would fit took ages and currently, some of the wires on the cartridge of the needle are pretty weak. Still, Williamson plans to keep using the record player “until it breaks.”

While the rest of Williamson’s room is neat and organized, his ceiling is cluttered with posters of one of his favorite bands (Small Pools), movies (Blue Valentine) and memories.

When Williamson and his friend Troy Parsons went to Coachella, they snapped a photo of themselves high-fiving each other in front of the iconic Ferris wheel on the first day. Williamson’s mom later printed out the photo on poster paper for him and it’s been hanging on his ceiling ever since to remind him of the “greatest three days of [his] life.”

“It’s just so amazing going to a place for three days where it’s just nothing but music,” he says. “It’s nice to be cut off from the rest of the world and not have to worry about anything besides music.”

Williamson shows no signs of stopping his vinyl addiction and plans to add more to his wall after attending Coachella again this year. To him, the variety of music on his wall reflects his different interests and affinity for great music, and he can’t wait to add more to that.

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All right guys, you’ve marveled at their photo collages, eyed their recording studios and even envied their vinyl collections. It’s time to give these guys their space – get outta here (and "see" you soon)! But if you’re really missing SPM Cribs already, check out Episode 1 here.

Students interested in being featured contact the writer at adersch@asu.edu or @AlexDersch 

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