Finding the drive

Ferris student balances school, work and play

Mixing Work and Beats: Seth Luplow is a music industry management senior who balances DJing, serving, and coordinating music nights at Applebee’s. Courtesy Photo Provided By Seth Luplow
Mixing Work and Beats: Seth Luplow is a music industry management senior who balances DJing, serving, and coordinating music nights at Applebee’s.
Courtesy Photo Provided By Seth Luplow
Being a full-time student, DJ, server and coordinator for Applebees’ music nights sounds a bit daunting, but nothing Seth Luplow cannot take on.

Luplow is a music industry management senior at Ferris State. But only recently did he switch over from resort management after contemplating the decision since the end of his freshman year.

“I thought about it for a long time,” Luplow said.

Despite getting his first digital audio workstation at age 17, Luplow did not break onto the DJing scene until his sophomore year of college.

He was at The Gate when he spotted their DJ. Luplow walked right up and said, “Hey, you should let me DJ here.” He started DJing on Wednesday nights and eventually moved up to more popular nights like Thursdays and Quarter Mania.

“I like getting good music out to people,” Luplow said. “I like providing a good time.”

Luplow isn’t solely a local performer, either. He has played for weddings and parties in the Lansing and Saginaw areas as well.

One of Luplow’s other main jobs is serving at Applebee’s. On Monday nights, Luplow is exclusively in charge of bringing in music and entertainment to the customers.

The music starts around 9 p.m., when the restaurant’s half-off appetizers deal starts. Luplow tends to invite many local acoustic artists in all genres, most of whom are Ferris students or alumni. Many of the performers have also premiered at FSU Unplugged, which takes place at Biggby once a month.

Artists can play for up to the whole night or as much time as it takes to complete their set. If necessary, Luplow is always prepared to start DJing.

When it comes to his program, Luplow strives to be as helpful as possible to other students, since he already knows how to work Ableton Live and other music software programs.

“I just want to offer as much help as I can,” Luplow said. “I feel like there’s a lot of bad stigma around DJ-ing today, and I want to break that.”

Just recently, Luplow was a DJ for the College of Business Festival. He encouraged people to watch and learn as he worked. He is also encouraging students to collaborate and really get involved in different projects within the program.

“I’m really trying to get the most that I can out of this program because it will be the one year that I’ll be on campus in this program,” Luplow said.

When it comes to finding the motivation to remain so busy, Luplow offers a rather simple explanation.

“You finally have a chance to do something you want to do for the rest of your life, and then it’s not hard to find the drive.”