The reopening of the Black Box Cabaret at CSU Monterey Bay is a win for the students. Over the years, the campus venue has featured nationally known acts like Rebelution, Ben Kenney of Incubus, The Pharcyde and Zion I as well as top local acts like Vermillion Lies and Forrest Day.

Since September 2009, the BBC’s doors have been closed in order for the Otter Student Union, which runs the venue, to regroup. Today, live music on the campus is back with a three-day celebration featuring six bands.

For bands like politically conscious hip-hop/rockers Para La Gente – who have played the BBC more than 10 times over the years – the show is a homecoming, as three members are Otter alums.

“It’s good to have the Black Box back,” PLG guitarist Leon Gomez says. “It was one of the original places we played; it will definitely be nostalgic.”

The celebration kicks off at 2pm Friday, with free food, followed by music from Salinas-based The Brassmatics. The duo – Mony Lujan on trombone and Daniel Miltz on trumpet – consider themselves ska, jazz and reggae experimentalists. At 8pm, CSUMB’s Candyflip headlines a lineup that includes the garage pop outfit Luxury Sweets from Santa Cruz and new wave punk rockers The Phenomenauts.

The best way to describe Candyflip: Mars Volta on acid. “Spy Satellite” is a flutter of Iron Butterfly keyboard carousing at lightening speed with Stephan Sams’ Captain Beefhart voice.

On Friday, Rootdown is set to headline with Para La Gente opening. The Oregon-based Rootdown is a reggae act that uses its music to inspire positive change in the world. In fact, the band recently raised $2,000 to help send a group of students to an orphanage in Africa. In addition to its philanthropic tendencies, Rootdown plays music that has earned them spots as openers for big-name acts like Pepper. The placid vocals and breezy brass on “Roots” makes you feel like you’re sitting on a sunny beach in Hawaii.

The reopening’s events at the BBC are just the beginning; what unfolds from here is in the students’ hands.

“The [BBC] is managed for the students, by the students,” university spokesman, Scott Faust says. “And the students are reclaiming it.”

Faust adds that there will be changes. The venue will not serve beer or food, and the BBC will be used for more than live music.

While the changes may disappoint some, at least the Box is open.

THE BBC GRAND REOPENING is 2pm and 8pm Thursday, 8pm Friday and 9pm Saturday (students only), Jan. 28-30, at the Black Box Cabaret, 3rd and 4th Streets, CSUMB. Free/student; $5/general admission. 582-3597.