Campus Activities Board Concerts will present its first local music showcase of the semester at 7 p.m. today at the Holmes Student Center’s Diversions Lounge.

Tickets are $2 for NIU students with an NIU OneCard, and $3 for the general public.

“The idea of the showcase is to bring in bands from Chicago and the DeKalb area who have a good following but aren’t in the mainstream yet,” CAB Concerts Coordinator John Benson said.

The event will be headlined by Some Records recording artist The Ghost. Soon after their conception in California, the founding members of The Ghost moved to Chicago and have been widely accepted into the Chicago punk community, Benson said.

In support of the full-length album “This is a Hospital,” The Ghost has embarked on multiple tours, including a month-long stint in Europe.

Also playing will be Starstruck, a four-piece pop-rock group that boasts sing-along-style lyrics and catchy melodies. Starstruck has two independently released albums, the “Immaturity EP” and the full-length “A New Beginning.”

The last act will be Niagara Fell, an indie rock band whose last appearance together will be at the showcase.

CAB decided to bring back the showcase because of a lack of funding in other programming areas.

“Since [CAB] Coffeehouse was cut, Diversions Lounge has been practically unused and we’re going to try to make up for what was lost,” Benson said. “Last year we brought in a devoted following because we got a reputation for bringing good bands.”

CAB Concerts’ booking committee also thought it was time for a rock act to be brought to NIU.

“We’ve done a lot of pop acts so far this year with Michelle Branch and Jason Mraz, and we thought it was an obvious choice,” Benson said.

For more information, www.niu.edu/cab.