The Vanguard

Grammy-Award winning artist, Lecrae, lit up the Mobile Civic Center on Wednesday, March 2. His Higher Learning Tour brought soul, hip-hop and funk to downtown Mobile.

The show featured opening artists Liz Vice and DJ Promote. Vice’s sultry, soulful voice got the crowd on their feet. She sang original pieces, and she also covered two classic songs, Nirvana’s “Smells like Teen Spirit” and Blackstreet’s “No Diggity.” DJ Promote really hyped the crowd up. His dubstep beats and remixes had the crowd jumping and swaying to the music.

The crowd was large. The entire Civic Center Theatre was filled with audience members spilling into the balcony. The audience was also diverse. Old, young, black and white, all were present. Lecrae’s fan base is divergent. By the time Lecrae hit the stage, the audience was really charged. People were singing along with the Lecrae, rapping his lyrics with almost the same intense veracity of Lecrae himself.

When the show was over, the audience demanded an encore. They were screaming and shouting Lecrae’s name. Lecrae gave the audience what they wanted and performed another song.

Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the concert was the fact that there was an extremely Christian message behind it. Both Liz Vice and DJ Promote spoke about positivity and faith. Lecrae’s lyrics contain inspirational messages and are faith-based. He raps about real life situations without the cursing, heavy drug influence or demeaning of women. It’s a refreshing change to the majority of mainstream hip hop.

Lecrae hit the stage in an all-black ensemble with a cold cross around his neck, a testament to his faith. His urban look matched his urban beats, while his gold cross highlighted his faith that is so present in his lyrics.

Lecrae’s faith is present not only in his song lyrics but also in his show. Before he came on stage, Lecrae played a video message describing his charitable work. For his Higher Learning Tour, Lecrae partnered with Food for the Hungry, a charitable organizations that seeks to “end all forms of human poverty.” Lecrae encouraged audience members to sponsor children in Uganda and East Africa. He asked that they join his pledge of $35 which could in turn help seven children. There were people handing out packets and donor forms. Several audience members took the packets and made the pledge of $35.

In between songs, Lecrae spoke to his audience. He spoke about his life and his experiences. He gave advice on life. Lecrae’s performance was engaging, fun and inspiring.

Lecrae commanded the stage and set the theatre’s energy level to an unbelievable high. At the end of his show, Lecrae said, “Give it up to the most High,” and then left the stage. The show was so eclectic. It had soul, techno/dubstep, and hip hop, but despite the musical differences, it all relates back to God and faith.

For most people, Thursday, March 17, was a day to drink and be Irish, but for the New Music Collective, it was a night of experimental and avant garde music.

The New Music Collective (NMC) was started in 2014 by a group of South Alabama student composers. The NMC performance features a brass quintet, snare drumming and many more instrumentals.

The theme for the concert was “experimental avant garde.” Various members of the NMC performed contemporary pieces. “At the turn of the 20th century going into the last century, it became popular to write for avant garde music, like different instruments, instruments that had never been heard before, making your own instruments, and also improvisation, where instead of reading music that’s typically notated on a traditional staff, you might read music… that’s a painting and you translate that into music,” Luke Smith, a senior Percussion Performance major, said.

The concert was performed at the Mobile Museum of Art. Downstairs, in a small room, the musicians performed their pieces. The room was softly lit with no microphones or really any sound system for the most part. The music was authentic, and the musicians’ close proximity to the audience created an intimate, comfortable setting.

There were some traditional instrumentals. A brass quartet performed a piece entitled “Four Sketches.” The quintet, which featured two trumpets, a trombone, a tuba and a French horn, played four different pieces. The first piece had an adventurous tune to it. It was reminiscent of a score from a 1950s film noir. The second piece was more somber and forlorn. The third piece was shorter than the others. It had an upbeat, fun tune. The final piece was very fast paced and busy.

The majority of the pieces performed were undeniably avant garde. There were some traditional instruments that were played in unusual ways. The piece “With Ryan” incorporated two electric guitars played in the most unusual way. The guitars were laid flat on a table. Smith and another member of NMC banged a hammer on the table, causing the strings to vibrate, which in turn produced music. The two musicians also stroked the guitar strings with different objects such as clothes pins, sticks and even their fingers.

Another performance that really embodied the experimental theme was a piece entitled “Never odd or even.” This piece utilized metal mixing bowls as instruments. The sound produced was whimsical, resembling the sounds of wind chimes.

“Since it’s a popular thing to do among composers, we decided to put on a concert ourselves of our own experimental music as well as famous experimental pieces,” Smith said. In total, there were eight original pieces that were composed by members of the NMC. Smith himself performed several of the pieces, both solo and accompanied by another musician. “I like to write multiple pieces at a time, two maybe three at the most. It just helps me generate new ideas.”

Some of the pieces performed at Thursday night’s concert had previously been performed at the Laidlaw Performing Arts Center last semester. The other pieces have been a work in progress since January.

The next NMC concert will be during the summer at the Mobile Museum of Art. If you are interested in those dates, visit mobilemuseumofart.com.

Every year, thousands celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ on Easter Sunday.  Most people spend the special Sunday with their family, friends and a faith that they’re familiar with or have grown up with. For South Alabama student Kayli Ramey, this Easter Sunday was celebrated with her new faith.

On Saturday, March 26, Ramey officially converted to the Catholicism. After almost two years, Ramey celebrated her first Easter as a Catholic. Her journey to the Catholic faith has been both a spiritual and enlightening journey.

Ramey was raised in the Southern Baptist Church, but in her teens she followed her mother to the nondenominational faith. Ramey made the decision to convert to Catholicism around the age of 19. She was initially encouraged to attend Mass by her boyfriend at the time. “I went because he just wanted me to try it out and I really loved it. I just fell in love, and everything that the Church believes in or stands for is exactly what I believe in and stand for. It was a perfect fit,” Ramey said.

Ramey expressed a love for the tradition and the authenticity of the Catholic Church. “The Catholic faith has been the same for over 2,000 years. Nothing changes and there’s a reason for everything they do. Everything is backed up by scriptures and apostolic teachings, so to me it’s a lot of truth.”

The conversion process usually takes a year and involves a series of classes that teach Church history, beliefs and rites. Because of school and work, Ramey’s process took about a year and a half. Her dedication to the faith has had a positive effect on her life, but she has faced some disapproval from those close to her. “At first they were all really upset about it, but my mom is being very supportive now, the rest of my family not so much,” Ramey said. She explained the difficulties that she has faced through the process.

“A lot of people don’t understand what the Church stands for. The most difficult part for me are probably misconceptions that other people have about the Church because it really hurt whenever friends and family found out I was going through this process and converting…they just kind of shot me down,” Ramey said.

But of course with dark there comes light. Ramey believes she has changed for the better and made lifelong friends in the process. “I have met a lot of really great people who hold me accountable for a lot of things. The Church really encourages me to be a better person and empowered me. I am just a completely different person now than I was when I came to the Church.”

Currently, Ramey attends Sacred Heart of Jesus, and she is a member of the Catholic Student Association. She has already received the Sacrament of Reconciliation. For some, confession can be a bit intimidating. Confessing your most personal sins to God through the priest isn’t anything to take lightly, but Ramey focuses on positive outcomes of Reconciliation.

“Before I came into the Church I was struggling with a lot of things…I’d just made a lot of really wrong decisions, and the Sacrament of Reconciliation for me…it just allowed me to lift off all of my burden and all of the things I’d done and put them behind me and be reconciled back to God. It was a really great experience,” Ramey said.

On Saturday, Ramey received the sacraments of First Holy Communion and Confirmation at Sacred Heart. The Sacrament of Confirmation requires that you chose a saint to represent you. This saint should be someone you aspire to be like. Ramey, an education major, chose St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, who was a teacher and a humanitarian. “She just really spoke to me,” Ramey explained her reason for picking her.

Although Ramey is no longer with the man who first introduced her to the Catholic faith, she’s still grateful for the role he played in her life. “I think that God works in mysterious ways and one of those things he did was bring me to this person who really helped me get on the right track.”