Kelsea Ballerini experiences several firsts; headlines SGA spring concert

Kelsea Ballerini experiences several firsts; headlines SGA spring concert

After several firsts, singer-songwriter Kelsea Ballerini visited the place where her country roots were nurtured. This former Lipscomb student headlined Student Government Association’s 2015 Spring Concert to a very familiar crowd Wednesday night in Shamblin Theater. “I always dreamed about being an artist and songwriter and doing it for a living, but did not know how to do it,” Ballerini said. But it didn’t take her long to figure out how, as she recently cracked the charts with her song “Love Me Like You Mean It” that debuted in November 2014. This Knoxville, Tennessee native moved to Music City to kick off her career when she was 15 years old, and she landed at Lipscomb several years later. “[Being at Lipscomb] was two of my favorite years of my entire life,” she said. “The whole time I would just go to school and then go to the writer’s round to co-write. I kept trying to do both at the same time until I found the right opportunity.” Just halfway through her sophomore year at Lipscomb, Ballerini signed a deal with Black River Publishing. Her career took off from there, as she debuted on one of country music’s most famous stages — the Grand Ole Opry. Ballerini said the last few months have been nothing but firsts. After hearing her own song on the radio, her music got in the hands of some of her biggest inspirations. “One of the craziest things that’s happening is people that I’m fans of are becoming friends and reaching out, and kind of speaking into my life and helping me,” she said. Most recently, this rising star...

Walk Off The Earth set for Lipscomb’s spring concert

SGA announced Thursday that pop group Walk Off The Earth will be headlining this semester’s spring concert. The concert will take place March 12 in Collins Alumni Auditorium. The show will be closed to the public, with Lipscomb students gaining free access through their ID cards. An exact start time is not set, but it will be an evening show, according to SGA. SGA is currently considering the option of having a student act serve as the show’s opener. Walk Off the Earth became famous for their cover performances posted on YouTube. The group’s rendition of Gotye’s “Somebody That I Used To Know” currently has 146,315,524 views after being uploaded just over a year ago. Katie Underwood, SGA’s Student Life Committee Chair, helped arrange for the YouTube sensations to appear on campus. “SGA couldn’t be more excited to host Walk Off The Earth for this year’s spring concert,” Underwood said. “In past years, we have always had a more acoustic show with a singer/songwriter. “When I was told I was the one leading up the search for this year’s show, I knew I wanted something different. SGA came up with a list of over 40 options, and slowly, but surely, we started to narrow down that list.” Underwood hopes the band’s inclusion will be a fresh face in the long line of spring concert headliners (which, in year’s past, has featured Mat Kearney and The Civil Wars). “Walk Off The Earth is going to very different from anything Lipscomb has seen in the past. The band became famous through their outstanding covers on YouTube. When deciding on a band,...

SGA President Grace announces spring concert, off-campus dining progress

SGA President Patrick Grace has confirmed a few major developments for Lipscomb students, including a potential breakthrough in the long-awaited possibility of off-campus dining. To start, Grace confirmed that there will indeed be a spring concert taking place this semester. “We have a spring concert. It should be in the middle of March,” Grace said. “We’ve got a band kind of in agreement in principle.” Grace says that SGA will make an announcement next week as to who will be playing as soon as it’s set in stone. The spring concert has long been a successful tradition at Lipscomb, with singer-songwriter Mat Kearney headlining the show last spring. Alongside the spring concert, the SGA will help sponsor a new edition of Tokens, a show founded by campus’ Dr. Lee Camp on March 7 in Alumni Auditorium. SGA is planning to release tickets for free to the student body. Grace described the show as “sort of a theological, variety, folk music radio broadcast.” SGA will be holding auditions for a student act to play during the show on Friday, Feb. 15, in the afternoon. The tryouts will be held in Ward Hall. “I’m looking forward to [the auditions] because we’ve got some real talent on campus,” Grace said. Off-campus meal plan in negotiations, could be ready for fall semester The SGA president said he and Dr. Scott McDowell,Vice President for Student Development and Dean of Campus Life, have been in negotiations with Sodexo and human resources to potentially create a plan that would allow for Lipscomb students to use their dining plan at off-campus locations. Grace said he has a level...