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ARTS & CULTURE
'Hamilton' sing-along at the Lawrence Arts Center
▶ COURTNEY BIERMAN
@courtbierman
The Lawrence Arts Center will host a "Hamilton" sing-along event this Friday. Guests are invited to dress up in Revolutionary costume and join other "Ham fans" for a karaoke-style party. Donations will be accepted, but the event is free and open to the public. In addition to a cash bar, The Sandbar will be on site to serve "Hammy" ham sandwiches.
Actor and composer Lin-Manuel Miranda debuted the musical "Hamilton" in January of 2015. It
immediately drew attention for its hip-hop inspired storytelling and multiracial cast. The show follows the life of American founding father Alexander Hamilton from the eve of the Revolutionary War to his death at the hands of Aaron Burr during a duel in 1795.
"It's very amazing that it teaches as much as it does, and yet it's still a really valid piece of theater," Ric Averill, artistic director of performing arts at the Lawrence Arts Center, said. "It really has a beautiful through-line and arc and everything, but it's a
Since it premiered on Broadway last August, "Hamilton" has earned an estimated $61.7 million through last April, according to Business Insider. Miranda has garnered a MacArthur Genius Grant, Pulitzer Prize, and three Tony Awards for the show's music and writing. It is reportedly sold out until next January.
phenomenon."
Colby Cox, a senior from Fort Scott, went to New York over spring break earlier this year to see the show. On a budget, Cox and a friend took a Greyhound bus all the
Cox said he has the cast album and listens to it regularly. He bought his tickets to see the show the previous November.
way there.
"It's just really drawn me in ever since I first listened to the cast recording," he said. "I just think it's a really great musical."
The Hamilton Singalong will be this Friday, Sept. 2 from 7 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. at the Lawrence Arts Center, located at 940 New Hampshire St. For more information, visit lawrenceartscenter.org.
Contributed Photo
Lin-Manuel Miranda in "Hamilton." The Lawrence Arts Center is hosting a sing-along Friday.
Rogers: New album cements Staples as one of best
Vince Staples performs at The Midland in Kansas City, Mo. as part of Middle of the Map Fest. Christian Hardy/KANSAN
▶ JARRET ROGERS
@JarretRogers
Christian Hardy/KANSAN Map Fest.
On his debut record, "Summertime'o6," Vince Staples thrived in moments that made you squirm a little. They made suburban dwellers and inner city residents look at the same harsh reality about violence, gang activity and the fact that, for some, life is only about finding ways to survive.
Commonly, emotions swing for artists as their views on life progress and change through the years. If you're unaware though, Staples is far from common and his answers in interviews for years have been stagnant. If you've seen or read one interview with Staples, you've seen and read them all. So, while just about anyone else might feel the need to make a record with a more uplifting theme after such a hopeless
debut, Staples seems quite alright with making us think
or at this point know that he doesn't want to make music to uplift. He wants to make music to inform. That's very clear on his latest release "Prima Donna."
Opening with a quiet, muffled, barely singing Staples, who recites "This Little Light of Mine," the song is abruptly cut off by a startling
immediately jumping into James Blake-produced "War Ready," a track that features an Andre 3000 vocal sample from the song "ATLiens."
gunshot that makes your heart race the way only a Vince Staples song can. The track illustrates how time spent searching for hope can be violently cutoff.
While returning producers No I.D. and DJ Dahi are behind most tracks, familiarity for Staples seems completely unnecessary. Over the course of the past year he's been featured on tracks that range from Flume's "Smoke and Retribution" to a remix of Charlie Puth's "Suffer," and he's found an innate ability to change his flow track to track. His high-pitched tenor can lift up high paced beats that call for loudness and quickness while his soft, almost spoken-word voice can create the right mood as things slow down.
"War Ready" is a song that mixes classic Staples vocals and lyrics with a new style of production, and provides the cleanest image of what "Prima Donna" is as a total project.
Unlike another California rapper who you might of heard of, Kendrick Lamar, Staples isn't into making things more complicated than they need to be. He doesn't waste anytime,
On "Smile," produced by No LD., Staples creates the modern rap-rock track that taps into the rapper's rise and the lessons he's learned and the guilt he still feels. His vocals take the guitar and meet in the middle so that one isn't featured more heavily than the other.
"Big Time," the closing
track, is an incredibly simple beat by Blake that allows Staples to get out any last words and close out the record in the traditional Staples way, an ambiguous, "Next time on Poppy Street."
Staples isn't into making things more complicated than they need to be."
In a short period of time, Staples has cemented himself as one of the best rappers alive in 2016 and "Prima Donna" further verifies that, while what we've seen and heard has been great, the best is yet to come.
- Edited by Christian Hardy
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