by Mckenzi Harris and Kathryn Farris | Jul 1, 2019 | Arts and Entertainment, Galleries, News Slider
Lipscomb closed out the Summer Celebration conference with the music and fireworks of the 15th annual Bison Block Party. Summer Celebration, previously known as the “Lipscomb Lectures,” is when Lipscomb opens the campus for guest speakers and hundreds of visitors from the community. The celebration started over 90 years ago and is one of Lipscomb’s oldest traditions. Each year since about 2003 Lipscomb has celebrated Independence Day by hosting the free, grand finale Bison Block Party in the Allen Arena Mall. This year’s big finale was June 28. The block party kicks off the Independence Week celebrations by offering the community an evening of food vendors, live music and fun. Lipscomb alumni bands Arcadian Wild, Dave’s Highway, and S. Grant Parker performed as did the Faculty Brass Quintet with Ben Blasko. The full evening was hosted by retired long-time WSMV-TV sports anchor and Christian inspirational speaker Rudy Kalis. The night ended with a free fireworks show set to music from the Faculty Brass Quintet. Check out the following photo gallery from Mckenzi Harris and video from Kathryn Farris. ...
by Mckenzi Harris | Jun 11, 2019 | Arts and Entertainment, Galleries, News Slider
Lipscomb alums Thomas Rhett and Kelsea Ballerini were the hosts for CMA Fest’s biggest stage: Nissan Stadium, where country music’s biggest stars performed to four nights to fans from all over the world. Their hosting chores will be showcased again when the highlights of the performances on CMA’s biggest stage will be broadcast by ABC later this summer. While Carrie Underwood, Tim McGraw, Martina McBride, Dierks Bentley and Brantley Gilbert loaded on the star power, it was rapper Lil Nas X who captured the stage and perhaps the festival itself when he and Billy Ray Cyrus teamed up for their “Old Town Road,” the surprise hit that has topped the charts for more than two months. Lending his able hands to the duo was Keith Urban. Other special guests included rock legend Joan Jett, HARDY, Midland and many others. This was “CMA Fest’s 48th year of connecting fans with Country Music artists” according to the website. The festival fell on a temperamental weekend for weather, and caused delays in both the daytime and nightly shows. Despite the rain coming down multiple evenings. CMA Fest 2019 sold out four straight nightly shows and met capacity crowds throughout the weekend. “Attendees were more engaged than ever before with users of The Official CMA Fest App up 15 percent year-over-year, spending an average of 15 minutes per session during the four days of the festival and scheduling nearly 700,000 events,” according to the CMA. This year’s three-hour primetime television special will air at 7 p.m. August 4 on ABC, Channel 2 in Nashville. In addition to Rhett and Ballerini, that broadcast will include Bobby Bones, host...
by Mckenzi Harris and Erika Plunkett | Jun 10, 2019 | Arts and Entertainment, Galleries, News Slider
Nashville has been packed all weekend with fans from all over the world attending the city’s biggest music event of the year: CMA Fest. Our editor-in-chief, Mckenzi Harris, and co-managing editor, Erika Plunkett, were there all weekend to cover the events of the festival. This weekend was full of rain, yet the fans showed out every day. Due to the rain, several of the daytime stages were delayed on and off throughout the daytime hours. The Chevy Riverfront stage is the largest daytime stage of the festival and was packed for each performance. The Riverfront stage featured mainly big names: Hunter Hayes, LOCASH, Ashley McBryde and many others. Between the rain delays of the afternoons, the fans indulged themselves in the food trucks as well as checked out the booths in Fan Fair X. The CMA Festival is not all outdoors. There are indoor stages such as the Nashville Acoustic Corner, Close Up Stage, Radio Disney Stage and the HGTV Lodge. The Lodge had a very special theme this year as HGTV used this venue to promote their upcoming series A Very Brady Renovation. Joining the host Susanne Alexander were Susan Olson, Maureen McCormick, and Barry Williams, who played Cindy, Marcia, and Gregg Brady in the 1970s sitcom. The Brady Bunch cast is a part of new series that brought to life the Bradys’ home with the help of many of HGTV’s talents. The interior of the home — which formerly served as the exterior of the television home of the Brady family –has now been completely reconstructed to match the interior shown on the show’s Hollywood soundstage set....
by Erika Plunkett | May 13, 2019 | Galleries, Sports
Surrounded by family, friends, and Bison faithful in the Allen Arena Hall of Fame room, the Lipscomb softball team learned their next stop is Tuscaloosa, Alabama, as pairings were announced during the NCAA Softball Tournament Selection Show. Lipscomb drew the Tuscaloosa regional, hosted by the SEC regular-season champion and overall eight-seed, the Alabama Crimson Tide. The Lady Bisons will open the regional against the Arizona State Sun Devils. Also, included in the Tuscaloosa regional are the Alabama State Hornets. “This is a hard regional,” coach Kristin Ryman said. “This [Arizona State] is a tough team. But I don’t care. We are too.” After winning 22 of their last 24 games, Lipscomb won the ASUN championship and earned an automatic berth into the NCAA softball tournament. The first round of the tournament, which is set to begin May 17-19, is divided into 16 regional campus sites with four teams at each location. The four teams will play a double elimination tournament to determine who advances to the super-regional round the following weekend. Philip Hutcheson, Lipscomb’s athletic director, praised this team and their coaches for an incredibly exciting season, mentioning how fun it has been to watch them this year. ASUN Coach of the Year Ryman talked about how “connected” her team has been all season, attributing their success to this chemistry. The first game is set to be played at 3 p.m. Friday and can be streamed via ESPN+....
by Mckenzi Harris | May 5, 2019 | Galleries
Lipscomb University awarded 560 undergraduate students and 325 graduate students their degrees on Saturday Afternoon in Allen Arena. President Lowry gave an honorable mention to many at the commencement — he thanked the veterans for their service, congratulated athletes on their tremendous seasons, as well as noticing every student has a story and thanking the people who supported them in their journey to graduation. Reactions were full of smiles, laughter and tears as the students crossed the stage one by one shaking hands with the professionals who got them to this moment of commencement. Mckenzi Harris was there to capture these reactions in her gallery...
by Mckenzi Harris | Apr 29, 2019 | Galleries, News Slider
Lipscomb’s SGA put on the annual spring concert Saturday night, featuring the headliner, Johnnyswim. The couple, Abner Ramirez and Amanda Sudano formed their duo in 2015 in Nashville, Tennessee. During the concert, the indie-folk duo introduced their new album Moonlight and shared stories of their journey in the music industry, as well as Ramirez’ experience as a Nashville resident and former Trevecca student. Sudano shared the couple’s love story, followed by Ramirez serenading her with a song on their new album titled “Amanda.” After the song, Sudano shared the first time Ramirez saw her. “That’s the woman I’m going to marry,” Ramirez said, remembering the first time he saw Sudano. He added that his previous girlfriend broke up with him “on the spot.” The couple closed the concert by entering the crowd and standing on the chairs in the center of Collins Alumni Auditorium amidst the crowd of students....
