Mumford and Sons playing a show in London. (Photo from the band’s Instagram).
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MUSIC
Iron City:
Located on 22nd Street South and only about four blocks north of campus, Iron City is an intimate music venue. This venue houses a general admission floor experience, balcony seating and a full bar. According to their Facebook page, the event center’s standing capacity is 1300, which does not include the balcony seating. Iron City is new on Birmingham’s venue scene, having opened in 2013.
This semester, the venue will host Canadian folk singer-songwriter Dallas Green, better known as City and Colour, on Saturday, Jan. 16. This solo artist has released five albums since 2005 and performed at Bonnaroo every year since 2012. Roots reggae band Rebelution will also take the stage at Iron City this semester on Friday, Jan. 29. Rebelution released their first album in 2006 and resembles bands such as SOJA and Tribal Seeds. A full schedule of bands hitting Iron City is available on their website, www.ironcitybham.com/calendar.
UAB’s Alys Robinson Stephens Performing Arts Center:
UAB’s Alys Stephens Center is home to the Alabama Symphony Orchestra, under Music Director and conductor Carlos Izcaray. Other resident conductors include Principal POPS! Conductor Christopher Confessorre and Music Director Laureate Justin Brown.
The Alabama Symphony Orchestra operates under several concert series: EBSCO Masterworks, Coffee Concerts, Classical Masters and Classical Edge. According to the ASO’s website, EBSCO Masterworks concerts are “transcendent performances with something for every classical music lover,” while Coffee Concerts focus more on iconic pieces of classical repertoire, such as Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony. With only three concerts in the Classical Masters series, these events offer classical and neoclassical pieces in the smaller theatres of the Alys Stephens Center, often times including a Q&A session with the conductor before the concert. While tickets for the concerts run from around $30 to $80, student tickets are only $10
Concerts take place on Fridays and Saturdays at 7 p.m. For information about concerts within each series, visit www.alabamasymphony.org.
UAB Music Department:
UAB’s Music Department holds performances throughout the semester in Hulsey Recital Hall and the Alys Stephens Center. On April 15, the Computer Music Ensemble will showcase original compositions of electroacoustic music. The pieces also include visuals to compliment and depict the audio content. Six to 10 students perform in the ensemble, all of whom take an hour-long CME class under former UAB music student and professor Matt Bryant. The performance takes place once per semester and is free for UAB students. More information about events hosted by UAB’s Music Department can be found at www.uab.edu/cas/music/event-calendar.
BJCC:
The Birmingham Jefferson Convention Complex holds the biggest concerts in the Birmingham-metro area. Concerts at the BJCC take place in arenas, the largest of which seats 19,000. British rock band Mumford and Sons is set to play in this monstrosity, known as Legacy
Arena, on Sunday, April 10. The BJCC is also home to smaller stages, such as the Concert Hall where the 90’s boy band Boyz II Men will perform on Friday, April 22.
Other venues include the Alabama Theatre, scheduled to host indie band Modest Mouse on April 29, and the newly-opened Saturn, featuring Radio Free Birmingham, a night of live music from local talent, on Tuesday, Jan. 12.
ART
From the Birmingham Museum of Art’s nationally recognized and voluminous collection of over 17,000 works of art to the amorphous “Birmingham Art Crawl” that spans close to the entirety of the city, Birmingham boasts a hefty roster of art-related events throughout the year. Here are a few to keep in mind as we move forward into 2016:
The AEIVA houses UAB’s departments of Art and Art History as well as University Galleries. (Photo from AEIVA’s website).Winter-Spring:
The BMA will be exhibiting sequined Haitian flags (known as drapo), collected over 50 years by visitors to Haiti, until May 15 with a “Slow Art” discussion on Sunday, Feb. 6. In addition, a lecture in relation to the flags will be held on Feb. 26. Loaded with symbolism relating to Haitian history, slavery and spirituality, the free exhibition will be accompanied by videos of Haitian Vodou ceremonies that will allow the viewers to understand the flags in their original context.
Small Paintings 1974-2015: UAB’s Abroms-Engel Institute for the Visual Arts will be exhibiting works by Enrique Martínez Celaya from Jan. 22 through March 19 throughout the institute’s three galleries. As they are small-scaled in order to foster close observation and intimacy with the works, the paintings encourage thought on various deep issues, such as ethics and the progression of life. For more information on the artist, visit www.martinezcelaya.com.
Summer:
Bringing in both sweltering temperatures and free time for students and professors alike, summer is the season for the BMA’s annual “Art on the Rocks” series, in which the museum collaborates with local artists, musicians and businesses to offer three Friday nights of performances. The performances are accompanied by food and drink provided by local eateries, such as iCantina! and Heavenly Donuts Co.
Fall:
On the weekend following Labor Day, Birmingham hosts its annual Birmingham Art Walk, a two-day event that draws in and showcases regional talents across the historic loft district of Birmingham. Artists interested in participating in the third annual event are called to submit applications between March 1 and May 31 to www.birminghamartwalk.org.
Year-round:
Intended to foster conversation and to inspire, almost every Sunday from 2-3 pm the museum hosts Slow Art Sundays to allow for visitors to take a break from the fast-paced contemporary world through contemplating and discussing various pieces from the museum’s collection. Food is also provided for those who are worried about missing lunch in favor of the event.
Every first Thursday from 5 – 9 p.m., local artists and performers join forces to transform Birmingham into a contemporary art museum as part of the Birmingham Art Crawl. Regardless of the weather, the Crawl takes over local businesses in an effort to support and build the Birmingham art scene weekly, offering participants to meet artists from their area as well as to buy their work in venues ranging from the historic theatre district to restaurants and bars across town.
Along with these events, students are encouraged by UAB’s Department of Art and Art History to visit UAB’s very own AEVIA to see art on campus.
Exhibitions range from works by internationally renowned artists to works by students.
NEWS
Black Lives Matter Lecture:
On Feb. 8, two of the three founders of the Black Lives Matter movement, Alicia Garza and Opal Tometi, will give a lecture in the ballroom of the UAB Hill Student Center, hosted by the Blazer Male Excellence Network and the Black Student Awareness Committee. Garza and Tometi will speak on how their grassroots activism became a national movement and engage the audience in a discussion on race relations in the United States.
TED 2016 Conference:
UAB Associate Professor Sarah Parcak won the 2016 TED Prize. (Photo from sarahparcak.com).Sarah Parcak, an associate professor in the Department of Anthropology, will launch her project on Feb. 16 at the TED 2016 Conference in Vancouver. Parcak, who was recently featured on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert after having won the $1 million TED Prize for 2016 for her work in space archaeology, has used satellite imagery to help locate 17 potential pyramids in Egypt, 3,100 forgotten settlements, and 1,000 lost tombs. The conference will be broadcast for free so that viewers can follow along as Parcak reveals the plans for her $1 million project, ultimately aimed at preserving ancient archaeological sites.
Conference USA Basketball Championships:
Birmingham will host the Conference USA basketball championships for the second year in a row. Last year, the UAB men’s team won the championship and thus a bid to the NCAA Division I Basketball Championship, better known as March Madness, where they upset Iowa State in the second round. The conference championship will be held from Tuesday, March 8 through Saturday, March 12. Games will be played at the Blazers’ home court of Bartow Arena and at Legacy Arena at the BJCC.
General Elections:
On Tuesday, Nov. 8, voters will choose between the presidential electors nominated by their parties in the 58th quadrennial presidential election. The United States Senate and House elections, gubernatorial elections and a number of state and local elections will also be held on this date.
Primary Elections:
The state of Alabama will join several other southeastern states in the “SEC Primary” in holding its primary elections on Tuesday, Mar. 1, which is commonly referred to as Super Tuesday.
U.S. Senate Races:
Long-time Alabama U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., will face off against four other Republican primary hopefuls: former state Sen. Shadrack McGill; former Marine and Birmingham businessman Jonathan McConnell; Marcus Bowman and John Martin. On the Democrats side, Charles Nana and Ron Crumpton arevying for his Senate seat.
U.S. House Races:
Five of the seven members of the House of Representatives for the state of Alabama will have primaries. The lone democrat in the Alabama delegation, Congresswoman Terri Sewell of Birmingham, is being challenged by Republican David Van Williams. Representatives Martha Roby of Montgomery, Mike Rogers of Saks, Robert Aderholt of Haleyville, Mo Brooks of Huntsville and Gary Palmer of Hoover also face challengers in their bids for re-election.
U.S. Presidential Race:
Thirteen Republicans are still contending for their party’s nomination for presidential candidate. Real estate mogul Donald Trump is currently the front-runner for the Republicans. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, the main contenders for the Democrats, are joined by lesser-known Rocque de la Fuente of California and Kennedy K. Brown of Birmingham, Ala. in pursuit of the nomination.
