TLF concert simultaneously educates and entertains

Anna Buchholz

Saturday, Oct. 13, the Café was home to the concert “Keepin the Lights On!,” sponsored by The Lawrence Fund Student Ambassador Program. The evening featured campus bands AndHow!, Involuntary String Band and Spaceship Pizza, while students of the group performed skits in order to raise awareness about The Lawrence Fund.

The Lawrence Fund provides financial support for a variety of aspects of a Lawrence education and is created by gifts from generous donors.

The Lawrence Fund Student Ambassador Program, consists of LU students who educate the community about the importance of giving back, bridge the gap between students and donors who support their education and promote the positive ways in which The Lawrence Fund has influenced their lives.

A few examples of the things The Lawrence Fund provides for include: piano and harpsichord tuning ($68,719), athletic uniforms ($14,000), electricity ($1.1 million) and financial aid ($27.7 million).

Ninety three percent of the freshman class received financial aid this year, making it possible for students from all over the world to obtain a Lawrence education.

Opening the concert was AndHow!, making their debut performance of the 2012-2013 school year, clad in blazers of various patterns and colors. Their tunes were filled with danceable grooves, made obvious by bass player and senior Andrew Kraemer’s moon walking skills, and were sprinkled with a cappella vocal breaks, almost reminiscent of a barbershop quartet with their classy outfits.

Involuntary String Band was next on the docket, making their premiere performance on campus and gracing our ears with the sound of the bluegrass genre.

Made up of violin, mandolin, guitar and bass, they performed songs by the Punch Brothers, Belá Fleck, John Cowan and The Chieftains, prompting audience members to get up, dance and clap, as if they were not in the Warch Campus Center, but a barn or folk music festival.

Concluding the night was returning band Spaceship Pizza, filling the Café with both covers and originals by the band, featuring vocals by junior Alex Hammond. Differing from the all string, acoustic sounds of the previous band, Spaceship Pizza provided more rock-style beats and driving grooves for the audience.

In between each band, members of the Student Ambassador Program performed skits to demonstrate how The Lawrence Fund influences us each day, often without us noticing. One particularly inspiring performance reminded audiences of the steep price for electricity and how as students, we do not have to cover this necessity out of our own pockets.

The range of styles between the three bands revealed the melting pot of musical styles and genres at Lawrence, reminding me how lucky our campus is to have a musical scene that is so alive. The Lawrence Fund has given performers like these the resources to make our Lawrence community unique and full of life, and in turn they donated their time to remind all students of the importance of The Lawrence Fund.

Generous donors of the Lawrence community have ensured that we have the means to receive the best education possible, and this event reminded us of the importance of supporting our institution in the hope that we will all give back to support the education of future Lawrentians.