by Arda Johnson & Enrique Viveros
PSC’s Lyceum event started September 23 in the Ashmore auditorium with musical performances by blues musician Cedric Burnside.
The event was held at 7:30pm on a Thursday night, and many—including students cramming essays and adults working 9-5—took some time out of their day to attend the event and enjoy Burnside’s blues.
With the songs he performed having deep ties to spirituality and representation came with it the opportunity to relieve some stress and get entertained. Donovan McCormick, a PSC student who attended the event, said, “I really liked the way he played both the acoustic and electric guitar, but especially with the acoustic how he was playing it so fast and precise.”
The musical pieces Burnside offered seemed to compliment the tough times we have gone through the past couple of years. Moreover, his music is said to be unique and follows a different path than contemporary music. For instance, here is what Reed Watson, the drummer who accompanied Burnside, said:
“In a world where music and everybody changes so often; Cedric is doing something really old school and traditional but he is putting his own spin on it and you don’t find many artists like this in this world.”
In addition to Cedric Burnside, the Lyceum event will continue to host performances until the end of this year, 2021. Some expected and upcoming events include the following: Joe Pug on October 19 and Anastaysia Naplekova on December 5, both at 7:30pm. Find out more about the performers and their event at pensacolastate.edu/psc-lyceum.
Fortunately, being the first time to host the Lyceum event since the pandemic’s start, the auditorium’s numbers of attendees filled more than half the seats. Burnside mentioned how grateful he was for the number of attendees.
By the end of the performance, the crowd continued applauding from one person on to the next one, demanding an encore until screams of “we want more” started bouncing off the auditorium’s walls.
To no surprise, Burnside ended the performance with an additional song thanks to the encore. Afterwards, he was seen signing away his signature onto the related album and CD that complimented his performance. They were being sold after the performance ended.
For those who were unable to attend this first lyceum event, you can view Cedric Burnside’s work through his Spotify or order an album off his website: cedricburnside.net.
