by BRANDON UTLEY
Staff writer

When planning a national tour, most groups would plan to perform for large crowds in big cities. They would want thousands of people in an attendance. They would just skip right over small towns like Tiffin. But gladly, the Filharmonic is not like most groups.
 
The Filharmonic, a Filipino-American a cappella group based out of Los Angeles, rose to fame when they competed on NBC’s hit musical competition The Sing-Off. They made it to the semi-finals of the show and have been on the move ever since.
 
Many students may recognize them from one of their major accomplishments: when they appeared alongside Pentatonix in Pitch Perfect 2.
 
On Sept. 15, the group headlined a concert in Tiffin University’s Marion Center, with TU’s very own Higher Ground as an opening act.

by NICK BUCHANAN
Editor

M.I.A.'s coming back with power, power one last time.

Well, kind of.

As an artist whose biggest waves in the United States have come from the flash of a middle finger at a broadcast football game and a radio hit that is one giant side-eye at American government and stereotypes, M.I.A. certainly has been known to be bold at best and abrasive at worst in the largest music market in the world. The controversy and ironic radio success aside, though, her creative output traditionally has been a respectable challenge the eyes, ears, and brain. While she carries herself with a cool, collected swagger vocally, she's always been one for aggressive mission statements through every other facet of her work: her album cover arts, avant-garde; her production choices, nonconformist; her lyrics, forward-thinking and politically charged. 

​All of this in mind, her fifth (and reportedly final) record could be assumed to be her strongest, most resounding statement yet, even in comparison to her first two records, both of which spit a few rounds of controversial bullets through the fabric of American ideology. In hindsight, a certain age-old adage about assumptions comes to mind here.

​Why? Because M.I.A. is ready to make peace.

by NICK BUCHANAN
Editor

Protesters lined East 21st and Prospect outside of Cleveland State University’s Wolstein Center on the night of Sept. 10, unaffected by the rain in their makeshift garbage bag ponchos.

“THIS IS MURDER,” one of them equipped with a megaphone yelled as a few of her comrades chanted in the distance. Others stood idly, leaned against concrete posts with their body-length poster boards on sticks and a stack of wet pamphlets on their agenda.

​Most of us paid them no mind as we headed into the arena for All Access 2016, a free live entertainment event headlined by pop singer-songwriter Sia meant to raise advocacy for a bold cause that unsurprisingly drew all of the protesters: the demand for equal access to abortion

by JESSICA HOLLAN
Assistant editor

​When you are a reporter going to a concert, there is definitely something to be said about traveling with the performing band. For instance, nobody minds the large, professional-grade camera you are carrying around a closed sound check because hey, you’re with the band. It also means that you and that camera get backstage access because, once again, you’re with the band. You are practically a glorified groupie. You see it all: sound checks, rehearsals, backstage. That is, as long as you don’t forget the magic words: “Oh, I’m with the band.”