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I already had high expectations for the Robert Glasper show when I walked into the Gésu Theatre on the night of February 24. The few pre-releases from his album Black Radio had been on replay on my iPod for weeks and I had only read rave reviews for this tour. As I searched for my seat, I ran into at least a dozen elite members of the Montreal music industry. It’s quite clear that you’re going to be part of something extremely special when members of Nomadic Massive, Alaiz, Ruckus and Kalmunity all make it out.

As people shuffled into their seats there was much talk about the drums, bass and saxophones set up alongside Glasper’s pianos. This was clear confirmation that the rumors were correct: Glasper came along with his notorious trio of Casey Benjamin, Derrick Hodge and Mark Colenburg. Just as the last person settled into the intimate Gésu hall, Robert Glasper and the fellas strolled on stage, rocking their day-to-day flair, unassumingly approaching their instrument of choice. The level of comfort and trust between the musicians was immediately apparent and Glasper invited the audience into that intimacy by joking around and responding to our every giggle, sigh, and applaud. Though everyone in the crowd was aware that they were about to experience superior quality music, it was clear that all the chichi jazz etiquette was out the window and that people were encouraged to express their enthusiasm during the performance.

The four-tet started off with a continuous hour mix of improvisation and pieces off of Black Radio, Glasper’s recent album. It was an absolute music-trance; our heart rates rose and fell with the rhythm of the drums, the saxophone solos took our breath away, the bass kept our minds in check and Glasper’s piano keys were shivers down our spines. The musicians played together proficiently and harmoniously yet were still uniquely highlighted. The solos they shared with the audience not only exposed their amazing talent but also the grandeur and capability of each instrument. Casey Benjamin deserves a special mention for his innovative skill on four instruments: the alto saxophone, soprano saxophone, vocoder and keyboards. The first set would’ve already been more than your bucks worth, but Glasper and the band continued on for another hour with more material and a very special J Dilla tribute. Robert Glasper’s versatile musical background creates so much depth to his arrangements and makes his repertoire widely accessible for the masses. He covers J Dilla classics just as smoothly as he remixes Nirvana classics, and all that with the essence of jazz in mind. Hip-hop fans, R&B fans, Soul fans, rock fans and jazz fans all became one for those two hours.

With all the pretentions, typecasting and genre-barriers out the way people were able to focus on the creation rather the creators, which in my mind is what the Robert Glasper Experiment is all about.

Be sure to pick up a copy of his new album Black Radio to be part of this experiment.

-MF Gold co-hosts Say Word! with Caity every Wednesday from 3-4pm

The U.S. Senate was four votes shy of approving an amendment that would give the Keystone XL pipeline the go ahead.

According to the CBC the amendment would have overridden the White House’s January rejection of the project that would carry Alberta oil sands crude to refineries along the Texas coast.  President Barack Obama rejected the earlier proposal to give his administration more time to study the pipeline’s route through Nebraska’s environmentally precarious Sandhills region.

TransCanada Corporation who heads the Keystone project said a new route is in the works along with plans to resubmit its application for authorization.

 Flickr photo: 350.org

Read by: Katie McGroarty

Stories by: Esther Viragh, Luciana Gravotta, Dominique Daoust and Carlo Spiridigliozzi

Produced by: Carlo Spiridigliozzi

Concordia undergrads are going on strike. A two-thirds majority has made it official. Students attended the CSU’s general assembly on Wednesday afternoon.

VP Chad Walcott announced the results in the Hall Building at the downtown campus. The reaction of the crowd was overwhelming.

“The results for our mandate. Votes in favour: 1152. Votes against: 557. Congratulations Concordia, you just made history.”

The assembly took place at four designated locations at the university: three at the downtown campus and one at Loyola. Lindsay Spence came to the assembly without knowing how she would vote.

“Once they started talking about how much the government is going to make and then how much of that is actually going to be invested into education, that's what really bothered me because it doesn’t make sense that their making money off of us and their reevaluating. Taking those funds and putting them where they feel where it should go.”

Others, like Anna Campbell, wore their red squares and expressed their enthusiasm for the outcome.

“We voted to go one strike for five day, so I’m really happy. I really support the strike. I believe in the cause because I believe that students shouldn’t have to pay increasing amount of tuition with a government that increasingly cuts corporate taxes. They’re just misspending money. They don’t need more money, necessarily from us. This just shows the amount of solidarity all students are having together for the cause, which is really awesome.”

But not everyone felt the same way. Victoria, an undergrad who did not want to give her last name, explained.

“I’m not surprised and I think it’s great that we can have this type of mobility and people can come together for a cause. I just don’t know if I feel comfortable or confident in it. Even though I think they have the best intentions for it to be like a safe, open, no value judgment zone, I feel there’s a really large intimidation factor and it makes me really uncomfortable.”

Though the CSU voted this Wednesday afternoon, several faculties had already done so earlier. By Tuesday, six student associations had adopted a strike mandate on tuition increases. This brought along with it the boycotting of classes. Necolas Payeur, another undergrad, was against the approach as well.

“I can understand that people don't want to pay more tuition. I don't want to pay more tuition either. But, there’s a difference between being against the tuition fee hikes and vote for a strike. I think there are more possibilities to do then just go on strike all week and undefined strike after. Don’t keep people from going to school and classes, which they pay for and want a good education. You got the job opportunity after and if you go on strike indefinitely you lose your job because you cannot go work because you still have school. I don’t think it’s good for all the people.”

A motion to change the date of the strike was passed as well. It will officially take place from March 15^th to the 22^nd. Another general assembly will then be held to decide whether to continue with the tactic or not.

Photo by: Esther Viragh