On April 20, 2015 at the Suffolk County Community College Eastern campus, an event was being held in the cafeteria. I had no idea there was any event happening that day. The tables that normally crowd the wooden space were removed and a stage was added, allowing the space to be converted to a performance area and still allowing the flow of students and performers to move freely. My friends Courtney, Simon, Maggie, and I had no clue what was to come. A small sign stated something about an International Festival and a professor walked around the stage announcing to the whole cafe about the small festival and who was coming up first.
The first set of performers was a jazz group. They were dressed in somewhat of a business casual clothing style, to move freely but also look professional. There were three people within the group to play a small drum set, a flute and a big cello. The flute player would solo a song or two until he would stop for a break, but also to interact with us. He asked us mainly jazz-related questions. Who was the first jazz player around for example. He would wait and play the flute or have either the cello or drummer play a little tune until the question was answered. After the answer, they would play another song. Not thinking much of how loud the music would be, I was surprised by the combination of the cello, flute and the drum set. The cello provided a bass that shook the ground and up the chair legs where my friends and I were perched to enjoy our food and the music. Combining that bass sound with the flute made the best combination for jazz.
Once the jazz performers were done with their time on the stage, the flutist introduced us to a group of dancers from the Irish Dance Company. The girls that danced were about 12 to 15 by their looks. There was a women that had the mic, who described where the songs came from. I am personally a fan of folk music, especially Irish folk, which is what the girls were dancing to. The woman had the girls take a quick break because the folk dancing can take a lot out of them, and she described their dresses, which were traditional Irish folk dresses. It was very informative and fun to watch these girls be happy and look amazing and confident in their dancing ability.
The music of the International Festival is something I am not used to hearing and seeing. Since jazz is something I don't usually listen to, I am really happy that I got to hear a genre of music that's been fading away slowly. I'm more into the new era of techno music, but the combination of the jazz and the Irish folk is something that brought out joy from my soul. The jazz vibrated through my body as silly as it sounds, and the beat that jazz produces is a beat I will now welcome over and over again into my ear buds. Irish folk music is something that has always been played within my home and I welcome it with wide open arms.
In general, the International Festival was an amazing event that the College planned, not to just fill in space, but to entertain and inform the audience on music that a lot of us from this era would most likely not know or would not have listened to unless our parents were into to that kind of music. I was happy to hear the bass of the cello and see the dancing from the folk dancers. They still play in my mind and that is an experience I am grateful for. This concert is something that I will gladly go to again and again: keep on dancing and making that sweet music!
-Kassandra Welz
May 08, 2015
May 07, 2015
Z o m b o y
Saturdays in the Hamptons, during the winter, are pretty boring. You can either go to a friend’s house, the movies, or if you’re old enough, to the bars. Me and my friends usually take the train into the city on the weekends and go to clubs. The club we went to on this particular weekend was Webster Hall. We picked this weekend to go to Webster because Zomboy, an uprising EDM DJ from England, was playing there and he was supposed to be insane!
Webster is one of my favorite venues to go to in Manhattan. The atmosphere of it, the drama, the long line outside, which I get to cut because I bought advance tickets, and the “costumes” people wear. Webster is also my favorite venue because it has three floors. The main floor usually has a local DJ and he plays rap, hip-hop, and towards the end, some R&B. The basement, or what me and my friends call it, the “BASSment,” because the bass is so loud that they give you ear plugs as you walk down. And last but not least, there’s the top floor, which is where the famous DJs come and play.
The venue definitely affects the music because the music varies depending on what floor you are on. On the Bassment floor, everyone is rocking back and forth to the Dubstep music. Dubstep is usually loud and uses a lot of bass and drops. And depending on the DJ, a few moshpits occur there. On the Main floor, the vibes are more relaxing, more calm, due to the music being played. You would go there if you are talking to a girl and just want to dance with them and have fun. The Top floor is a mix of both of these. If you are an experienced rager, you are in the front of the stage. If it’s your first time, you are usually more towards the middle where it’s less crowded and people won’t bump into you.
The audience at Webster vary from die-hard fans with T-shirts of the DJ and knowing every lyric, to someone who’s just there for the first time. The ages go from 18 to 30 year olds, and it’s funny because you have to be 19 and up to get in. A lot of people wear bracelets and masks and crazy outfits. I remember I saw someone wearing a morph suit, and it was so hot I didn’t know how he was alive. For Webster, you could wear anything and it would be appropriate. I’ve seen girls go in there in bikinis, which is crazy. I was with my two friends, Parker and Daniela, and then Daniela’s friend, Sarah. The girls were wearing leggings and colorful shirts, while Parker and I were wearing button down shirts and jeans. Usually, we would wear shorts and shirts that stand out, but since it was Daniela’s birthday, we had to dress nicely.
On the Top floor is where we spent most of our time, mainly because the girls were too scared to go to the Bassment due to the moshpits. It was an hour or so after we got there that Zomboy came out. He mumbled a couple of words into a mic and the crowd went bananas, jumping up and down, and pushing people left to right as in they were pushing each other to see if you were awake or not. Everyone was just having a blast. About 30 minutes into Zomboy, the fire dancers came out. They come out every Saturday night during the main DJs performance and twirl sticks of fire and do crazy tricks, and in a way, go along perfectly with the rhythm of the music, as if it was choreographed but you know it’s not. They do this for about ten minutes, and there’s always firemen or someone with a fire extinguisher there just in case.
I remember the girls said they wanted to go to the bathroom, and so Parker and I made our way to the front. There was a dance circle going on and we joined. I’m a bad dancer, but no one there judges you. They actually encourage you to dance and they’re all friendly. After I fell while trying to do a spin, I knew I was done with the dance circle. We made it to the front of the stage and Zomboy was literally three feet in front of me. He was vibing with the crowd, moving his hand back and forth, and when he dropped his new single, he jumped into the sea of people! My jaw dropped when he flew over me and I was impressed that the people caught him, but it didn’t last that long because security started pushing people to get to him after he fell.
Zomboy used many percussion instruments in his set. They were pre-recorded, but you could make out the sound of the drums when his music got into a steady beat, almost as if the drums were keeping count, or used to change the meter. His music has a build to it, where the pitch of the music is low and then elevates to high and suddenly it drops and the dynamics go crazy. At one point during his set, he played the song “In The End” by Linkin Park, but he edited it in a way that made sense to how he was playing the rest of his set. It wasn’t slow, it was fast-paced and it was a totally different feel from the original song. Most of his songs were fast-paced, if not all of them, because if he were to play a slow song, I feel he would get booed out of the stage, and would probably never play there again. I feel like there was a lot of improvisation going on while he played because it looked like he was getting a workout behind the DJ booth, constantly moving his hands to switch on and off different songs and sounds. The most impressive thing that happened that night was when he picked up the mic and said this was his new single, and when the beat dropped, he jumped into the crowd and crowd surfed for a good 2 minutes!
It was around 3 a.m., and Zomboy was done with his set, and I was exhausted! I was kind of upset when the girls wanted to leave, but it was Daniela’s birthday so we left. Besides that, I had an extremely awesome time, Zomboy exceeded my expectations and I had a blast from the moment I stepped foot into Webster to when I got out. I can’t wait to go back and see what crazy experience I come back with from Webster Hall.
-Jaime Rincon
Webster is one of my favorite venues to go to in Manhattan. The atmosphere of it, the drama, the long line outside, which I get to cut because I bought advance tickets, and the “costumes” people wear. Webster is also my favorite venue because it has three floors. The main floor usually has a local DJ and he plays rap, hip-hop, and towards the end, some R&B. The basement, or what me and my friends call it, the “BASSment,” because the bass is so loud that they give you ear plugs as you walk down. And last but not least, there’s the top floor, which is where the famous DJs come and play.
The venue definitely affects the music because the music varies depending on what floor you are on. On the Bassment floor, everyone is rocking back and forth to the Dubstep music. Dubstep is usually loud and uses a lot of bass and drops. And depending on the DJ, a few moshpits occur there. On the Main floor, the vibes are more relaxing, more calm, due to the music being played. You would go there if you are talking to a girl and just want to dance with them and have fun. The Top floor is a mix of both of these. If you are an experienced rager, you are in the front of the stage. If it’s your first time, you are usually more towards the middle where it’s less crowded and people won’t bump into you.
The audience at Webster vary from die-hard fans with T-shirts of the DJ and knowing every lyric, to someone who’s just there for the first time. The ages go from 18 to 30 year olds, and it’s funny because you have to be 19 and up to get in. A lot of people wear bracelets and masks and crazy outfits. I remember I saw someone wearing a morph suit, and it was so hot I didn’t know how he was alive. For Webster, you could wear anything and it would be appropriate. I’ve seen girls go in there in bikinis, which is crazy. I was with my two friends, Parker and Daniela, and then Daniela’s friend, Sarah. The girls were wearing leggings and colorful shirts, while Parker and I were wearing button down shirts and jeans. Usually, we would wear shorts and shirts that stand out, but since it was Daniela’s birthday, we had to dress nicely.
On the Top floor is where we spent most of our time, mainly because the girls were too scared to go to the Bassment due to the moshpits. It was an hour or so after we got there that Zomboy came out. He mumbled a couple of words into a mic and the crowd went bananas, jumping up and down, and pushing people left to right as in they were pushing each other to see if you were awake or not. Everyone was just having a blast. About 30 minutes into Zomboy, the fire dancers came out. They come out every Saturday night during the main DJs performance and twirl sticks of fire and do crazy tricks, and in a way, go along perfectly with the rhythm of the music, as if it was choreographed but you know it’s not. They do this for about ten minutes, and there’s always firemen or someone with a fire extinguisher there just in case.
I remember the girls said they wanted to go to the bathroom, and so Parker and I made our way to the front. There was a dance circle going on and we joined. I’m a bad dancer, but no one there judges you. They actually encourage you to dance and they’re all friendly. After I fell while trying to do a spin, I knew I was done with the dance circle. We made it to the front of the stage and Zomboy was literally three feet in front of me. He was vibing with the crowd, moving his hand back and forth, and when he dropped his new single, he jumped into the sea of people! My jaw dropped when he flew over me and I was impressed that the people caught him, but it didn’t last that long because security started pushing people to get to him after he fell.
Zomboy used many percussion instruments in his set. They were pre-recorded, but you could make out the sound of the drums when his music got into a steady beat, almost as if the drums were keeping count, or used to change the meter. His music has a build to it, where the pitch of the music is low and then elevates to high and suddenly it drops and the dynamics go crazy. At one point during his set, he played the song “In The End” by Linkin Park, but he edited it in a way that made sense to how he was playing the rest of his set. It wasn’t slow, it was fast-paced and it was a totally different feel from the original song. Most of his songs were fast-paced, if not all of them, because if he were to play a slow song, I feel he would get booed out of the stage, and would probably never play there again. I feel like there was a lot of improvisation going on while he played because it looked like he was getting a workout behind the DJ booth, constantly moving his hands to switch on and off different songs and sounds. The most impressive thing that happened that night was when he picked up the mic and said this was his new single, and when the beat dropped, he jumped into the crowd and crowd surfed for a good 2 minutes!
It was around 3 a.m., and Zomboy was done with his set, and I was exhausted! I was kind of upset when the girls wanted to leave, but it was Daniela’s birthday so we left. Besides that, I had an extremely awesome time, Zomboy exceeded my expectations and I had a blast from the moment I stepped foot into Webster to when I got out. I can’t wait to go back and see what crazy experience I come back with from Webster Hall.
-Jaime Rincon
May 05, 2015
BAYSIDE
On April 2nd, a few friends and I traveled to Manhattan to see one of my favorite bands, Bayside, in concert. If I had to classify their style of music, I would say that they are punk fused with pop rock, very similar to bands like Taking Back Sunday or Brand New. I have been a fan of them for quite some time, but this was my first opportunity to see them live and I was very excited about it. Not only for the music, but going to a concert like this is as much about the experience in the crowd as it is going to hear the performer.
The Best Buy Theater is located in Manhattan in close proximity to Times Square and to Broadway, but on this night it would not be attracting the typical theater crowd. Upon entering, you are led down a long escalator that opens up into a lobby. Here, you can buy concessions, alcohol and band “swag.” After following the hallway, you reach a set of small stairs that will lead you into the actual theater and into an environment you might not expect to see. To your left, there are rows of seats that you would find in a traditional concert venue filled with people sitting, drinking, and engaging in some other more explicit “activities” as you could tell from the smell of the air. To the right, you see a large open area in front of the stage also filled with people, who were clearly anxious for the show to begin.
The audience is predominantly white and young, mostly men, but definitely a fair share of women. Most everyone is dressed the same; band T-Shirts rule the majority, but a lot of flannel shirts and unnecessarily tight jeans are present as well. Regardless of wardrobe choice, it is important to know that whatever you are wearing you better not be too attached to it because there is a very good chance it will never be the same afterward. These people are not here on happenstance, they are here to see Bayside and are ready for them. There is a lot of moshing and a lot of crowd surfing, but actually fighting is not tolerated, and the inappropriate groping of women, who are trying to crowd surf is also not OK. It would appear from the outside as though it is somewhat controlled chaos, but in fact there are things that are definitely not tolerated. This may sound crazy, but there is a level of responsibility that all these fans take for one another’s well being. At one point, a fight broke out and strangers in the crowd quickly separated the two individuals. If someone fell in the pit, random people around them held off the crowd and helped them back to their feet. They received a pat on the back and a smile followed by a good hard shove to the chest as the excitement began again. Truly, it is a unique environment in which violence and aggression create an element of comradery amongst complete strangers, who want to have a good time, but don’t want to see anyone get seriously hurt.
The performance itself was amazing. The set wasn’t bogged down with only new music that hadn’t really been heard before. This band knew what their fans wanted to hear and they didn’t disappoint. They were very animated on stage and did a lot of jumping around and interacting with the audience, calling for sing alongs and even at one point towards the end, during a strictly acoustic song, the lights went dark and the lead singer appeared in the middle of the crowd with a microphone and guitar and sang from the center of the room while everyone sang with him word for word. There wasn’t a lot of improvisation and for the most part they played the songs as they sounded on their albums, but no one was complaining.
The music highlighted the melody of the songs, and the ensemble was pretty typical: a lead guitar, a bassist, a drummer, and a lead singer, who also played second guitar. They expressed themselves through movement, but the singer definitely does it through his words. The songs are mostly sung and not screamed, and you can understand what he is singing throughout. The lyrics cover a variety of topics from love lost to anger towards an ex, concern for friends and even the death of loved one. I will offer you a few examples from some of their work and let the imagery speak for itself. One selection is from their song “Masterpiece” and it is about a friend, who will not stop living a party lifestyle and will not grow up, due to some emotional pain they feel: “If I could take your pain and frame it, and hang it on my wall. Then maybe you would never have to hurt at all. And I’m painting pictures of red and blue, a portrait bruised, just like you.” Another selection is from their song “Pigsty” and it is clearly about a former lover, who the singer is not very fond of: “Your name is filth, cuz that’s all you spew from your mouth, I think your moral compass is broken only pointed south. And I wear my scars, like rings on a tree there they are, showing my age and proving where I’ve been so far.” In my opinion, their most impressive trait is in fact their songwriting and the powerful emotion you can feel from hearing the words they use. That is what attracted me to them in the first place and has made me a fan for years.
Overall, this concert was one of the best I have been to. I have had the pleasure of seeing a lot of different artists with drastically different styles, but this show will stick out in my memory as one of the best. One definitely has to be prepared for the environment that they are walking into, but if they can embrace it, then it will only make the experience that much better. I would and hopefully will be seeing them again in the future. Although maybe I won’t get quite so involved next time, since I was sore for about a week after. I left that show sweaty, exhausted, and a little bloody, but with an amazing memory shared with friends that will last a lifetime and be talked about by us for many years to come.
-Ian O'Keeffe
The Best Buy Theater is located in Manhattan in close proximity to Times Square and to Broadway, but on this night it would not be attracting the typical theater crowd. Upon entering, you are led down a long escalator that opens up into a lobby. Here, you can buy concessions, alcohol and band “swag.” After following the hallway, you reach a set of small stairs that will lead you into the actual theater and into an environment you might not expect to see. To your left, there are rows of seats that you would find in a traditional concert venue filled with people sitting, drinking, and engaging in some other more explicit “activities” as you could tell from the smell of the air. To the right, you see a large open area in front of the stage also filled with people, who were clearly anxious for the show to begin.
The audience is predominantly white and young, mostly men, but definitely a fair share of women. Most everyone is dressed the same; band T-Shirts rule the majority, but a lot of flannel shirts and unnecessarily tight jeans are present as well. Regardless of wardrobe choice, it is important to know that whatever you are wearing you better not be too attached to it because there is a very good chance it will never be the same afterward. These people are not here on happenstance, they are here to see Bayside and are ready for them. There is a lot of moshing and a lot of crowd surfing, but actually fighting is not tolerated, and the inappropriate groping of women, who are trying to crowd surf is also not OK. It would appear from the outside as though it is somewhat controlled chaos, but in fact there are things that are definitely not tolerated. This may sound crazy, but there is a level of responsibility that all these fans take for one another’s well being. At one point, a fight broke out and strangers in the crowd quickly separated the two individuals. If someone fell in the pit, random people around them held off the crowd and helped them back to their feet. They received a pat on the back and a smile followed by a good hard shove to the chest as the excitement began again. Truly, it is a unique environment in which violence and aggression create an element of comradery amongst complete strangers, who want to have a good time, but don’t want to see anyone get seriously hurt.
The performance itself was amazing. The set wasn’t bogged down with only new music that hadn’t really been heard before. This band knew what their fans wanted to hear and they didn’t disappoint. They were very animated on stage and did a lot of jumping around and interacting with the audience, calling for sing alongs and even at one point towards the end, during a strictly acoustic song, the lights went dark and the lead singer appeared in the middle of the crowd with a microphone and guitar and sang from the center of the room while everyone sang with him word for word. There wasn’t a lot of improvisation and for the most part they played the songs as they sounded on their albums, but no one was complaining.
The music highlighted the melody of the songs, and the ensemble was pretty typical: a lead guitar, a bassist, a drummer, and a lead singer, who also played second guitar. They expressed themselves through movement, but the singer definitely does it through his words. The songs are mostly sung and not screamed, and you can understand what he is singing throughout. The lyrics cover a variety of topics from love lost to anger towards an ex, concern for friends and even the death of loved one. I will offer you a few examples from some of their work and let the imagery speak for itself. One selection is from their song “Masterpiece” and it is about a friend, who will not stop living a party lifestyle and will not grow up, due to some emotional pain they feel: “If I could take your pain and frame it, and hang it on my wall. Then maybe you would never have to hurt at all. And I’m painting pictures of red and blue, a portrait bruised, just like you.” Another selection is from their song “Pigsty” and it is clearly about a former lover, who the singer is not very fond of: “Your name is filth, cuz that’s all you spew from your mouth, I think your moral compass is broken only pointed south. And I wear my scars, like rings on a tree there they are, showing my age and proving where I’ve been so far.” In my opinion, their most impressive trait is in fact their songwriting and the powerful emotion you can feel from hearing the words they use. That is what attracted me to them in the first place and has made me a fan for years.
Overall, this concert was one of the best I have been to. I have had the pleasure of seeing a lot of different artists with drastically different styles, but this show will stick out in my memory as one of the best. One definitely has to be prepared for the environment that they are walking into, but if they can embrace it, then it will only make the experience that much better. I would and hopefully will be seeing them again in the future. Although maybe I won’t get quite so involved next time, since I was sore for about a week after. I left that show sweaty, exhausted, and a little bloody, but with an amazing memory shared with friends that will last a lifetime and be talked about by us for many years to come.
-Ian O'Keeffe
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