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Source: ps193pa.org

Midwood’s P.S 193 Gil Hodges School once had an award-winning music program, but budget cuts have scaled back their capabilities. That’s why school music advocates at organizing the Spring Music and Family Fest, a fundraising musical showcase to restore the program to its former glory.

The school has lined up as many as 20 accomplished musicians and performers, including a handful of school alumni, set to rock P.S. 193′s 2515 Avenue L auditorium this Saturday, from 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Genres range from hip-hop to opera, and features well-known performers like Yah Supreme and The Lords of Liechtenstein.

The school’s music program was once thriving, with the students winning awards in the Riverside Symphony Music Memory competition and elsewhere, and a choral teacher who wrote original scores for the end of the year school musicals. The school hopes to close a budget gap created by September 2012 budget cuts.

It’s not just music on tap for the night; the event will feature activities such as free face painting and a raffle with prizes from local businesses such as a gift card from Tête-à-Tête Café.

Purchasing the tickets online cost $12 per ticket with a V.I.P package available when four tickets are bought. Tickets at the door will cost more.

The school’s music teacher, Nonie Schuster, wrote in an essay the school posted on their site, “As music teachers, if we can instill a love and appreciation of music in our students, we’ll give them a gift that will nourish and sustain them throughout their lives.”

Check out the school’s site to learn more.

The music of cellos, harpsichords, flutes and clarinets will soon fill Good Shepherd Church as the Homecrest house of worship gets ready to hold its annual concert series.

Every Sunday, from October 7 through December 16, New Yorkers are invited to enjoy recitals by some of the best classical musicians in the world – for free.

This year’s series features clarinetist Tom Piercy, mandolin player Joe Brent, classical guitarist Dan Lippel and acclaimed ensembles like Brooklyn Baroque and Duo Cantabile, among others.

“I wanted to give conservatoire musicians a place to play in beautiful acoustics like these,” said Michael Fontana, the church’s music director for the past 20 years. “It’s really a great venue.”

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Source: AVRO via Wikimedia Commons

Multi-Grammy winning musician, children’s storybook author and former Brighton Beach resident Neil Sedaka has never forgotten his roots. With his second children’s book, Dinosaur Pet, Sedaka employs his family to help him tell the story.

The book is co-written by Sedaka and his son, Marc. It also comes with a CD of songs recorded by Sedaka and his three grandchildren.

His creative work has become a family affair.  This is no surprise to Sedaka, who states that his childhood greatly shaped him as an artist.

Sedaka lived in a two-bedroom apartment with several generations of his immediate family. He said that the apartment was “filled with 10 other people: my mother, father, my grandparents, my older sister Ronnie and my five aunts. To say this experience shaped me as an artist would be an understatement.”

As for his adult life, he was never far from the ones he loved. He lived across the street from his parents and took his children on the road with him whenever he went on tour.

“My son Marc used to introduce me at concerts; most notably at my comeback show at The Troubadour in Los Angeles in 1974. My daughter Dara and I scored one of the few father and daughter-hit singles with ‘Should’ve Never Let You Go’ in 1980,” he said. It all draws on his experiences growing up in a tight-knit family in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn.

Sedaka’s colorful childhood in Brighton Beach filled with his close-knit family left an indelible mark on the man as an artist. Now, he’s glad to pass that on to his own family.

“I’m very proud attending their art shows and their recitals. Sitting in the audience, surrounded by all the other doting grandparents, I’m no longer singer or songwriter Neil Sedaka. I’m just ‘Papa Neil.’ And that’s when I’m the happiest,” he said.

The banderia, a traditional Filipino instrument. (Source: famenyc.org)

Traditional Filipino music is alive and well in Brooklyn, provided long-term care by a duo of Marine Park nurses working at Beth Israel Brooklyn Hospital at 3201 Kings Highway.

Maria Bella Soriano-Locsin and Ruth Manligoy formed the Filipino Arts and Music Ensemble (FAME) in 2003 and recruited family members to take part in the rondalla – which is a group of musicians playing stringed instruments. For that, the pair and their work were profiled by the Daily News.

The group took off in Brooklyn’s Filipino community and has grown to include more than 60 musicians and dancers who meet weekly for practice sessions at Our Lady Help of Christians Church, at 1315 East 28th Street in Midwood.

“The Friday sessions have become a family thing,” Manligoy said. “Everyone brings food and we eat together. Family is very important in our community.”

Soriano-Locsin and Manligoy came to Brooklyn after being recruited by officials from Beth Israel Medical Center (then known as Kings Highway Hospital). They joined a Queens-based Filipino music group, and realized the younger generation of Filipinos in New York were not exposed to traditional music.

“The old people may still be playing traditional music in the Philippines, but the young people are not hearing it. We saw it was important because this music, even in the Philippines, is a dying art form,” Manligoy told the paper. “Once we played for a Filipino dignitary who said he has only heard a rondalla in New York City.”

The group has branched out not only across the five boroughs but to places like Boston and Connecticut, performing traditional Filipino songs as well as modern music, including their own Lady Gaga/Katy Perry medley. Soriano-Locsin’s husband, a patient-escort at Beth Israel, serves as choreographer. Though the group has expanded, the emphasis remains on family. At least half of the group’s members are children of Beth Israel employees.

“By starting FAME, our children and Filipino children in this country have started to learn about their heritage,” Manligoy said. “So we can safeguard this part of our culture and preserve it here, in this country.”

To book a performance or donate to the group, see the website, www.FAMENYC.org.

Source: Wikimedia Commons

It’s impossible for teachers to know which of their students over the years will go on and do great things, but sometimes a teenager’s character stands out so strongly they make an impression.

Such was the case with Adam Yauch, also known as MCA of the legendary Beastie Boys. Yauch was a Murrow High School student (1600 Avenue L) – a quiet one, at that – but he made a lasting impression with at least one instructor.

Judith List taught English at Murrow from 1978 to 2007. Yauch was in her class, and upon hearing of his death last week, she broke out into tears.

Thirty years after seeing him last, List penned a recollection of her time with Yauch for Murrow’s website, inspired by MCA’s lesson to her about all students. “We can never know which of our students will bring about the next revolution or create the next new idea and inspire a generation,” she wrote. “Therefore we must passionately believe that every student will surely be the next one to move us all forward and bring us that unwavering message of hope.”

In the piece, she remembers Yauch as a sweet, quiet boy – not the best student, she says, but a very human one.

Adam was my student in Writer’s Workshop. I can still remember where he sat, near the window in the front of the class in 210A. He was thin and so his jeans and sweaters always seemed big on him. That year Adam seemed to grow much taller, and his face became more masculine and less of a boy’s face. He was quiet and unassuming, but always a presence in the class. Was he an angel and an ideal student? No. But then, I never did favor those angelic types!! But I’ll tell you what he was: Adam Yauch was a regular kid, who sometimes needed to be pushed to do his homework—but not always, and sometimes came late—but not often, and who ultimately worked and learned some stuff about reading and writing in my class. He liked his fellow students, he enjoyed a good laugh, and he had depth and humanity, even then. When we discussed biographies for book reports, Adam read and wrote about Tony Hawk, the superstar skateboarder. Thirty years later I still remember it for its unbridled admiration of Hawk’s talents, and for his respect for Hawk’s philanthropy and good character. It never surprised me that Adam himself became a man of prodigious talent and who was concerned with people and philanthropy.

Often Adam and I would ride the subway together, as we lived on the same Brooklyn street. On those rides home from school, he spoke about his band and the gigs they were starting to get. One day he excitedly told me that his band would soon be getting a record contract. I really liked this kid, and so I cautioned him about not being too disappointed if it didn’t work out, and that he sure had plenty of time to find success. Oh boy, was I wrong! Adam and the Beastie Boys became, well… you know how great and influential they were.

… I still see Adam’s sweet face in the classroom, at the age of 16 or so, writing from the heart whenever possible.

Read the full piece.

A web video from a Sheepshead Bay rapper is circulating over the web, in which the auteur hopes to educate youth on the importance of Occupy Wall Street, reports the Medical Daily.

The rapper told former Sheepshead Bites writer Angelina Tala that he was inspired by the “change” to do the video and that he supports the protesters’ cause.

“I was inspired by the people, the fact that they came together to fight for change in this country,” said Rew York, whose real name is Andrew Febbraro. “It is a beautiful thing because it has been a very long time since we’ve seen the people come together trying to enforce change.”

The video was filmed two weeks ago at Zuccotti Park, the site of the protest for the past two months. The name of the video is “Run (The Occupy Movement Endures)”, featuring Dakota McLeod. In one part of the video it shows an image of a tombstone with “Middle Class’ engraved, which is what many protesters believe has happened in American society.

York is targeting his message at the younger generation who he feels doesn’t fully understand what is going on.

The Rockinghams are playing at the Baron DeKalb Knights of Columbus tomorrow night.

Local rock group The Rockinghams invite you to “Come Back To The Sixties!” during a performance they will be giving tomorrow night, September 30 from 8:00 p.m. to midnight at the Baron DeKalb Knights of Columbus, 3000 Emmons Avenue.

The $20 admission price includes a free drink, and there is also free valet parking.

Woo-hoo — so much free stuff! And, a little rock & roll can’t hurt when you want to chase those Economic Downturn Blues away, so go check ‘em out.

For more, call (718) 743-6626.

Musicians Nelson F. Ferrer, Ralph Favilla, Frank Diorio and Mike Kisto will take over Wheeler’s Bar and Restaurant tonight with a free show by locals, for locals.

Sheepshead Bay native and BCAT producer Ralph Favilla is, of course, the well-known organizer of the annual rock showcase at the Sheepshead Bay Yacht Club. Nelson F. was the first guest on his BCAT show, and he continues to bring together great bands from Sheepshead Bay and other Brooklyn neighborhoods for performances at local venues.

The music starts at 9:30 p.m. No cover charge. Wheeler’s is located at 1707 Sheepshead Bay Road.

The Handsome Little Devils’ Squirm Burpee Circus is just one of the performances on the 2011/12 lineup.

Kingsborough Community College hosts one of the finest – and most under-appreciated – cultural venues in Southern Brooklyn, with a top-notch theater as its crown jewel. The On Stage at Kingsborough program, which produces seasonal schedules for the theater, is announcing their lineup of exclusive cabaret, dance, theatre and family performances covering the next year. Featuring stars like Lorna Loft, Billy Stritch and America’s Got Talent finalists Recycled Percussion, the diverse slate is revving up for one of the school’s biggest years of affordable, local entertainment yet.

“We approach this season with tremendous anticipation as we welcome leading artists in dance, theatre, music and family entertainment,” said Anna Becker, the executive director of On Stage at Kingsborough. “We are honored that world-class performers such as Lorna Luft, Billy Stritch and Paul Taylor’s Taylor 2 among many, many others have agreed to make On Stage at Kingsborough their only Brooklyn engagement this season.  We are confident that our audiences will welcome them with great enthusiasm.”

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Hidalgo (Source: NYDailyNews.com)

It was just last week that we were telling you to vote for Nicole Hidalgo, the Gerritsen Beach resident competing in a people’s vote contest to sing the National Anthem at an upcoming Jets game. Well, apparently Hidalgo has been cheated!

The Daily News reports:

Nicole Hidalgo, 24, of Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, said she lost out on her chance to sing the national anthem at the team’s Oct. 23 home game because contest winner Gil Ramos was paying phantom voters.

“I had steam coming out of my ears,” said Hidalgo who was told Thursday Ramos would be singing at fan appreciation day.

“They don’t run their contest the right way. I really thought they were going to do the right thing,” she said.

The Jets asked fans to “like” online videos of Hidalgo and three other finalists singing the patriotic song in an empty Meadowlands Stadium in June and posted results on Facebook.

Hidalgo said she noticed that Ramos got “likes” from fake profiles during the week-long fan voting period, which ended Friday, and messaged them asking how much they charged for votes.

When the phony voters replied with a different price range – including 500 votes for $30 – Hidalgo gave team officials the heads up. The Jets declined to make a ruling and insisted Ramos won fair and square, she said.

Time to change up that J-E-T-S chant to F-U-C…. you know what? Nevermind.