Vidgle Covers The Coffee House!

By Niki Cruz

February 28th was an event to remember. The Coffee House hit the ground running, with over fifty guests attending and a flowing list of performers, from singers to poets and drummers.  The performances were high with energy. Bands like Brothers of Destruction made their debut as a band on the Downbeat’s stage where the event was held, while other performers let their demons out and the audience in to the very intimate thoughts. Topics ranged from self-acceptance to the destruction of a family at the end of a tumultuous divorce.  These performers left it all out on the stage and gained respect with the audience cheering on for more. Cake and coffee were served and the always motivationally present and professional Professor Brett headed up the event.  “It started around April of 2006″ said Brett. “Professor Kapp and I wanted to create a literary event or a literature club because we noticed there wasn’t anything like that for students. There was nothing devoted to writing so we wanted to create something like that and also incorporate music with the literature as well.” 

There are many performers and entertainers at Five Towns. We’re always hearing about the perspective from the artist, but as a Professor at FTC Professor Brett’s perspective of seeing her students perform is of a different point of view. ” I’m always excited to see them in a different setting outside of the classroom. I’m always astounded when they get up there and everybody is very talented whether they’re reading their poetry or doing their own original music. To me it’s very exciting and I’m always glad when there’s a good turn out.” said Brett.  One of the highlights of the event was freshman soul singer Matthew Thomas, who sang a spiritual cover called “Open My Heart” by Yolanda Adams.  Although the seasoned performer seemed to look chill and at ease on stage he had his own take on it. “I think I did well I was a little nervous at first but I got a good reception from everyone so it was cool.” said the mellow Thomas.  The reception went well for him and with people lined up at the back yelling for him to continue. This first experience for Matthew Thomas was motivational. “This is my first time doing The Coffee House and I’ll definitely be back doing it again!”  The list of performers seemed to go on forever, running the event a half hour over time but the audience kept on growing as people filtered into the down beat to see what the fuss was about. Junior Marla Brathwaite expressed her enthusiasm about the event. “I think it’s important to have events like this because we are a music school and we’re creatively charged. It’s a great event because it’s brings people together as artists where as we wouldn’t normally be all together in one room. It gives people a reason to relate to one another and I think that’s important.” a strong opinion with a very relevant point, Brathwaite wasn’t opposed to naming her favorite musician of the night. “I have to say that even though everyone was good my favorite was Ed Demirer performing “Such Great Heights”. It was great to see someone sing with the piano and to do a good cover and then perform two of their original songs, it was very cool to see and I enjoyed that a lot.” stated the enthusiastic Brathwaite.  

 There were a lot of first time performers and one of those was a band called Brothers of Destruction. Member Vinny Barcia (Guitar) described their music as ” a jazzy bluesy feeling with some rock in there too.”  The members, who are all from three separate bands, also include Jason Levy (vocals) and Tracey Ali (also vocals). The band had a conventional start, “We’re friends since last year and we decided to come together and rock.  We owe it all to our musical influences, Metallica, Pantera and Guns & Roses” added Ali.  The band performed two original songs, “Bruised & Abused” and “Stance”, Jason Levy gave an insight on the process behind the songs, “we basically wrote them yesterday but we feel confident enough to jam out to them today for fan reaction”, he said.  It was a good move on their part because the fans seemed to like it. With the big turn out, the entertaining performers and another Coffee House coming to Five Towns in April, the sky is the limit for this event. “If there was an interest to branch out and had enough people together and wanted to take it to a town or maybe do a reading in a local restaurant on a bar that would be great!” said Brett.  Well, it seems like The Coffee House and it’s performers are going places, only time will tell next time, in the words of Jason Levy (Brothers of Destruction) “Rock on!” 

As a ‘plot’ of a deadly shooting at a high school effected us so close to home and throughout the nation, we’ve decided to share the views of what some students and alumni told us at WRAJ in the last 24 hours. In this blog post, we have not shared names.

Most of the staff team here at WRAJ Internet Radio have attended Connetquot High School in Bohemia within the past 5 years. As you may recall from last year, we received media attention after two alumni from the school hacked into the social networking website Myspace.com which had national attention. And once again, Connetquot is in the national news again, this time a student plotting to destroy it with everyone inside.

You can read an article about what happened on WNBC’s website by clicking here. (The link will expire within the next 2 weeks from July 14)

Most students who attended the school in the past year were not surprised by the spoiled plot. There were many bomb threats, especially around the anniversary of the Colombine massacre back in April.

“When I was student at the school, there weren’t any bomb threats or scares,” another staff member added. “After graduation, I spotted something so bad that might hurt the student body, a security loop hole. Sometimes when I arrive at the school, a security guard in the front of the school did not stop the vehicles to inspect where they were going during school hours. And a few times when I walked into the main entrance, there were no security guards to ask where I was going or even stopping me.”

“The security is lack at the school, but its not the point of what exactly happened earlier this month,” said a staff member of the station. “I was in the transition of the school as it became a 9-12 grade school from grades 10-12, which took place in the 2004-2005 school year.” Before 2004, there were around 1,600 students, after the grade changes, over 2,300 students attend the school, according to the school’s former principal in 2004. “And what is worst is that students are not getting the help they need.” One of his many problems he told us involved his friend. “My friend received no support when she needed help from her teacher when other kids were picking on her; they even stole something of hers in front of a teacher and the teacher/school still did not do anything. The administration of the school said to the student that they couldn’t do anything about it, its out of our hands. This is just… sad, the school could not do anything to get her belongings back, and this coming out from the people who are suppose to help students to be safe and learn.”

“The student(s) involved with the plot most likely did not receive support from the teachers and staff,” a friend of ours who attended the school has said to us. “If the school was not under-staffed, this might have never happened.”

A member of the community told us that there is no communication of the school, which has becoming a big rumor in the community since early this year. The Superindent of the school district established of creating a ‘Rumors’ section of the district’s poor designed, confusing website, to keep rumors off the streets. But the rumors section of the site is still keeping rumors in the district. “This district needs to be restructured, the staff, the board, and the teachers,” said a parent contacting WRAJ.

Overall, most of the staff team were not surprise of the plot. “I saw this coming ever since I left the school,” said WRAJ General Manager Anthony Zaragoza, a graduate of the school in 2005. “I see the school safety going down and there is not that much for me to do,” said a faculty member contacting the station back in January 2007.