Hurricane Sandy

This is the video of an interview I held with my Aunt about surviving Hurricane Sandy in Manhattan. Please watch below. 

Television Commercial

This is the fictitious television commercial based on the radio advertisement I created for Prop 99, which calls for a repeal on the Soda Ban. Please watch below.

Thanksgiving Slideshow

The Following video is a slideshow of the Thanksgiving festivities my family and I took part in. Please watch the video below. 

Man on the Street Interview

I interviewed multiple random St. John's University students about the new anonymous confessional page on Facebook called STJ Confessions. Please watch the video below. 

Track 6- Radio Commerical

This is the fictitious radio advertisement I have created for Prop 99, which calls for a repeal on the Soda Ban. Please listen below.

Track 5 - Interview ft. Kailah Cotton

I interviewed Kailah Cotton about her life and time spent at St. John's University. Below is the edited interview and an excerpt of the transcript. The full, unedited interview is at the bottom.  

Q: Where are you from originally?

A: I’m originally from Silver Spring, Maryland. However, I was born in Washington, D.C.

Q: What are you studying right now?

A: Currently I am a political science and public relations double major here at St. John’s, two things I’m passionate about

Q: Are you excited for this upcoming election in November?

A: Absolutely, definitely. There’s so much controversy going on in the media, that I mean, who can stay away?

Q: What are your plans for after college?

A: After college? Wow, I mean I have so much time left, but I really hope to go law school. I don’t know if I’ll stay in the New York area but wherever the money takes me. 

Track 4 - Presidential Campaign Part 1

This week's class assignment was to reflect on a recent highlight of the Presidential election, and the biggest situation this week, perhaps of the entire Romney campaign is the secret video that was leaked earlier this week. In the video, we see Romney addressing supporters at a benefit dinner. He goes on to answer a question where he, in so many words, says 47 percent of the country is poor due to laziness, don't pay income tax and are incorrect to presume certain things like food and healthcare are rights, not privileges.

Whether or not you like Mitt Romney or Barack Obama, this is a humongous blow to the already weak Romney campaign.  Romney has been fighting the public image of an emotionless, entitled businessman with nothing in common with the average man. Getting caught telling a room of rich financial supporters how little he cares about the poor, elderly and veterans has effectively turned him into a caricature of the heartless businessman the majority of America holds responsible for the recession.

Track 3 - NeonFaith ft. Country

Neonfaith is a three-person band from Queens, NY. The frontman of the band, Akinyele (Lay) is a music producer, audio engineer and self-professed audiophile with years of music collection and music-making experience. Lay describes Neonfaith as "Soul/Electronica with Hip-Hop influences." Lay cited A Tribe Called Quest, Daft Punk, Kanye West, Boards of Canada and Justice as influences on him and his music. "Justice opened a lot of doors for me, they helped me learn to be more open-minded to new music," Lay said about the French Electronic duo.

Lay says he knows "almost nothing" about country music and, being born and raised in Jamaica, Queens meant country music was nowhere near as popular as other genres of music. To introduce Lay to country music I pick two popular country songs.

The first is "Matchbox" performed by Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash & Eric Clapton. "Matchbox" was performed live on "The Johnny Cash Show" in 1969. While completely unfamiliar with Carl Perkins, Lay already knew of Johnny Cash and was familiar with Eric Clapton as he had sampled Clapton's "Probably Me" for his own music projects in the past.

After listening to "Matchbox", Lay seemed to enjoy the music, saying he appreciated the overall quality of the song and the level of guitar expertise displayed by the three men. Lay felt the song had obvious roots in Soul and Blues which he was fond of.

Overall Lay said he liked the song, that he would consider listening to it again and would consider looking up some more music by Johnny Cash and Carl Perkins. 

The second song is "What was I Thinking", by popular contemporary country music star Dierks Bentley. Lay has never heard of Bentley or any of his music.

Lay said he was underwhelmed both by the song and the music video, which he found uncreative and sophomoric. He did not see much artistic merit in the song, going so far to say he was sure he would "never listen to him ever again," although he did admit his lack of background in the genre made him feel like he may not know how to properly approach music like this.

Lay felt he wasn't sure the music video was serious, for a period of time he considered the possibility of the song being a comedic parody of stereotypical country songs. After I assured him the song is real and quite popular even though the music video is very tongue-in-cheek, he simply proclaimed the music is "not for him". While Lay is not a fan of Dierks Bentley and maybe contemporary country in general, he found older generation's more soulful and folksy country music is much more approachable.

Track 2 - Photo Essay

 Group Shot (Candid)

 Group Shot (Aware)

 University Center (Wide Shot)

 University Center (close shot)

Self-Portrait

Track 1 - Intro

It would be difficult to find someone today who doesn't listen to music. Every culture, race, age group and economic class enjoys making, performing and experiencing music. It has been going on since the beginning of time and isn't showing any signs of slowing down. People are creatures of habit, however. Once they find a genre of music they like, they may not consider it a priority to find new kinds of music. 

Pre-information age, this wasn't too surprising, but most people have some kind of internet access and a device allowing them to listen to music. Even with all of that in mind, people still tend to stick to what they know and that means people are missing out on some fantastic music.

At the opposite end of the spectrum, many people dabble in as many different kinds of music. A common answer to the question "What music do you listen to?" is "a little bit of everything". This blog is for both groups and everyone in between. 

I will introduce readers to a genre of music they are unfamiliar with by having them listen to a song or watch a music video. From there, they will tell me what they think the song is about, how it made them feel, if the song has any artistic credibility, if they would re-listen, etc. I am fortunate enough to work with musicians and people in the music field, along with people who simply have strong opinions on the music of their choice. 

Followers of this blog will see interesting people experience music entirely foreign to them, and then share their seasoned opinions on what they just heard. Hopefully, readers will reflect on the music they listen to and the music they decidedly ignore from a fresh perspective and maybe even leave with a new band to look up. 

Please enjoy.