Musicians Scott Celani and Mark Krurnowski Play at Student Center
Scott Celani is currently on an acoustic college tour with his friend and bandmate Mark Krurnowski, and made a stop at the University on Wednesday, October 17.
Kelly Rose Printon, sophomore and Student Activities Board (SAB) President of the spring 2011 semester, booked
Celani back in June. The concert chair of the SAB is given a budget to work with every year. On this budget, they need to find three to four acts, advertise their event, pay for the food, etc.
This event was advertised through posters made by junior Carolyn Walker that hung in every building, as well as emails sent to all students.
The first concert of this semester was the Jason Andamo Band who played the first week of school in Anacon Hall.
Lucy Russo, sophomore, is the current concert chair of the SAB and this was the first event she was in charge of putting together.
At the beginning of the night, Java City was packed, and more chairs from the Student Center were brought in to accommodate everybody. This event was free for students; SAB provided free lemonade, coffee, tea and cookies for guests. The band provided free CDs to the students as long as they signed their mailing list, which would send out an occasional newsletter.
“I like listening to emerging bands and artists and showing my support,” said Charles Phuangthong, freshman.
The Buffalo-based band was 15 minutes late because of traffic and bad weather; it took an additional 15 minutes for them to set up their equipment, making them start their performance a half hour late.
The duo would alternate playing song covers of well-known artists, and their original work as well. They opened with a cover of “American Girl” by Tom Petty and played some other songs made famous by Sublime, Maroon 5, Third Eye Blind and many more.
At times, the Java City coffee machines competed with the sound of the music, making it hard to hear. During the performance of one of their songs, a spare guitar fell off of the guitar stand. The duo continued to play through the crash and Celani changed the lyrics to the song to reference the accident. “I think she’s okay,” Krurnowski joked, examing the guitars condition after they concluded the song.
In the middle of the set, Celani asked the audience if anyone was a musician. Brian Martin, freshman, raised his hand and said that he played the guitar. Celani offered to let Martin come on stage and use his guitar to play a song. Martin accepted his offer and played “Waiting on the World to Change” by John Mayer, while Celani sang the lyrics off of Russo’s iPhone. “That’s a nice guitar,” Martin said as he handed Celani back his guitar, which made the audience laugh.
Celani has been performing professionally for about seven years. He got his start in music as a kid, by joining activities like the school band and the choir.
Celani recalls his first performance as a five-year-old at a family party. “They were playing disco music and I jumped up on the table and starting dancing and singing,” Celani said.
Celani said he enjoyed his first time performing at the University and would love to come back if he were ever invited again.
Celani offered advice to beginner musicians. “It’s a lot of trial-and-error. Focus on the craft and figure out what kind of music you want to play and surround yourself with likeminded people.”
He also credited the Internet and to take full advantage of networking sites such as Facebook and YouTube to put yourself out there.
Celani has shared the stage with bands such as Jimmy Eat World, Sum 41, Good Charlotte and The Goo Goo Dolls.
He and his band currently have three albums out, the first one being released in 2002 and the most recent being 2006. The band is currently in the studio working on a new album and has two singles out now.
PHOTO COURTESY of Alexis Orlacchio
