COPY EDITOR,
STAFF WRITER,
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
As an education and history student, I hear all the time about how I will never make a decent amount of money. Growing up I was always told I should go into a field like law or nursing, where I could have a better salary. I’ve also heard countless times that if I was to be a teacher I should teach something more “important” like math or science as opposed to history.
Woodstock, Coachella, Firefly, Bonnaroo, Warped Tour, Governor’s Ball…the list goes on and on. Music festivals have always played a major role in the lives of many Americans, particularly the younger generations, but it seems that just as the culture has changed with the times, the meaning behind these melodic celebrations has also undergone some alterations.
Blue Hawk Records is Monmouth University’s student run record label. Every semester, the Applied Music Industry class taught by Professor Joseph Rapolla, head of the music department, holds auditions and scouts artists, records and produces a compilation album and hosts a live show at the end of the semester in the Rebecca Stafford Student Center. This semester will be the record label’s eighth compilation album. After the success of Shades of Blue last semester, the label’s seventh compilation album, the student officers at Blue Hawk Records are excited to see what this class has in store for the album this semester.
Senior year is when students often experience the dreaded “senioritis,” a slang term referring to the feeling most students get right before they graduate when they are over all of the work and responsibilities of school and college life. Senior music industry student Sam Bastone, however, has been feeling quite the opposite.
The University’s men’s basketball team has captured the attention of mainstream media, and now the squad has its own theme song written by Monmouth students. Andrew Boxman and Guy Battaglia, who both recently graduated from the music industry program at the University, were approached by Chair of the Music Department, Joseph Rapolla, to write a song for the team. The two took on the challenge and had the rap-rock anthem called “Heart in the Game” written and produced within two weeks. At the home game against the Marist Red Foxes on Jan. 24, Boxman and Battaglia, along with other Blue Hawk Records representatives, handed out free downloads of the song to every fan in the stadium.
It’s a new semester here at Monmouth and Blue Hawk Records, the University’s student-run record label, has some rocking stuff in store for us this spring. We closed out our fall semester in December with an EP release show in the Rebecca Stafford Student Center (RSSC) for the record label’s seventh compilation album, Shades of Blue. Dan Amato opened the show with his retro style showcased in a cover of “Houndog” by Elvis Presley as well as his single “Beautiful to Me” on the EP. Dan and Jackson performed their single off the EP, “I Told You,” along with some other cool tunes. They were then followed by a set from jazz artist Kellan Brennan, who covered “I Get a Kick Out of You” by Cole Porter as well as his original “Old Soul” on the compilation album. Thanks Genie closed out the show with a set including their song from the album, “Run.”
“And the stars look very different today,” David Bowie wrote in his 1969 hit “Space Oddity;” with the recent loss of some major icons in the world of music, like Bowie, the stars do look different to the fans who followed these artists. Legendary performers leave their mark on society and the hearts of fans, so it’s no surprise that the recent losses in the music industry have left many people heartbroken.
Blue Hawk Records’ seventh compilation album contains a great group of talented musicians. At the release show, we will be hearing all the amazing tracks on the album and you can pick up your very own copy outside of the Rebecca Stafford Student Center on Dec. 9 at 2:50 p.m. The artists featured on this album are: singer-song writer Dan Amato and his song “Beautiful to Me,” dynamic duo Dan and Jackson and their track “I Told You,” ‘Homebrew Jazz’ artist, Kellan Brennan with his song “Old Soul,” and our final spotlight, Thanks Genie.
College students are subject to many sources of stress throughout their time in school; homework and projects for classes, trying to make money by having a job, maintaining a social life, and attempting to balance all of these things at once. On top of all this pressure, students eventually begin to realize that they must think about their future after graduation.
One of the contributors on this semester’s Blue Hawk Records compilation album is jazz artist Kellan Brennan. Brennan is a junior communication major focusing on radio and TV studies at the University. He has been playing piano for nine years and enjoys listening to and playing all genres of music. Some of Brennan’s influences are Steely Dan, Esperanza Spalding, Frank Zappa, Jimi Hendrix, Miles Davis, and Sublime.