From rock to hip hop to rap, and even tap dancing, the Music Now! concert opened its doors to students, families, and friends from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. on April 19 at City College’s Garvin Theatre.
The concert was organized and performed by City College’s Music 120, “Sound Recording And Electronic Music” class, led by Instructor Adam Camardella.
While the Garvin was not filled to the capacity that I have seen before for a theatrical performance, the audience was just as excited for the performance as always. The stage was different as well, this time adorned with a drum setup in one corner and a piano in the other, with several speakers throughout the set up. Before the start of the show, the audience had the chance to enjoy swirling colorful lights on each side of the auditorium.
Once the doors shut and the show finally began, the lights became blinding as they swirled overhead the stage, occasionally dragging the spotlight to an audience member, as Camardella took the stage and introduced his students.
The performances included various DJs showing off their skills on the turntables and mixers. While the students, including DJ Lucke and DJ Whip Mix, to name a few, were talented and impressive, the performances would have been better fit for a party, and not a theater.
Moving towards the middle of the performance, a duo caught my attention to the show once more; Caesura Soul, a group with Chase Fierro on the violin and Justice Claveria on the guitar and vocals.
Performing two songs with nature sounds in the background, it was almost soothing enough to fall asleep. The atmosphere was changing over and over again, this time being a lot more calming, changing the lights as well.
But easily my favorite was the performance of “Big ‘Stepper’” by Jubilee Comeau, Calo Gore, Karol Hernandez, Francisco Placencia, Conrad Stinson and Adam Camardella. The combination of trumpets, saxophone, piano and the battery caused a magical change in the concert, making the audience cheer louder than any other performance.
Along with the music, Comeau performed an amazing tap dancing act, charging up the audience despite the late hour after a long show and intermission. The bit might have lasted only one song, short in comparison to the other students, but everyone in the group managed to steal the show and be the center of attention during their brief couple of minutes under the warm stage lights. With her curly long flowy hair and graceful steps, Cameau managed to catch the attention of the audience and divert it to each of her stage partners as they each had a solo, while wrangling it back to her for the big finale.
The show extended longer than expected, but I was pleasantly surprised by the final performance of blues and R&B/soul including “What Kinda Woman is This” and “Walk On By.” Although the performance was far from the usual interactive and popular theatrical plays put on in the same theater, I left the show with a newfound interest for modern electronic and pop music. Students in Music 120 are very talented, all learning how to record, compose, and produce their own talents while still working as a family, encouraging each other from the sidelines of the stage.
