NHS Battle Of The Bands Rocks The Cafeteria

By Eliza Hallabeck

Multiple bands from Newtown and area towns performed in the Newtown High School cafeteria on Friday, June 3, as for the NHS Band Department’s fundraising Battle of the Bands event.

Band Director Kurt Eckhardt estimated roughly 300 people, mostly students and a handful band parents, attended the event.

“It went great,” said Mr Eckhardt. “We had 12 bands.”

Tickets were sold for $8 in advance and for $10 at the door. Proceeds from the fundraising event were still being calculated the following Tuesday, June 7, but Mr Eckhardt said donations to the NHS Band Department can be made year-round by contacting him by e-mail, Eckhardtk@newtown.k12.ct.us, or contact NHS band Parent Board President Michael Cummings at Mike2368@charter.net.

Mr Eckhardt said the event marked the fifth annual Battle of the Bands fundraiser for the NHS Band Department, and this year, NHS senior Neal Berthier helped organize and contact participating bands.

“Every band was really good,” said Mr Eckhardt. “I was impressed with every single one of them.”

The last band to perform during the night, an NHS student band called Smokebomb Mondays, stood out as being really good, according to Mr Eckhardt, along with a band called Fugue, which he said has several CDs available.

Each band that participated in the event had a distinctive musical flavor, Mr Eckhardt said, and that made the night enjoyable for audience members.

While the event was called “Battle of the Bands,” it was not a competition and no winning band was named during the event. Bands that performed during the event were Second to None (Brett Linley, Kurt Liniger, and Bandon Hart); Cross Eyed Bear (Jeff Keating, Liam Reynolds, and Niall Reynolds); Understatement (Kurt Liniger, Scott Keating, Kyle Harrington, and Austin Ryder); Saint (Matt Spencer and Ryan St George); The Guru (Kyle McEvoy, Dan George, Eddie Golden III, and Colin Sullivan); Suns (William Rutledge, William Ponturo, Paul Stone, and Peter Katz); Alive in Love (Theo Hartlett, Morgan Luzzi, Kyle Kearney, and Mike Saladis); Martin Luther King (Neil Berthier, Tim Rooney, Andrew Wyton, and Paul Stone); I.O.A. (James Hilton, Corey Hilton, and Ian Herwig); Fugue (Peter Katz, Mike Dicresenzo, Brian Sheperd, Matt Lobo, Annis Saniee, and Alexa Ambrose); Smokebomb Mondays (Danny Bittman, Liam Reynolds, Tim Eames, Harrison Buzzi, Jonah McKeown, Pat Milano, and Matt Spencer); and the Michael Vabner Experience, also known as the NHS Gold Jazz Ensemble, which renamed itself for the night.

Members of the NHS Gold Jazz Ensemble are Elana Sadlon, Ricky Grasso, Liam Reynolds, Liv Rowley, Patrick Milano, Andrew Jensen, Caitlin Dowling, Matthew Jensen, Stephanie Zamary, Jonathan Walton, Harrison Buzzi, Autin Iesu, Brian White, Eric Song, Matt Swigart, Danielle Capozziello, Neil Berthier, Bari Sax, Matt Spencer, Vinny Brophy, Nick Norberg, Brian White, Corey Hilton, and Mike Vabner.