Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Paint the City Scarlet! Homecoming 2009

Last weekend was the Rutgers-Newark Homecoming. This year we went bigger and better with a full carnival theme including a ferris wheel, games, and bumper cars.

Luckily the rain held out and we were able to hold the kick off in the Norman Samuels Plaza last Wednesday during free period. At left is the giant (6 feet!) R cake that started the festivities.

The Benjamins, a well-known cover band, gave a free concert and many other events occured during the four day event, including a walking tour of the city, alumni mixers at MiSaVi and McGovern's, a basketball showdown between old and new alumni, and the Mr. & Ms. Rutgers-Newark pageant.

Below are a few photos that Mary Grace Oania took at Fall Fest on Saturday. I am not quite sure what's going on in this first one below, maybe someone can clue me in? At first I thought they were making an R... but doesn't look like it.

Below, the Benjamins rock the house... er, the Bradley Hall parking lot.


Two future Rutgers students, perhaps?


By the way, I have seen several people wearing my t-shirts the past few days around campus! I love it! Keep wearing them!

You can see many more photos of all the Homecoming events, including the basketball game and alumni events, on Facebook

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Dharma Jazz Concert

Hope everyone had a great summer and has settled into their classes and fall routine by now. Last week we had our first free concert at the Dana Library, up on the fourth floor where the Jazz Institute is located.

The concert featured our very own professor of Jazz and musician Lewis Porter, along with Dharma, a group that blends Middle Eastern music with jazz. At left is Freddie Bryant on guitar.

The set included songs that Porter has arranged along with some improvisation and jamming, and even audience participation for one piece.

I recorded video for one of the songs and even got permission to post it but unfortunately am having technical difficulties getting it transferred from the camera to my computer (it's a large file). Hopefully I'll have it resolved soon so you can all hear how great they are for yourselves!

In the photo below, Dr. Lewis Porter on piano and synth.

Below, Karttikeya plays miscellaneous percussion - as you can see from the photo, he had quite a collection of different instruments (most of which I can't name unfortunately), and he was constantly switching over from one to another during each piece.

Below, Badal Roy on tablas. He also contributed vocals to one of the songs (and got the audience in on the act too)


Several of the band members have their own websites where you can find out more and listen to clips at the locations below.

WEBSITES: