Music For Manhattan Sets A New Record

Local benefit concert raises over $1500

By Sophia Chan

On Friday, December 21, IHS Resonance Club’s benefit concert, Music For Manhattan, raised $1539 for OccupySandy, a non-profit organization focused on helping those greatly affected by the 2012 Superstorm Sandy. This annual benefit concert always has a variety of musical acts, including solo and duet singers, a capella groups, rock bands, instrumental ensembles, and piano players.

The night started out at 7pm in Valhalla with seniors Anh Tran and Matt Hong singing a duet called “Ease My Mind,” with senior Aditya Kumar rapping. For the rest of the night, Matt and Aditya played MC and introduced acts.  The first act included junior Minji Kim’s viola solo of Cecil Forsyth’s “Concerto in g minor,” sophomores Kelly Chen and Diana Perez’s cover of Justin Bieber’s “Mistletoe,” and sophomore Naier Wang’s self-composed song “Falling Rain.” Other notable performaces in the first act were eighth grader Liberty Forster’s strong “Different” solo, seventh grader Simon Tao’s “Piano Sonata in E Flat Major, Hob.16 No. 52”, and senior Sophia Chan’s raspy rendition of Ed Sheeran’s “A Team.”

Senior Josh Lin, the man who drowned a shark. Photo Credit: Brandon Chau

In the second act, senior Anh Tran accompanied both senior Arianna Yeh in “Safe and Sound” and junior David Kang in “Rhythm of Love.” Fabiha Zaman sang her heart out in Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas,” while freshman Tiffany Lin played “Raindance” on the marimba.  MCs Matt and Aditya jokingly introduced senior Josh Lin as a “man who got a six on all the AP tests and invented two more,” “when he goes to a restaurant, the waitress tips him,” “who scored a 2500 on the SAT,” and “who is the first person to drown a shark.” He jokingly replied that “everything they just said..is all true,” but also added that he was playing Debussy’s “Reflects dans l’Eau.”

Throughout the concert, there were, in all, four instrumental ensembles, two rock bands, and one a capella group. In the first act, freshman Nina Chang, junior Brandon Ding, freshman Velvia Lau, junior Sean Lin, and senior Patrick Mu played as flute quintet to Johann Pachelbel ‘s “Canon in D Major.” Nina and Velvia play again in the second act as a flute duet to Francesco Geminiani’s “Duet in C Major-Allegretto.” Also in the second act, Irvington’s Jazz Ensemble brought the audience back from intermission with Stevie Wonder’s “Superstition.”

While junior Devin Sigler, sophomore Jason Hebert, alumni Kelsey Findlay, and alumni Alex Quick rocked out to Guns N’ Roses’ “Sweet Child of Mine” in the first act, senior rock band group Gabriel Block, Christian Setiawan, Brian Zucker literally blew out all of the sound backstage in the second act with Red Hot Chili Pepper’s “Tell Me Baby.” Senior a capella group Sexy Pitches concluded the night with their version of “Jingle Bell Rock” with Aviv Redlich beatboxing in the second half of the song.

“The whole experience, from sketching out the ideas during advisory with my fellow officers to the terrific concert itself, is just an outstanding representation of the Irvington community’s altruistic virtues,” commented IHS Resonance Club President Andrew Wang. “The whole atmosphere of the concert—the outstanding musicians performing in the benefit concert, the cheers of the audience, IHS Stagecraft helping out with lights and sound—is something that I hope would continue as a tradition in Irvington High School’s future.”

Confidential: ASB Case File

Agent: S. Chan

Room filled with students working on cutting "invitations" and other crafts for Homecoming Dance.

ASB members use the SMART Board to create a mermaid image.

Senior Victoria Nguyen and Junior Rishi Jethi work on a large anchor for Homecoming Dance.

iPhone Infinity AK4859ERT

The technology pursuit?

So. The new iPhone 4S is out. Or rather, the new iPhone 4.5 is out. And frankly, I could care less. Each year since 2007, a new iPhone model comes out. And each year, millions of people in first-world countries stand in line through scorching sun, pouring rain, heavy sleet, or snow for these dinky little gadgets that cost hundreds of dollars. When is it all going to stop? 2072 when the iPhone 61 20G is out? A phone so slim its size rivals with a piece of paper and so fast at movies and games your eyes bleed?

Instead of worrying about the iPhone 4.5, why aren’t they happy with their iPhone 3Gs? Or LG Chocolates? Why does every American seem to consider shelling out four or five hundred dollars a necessary expense? I don’t have an iPhone or an iPod and I’m perfectly fine. I don’t need endless apps to keep me company and my phone’s plan is more than adequate than what I need to accomplish.

Moreover, what do you expect to accomplish with your new phones? Texting your boyfriend faster? Getting a better game experience on Doodle Jump? These pointless things are all just the reasons why over 75 million iPhones have been sold since its first release. You’re just wasting time, money, and brain cells. Go read a book.