Long Long Music

As a long-islander, I am privileged to be a train ride away from Manhattan. All the culture that exists in Manhattan, we are truly lucky to live so close to one of the most liveliest cities on Earth. In the shadow of NYC, Long Island has its own surplus of culture as well. As a life-long, Long Island native, I am honored to live within miles of beautiful venues that host incredible concerts.Venues such as Nassau Coliseum, Mulchahy's, NYCB Theater at Westbury, Jones beachtheater, the paramount, The vibe lounge, Revolution, The Boulton Center for the performing arts,Brookhaven Amphitheatre, Eisenhower park, and many more just on LI. The amount of choice we have as long islanders to see many incredible artists on Long Island is really special. To be able to take an hour train ride and have your pick at hundreds of other clubs and venues across the five boroughs is not something every American can do. To grow up where many gifted actors, entertainers, athletes and musicians grew up, and first started adds to the feeling…Mariah Carey, Pat Benetar, Ashanti, Flavor Flav, Billy Joel, Art Garfunkel, Paul Simon, Bayside, As Tall As Lions, Blue Oyster Cult, Brand New, Dream Theater, Glassjaw, MF Doom, Lou Reed, Steve Vai, Suffocation, Public Enemy, Head Automatica, From Autumn to Ashes, Catch 22, The Long Island Philharmonic, Sam Ash, Twisted Sister, Barbra Streisand, Joe Satriani, are some of the more well known, and personal favorite LI musicians of mine.

My whole point is, LI has this 'music' thing under control. Under the umbrella of famous past and current LI musicians who have risen to legendary statuses, local musicians are pouring their hearts out, into music that they know most likely will not pay their bills. Long island has a popular yet underground music scene, that spans many genres. Long island is home to some of the best bands in their respective genres. These genres range in popularity from pop-punk to alternative, from hip hop to Electronic Dance Music, and from scene-core to death metal.

"Pop Hardcore", "Scene Music", "Screamo",whatever you want to title it, has never been a genre that I liked. It still isn't a genre I listen to. Now however, there is one exception. As a previouslystated, proud Long Islander, I am proud of Long Island music, and its distinct takes on genres. About a year ago, this guy named Andrew started working at the pet food and supplies shop inWantagh that i work at, called Animal Appetites (2014 Newsdays best pet shop on Long Island). Him and I became good friends pretty quickly, and talked about music we liked. I found out the guy was in this “scene” band called "Call it Home". “Scene” is a music genre, usually characterized by its combination of “screamo,” which is emotional music presented in a screaming fashion, and pop-like singing. He showed me his YouTube channel that holds his bands music. I saw that his band was pretty well known, with each song getting about 6,000 views each. I started listening to his band, and got more into it as the catchy choruses becamestuck in my head. A few months later, I went and saw his band perform at a venue named The vibe lounge, right off the train tracks in Rockville Centre. They did not sound like all the other opening local bands I've seen in the past. They sounded like the headlining bands that went on after the local openers that I've been watching for years. Since then, I have seen Call It Home Play about six more times. This last time was at Revolution in Amitiville, for their “Break Contest.” The Break Contest is one that takes place between Long Island Bands sign up. If your band gets enough votes after your set, you move on to the next stage, and are kicked out if you don't advance with enough votes. Call it Home has passed the first round, and is moving on to the 2^nd of 3 rounds. The prizes are as followed.
1^St place- $2,500 and a spot on the “Skate and Surf Festival” which is a festival of alternative bands, and takes place along the east coast.
2^nd place- $1,000
3^rd place- $500

So, check out Call it Home, check out the Surf and Skate Festival, set for May 2014, and support local music. Local music is music you can see for a lot less money than a major concert, with less hassle, and more convenience. You rely on local music for its convenient weekend entertainment, but local music relies on you to keep it alive. Links for everything mentioned above, can be found below.

http://thebreakcontest.herokuapp.com/

http://www.skateandsurffest.com/

https://www.youtube.com/user/BeastAndTheHarlot32 (Call it Home's unnoffical, official channel. Their offical channel, “Call it Home Official” is not their most viewed channel, “Andrew Rotherberg” is the channel to find all their music on. They just released a track off their soon to be released EP, “Unfamiliar.”

Support your local scene.