Ryan Loredo
Equinox Staff
There are many causes and groups made by normal U.S. citizens created to raise money for new methods to combat the disease. Junior Adrienne Osborne organized a talent show on Monday, April 5, in order to help raise money for Alzheimer efforts.
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The talent show was held in the Mabel Brown Room on the second floor of the student center at 8 p.m. At the entrance, people were asked to donate whatever they could to charity. The reason for the event was described by Osborne, “My dad was actually diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s about two and a half years ago at the age of fifty. So, my way of coping with it is through activism. So I really want to spread awareness about the disease and get people to know how to help,” Osborne said.
During the midpoint of the show the two hosts, Osborne and Kathleen Goodwin, showed a video displaying the current and future statistics of Alzheimer’s. At the end of the show, they told the audience the event raised over $85. The show itself held a total of eleven different shows with variations of several talents, some normally seen at talent shows and others were rare occurrences in today’s culture. The second act was a stand-up KSC comedian named “Jimbo” Taddeo.
His comedy covered topics including the current political atmosphere, “Jersey Shore” cultural phenomena, and other topics that made the audience laugh. Matthew McCue took up the third act place by providing original music. He performed one song on his acoustic guitar for the audience. Sophomore Bonnie Chalmers took the stage for the night’s fourth act in which she reenacted the viral video “The Evolution of Dance.”
The audio she used was the same as the video. The band known as “Dr. Young and the Pens” provided comical songs for the fifth act. The subjects of their two songs were zombie and patriotic dinosaurs. The instruments used to display the talents were a keyboard and a four-stringed acoustic guitar. Junior Adam LaMonica took the stage for the sixth act and took a more serious and realistic tone for the show. He performed a solo reading of a self-written work about him, his grandfather, and his passion for baseball. He said, “My inspiration was obviously my grandfather, he didn’t have Alzheimer’s but he was a great man and he died old. Hopefully he rests in peace.” Senior Jordan Reynolds played guitar for the audience as the eighth act of the evening. His act featured several written pieces of music along with self-written comedy acts.
Sophomore Brian Rabadeau continued the atmosphere of comedy by providing some stand up comedy for the eighth act. His topics in his act included Justin Bieber, abortions, Libya, and the “crush” on a “lovely crackhead” he had. Brittany Wright ‘s comedy featured was mostly based in Cosmo magazine and dreams of celebrities along with other methods of comedic enjoyment. She was the last comedian of the night.
The tenth act of the night re-engaged the musical aspect of the show. Accidental Harmony was band composed of a guitarist, bongo player, pianist, and two vocalists. They preformed three songs, one of which was an encore demanded by the audience.
The final act was filled by another band, The Northern Sea Robin. The band performed acoustic versions of some of their songs. The drummer of the band was filling in for the bassist because the original bassist was unable to attend. The band commented on their performance saying it was “different” and “[the sound] was a bit softer.”
In the end, the two hosts of the evening tallied votes from the selected judges of the talent show. The vote decided the winner of the show as the band Accidental Harmony.
The band commented on their win saying, “Thank you, we were just doing this for fun!” They were also happy about their prize, a gift check to the local restaurant Fritz Fries.
Ryan Loredo can be contacted at rloredo@keeneequinox
