From left, Tom Manuel, judge (founder of The Jazz Loft); 2015 First-Place Winner Julianna Gape, Setauket; Kyle Foley, judge (Stony Brook University Music Department); and James Faith, judge (2nd vice chairman, Long Island Music Hall of Fame). Photo from WMHO
Attention Long Island students! Can you carry a tune? Is a musical instrument your specialty? If so, get your audition DVD or YouTube video submitted now for Long Island’s Got Talent 2017, hosted by the Ward Melville Heritage Organization (WMHO).
Created by WMHO’s Youth Corps, the event gives Long Island students the opportunity to show off their talents this spring. It’s open to students 10-17 years of age in Nassau or Suffolk County who must still be in high school at the time awards are given in November 2017. Talent must be nonprofessional vocal or musical instrument performances. The entry deadline is March 17 and there is a $25 entry fee. Those who are contacted after submitting their audition will be asked to perform at the first-round performance on April 7 at 6:30 p.m. at WMHO’s Educational & Cultural Center, 97P Main Street in the Stony Brook Village Center.
Finalists chosen will also have the opportunity to perform at WMHO’s Sunday Summer Concerts series in July and August, and finals will take place on Nov. 3, 2017 when the winners will be chosen. For full details and Official Entry Form, call 631-751-2244 or visit www.stonybrookvillage.com.
Deaths due to heroin and other opiates are increasing exponentially on Long Island, especially on the North Shore. Join the Port Jefferson Free Library, 100 Thompson St., Port Jefferson for a Narcan Training workshop on Sunday, Feb. 26 at 2 p.m. and help save a life.
Learn about the signs and symptoms of opiate overdose and what to do from health and safety education expert, Erik Zalewski. This 45-minute class also includes a free naloxone (Narcan) emergency kit. A 20-minute “hands-only” CPR class will follow. All are welcome. Questions? Call 631-473-0022.
The Brick Studio and Gallery at Rocky Point invites the community for a free screening of Charlie Chaplin’s masterpiece, “Modern Times,” at the VFW Hall, 109 King Road, Rocky Point on Monday, March 6 at 7 p.m. Stay after the movie, enjoy light refreshments and learn about special events and art exhibitions that will happen when the Brick Studio and Gallery opens its doors. For info, call 631-335-2293 or visit www.thebrickstudio.org.
Resurrection Byzantine Church, located at the corner of Mayflower and Edgewater Avenues in Smithtown, invites the community to take part in its 6th annual Traditional Ukrainian Easter Egg (Pysanky) workshop on March 26 and April 2 from 1 to 3 p.m.
The two-day workshop, which will take place in the church’s Social Hall, is open to all levels of experience. Learn and complete your first egg, discover new patterns and tips or show your skills and enjoy the company. Bring your dyes and tools or start fresh with a new kit, available for an additional $15. Each participant must bring a candle in a holder, pencils and a roll of paper towels.
Two-day class fee is $20. Deadline to register is March 6. For more information or to sign up, call Joanne at 631-332-1449 or email [email protected].
As of Feb. 14, National Organ Donor Day, a new state law rolled out by Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) permits 16- and 17-year-olds to enroll in the New York State Donate Life Registry when they apply for a driver’s license, learner’s permit or nondriver ID, potentially growing enrollments in New York by thousands.
Sponsored by State Sens. John Flanagan (R-East Northport) and Kemp Hannon (R-Garden City), the legislation’s altered minimum age to sign up as an organ donor, which had previously been 18, serves as a big step for New York, which currently ranks 50th out of all 50 states when it comes to the percentage of residents enrolled to be organ donors.
Kidney recipient Tom D’Antonio and Brookhaven Town Councilwoman Jane Bonner. Photo from Councilwoman Bonner
At just 28 percent, New York State is “way at the bottom of the pack” when it comes to enrollment, according to Flanagan, a strong advocate for organ donations because of his late friend, Assemblyman James Conte (R-Huntington Station), who was the recipient of two kidney transplants before losing a battle with cancer in 2012.
“[New York] has been a leader in many ways on a wide variety of issues and we should be the premiere state in terms of organ donation,” Flanagan said. “I just want to promote organ donation, and promote awareness. There are thousands and thousands of people who are waiting for transplants here in the state, kidney being the primary one. We don’t have enough people signing up, and it’s taken too long to [get here] but I think we’re moving in the right direction.”
The senator said Conte is the reason he’s a donor, and after his death, he realized he could use his own political platform to advocate for this cause and encourage others to get involved.
Like Flanagan, Brookhaven Town Councilwoman Jane Bonner (C-Rocky Point) is passionate about organ donation and takes every opportunity to raise awareness about the importance of becoming a donor when speaking publicly, regardless of the event.
“I could be at a civic event talking about town improvement projects or town issues, and I always use it as a soapbox to talk about organ donation,” Bonner said. “Roughly 125,000 people in the United States are waiting for a kidney and there are 350 million people in the United States, seemingly with healthy kidneys. If everybody who could donate, donated one, we wouldn’t have people waiting for a kidney anymore and lives can be saved.”
Bonner said that under the new law, 16- and 17-year-olds can make donations upon their death, and it includes safeguards where their parents or legal guardians have the option to rescind the decision if the minor dies before 18.
“It not only ups the amount of eligible organ donors there are to sign up and save lives, but also starts a conversation at an earlier age about its importance.”
— Megan Fackler
“Teenagers are very passionate about so many issues and I think this legislation was made because they’re employing every toy in the toolbox, knowing the state is dead last,” she said.
The councilwoman knows a thing or two about saving lives this way.
It was last April when Bonner donated her kidney to her childhood friend Tom D’Antonio, who had been diagnosed with diabetes at a young age, had suffered multiple health issues over the years and desperately needed a transplant.
“I said ‘I’ll do it, we’re the same blood type,’ and I donated blood to him when he got his first kidney transplant,” Bonner recalled.
D’Antonio was more than grateful for the donation his longtime friend made.
“I bounced back like a rockstar and I feel great, I have more energy and determination,” D’Antonio said, reflecting on the experience. “It’s my belief that there is something within a human being that takes that step and makes that heroic move to save a life; it moves me beyond a place I can easily describe. Not only did [Jane] save my life but she enriched the lives of those close to me, [like my wife].”
But D’Antonio is not a big fan of the new law, calling it “hugely irresponsible” and a “grossly inadequate response” to appease a need for more donors.
“Sixteen- and seventeen-year-olds have enough trouble making a decision about what classes to take as seniors, their minds are still developing, and I’m appalled that this is the state’s answer,” he said. “What the state should do instead is put some money and effort into organ donor awareness and make it part of the teaching curriculum in high school.”
Karen Hill, the recipient of Tom Cutinella’s heart, and his mother Kelli Cutinella. Photo from Kelli Cutinella
Alternatively, Kelli Cutinella, whose son Tom died October 2014 following a head-on collision during a high school football game, spoke in Albany to help get the law passed, and said she’s glad to see it in effect.
Tom, who wanted to register when he was 16 at the DMV but was ultimately not allowed at the time, donated all vital organs, such as his heart, kidneys, liver, pancreas, bones and skin.
“He was a giver in life and would do anything for anybody, and it didn’t surprise me that he wanted to register at 16, it was just in his nature,” Cutinella said.
The mother, who has an ongoing relationship with Tom’s heart recipient and pancreas and kidney recipient, was recently notified by a New York Burn Center that a 30-year-old man from Brooklyn had received Tom’s skin after suffering severe burns in a house fire.
“Tom lives on now,” Cutinella said. “He’s not here in the physical sense, but he is with the recipients as they go on to live wonderful, fulfilling lives.”
According to Megan Fackler of LiveOnNY, a federally designated organ procurement organization, the new law is exciting.
“It not only ups the amount of eligible organ donors there are to sign up and save lives, but also starts a conversation at an earlier age about its importance,” Fackler said. “Donor family and recipient meetings have been the most touching. There are lots of things 16- and 17-year-olds can’t do, like rent a car, get a tattoo, vote, join the army, but they can save lives.”
Residents can visit the New York State Health Department’s website at www.health.ny.gov/donatelife to get more information about organ donation in New York State, including how to register as a donor.
John Cronin smiles with a pair of socks from John’s Crazy Socks. Photo from Mark Cronin
By Victoria Espinoza
For one father-son duo, the secret ingredient to success is socks. John Cronin, a 21-year-old Huntington resident diagnosed with Down syndrome, was trying to figure out what he wanted to do with his life after he graduated from Huntington High School, when John’s Crazy Socks was born.
The two-month-old business venture has already seen success, and Cronin and his dad Mark Cronin are continually coming up with new and unique ideas to set John’s Crazy Socks apart.
“We opened the store Dec. 9 and expected a trickle of sales,” Mark Cronin said in a phone interview. “Instead we were flooded with sales. It turns out John is a social media star.”
The co-founders shot and uploaded a variety of videos to the company’s Facebook page, starring the 21-year-old who has become the face of the business.
John and his father Mark Cronin smile. Photo from Mark Cronin
“Those first couple of videos we put up, which were spur of the moment, had 30,00 views,” the elder business partner said. “People were spreading them all around Huntington. So people flooded us and in fact on our first weekend we ran out of inventory.”
John’s Crazy Socks now ships nationally and internationally, and for local residents shipping may be the most enjoyable part of ordering from the company. Cronin hand-delivers local orders, which his dad said is an extra treat for customers.
“Word spread through social media that John would show up to a house to do a delivery, and whole families would come out to greet him and take photos,” he said.
Cronin said it’s one of his favorite parts of the business.
“I really like going to do home deliveries,” he said in a phone interview.
Aside from a friendly face with a new order of socks, patrons also receive a hand-written thank you note from Cronin as well as some Hershey kisses.
“We’ve learned a lot and saw there is a real opportunity here,” his father said. “We’re spreading happiness through socks, and it’s a way of connecting with people. The more people we can make happy the better off we will be.”
The team also gives customers two coupons with each purchase.
“We want to make it a great experience for people to buy from us,” Cronin’s father said.
John Cronin smiles with a customer during a home delivery. Photo from Mark Cronin
He said the duo has high hopes for John’s Crazy Socks, as they intend to become the world’s largest sock store, offering more sock styles and designs than anyone else. When the company started in December, they offered 31 different styles of socks. Today they offer more than 550 different styles.
It’s not just different colors and concepts customers can find at John’s Crazy Socks. They also sell socks with meaning behind them. Cronin designed an autism awareness and a Down syndrome awareness sock, as well as a breast cancer sock, and a Special Olympics sock. Cronin’s father said a portion of the proceeds from each specialized sock goes to national and local charity groups working towards finding a cure or to advocating for the groups, depending on the cause.
A blue whale sock was created for the Cold Spring Harbor Whaling Museum, and there are many other personalized socks to come.
For Cronin, socks represent self-expression.
“I really like socks,” he said. ‘They’re fun and they can fit your own personality.”
The elder Cronin said he’s enjoyed many aspects of starting the business with his son.
“I love bringing joy to people, the little things we get to do to just wow people,” he said. “We live in this increasingly complex world, and we can connect with people and say we hear you and we can make you happy, and that’s awesome. And it’s great to be able to do something with my son.”
John Daly, center, smiles on the medal podium. Photo from John Daly.
By Daniel Dunaief
This weekend, Smithtown-native John Daly’s comeback to the fast-paced world of skeleton takes an enormous step forward. He will compete against the best in the world as a member of Team USA in Koeningsee, Germany, at the World Championships.
Daly decided near the beginning of the sliding season to attempt a comeback from a sport that had been a staple of his life from 2001 until 2014.
Just to get back to this point, Daly had to earn enough points in the junior circuit to qualify. He set a goal of collecting medals and earning points. He scored three golds and a silver in North American Cup races and then topped that off with a gold and a silver in the Intercontinental Cup in Lake Placid.
Mission accomplished, so far. If he wins a medal either in Germany or in another race the next week in South Korea, the site of the 2018 Winter Olympics, Daly will continue his ascent toward claiming a spot on his third Olympic team.
Just six months ago, however, a return to a sport he left in disappointment after a difficult ending in 2014 in Sochi, Russia, wasn’t at the top of his mind.
Daly’s father, James Daly, awards his son with a medal. Photo from John Daly.
When he was going out on dates in Washington, D.C., where he got a job in medical sales for Smith & Nephew, he had a hard time answering questions about what he was passionate about outside of work.
“Nothing got my gears going,” he recalled. “That was when I was like, ‘Maybe I do miss it.’”
At first, Daly, who is now 31, dipped his toe in the water, driving up to his home track of Lake Placid and doing a few trial runs before other sliders raced.
“I came back and I felt like I never left,” Daly said. When he asked himself what was holding him back, he didn’t have a good answer.
Getting back into shape and training required extensive driving, as Daly regularly made a nine-hour trek from Washington up to Lake Placid, home of the 1980 Miracle on Ice U.S. Men’s Hockey Team. He was grateful to his family for supporting him and to his bosses at Smith & Nephew.
During those long drives in the car, he listened to music, made phone calls with his Bluetooth and tried to stretch out. Coming back, he knew the level of effort he needed to achieve to be successful.
“No matter what, every week, I had to be faster and stronger,” he told himself. “You have to know the other guys are doing it.”
While he’s found his groove, the return to the sport hasn’t been a picnic.
“Age has kicked in,” he laughed. He takes ice baths to ease the body aches. Those, he said, can be miserable, particularly on his ankles and toes.
Daly’s parents, James and Bennarda, are happy to see their son return to the sport on his terms. In 2014, Daly was in contention for a medal at the Olympics in Sochi. At the start of his final heat, his sled popped out of the ice grooves, robbing him of precious time he couldn’t possibly make up, turning the final run into one of the most emotionally draining trips of his life.
After the Olympics, he retired, leaving the international sports stage.
“The last time you compete in the Olympics should be your best part of the Games. No matter what, if you win, lose or draw, you want to take in that last run. This is it, this is forever.”
— John Daly
“His world came crashing down,” Jesse Lichtenberg, Daly’s agent at BDA Sports Management said. Lichtenberg said Daly packed everything up in Lake Placid, put it in a box and threw it in the trunk of his car.
However, Lichtenberg and Daly’s family suspected this wasn’t the last chapter in Daly’s sliding career.
Indeed, Daly’s father, who is a retired EMS worker for the New York City Fire Department, continued to be a racing official for USA Bobsled and Skeleton Federation.
He thought, “Let me wait a couple of years, in case John has second thoughts,” the elder Daly said. “I’m glad I did. It’s so great to officiate a match that my son is in.”
Indeed, when Daly recently won a gold medal, his father got to put the award around his son’s neck.
His father believes Daly benefited from his time away from the sport, especially because it gave him some balance in his life.
“He needed to know he could go out and make a living after skeleton,” he said.
Now that his son is back on the track, he watches and he said his “heart starts to beat faster” as his son waits for a green light that signals the beginning of a race in which he runs for about five seconds before diving, headfirst, onto a sled he steers at over 80 miles an hour around curved, icy tracks.
Bennarda Daly, meanwhile, said she’s “excited and a little anxious” at the same time. “When he returned from Russia, he was different,” she said. “It wasn’t because he didn’t win.” Popping out of the groove kept him from “getting closure.”
Daly’s mom said she noticed that he hadn’t talked about sliding for the last few years, which she said was “odd” for him. “It was like it never happened. He had to close that off.”
Bennarda Daly, who is a nurse, said she doesn’t need her son to win a medal at the World Championships or at the Olympics.
“If he comes out happy and feels like it went well, I’ll be ecstatic,” she said.
As for Daly, he knows, even if he makes the Olympics next year, that he wants to walk away on his own terms.
“The last time you compete in the Olympics should be your best part of the Games,” he said. “No matter what, if you win, lose or draw, you want to take in that last run. This is it, this is forever.”
Susan Deaver will conduct the Stony Brook University Orchestra on Feb. 28. Photo from SBU
By Rita J. Egan
The musicians of the Stony Brook University Orchestra, consisting of 70 undergraduate students, are tuning up their instruments. On Feb. 28 at the Staller Center, they will present their Annual Family Orchestra Concert, The Magic of Music, featuring pianist Emily Ramonetti, winner of the school’s 2016 Pre-College Concerto Competition.
Previously called the Annual Family Concert, university conductor Susan Deaver said this year the word “orchestra” was added to the title of the event so those attending will have a better understanding of the type of music featured in the show when purchasing tickets. Deaver said the one-hour concert includes short pieces and is a great way to introduce orchestral music to children who may be attending this type of performance for the first time. She also does her best to choose music that people of all ages will enjoy, and priced at $5, tickets are affordable so everyone in the family can easily attend.
Northport High School senior Emily Ramonetti will be the featured pianist at the concert. Photo from SBU
The conductor said the focus on shorter pieces allows the orchestra to demonstrate a variety of numbers from various composers from different countries as well as centuries. Plus, during the show each of the sections — woodwinds, strings, brass and percussion — are featured. The hope is for the audience to get a well-rounded orchestral experience. “They get the maximum amount and variety of orchestra music in one hour as possible,” Deaver said.
Mozart’s Overture to the “Magic Flute,” which will be performed on Feb. 28, influenced this year’s theme, The Magic of Music, according to the conductor. “Always, music has some magic to it. It’s such a universal language. Something is, I think, so magical and wonderful about the sounds of the music and instruments of an orchestra,” Deaver said.
The concert will include Saint-Saens’ “Danse Bacchanale” and a tribute to Leonard Bernstein with selections from “West Side Story,” according to Deaver. She said the concert will open with “Festival Prelude” composed by Alfred Reed. “It’s brilliant orchestration. It’s short, it’s just a perfect opener,” the conductor said.
Deaver’s wish for the annual event is that everyone in attendance from the young children to the grandparents will gain a greater appreciation for orchestral and classical music. During the concerts, the conductor said she and the orchestra members always interact with the audience by asking them questions in hopes that they will feel more involved with the show. “I think it helps them break down any sort of barriers, because they feel part of the concert, too, because they are,” she said.
As for featured pianist, Ramonetti will be playing the 1st movement of Shostakovich’s Piano Concerto No. 2. A member of the university’s pre-college program since 10th grade, she won the 2016 Stony Brook University Pre-College Concerto Competition right before Thanksgiving. Deaver said at the competition the young pianist “was very well prepared, very musical.”
The senior at Northport High School has fit right in with the orchestra during rehearsals. “She’s been great. She’s a very mature, musically prepared musician. She already had it memorized from the competition, so then when she came to rehearsal, she fit in right way. She did really great. So it’s been our pleasure to work with her,” the conductor said.
Ramonetti, who has studied piano since she was three years old, said she realized she had a passion for music in fifth grade when the theme of the school’s yearbook was “We Dream Big.” “My dream that I put in the yearbook was to be a performer and travel around the world,” she said.
The pianist, who is also a violinist and composer, is enjoying rehearsing with the orchestra, and while in the past she has participated in performances, including playing background parts for her school orchestra, she admits that rehearsing with the college ensemble is different. “It’s definitely a much bigger sound than just rehearsing with a second piano,” she said.
Her performance piece was featured in the Disney classic “Fantasia,” and she explained that Shostakovich composed it in the 20th century. “It’s very, very difficult, very virtuosic,” she said. The teenager is looking forward to performing with the orchestra and presenting the concerto to the audience. “I hope they’ll see how much I love this piece, and how much I love performing it with this orchestra,” Ramonetti said.
Stony Brook University’s Staller Center for the Arts, 100 Nicolls Road, Stony Brook will present The Magic of Music on Tuesday, Feb. 28 at 7:30 p.m. on the Main Stage. Tickets are $5 for all ages and are on sale at the center’s box office, 631-632-ARTS (2787). For more information about the University Orchestra, visit www.stonybrook.edu/music or call 631-632-7330.
Princess Ronkonkoma Productions, a local not-for-profit organization, is currently accepting entries for its 11th annual Children’s Poetry Contest open to all students in grades K through 12. Prizes will be awarded in three categories: K to 5th grade, 6th to 8th grade and 9th to 12th grade and based on four themes: What would you say to a Martian?, My Secret Wish, Magic Dragon and A Box of Treasures.
Poems should not exceed 25 lines and there is no fee for each poem submitted. Send two copies of each poem, one with your name, address and phone number on it and one without to Princess Ronkonkoma Productions, P.O. Box 2508, Lake Ronkonkoma, NY 11779-2508. Postmark deadline for all entries is March 25.
An award ceremony will be held on Saturday, May 6 at Emma S. Clark Library, 120 Main St., Setauket from 1 to 3:30 p.m. Winners, or a representative designated by the winners, must be present to accept their certificate and prize. For more information, please call Hedi at 631-331-2438 or email Judy at [email protected].
Residents of Chicken Hill, Marjorie and Hub Edwards. Photo courtesy of TVHS
During the month of February, Three Village Historical Society, 93 North Country Road, Setauket, joins the nation in celebrating Black History Month, a commemoration of African American history and achievement, with its latest exhibit, Chicken Hill: A Community Lost to Time.
Through photographs, artifacts and recorded interviews, the memory of this neighborhood, whose residents included African Americans, Native Americans, Russians, Poles, Lithuanians, Rumanians, Irish and Italians, has been preserved.
The exhibit is a 2015 recipient of a Leadership in History Award from the American Association for State and Local History and may be seen on Sundays from 1 to 4 p.m. Admission is $10 adults, $5 children and students. For more information, call 631-751-3730.
Deaths due to heroin and other opiates are increasing exponentially on Long Island, especially on the North Shore. Join the Port Jefferson Free Library, 100 Thompson St., Port Jefferson for a Narcan Training workshop on Sunday, Feb. 26 at 2 p.m. and help save a life.
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