Those applying for this year’s Justin Veatch Fund scholarships included students from Yorktown, Hendrick Hudson, Fox Lane, Croton Harmon and Walter Panas High Schools. Last year’s scholarships went to Yorktown’s Kristina Koller who is studying at the Hartt School of Music in Hartford, CT. Spencer Cohen, also of Yorktown and who is studying at SUNY New Paltz, received a second place award of $500. This year at least one award will be presented at Yorktown High School’s Senior Awards Night on June 10th. The Fund will also hold a special program for all recipients at The Hart Library in Shrub Oak at 6pm on June 19th. At that event a special community service award will be presented to Helena Rodriguez, the current president and founder of the Yorktown Teen Center. “Helena’s relationship with The Fund has been invaluable in helping us move our programs forward,” says Veatch. “She has contributed so much to our community we did not want to pass up this opportunity to give her special recognition.”

The Justin Veatch Fund is a 501(c)3 organization and a recognized New York charity. In addition to the annual scholarships The Fund creates a variety of programs for talented musical teens including a two-day summer music workshop which this year will be held on August 12th and 13th in Pleasantville, NY. Another major Fund program is an annual fall concert in which local talented young performers open for a headline act. Last year’s headliner was Bernie Williams and his All Star Band at a concert held at the White Plains Performing Arts Center. The Fund also joins the Teen Center as a co-sponsor of the monthly First Fridays open mic nights held from October through May at the Yorktown Community and Cultural Center.

Jeffrey Veatch has also gone on the road with “A Message from Justin”, a 40 minute multi-media program that tells Justin’s story and inspires teens to take better care of themselves and their friends. “In the past year I have been fortunate to speak to more than 10,000 young people from middle to high school age in New York and New Jersey,” says Veatch. Veatch appeared April 2nd at a news conference held by US Senator Chuck Schumer to address the problem of prescription drug abuse by teens. Organizations interested in scheduling “A Message from Justin” should contact Gina Wolfman at The Teen Sage, (203) 270-1398, a Connecticut firm that specializes in motivational speakers dealing with teen issues.

WHAT WE DID: Violinist Daisy Jopling discussed ways to create new musical approaches by combining music genres. Jazz guitarist Rory Stuart demonstrated use of creative rhythms. Studio owner Dan Coutant conducted two workshops on music recording techniques. Song writing was discussed at length by singer/songwriters Jon Gailmor, Mike Latini and Gary Cusano and original songs were presented and critiqued by staff and students alike. Renowned singer/songwriter Sloan Wainwright conducted a three hour vocal workshop in which every participant was given one-on-one support. The staff presented a brief concert on stage performance and every attendee received a signed copy of Livingston Taylor’s updated book “Stage Performance” which is based on his classes at Berklee School of Music.

Our jam packed two days together–all too brief–were celebrated in an end-of-workshop performance open to parents, friends and the public.

A special thanks to TD Bank and the Pleasantville Union Free School District as well as all our volunteers for making our third annual two day summer music workshop the best ever!

David Miller’s High Quality Images

The show itself was amazing as Bernie Williams and his 9 piece all star band thrilled the audience with renditions of “Just Another Day” and other famous tracks from Bernie’s first two albums.  Williams also surprised the audience by joining the Justin Veatch Fund All Stars’ opening act by sitting in on their last two songs. On top of that, three of our teen performers, Mark McIntyre, Gabby Landicino and John Venezia, were invited on stage to join in Williams’ encore song “Domino”.   The result was a priceless experience for our teens and McIntyre thrilled not only the crowd but also the pros with his solo guitar work.

The success of our night to benefit The Justin Veatch Fund was only tempered by the fact that instead of the opportunity to fill 1,000 seats at The Paramount, the WPPAC only has 410 seats.  But that was offset by the generosity of Williams who signed a new acoustic guitar donated by The Guitar Center that is being auctioned off to benefit The Fund.  We want to thank our partners at The Guitar Center at Ridge Hill in Yonkers for their generous donation of a Breedlove Acoustic Guitar.  Stop by and say hi to manager Greg Tysch whose generous community involvement has supported us.  Williams has also donated a personal appearance, agreeing to hold a jam session for the highest bidder to benefit the fund.  Bernie will come to your home, school or office for an event participants will never forget! The jam session is being auctioned by Steiner Sports http://auction.steinersports.com/cgi-bin/ncommerce3/ProductDisplay?prrfnbr=197202071&prmenbr=55076099&aunbr=197548781

You can purchase prints, DVDs, and HD clips from David Miller’s website.