KSYM 90.1 FM collects money and canned goods for its annual charity event.
By Asia Andrews
sac-ranger@alamo.edu
About 50 people braved temperatures in the 50s for a rooftop concert to collect food for a children’s home Nov. 22 in Alt 2 Hunger sponsored by campus radio station KSYM 90.1 FM.
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The event was staged for the second year at Sancho Cantino and Cosina, 628 Jackson St., south of this campus.
The station’s assistant program coordinator, Jacob Sendejo, and music director Ariel Schultz hosted the event.
About $817, two frozen turkeys, and a large box of canned goods were donated to St. Peter-St. Joseph Children’s Home, 919 Mission Road.
Radio-television-broadcasting freshman Fernando Lopez, also known as DJ Meltdown on the radio, played music on the first floor before bands were set up on the rooftop.
Lopez has been DJing for about 15 years, but this was his first time spinning at Alt 2 Hunger.
He has a live mix show on KSYM 9-11 p.m. every Friday, where he plays a variety of alternative dance music from the ‘80s, ‘90s, and 2000s, and performs Saturday nights at the Brass Monkey, 2702 N. St. Mary’s St.
The first band of the night was Pocketsettas, which replaced the band Vintage Pictures that dropped out at the last minute.
They played three original songs, “Vibrations,” “Take This Love” and “Love I Crave,” along with about four covers where they mixed in their own twist.
Members of the band are Romel Smith, bass guitarist; Lionel Ussin, drummer; Sunny Zamora, keyboard and vocalist; and Gregory Moreno, guitar and lead vocalist. They have been playing together for a little over a year.
This was their first time performing at Alt 2 Hunger and mostly played reggae music.
“We all love it,” Moreno said. “No matter what we do, we always come back to it.”
The second band to play was called Nova Lux, an alternative, soul and pop rock band.
They played about six original songs, “Change,” “Do It Right,” “House of Cards,” “Right Girl, Wrong Time,” “Northern Lights” and “For Better or Worse.”
Nova Lux was a crowd favorite as a sea of cellphones recorded the performance.
Band members Christopher George, rhythm guitarist and lead vocalist; Rick Cantu, lead guitarist; Robbie Cruz, bassist; and Roger Torres, drummer, said they decided to participate because that thought Alt 2 Hunger is a great cause.
Nova Lux has been a band officially for two years, but they spent a year composing and exploring different musical influences, Cruz said.
“We are a very big melting pot of ideas,” George said. “We try to get an idea of what we can achieve and we all bring something to the table.”
They have music available on Spotify and iTunes.
In between music set-ups, members of other bands sat down, ordered food and enjoyed the live music.
The third band to go on, Local Silver, performed about six original songs, “Stay A While,” “Blister,” “What You Get,” “Alone,” “Put Up A Fight” and “Who’s Holding You Now?”
David Herrera, bassist; Alex Decker, drummer; Oscar Gonzalez, lead guitarist; and Carlos Meza, guitarist and lead vocals, are all firefighters when they’re not creating music.
“We got to the fire department and found out that we all play instruments,” Meza said. “We got together with ideas and started playing music together.”
Gonzalez has been a firefighter for 23 years, while Meza has been a firefighter for 18 years and Herrera has been one for 15 years.
Drummer Alex Decker is a fifth grade math, science and social studies teacher.
“I’ve known Carlos since middle school,” Decker said. “I met David when I was 26 years old and I met Oscar two years later.”
Local Silver has been a band for about 10 years, and they have been friends for about 15 years.
The fourth band to perform was Noise Quota, and they were last band to play on the rooftop before everything was moved into the bar area downstairs, where bands Mr Pidge and The Unknown Soldiers finished out the night.
