Music In Chappaqua Rocks The Bowery

With a room filled with onlookers, including supportive parents, kids and teens performed lively rock renditions of covers and their own songs for a cause.

Music In Chappaqua brought its young students to Crash Mansion, a club on the Bowery in New York City, to play for a benefit to raise money for UNICEF to send to Haiti for earthquake relief.

The students at the March 20 event played in bands, which were formed by Music In Chappaqua based on what they were interested in and what they can do, according to Janet Angier, director.

Some groups made their own original songs to perform, such as "April Fate," which was the first group that performed. That band featured Lauren Reiner doing vocals and guitar, Marisa Wolff on guitar, Brett Marks with drums, Sydney Marks on bass and Joyce Pogge wuth piano and vocals, according to a list of acts.

Other bands focused on doing covers for famous artists. A band called "Vancouver Friday" did a great job of playing The Ramones' "I Wanna Be Sedated" and "You Really Got Me" by the Kinks. The vocalist, Max Schoetz, really got into the act, as he was shaking his head around while covering the lyrics. His fellow band members were Elias Cole on guitar, Joshua Cole on bass and drums and Ryan Raicht with drums and guitar.

Young performers shared their thoughts what it was like.

"It was pretty cool," said Alexis Childs, a Chappaqua resident. She was in a group called The Suspenders and did vocals and bass.

Jillian Schell, a 12-year-old Katonah resident, got to perform in not one but two bands as a vocalist: a group JC3 and a band called Zipper.

"It was tiring but it was so much fun," she said when ask what it was like to perform in two groups.

Fellow JC3 member and Scarsdale resident Janiela Ullner, 12, said it was a lot of fun.

The event also attracted the support of two northern Westchester celebrities, actor Chazz Palminteri of Bedford and former television personality Rene Syler of Chappaqua.

Syler opened the event with a passionate plea to support Haiti. Her two children, daughter Casey Parham, and son Cole Parham, performed in bands. Casey Parham played guitar in JC3, while Cole Parham played drums for a band called Kaymus.

Palminteri's son, Dante Palminteri, was the vocalist for Kaymus.

"It was really nice," the elder Palminteri said about what it was like to see his son perform, also noting that he's been really getting into music.

The other members of Kaymus were, according to the listing, bass player Evan Schwartzman, Julian Fernandez on the keyboard and David Button on the guitar. The band played two original songs for its performance.

Aside from the student bands, a group called Urban Fetch also performed by both opening and closing the event. The emcee for the day was Laila Salins, who announced the acts and did a performance of her own toward the end.

While people were able to donate money at the event itself, they also had the option to donate online, according to Maria Greschock, a volunteer at a donation booth. All of the proceeds go to relief for Haiti.