HeadCount’s first-ever Musical Town Hall took place at the Berklee College of Music on October 20th, a gathering to show off new talent while encouraging democratic participation.
Organized entirely by students at the Jackson Browne Stage in “the Caf,”, the event featured three student performers with a fantastic house band, and talks by student government representatives about the importance of the upcoming Boston election.
HeadCount volunteers were also on hand, registering new voters and gettings signups for TurboVote text alerts.
The musical town hall began with a short talk from Dominique Jones, the editor of the Berklee Groove student newspaper and the lead organizer of the event. She talked to a crowd of roughly 100 fellow students about the importance of voting and being aware of the upcoming Boston Mayoral election. She asked if anyone knew about HeadCount. At least one student – wearing a tie-dye – raised his hand.
Next came a performance by Thomas Stewart, IV, whose vocal stylings were nothing short of angelic. The high level of talent in the room was obvious from the first note.
Then, two representatives of the Berklee College of Music student government spoke. They let students know how to make their voices heard on campus, and beyond.
The next performer was Sam Robbins, an Ed Sheeran-type singer/songwriter who busted out some originals and an amazing rendition of Buffalo Springfield’s “For What It’s Worth.” It was his very first appearance at The Caf, where many Berklee students hone their chops.
The night ended with Tangela Mathis taking the house down with her amazing vocals and stage presence. Tangela’s star quality is unmistakable and if (or when) she starts dropping hit songs, we’ll all be proud to say she was at a HeadCount event.
After she left the stage, HeadCount volunteers fanned out in the crowd to make sure everyone is registered to vote and had a chance to sign up for TurboVote alerts.
Video footage of the performances can be found at Facebook.com/berkleegroove.
We are most grateful to all the students who performed at the musical town hall:
Vocalists:
Tangela Mathis (Instagram: @bag_ov_glitter_)
Sam Robbins: (Instagram: @samrobbinsmusic)
Thomas Stewart, IV: (Instagram: @tsivofficial)
House Band:
Christian Crawford, Musical Director and bassist (Instagram: @i_play_geetar_good)
Tre Thorn, Keys (Instagram: @triggadad3)
Tobias Kelly, Drums (Instagram: @tobias______)
Keyanna Hutchinson, Guitar (Instagram: @keyhutchinson)
Host:
Dominique Jones (Instagram: @iamdomjones)