John Peters - Barely Breathing

John Peters - Tapping

John Peters - Electric Solo

Mike Topozer - Fire and Rain

Mike Toperzer - Drum Solo

Mike Toperzer is a Sophomore acting major here at Adelphi. He's been playing drums for 10 years, and guitar for 4. He hopes to some day become a professional actor or musician. Some of Mikes hobbies include Frisbee, golf, and fishing. His inspirations are drummers such as John Bonham, Kieth Moon, and Dave Growl.

The Underground Cafe

On March 30th Delta Sigma Pi hosted an acoustic music social event for the student population. The musician's John Peters and John Rizzo performed some 90's classics, both whom are members of Delta Sigma Pi.

Rizzo has been playing the past few years in a 90's cover band known as Artificial Flavor. Peters has been playing guitar in several different bands from the time he was young. Peters is also featured in my first blog post.

This event was set up as a fundraiser for the fraternity and had a pretty good turn out. If more people begin coming to these events which are hosted every other week a cash bar will be set up for students 21 and over in future performances.

Bass Jam - Luke Hausermann

AP: How long have you been playing for?

LH: I've been playing for five years now.

AP: What are your favorite styles of music to play?

LH: Funk, jam band type stuff, rock and roll, blues, jazz, I really like it all.

AP: What are some of your influences?

LH: Got to say Flea, Victor Wooten, and Phil Lesh to name a few.

AP: What can you tell me about the pieces you just played?

LH: The first one was made up on the spot using slapping techniques, mainly funk stuff. The second piece I actually was messing around with the chords I used for my audition here at Adelphi. The third piece was a song called "Sinister Minister" by Bela Fleck and the Flecktones with a little improvisation at the end.

AP: Is there anything you want to add for the readers out there?

LH: Yes, for all you people out there who want to see good bassists, defiantly check out Stanley Clark, Jacob Pastorious, and Aram Bedrosian.

Drifting - John Peters

AP: That doesn't sound like a common style of music. What would you call that?

JP: There's no actual name for it, if I would have to call it something I would call it percussive acoustic tapping. Its a very eclectic style.

AP: What would you say is the reason that this stands out differently than other acoustic guitar playing.

JP: Well for one your using the guitar as a percussive instrument as well as tapping the fret board and not strumming the strings with a pic. Your merely getting the sound of the guitar by pressing the strings to create vibrations.

AP: Who are some pioneers of this style.

JP: Well, one of the first was Don Ross. He brought this style to the underground acoustic world in the 90's. However it is new to most people. This particular song was composed by Andy Mckee, who became popular through his youtube videos.

AP: How long did it take to learn this?

JP: It took me roughly 20 minutes a day for about 2 weeks to get it down well. Although there are only 3 main riffs in the song it was difficult because the melody bass and percussion are played all at once.

AP: Well that was very impressive, is there anything you want to add for our readers?

JP: Yes I'm giving guitar lessons: $20 for a half hour and $30 for a full hour. My phone number is 631-678-2065. Please contact if interested. Thank you.