Month: August 2024

Luke Staisiunis at Rahway Senior Center – First Wednesday Concert Series – September 4th, 2024

Posted on by Bernie Anderson

GSTOS is proud to present once again, Luke Staisiunis at the Rainbow Room console on Sept 4th at 2pm. 

Luke Staisiunas currently serves as Chair of the Young Theatre Organistʼs Competition for the American Theatre Organ Society, as well as serving as Secretary to the Board. Winner of the 2018 ATOS competition, and having performed from coast to coast, he is comfortable at theatre and concert instruments alike.

He has recently returned to the East Coast, having earned his Masterʼs Degree in Organ Performance under Dr. Adam Pajan and Dr. Damin Spritzer. He also earned his Bachelorʼs from OU under Dr. John Schwandt and Dr. Pajan. During his time at OU, he performed with the Symphony Band, OU Chorale, OU Percussion Ensemble, as well as playing continuo for the Vitam Musica Foundationʼs orchestra. In addition, he is active as a transcriber of orchestral works for organ, as well as compiling scores for silent film accompaniment.

As a technician, he has most recently worked for the Red River Pipe Organ Company and the former American Organ Institute shop, in Norman Oklahoma. During his time at the Red River firm, he was active as both a shop and field technician. During his time at the AOI, he oversaw the design and installation of a control system for the Schlicker studio organ as part of his Organ Technology coursework.

He is quite versatile as a church musician, equally at home with traditional liturgy and more contemporary styles of worship. Most recently serving First Baptist Church of Norman OK from 2019-2021, where he played the organ with the orchestra and band, in addition to organ solos and traditional hymnody. He is also an experienced substitute, serving a variety of denominations.

The Rahway Senior Center is located at 1306 Esterbrook Ave, Rahway, NJ

Saving Radio City Music Hall – Lecture with Rosie Novellino – Mearns

Posted on by Bernie Anderson

SAVE THE DATE!!!

Friday, September 13, 7:30pm

Rahway Senior Citizen’s Center

Join us as we uncover the captivating David and Goliath story surrounding Radio City Music Hall in the late 1970s — a battle that pitted a small group from the Radio City Music Hall community against the Rockefeller establishment to save one of the world’s premier theaters from the wrecking ball.

 

In Saving Radio City Music Hall, published by TurningPointPress, Rosemary Novellino-Mearns reveals how Radio City Music Hall, Art Deco masterpiece and New York City’s premiere tourist attraction for generations, was saved from demolition. After years of struggling with intense, sometimes painful memories, “Rosie” tells the honest, fact-filled, emotionally charged, and often humorous story of how she organized the gargantuan effort to save Radio City Music Hall in the Spring of 1978. Against all odds, and in only four months, she succeeded. Readers will be shocked by the “no good deed goes unpunished” climax of the story in which Rosie reveals her reward for spearheading the movement to save “The Showplace of the Nation.”

A modest but determined young dancer from Glen Rock, New Jersey, Rosemary Novellino joined the Radio City Music Hall Ballet Company, the classical dance counterpart to the world-famous Rockettes, in 1966. After a shaky beginning, she danced with the group for twelve years, eventually becoming its Dance Captain and Assistant to the legendary choreographer Peter Gennaro. In the mid-1970s, questionable behind-the-scenes changes in Music Hall management alarmed hundreds of employees, but no one was prepared for the official announcement in early 1978, that Radio City Music Hall was slated to close that April and be demolished.

Drawing upon formerly untapped inner strengths, Rosemary refused to let this happen. She became President of “The Showpeople’s Committee to Save Radio City Music Hall” and motivated fellow workers, friends, thousands of Radio City fans around the world, New York and national media, cultural leaders and politicians to support the cause. As a result of these efforts, the Art Deco palace was declared a National Historic Landmark. saving not only the building but the jobs and livelihoods of thousands of Music Hall employees on stage and behind the scenes who have entertained millions to this day. This “heartfelt and very personal account of that effort,” says Booklist, “provides a backstage glimpse of the drama that ensued and features a cast of characters that includes performers, politicians, the media, and some very heavy hitters in the world of New York real estate that will delight readers interested in the performing arts and their history in the U.S.”