Blogging the News

Making yet another discovery at the usual spot by Union Square where many musicians I came across usually perform, I found a young man named Steven Bartashev, 23, of Brooklyn with drumsticks in his hand rocking out.

     Bartashev showing off his skills on the drums!

To my shock, Bartashev happens to be a Senior at Baruch College just like me. “I don’t perform as often as I like, I’m majoring in philosophy and minoring in math,” he said. “Sometimes I go play the piano at the school. It’s so nice to sit there, I tried cello once in high school though and that was hard!”

Since we were in the Union Square train station, I decided to ask if he plays here a lot. “This is my first time even performing in Union square,”says Bartashev. “I go to the subways to play because I can’t play at my house, so this is where I go to play. The cops can’t stop me and my mom can’t stop me either.”Growing up Bartashev used to play drums alongside his brother, but with his brother already being a guitarist for another band it didn’t work out and that’s when Bartashev realized he wanted to go solo and do his own thing.

    Pure focus as he drums to the beat of one of his songs. 

“Currently I’m in a band called Rhino House band, its indie rock, pop type of music, but I play a lot of stuff different genres outside of that also” he said. “We get paid sometimes, but other then that I work at a print and design company too.”

For the past couple of years being with the band, Bartashev talks about all the places he has played music at “We performed in Rockwood Music Hall, I’m also trying to throw my own shows at somebody’s loft it’s really rinky dink but it’s getting off the ground so we been playing there,” he said. Being friends with the front-man of his band since they were just 15, and playing the drums when he was about 10 years old Bartshev shares some of the struggles he had to endure as a drummer in New York.

Bartashev’s first time performing at Union Square was a success!

“I have been stopped and threatened with a ticket or arrested by police, In some places you can’t make any noise and they have rules on top of the city rules, you need to be quiet and its annoying because the zone is residential, their rules are definitely a lot stricter than city rules,” he said. “Also one time a homeless person tried stealing my money, he didn’t get physical but he was verbally trying to convince me it was his and take it from me. Then there was a saxophone player who asked me to join him play and he saw this feud I had with the bum and he was super hard about it and told him to leave us alone. His name is Dusty he was a good guy.”

After graduation Bartshev plans to make a career in music a goal of his, until then it was good to bump into a fellow Bearcat and get to know the person he is behind the drums.

Making yet another discovery at the usual spot by Union Square where many musicians I came across usually perform, I found a young man named Steven Bartashev, 23, of Brooklyn with drumsticks in his hand rocking out.

       Bartashev showing off his skills on the drums!

To my shock, Bartashev happens to be a Senior at Baruch College just like me. “I don’t perform as often as I like, I’m majoring in philosophy and minoring in math,” he said. “Sometimes I go play the piano at the school. It’s so nice to sit there, I tried cello once in high school though and that was hard!”

Since we were in the Union Square train station, I decided to ask if he plays here a lot. “This is my first time even performing in Union square,”says Bartashev. “I go to the subways to play because I can’t play at my house, so this is where I go to play. The cops can’t stop me and my mom can’t stop me either.”Growing up Bartashev used to play drums alongside his brother, but with his brother already being a guitarist for another band it didn’t work out and that’s when Bartashev realized he wanted to go solo and do his own thing.

    Pure focus as he drums to the beat of one of his songs. 

“Currently I’m in a band called Rhino House Band, its indie rock, pop type of music, but I play a lot of stuff different genres outside of that also” he said. “We get paid sometimes, but other then that I work at a print and design company too.”

            Check out Bartashev’s band when you get a chance! (photo credit              goes to Rhino House Band.)

For the past couple of years being with the band, Bartashev talks about all the places he has played music at “We performed in Rockwood Music Hall, I’m also trying to throw my own shows at somebody’s loft it’s really rinky dink but it’s getting off the ground so we been playing there,” he said. Being friends with the front-man of his band since they were just 15, and playing the drums when he was about 10 years old Bartshev shares some of the struggles he had to endure as a drummer in New York.

Bartashev’s  first time performing at Union Square was a success!

“I have been stopped and threatened with a ticket or arrested by police, In some places you can’t make any noise and they have rules on top of the city rules, you need to be quiet and its annoying because the zone is residential, their rules are definitely a lot stricter than city rules,” he said. “Also one time a homeless person tried stealing my money, he didn’t get physical but he was verbally trying to convince me it was his and take it from me. Then there was a saxophone player who asked me to join him play and he saw this feud I had with the bum and he was super hard about it and told him to leave us alone. His name is Dusty he was a good guy.”

After graduation Bartshev plans to make a career in music a goal of his, until then it was good to bump into a fellow Bearcat and get to know the person he is behind the drums.

     Karikatura, a six man band, was conceived in 2009 in South India. Also becoming one of the bands to perform in the New York City subway system thanks to the MTA Music Under New York program, they are able to expose people to their music.

Composed of vocalist Ryan Acquaotta, guitarist Dima Kay, bassist Eric Legaspi, drummer Morgan Greenstreet, trombone player Ric Becker and woodwinds maestro Joe Wilson, Karikatura makes body shaking beats and exhilarating music.

Karikatura causing a scene through their subway performance at Union Square.                                                                                                                                            

Transcending music genres and style, Karikatura plays Latin, Gypsy, Ska, Reggae, Pop, and creates a organic synthesis of music heard blasting from cars passing by and shops, from all over the world. They call this genre of music Transglobal Soul.

“Currently we are playing in the subway just to perform and make some extra cash, we’ve been picked up by Ropeadope Records and our next show is gonna be in Cafe Retro in Copenhagen, Denmark.” says Acquaotta. “We’ve been on the road for a while now. We have been to Europe, Asia, and South America but New York is our home.”

    More of the band members performing for the passerby’s for their daily dose of  entertainment for the day. 

“We have many crazy experiences on the road, we do a lot of songwriting while touring and it can be stressful at times, we like to tell stories in our songs to make our fans perceive the feelings we feel with all the commotion we endure as a band.” Greenstreet said. “Our album for instance called Eyes Wide is based on these experiences, but we dedicate it to New York because the city is what got us to where we our now.”

Since the release of their album, Karikatura has been blowing up the spotlight, and gaining an even bigger fan-base. Throughout all of their adventures, they have come a long way to where they have first started. Their debut EP launched them on a world tour during 2011 beginning in Japan on New Years and going to Europe during the spring. Performing in shows in the Midwest, Northeast and Southeast and to Austin, Texas for SXSW and have participated in Red Bull Sounderground Festival in Sao Paulo.

“I never knew I’d be so thankful to be the singer for such an amazing band, it’s a great experience.” said Acquaotta. “Just like all bands want, we only wish to get further and push our limits to gain even more success along the way.”

“The judges are tough in the music program, they are really intimidating, but once we actually get on stage and perform my fear fades away” says Kay.

Besides the nerve racking reactions that the band has to undergo, they can also be found doing various performances all over New York in small venues.

“We like the whole party scene, we bring life to it or at least we hope that’s what our music does when people hear us” said Acquaotta. “We are doing things one step at a time, as cliche as that sounds it’s the truth we help each other out, that’s why we have so much confidence as a band and maybe exactly why we got all of this luck with tours lately, it takes a lot of dedication and effort.”