Photo courtesy of Morgan Maccione.
I’ll spare you the new age dramatics about COVID-19 debilitating our precious social lives and cut straight to the chase: ArboFest was held on Temple Green this year. I was deeply confused as to why the festival ditched its signature spot for a venue on campus. Last I checked, Conn’s widely adored Arboretum is incredibly spacious and social distance friendly. There’s no doubt the event would undergo a drastic vibe change due to relocation, but the student body was already itching to manufacture a more suitable name: TempleFest. This six-hour extravaganza, hosted by Conn’s student association: MOBROC (Musicians Organized for Band Rights On Campus), would gift us the opportunity to abandon our heavily occupied dorm rooms for a grand time outdoors.
The TempleFest line-up was the sole reason any of us withstood the intolerable chill of Fall that Sunday evening. From 1 to 6 pm, MOBROC’s musicians would deliver, once again, their trademark sounds. The solo act, Ariel Salerno ‘21, filled the first 40 minutes of Conn’s annual concert. Tragically, I was an hour late and cannot express what I presume would be utter admiration towards her performance. Although, when I did eventually arrive on Temple Green, a sensational vocal range was floating about. “I’m pretty sure that’s JC” was the answer I graciously received after demanding innocent crowd members to identify the beholder of such a gifted voice. Looking back at the hurried notes I took during his performance, I can only discern the words “wow” scribbled several times, and “rasp.” Having never heard JC’s folk vibrato before, I was genuinely awe-stricken. His music wasn’t exactly the get-up and groove type, but a sense of “everything’s alright” glazed over the crowd.
Following JC ‘23 was a short intermission in which someone thought it best to play Top 40 trash on the loudspeaker. Perhaps I’m being uptight, but Charlie Puth on a Sunday? No thanks. Boatweiler was next to take the stage and to no one’s surprise, they didn’t disappoint. This student body favorite can always be counted on to give us something great—plus the cover of “Mr. Brightside.” I’m going to speak for everyone when I say “Julien,” a Boatweiler original, was absolutely sublime. Excellent songwriting gains all my respect, but can we briefly shift gears to highlight Aye Minus’s electrifying cover abilities! Justice was served to Weezer’s “Say it Ain’t So” and Arctic Monkeys’ “R U Mine” by lead singer Issac Moskowitz ’22. A vocalist is only as strong as his bandmates , and luckily, the talent spewing from drums (Clayton Carter ‘23), guitar (Jonathan Diagonale ’23, Luigi Pasquariello ’22), and bass (Mac Allen ’23) was top tier. In my book, Aye Minus scored an A-plus on Sunday.
Good grades were plentiful at TempleFest, especially in the case of Sorry Mom. Words fail me as I attempt to summarize the high-adrenaline excellence of this femme-punk band. If you missed Sorry Mom on Sunday you should probably tell your actual mom sorry, she wouldn’t be pleased. I happened to miss the previous band, Short Kings, and am currently apologizing myself. Sorry Mom’s lead singer, Grace Amato ‘21, made a memorable impression on us all with her killer vocal abilities. The original songs performed by the band were incredibly raw and executed to perfection. I can’t go without mentioning their superlative cover of Violent Femmes’, “Blister in The Sun”, which motivated a couple of students to get up and dance. I’m going to expose my bias and say Sorry Mom was a personal favorite; however, we are all well aware of the night’s show-stoppers: the Teal Darts. This was a set you didn’t want to miss.
At 5 pm, the stage was blessed. “A class act” is the only opinion I can muster when thinking back on the band’s performance. Niko Severino ‘22 (Bass), James Nalle ‘23 (Vocals), Dylan Bronwich ‘23 (Drums), Jake O’Brien ‘22 (Saxophone), Ricardo Gonzalez ‘23 (Trumpet), and Enso Tran ‘22 (Guitar), grouped together to form an absolute powerhouse. A few detectable thoughts from my notes include: “silky smooth vocals”, “groovy Saxophone”, “phenomenal Bass” and “why is this so damn good?”. Although the Teal Darts were scheduled to wrap up the Fest, students began filtering in, rather than out, to lend an ear to their sophisticated jazz-funk. Lead singer, James Nalle, absolutely wowed the crowd and maybe even wooed a few. A handful of beautifully crafted originals by Teal Darts left me marveling at the excellence onstage. The diversity of instruments within the band merged perfectly together to produce the distinctive sound the crowd loved and enjoyed. It may have been below 40 outside, but the music was all that mattered.