Q
CONFIDENTIAL
Gone Quiet
www.queenstribune.com • Dec. 5-11, 2013 Tribune Page 35
Artists OF QUEENs
Adrianna Mateo
Got Talent?
Email editor@ queenstribune.com for inclusion in a future edition. After spending election season promoting himself to anyone who would listen, Anthony Weiner has started to slip back into a normal life. Last week, while elected officials passed out food in front of the cameras to help out the River Fund before Thanksgiving, the former Mayoral candidate stayed in the background and helped, as he does most weekends. While he may have been the butt of a lot of jokes this past year, we certainly commend his dedication to helping those in need.
All We Want For Xmas... While some Mets players showcased their singing talents, we do not think they should be quitting their day jobs. Last week, the Mets released a holiday video featuring some players singing - or butchering, depending on your point of view - the Christmas classic "Sleigh Bells." Several players, including David Wright, Matt Harvey and Dillon Gee, sang the tune in a 55-second video released to the team’s fans. The video starts off with Wright wishing fans season’s greetings with a snowy image of Citi Field in the background. From there, the players each sing a line from the classic tune, surely making everyone cringe as they watch. Infielder Justin Turner was especially cheery in the video,
leaning on Lucas Duda’s shoulder, snapping his fingers and singing "outside the snow is falling and friends are calling 'yoo hoo.'" While we’re sure some fans appreciate, and maybe even laughed at the video, we at QConf believe they care more about what moves the team makes this winter. Chris Young isn’t exactly anything to write home about. In fact, as Mets representatives meet with prospects like free agent former Yankees Robinson Cano and Curtis Granderson, the lack of major moves tends to hurt even more. And a funny holiday video will likely not do enough to mend that damage... You can see the video at Major League Baseball’s website, MLB. com: http://wapc.mlb.com/ play?content_id=31233289
Where's He Been?
It's been a while since former Tribune publisher Mike Schenkler has been by the office. After seeing this advertisement last week, we know why: he's been practicing for his musical debut at BB King's, under a none-too-obvious alias. Now, we're wondering when his next album will drop.
QConf is edited by: Steven J. Ferrari Contributors: Luis Gronda, Natalia Kozikowska, Joe Marvilli, Marcia Moxom Comrie, Michael Nussbaum, Trisha Sakhuja, Michael Schenkler.
A Bridge Too Far
Here we go again. With his final term in the City Council coming to an end in less than a month, Councilman Peter Vallone Jr. has only a little time left to work on passing some of his bills that will impact the City for years to come and put a bow on his Council career. Or, he can introduce legislation to revert the name of the Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge to just the Queensboro Bridge. Yes, Vallone is taking one more crack at his pet peeve on the bridge’s name, which was changed in honor of the late Mayor in 2011. The bill would change back the name and instead honor Koch by naming the Manhattan Municipal Building the Ed Koch Manhattan Municipal Building. “I wanted to start the process so that Queens elected officials who come after me can restore the Queensboro Bridge to its rightful owners while simultaneously providing an appropriate honor for the late Mayor Koch,” he said. Maybe Vallone’s right. Perhaps another councilman will take up the fight for the Queensboro Bridge and get the City Council to restore its name. If you believe that though, we’ve got a bridge to sell you!
Maspeth native Adrianna Mateo is the jack of all trades when it comes to music – she can play the piano, the violin, the flute and she can sing. Mateo said that her fate as a musician was sealed at a very young age. “It’s kind of just a bunch of forces coming together,” she said “My parents were very good about bringing culture into the home, particularly music.” When she was just fouryears-old, Mateo said she even recalls tip-toeing in an effort to play the piano with her tiny fingers and becoming frustrated when she was too short to reach. With such a strong connection to music so early on in her life, it came as no surprise to her or her family that she wanted to dedicate her life to the arts. Although Mateo is primarily a violinist, she enjoys playing each of her instruments. “When I was growing up and learning all these instruments and was going through these phases when one year or every two years, I would be completely obsessed with the piano and making incredible progress with that, and the other instruments were just floating along,” she said. “And I would cycle through each instrument. First it was flute, then it was violin and then it was piano and I came back to violin and that’s kind of what I stayed with.” The reason she stuck with the violin, she said, was because it was an instrument where she was not limited by her physical attributes. “When I was growing up [and playing piano], my hands weren’t very large and when you’re learning a classical repertoire, when you’re playing very large intervals, it's
really difficult, unreasonably difficult when you have small hands,” she said. She encountered a similar problem with the flute. “You have to take long phrases, you have to take a deep breath and when you’re 12, you can't really play at the level of a 20-year-old because you don’t have the breath capacity, so I kept hitting a wall musically just because of that,” she said. “That’s why I gravitated towards the violin – partly because of that and also because I always felt like I was more passionate about the sound of the violin. Plus, there’s something cool about being able to carry your instrument with you. It’s like a teddy bear.” While Mateo does sometimes get asked to play classically, at roughly 90 percent of her shows, she plays newer classical, 21st century music. At just 23-years-old, she has played at venues like Carnegie Hall, the Times Center and has toured multiple European countries. “It’s amazing and humbling and once in a while it can be scary but it’s an amazing thing when you walk out on stage and the lights are on you,” she said. Still, Mateo said, she'd much rather perform in an intimate setting. “I love spaces where you can feel that personal connection,” she said. “Whether it’s an art gallery in Beacon or an open mic night, I love feeling close to my audience.” For more information on Adrianna Mateo, visit her Facebook page at www.facebook.com/Adrianna.mateo. violin. To listen to Mateo’s music, you may also visit her SoundCloud page at soundcloud.com/adriannamateo.