Download this issue as a PDF - Columbia College - Columbia ...

AROUND THE QUADS COLUMBIA COLLEGE TODAY COLUMBIA COLLEGE TODAY AROUND THE QUADS
Folk singer and songwriter
Anthony da Costa ’13 was
just 13 when he started frequenting
open mics near his
hometown of Pleasantville,
N.Y., in Westchester. He had not yet
reached his next birthday when he
branched out to venues in New York
City, including Columbia’s iconic Postcrypt
Coffeehouse. And by the time
he enrolled in the College itself,
he’d performed around the country,
recorded several albums and distinguished
himself as the youngest
winner of several prestigious folk
competitions.
“He lives and breathes it,” says
Fred Gillen Jr., a Hudson Valleybased
folk artist who has produced
three of da Costa’s albums. “He
also is not afraid to try something
new if it turns him on, whether it
is commercially viable or not. This
is important and he gets it. Some
artists have success with one thing
and they do it over and over and get
stuck there. Anthony is constantly
moving forward and changing.”
In April, da Costa released his
ninth album and fifth studio production,
Secret Handshake, which he
calls his best assemblage of songs.
“Every song I’ve ever written is a
love song in some way, shape or
form,” says da Costa, who describes
his style as a blend of folk, rock,
pop, country and Americana. “I get
influences from my own life, my
friends’ lives. Sometimes I’ll make
something up completely.”
One of his older songs, “Poor Poor
Pluto,” speaks of the former planet’s
demotion. “But even that is a love
song,” he says.
Da Costa credits his parents for exposing
him to music. He attributes his
passion for folk specifically to his mother,
who encouraged him to join the local
church choir at 5. He started taking
guitar lessons when he was 10. “I never
wanted to look at the book. I wanted to
learn songs, so my teacher would just
give up and teach me a new Beatles
STUDENT SPOTLIGHT
Anthony da Costa ’13 Juggles Academics and Music Career
B y Nat h a l i e A l o n s o ’08
song every week,” he says. “Especially
with folk music, I’ve learned more by
doing and being out there and learning
from other writers and actually playing
for people.”
The late New York City disc jockey
Pete Fornatele branded da Costa a “very
young man with a very old soul,” yet as
a teenager breaking into a musical style
By the time Anthony da Costa ’13 enrolled in the College,
he was a familiar face at Postcrypt Coffeehouse,
where he has been performing since he was 13.
PHOTO: ERIN FOSTER
associated with a more mature crowd,
da Costa had to dig deep to prove himself.
“I was always a lot younger than
most of the people I played shows with,
people two or three times my age,” he
says. (He was 16 when he won the Kerrville
Folk Festival New Folk and the
Falcon Ridge Folk Festival Emerging
Artist competitions.) “It was easy to
wonder, ‘What can this kid even write
songs about?’ To that I’d say, ‘I’m a human
being, too, and I’m still experiencing
things.’”
In high school, da Costa leaned toward
attending music conservatory for
his next step. He switched tracks in part
because a mentor, the late singer-songwriter
Jack Hardy, encouraged him to
seek a more comprehensive education.
“He said, ‘Grasshopper, you’ve spent
enough years putting stuff out there,
it’s time to put some stuff back in,’” da
Costa recalls. “It felt like the right thing
to do. I can learn enough [about
music] from traveling and playing.”
During the school year, da Costa
plays shows off-campus every week,
sometimes embarking on weekendlong
trips. In the summertime, he
performs across the country, as a solo
act as well as part of the trio Elliot,
Rose, da Costa. His 2012 tour included
his first performances in Canada
and a three-week tour of Denmark.
Since his first year in the College,
da Costa also has devoted whatever
spare time he has to helping run
Postcrypt. Established in 1964, the
acoustic-only, 30-seat venue in the
basement of St. Paul’s Chapel features
live entertainment on Friday and
Saturday nights during the academic
year. Da Costa typically hosts one
night a month, books talent, serves as
emcee and is involved in planning the
coffeehouse’s annual Folk Festival.
“There’s nothing like it,” he says
of Postcrypt. “The atmosphere is
wonderful; it’s all student-run. The
vibe has always been really nice.”
Da Costa is majoring in history
with a focus on classical studies.
Though his academic course load
and performance schedule leave little
time for sleep, da Costa has never considered
a hiatus. “I want to get an education,
but I can’t stop playing music,”
he says. “I need to do it.”
To view videos of da Costa performing, go
to Web Extras at college.columbia.edu/cct.
View his website at anthonydacosta.com.
Nathalie Alonso ’08, from Queens, is a
freelance journalist and an editorial producer
of LasMayores.com, Major League
Baseball’s official Spanish language website.
Sreenivasan Named Chief Digital Officer
Sreenath Sreenivasan ’93J, former
professor and dean of student affairs
at the Journalism School, has
been named the University’s first
chief digital officer and started work in
the new position in July.
As CDO, Sreenivasan will lead the
University’s efforts in digital media and
online education both on and off campus.
“Sree’s portfolio will cover a broad range
of issues at the intersection
of technology, education
and digital media,” Provost
John Coatsworth said in announcing
the appointment.
Technology increasingly
has been incorporated into
courses on campus, and
Columbia has used elements
of online education
for some time at the Engineering
School, Journalism
School and School of Continuing
Education, among
others, and in departments
that work with the Columbia Center for
New Media Teaching and Learning, an
innovator in the field. But looking ahead,
Coatsworth said, “The goal is to ensure
that we deploy new tools and technologies
in interactive and distance learning
to ensure the richest and most dynamic
learning environment possible for Columbia’s
students.”
There are at least three ways universities
now are being affected by online
education, Sreenivasan says: through
open online classes, which make lectures
available for free to the public; through
hybrid classes, which combine days in a
classroom with the rest of the time online;
and through online education meant to
enhance the classroom experience for
Have You Moved?
To ensure that you receive
CCT and other College
information, let us know if
you have a new postal or
email address, a new phone
number or even a new name.
Click “Contact Us” at
college.columbia.edu/cct
or call 212-851-7852.
PHOTO: JOSEPH LIN ’09J
existing students in residence.
“We’re studying all of them,” Sreenivasan
says. “There’s a lot of buzz about this
stuff — we haven’t decided what we’ll
pursue.”
Sreenivasan has taught at the Journalism
School since he graduated — his
specialty has been new media and digital
journalism, and more recently social media
— and for the past seven years also
has been a dean. He has
led workshops in digital
journalism and social media
in newsrooms around the
world, been an on-air tech
commentator for local TV
stations in New York and
is a frequent guest speaker
for journalism groups. He
also has been an informal
consultant on campus for
developing platforms for
online education, websites
and using social media.
“Before, I’d get calls and
be a sounding board or answer questions
as a favor. Now it’s part of my job,”
Sreenivasan says.
One of Sreenivasan’s mantras regarding
technology is, “Be an early tester, a
late adopter.” He plans to promote that
philosophy University-wide. “We’re all
trying to figure out what works. We want
to be thoughtful and strategic about it
and not jump into one thing right away.
Across 250 years at Columbia we’ve figured
out how to teach and how to learn
really well. How do we use some of the
new technologies and techniques to build
on that, without affecting what’s been
working so well? There’s no rush to announce
anything big.”
Shira Boss ’93,’97J,’98 SIPA
Marching Band
Exhibition
The history of Columbia’s marching,
concertizing and pranking
music-makers will be explored
this fall in a special exhibition, “The Cleverest
Band in the World: Marching and
Playing for Columbia,” at the Columbia
Alumni Center, 622 W. 113th St. (between
Broadway and Riverside Drive).
The Columbia University Band
Alumni Association has collected a
range of memorabilia to tell the story
of CU bands from 1904 to today. An
accompanying video will highlight band
activities from serious to zany, with a
soundtrack that includes recorded music
by the group not heard in decades,
including pieces performed at Carnegie
Hall in the 1960s. The exhibition will
open at a pre-Homecoming reception
for band alumni and current members
on Friday, October 19, at the Center,
and run through the end of the year.
The band alumni association still
is accepting donations and loans of
“bandiana” for the exhibition and for
a permanent band history archive. To
contribute items, contact J. Donald
Smith ’65, former band head manager
and coordinator of the exhibition: jdon
aldsmith65@comcast.net.
Become a fan of CCT (facebook.
com/columbiacollegetoday) and
Columbia College (facebook.
com/columbiacollege1754).
Read the latest issue of CCT,
keep in touch with fellow alumni and
get all the latest College news.
DATE SMART!
Join the singles’
network exclusively
for graduates, faculty
and students of the
Ivy League
MIT, Stanford and
few others.
www.rightstuffdating.com
1-800-988-5288
FALL 2012
14
FALL 2012
15