Alumni Beat

Last summer, Berklee marked a few milestones and connections with alumni who participated in the Berklee City Music and Five-Week Summer Performance programs. Members of the college and larger Boston community were treated to concerts and clinics by returning alumni with words and music to share.

Back in 1992, several young men met at Berklee’s Five-Week Summer Performance Program. Each had a passion for “old-school funk” music, and they started playing together regularly. As the group developed musically, it would go to local Boston clubs like Wally’s and say to club owners, “Let us play!” As a result, they named their group Lettuce. Since those days, some band members have gone on to work with such artists as John Scofield, Dave Matthews, Average White Band, Ledisi, Britney Spears, and Eminem, but they still gather often to play as a group.

The members of Lettuce—Adam Deitch ’98, Eric Krasno ’92, Adam “Shmeans” Smirnoff ’99, Erick E.D. “Jesus” Coomes ’99, Rashawn Ross ’00 and James Casey ’06—now live in Brooklyn but in July celebrated their band’s 20th anniversary with a return to Berklee where it all began. They offered an afternoon clinic at the Berklee Performance Center for students. Then that night, they performed a variety of material—including new tunes from their third studio album, FLY—to a packed house in the BPC.

This year also marked the 20th anniversary of the Berklee City Music Program (BCMP). The initiative has proven incredibly beneficial to at-risk children and teenagers by providing musical education appropriate for their age. Over the course of two decades, BCMP has seen tremendous growth as evidenced by its expansion beyond Boston to a network of 38 cities throughout the United States. On Sunday, August 5, alumni of the program returned to campus for a show and a reception to mark the anniversary of the program that played a part in their early years and helped them establish careers. Among the performers were L.A.-based songwriter Deanna DellaCioppa ’96 and Berklee Voice Department Instructor Nichelle Jones-Mungo ’97, to name only two. Happy anniversary to Lettuce and to BCMP!