Letters: Winter 2015
Bringing the angels home, kind words for the print magazine’s new look, and remembering “When Billy the Kid Came to Town.”
HELPING TO BRING THE ANGELS HOME
I read with great interest the article about the angels finding their way home (“The Lost Angels”). I’m a trustee for the Trenton City Museum at Ellarslie, and last February, I wandered in to see two beautiful stained-glass panels that were baffling our appraisers. I gave them the background on the Normal and Model schools, and suggested to the Costantinis that they should contact the college or donate them to the Trenton City Museum. That was before I read your article and learned the panels did belong to the college and had disappeared. By the way, my father, John Vernam, and his sister, Mary Vernam, were graduates of the Model School, circa 1914.
Carol Vernam Hill ’73
KIND WORDS FOR OUR NEW LOOK
Thank you for the most comprehensive, professionally written edition of TCNJ Magazine I’ve seen since I started receiving it! You folks should be commended—you’ve noticeably taken it up a notch! Keep up the great work!
Ken Baumann ’82
The writer is vice president of the Alumni Association.
I love the new look of the mag. Great stuff!
Bob Mantz Jr. ’94
“WHEN BILLY THE KID CAME TO TOWN’”
I attended the Feb. 8, 1974, Billy Joel concert on campus (“Looking back”). I was a disc jockey and sports director for WTSR at the time, and I had the pleasure to interview Billy backstage prior to the show. Back then, Joel was a typical 25-year-old breakout performer, cocky but unsure if his second album, Piano Man, was going to lift his career to a new level. We know now how things turned out! That three-minute interview with Billy, which I still have some 40 years later on tape, remains one of the highlights of my life. I’ve seen more than 60 Billy Joel concerts throughout the years, but that snowy, February night was a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
Jay Finkel ’75
I loved The Byrds, but Roger McGuinn was lucky Billy Joel and his band members were late. There is no way McGuinn could have followed that act! What a great show and memories.
Keith Van Doren ’75
Roger McGuinn’s performance wasn’t very memorable that night: the snowstorm, watching Reefer Madness, and waiting for Billy are what stand out. It was a surreal experience, almost a mini Woodstock. The fact that a full audience sat and waited for Joel and his band to arrive was amazing. His performance was outstanding, and I agree with The Signal writer: it was certainly the best concert I saw at Trenton State.
Jane Cohen Sost ’70
Posted on March 24, 2015
