{"id":4539,"date":"2020-05-13T16:27:41","date_gmt":"2020-05-13T20:27:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/?p=4539"},"modified":"2020-05-13T16:27:41","modified_gmt":"2020-05-13T20:27:41","slug":"passing-down-the-leather-jacket-and-a-bit-of-musical-history-too","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/?p=4539","title":{"rendered":"Passing down the leather jacket and a bit of musical history too"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>By Jennifer Vaida &amp; Selina Rivera<\/strong><br \/>\nArrow<br \/>\nUtica HS<br \/>\n1st Place Division 2, News Writing<br \/>\nPersonality Profile<\/p>\n<p><b>JUDGING CRITERIA<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lead captures attention, arouses curiosity; reason for sketch is made clear early in story<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Emphasizes fresh angle; individualizes person<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Colorful, lively presentation; effective form\/style<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Reflects adequate research, sound interviewing techniques from a variety of sources<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Avoids encyclopedic listing of subject\u2019s accomplishments<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Effective use of quotes<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Interesting; appeals to the emotions<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Proper diction\/grammar<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>It\u2019s the leather jacket that holds the past of a hidden star. Nobody would have guessed that custodian John Najbaroski was a musician for Annie Richards and Jester, as well as Johni Dee and the Mystery Train, which had hits on the radio.<\/p>\n<p>Sophomore Riley Davey was noticed by Najbaroski for his style and leather jacket. Once Najbaroski realized that Davey\u2019s jacket was ripped, he knew exactly what he wanted to do.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI saw the coat that he had and it had a snag in it. I told him to come over to the janitors\u2019 area, and I asked him to try the jacket on. It fit, so I told him to take it. At first he said he couldn\u2019t accept it.\u201d Najbaroski said. \u201cI wanted it to go to someone who would wear it and appreciate it, not just wear it as part of a costume.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>When Davey first received the jacket he was shocked and confused. His old leather jacket was two years old and had many holes in it, and was beginning to show some wear.<\/p>\n<p>Najbaroski knew that Davey would appreciate the jacket, which was an important milestone in his life. He knew he had found the perfect person to take care of it, just as he had many years ago.<\/p>\n<p>Najbaroski was a musician for most of his life, making music for a living, playing in numerous bands through the years, touring across the country, and performing regularly. He also considers himself as a \u201cjack of all trades\u201d when it comes to playing different musical instruments and genres.<\/p>\n<p>Najbaroski made a living off of music, so after retiring ten years ago it was a relief to get rid of anything career-related. He decided to come help out as a custodian in Utica following this retirement.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI played in many bands. I mostly played country\u2013the records that did well for me were country\u2013but I also played rock \u2018n\u2019 roll. Then as I got older; oldies and classic rock.\u201d Najbaroski said. \u201cI was lead guitarist; however, I did play a bit of everything. I\u2019ve played everything professionally: drums, keyboard, and bass.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Najbaroski\u2019s musical career was filled with opportunities few musicians achieve. He was able to create hit songs like \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=uYSdY_Xc7fI&amp;list=PLDA0DA26325EF738C&amp;index=2&amp;t=1s\">In the Moonlight<\/a>\u201d by Annie Richards and Jester, and \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.soundclick.com\/artist\/default.cfm?bandID=837484\">If I Had Any Sense At All<\/a>\u201d by Johni Dee and the Mystery Train. He also played with many celebrities.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMany years ago I got the chance to play and perform with Freddy Cannon. We would do car shows on the East coast,\u201d Najbaroski said. \u201cDown south we were always the headliner and there were a few other bands.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Now, every day seeing Davey wear the leather through the halls, Najbaroski gets nostalgic. He briefly flashes back the memories of the life he lived on stage, and brings him back to his years touring the country, before settling down.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNow I see [Davey] walk up and down the halls and it makes me smile. He\u2019s always getting use out of it,\u201d Najbaroski said. \u201cIt makes me happy, it\u2019s nice, and brings me back a lot of memories.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>After selling his motorcycle ten years ago and retiring from music, Najbaroski wouldn\u2019t be wearing it anymore. So, he wanted to make someone else feel special.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen he gave me the jacket it made me feel good,\u201d Davey said. \u201cMy first thought was that I now have a new jacket that is functional.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Najbaroski\u2019s clothing style is very similar to Davey\u2019s. Throughout his life he would wear the leather jacket to particular occasions.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI would wear it on stage at different shows and when I would take my wife riding on the motorcycle, but now that I\u2019m done with my past life I sold my bike,\u201d Najbaroski said. \u201cFrom the first day I saw [Davey], I\u2019ve always liked his style, and he reminds me of when I was kid.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>When Davey returned home from school, the jacket came as a great surprise to his family.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy family was happy for me and they thought it was a cool jacket,\u201d Davey said. \u201cThey didn\u2019t make a very big deal out of it, but for me it was really cool; it was a cool thing for him to do, and he seems like a really good guy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Now that Davey knows about the jacket\u2019s past, he\u2019s especially honored to wear it. Many memories were made while wearing the jacket, and now many more will be made in it while Davey pursues his own musical interests, playing the guitar just as Najbaroski did years ago.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/uhsarrow.org\/17961\/showcase\/passing-down-the-leather-jacket\/\">Click here for the story.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Jennifer Vaida &amp; Selina Rivera Arrow Utica HS 1st Place Division 2, News Writing Personality Profile JUDGING CRITERIA Lead captures attention, arouses curiosity; reason for sketch is made clear early in story Emphasizes fresh angle; individualizes person Colorful, lively presentation; effective form\/style Reflects adequate research, sound interviewing techniques from a variety of sources Avoids [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4,63],"tags":[175,21],"class_list":["post-4539","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-nw","category-personalityprofile-nw","tag-2019-20","tag-division2","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"featured_image_src":null,"featured_image_src_square":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"Joel Beeker","author_link":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/?author=9"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6K0n6-1bd","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4539","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4539"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4539\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4539"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4539"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4539"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}