Gary Greenberg, Kosuke Okamura, and Bennett Roth-Newell: Why support them?

There is more to my side of the story on more people that I'm about to profile from my point of view. They are Gary Greenberg, Kosuke Okamura, and Bennett Roth-Newell. So what makes each of the three special? And which person caught my attention a lot more because of one skill? Despite my English major, the answer lies in this blog, so read along and I'll describe from my point of view of who they are.

THE MANAGER OF SWEET HAYAH

So the manager of Sweet HayaH is the guy named Gary Greenberg, who happens to be a supporter of Soulful Obsession, something that I've talked about often on social media. To my take, and not the actual take of the band itself, Sweet HayaH is partially derived from the Chinese (particularly Yue/Cantonese) saying in martial arts, which in music, would be different. It resembles high energy and a lot of people trying to produce unique sounds, something that one of my friends is involved with - more of that in the next section.

Since the debut of Sweet HayaH, Gary Greenberg has been giving the right direction of overseeing many of the songs that Sweet HayaH have produced, and I was very lucky to have met him at a few locations in San Jose, the city of where I was born - and not far from a venue that Sweet HayaH last played in San Jose. I never encountered Gary's son, Joshua, until just recently. When I asked Joshua about following his his footsteps, he responded that he won't be pursuing that dream.

KOSUKE OKAMURA

I have seen Kosuke many times in San Jose, despite residing in San Martin. He takes many roles not limited to just being a musician - he plays drums with bands such as Sweet HayaH and Soulful Obsession with people like Lily Tran. He also teaches music at a local school within Santa Clara County of which he made the announcement a while ago.

I personally encountered him many times at concerts and sometimes at San Jose State University. One of my most memorable moments with Kosuke is meeting him at a recital within San Jose State University, of which he played music with fellow member Bennett Roth-Newell - more on him in the next section. Kosuke invited his family, including his mom, to a recital held in the music building of SJSU, and personally invited me along as well.

The sad part about him is that his schedule is unpredictable, so who knows when I'll see Okamura again if he does have time... However, the happy part about him is that Japanese food is somewhat similar to what I would eat, except that my parents do not like those stuff owing to their Chinese heritage. My brother, cousin, and I do like raw fish that the three of us would try to look for any Japanese food places that we feel comfortable and agree upon. I am also adapting to the habits that most Japanese would eat, although I still retain Chinese food as part of my family heritage.

BENNETT ROTH-NEWELL

There is a story that I particularly want to talk about, and that person is no other than Bennett Roth-Newell. He does operate a website, and is aware of my social media presence except Twitter - something that he may have been unaware, perhaps maybe until he read this blog. I'll probably post my blog only if he does notice my Twitter page.

But let me talk about some of the things that caught my attention. The story of me in relations to Bennett Roth-Newell started at San Jose State University, where Bennett, along with Kosuke, Veno Bender, and Lily Tran as Soulful Obsession, played a gig. I particularly loved every moment that Bennett does his rapping, which was my most favorite part about his voice.

Even though Soulful Obsession is offline as of yet, Bennett continues his schedule playing gigs for the bands that he is involved with, such as The JurassiC and The Vibrant Things. He also now teaches within Santa Clara County, which readers will find on his website.

One of my favorite moments was when I was on a trip to Sonoma State University in Spring 2015 of which I posted pictures on social media. While I was there, Bennett happened to noticed my pictures that triggered his past memories, of which I was surprised to notice. The Sonoma State trip was part of my assignment by the Educational Opportunity Program (EOP) at SJSU, something that I continue to be involved with.

The one wish that I would like Bennett to create and produce are some songs that only Bennett could sing as a rapper, accompanied by his crew doing the music. However, I only think that he is too busy to do so, owing to his schedule and the complicated timing. But nevertheless, Bennett still follows his dream of being a great musician both on the keys and a singer - including my favorite of his voice, rapping.

So if anyone has any questions or comments, please let me know!

Original Work: Kyle Chak
E-mail: chak595301@gmail.com
Twitter: @KyleSChak