By Scott Brinton
George was an eighth-grader at Merrick Avenue Middle School. His mother, Lisa, arranged the baby-sitting job. George loved Robbie. "He was just a kid who was always happy," George remembered.
Robbie died in the fall of 2005 at age 9. He was rounding the bases during a Little League baseball practice at Levy-Lakeside Elementary School when he collapsed at home plate. His father, Craig, an oral surgeon, performed CPR on Robbie, who never regained consciousness. He had an apparent heart condition that had gone undetected.
Robbie's parents, Craig and Jill of Merrick, created the Robbie Levine Foundation to ensure that Little League ball fields are equipped with defibrillators, which the couple believes might have saved their son's life. At the annual Robbie Levine Run/Walk last month, the foundation raised nearly $50,000.
As a close friend of the Levine family, George wanted to help. So the Kennedy High School senior did what he does best -- he organized a concert. Since age 14, George has put on rock shows at the Knights of Columbus Hall in Wantagh and Temple Beth Am in Merrick.
As his Senior Experience project at Kennedy, George arranged a blowout concert to benefit the Robbie Levine Foundation at Temple Beth Am last weekend. Senior Experience connects Central High School District 12th-graders with internships. The program differs slightly at each of the three local high schools -- Calhoun, Kennedy and Mepham. But the theme is the same: Give seniors the chance to get real-world work experience in the fields they're interested in pursuing as careers. George, the Kennedy senior class president who was voted Most Likely to Succeed by his peers, wants to become a music-industry mogul.
During an interview, George looked cool and casual in his father's Bellmore law office, wearing a T-shirt, khaki shorts and sandals, with a pair of black sunglasses wrapped around the top of his head. He had spent the past month working furiously to assemble the Rock for Robbie concert, which attracted a host of up-and-coming local bands, including Permanent Me, Patent Pending and Edison Glass. George said the event raised $2,000 for the Robbie Levine Foundation.
Guerilla Man Productions, the company George formed last summer with help from his father, Harry, staged the event. George's partners in the venture include Kevin O'Braskin, John Hohos and Lee Levenberg, all Kennedy seniors.
George serves as president of Guerilla Man. O'Braskin and Hohos are the company's booking agents, who vet bands looking to play local venues and sign them up for shows. Levenberg, who invested $2,000 in Guerilla Man last summer, works the door at concerts. He's not into the music industry the way his three friends are. He is, admittedly, simply along for the ride. He plans to major in business at the University of Delaware in the fall.
O'Braskin's and Hohos's commitment to the music business is, like George's, unwavering. The two once had a band together. O'Braskin, who played bass, received a full scholarship to study music industry at SUNY-Oneonta, and Hohos, the guitarist, will major in economics at St. John's University in the fall. "We gave up the band to start working on" Guerilla Man, O'Braskin said.
O'Braskin and Hohos take their work seriously. "We're trying to revive the Long Island music scene," they said. The pair said it had hit the doldrums for a few years. There just weren't enough local shows displaying local talent, they said.
Hohos said Guerilla Man shows sell out fast. "We announce a show, and we can book it in an hour," he said. Shows generally attract upward of 600 teens.
For Senior Experience, George, O'Braskin, Hohos and Levenberg regularly checked in with Jill Levine. They signed up local sponsors, including the Pit Stop restaurant and Royal Music, a guitar shop. Both are on Sunrise Highway in Merrick. They got T-shirts donated for the event, arranged for insurance and set up a concession stand with pizza and candy bought from BJs. They also arranged for the lighting and sound systems.
In short, the four put on what was, by all appearances, a professionally staged rock concert. None of them is older than 18.
"I like booking things, managing things," George said. His creativity and industriousness in arranging concerts over the past four years recently earned him a place in Syracuse University's new Bandier School for Music and the Entertainment Industries, underwritten by Martin Bandier, a 1962 Syracuse graduate who went on to become EMI Music Publishing chairman and chief executive officer. Only 20 students from around the country were selected for the program in its debut year. Students will earn degrees in recording and allied entertainment industries.
Guerilla Man Productions will likely break even this year, after four investors poured $8,000 into the company last summer. It was doing well financially earlier in the 2006-07 school year. The company staged a Halloween party for Kennedy's senior class. Then Guerilla Man took on New York City and lost -- big time. The company arranged for a party at a hot city club. Expenses far surpassed revenue, and the company went into the red. A series of concerts this spring at Temple Beth Am, however, put Guerilla Man back in the black. George expects that his investors will make a small profit when all is said and done.
No doubt, George has an entrepreneur's spirit. In addition to producing shows, he also does graphic designs for bar mitzvahs. "I got really good at PhotoShop," he said. He also likes to sell stuff. He recently sold a Firebird Camaro and a 38-foot trailer for a friend over the Internet, netting himself a sizable profit.
But organizing concerts, he said, is his thing. At a concert, he said, "Everyone's there to have a good time. Everyone's there to enjoy the music. It's pretty awesome."
Comments about this story? SBrinton@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 203.
