The Post-Standard featured an article “Syracuse University music major interrupts classes Tuesday with impromptu saxophone performance” about Syracuse University senior Ryan Mantell’s musical interlude in Syracuse University School of Information Studies Professor Anthony Rotolo’s Social Media for the Music Business class on Tuesday, April 19, 2011.
“He came in and worked his way through the room. Everybody was stunned. No one really said anything at first,” Rotolo told the newspaper. “Just as it was getting to the end, people started asking if this was part of someone’s presentation.”
Mantell, inspired by a popular YouTube video by Sergio Flores, was hoping to remind people of the importance of organizations like the recently shut-down Syracuse Symphony Orchestra to aspiring musicians. He started performing around 10 a.m. Tuesday morning, dressed in a mullet wig, black leather jacket, and sunglasses.
Though earlier in the day, two professors threatened to call the Department of Public Safety on Mantell, Rotolo enjoyed the performance.
“I think that’s one of the great things about a college campus is that there’s so many people with creativity and talent,” Rotolo told the newspaper. “Things like this are part of life at a university like Syracuse.”