MUSIC
SPOTLIGHTONBRO4
B
RIDGEFIELD PARK BOY BAND GETS NATIONAL EXPOSURE
WRITTEN BY JIM BECKERMAN PHOTOGRAPHY BY CHRIS PEDOTA
“
rotherhood” is a powerful
word. But not, as we nor-
mally use it, a literal one.
When we say we love our
“brothers,” we usually mean
the human race – not the two
little brats in the next room who ratted
us out to mom for tracking mud in the
living room.
But CaseyJones, Madison, Skyler
and Levi Alam of Ridgefield Park – col-
lectively known as the boy band Bro4
– really do love each other like brothers.
And why not? It’s what they are.
“We were always close,” Madison
says. “When we would have a problem
at school and couldn’t really reach each
other during the day, because of our
schedules at school, we would meet in
front of the school, and walk home, and
sit down and talk. At every point where
we weren’t in class, we were together as
much as we could be.”
Of course, they share good times as
well as bad. And lately, there have been
a lot of good times.
Much of this stems from the
unexpected national exposure they got,
back in April, when they were selected
to perform at the yearly White House
Easter Egg Roll in Washington D.C.
An honor, at any time. But with
Donald Trump in the White House,
it was also a once-in-a-lifetime PR
opportunity.
Everything this particular president
does, after all, is news. And that
includes what struck many as the oddly
haphazard planning of the 138-year-old
annual event for children – which
wouldn’t normally be considered a big
presidential lift. ABC late-night show
host Jimmy Kimmel, in particular, was
merciless.
IN TUNE WITH EACH OTHER (Opposite page) The members of Bro4 – (left to right) CaseyJones,
Skyler, Levi and Madison – practice at home in their basement studio. (Above) The brothers enjoy
hanging out at Overpeck County Park.
Donald Trump must think that the
Easter egg roll was “a menu item at P.F.
Chang’s,” Kimmel quipped.
After razzing on the bureaucratic
snafus, including the late ordering of
the wooden Easter eggs, Kimmel took
aim at the entertainment lineup. The
previous year, he noted, the celebrity
guests had included Idina Menzel,
Shaquille O’Neal and the Muppets. This
year?
Cue the image of Bro4 – a group, until
then, pretty much unknown beyond the
teen set of North Jersey.
“They’re like, ‘What the hell are we
doing at this thing?’” Kimmel joshed.
But he also added, “I feel we’re going to
be hearing a lot more about them.”
Kimmel was in fact prophetic.
Because after the event, he featured the
boys on ABC’s late-night Jimmy Kimmel
Live! again.
Not that the egg roll didn’t go
swimmingly. It did – almost literally so,
given the rainy weather on the big day.
CaseyJones, 18 (guitar) Madison, 20
(bass), Levi, 21 (keyboards) and Skyler,
23 (drums) played and sang a 25-minute
set on a raised stage on the south lawn.
Their close harmonizing, in the manner
of One Direction, was heard by several
thousand people, Levi estimates.
But it so happens that kids are
admitted to the Easter egg roll in five or
six successive shifts. If you happened
to photograph the stage where Bro4 >
(201) FAMILY | AUGUST 2017
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