Stone’s Tunes

A deep dive into Mr. Stone’s world of music

Mr. Stone with one of his Spotify playlists

by Isabel Andjell and Vanessa Caraballo, Staff Writers

A student’s walk on DDCUS’s third floor ensures two things: they will listen to some great music, and they will get stuck in a traffic jam. Aside from the tiresome traffic jams, Mr. Stone’s songs fill the hallways with energy and are sure to put a pep in anyone’s step. Mr. Stone has been a lover of music his entire life and has been in two bands, The Cortlandt Homes and Bull Run Road. He was in The Cortlandt Homes for around 10 years in Chicago and has been in Bull Run Road for five years.

Mr. Stone views his music as a solar system, calling his favorite bands and artists his inner sanctum. The inner sanctum comprises Radiohead, Beach Slang, and The Gaslight Anthem, just to name a few. However, Mr. Stone has a trinity inside the inner sanctum: The Smiths, The Cure, and R.E.M. Aside from these artists, there is a creator of his solar system. The creator is Bruce Springsteen, an artist that Mr. Stone has treasured for decades. 

When asked why he plays music for his students, he responded that he simply does it because he wants to listen to his music in class. He also said he wants to introduce his students to new things, and music is a great way to do that. When he was teaching in Chicago, one of his students even messaged him out of the blue explaining how the music changed his life. From Mr. Stone’s point of view, music is something that holds a lot of power and can even be enough to change lives.