As Henry Basta hung in the air on a rock-climbing wall filming the internet sensation, “I Tell em’ Towson University,” video he discovered something he wasn’t quite expecting-a fear of heights. Henry had no idea he had a fear of heights.
“I got halfway [up the wall] and looked up and I couldn’t go up any more,” Basta said. “I was really scared. It’s my smooth acting that hides that.”
It was an unexpected discovery, just like the journey that Henry Basta and Jay Karolenko, members of the band Sharpened Crayons, made in penning the theme song to Towson that has gained over 31,000 views.
“I Tell em’ Towson University,” is a promotional video that was created in 2011 for Towson. Henry and Jay were hired by Towson’s undergraduate marketing department to write, film, and edit the video.
Henry and Jay’s paths crossed long before they even made it to Towson- they met in their high school trigonometry class. Henry remembers the meeting as having “a goofy conversation with the person in front of me,” the person turned out to be Jay.
It wasn’t until a few years later when Jay, who at this point was a freshmen at Towson, made a visit to his old high school and ran into Henry, who also happened to be making a visit that day.
They had always talked about making music together and decided then that it was finally time.
They started making YouTube videos featuring original songs. The first one was called, “I was a Power Ranger.” They continued to make videos-in total they have over 30. All their videos are humorous. As Jay likes to say, “We don’t take our selves too seriously.”
Their music and videos are very goofy, in fact they credit “ A Goofy Movie” as one of their biggest inspirations.
“We are influenced by a lot of different things, but especially the 90s,” Jay said. “That and Liam Nesson and Oregon Trail.”
Soon thereafter they decided to enter a contest that Cook library was hosting. They had to make a video about Cook and the winner received a small monetary prize.
They put the video together during spring break and wore headphones (so they could hear the music) while they filmed in the library. With that, “What I Like About Cook” was born. The video was their first big hit. After that, they entered a contest through PBS (which they won) where they had to create a commercial with a jingle.
Like a box of sharpened crayons, the sky seemed to be the limit for them, they said.
They were then approached by the undergraduate marketing department to create, “I Tell em’ Towson,” which they spent four months creating. The video was used as a promotional tool to attract prospective students-and it worked. The video currently has over 31,000 views and 290 “likes” on YouTube.
While Henry has since graduated (and Jay is in his senior year as a music major) they continue to say that it was the best experience of their college education. “It was completely and utterly rad,”Henry said. “It was a great way to end my senior year and a great way to start my professional career.”
Henry, who graduated with a degree in mass communication, advertising, and a film minor still gushes about all the great people he met and worked with during the project.
“We had a great cinematographer, Chad Harrell,” he said. “We call him Chad Magic Chad because he the handled the shoot with magic.”
They want to remind the ladies that they create all their music for them. “The ladies are a BIG influence of the band, they are basically who we cater too,” Henry said. He adds, “We are single of course, with a band like this are you kidding?!”
As they continue to make music while pursuing other careers, it all comes down to the simple message they say they were taught as children with a box of crayons.
Jay said, “Dream big. The sky’s the limit, just like when you are coloring with a box of sharpened crayons.”