Hobart and William Smith Colleges

19 March 2014 Lubick '16 Featured in USA Today

Elias Eli Lubick 16 and his brother Nate who attends Georgetown were recently featured in a USA Today article about their taste in music and musical abilities. Eli Lubick was a member of the Hobart basketball team and his brother a member of the Georgetown team.

The article explains their father David Lubick P16 was a professional saxophone player for a number of years and introduced his sons to the music he was interested in, jazz, Motown, Soul and R&B.

At first, the boys complained. But slowly, they started to appreciate the music. Eventually, they sang along, he said.

Singing was the thing that they both really began with, David Lubick said, adding that the boys werent interested in playing piano despite his attempts to inspire them. They didnt play instruments. They wanted to be involved with music, and the both have great voices and great ears.

Over winter break, the Lubick brothers spent a night recording a cover of John Mayers Daughters.

In speaking of his brother, Nate is quoted, His talent is his voice. I just love music and have always been around it. My brother has kind of stuck with it. He performs.

The full article from USA Today follows.

USA Today
Georgetown forward Nate Lubick has eclectic musical taste
Nicole Auerbach USA TODAY Sports February 25, 2014

If youre a Georgetown student, chances are Nate Lubick doesnt approve of your taste in music.

College is the wrong place to be interested in music, especially these days, Nate says. People listen to horrible music. Everybody loves hip-hop. Everybody loves techno and house music. Thats whats huge right now, and that makes me want to hit myself in the head with a frying pan.

Nate is known better for his basketball hes a senior forward for the 16-11 Hoyas but he also knows what hes talking about when it comes to music. His father, David, was a professional saxophone player for a number of years. Now, David teaches English and provides saxophone lessons at St. Marks School, a boarding school in Southborough, Mass. He also works in the schools admissions office.

When Nate and his younger brother, Eli, were kids, David introduced them to the types of music he loved. Over long car rides, hed play jazz songs. Or Motown. Soul. R&B.

At first, the boys complained. But slowly, they started to appreciate the music. Eventually, they sang along.

Singing was the thing that they both really began with, says David, who also tried to get his sons interested in playing piano, but ultimately failed. They didnt play instruments. They wanted to be involved with music, and the both have great voices and great ears.

With Nate in particular, its Nates ear.

From an early age, David says, Nate could imitate sounds and duplicate peoples voices. It was remarkable, David says. Nates brother, Eli, has perfect pitch and can write music, Nate says.

Over an all-too-short winter break, Nate and Eli spent a night recording a cover of John Mayers Daughters. Nate says he probably recorded more than a hundred covers of songs he liked in high school. He still listens to those recordings.

I definitely used to be a lot, lot better than I am now, he says.

When you train your voice like that, and youre constantly singing and constantly listening to good music all the time, its so much different. I kind of gave it up the first three years I was at Georgetown, and now Im pretty bad. This year, I started to get back into it.

That means hes been singing alone, not performing anywhere publicly. Though he keeps fairly quiet about his singing, Nates teammates know he can carry a tune.

Some of them have heard me, or tracks of me singing on my iPod, he says. They always try to get me to do it but I havent broken out yet.

He laughs. He knows this is all a bit unusual for a Division-I college basketball player. He lists off his favorite jazz musicians: John Coltrane, Charlie Parker and Dexter Gordon. He brings up Stevie Wonder, Harold Melvin and Otis Redding. The Beatles. He loves soul music. The only contemporary artists he really likes are John Mayer and John Legend. Before Georgetown games, he listens to Sly and the Family Stone not really pump-up music at all, he says, laughing.

Eli, a sophomore at Hobart College, performs, records and writes music. His talent is his voice, Nate says. I just love music and have always been around it. My brother has kind of stuck with it. He performs.

Or, as his father puts it, Eli is really, really starting to understand music. Thats something that makes David happy, just as his sons trip to the recording facility over winter break did.

Thats the point you think, Wow, this was a great thing. This was a gift, getting them interested in music was a gift, not an unfortunate consequence of what Im interested in,' David says.

Thats how these things go; kids often end up interested in what their parents like. For David, that happened in two areas. He spent 17 seasons as the head coach of the St. Marks boys basketball team, and he coached both of his sons. Besides music, Nate says basketball is the only other thing in my life that Im completely obsessed with.

This season, Nate is averaging 5.4 points, 6.0 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game for the Hoyas, who started the season slowly but are on the NCAA tournament bubble after wins this month against Michigan State, Providence and Xavier.

As his senior season winds down, Nates started to think about what hell do next. Hes in Georgetowns business school, and he says hell likely end up working in New York when his basketball career ends.

The basketball world, the business world Im interested in pursuing and the type of music I listen to, Nate says. Theyre (three) kinds of things that dont really go together.

And yet, somehow, they do.