Peter Rivera (born November 12, 1946 in Ponce, Puerto Rico) represents District 76 in the New York State Assembly, which comprises West Farms, Van Nest, Castle Hill and Parkchester.

Born in Ponce, Puerto Rico, he holds a degree in Business Administration from Pace College, 1968, and a J.D. from St. John's Law School, 1974. The following year he was admitted to the Bar.

Beginning his career as a patrolman and detective with the NYPD in the South Bronx, Rivera then became an agent with the Drug Enforcement Administration. After graduating from law school he began to work as an Assistant District Attorney in the Homicide Bureau of the Bronx District Attorney's Office. He has been in private law practice since 1978.

First elected to the Assembly in 1992, Rivera is the current Chairman of the New York Assembly's Puerto Rican/Hispanic Task force and Assembly Committee on Mental Health, Mental Retardation, and Developmental Disabilities. He remains the highest-ranking self-described Latino officeholder within the State Assembly.

Mike Pinera (born September 29, 1948) is an American guitarist who started professionally in the late 1960s with the group Blues Image, which had a #4 hit in 1970 with their song "Ride Captain Ride". After the breakup of that group, he joined Iron Butterfly, and later formed the group Ramatam. Pinera was then the founding member of the band New Cactus, a later incarnation of the band Cactus. He was the guitarist for Alice Cooper from 1980-1983. He is currently performing with the Classic Rock All Stars. Pinera met the band Renegade through their manager, Kim Richards, who also managed Pinera at the time. They remained close friends and appear together in the television special "Renegade Live @ The House of Blues", which was filmed before a sold out audience at the Hollywood House of Blues.

Mike Pinera and his group Blues Image were co-founders and house band at Thee Image, a Miami Beach concert venue they opened and co-headlined on weekends. Blues Image soon signed with Atlantic Records where they scored the major hit "Ride Captain Ride" which Pinera co-wrote and sang. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) first certified Ride Captain Ride Gold on August 4, 1970. "Ride Captain Ride" has been featured in television programs and on several popular music compilations offered on television, such as "Flower Power, Have A Nice Day, PBS-My Music The 70's and Sounds of the 70's." The song has now reached multi-platinum status and been included in many feature motion pictures, including Anchorman.

Eddie Money (born Edward Joseph Mahoney, March 21, 1949 in Brooklyn, New York) is an American rock guitarist, saxophonist and singer-songwriter who found success in the 1970s and 1980s with a string of Top 40 hits and platinum albums. Rock impresario Bill Graham said of Money "Eddie Money has it all...Not only can he sing, write and play, but he is a natural performer."

Money originally followed his father's footsteps and became a police officer in the late 1960s. As his interest in music intensified, he eventually ended his law enforcement career in favor of becoming a full time musician. He moved to Berkeley, California and became a regular at area clubs, where he eventually got enough attention to secure a recording contract with Columbia Records. Later in the 1970s, he charted with singles such as "Baby Hold On" and "Two Tickets to Paradise". Money continued his successes and took advantage of the MTV music video scene in the early 1980s with his humorous narrative videos for "Shakin'" and "Think I'm in Love", but his career began to fail him after several unsuccessful releases in the mid-1980s, accompanied by his struggles with drug addiction.

Smile Empty Soul is an American post-grunge band from Santa Clarita, California.

Smile Empty Soul formed in 1998, while its original members were attending different high schools in the Santa Clarita area. The band, originally a three-piece group, consisted of vocalist and guitarist Sean Danielsen, bassist Ryan Martin and drummer Derek Gledhill.

After playing numerous hometown gigs, Smile Empty Soul ventured to the Castro District, and later passed a demo to John Parker of the West Hollywood indie label, ThroBack Records. That later led to a record deal with Jason Flom's Lava Records.

On May 27, 2003, the band released their self titled debut album Smile Empty Soul. The album was produced by John Lewis Parker, and three successful singles were released. In March 2005, the album was certified gold with sales in excess of 500,000+.

Sometime after the recording of their second album "Anxiety" was finished, drummer Derek Gledhill was replaced by Dominic Weir.

On September 22, 2005, during a concert at The Beaumont Club in Kansas City, Missouri, frontman Sean Danielsen stated that their new album Anxiety, would not be released due to issues with Lava Records. The band told fans that in order to receive the new album they could purchase one of a very limited number of burned copies or attempt to download the album online via BitTorrent.

Papa Roach is an American rock band from Vacaville, California. Their first major-label release was the triple-platinum album Infest (2000). The group's success continued with their gold album Lovehatetragedy (2002), their platinum album Getting Away with Murder (2004), The Paramour Sessions (2006), and Metamorphosis (2009). The band's seventh album, Time for Annihilation, was released on August 31, 2010. Papa Roach has sold about 10 million album copies worldwide, and are known for their hits "Last Resort", "Between Angels And Insects", "She Loves Me Not", "...To Be Loved", "Scars", "Forever", and "Hollywood Whore".

The formation of Papa Roach began in January 1993, when lead singer Jacoby Shaddix and drummer Dave Buckner met on the Vacaville High School football field during an intense match, where the two ended up talking about music. They were later joined by trombonist Ben Luther and bass guitarist Will James. They decided to enter the school's talent show, where they performed a cover version of Jimi Hendrix's song "Fire", but they ultimately did not win the contest. In March 1993, trombonist Ben Luther was replaced by lead guitarist Jerry Horton from nearby Vanden High School. Horton was introduced to the band through his girlfriend, who was a fan. However, Jerry was at first apprehensive about joining the band because Jacoby, Buckner, and Will all went to different high schools. At this point, Papa Roach were practicing every day and touring on every gig they could get. Their first tour van was called Moby Dick, where Jacoby was inspired to come up with his first stage name "Coby Dick". The band's name comes from Shaddix's step-grandfather, Howard William Roatch, who was nicknamed Papa Roach. Roatch committed suicide in 2006 because he was diagnosed with terminal cancer. The band pay homage to him with The Paramour Sessions and during live performances of the song "Roses On My Grave".