After this weekend’s Reunions festivities come to a close, brothers Chris Prisco ’14 and Matt Prisco ’09 will hit the road, but not to head back home or back to work. They will embark on a 50-state road trip along with friend Bryan Gallagher as the country music trio Blinking Cowboys to raise public awareness for mental health issues.
Over the last year, Gallagher and Matt Prisco performed at New York-area country music shows and gained reputations as “superfans” of country music. Their namesake comes from the unique blinking cowboy hats they wear at performances. Fans have begun to recognize their hats and the unique T-shirts they wear, Matt Prisco explained.
The Blinking Cowboys LLC, now an official business, is also partnering with the National Alliance on Mental Illness. The Prisco brothers lost their father, Ralph Prisco, in 2009 when their mentally ill mother, Kathleen Prisco, stabbed him to death.
The brothers’ mother was found not guilty due to mental illness, and it was only then that she could receive proper treatment at a psychiatric center. With treatment, she has “regained herself … almost miraculously,” Matt Prisco said.
Kathleen Prisco is in the final stages of being transferred to a civil hospital, which would allow her to be near her family.
“It’s [the cause] not something that’s really out in the public domain, something that people can get behind in a public manner,” Matt Prisco said.
The group has been participating in NAMI walks, wearing bright orange T-shirts that say, “Country stomps out stigma.”
Chris Prisco will be in charge of the business’s social media campaign and will join for bigger festivals and concerts.
“Christopher is the musically and performance-inclined of the bunch, which brings a whole new dimension [to the group],” Matt Prisco explained. “In high school, Chris was a big participant in the musical theater kind of scene on Long Island.”
However, according to his older brother, Chris’s summer plans could be more beneficial than any internship.
“What cooler internship could you have?” Matt Prisco asked. “We’re starting a business from scratch.”
Cynthia Michalak ’09, a member of Tower Club with Matt Prisco who is currently working as an admission officer at the University, said the campaign has the potential to raise a lot of awareness.
“It’s turned into a great adventure,” Michalak said. “Matt was always very outgoing … and open to meeting different kinds of people and just being a personable guy.”
The trip will launch at the Country Music Association Music Festival in Nashville in early June and culminate in New Jersey onSeptember 10.
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