Forget The Red Bull, Have A Shot Of Josh Fix

Newsweek called the B-52's album 'Funplex' “a sonic shot of vitamin B12" and the same could be said for Josh Fix's debut album 'Free at Last'. I've been substituting my addiction to sugar free Red Bull with a daily viewing of this video for "Don't Call Me In The Morning."

Josh has also been bringing the same fever to the stage at Arlene's Grocery every Tuesday night this month.

Iron Man Is "Institutionalized"

I really loved Iron Man, one of the better superhero movies ever. Great performances by Robert Downey, Jr., Jeff Bridges, Gwyneth Palrow and Terence Howard (and the best robot team since R2D2 and C3PO) and strong direction by Jon Favreau give life to a smart, action-packed script.

Music plays an important part in the movie, including the accidental destruction of a Bluthner piano, which horrified me more than the subsequent pulverizing of a mint-condition Lotus (and, in a production that features blatant product placement throughout, made me wonder, why not Fazioli or Bosendorfer?).

The song choices by music supervisor Dave Jordan, also responsible for Transformers and The Fast and the Furious, were excellent, especially Suicidal Tendencies' hardcore plaint "Institutionalized," used perfectly to express our hero's angst. (Yes, that is indie-film superstar Mary Woronov as the mom in the original video below.)



Wired's Listening Post blog has an excellent rundown of various kinds of Iron Man music, past and present. Who knew the Cardigans covered Black Sabbath?

But wait, we've been "real" this whole time.

In the latest news from our fair Borough, this is the latest source of much discussion. From the press release.

A TREE ISN'T THE ONLY THING GROWING IN BROOKLYN!

MTV HEADS TO BROOKLYN, NEW YORK AS "THE REAL WORLD" BEGINS PRODUCTION ON SEASON 21

Santa Monica, CA, May 13, 2008 - Riding high on the successful launch of an accelerated, action packed 13-week episode cycle with more favorite Real World drama packed into 1-hour episodes, MTV has greenlit the hit reality series for a 21st season. Production will move from the west coast to the east coast as Bunim-Murray Productions begins shooting in Brooklyn, NY this summer. Continuing with the new format of expanding the episodes to one-hour, the network has ordered 12 episodes of "The Real World: Brooklyn" which is scheduled to premiere in Q1 2009.

Hmmm... I guess I'm too old to be "real" at this point. I always thought I'd play a decent "Puck" though.

Cherry Blossoms @ BK Botanical Gardens

Over the weekend I took advantage of the weather and visited The Brooklyn Botanical Gardens, which are just around the corner from my neighborhood in Park Slope. Although, I officially missed the Cherry Blossom Festival, I did get to enjoy the lovely pink carpet the blossoms created under the trees. The gardens are absolutely gorgeous and I highly suggest a visit if you are sick of the concrete jungle or it's too nice out for the neigboring BK Museum.

When Jazz Giants Walked The Earth

Nora Lyons and I had the pleasure of hanging with legendary photographer Herman Leonard last week. He was in town for the opening of his show "Jazz Giants" at the Morrison Hotel Gallery.

It would be difficult to overstate Herman's impact on the iconography of jazz. He's responsible for some of the most indelible images in the music's history. And at age 85, he has a razor-sharp memory for the circumstances surrounding each one of them. The above shot, for instance, was taken in 1958, when Duke Ellington was onstage in Paris. Herman peaked out from the backstage curtain and got off one shot. The audience was sitting in such wrapt attention that Ellington could hear the shutter of Herman's camera click. He turned to Herman and gave him an approving wink without missing a beat.

Herman was living in New Orleans when Hurricane Katrina struck, and he lost many beautiful silver gelatin prints to the storm. A couple of these prints, now ravaged by mold, are on display at the Morrison. Thankfully, Herman's negatives were spared from the storm, and the new prints on view are incredible. The show runs through June 10, and it's free to the public!

Here's a shot of Herman, Nora and me on the opening night of his show.

Time 100 Gala, Talk About Intimidating

You don't get a room filled with bigger names than the Time 100 Gala. Last night I attended the event with Herbie Hancock who performed along with Amy Poehler and Seth Meyers (hilarious!), and Mariah Carey.

I was excited to see Lance Armstrong, Brian Williams and Matt Lauer- all three looking buff and dreamy. Herbie shook hands with Martha Stewart and Ariana Huffington to name a few. The two people I got to shake hands with were the Chairman and CEO of Time Warner Richard Parsons and Judd Apatow. Not too shabby.

Highlights:
*Robert Downey Jr. delivered a beautiful toast to his father which got him and everyone else in the room choked up.
*Bill O'Reilly standing by himself at the cocktail reception for a significant amount of time.

Another "Night To Remember..."

The annual benefit dinner for The Kristen Ann Carr Fund, 'A Night To Remember,' was recently held at the Tribeca Grill in Manhattan and members of the Shore Fire family made sure not to miss the occasion. From left to right - Nick Baily's wife Rebecca Phillips, Brendan Gilmartin, Rebecca Shapiro, Rebecca's empresario husband Peter Shapiro and Nick Baily. Shore Fire President Marilyn Laverty, who was honored last year, and Director of Online Marketing Nancie S. Martin were also in attendance. To find out more about The Kristen Ann Carr Fund and its mission to fight Sarcoma click here.

Tina Dico Hearts New York and New York Hearts Her Back

Last night Tina Dico kicked off her U.S. tour with a sold out show at Joe's Pub. Not only did she play tracks from her latest 'Count to Ten,' but also songs from her impressive discography (she's got four records out in Denmark and two "tour" EPs).

I was blown away by her command of the audience -- it was just her and her guitars and everyone was on the edge of their seats listening to every word.

Perhaps the best (and funniest) part of the evening was Tina's introduction to "Night Cab." She said “I’m falling in love with New York City and I’m not sure I want to. Usually it’s just in and out, but this time I’ve been able to stay a while...” Needless to say, the crowd was very enthusiastic about this proclamation from the Danish-born, UK-dwelling singer.

NYC Blogger Jasper Coolidge captured some amazing shots from the show...

The State Of The Industry, In The County Of Kings

Thanks to friend and label-owner Daniel Glass, I recently found myself on a panel discussing the state of the music industry for a group of students at Brooklyn College. The seminar was part of a regular series of events that the college holds to give students a window into industries they might like to learn more about.

Welcome to the Student Center

I was joined on the panel by the esteemed Samantha Cox, the Senior Director of Writer and Artist Relations at BMI, Irving Fain, who handles online content at Clearchannel and their vast network of websites, and the aforementioned Daniel Glass, currently heading up his new project Glassnote Entertainment and well known for his tenure at Artemis, Universal, and many other record business highlights.

L-R: Daniel Glass, Samantha Cox, yours truly, and Irving Fain

We started off by sharing our paths to the music business, and while everyone had a different story, Daniel (an alum) had the most compelling tale for the crowd in attendance as he recounted his days as a teenager in the 1970's spinning records at Brooklyn College's radio station, a gig he got in part because of his fluency in "dance music and R+B" -- or what was beginning to be known at the time as disco.

But most of all the conversation touched on the many changes everyone has seen in the music world, and some predictions for changes to come. I was impressed as the floor was opened to questions, and the very first one asked about 360 degree record deals.

Daniel reported that in his recent convention trips this has been the number one topic of conversation, and he shared his opinion that the success or failure of such deals will really depend on the degree to which labels can add value to careers. According to Daniel, at worst it's just another way to get money from the artist, but when it's done right (and it often isn't) then it can represent a real partnership that's better for everyone, though he admitted that he was pessimistic about the prospects for 360 deals catching on.

The Audience At Attention

Irving touched on the ways that Clearchannel is reacting to the massive changes brought about by online music. He said they consider it a must for radio stations to react in a world where people are used to hearing whatever music they want, whenever they want it. He's been hard at work with their network of websites, which face the challenge of engaging users on the internet while continuing to support the core business of Radio.

On the publishing side, Samantha talked about the life of a publishing executive. As a publicist we often interact with the performing rights organizations only tangentially, but it's interesting how similar our jobs are. She recounted the challenge -- and the thrill -- of being a music generalist, needing to keep tabs on everything from whatever the next burgeoning scene in Williamsburg is to music being made by reggae artists.

Irving Hangs After The Panel To Take Questions

Everyone was eager to know where we saw the business going in the next 3-5 years, and we all had our chance to say something. I'd be lying if I said I knew for sure, but all of us found we had surprisingly similar opinions. It may be harder to sell records, it may be harder to to find a broadcast outlet that can really reach the majority of the country (unless you're Simon, Paula or Randy), but it's easier than it ever has been to find great music and listen to it.

It's arguable but I think there's as much great music being made now as there has been at any point in history. If anything we could look at the late 1990's as an abberation, a time we were post-media consolidation, but pre-internet. Artists with just one hit single were reliably selling millions of albums, sometimes tens of millions. If anything the current scenario -- marked by quality niche independent labels, some people with great ears at major labels, and lots of non-traditional ways to get music out -- isn't too different from the days when Sam Phillips was driving around the south trying to get DJ's to play a single by a new "R+B" singer from Tupelo.

To subvert a famous Paul Simon lyric, the music business may suffer some growing pains from time to time, but the music thrives.

Wayfarer Jay Nash Visits New York

Our client Jay Nash was in NYC Friday to play a solo gig at The Living Room. And play he did, to a rapt packed house, many of whom were mouthing the words to "Wayfarer" from his upcoming release 'The Things You Think You Need' - which won't even be out until May 20th! (Guess they've been to Jay's MySpace page.)

Since the temple of knishery was nearby, I picked up a few for pre-show snacking, and LA-based Jay got instant New York cred by exclaiming, "Are those from Yonah Schimmel's?" before devouring several.

Here's Jay onstage:

And with Shore Fire's Cali Green:

I Made You A Muxtape

This post is a month late, but Muxtape is the coolest thing ever. It's a new social networking site that launched in late March. Super simplistic and free, it's a forum where users are given their own URL and can host a 12-song streaming mixtape on their own muxtape page. Muxtape describes their service as "a simple way to create and share mp3 mixtapes." It's as simple as that.

You could...make a muxtape for yourself or for your friends. You could make a muxtape as a bday gift, or maybe send one over to mom next Sunday. Bands can even make their own muxtapes with their own songs on it. You can also download a Muxtape application which will save mixes on your desktop.

I made one. So did my favorite website, Soul-Sides. Apparently Sasha Frere Jones joined in on the fun, too.

Stomping In New Orleans

Just got back from New Orleans where I was working at the Ponderosa Stomp. Two nights of insane rock n' roll is their motto, and it's spot on. The music started around 6:30 each night and didn't finish until about 3:30. Musical highlights were numerous: Wardell Quezergue's set with Mac Rebennack (aka Dr. John), Jean Knight ("Mr. Big Stuff"), Tammy Lynn, and Tony Owens; the incredible delta blues of Louisiana Red; supercharged rockabilly from the Collins Kids; Eddie Bo showing us a history of funk; the Tail Dragger (a Howlin' Wolf protege) crawling onstage; Barbara Lynn ("We Got A Good Thing Goin'"); and the highly energized ? and the Mysterians; and many more.

The beauty of the Stomp is that it's all there at once and you can literally see and hear the connections between blues, rockabilly, swamp pop, girl groups, surf, funk, soul, gospel, garage rock and psych. The downside is that at any given time, there are often two or three amazing acts playing; it's an embarrassment of riches! Other amazing moments included joking around with Roy Head ("Treat Her Right") and eating a new dish called Pasta-laya backstage with Stomp organizer Grace Callahan. Congratulations to Stomp curator Dr. Ike on an incredible festival. My advice to you? Start planning a trip to New Orleans in late April next year.

Here's Bill Kopp of SKOPE Magazine following an interview with the Green Fuz.








Here's Mac Rebbenack, better known as Dr. John, sitting in during the Wardell Quezergue Rhythm & Blues Revue, one of the highlights of the Stomp for me.










Curator Dr. Ira "Dr. Ike" Padnos was interviewed by Phillip Rollins of MTV.com's Street Team at the Louisiana Museum Cabildo.







Here's swamp blues legend Lazy Lester (original singer of the song "Ponderosa Stomp"), New Orleans electric bluesman Little Freddie King, and Mrs. Samantha Padnos (Stomp organizer and Dr. Ike's wife).







Here's Lester, ? (of Question Mark and the Mysterians) and yours truly backstage.