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.

It's Another Party Time at Shore Fire

It's not all fun and games at Shore Fire. Oh, wait maybe it is. But seriously, celebrating staff birthday's is a longtime tradition here. Today is was Staten Islander Chris Tallie's turn to blow out the candles on a delicious carrot cake.

Tap Lives, Shore Fire b-day Celebrated

We rented a theater in our local Cobble Hill Cinema last night for a big screen showing of This Is Spinal Tap, the movie for which no adjectives are needed modify its greatness. Shore Fire staff and journalist and music industry friends, as well as our client, the songwriter and singer Tina Dico, mingled in space. Conceived as just a fun night out, we realized later that the timing was right to celebrate Shore Fire's 18th birthday. Marilyn Laverty started the company just a couple of blocks from our current Court St. location in early April 1990. Eighteen was certainly a step up from last year's more modest affair.

Anticipation built...and we had a couple of our own Spinal Tap moments. We'd gotten everyone seated, and then the projectionist disappeared. It took a few long minutes before he returned and got the movie going. Then, wouldn't you know it, the dvd started skipping, luckily at the very end over the credits. Anyway, me = This is Spinal Tap never gets old, but it does get better.

L-R, here's Shore Fire's Nora Lyons, Michael Lavigne, Chris Tallie and Rebecca Shapiro.

Marilyn Laverty blows out a birthday candle. Onlookers include Chris Tallie, musician Tina Dico and Shore Fire's Matt Hanks (sweater).

A radiant Tina Dico talks to her publicist here at Shore Fire, Maggie Poulos.

When the Big Man Blows....It's Party Time

Chris "Big Man" Thieke, the heart and soul of our operation as the guy in charge of what comes into the office and what goes out, got his pick of Brooklyn's own Steves Authentic Key Lime Pies for his birthday celebration the other day. Praised by pundits and the American Pie Council alike, Steve's pies were a delicious and tart way to wind down the afternoon. Here's Thieke in action, with Michael Lavigne, Rebecca Shapiro, and Shore Fire President Marilyn Laverty.

Michael's Birthday....Breakfast?

We broke from the mold a bit earlier this week in celebrating Michael Lavigne's birthday. This time, on Monday, we went with bagels and cream cheese to start the week off. But the candle stayed, stuck into a bagel hole.

Allison Rocks National Arts Club

Bandleader/bassist/composer Ben Allison hosted an overflow crowd last night at the historic National Arts Club on Grammercy Park. The space was amazing, the Gothic Gilded Age former Samuel Tilden mansion, its 15 foot tall walls covered with museum's worth of impressive paintings. A celebration of the release of Allison's new and lauded album Little Things Run The World, the performance and pre-show reception attracted numerous journalists including reps from a near-sweep of New York City daily papers - Post, Times, Daily News and Sun, not to mention Associated Press, Sirius/NPR, Relix, Global Rhythm and others, and a NY 1 tv reporter who stayed the night. The space was tre recherche, and so were the hors d'oeuvres in my mind...the abundant fare included pigs in blankets, potato puffs, mini crab cakes, mini egg rolls, bacon wrapped dates. Well you get the picture.

Entrance to the National Arts Club.


Allison is prepped for an interview with NY 1 by intrepid one-woman-show reporter Stephanie Simon.



The scrum at the pre-event reception.


NY Daily News' Jim Farber talking to Ben Allison.

NY Posts' Bill Hoffman and Georgett Roberts.


L-R - Relix' Mike Greenhaus, Shore Fire's Rebecca Shapiro and Brendan Gilmartin, Global Rhythm's Tad Hendrickson.

Diana and her Birthday Doughnuts

We gathered 'round the kitchen table yesterday to celebrate Diana D'Angelo's birthday, and this time we did things a little different. Eschewing our traditional cakes, Diana went for an awesome selection of doughnuts from the highly touted Doughnut Plant, on Grand St. in the heart of the old Jewish Lower East Side (in fact, a couple doors down from the last great bialy baker, Kossars).



Notice the cleverly placed Shore Fire-branded water bottles!

First Shore Fire Birthday of the New Year, Prize goes to...

...Maggie Poulos, who was rewarded with a tasty cake last week at the Shore Fire Brooklyn HQ! Happy Birthday, Maggie

Holiday Bash: The Celebs

We wouldn't be here without our clients, and this year as in past ones, we were thrilled that the Slipper Room was filled with musicians. From Philly rockers Marah, to San Fran's deep voiced and soulful singer/songwriter Brandi Shearer, we had a great cross section of the roster. The topper, of course, was the hip shaking performance by fire in his eyes soul star Eli "Paperboy" Reed.

Here's Eli (and thanks, Eli)

Sonya Kitchell and her friend Maya.

Brendan Gilmartin with TH White


Marah with Carrie Tolles (second from left)

Bob Neuwirth and Paula Batson

Brandi Shearer with People Magazine's Chuck Arnold

Our Holiday Party: The Crowd Shots

Once again we were graced by the presence of many of our friends and associates from the music world at our party last night, the people who make it fun for us throughout the year and whose company we look forward especially during this season. Here's just a small sampling of our guests and staff:



Tom Burleigh, Product Manager at Sony BMG International and friend;
Vic Anesini, mastering engineer at SonyBMG; Mandy Eidgah of Legacy
Rebecca and Peter Shapiro

Andy Schwartz, famed publicist Bill Bentley, and me (Mark Satlof)

The invaluable and indomitable Nora Lyons with Rebecca Shapiro

Lawyer Paul Rothenberg with Carrie Tolles.

Boss Sounds' Nell Mulderry, her husband Legacy VP Rob Santos & Me




ESL Records/Thievery Corporation's Matt Whittington with Nick Baily

Megaforce's Missi Callazo (Center) with MCOM's Ric Sherman on right and unknown guest (to me that is) on the left



Cooking Vinyl US rep Jeremy Morrison with Impact Artist Management principle Ed Gerrard.

Billboard's Katie Hasty, Blue Note's Cem Kurosman, and Stop Smiling's JC Gabel

Soon-to-be-at-Lincoln Center's Bill Bragin, JR Rich and journo Dan Ouellette.



Man about town freelancer Jason Buhrmester with Diana D'Angelo.

That Time of the Year Again: Our Party, The Action Shots

Once again Shore Fire staff, friends and family gathered at the LES club The Slipper Room for our open bar holiday party. The turnout last night was terrific, a mix of our record company, management and other industry types, our pals from the Fourth Estate and miscellaneous other hangers on. This post captures a few of the action shots from the night.


Our bartender for the evening...Bruce Springsteen circa 72, anyone?

Shore Fire's Matt Hanks with our Blue Note pals JR Rich and Cem Kurosman

Shore Fire's Carrie Tolles and Matt Hanks, w/ Matt's wife Courtney



Shore Fire President Marilyn Laverty, whose laryngitis forced her to communicate through notes, along with entrepreneur Peter Shapiro (Rebecca Shapiro's husband)



"Make mine a double" - Shore Fire's Diana D'Angelo and Rob Krauser

Meghan Roy and Shore Fire's Abby Johns and Nick Loss-Eaton plan their next move for the evening


Ace freelancer Jason Buhrmester sandwiched between Shore Fire's Brendan Gilmartin and Nick Loss -Eaton.


Goodnight, everybody: Shore Fire guys belly up at the bar. L-R Chris Tallie, Dan the intern, Chris Thieke, Michael Lavigne (in the funny hat), Nick Loss-Eaton, Rob Krauser.

Birthdays: A Twofer

We celebrated Rebecca Shapiro and Nancie S. Martin's birthdays today with a sweet Hagen Dazs cake from our local Montegue St. location, which, parenthetically, is credited as the original outlet of the chain. Wish a Happy Birthday to Rebecca and Nancie, and stay tuned for more photos from our other two parties coming up this week!

The Ghosts of Halloween Future at Shore Fire

I can see it now, all these kids of Shore Fire staffers getting wilder and cuter as the years go by. But for now, things were raucous enough last night as Rebecca Shapiro's Roxy, Matt Hanks' Emma and Sally, and my Leo and Eli loaded up on candy. The classic costumes were definitely in this year - princesses, ballerinas, kings, skeletons, ghosts & witches.

Here's the photo gallery



Leo, as a press photographer, and Eli as Bob the Builder, both their own choices.

Here's Roxy "Ducky" Shapiro (right) with her friend Rachel at Washington Square Park's
parade.

Emma and Sally dressed as a witch and skeleton respectively. Emma dictated the costumes for the entire family. Courtney and Matt were vampires (but there's no WAY I'm posting pics of us! says Matt)Another of Ducky Shapiro.

Here's only a portion of the 138th St. kids group gathered on a stoop...there were just too many to get them all in one place and sitting. That's Leo w/ the yellow vest and Eli top left, next to his pal/next door neighbor Lenny. It was only last night that I realized that Leo, Eli and Lenny are outnumbered at least 4-1 in the girl/boy ratio. Wait till high school, boys!


Photo of UFO in front yard of house on Clinton Ave. The house owners are set designers and they put on a show every year. It draws insane crowds, but it's super cool. Read more here:

Peace, Love and Hillary....

"Peace, Love & Understanding" never gets old to me, the song and the sentiment. Last night (and what a thrilling, exciting night!) at Hillary Clinton’s 60th Birthday Party at the Beacon Theater, Elvis Costello just tore that song up backed by the Wallflowers, the first time I’d seen him in a triple-rock-guitar lineup. An electrified Elvis followed that with a manic two-chord garage rock workout on Pump It Up. But let's back up a second from these encore songs.

Costello, on an off-day from his tour opening for Bob Dylan, was the hand-picked headline music at Hillary's birthday, with the Wallflowers opening and Billy Crystal hosting and joking. Starting his set, E.C. bounded on stage with an acoustic guitar and launched into Red Shoes to loud cheers, and then proceeded with a passionate Either Side of the Same Town (one of my favorite of his recent songs), a staccato and propulsive Veronica, and an accusatory River in Reverse. He pulled out a song called, I think, Sulphur to Sugarcane, identified as an old political number (don't quote me), into Alison, and then, finally, an apropos, chilling reading of The Scarlet Tide*, a song that always brings a tear to my eye. The Clintons were among the first to jump up from their seats to lead a standing ovation and, later, were incredibly gracious and laudatory in their public remarks that followed the music. It was a great set which I was very happy to see, since I haven't made it to any of the current solo gigs.

Finally, at the close of the night, Costello and the Wallflowers sang Happy Birthday, with Elvis Costello putting on a wonderful Elvis Presley croon and inserting "Happy Birthday Mrs. President," an update of the famous Marilyn Monroe line.

Here's Costello and the Wallflowers with the crowd on their feet.

Billy Crystal and Hillary Clinton in the green room basement of the Beacon.

Yup. Me and Hill, after I gave her a birthday gift of Costello cds.

Bill and Hillary walked off at the end of the night, into a scrum in a small room just outside stage right. I was squeezed up against the wall as Hillary spoke with pit-bull Congressman Charlie Rangel (my representative) about tax reform (I think, it was hard to hear). When Bill joined them, after a moment, he looked over at me, reached out , and shook my hand...they say he never met a hand he didn't want to shake.

Here's Elvis and Jakob Dylan in the basement green room, getting ready for photos w/ the Clintons.

*The Scarlet Tide

Well I recall his parting words
Must I accept his fate
Or take myself far from this place
I thought I heard a black bell toll
A little bird did sing
Man has no choice
When he wants every thing

We'll rise above the scarlet tide
That trickles down through the mountain
And separates the widow from the bride

Man goes beyond his own decision
Gets caught up in the mechanism
Of swindlers who act like kings
And brokers who break everything
The dark of night was swiftly fading
Close to the dawn of day
Why would I want him just to lose him again

We'll rise above the scarlet tide
That trickles down through the mountain
And separates the widow from the bride

Raising Sand Party Launches LP Towards Big Debut

A packed party this past Monday night at the 1920s soaring-baroque-gorgeous Campbell Apartment in Grand Central Terminal kicked of an equally packed week for Robert Plant and Alison Krauss as they launched their new Rounder Records album Raising Sand towards a predicted number two chart debut next week. Activity for the week included several major radio tapings and appearances, a Today Show appearance and a Charlie Rose taping, while the week in print started with a terrific NY Times story by Jon Pareles and ended with an A- review in Time Magazine today, with tons in between and acres to come. The two amazing singers joined members of the press, radio and music industry at this one-of-a-kind event:


Shore Fire's Rob Krauser and Maggie Poulos, press wranglers for the night.

Rounder staffers w/ WFUV's tastemaker Rita Houston (in orange glasses). When Rita's there, you know you're at the right party or show.

Prominent WSJ and NPR freelancer Ashley Kahn with Global Rhythm's editor Tad Hendrickson.

Sirius Radio's Meredith Ochs with Rounder VP of PR Jen Sacca

BMG Columbia House's pr chief Paula Batson with music great Bob Neuwirth, both just back from an arts event in Berlin.

NY Daily News critic Jim Farber with cheerful freelancer Carol Cooper.

It's a Kandy Kolored Krauser Birthday....

Following pizza Friday lunch today, we were psyched to celebrate Rob Krauser's birthday - over a week late but still in good cheer. The top picture is Rob contemplating his Sugar Sweet Sunshine pistachio cake. Lower East Siders know all about Sugar Sweet Sunshine, but you out-of-towners, definitely stop by on your next visit. Below that photo is the money shot. Happy Birthday Rob!

Preservation Hall Honcho does Pizza Friday

We were jazzed that Ben Jaffe, who helms the world famous Preservation Hall Jazz Band, which his father and mother started in 1961 in New Orleans. We're psyched to be working with Ben on Made In New Orleans, and art object/box set/cd/dvd and more.

L-R, here's Carrie Tolles and Shore Fire President Marilyn Laverty with Preservation Hall's Ben Jaffe:

Trifecta of Leo Birthdays...

Rudi Meyer, Carrie Tolles and I share early August birthdays, so we collaborated on the party this year. As Brooklynites, we chose Junior's Cheesecake, which is a hop and a skip from our office....regular, strawberry and chocolate swirl.

L-R Rudi Meyer, Mark Satlof, Carrie Tolles

A Going Away Pizza Friday

We said goodbye to Aliza Rabinoff today over the traditional Pizza Friday here at Shore Fire...she will surely be missed by all of us. After ten great years, Aliza is moving on to work hooking up travelers to Spain with musical artists based there...sort of a concierge service for music. Here's the Shore Fire Staff gathered around Aliza at her desk...

And earlier at the pizza table...


And after, the scrum and scramble for Aliza's cd discards!

A Big Birthday and a Goodbye, All in One Day

Earlier this week, we feted Shore Fire President Marilyn Laverty with a Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory *** party...a complete array of the famed local creamery's day's selection. See below for the before, during and after (an action shot in which Laverty has just "chugged" whipped cream). On a more reflective note, we gathered in the evening to say goodbye to Paula Witt (see her post elsewhere), who has left Shore Fire after six great years to do a bit more traveling, and who knows what else.



(Laverty, Alexis Tedford, and Witt)

***I am reading The Battle For New York, a really terrific book about Revolutionary War battles in around New York, and the city's pivotal role in the conflict. Anyway, near the Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory is the site of the ferry landing (still in existence though presumably not the 230 years old one) where George Washington oversaw the evacuation of his army from Brooklyn Heights over the East River to Manhattan in August 1776, a masterpiece of military logistics that is credited with pretty much saving the American cause. Extra side note: a few blocks from our office, at Court St and Atlantic Avenue, stood a hill on which Washington watched the British roll up his Continental troops during a headlong battle towards the Heights!

Paula Witt - The Goodbye Girl

Today is my last official day at Shore Fire and it has been a terrific 6 years! Last night the Shore Fire crew sent me off in style. I had to say goodbye to this great bunch of people. I will truly miss everyone but will have great memories to cherish always!!

We hung out at this marvelous spot called Corio at 337A W. Broadway at the corner of Grand Street in Soho. Rebecca Shapiro found the spot so thanks to Rebecca. Good drinks, great food.

Check out some fun photos from last night!

Loss-Eaton's Birthday Bash including Carrot Cake

It's not that every day's a party day, but with our ever growing staff, it's getting near twice a month (though there are a couple of combo-parties). Today, it was Nick Loss-Eaton's turn and we celebrated with a scrumptious carrot cake and another with chocolate and strawberries. That's official cake and pie-cutter Rebecca Shapiro below, seated across from contemplative Loss-Eaton. To Rebecca's left are Alexis Tedford and Diana D'Angelo.




Here's Maggie Poulos next to the birthday boy:

It's Nora's Party and You're all Invited....

If you've ever called Shore Fire, chances are you've spoken to the poised, professional and energetic Nora Lyons. Today we celebrated her birthday sans cake but with bagels and a fruit platter (at Nora's request).

Every Day's a Party Day....

or so it seems! We took respite from a busy day to celebrate Nick Baily's birthday in style, with cheesecake from Juniors .

L-R below: Carrie Tolles; Nick Loss-Eaton; Carla Parisi; Paula Witt; Alexis Tedford; Rob Krauser; Maggie Poulos.

That's Nick Baily blowin' out the candles.