Peter Buffett Vs. Brad Pitt?

Shore Fire client Peter Buffett is not only a talented musician but an active philanthropist. This week he attended the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) a conference focusing on important world issues and putting ideas into action. Peter spoke during the education panel on behalf of the NoVo foundation, a non-profit organization that he co-chairs. He opened his remarks by thanking his wife and sister for sticking around to listen to him instead of checking out Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie’s speeches. The NoVo foundation plans to donate over 15 million dollars for women’s education in West Africa over the next few years.

Watch his speech (fast forward to about 30:45)

Learn more about CGI.

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:

Wayne Wonder is "Hotter Than Fire"

This past Monday night at the Manor in NYC, Wayne Wonder's party in celebration of his record Foreva (out this week on VP Records) was, as they say, "off the chain." Rob Krauser, Nick Baily and I were packed in the club with -- what seemed like -- the rest of the city to enjoy Wayne's performance. It was nuts and I couldn't believe that a party that insane was happening on a Monday night.

Wayne took the stage at about 1:00 AM and killed it. He's just simply one of the best live singers I've ever seen. We were out and about during the day on Monday and Tuesday doing various radio and television interviews and I was consistently impressed with his amazing vocal ability -- he can sing pitch perfect at the drop of a hat and in any given situation.

Here's a shot of him thrilling the crowd at the Manor:


And a shot of Wayne and Shore Fire artist Shaggy -- who made a surprise guest appearance to join him on stage for a few songs:


Wayne Wonder strongly recommends that you get three copies of Foreva: One for your house, one for your car, and keep one in the plastic; because a few years from now this album is going to be considered a classic.

Youtube Thursday

The perfect mix of high and lowbrow:

The Fisher King

Last week Jeremy Fisher made the long haul from Vancouver, BC to NYC to celebrate the release of his first US release 'Goodbye Blue Monday.' His label Wind-up Records kicked things off with a party on the balcony of The Delancey on the Lower East Side. Press and label staff chatted over drinks before Fisher wowed the crowd with an intimate acoustic set. Here's a shot of (left to right) me, Wind-up's Steve Karas, Shore Fire's Mark Satlof, Fisher and Shore Fire's Rebecca Shapiro.


The following day I met up with Fisher and his manager "Parkside" Mike Renaud for a few press outings. First up was an interview at Westwood One. Fisher spoke at length about the music from his new album, his stop-motion videos -- if you haven't seen them yet, check out "Cigarette" on YouTube -- and his upcoming tours with The Weakerthans and The Last Town Chorus and Australian one-man band Xavier Rudd. The hardest part for me was finding my way from the cafeteria to the studio. One Westwood One crew member compared the hallways to a labyrinth. He was right.

After the interview, Fisher, Parkside and I set our sights on Billboard.com and the MUDtruck. We met Billboard's Katie Hasty and headed over to Astor Place. Fisher, Parkside and I were rookies to the MUD but it didn't take long before we were sold on the orange truck's robust joe. Parkside and I stood by the Cube, enjoying our iced coffee and listening to Fisher and Hasty bounce back on forth on recording, touring and formal v. informal music education, among other topics.

Here's a pic of Fisher and Hasty.


And here's a pic of Parkside with his and my empty MUDtruck iced coffees. (For the record, MUD hasn't offered us any courtesy cups for this plug, though we are keeping our fingers crossed.)


Following a quick visit to Wind-up, we ended Fisher's press day at Madison Square Park for an interview and performance taping for CNN.com. Fisher sat on a park bench with his 1947 Gibson LG2 and his harmonica and played the irresistibly catchy "High School" from 'Goodbye Blue Monday.' A crowd quickly formed as Fisher sang the first chorus. Fisher ran through the tune twice so CNN.com could get different camera angles. The onlookers remained until Fisher finished the second rendition and a few asked me where they could buy the album.

Here are a couple pics from the park.


(Left to right: CNN Cameraman Rick Hall, Fisher and CNN Producer/Host Shanon Cook)


Fisher busy at work. I mean, play.

Gatecrashing Ahmadinejad's Columbia Speech

Yesterday I snuck my way in to Iranian president Ahmadinejad's speech at Columbia University. Well, not snuck exactly- my name was on the RSVP list and I had a printout of my confirmation, but it was only with the help of an "inside man" that I was able to arrange it- alumni of Columbia (which I am) were not invited, just students and faculty.

It was a pretty fascinating experience. I had to push through protesters and a throng of media in order to get to the entrance of Lerner Hall, the student center where he gave the speech. In the lobby, I could hear the university publicist talking on his cell phone, using similar language to that I hear in the entertainment media world: "Yeah, well i think the USA Today editorial really helped us, and Brian Lehrer's commentary on WNYC worked in our favor as well, so i think we're in pretty good shape going into this afternoon..." etc.

As has been reported widely, CU president Lee Bollinger gave a blistering introduction- I am surprised that Ahmadinejad was able to keep his cool (although the first portion of his remarks was a gripe about said intro). He then launched into a rambling discourse on the origins and benefits of science, followed by some oft-repeated complaints about how the west has misused and monopolized science for their own nefarious purposes. I'll leave analysis of his subsequent remarks about Iran's nuclear program, its treatment of academics, women, dissidents, Jews, and homosexuals, and his own questioning of the holocaust to the serious news outlets. What I'll note though is that Stephen Colbert's observation about the pacification of America held true. Nobody disrupted the speech, nobody protested inside the auditorium, nobody walked out en masse. Given the students' hostile reception to Jim Gilchrist, founder of the minutemen, you'd think they'd be ten times as incensed at Ahmadenijad's presence, but I believe that President Bollinger's excoriating intro may have defused some of that energy. Plus, the presence of dozens of U.S. secret service agents and the sheer curiosity factor of hearing what he had to say probably also kept protestors in check.

It was history in the making, and I'm glad I had a chance to witness it firsthand.

My Lucky Day (you dweeb!)....

I found a 1954 dime in my pocket change yesterday. Why's that lucky? Well if say you had an interest in numismatics when you were a kid, then you'd realize how rare that is. See, the last year the government made coins (dimes, quarters, half dollars, dollars) out of real silver was 1963. So anything that year or before was more valuable than its face, basically, and real silver coins vanished from circulation pretty much by 1970. I can't remember the last time I got one in circulation (though earlier this year I got a 1936 Buffalo nickel at the newsstand out here.) And sure enough, yesterday saw some major press breaks for our clients. Coincidence?

Cursing in my village ain't good for my image

I read this morning that Chamillionaire does't curse on his new album Ultimate Victory (although a title that ambitious can be a curse in itself).

It reminded me that he isn't the first artist to clean things up.

In July of 1991, Heavy D and The Boyz released their third album, 'Peaceful Journey,' which contains the best self-consciously profanity-free rap of all time, "Don't Curse". It was perfectly timed, given that hip-hop was then at the center of a major controversy over obscene, violent, and sexist lyrics.

Just a year earlier, in 1990, the "Parental Advisory: Explicit Lyrics" label had become the industry standard to warn parents and children of offensive content thanks to the efforts of activists like Tipper Gore and groups like the Parents' Music Resource Council. 2 Live Crew had stoked the furor over racy lyrics to new heights when they released 'As Nasty As They Wanna Be' in 1989, and in 1992, Ice-T would bring things to a head with his song "Cop Killer" (which he was already playing on tour in the summer of 1991).

Faced with all this outrage, Heavy D got together with what might be the best all-around collection of lyricists to grace one track until Nas' mind-boggling where are they now megamix to record "Don't Curse"- a lighthearted, clever, playful take on the controversy over a typically brilliant beat by Pete Rock, based on a sample Otis Redding's "Tramp". It's one of my all-time favorite party jams, made even better by Big Daddy Kane's uber-suave purple ensemble, and the "In Living Color" inspired set and fly girl dancers. Check it out.

Carrie & Pieta Talk to Loretta

It was a meeting of Shore Fire clients past and present at the Bowery Ballroom Friday night (Sept 14) when Carrie Rodriquez hopped onstage with Pieta Brown for the last song of her set. Carrie, who had just met Pieta earlier that day, played fiddle and sang harmony vocal on "In My Mind I Was Talkin' To Loretta," - one of my favorites from Pieta's forthcoming album 'Remember The Sun.' The tune was inspired by a childhood memory Pieta had of going to see Coal Miner's Daughter with her dad. It took on a different quality live - haunting, more atmospheric. You could've heard a pin drop.

An Action Packed Press Day w/ Michael McDermott

Lyle Lovett, Howard Stern, baseball analyst Harold Reynolds, Atlanta Braves' left fielder Matt Diaz, and Uma Thurman are a roster of celebrities you would not normally expect to encounter all in one day, but that is what happened to Michael McDermott and I during his press day here in NYC.

Michael and I started off at SIRIUS, where he did a great, intimiate 30 minute interview with Meg Griffin. Aferwards, he performed four songs from his new album "Noise From Words" in Studio A, the main glass-walled studio in the lobby . While he was warming up, Howard Stern walked by and gave Michael the nod. Shortly afterwards, Lyle Lovett showed up for a studio session of his own. That blur in the background behind Michael is Lyle- I swear!

Our next stop was the MLB.com studios for an interview on their "Midday" program. Michael is a major Cubs fan and has sung the national anthem not only at multiple Cubs games, but also for the White Sox, the Packers, the Lakers, and the LA Kings. In the lobby we ran into veteran baseball analyst Harold Reynolds who chatted with Michael briefly about the Cubs' playoff chances. And in the studio just befor us was hot-hitting Braves LF Matt Diaz.

We wrapped up the day at Bloomberg Radio for an interview with arts reporter Paul Goguen. We finished early, so Paul treated to drinks at a nearby restaurant while we waited for Michael's ride to the airport. The bartender told us we'd just missed Uma Thurman, who'd been parked in the corner booth for most of the afternoon. A near-miss, but still an interesting end to a very busy day.

Busy Day at NPR

Our client Herbie Hancock visited NPR's beautiful midtown NYC studios on Tuesday, 9/11 for a series of interviews including one on his upcoming record 'River: The Joni Letters'. According to their guest sign in book, Herbie was in good company that day with author Philip Roth, filmmaker Ken Burns, and actress Jodie Foster.

Construction Diary: Day 16

I’m a huge fan of those terrible and cheesy home makeover shows – you know, the ones that claim to do over a person’s kitchen in 24 hours for only $1234.56. Can’t get enough of them. I never really believed a real room transformation could actually happen so quickly, but it’s only been a little over two weeks since we started construction on our office, and the changes are remarkable. It’s all very entertaining, too, and unlike home makeover shows, it’s all commercial free.

Remember that old conference room I told you about and the two new offices? Here’s how they were looking about a week ago:




















And today, we’ve moved some people in there already! Michael, Diana, Carrie and Nick Loss-Eaton are enjoying that delicious new office smell, as their old offices become a thing of the past.

(Diana and Michael: taking care of business)

Construction is already well underway on the three new offices where the two, shared spaces once were.

















Oh, and let’s not forget those paint cans at the top of this post! The Suite 16 is getting even sweeter with a fresh coat of paint. Nick Baily is clearly very excited about the new color on his walls (although he might still be smiling about something else):