Flowers for an 'Echo'

Shore Fire client Alyssa Graham started her day yesterday with a review for her new CD 'Echo' in the New York Times that called her voice "a sumptuous and flexible croon."

I had the pleasure of hearing that voice last night at a special event at the Barnes & Noble across from Lincoln Center, as well as gorgeous solos by Jon Cowherd (who also produced the record) on piano, Doug Graham on guitar, Ben Wittman on drums and Richard Hammond on bass. I couldn't figure out why Richard looked familiar, until he reminded me that he accompanied Brandi Shearer when she did a New York residency last year.

It's interesting to see musicians in a bookstore, what with the bright lights and lack of cocktails, but they clearly pulled it off, as the room was full and the crowd ecstatic. The cocktails were in full effect at the after-party at the newly furbished and now very swanky Empire Hotel.

Several well-wishers brought Alyssa flowers (did they know she'd be wearing a flowered top?), so many that I had to help her carry them. Here we are, enflowered, at the afterparty: