Chip Taylor's Dutch Tour Comes To The Bronx

Legendary songwriter Chip Taylor headed up to the Bronx today to tape a live performance chat at WFUV in front of an audience of FUV members. Chip brought along in-demand guitarist John Platania (fresh off a tour with Van Morrison), talked about his book 'Songs From A Dutch Tour,' and performed songs, including his timeless classics "Wild Thing" and "Angel of the Morning."

Here's a shot of Chip and John with WFUV's Claudia Marshall

Left to Right: Chip, Claudia, John

SxSW In Full Swing, And Rock.

It looks like perfect wide open clear Texas skies for the third day in a row now in Austin, as SxSW delivers its usual intoxicating blend of good food, seeing lots of old friends and meeting new ones, and of course more great music packed into one place then you can get your head around. Though this year, the trip started off in pitch black darkness, as my colleague Matt Hanks and I both caught the same pre-dawn flight out of New York.


Thanks to some crack on-time work by the folks at American, I was able to turn an 11:00am landing into an just barely on-time arrival for my noon "Promotions, Publicity, and Press" panel at the convention center. It was a new format for me, instead of the traditional panel with a moderator, the room was set up as a series of round table discussions with attendees, arranged in a "speed dating" format where each of us stopped in to chat with a new group every 10 minutes and share some insights and answer some questions on getting started with music publicity.


It was well timed -- we've been spending a lot of time on the topic lately with the launch of Shore Fire D.I.Y., a one-on-one educational program for the music community designed to help new and up and coming artists learn to do their own publicity and online marketing. Take a look, we're excited about it.

Next up were some musical highlights from artists of our own, starting with a blazing mid-day set from London's Sons Of Albion. Here's (from left) bassist Gones, drummer Francisco De Sousa, frontman Logan Plant, and guitarist Nuno Miguel. They're playing Friday and Saturday night too, followed by a three night stand in New York next week.


Equally hard-working is the lovely and talented "incendiary Telecaster-wielder" (so says the Statesman) Sarah Borges and her band The Broken Singles, who are performing an incredible eight times this week in Austin. I had the pleasure of catching them twice in one night, first as they joined an all star cast including Jimmy Vaughan and a host of Texas Tornados veterans for the Doug Sahm tribute at Antones, and then as they brought they house down for their show at Mother Eagans. Sorry it's a little blurry, they move pretty fast when they get going:



Meanwhile, Tina Dico was having a busy day of interviews and live performances of songs from her "stunning" new release before her showcase set. Here's Tina and bandmate Helgi Jonsson practicing a little harmony on the piano bench:


Later on, I got a chance to catch up with Rocco Deluca, who followed up a scorching performance on Leno last week with a powerful duo set at La Zona Rosa.


And it's only Friday morning, with a whole slate of interesting shows and appearances still to come. I haven't even had time to dig into some BBQ yet -- we must be just getting started.

She's About A Mover

I'm not at SXSW this year, so I'm living vicariously through the Twitter posts of the ShoreFire-ians who are (two Wavy Gravy sightings!). But when I saw in Billboard that there'd been a couple of Doug Sahm tributes in Austin, one starring former client Alejandro Escovedo and the other featuring current clients Sarah Borges & The Broken Singles, I knew I had to post this video of the Sir Douglas Quintet playing "She's About A Mover," one of the greatest happy-dance songs ever - and dig those shiny suits!

Leno Welcomes President Obama

On the Tonight Show this evening: President Obama. What? Clive Owen wasn't available?

Alabama Leprechaun

In honor of St. Patrick's day, I have to post this all-time classic piece of YouTube comedy gold, the Alabama Leprechaun.

A Shore Fire Tour of Borough Hall

This past Wednesday, Shore Fire paid a visit to our next door neighbor, Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, and received a lovely tour of his offices at Borough Hall. Our tour guide John showed off the building's ceremonial courtroom (site of many Law & Order and film shoots), the old tomb-like jail cells in the basement of the building, the painting of a former Brooklyn mayor with a ghost in the background, and most importantly, the gift shop (which i'm obliged to say is open from 10am-6pm daily).

He also explained the quirky (and heretofore unknown to me) origin of the name of Brooklyn's baseball team, The Dodgers: Back in the old days, Manhattan had the subways while Brooklynites still had to ride on- and avoid getting run over by- street trolleys. Thus, Brooklynites were trolley-dodgers (the first iteration of "Bridge and Tunnel-ers", i suppose). The baseball team co-opted the derogatory term and made it their own.

Mr. Markowitz chatted with us for a bit, took a roll call of Shore Fire Brooklynites, handed out some lapel pins, and congratulated us on almost two decades in the borough.

Punks May Be Dying, But Punk's Not Dead

I've been remiss in not noting the sad and too-early passing of two punk greats: Lux Interior of The Cramps and Ron Asheton of The Stooges.

Today comes news of Lux's recent memorial service (Poison Ivy wore leopard print), as well as an item indicating that ex-Sex Pistol Steve Jones, once host of Jonesy's Jukebox on the recently left-for-dead Indie 103.1, has been talking to Iggy Pop about replacing Asheton on tour.

I learned about all of this from the indispensable Daily Swarm. It affirms my belief that punk's not dead.

Luck of The Urges

The Urges, the Irish lads on Little Steven Van Zandt's label Wicked Cool Records, stormed the stage at Music Hall of Williamsburg last night just in time for St. Patty's Day. Chock full of fuzz guitars and thumping drums, The Urges had the Billyburg kids dancing.

If you're headed to Austin, don't miss the two Wicked Cool SXSW showcases and featured speaker Steven Van Zandt.

Shemekia Copeland at the Highline Ballroom 3.5

After seeing Shemekia Copeland's killer performance on David Letterman a few weeks ago, I knew she could put on a fantastic live show, and her set last Thursday at the Highline Ballroom definitely didn't disappoint. I loved "Born a Penny" and "Broken World" from her new album 'Never Going Back,' and Shore Fire's Diana D'Angelo and I got to snap a quick photo with Shemekia after her set.



Shemekia also got the chance to say hi to Ahmir "?uestlove" Thompson of The Roots, who were gearing up for a show right after hers.

Pi A La Mode

Excuse me while I geek out: you can now hear the first 10,000 digits of pi in a musical sequence. Play ten notes from the tune of your choice, and you'll literally hear the music of the spheres. I tried "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" and "Stairway to Heaven" and they both sounded equally trippy. (Via Idolator.)

Eleni Mandell Takes Manhattan

The lovely and talented Eleni Mandell was in town this week to kick off a March US tour at a sold out show at Joe's Pub.

She and her band had a pretty full schedule while they were here, and I was lucky enough to spend some time with them during the trip.

It started at a taping on WNYC Soundcheck, where Eleni spoke to host John Schaefer, and the band performed a couple of songs from Eleni's stellar new album 'Artificial Fire.'


Left to Right: drummer DJ Bonebrake (yes, "that" DJ Bonebrake), Eleni, John Schaefer, bassist Ryan Feves, guitarist Jeremy Drake

Next it was over to a taping for the New York Times Popcast. Eleni performed 'Artificial Fire' standout "Personal" solo, and spoke with Times scribe Ben Sisario.


Left to Right: Eleni and Ben

Then it was off to WFUV for a performance chat with Claudia Marshall.


Left To Right: WFUV's Rita Houston, Eleni and Claudia

The trip concluded with the previously mentioned sold out Joe's Pub gig. Eleni and the band played to a rapturous standing room only audience, performing an 'Artificial Fire' heavy set, but also mixing in deep cuts like "Make-Out King" and closing the show with a raucous "Pauline" (from 200o's 'Thrill').

A Night At the Rink

The entire Shore Fire staff, plus some friends and family, got out of the office last evening for some fun spins around Central Park's Wollman Ring. There were a few beginners and a few who swirled and sped around the ring with ease, but most of us were literally and figuratively in the middle. Though the ice can be dangerous, it was quite a different danger vibe than our last outing at Westside Shooting Gallery! That's first grader Emma Hanks in the lower left and Leo Satlof on the right, also a first grader, with Shore Fire's President Marilyn Laverty, in blue, directly in the middle. Thanks Marilyn!





Above, Leo with Dad Mark.

Chris Chafin and friend, with Nick Baily.

A breather at the boards.

Triple the Fun

It was all guys yesterday: we celebrated the birthdays of Andy Silva, Michael Lavigne and Chris Thieke around the kitchen table with a fresh breakfast spread, a welcome and fortifying break in the day. A hearty Hey -Yo to the three fellows.

SFM PIX TX FOR SXSW KIX

OK, fine it's not quite the greatest headline in the history of newspapering but it was the best I could come up with on short notice.

Matt Hanks took a stab at it too with the very strong contender "SHORE FIRE’S PIX TO CLIX AT SXSW IN TX" but hey, I'm the one writing the blog post, so that'll have to be the tiebreaker.

The occasion of course is South By Southwest. It's that time of year again. When bands gather from around the country, and the music industry comes together for an event that seems like one part trade show, five parts open air music festival, and a dash of the opening scene of the movie Dazed and Confused (think Alice Cooper to jog the memory). A week when bands are bands, musicians are musicians, and beef cattle start looking around anxiously.

And for good reason I might add. Look no further than here, here, or here.

Anyways, far more important than the meat as always is the slate of great bands and shows and events and panels and parties that are going on this year. You never really know what might happen if you snooze. So for the full report on Shore Fire's clients and what they're up to, just click here for the complete run down and don't hesitate to drop a line if you're heading down yourself.

In My Mind

I had the pleasure of celebrating the 50th Anniversary of what is a seminal event in jazz history and recording: Thelonious Monk performing his music with a big band for the first time, at the Town Hall, in NYC, in February of 1959. Friday night, Feb 27, young and extremely gifted pianist Jason Moran performed 'In My Mind,' a tribute to Monk and his great performance 50 years ago, with his newly-created and very talented tentet, Big Bandwagon.

Moran used the 1959 performance as a jumping-off point for his tribute to Monk. The choruses and melodies of Monk's tunes were recognizable, but the music and band quickly deviated to territories unknown. A video screen hanging above the band that piped in animations and video feeds from cameras placed all around the stage made the show a truly inspired multi-media performance. During the final tune, the band walked off stage, through the theater, and, surrounded by a wide-eyed audience, concluded their performance in the lobby of the Town Hall.

Here's Moran and the Big Bandwagon, acknowledging a standing ovation, before performing their encore (photo by Jon Vachon for WNYC):


Listen to a recording of Moran and his band playing "Little Rootie Tootie" in 2007 here, and watch Moran with members of the Big Bandwagon playing "Crepuscle With Nellie" in the WNYC studios here. And check out more photos from the show, courtesy of WNYC.

You can read more on the initial Monk at Town Hall event in 1959 and 5oth Annivesary celebration here. NY Times reviewed the show here.

Week it was and what a week it was, it was.

It was a truly surreal week. Recently I headed out to LA for the Grammy Awards, with great hopes for all of our nominees, including Ricky Skaggs, Cherryholmes, and Robert Plant & Alison Krauss. It was truly an amazing night, congratulations to all our winners and incredible kudos to Robert & Alison for pulling off a clean sweep, winning five out of their five nominations, adding to last year's single win for a total of six for 'Raising Sand' including of course Album of The Year. 

Just after returning there was no rest to be had, as Paul Simon was headlining the reopening of the newly restored (and spectacular) Beacon Theatre that Friday night, putting on an amazing show highlighted by an impressive assortment of guests ranging from the Capeman Singers to Luciana Souza to a surprise encore with "Old Friend" Art Garfunkel, not to mention a celebrity-packed audience ranging from Paul McCartney to Michael Bloomberg. And I'm pretty sure I spotted the Jonas Brothers leaning against the wall, standing, for the entire 2+ hour set.

Anyways, though I'd just a lowly camera phone to work with, here's a quick travelogue of the week that was:

Los Angeles at sunset. I'm still a die hard NYC'er but I must admit, there's something to this California thing you can't ignore. 

The inexplicable giant fruit, discovered on rehearsal day wandering through the loading docks. These things were like 20 feet across. A quick peek revealed gaffers tape market "Katy Perry #1" and "Katy Perry #2" on the sides, as the viewing audience discovered two nights later. 

Though these flowers were very pretty and smelled nice (yes they were real), all I could think about was someone tediously sitting there with some kind of stencil meticulously adding the logo to each one of what must have been hundreds of these things in every dressing room. 

Finally, the big day arrives. The red carpet, before all the insanity begins in earnest. 

The view from the side of the stage as Robert Plant, Alison Krauss, and T Bone Burnett finish their great performance and get ready for what turns out to be a win for Album Of The Year.

The picturesque ramp at LAX International as I bid goodbye to the West Coast for the trip back to NYC. Did I mentioned it rained about half the time? I thought there were laws about that in Los Angeles.

And just four days later, it's showtime again, as the crowd gathers to see the newly restored Beacon Theatre and enjoy a performance with Paul Simon and his band and guests.

Jimmy Fallon arrives to great fanfare for his upcoming late night host debut, on the red carpet.


And lastly, one of the more impressive cakes I've ever seen. The centerpiece of the backstage celebration party. Despite the presence of a large knife (upper right) for the entire event nobody had the guts to be the first one to take a slice. 

I wonder what it tasted like.

BAM BAM

I'm a big fan of the Brooklyn Academy of Music. So much always going on, and a mere 10 minute walk from my apartment make it one of my favorite places to see a show, movie, cultural event, etc.

This past week I made 2 separate treks to BAM to check out Thursday nights Bell Orchestre/Clogs show and Saturdays Final Fantasy/Grizzly Bear show, both nights accompanied by the Brooklyn Philharmonic.

While I've never listened to Bell Orchestre or Clogs before, I do love both Arcade Fire and the National, of whom both groups share members. The show was done in a sort of "in the round" style, with Bell Orchestre, Clogs and the Brooklyn Phil taking turns performing. You could hear the slow build to borderline spastic freakout of Arcade Fire in Bell Orchestre's pieces, while Clogs definitely had the stateliness of the National. Sufjan Stevens and Shara Worden aka My Brightest Diamond guested with Clogs, and I also ran in to Shore Fire friend Holly Schomann from Sirius XM.

Saturday night was a packed house for the highly anticipated Final Fantasy/Grizzly Bear show, and Shore Fire's own Nora Lyons was also in attendance. Final Fantasy opened, and according to FF mastermind Owen Pallett it was an "exercise in trust" to hand over the reigns to the Brooklyn Phil, as he usually performs solo with just his violin and computer looping different parts together.

Grizzly Bear arrived to rapturous applause and did not disappoint. They played songs old and new, working with the Brooklyn Phil on many tracks, but also performing a few songs as their usual four piece. Personal favorites "Colorado" and "Little Brother" were worth the price of admission for me, and encore closing cover of "He Hit Me" ended the night on a haunting note (and I swear that song is one hundred times creepier live).

All in all a great night. If you squint at the crappy iPhone photo below you can sort of see Grizzly Bear after their first song, but there are much better photos and reviews of both nights on the old interwebs.

Overheard in Williamsburg Over The Weekend

"There were so many beards at that show. It was like, "Can I get a little more beard in my monitor?"