Chocolate Cake for Lutz B'day Fest

Yup, that's a killer flourless chocolate cake from Cousin John's Cafe in Brooklyn's own Park Slope that's about to be devoured in celebration of Elizabeth Lutz's Shore Fire birthday celebration...Happy Birthday Elizabeth!!

I Lost It At The Movies

There are three documentaries out this fall that I've just gotta see, all mixing a nihilistic attitude with fascinating portraits of artistic ambition.

One Fast Move or I’m Gone: Kerouac’s Big Sur inspired an album by Shore Fire clients Jay Farrar And Benjamin Gibbard, who are also in it; it's sure to make me want to get on the road again.

William S. Burroughs: A Man Within should be an intense look at the Naked Lunch author (fun fact: what legendary duo, now featuring our client, bassist "Ready" Freddie Washington, in their touring band, named themselves after an object in that novel?).

Watch the out-there trailer for a glimpse of a manic Iggy Pop:



And last, but certainly not least, is Let Them Know: The Story of Youth Brigade and BYO Records, about the legendary SoCal punk label. Lots of great punk energy, premiering in LA September 10 and available on the 22nd in a limited-edition box set with a double-LP compliation of 31 loud-fast-rules songs and a hardcover, full-color book.

Look at this and just try not to slam dance at your desk:



I'm buying the popcorn!

It's getting hot in here...

Were you to visit our office today, you'd be forgiven for mistaking it for a beach party. Most of us are wearing shorts, fans are blowing, foreheads are damp, and the freezer is stocked with ice cream bars courtesy of the heroic and saintly Nancie Martin (who ought to be awarded a medal). The reason? The AC in our building has conked out during the worst heatwave of the summer.

No matter though. All this heatwave needs is a little bit of appropriate music. So, here are my top five "hot" songs from my iTunes library:
"Hot Pants"- Norma and the Heartaches
"Hot Fun in the Summertime"- Sly and the Family Stone
"Hot Hot Summer Day"- Sugarhill Gang
"Here Comes the Hotstepper"- Ini Kamoze
"Hot Heels"- The Barbara Moore Sound

and what would a hot playlist be without a cool B-side:
"Cold Sweat"- James Brown
"Youths are So Cold"- Richie Spice
"Cold in the Country- "Rosewood Theives"
"Ice Cold Daydream"- Suggie Otis
"In the Cold Cold Night"- The White Stripes

I'm also working on a Weird Al Yankovic style re-work of the classic Kenny Rogers tune. New chorus: "I just dropped in to see what condition our air conditioning's in."

Me and Gary Go are out and about in NYC this week

Fresh in from touring the US on a radio promo tour, Gary Go arrived in NYC this weekend and it's been nonstop ever since.

Yesterday, Gary performed at the Apple store in SoHo (photo above). He performed several songs from his self-titled debut album on just his iPhone alongside Andreas Larsen on acoustic guitar. He also showed his self-produced videos and played his iTunes single of the week "Wonderful."

Today, Gary and I (photo below) traveled to Weehawken to visit the studio where he recorded the album with News 12 New Jersey. Then following a great interview with ABC News Now - where Gary was told his single could make a great theme song for "Grey's Anatomy" - we stopped by Sirius XM to check out a performance by David Gray in the space Gary will takeover tomorrow.

Gary - with Andreas, his iphone and a few surprise props to ensure the "Go" experience - will perform a private showcase at Sirius XM at 6:30pm.

Hit me up if you'd like to come!

Russell Visits Office

We got to spend some time with storytellin' man-in-black Tom Russell, seen below with Shore Fire's Matt Hanks on the left and Nick Loss-Eaton on the right. Tom's sweet and lovely wife Nadine made it by too. Tom's career high album Blood and Candle Smoke is coming next month on Shout! Factory, and it's chock full of scenes from Tom's colorful life and much more, stories that have earned him the title of the "writer's musician" with fans like Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Annie Prouxl, Luis Urrea, Ken Bruen and more.

Me at The Newport Folk Festival

Last weekend I went to the Newport Folk Festival. It was the most wonderful festival experience I have ever had. The line up was fantastic (Billy Bragg, Deer Tick, Iron & Wine, Gillian Welch & David Rawlings, Fleet Foxes, The Low Anthem…) and the location couldn’t have been more picturesque. For those of you who have never been the festival is held at Fort Adams Park an old
military fort from the Revolutionary war, the stages are set up on the lawns overlooking Newport harbor where people set up beach chairs and watch from the field or dock their boats and watch the show from the water. Its also an incredibly low key festival: there are only 3 stages and less than half the people you get at the other major festivals. Plus, they have real bathrooms
and they have vendors that sell lobster rolls!



Some highlights of the festival were seeing some of my former clients perform. Billy Bragg opened the festival on Saturday and was as awesome as ever. After his set I hung out with him and his crew a bit – Billy is such a delightful soul – one of my favorite songwriters and an all around great guy! After Billy I ran into the Avett Brothers (we worked their 2007 release ‘Emotionalism’) back stage as they jokingly did their pre-performance stretches. They put on an excellent show and the new stuff sounds fantastic but it was Mavis Staples who really brought down the house. Her performance was mesmerizing and as my boyfriend said “could not be topped.” The company we watched her with couldn’t be topped either, at one point we found ourselves sandwiched between George Wein and Rambling Jack Elliot.



After Mavis’s set we hung out backstage with the Ice Cream Man who was taping performances with some of the bands that played the festival. Check some of them out here:

We were just relaxing, eating ice cream and all of the sudden we saw a police escort arrive. We thought, who could it be? Bob Dylan? Obama? Nope! It was Gillian Welch and David Rawlings! Turns out the duo’s plane was delayed and landed less than an hour before they were set to hit the stage. They don’t usually travel like that but with the crazy traffic from the center of Newport it was the only way they could have arrived on time. We watched as they literally grabbed their guitars from the car and went straight to the stage and they still sounded amazing.

I haven’t uploaded my pictures yet but you can see some great shots from the festival on Ryan’s Smashing Life Blog here .

A Sneak Peek at Woodstock's Most Intimate Images

If you tuned in to NY1 this morning you got a quick preview of the Morrison Hotel Gallery's new exhibit celebrating the 40th anniversary of Woodstock. Here's a shot of MHG co-owner Peter Blachley and NY1's Stephanie Simon (who's due in Oct - congrats Stephanie!) at the gallery.



Another partner at Morrison Hotel Gallery, Henry Diltz, was the official photographer at Woodstock and had unparelleled access to the set-up and performances. Henry and Woodstock producer Michael Lang will attend the official opening of this new exhibit this Thursday evening at The Morrison Hotel Gallery's 313 Bowery location. Come check it out!

Spotted at Pickathon 2009 in Portland

Where do I get one?!?!

At NPR, a Tiny Desk and a Big Crowd

I'm glad there wasn't any major breaking news yesterday at 11:30am (was there?), because what seemed like the entire staff of NPR headed to the 5th floor for a Tiny Desk Concert with The Swell Season performing songs from their forthcoming album 'Strict Joy' (Oct 27/Anti-). If you've never been to a TDC, they're quite a sight. They're literally filmed at the desk of NPR's Bob Boilen (that's Bob standing next to Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova in the pic above). And though Glen admitted he'd never held down a desk job before, he and Marketa were totally in their element, leading the NPR staff in a singalong, and even playing the first-ever Tiny Desk encore!

The Swell Season Tiny Desk Concert should post by next week. Watch this space.