Chelsea Piers + Robbie Gil

Today I went to Chelsea Piers to take class from my friend Joe Buffa. Me & him danced in Sheryl Murakami's piece at Carnival last year, and he's such a great guy/dancer/teacher.

Chelsea Piers is beautiful! What an amazing gym....and very cute I might add....I felt like a creeper haha!!

Tonight I went to Rockwood Music Hall with my friend Todd. We saw Robbie Gil play, who has been very inspiring to me. His voice really tears through your soul, and he's a phenomenal songwriter. Please check out his music, and go see him live!!! Seeing him play is a thrilling experience.

Being inspired is priceless, and going to shows this weekend has enriched my soul, for real. 

Modern dance

Great day today.

Jeff, who is playing drums for my next gig, works at Jivamukti Yoga, so I went there to take a class today, and it was great! Awesome studio with great energy.

Tonight, I met up with my old high school dance friend from Virginia, Rachel Burt, who now lives in NY (well, Long Beach, on Long Island) and we went to see Mark Morris Dance Group at BAM in Brooklyn. The show was amazing. I hadn't been to a modern dance show like that in so long, so I was so thrilled to be there. The first piece (of 3) was my favorite. It was done in silence, but the movement was just beautiful.

SOOOO much respect for dancers in general. Seems like the life of a dancer isn't always the most gratifying. Even dancers at that level (Mark Morris is one of the top modern dance companies) aren't stars, per se. They are unrecognizable by most of the world, and perhaps not even paid all that much (not sure what the rates are). What they do is athletic, and I'm sure sometimes strenuous and exhausting, but SO so artistic. They are invested in the movement. Their heart is IN it. I wonder what it feels like to go home at night after performing in one of those shows. You know you are part of something GREAT. Something bigger than yourself. You and the rest of the company have in a sense, become ONE on stage together, bringing to life the vision of the choreographer.

BAM is a beautiful space in Brooklyn, and I hope to return soon.
Me and Rachel met up with another fabulous old dance friend from Virginia, Katie Dean.

Yes, I am a dance nerd!

The Piano Table

Another day working at my kid's music job. Thankfully I WASN'T late this morning. (I had two days in a row of being late for class, and got written up).

It started snowing so hard during class on the Upper West Side. HUGE, BEAUTIFUL snow flakes!!

I met up again tonight with Ric Schnupp & met his partner Darien Shulman, and we did a listening session at Soundtrack Recording Studio. That place is so dope. I love going there!

While doing a search on google, I came across this:

It's called a piano table. How cool is that? Its supposed to be space efficient. It has a lid that closes, and built in to the table is an electric piano. I want one!

On the subway on the way home, I was listening to the song that made me fall in love with M.I.A. many years ago, "Pull Up The People." I think the beat is soooo sick!

Brooklyn Bowl

Another LONG day today, starting with a call in midtown at 6:45!

Story Pirates gig....met at the Drama Bookshop and drove in a rental van out to Long Island to do 3 shows at an elementary school out there.

Stayed in town for the rest of the day, as the Bloodsugars had a gig at The Brooklyn Bowl. That place is f*&$ -ing awesome! It's a bowling alley connected to a restaurant, connected to a music venue, but it is all open. I.E. you can bowl and listen to music at the same time. It's like in a huge warehouse type space, but totally plush and cool architecture, lots of wood and brick. Nice greenroom, great hospitality & food, AWESOME sound system. The monitors on stage were great, and the sound woman totally knew what she was doing AND was really nice.

I can't wait to go back to that venue and hang out!

Charlie bit me!

Had a gig tonight with "The Bloodsugars" in New Jersey, at the College of New Jersey!

It was a cool gig...also performing was "Project Jenny Project Jan." They were awesome. 2-man group, DJ + singer with videos that are synced up with the music.

On the way back, we were listening to this in the car. "Charlie Bit Me," the auto-tuned version. I love it!!!

Designs

Had a really long day today.

Work --> gym --> therapy --> haircut --> rehearsal with Story Pirates

Highlight of the day was probably getting designs done! I've been going to this guy Carlos who does dope designs. He works at "Heights Finest" barber shop in Washington Heights, which is also where I met the rapper Heightz, who has collaborated with me at a live show and on the track "Saturday" off my upcoming album, "Suitcases."

I had been growing out my beard, so Carlos had that to work with too. Check out this video to see his work! I love the process. He is very skilled at what he does.

Earlier today:

Crazy Purim party at this SERIOUS synagogue school on the Upper East Side. Was frisked, and searched DOWN to get in....these kids had food for days, magic show, music, and who knows what else.

3pm - Joanna Numata's class at Broadway Dance Center. Aaah, she might be my favorite choreographer, period. So awesome to see her really growing into her role as a teacher. We danced to "One Minute Man" by Missy.

6pm- Rehearsal with Todd for our show on March 6. CLICK HERE for the event info. Heat was out in the rehearsal space in Brooklyn. It was COLD!

Blogging is fun! I'm also now on twitter. Follow me on there!

Shutter Island!!!!

Today I:


--played music for an adorable little girl's birthday party

--took Luam's class at BDC, which was bananas. I loved the combo. I think the song was called "Fast Car," by Trish, and it was kinda robotic, but with a little groove at the end. Loved it!

--I saw Shutter Island! Aaah, good movie. It was sold out, and I was sitting in literally the front row of the theater, looking up. I got used to it though, and really enjoyed the movie. It's very eerie. I highly recommend it!

GREAT

P.S. Can you help me think of some better words to use, other than "GREAT?" I think I've used that word 67 times already in the first 4 posts.

Whether you Fall...

I forgot to mention that last night when I played at Cake shop with the Bloodsugars, I wandered over to Rockwood Music Hall, probably my favorite New York venue, and Tracy Bonham was playing!

She's an artist I started listening to in high school, and she's really great! Her first album, The Burdens of Being Upright, and more recent album, Blink the Brightest, are pretty amazing! At the end of this entry, I am posting one of her songs, "Whether you Fall." It's so beautiful, and I saw her play it last night!

Today I rehearsed with a new drummer, Jeffrey Villanueva, a great guy and good player. We are getting ready for this event:

 

We are doing a Madonna cover, "Live to Tell," that my friend Todd requested. They will be dancing to it. 

Tonight I played keyboard for Alison O'Connor's midnight yoga class at Laughing Lotus Yoga Studio. 

It was a great class! I've done it a few times, but this was our favorite yet. I just play keyboard, no singing, but pacing, energy, groove, and all that are very important. I played some covers tonight, some Lady Gaga, Madonna, "Careless Whisper", "Weak", "Battlefield," haha. I also did an assisted handstand with these two girls, Taylor & Annie. Everyone there was really nice, and I even got a tip. :-)

Shout out to Alison for being such a great, fun, & focused teacher. She always shares some good stories & quotes, and I thoroughly enjoyed myself tonight. Thanks Alison!!

Cake Shop

Aaaah I'm up too late AGAIN!

I found this on YouTube. It was posted by Heightz, the rapper who featured in my song "Saturday" and performed with me at my last Pianos show. In this video, you can kinda get a sense of my live show. This last one (on February 6) was so much fun. It was a great turnout and really great energy from the crowd!

Today was great. After work, my friend Demond came over. I helped him with some music, 
and then we jammed. Check out this video of us singing "Ordinary People."

He helped me take my big old Yamaha Mo-8 to a cab, and I took it down to First Flight Music Store. Then I played tonight with Bloodsugars at Cakeshop. We had a great set! Man, I love getting lost in their music. Jason does such a great job. And big shout outs to Kenneth 
Salters on drums, and Brendan O'Grady on bass.

Shout out to Caitlin Devlin, an old Berklee friend who I saw tonight! She was at Cakeshop to see "Savoir Adore," and I'm so glad she caught our set and we got to catch up!

Now I'm watching American Idol once again, and sending out invitations to my next show. It's a modern dance/music collabo with my friend Todd Henry. I'll be dancing a bit and then
singing 5 songs with a small band. Drums, acoustic guitar, me on keys, and flute/sax for this one. I'm excited. CLICK HERE for more info on this event.

I'm out!

I Can't Go On, I'll Go On

I got a bikram class in today. Ahh, I love Bikram, especially in the winter. When it's cold outside, it's so awesome to be in a really hot room sweating my face off.

I also had rehearsal today with Jason Rabinowitz. I'm currently playing keyboard/synth for his band, "The Bloodsugars."

We went on tour a couple weeks ago to Minneapolis, Madison, and Chicago, and in March, we will be going to South by Southwest. I'm excited, it'll be my first time going there! It's one of the biggest music festivals in the country.

And now, I'm watching "American Idol." I'm a little obsessed with the show right now, especially since it's during Hollywood week. I love watching all the auditions, and seeing the talent. You see the hunger & the dream in these kids.

Two of my friends, Jennifer Hirsh and Jess Wolfe of the group "Lucius", made it to Hollywood week. I am so proud of them. Jennifer sang "Ding dong the witch is dead," in her initial audition, and Jess sang "People get Ready." They sounded amazing. Jen performs original material with her awesome band in NY, and Jess is in "Lucius," a band fronted by herself and Holly Laessig, another friend and awesome singer. Check out their material!

Ok, back to Idol....

Try Sleeping with a Broken Heart

The journey continues:

-Still trying to book the date for the release party of my CD
-Still looking for management, though I've been in contact with a couple possible canditates
-Trying not to get too worked up about things that are OUT OF MY CONTROL

On a break from my job (playing & singing for babies) I got together with my two current background singers Nick Boddington & Cara Scherker and we recorded a few songs for YouTube.

Click here to see the first of the video series, a cover of "Co Star" by DAY26.

It was snowing like crazy here in NY!

After work I went and took two dance classes at Broadway Dance Center. The first was Ray Hesselink's theater tap class. He is a great teacher and I always have so much fun in his class tapping away. The second was Jermaine Brown's hip-hop/street jazz class. I've only taken his class maybe 3-4 times, but he is another GREAT teacher...really emphasizes the performance aspect...We did a great combo to Alicia Keys' "Try Sleeping with a Broken Heart." I was really feelin it!!

I am a blogger?!?!

I am starting a new blog!! And so excited about it.

I wanted to be able to bring others into my crazy, exciting life in NYC.

In addition to my part-time jobs (gigging with bands, working at a kids music company. etc) I have been moving forward with my career as an artist/songwriter/performer. My new full-length CD is ALMOST ready. We are tweaking the design, and then it will be sent off for printing. I have also been performing monthly at Pianos down in the lower east side.

This past Friday, I met up with an old friend and classmate from The American Boychoir School, Anton Briones. We met at Aroma Espresso Bar, which by the way is amazing. It's the Israeli version of Starbucks apparently. I had an awesome egg sandwich, that came with cream cheese, pickles, and tomato. Delicious. Anyways, he is going to be designing my website. Finally, adamshenk.com is happening, and will no longer just redirect to my myspace! He is really great at what he does, and I can't wait for the final product!

Over the weekend, I also met with 2 producers/engineers. The first is Ric Schnupp, who I met awhile back in Boston. He now works out of a high-end recording studio in Manhattan. He gave me a tour, and I'm telling you, these studios were sick! Everything you could dream of. I wet my pants, twice. Plush couches, dim lighting, awesome vibe. A recording studio you would want to call home.

The second producer was Richard Dickson, a.k.a. Rich Kidd, a.k.a. The Analog Kidd. His place was way up in the Bronx, but I'm glad I went. He had a home studio, and his material was great. We started writing to one of his tracks, that he called Ghetto Supersonic. It was a sick beat, and I'm glad we got to start working together right away.

I also played keys for my friend's band, Shoots & Latters at North 4th Bar in Williamsburg on Saturday.

It was a great long weekend, and I look forward to getting more stuff done on my endless to-do list as the week progresses.