Family time

Having a great time in Boston with the family.

We had amazing Ethiopian lunch and then a good birthday dinner and homemade cake.

Lots of time playing with Gus.

Great conversations with my parents, and Jeremy and Bridget.

And sitting with Cal.

LOVE my family!!!!

I go back on the bus to NY tomorrow.

Bostonnnnnn

Going to Boston later today for some serious FAMILY time.

Celebrating me and my dad's birthday, though really, his is the big one. He is now 60!!!

I also get to see my mother, brother, and Bridget, and my nephews Gus and Cal. I'm so excited!!

Bear City

Today, I went to a screening of the movie Bear City. My song, "Even So," was in the movie during one of the "love" (sex) scenes. LOL, it was a funny movie, I'll leave it at that.

I was joined by my friend Ryan James, and then we went to Rockwood Music Hall, to see Amy Crawford, and I caught a couple songs by Lucius as well before I left.

Pretty good night :-)

BIRTHDAY

Today was my birthday and it was so awesome!!!

I loved getting so many facebook birthday messages...IT made me feel so loved!

And my love Cara Scherker invited me over and cooked me turkey meatballs, pasta and salad, and even bought an ice cream cake!!! IT was the sweetest thing ever!!! (and soooo delicious) She made me feel so special!!!

Then I met up with another friend and then went SWIMMING at the Recreation Center in Chelsea. That branch is serious about the swimming!!

Had my last gig with Tori tonight. She played the midnight set at Rockwood, and she was awesome!! I'm gonna miss my buddy!!! xoxoxoxo Tori!!!

Cuba

Had a nice night with Tori, her guitar player Johnny, and Mike, who's playing drums for her in NYC.

We went and had a nice dinner at a restaurant called Cuba, on Thompson between Bleecker & 3rd. There were a bunch of chess stores there, and Mike loves chess and sat down and played a game with someone who was really good.

I bought a t-shirt and me and Tori went to a hat store, and she helped me pick out a hat :-) I love it!

Then a little Pinkberry, and we walked by all alot of music clubs, and I was pointing them out to her. We went by Bitter End, and I saw one of the guys who works there who is friendly with me. He invited us in to listen to one of the bands that just started jamming. They were great! Alot of great touring and session musicians.

Good birthday so far :-)

Happy birthday to me!

It's my birthday!! Wow, I can't believe I'm 28!!

Hereafter

Saw a great movie tonight - "Hereafter"

I highly recommend it.

Crazyyy night

Had such a long day.

Work all day and then
show at Parkside Lounge. It was a nice audience, and a great time. Band sounded awesome, especially having cara & nick singing backgrounds.

Tori did a great job, and we saw some friends from Boco who came out. Kalynn, Ben, Sarah and Stephanie.

I had to go to williamsburg to play for the bloodsugars but it was a really enjoyable set at a new-ish venue called Cameo.. Loved it

Shrine

Had my first gig tonight with Tori, playing keys with her band. She had bass, drums, guitar, and a couple horns. Sounded pretty good! We played at Shrine.

Unbeknownst to me, the band before me consisted of three guys who have played with me on a few gigs. Iakov Kremenskiy on guitar, Jeff Villanueva on drums, and Evgeny Lebedev on keys.

Good guys!

They sounded awesome

Tomorrow me and Tori play at Parkside Lounge. Wooord!

Tori Roze!

Met today with Flash, aka Bobby Brickstone, who's an awesome dancer/choreographer, and also doing music. We worked on a track which might have a lot of potential. Excited about a possible working relationship with him. He's a good writer and awesome guy. Very motivated.

AND.....TORI's here finally! Reunited at last. We're gonna have a great week. Playing a show with her band tomorrow at Shrine :-)

Set list

So excited...I love music!!

     Creating arrangements for the show on Thursday.

Had a WONDERFUL rehearsal today with Cara Scherker and Nick Boddington. They are awesome vocalists and the three of us sound wonderful together, and haven't all sung together since a gig back in February.

It's great to be reunited!

Full band rehearsal is tomorrow.

AND then TORI Roze, my long lost lover is coming in!!! Woo-hoo. I gotta clean (maybe) and practice her material. I'm playing keys with her on her sets.

Can't wait for show on Thursday! YEAH!

Weekend

I slept my life away this weekend....

In preparation for a busy week ahead, I wanted to soak up the zzzz's....

Had fun though hanging with some friends.

Me & Cara took a nice walk through Madison Square Park...There are all kinds of cool shops and food stands set up there.

It's starting to get COLD! brrrrrr

My Soul To Take

Worked on my newsletter today for those on my mailing list

It always takes way too long

I always over think it

Had a great meeting with Craig Smith.

He is in, of, and all around the music business

Working as a choreographer, background singer, etc. etc. etc.

He really does it all.

We met at Starbucks and had ourselves a talk, honey.

He's very inspiring and positive.

I also went and saw "My Soul to Take" in 3D.

It was pretty dumb. Haha. But entertaining.

Apollo Run

I saw Apollo Run tonight at Union Hall in BK.

They are an awesome band that Lily O'Brien (PR) works with. 

She invited me out to the show,

though I ended up seeing some friends from work there.

The band is like Queen meets Jeff Buckley.

3 part harmonies, sickly talented musicians.

Lead singer plays keyboard, guitar, and trumpet.

He came out in one song and lay on the floor and had some of the audience do the same,

calling it stargazing. HAHA.

Great show :-)

Sweet & Sour Chicken

is basically a dessert right? It's like a donut, with some chicken. And the sauce is like all sugar. But...its yummy.

Reading for Faraway Bayou was tonight. 

I think it went well! :-)

I met some awesome people in the process.

Stuuuuudio

Just longing to be in the studio again....recording....doesn't matter which studio.....the "studio" is one of my favorite places to be :-)

I had a long rehearsal today for the reading of Faraway Bayou, which is taking place tomorrow.

We rehearsed in Montana Studios, which is an awesome rehearsal space down on 11th Ave.

Then I went swimming...yay....love being in the water

Now gonna try and finish recording this reference track, then eat, then watch TV,

then go to bed.

zzzzzzzzz......

Rain

It's been raining like crazy.

But I like it.

Except I always forget to take my umbrella, and then have to buy one while I'm out.

I have 4 umbrellas currently.

Anybody want one?

Went to see a friend of a friend at Bitter End.

His name is David Gilbert, and I believe it was his first NYC gig.

He did a great job! Commanding presence. Even though it was just him with a guitar player, he seemed very comfortable and at ease with the audience.

Saw my buddy Brady Watt, who I run into a lot. 

He plays bass for Olamide, and many other artists.

Tonight he was playing for an R&B group, Black Butterfly, who was great.

Singer shout-outs

Just want to give a shout out to two singers:

The first is the amazing Marsha Ambrosius. Formerly of Floetry, she is probably my favorite vocalist. Period. I tweeted her today saying "I <3 Marsha Ambrosius," and she tweeted back saying "Awww" with a heart. LOL. Yay!!

The second is Bruno Mars. Don't know much about him, except that he's been the hook singer for a few very successful songs this year, and is now doing some solo material. He was on SNL last night, and I thought he did great. Really good vocalist!

DRAG QUEENS

I went to support my friend who competed in this drag queen pageant.

It was tooo much!! 

In the best way possible.

I love how drag queens, when they are really good..

they are lip-syncing, but they really embody the feeling of the song.

What a fun night. HAHAHAHAAAAA good times.

Catfish

Tonight after work / rehearsals I went to see

BROOKE PARROTT at Googie's (above the Living Room)

She was a good buddy from Berklee,

and I haven't seen her in years. She's been living in London.

She did a great job!!

Then I went and saw Catfish

Interesting movie.

Wanna be on top?

After work I had some interesting meetings:

1. Met with Janet and Carol of Redwood Entertainment with Joe Stebbins, a booking agent.

He wanted to introduce me to Naima, who he has been working with a bit.

What I didn't realize was that it was Naima, winner of Cycle 4 on America's Next Top Model.

She also sings in a Rock Band called Galaxy of Tar.

She does some appearances in gay clubs, and we may team up for some bookings.

Was awesome to meet her!

2. Went to Tea Lounge in Park Slope to meet with Lily O'Brien, who may work with me on some PR.

She was wonderful.

So, I have some decisions to make.

But it's ok, life is grand.

Faraway Bayou

I have the music from Faraway Bayou stuck in my head!

It's a musical I'm doing a reading for next week. 

I do enjoy singing the show. It's good music.

Had a good audition today :-)

And then another lesson.

I like doing lessons. Hoping to get more students. Let's go!

Prey

Taught my first voice lesson today. It went great! I'm hoping to build a roster of some more students. :-)

Tonight was a nice artistic, inspirational night.

One of my favorite choreographers since I was in elementary school is Shannon Hummel. She used to teach at Dance & Company in my hometown of Harrisonburg, VA and I've been a big fan for a LONG time. She has lived in NY for years now and has her own company, Cora Dance.

They have been developing a piece called Prey for a few years. It is a site-specific dance piece taking place in Red Hook Brooklyn. I went to Coffey Park and saw them perform some excerpts. It was awesome! It started out in the park and then we walked to some of the other sites they will be performing at along the way, ending at the pier, which is gorgeous...it was evening and there is a great view of the city & the statue of liberty.

Then I went to an artist showcase at Canal Room sponsored by Hennessy, featuring Erin Christine, Miguel, and Bilal, among others. I was especially impressed by Miguel's show. There was some simple choreography that the bass and guitar player did with him that was HOT. It had everyone talking.

Some friends of mine - Cara and Brooke, also came out to check out the show. A nice Tuesday evening!

Miguel:

ZZZZZzzzzzzzzzip

Sooooo freakin tired.....Warming up some food, then time for bed.

Looks like I have one of my first lessons tomorrow. Student is coming over and we will go over some voice, piano, and ear training. Seems like some people are interested in the "combination" lesson. I'm ready to jump in and teach!

Still rehearsing for Faraway Bayou. The reading for that is on the 13th.

Excited for my bud Tori Roze to get here :-) She'll be here in two weeks.

Worked today a bit with Heightz. He has some new material he wants to collaborate on. I like that dude.

Tonight was a special birthday show for my bud Eli Bolin at Bar Nine in Midtown.

It was a fun time :-)

Weeekend

Yesterday I had to be up ridiculously early to play for a Story Pirates show out at a Harvest Festival.

The Festival was wonderful....Lots of families with kids...hay rides and great food...kinda fancy pants, but yummy.

I had a good meeting with potential manager and great contact Will McKinney, and then conked out and slept for like 12 hours.

Today I woke up & had a handyman come by to do a couple things, including mounting my mirror up on the wall...Every day this apartment feels more and more like home. Yes, I've been here almost a year and a half, haha!!

Tonight, I reunited with my beautiful friend Robin Kacyn. We went to arts camp together way back in high school and became fast friends. Well, she just moved to NYC, and we had some serious catching up to do, so we had some wonderful food and talked ALOT. It was great!

Social Network

Social Network

+

Popcorn

+

Swedish Fish

= AWESOME!

doo ba do ba doot doot doot....aaah

So obsessed with that Nicki Minaj song "Your Love," with the sample from Annie Lennox 

"No More I Love You's"

Had a rehearsal today for Faraway Bayou.

It's a musical with lyrics written by a former Berklee teacher.

I'm involved in the staged reading which is in a couple weeks.

Played tonight once again for the 

Sit Down and Shut Up NYPD Variety Hour

One of the best performances yet. Very funny! And I was definitely most comfortable with the music.