Crash Mansion

Really enjoyed being a part of "Change Gonna Come 2010" - a benefit for children of South Africa -

Did a great set at Crash Mansion - with Iakov Kremenskiy on BASS (yes, usually my guitar player, he whipped out the bass for this one) and Jeffrey Villanueva on drums.

They both killed, and we were also joined for a couple features by the rapper Heightz.

Chilled with a few friends, and stayed for Pauline Pisano's set - she was awesome!

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!

SHOW at Crash Mansion

WOW......

What a great night......

so much.....

I feel blessed and grateful.....Of course there are always things that could be better, but overall I had fun and we put on an entertaining show, with the help of:

-4-piece band + horn + backgrounds
-guest rapper Heightz
-guest tapper Cartier Williams
-dance performance from the choreography of Joanna Numata
-duet with singer/dancer Joe Buffa

I feel great about bringing together awesome talent and energy and putting on an entertaining show. We'll see how the footage comes out (I had someone taping)

After my gig I went to Rockwood to see my bass player Jordan Scannella kill it with his band!!

Wood/ Bowery Electric

Doing a lot of preparing for my show tomorrow...

Got a piece of wood to take to the gig for Cartier to tap on... shout out to Prince Lumber ...ha...

Went tonight to Bowery Electric to see my friend Lisa Sansouci with her band This Hollywood Heart, and I ran into my drummer Jeff Villanueva who was playing there with his band. Both groups were really great!

Always love to see live music and get inspired :-)

Now trying to get some sleep for tomorrow...Wish me luck!

Eat Pray Love

SO today I had GREAT rehearsals:

Rehearsed background vocals with Nick & Jade at their awesome apartment on Riverside Dr.,

and then later that afternoon I had band rehearsal with Jeffrey, Jordan, Evgeny, and Iakov. It went really well, and I can't wait for the show on Tuesday!

Then I met up with my good friend Stephanie Jaggers and we saw Eat Pray Love. It was pretty good, I got some awesome tidbits from it. Definitely recommend going to see it!

2 for 1

Tonight was the show my friend Todd Henry worked so hard to put together. 2 for 1: a music/dance collaboration show.

So proud of Todd & his creative partner, Vicky. The show was a sucess. Good turnout. It was at Triskelion Arts in Williamsburg.

I played 5 songs:

*Two Time
*Legend
*Warning Shot
*Live to Tell (madonna cover)
*2 Bad 2 Do Good

Band was: Iakov Kremenskiy (good old standby), Carras Paton, sounding awesome on sax/flute, and a new drummer Jeff Villanueva.

I was really digging the sound. We all sounded smooth and tasty together. Can't wait to play with those guys again.

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!!