Helllllooooooo

Whoa, haven't been on here IN A MINUTE!!!


Life's been a little crazy but good -

Traveled out to Los Angeles again - did a private party in Beverly Hills for a friend of Beth Shaw, CEO of Yoga Fit, who has taken a liking to my music.

I also went to Palm Springs to her home there and did a showcase for her and invitees of my new management, KMP Artists.

I spent two days in San Diego with my friend Tori Roze, and did the open mic at Lestat's, as well as a featured spot at Train of Thought San Diego.

Back in LA, I did a show with Wesley Cole on bass and Julian Hogan on drums at M Bar in Hollywood.

Meanwhile, I took a bunch of dance class, and had some great writing sessions with songwriter friends Adam Tressler, Brooke Parrott, and Jill Krachmer.

Planning on moving to LA later this year or early next.

On the way back to the east coast, I stopped in Austin to visit a friend. First time there - what a lovely city - but sooo hot.... then I flew to Boston and spent 4th of July with my brother Jeremy, Bridget, and nephews Gus & Cal.

Now I'm back in NYC, getting some things poppin here - getting ready for my cousin Chris' wedding. I am providing the music along with bandmates Cara Scherker, Iakov Kremenskiy, Josh Giunta, and Brian Holtz.

AND I got approved for artist housing - $470/month for a studio apartment in midtown. So alot's going on, but all good stuff.

Stay tuned!

Management & Christopher Rice

I've been off my blog grind - but plugging away.

Signed a management deal with KMP Artists - who are based in LA, and incidentally they work with pretty much my favorite writer of all time - Christopher Rice

I just finished his fourth book, Blind Fall, and immediately started his most recent work, The Moonlit Earth. His stories are absolutely captivating - written with a lot of heart and emotion, with suspenseful and mysterious aspects that are totally up my alley.

Hope to meet him soon - I think I may meet him at a showcase in Seattle in September.

Also been working on some development with Jonathan Whiteley - he has been giving me some advice on things from performance to image - he suggested I take some technical dance classes as a form of exercise, and to train my body in a way that hip-hop classes don't quite cover. I took a jazz class today at PMT Dance Studio.

Back in New York

It feels good to be back in NYC. I mean really:

No place like it --- even though I would like to go back to LA very soon.

I finally finished unpacking today from my trip - kinda pathetic considering it's almost a week later LOL - been dragging my feet a little bit on everything that needs to be done, but I'm getting back into the swing of things.

Today I went and took Eddie Villanueva's dance class at NYSC. Me and him both danced in Sheryl Murakami's carnival piece a couple years ago, and have stayed in touch a bit. It was great to see him do his thing!

I also hung out with Gillian Hunter earlier in the day - she is such a beautiful, sweet person that I went to Interlochen Arts Camp with back in '98. She's British, and currently lives in London, but I saw her back in 2009, and she was visiting New York again recently. We have kept in touch via Twitter. 

We had a lovely time.

My Duplex show & the weekend

Show at the Duplex was so much fun! Click here to read Chuck Taylor's blog review of the show.

My band Jordan, Jeffrey, Iakov, and Evgeny, plus newbie Ashton Parson on backgrounds, killed it - plus I had Heightz spittin some verses, Yvonne, Scott, & Brian dancin with me, and Alex Cowings (Emily King's brother) came up and tapped his ass off to "Trust in Me."

Check the video at the bottom of this blog entry for my interview with John-Andrew Morrison & some clips from the show.

This weekend I hosted Samuel Buscape from Germany - a friend of Simon Kirsch, brother of Kate Kirsch, who my family hosted a few years ago. (Yes, I believe that's 3 degrees of separation).

He's a budding filmmaker, and he stopped by my show to take pictures. He got some great ones.

Over the weekend, I went to Joe Buffa's Dance Strong workshop. Very proud of him, he's really grown his following & is passionate about teaching.

Went to a dance performance at Steps with Samuel. He was game for pretty much everything, and it was nice having him along.

On Sunday, we went to a video shoot for rapper So Fly Smooth. I did a hook on one of his songs, but for this video, I was just chillin, and did a couple shots with him. We'll see how the video turns out.

Afterwards, we went to an open mic at Tom & Toon, through Songhall. I played a couple tunes, then me and Samuel headed over to AMC to see Unknown. I loved the movie!

Now check out this vid:


Untitled from Web Show New York on Vimeo.

The Town

I've been getting behind on the blogging... OOPS.

Staying pretty busy.

Today I had a taping for my friend John-Andrew's web series. He is featuring me on the show, and coming to my gig on Friday with a few people to tape my performance.

They were all good peeps! I played and sang "Two Time" & did an interview with John-Andrew.

I watched "The Town" last night which was great!

And tonight, I went to a theater dance class, taught by my old friend Kyle Pleasant.

He's a wonderful teacher and I was so proud!!

The Asshole in my Head

The weekend has come to a close.

I spent time performing with Wobble Dance Company in Winter Follies at Spoke the Hub in Brooklyn.

The piece was great -

I also went and saw the movie The Rite, which I actually did not enjoy. But I do love going to the movies. I had some pretzel bites with cheese. YUM haha.... Too bad January is known for its BAD movies.... sigh....

Tonight I went to a show at The Duplex to check out the space for my upcoming show February 25. The show I went to was called "The Asshole in my Head," which was actually an awesome concept. One woman cabaret, but with an offstage voice that kept interrupting and singing - the voice in her head.

Looking forward to a productive week :-)

United Project

Tonight I got to go see a dance performance from UNITED PROJECT - a group of dancers who have been studying under choreographers Joanna Numata, Dana Foglia, and La Jon Dantzler, three of my favorite teacher/choreographers.

The show was stunning. Mishay Petronelli & Ai Shimatsu, two girls that were heavily featured, were really exquisite, and the whole company really lived in those pieces.

The music was great (lots of Bjork), cool costumes, innovation (one piece was Mishay on a ladder being carried around by four boys and morphed into different positions), and awesome choreography.

Made me happy and proud to be an artist and witness to such amazing artistry.

I'm happy :-)

Benefit

Had a great time performing at another benefit - this was in NJ at Rutgers University for some nursing students raising money to go to Costa Rice during spring break to do some service.

It was organized by Chris Byrd, a dance friend, who is also in the nursing program - there were a bunch of us dancers / artists there performing and I had so much fun seeing everybody!

I sang a bit of Ooh-La-La & then Warning Shot - and it was a nice audience. .. I really enjoy the connection with the audience no matter where I go - it's all about attitude and having fun.

I love dancers and missed alot of my dance friends. I haven't been going to Broadway Dance Center as much anymore, so it was great to see everybody!

Wedding bands / Fierce dance show

Last night, I had a gig / audition with Hank Lane wedding band.

It was super fancy, at the Plaza Hotel...

I was so nervous....I just came out and sang two songs. "Oh What a Night" was kinda a mess. Nobody could hear me because the sound system (also I wasn't holding the mic quite close enough)...

but then later I came out and sang Earth Wind And Fire "September" and it was kinda hot!! So I think it went well....It was cool to see the gig...I mean song after song, of top 40 and oldies.... really interesting.... Hopefully I can do some work like that.. it's good money.

Tonight, I went to see Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet, and oh my god!!! 


It was so phenomal..... the whole company was amazing, but it was all about Ebony Williams.... I went to school with her at Boston Conservatory, and she is such a star dancer. She was in Beyonce's "Single Ladies" video... can it get any better than that for a female dancer? That video is one of the most famous dance videos of all time.

Anyway, this program was astounding, and I can't wait to go see more Cedar Lake. Fantastic!

Here is a photo of Ebony, and a picture with Beyonce in a live performance.

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:

Bedspread Monday

My parents spent the night last night on a new air mattress that I now have in my apartment.

And they met with my manager to go over some things today.

I went to work and then to rehearsal for a staged reading of a musical that I am singing in - "Faraway Bayou." The music is pretty good! I love just going in there and sightreading new material.

Then I played a kids party at Eli's Vinegar Factory. Cool place on the Upper East Side.

Tonight I took my friend's modern dance class. What made it even better is that it was free!

Woo-hoo!

banshee

That's my new favorite word.

Banshee - is a female spirit in Irish mythology, usually seen as an omen of death and a messenger from the Otherworld

But I like to think of "banshee" as crazy or wild.

Here is a picture that popped up on google for banshee:

Took Shyrelle Kalilikane at Broadway Dance Center tonight. We did an Aaliyah combo, since it was the anniversary of Aaliyah's death.

Class was great. Love Shyrelle!

Parks & Recreation

Watching episodes of "Parks & Recreation" on my DVR.....

Love a good sitcom.

Today I had GREAT dance rehearsals with Yvonne & Emily....they are gonna kill on tuesday!

Tonight I went to see a bunch of friends play music:

The Amazing Jellies (Eli Bolin & Alison Posner) at the Googie's (above the Living Room)
&
Andrea Setaro w/band at Sidewalk Cafe.

Got to hang with some awesome peeps and enjoy some great live music!!!

DANCE & LIFE

Wonderful day today.....

Taught music classes,

then went to an audition. LITERALLY walked into the building, changed my shirt, was called in to audition, then left, probably all within 5 minutes. AMAZING!!

Took 2 of Joanna Numata's classes.....Hadn't danced in like weeks....maybe months aaah. Classes were amazing. We danced to "Click Click Click" by Nasri and "Say Yes" by Floetry......

Vibed with my bud Joe Buffa. We are working up a cool number for my next show at Crash Mansion.

In addition, I will be performing this coming Wednesday at the Greenhouse in NYC as part of the LoveJones showcase. It's gonna be great!!

Justin Conte

Good class today with Justin Conte at PMT studios.

Then I went to see Neara Russell, a recent Berklee grad, at Caffe Vivaldi. Nice venue, I had never been there. They have a grand piano and really nice sound. Small place; I was diggin it. And Neara sounded great. She did a really amazing, goosebump-inducing cover of "Every Breath You Take."

Going to shows

I love going to see shows and being with friends.

Friday I was at the gym with Katya. I got a 30-day pass to Mid-city gym, and tweeted about it. She was like "that's my gym too!!" So we coordinated. IT was fun just sitting on the bike talking and getting exercise at the same time haha.

Then I went to Tap City at Symphony Space, put on by the American Tap Dance Foundation. It was wonderful. Met Mishay and Michelle Dorrance there. Michelle was supposed to perform but had a bad foot injury that day unfortunately. But wow, some of the tapping. My friend Cartier had a solo at the beginning that was unreal. Tap is so joyous, and so musical. I love it.

Today I slept soooo late and then recorded a YouTube video (Heatwave) and then went to a late set at Blue Note. My friend Juri Jinnai's boyfriend Romain Collins was playing with his trio, and it was excellent. It's a great room, because they have a quiet policy, ha, so people actually pay attention. IT was a nice time, then I stopped by Stonewall after, which I had never been to.

Over & out

Rehearsals make me feel special

I love having my own rehearsals...

Started out the day on a great note with full band rehearsal. Nick & Jade, Jordan on bass, Evgeny on keys, and Kim Garey on drums.....such a great group, and a set list that I'm very excited about.

Then practice with dancers Yvonne-Marie Sain & Scott Nicholson at my apartment. Those are two of my FAVORITE dancers and people, and I love chillin/talking/rehearsing with them....

Now hoping to have an audience on Tuesday at Bitter End. Whatever happens though, we will put on a great show, and I will have fun! I'm getting better at letting go and just enjoying the music with my wonderful musicians/artists.

Took Bikram tonight but was so tired, got so lazy by the end of class, resting a lot, and almost falling asleep. Oops!! It's ok....

Two kids party road trips tomorrow. Hopefully I can sleep in the car! Woohoo!!!!

night!!!!

So you think you can dance

Watching So You Think You Can Dance. Oh, I just love this show.

There was a girl that Nigel called Marge Simpson, because she wore her hair on top of her head. OH my god, she was amaaaaazing!!!!!!!

Went to Bikram Yoga Harlem today, and it's one of my favorite Bikram studios so far, based on the first impression. The teacher, whose name was also Adam, was wonderful, as was the vibe, the space, and the facility. Hopefully I can get back at least once in the intro week.

Got a new design shaved in my head. Whee!!

Jared Grimes

Highlight of today was taking Jared Grimes' class at BDC. He is an amazing tap dancer and hip-hop choreographer. We've been tight for a couple years, and I have performed at his Broadway Underground show at BB King's several times. For the past year or so, he has been working on the new Cirque du Soleil show, but now he is done with that contract and back teaching.

Class was fire!

And had an inspirational talk afterwards with Jared and Robert Taylor Jr. (another artist). Lots of ideas back and forth, good stuff!

Had a rehearsal tonight with The Bloodsugars. We are doing shows this weekend in Philly, DC, NY, and Boston. Love those guys!

Laundry and dance

I did my own laundry today, which I really should always do. It saves so much money. But I'm sitting here looking at the unfolded pile, and I DON'T wanna do it! LOL.....so tired.....will do tomorrow.

Had a good coaching today with my friend Aurelia. She is a dancer, but she has so much raw singing talent, it is a pleasure to work with her, and share some of what I know about singing. I want to do more coachings. It reminds me how passionate I am about music and voice.

I had a nice rehearsal tonight with Shyrelle Kalilikane. She is a dancer/choreographer from Hawaii, who has really been working it in NYC the past few years, and I have worked with her on a couple projects. She has a real knack for choreography and staging, and I'm proud of her. We are working on "Will You be There" by Michael Jackson for the Young Choreographers Festival.

I love dance!