rockchickny’s blog

New album from LaKisha Jones!

nobody@vox.com(rockchickny) — Mon, 04 May 2009 09:19:37 -0700

LAKISHA JONES
"SO GLAD I'M ME"

"So Glad I'm Me" resonates from start to finish, propelled by Jones' expressive, full-bodied vocals. It's the same arresting voice that electrified "American Idol" viewers with the "Dreamgirls" showstopper "And I Am Telling You" and later commanded the Broadway stage in Oprah Winfrey's Tony Award-winning musical "The Color Purple." Whether Jones is delivering a gut-tugging ballad, a beat-infused party jam or a spiritual uplift, her voice never loses its soul-stirring fervor.

Leading the charge on the album's spirited mix of R&B and soul is first single "Let's Go Celebrate." The song percolates with an understated, hand-clapping groove that's part ladies night jam and part spiritual release. "My life has been a blessing/No need for me to be stressing/My attitude is changing/I'll never be the same again ... Because tonight is the night and let's go celebrate."

LAKISHA JONES - "Let's Go Celebrate"

Track Listing:

01 Grateful

02 So Glad I'm Me

03 Beautiful Girl

04 Same Song

05 Let's Go Celebrate

06 Ain't Worth It

07 Bye Bye

08 Nothing

09 Be Alright

10 You Give Good Love

11 Memories (fade away)

12 Free

13 Picked The Right Time

14 Just As I Am

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Hey, I know that girl in Fallbrooke's video...

nobody@vox.com(rockchickny) — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 11:28:00 -0700

It's Mandy Jiroux!!!

Mandy1

Mandy

WATCH THE VIDEO FOR YOURSELF HERE

South Florida's Fallbrooke was originally started by Singer/Guitarist: Eric McNeely & Drummer/Singer: Kevin Schwarz in the summer of 2005. Soon after, they were contacted by the founder of RMR Music Group; Paul Palmer (Trauma Records: Bush, No Doubt) who flew the band out immediately to Los Angeles after hearing a few songs. Fallbrooke signed with RMR in Winter 2007.

Their new self-titled album is now available for download online through iTunes or Amazon.

For more information on Fallbrooke....

Check them out on Myspace

And download this track for free at Alternative Addiction

http://www.alternativeaddiction.com/downloads/downloads.asp?id=935

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Tiffany Giardina shows schools some love

nobody@vox.com(rockchickny) — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 10:49:25 -0700

Tiffany Giardina hit the road last Monday on her Music EducationTour visiting schools in Springfield, MA - Warren, RI - Schnectedy, NY and West Milford, NJ. This week, Tiffany travels south to Richmond, VA - Cary, NC - Charlotte, NC
and Tallahassee, FL.

Tifftour

3/23: RICHMOND
3/24: RALEIGH
3/25: CHARLOTTE
3/26: ATLANTA
3/27: TALLAHASSEE
3/30: NASHVILLE
3/31: COLUMBUS
4/1: CLEVELAND
4/2: DETROIT
4/3: CHICAGO

Visit TiffanyFan.com for more information!

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Not Your Typical Hanukkah Song...

nobody@vox.com(rockchickny) — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 11:24:04 -0800

In aftermath of the holiday season, I just came across this great Hanukkah song.

it's by Kohane of Newark and is called "Festival"

You can listen to it here:
http://vista.streamguys.com/jspiewak/kon_festival.wma

www.myspace.com/kohaneofnewark

Kohane Of Newark

Before John Zorn and the radical Jewish music movements of the 1980s, Ricky Orbach was out there playing his Jew-centric, cutting-edge music in New York’s underground during the Punk movement’s halcyon years, all while continuing to wear his yarmulke and holding down a day job as a gem dealer in Manhattan’s diamond district. But the seeds for Ricky’s musical endeavors were planted much earlier than that.

Born in 1955 in Newark, New Jersey, the son of Holocaust survivor parents, Orbach’s childhood was suffused in the music of his parents’ and of the changing times: from the story-song recordings of “Peter and the Wolf” to his grandfather’s cantorial liturgy to The Doors, Jimi Hendrix, The Beatles. During a stint at NYU, he saw the best music the Village Clubs had to offer, ran into Bob Dylan and as a Jersey kid, saw The Boss in every small club in the tri-state area.

While attending Tel Aviv University’s overseas program he was signed to CRI (Columbia Records International) after being discovered playing in a bar in North Tel Aviv. He spent the next 18 months honing his craft, working with other artists, producing, writing commercials, recording and performing. The highlight was a 3-city tour opening and then playing guitar behind the late expatriate American blues pianist-singer Memphis Slim. Ricky joined the Israeli delegation at the Grosvernor House hotel in London for the CBS records convention in London 1977 before returning to NY upon learning that his father had suffered a heart attack. A new chapter had begun.

Back in New York, Ricky formed his first punk rock band; Pontiac Rosenbloom and the Exiled.as Pontiac Rosebloom playing music to an unlikely audience of punks, bohemians and disenfranchised individuals. Songs like “Terror,” “She’s A Walker,” and “Selection Day” a tale of a son inheriting the stigma of a concentration camp perspective from his father– caught the attention of an impresario who owned New Yorks famous “Club 82.” And thus, after seeing Ricky’s performance at a bar in lower Manhattan, Pontiac Rosenbloom and the Exiled were offered a summer residency at the venerable Club 82 for “after-hours” entertainment. It was there on opening night, that the band quickly won over the audience with it’s intense live show and attracted an even more unlikely subset of fans; Hells Angels. Still wearing his yarmulke, jumping across the stage and playing his guitar high over his head, Rickys Jew flavored punk music drew hundreds of “Angels” every Saturday night along with a growing local fan base. Described as “…New York’s only Kosher Rocker” by DJ Alfredo of WNEW on the air after having seen him perform at CBGB’s the DJ went on to say referring to Ricky’s performance that “you should catch him at any price.”

Once after playing a set at Max’s Kansas City on the same night as a project headed by Santana Drummer Michael Shrieve, Ricky and Shrieve hit it off and were in a studio in Soho within a week recording 4 of Ricky’s tunes.

With time set aside in the 1980’s to marry, grow a family and a business, Ricky’s obsession to create Jewish influenced art only grew. In 1992 Orbach collaborated with (a fellow child of a Holocaust survivor) pianist singer and composer Ben Zander on a project known as “Songs for Survivors.”. After a full page article about Ricky appeared in the NJ Star Ledger, Ricky began to play out again both as solo artist gigging in Lower East Side clubs and with a band with whom he would perform under the name “Wolf.”

Ricky then enlisted guitarist Marc Bosch (Ian Hunter, Garland Jeffries, Carole King), Bassist Kenny Aaronson (Bob Dylan, Joan Jett, Billy Idol) and drummer Kevin Tooley to record and sharpen up a few of his new tunes though none have (yet) to be released.

Orbach organized the 1st “Festival of Lights” unity concert benefit in 1995. Featuring Ricky’s own band (Television drummer Bill Ficca, Tripod Bass player Clint Bahr and Pontiac Rosenbloom and the Exiled alumnus guitarist Elroy Moscovitz) along with Klezmer icon Andy Statman, world music genius Beat composer David Amram, Ladino bouzouki master Avram Pengas, rock guitar legend Danny Kalb and others, “Festival of Lights” was also filmed by filmmaker Claudia Heuermann for her documentary about the NY Downtown Jewish music scene entitled “Sabbath In Paradise.”

And now as we hurtle into 2009, spearheading one of Joodayohs first releases is Ricky’s new project known as “Kohane of Newark.” Ricky enlisted a veritable who’s-who of cutting edge musicians across a wide range of genres to participate in the recording of a rock opera described as “Killer Jew-Punk” and “musical manna from heaven” by guitarist extraordinaire Gary Lucas. Heralded as an “American Serge Gainsbourg” by author Steven Lee Beeber, Ricky’s debut CD entitled New Midlife Crisis features “…compelling songs” that are more like “…Lou Reed’s Berlin than the Who’s Tommy,” according to Leigh Lust former head of A & R for Atlantic Records.

It appears that after years of being a musical sponge, Ricky’s absorption is about to be shared. But be prepared, it’s not a pretty story.

It’s bittersweet and sadly true. New Midlife Crisis is really a record Ricky made to avert a major crisis. In fact, one more midlife crisis might just do him in.

Emotionally, the record goes from sad to hilarious, profound to primitive almost effortlessly. New Midlife Crisis is a landmark American-Jewish record worthy of repeated hearings, analysis and study just as we studied the first Modern Lovers Record, Leonard Cohen’s “I’m your Man,” or Bruce’s “Nebraska.” Just as we studied Dire Straits “Sultans of Swing,” the Doors “Strange Days” and Steven Malkmus entire body of work, New Midlife Crisis begs your ear because it stands singular in the body of American-Jewish song worthy a Leon Weseltier review.

American-Jewish middle class society has it’s own landscape and mythology. From Teaneck to Brunswick to Elizabeth and Oceanside, tri-state metropolitan clusters of middle class Jews live in silent desperation. Dylan sings about Johanna. Ricky sings about Shoshana. Bruce sings about Asbury Park and Ricky sings about the Hamptons. Lou sings about waiting for the Man and Ricky sings about the tycoon’s son’s bar mitzvah.

It’s clear after listening to New Midlife Crisis that most things of lasting value in Ricky’s life have come to him thru suffering, risk, self-sabotage and plain old screwing up.

What’s a child of Holocaust survivors supposed to do with his life?

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HOLIDAY SHOPPING - do it all online!

nobody@vox.com(rockchickny) — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 17:27:49 -0800

These days...who really wants to head out to the store just to find that the presents they had on their pre-made list are GONE. Off the shelves, and in someone else's hands.
Or maybe you're the type of consumer who hits the stores in search of inspiration and never really find that "it" gift.

Well, I'm here to help you holiday shoppers!

HappyHolidays

First, for the techy kid/teenager on your list (even 20 and 30 somethings might love these, i do!) check out these EAR MUFF HEADPHONES at Urban Outfitters

For the iphone user you have to buy for...staying in the same vein of keeping warm this winter, check out these awesome GLOVES BY TAVO. They're made with bits of metal on the finger pads (i think) and you're able to keep your fingers warm and use the touch screen of the iPhone at the same time..amazing!

My last suggestion is for the little tikes. Jett Beres from Sister Hazel published a book based on one of the band's tunes. Over at STARFISH LULLABYE dot com you can pick up a book (that comes with a CD of lullabies) and a t-shirt to match..cute.

Well that's it. Since I started my guide early this year look for future installments as the holidays grow closer :)

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LAUREN HILDEBRANDT

nobody@vox.com(rockchickny) — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 13:56:30 -0800

Lauren Elise Hildebrandt is a triple-threat singer/dancer/actress, based in Los Angeles. Affectionately known as “Hildy”, she is an independent recording artist who’s just released her first pop single, Boyshorts on Red Wallet Records from the upcoming album entitled, Not Really a Waitress, to be released in 2009.
Check out her song "Boy Shorts" HERE

Edit_0399Crop

Hildy burst on the dance music scene in 2005 with her single, Burnin Out that she co-wrote with producers Liquid 360. It spent 13 weeks on the Billboard Hot Club charts, peaking at #5, an impressive debut for a new artist. Her music video to Burnin Out was directed by Patricio Ginsela, who directed two of the Black Eyed Peas videos. It is still in rotation in clubs, stores and restaurants and video channels across the world. Burnin Out also was #3 on Canada’s bpm dance station (like MTV), #35 on the worldwide dance charts, #50 on the Hot Brazil charts and #10 on the Bollywood charts in 2005-2006. From August 2006 through May 2007, Hildy toured in the European production of the long-running, hit musical, Grease. She was featured on German TV in the popular show, Soundgarden, and was one of four cast members chosen to appear in Vienna’s Night of 100 Stars. Now back in the States, she is finishing co-writing and recording her debut album. One song on the album will feature a duet with Chip Days, an American Idol Season 2 Semi-Finalist.

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Steve Wynn Crosses Dragon Bridge

nobody@vox.com(rockchickny) — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 15:11:47 -0800

In his latest release Crossing Dragon Bridge, veteran singer/songwriter Steve Wynn (formerly of Dream Syndicate) sings about his travels in Slovenia...

Wynn_photo1

Bio:

The days during my three weeks in Ljubljana were pretty simple. I would wake up early and leave my apartment on Trubarjeva Street and cross Dragon Bridge in search of a good cup of coffee which I would sip as I watched the vendors in the open market as they sold cabbage, purses, cheap watches and anything else that might be worth a Euro or two. I’d watch this panorama of commerce and barter and think about which song I would drag into the daily laboratory that was Chris Eckman’s home studio.

I had never made a record like this before. I was in Slovenia, far from my New York City apartment and in a musical world that had shrunk down to just two people—me and Chris, the multi-talented producer (Midnight Choir) and bandleader (Walkabouts, Chris & Carla). He had been wanting to make a record with me for many years and seemed particularly intent on stripping things down to my voice and my acoustic guitar and then building up another universe from there.

No band. No session players (until later). No passing of the baton in this relay race. Even Chris would hesitate when I tried to get him to play something. Guitar, bass, keyboards, vocals—if I could do it, I had to do it. And that’s why “Crossing Dragon Bridge” sounds different from other records I’ve done before but also more like the sound inside my head than anything I’ve done before.

But it’s not a record I would have made in New York. Or in Tucson. Or in Los Angeles, Tokyo, Moscow or Mali, It’s not like a record I would make on the moon or on Mars or in New Jersey. It has the sound and the mood and the sights and the overall vibe of Ljubljana. I swallowed the city whole and then waited for the meal to work itself into a digestive hallucination before spitting it out again each day at Chris’ place. And then it was back for a pint of Union beer by the river before starting all over again.

When I left Slovenia a few weeks later both of us knew we had something special. And then we proceeded to add the extra bits that would take the experience further. An eight-piece orchestra was added in Prague to a bunch of the songs and a woman’s choir in Ljubljana was added to others. Linda Pitmon, Kirk Swan, Chris Cacavas and Tim Adams (Teenage Prayers) chimed in from New York, Los Angeles and Germany bringing in elements of familiarity from my past and present.

Finally the whole thing was filtered through the creative and impressionistic mixing skills of Tucker Martine (Decemberists, Laura Veirs) and turned into the record that you hold in your hands. It’s a snapshot, a dream, an acid flashback, a tourist guide, a midnight snack, a morning cup of coffee—it’s the other world that happened around me and inside my head for three weeks last September. I hope you enjoy taking the trip back there with me.

- STEVE WYNN

Crossing Dragon Bridge

TRACK LISTING:
1. Slovenian Rhapsody I
2. Manhattan Fault Line
3. Love Me Anyway
4. She Came
5. When We Talk About Forever.
6. Annie & Me
7. Wait Until You Get To Know Me
8. Punching Holes In The Sky
9. Bring The Magic
10 God Doesn't Like It
11. Believe In Yourself
12. I Don't Deserve This
13. Slovenian Rhapsody II

Free Streaming Audio-

"MANHATTAN FAULT LINE" - http://vista.streamguys.com/jspiewak/steve_manhattan.wma
“LOVE ME ANYWAY” - http://vista.streamguys.com/jspiewak/steve_love.wma

www.rockridgemusic.com
www.stevewynn.net

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Patrick Droney - 16 Year Old Guitar Hero

nobody@vox.com(rockchickny) — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 15:31:54 -0700

16 year old PATRICK DRONEY has become one of America’s phenomenal young
guitar players and talented young songwriters. Winning the Robert Johnson
Star Award in 2006 as one of the country’s most promising young musicians,
he has been turning heads since picking up the guitar at the age of 7.

Patrick Droney

Patrick has graced the stages of The Montreal Jazz Festival, The Whiskey
A-Go-Go, BB King’s Blues Clubs (LA and NYC), The Bamboozle Music Festival,
and House of Blues, just to name a few. His band (in 2006) was even the
youngest to play the Stone Pony in Asbury Park, NJ, according to Vintage
Guitar Magazine. He has been the support band for such legends as BB King
and the late James Brown and recently (October 2007) performed at the Taj
Mahal in Atlantic City as part of the Jimi Hendrix Experience Tour, sharing
the stage with Mitch Mitchell (drums) and Billy Cox (bass), the same Jimi
Hendrix Experience rhythm section that played behind Hendrix at Woodstock.
Critics have compared his talent to one that fuses elements of Stevie Raye
Vaughan, Robert Johnson and John Mayer while adding his own original style.
Patrick posses a textural smoothness and warm fluidity that connotes a
visceral connection between his fingers and the fret board, belying his
age. Blues Matters Magazine dubbed him “The New Generation”, The 2007 SXSW
Festival Must-See list called him “one of the best young guitarists alive
today.”

www.PatrickDroney.com

Listen to a FREE stream of new single "Save Me", Here!

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America's Most Talented Kid...Alessandra Guercio

nobody@vox.com(rockchickny) — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 07:59:44 -0700

Tween vocalist Alessandra Guercio is ready for her close up. A Brooklyn-bred girl with a big heart and even bigger smile has huge dreams of wowing the world with her bright, full-of-life voice. The 13-year-old budding pop star known as "Alle" by her friends exudes a vibrant personality and a natural stage persona much like the Disney Channel¹s Selena Gomez and Demi Lovato, and Nickolodeon¹s iCarly starlet Miranda Cosgrove. When she¹s not singing and perfecting her skills as a dancer, Alessandra spends time with her friends, hanging out at Coney Island or ice skating at the local sports and recreation center, the Aviator. School is also important to Alessandra, for keeping straight-As is a top priority.
Check out her website at www.allerocks.com

Alessandra Guercio

ALESSANDRA GUERCIO - "EYE CONTACT": http://vista.streamguys.com/jspiewak/alle_eye.wma

ALESSANDRA GUERCIO - EPK: http://www.jbproductionstudio.com/jbp/Alle_Camplified_2008.html

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Take a look into the life of Amy Macdonald...

nobody@vox.com(rockchickny) — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 11:15:50 -0700

Amymac

She's humble, thoughtful, and not one for mindless chatter. She'd sooner talk about her favorite bands and songwriters, about football and films, than about her¬self.

But put Amy Macdonald on stage with a guitar in her hands, let loose her rich, bell-clear voice on a brace of superb original songs-and the self-effacing 20-year-old with the pale skin and wide blue eyes is revealed as a compelling performer possessed of formidable musical gifts.

Amy_cover

Her Decca Universal debut album, This Is The Life, is equally impressive. On each of its eleven tracks, Amy's own acoustic guitar patterns form the foundation for the beautifully de¬tailed arrangements created by producer Pete Wilkinson and mixed to perfection by Bob Clearmountain. The result is a seamless set of contemporary folk-flavored pop-rock with a warmly natural sound and free of hip-hop affectations. Amy's melodies are incredibly catchy-the quality that has made "Run," "This Is The Life," and "Mr. Rock & Roll" into international radio favorites-but her lyrics sometimes hint at a darker, edgier under¬current.

"Footballer's Wife" ponders the devaluation of celebrity, from James Dean and Marilyn Monroe to today's reality-show wanna-bes; "Poison Prince" is a sharp-eyed 'look at the high-wire act of Pete Doherty (of Libertines and Babyshambles), one of Amy's earliest and most important musical inspirations. "Youth of Today" is a challenge to older gen¬erations, firm and clear-eyed without being self-righteous-Amy's version of "The Times They Are A-Changin'" or "My Generation."

This Is The Life began moving up the British chart soon after its initial release in July 2007. The album reached Number One on January 13, 2008, knocking Radiohead's In Rainbows out of the top slot. To date, This Is The Life has sold more than 700,000 copies in the UK (double platinum) and over one million worldwide, mak¬ing Amy Macdonald the biggest-selling female British artist to emerge last year. Thus far, her album has reached Number One in the UK, Switzerland, Denmark and the Netherlands and cracked the Top 20 in Germany, Ireland, Austria, Belgium and Greece.

Back in the USA, the excitement has proven contagious. In April 2008, Amy arrived in the States for debut club appearances in Boston and New York. Her 4/28 performance at Great Scott in Boston prompted The Boston Globe to hail Amy Macdonald as "a 20-year-old lass with a guitar, a strong will, thick eyeliner, and a voice that snaps you to attention.We give her a year before she's headlining the Orpheum [Theater]."

LISTEN NOW! Amy Macdonald - "Mr. Rock & Roll"

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