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I had a fantastic time at On the Rox last week playing a full set and debuting my West Hollywood song, “Welcome Me Home.” My band Mike Chiaburu, Tim Young, and Jorge Balbi Castellano really rocked it out Sunset Strip-style. To top it off, I was presented with a brand new XTone acoustic from ESP Guitars. She’s got zebra-stripe wood and she’s lovely. :) Thank you to everyone who came out – I hope you had as much fun as I did!
That's me, arriving early for soundcheck like a real rock star.
It’s a little quiet on the live show front while I get the next round of things lined up! At the moment I’ve turned my attention to the Boss Loop Station Championship – I’ve submitted my video and am keeping fingers crossed for finalist selection this week. And I’ve got new videos and a new EP in the works, so STAY TUNED!
Tags: ESP Guitars, Jorge Balbi Castellano, Mike Chiaburu, On the Rox, Roxy Los Angeles, Sunset Strip, tim young
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In just about a week, I’ll be in NYC! I was there last year singing and playing on my friend Haviland Stillwell’s album, but I haven’t played a show there in quite a while. I’m happy to return to one of my favorite venues, Rockwood Music Hall (Stage 1), at 6 pm on Thursday, September 6. Last time I was there, I had a great time, and I look forward to the same. If you’re in NYC, please come say hi, and if not, tell your friends to come on out! I’ll be playing solo with my trusty looper, playing brand new songs and trying out some special new covers JUST for the occasion!
Tags: Haviland Stillwell, kristy hanson, new york, rockwood music hall
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After an incredible trip to France – Mike’s and my first vacation in nearly 5 years! – I’m back in LA getting ready to turn around again. This time it’s for the last of my spring mini-tours, with a stop in Buffalo, NY for the students of Canisius College and an appearance on the Jefferson Avenue Presbyterian Church music series in Detroit. As many of you know, I went to school in Michigan, and I’m thrilled to be going back after quite a long time to share my new set with some old (and hopefully new) friends. I’m also thrilled to be performing a song Saturday April 21 on Ann Delisi’s Essential Music, a great program on WDET. Ann does a ton to support music in Detroit, and I’m lucky to be getting a lil’ bit of that support!
After I return to LA, I’ll be participating in a very special “pop-up concert” as part of LA’s own version of the Play Me, I’m Yours installation. The one I’m participating in is called “Love Letters to LA: Pianos Live” and we’ll be playing at the piano outside the famed Egyptian Theater in Hollywood. It’s going to be so much fun, and I hope you all will come down and sing along!
Tags: Ann Delisi, Egyptian Theater, Jefferson Avenue Presbyterian Church, Play Me I'm Yours, STreet Pianos, WDET
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Back in 2008, I attended and played a showcase at NACA West, then spent part of 2009 playing college shows that I booked there. Mike and I manned (and womanned) our own booth together. We had a great time, and you can read all about it in this ‘vintage’ blog from that fall…which includes an appearance from Mr. Belding. This fall I’m VERY pleased to be playing showcases at NACA conferences in Buffalo (Mid-Atlantic) and Covington, KY (Mid-America), and possibly one more. This time around I’ve got help from Jose over at Call Box Entertainment. I’m hammering out some details, but I will be adding a few shows around each conference, finally giving me the chance to return to my beloved Michigan (GR! I’m coming to you!), hopefully NYC, and more! So if you’ve been hoping I might come to your town, please stay tuned. And wish me luck!
Tags: Call Box Entertainment, NACA, NACA Mid America, NACA Mid Atlantic
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1. Audio gear and girls don’t necessarily go together
2. Audio engineers and live music…don’t necessarily go together (yeah, I’ll explain that one)
3. Everybody loves free stuff!
As mentioned in my previous blog, I came up to San Francisco to play at the Performer Magazine booth at the Audio Engineering Society conference today. Mike and I have been to San Francisco a few times, now, so we’re feeling oddly in between tourists and people who truly know where they’re going. Today we took the bus for the first time, and the 12:22 bus came right at 12:22! The bus ride back from the conference site to our friend’s apartment was not as smooth, because traffic had really picked up, but nonetheless, I’d certainly give San Francisco high marks for public transit. Not that they asked me to rate it… Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: aes conference, perfomer magazine, san francisco
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Well, I really fell off the blog wagon during the last week of the tour, so let me see if I can re-cap a little bit.
Thursday, May 8 we played at Tusca Cafe in Pittsburgh’s trendy South Side Works. We’d actually been there earlier in the week to go to the Cheesecake Factory for, well, cheesecake, and my poor friend was served a frozen piece of cheesecake that I can only describe as a cheesecakesicle. But I digress. Tusca seemed very swanky and upscale, and I enjoyed listening to Heather Kropf and Brad Yoder’s smooth piano/sax stylings and then the nice smoky vocals of Sonji. The only bummer of the night was that the place kind of cleared out right around the time I started playing. Apparently Pittsburgh is not one of those places the parties late – at least not on a Thursday night! But it was worth it to be a part of a great event, and it was nice to get my feet wet in a new place. There seems to be a great scene there. We had a great time in Pittsburgh generally; we went to the Andy Warhol museum and enjoyed the budding spring for a few days. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: andy warhol museum, ann arbor, crazy wisdom, pittsburgh, tour, tusca cafe
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Sunday night we played in DC at The Red and The Black, a very hip little place. The decor is funky and it was one of those clubs that seems all the cooler because it’s small, and the place filled up nicely. Stella Schindler played first with her lovely voice, sweet presence, and folk-country stylings (complemented well by her boots – shall I call them ‘cowgirl’ boots? Wish I could pull those off!). Her fans were incredibly gracious and stuck around for the whole evening, even on a school night when the music didn’t even start ’til 9:30. They listened attentively as we played after Stella, and then stayed for Mara Levi’s band, Thomasina and the Jam. They rocked out with supertight harmonies and killer playing…I should say that their fans rocked, too, because they came early and took in the whole thing. When I put the show together I had this vision of women working together to put together a great show and it absolutely was that and more. What a great spirit of collaboration and support in that room! Fabulous. I really really cannot thank Mara and Stella enough. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: club cafe, dc, NPR, pittsburgh, the red and the black, tour, washington
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Tuesday, 4/29 – Burlington, VT
In the interest of full disclosure, I must admit that this was a weird one. Burlington is an adorable city and things are beautiful this time of year (though cold. There were snow flurries while we were there, whoa!). And the venue was cute. But we had to do our own sound for the first time on the trip, which basically means Mike did it, and it was no big deal but I always feel bad when he has to worry about the PA and his own bass playing at the same time. The crowd was very reserved, very quiet, which made me wonder if they were digging it at all, and I kind of assumed they weren’t that into it. But when I played my last song, people were like, ‘no, play some more…’ Go figure. So I guess they liked it well enough after all… Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: baltimore, burlington, colony cafe, jessie baylin, maryland, new york, newton faulkner, read street books, tim young, tour, vermont, willy porter, woodstock
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Mike’s aunt (in New Jersey) fed us entirely too much.
Yay for friends in NYC – Regan and I smile pretty in Union Square.
Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: 88.7, baltimore, cambridge, colony cafe, hofstra, met, new york, nyc, radio, read street books, tour, willy porter, woodstock, WRHU
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Here are a couple more, as promised, from James Crafford.
The first couple were kind of impromptu, before the show, and the last is a ‘live’ shot.
Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: boston, burlington, new york, nyc, rockwood music hall, tour, vermont, WOMM-LP 105.9
