Category Archives: Darren Paltrowitz

GLENN MORROW STILL RECORDING AFTER ALL THESE YEARS

Glenn Morrow celebrates 30 Years of Signing New Bands
Morrow’s Band Cry for Help performs April 16  in JC

 

By Darren Paltrowitz

Glenn Morrow Bar None
Glenn Morrow of Bar/None Records (far left)
and his Cry for Help band-mates (clockwise from top)
Ron Metz, Mike Rosenberg, and Ric Sherman.

As the owner of the Hoboken-based record label Bar/None Records, Glenn Morrow has accomplished many amazing things in the music business. Not only the original label for They Might Be Giants, Freedy Johnston and Of Montreal, Bar/None has handled high-profile releases for Yo La Tengo, Puffy Amiyumi, Juliana Hatfield, and Alex Chilton. Founded in 1986, Bar/None celebrates its 30th anniversary this year, having recently moved back to Hoboken after a few years in Weehawken.

Morrow – whose band Glenn Morrow’s Cry for Help plays Jersey City’s Monty Hall on April 16 with The Waco Brothers – spoke to River View Observer about what’s ahead for both Bar/None and the local music scene as a whole. Immediately following the Q&A, Morrow headed to the recording studio of Elk City drummer Ray Ketchem in Montclair to work on the next Cry for Help album.

RVO: Bar/None recently moved back to Hoboken after some years in Weehawken, what is it that keeps you based in this area? Continue reading GLENN MORROW STILL RECORDING AFTER ALL THESE YEARS

TALKING WITH ROB GRENOBLE OF WATER MUSIC RECORDERS IN HOBOKEN

 

 Water Recorder Studio Hoboken

By Darren Paltrowitz

 A Hudson music business staple along with Bar/None Records and WFMU, Water Music Recorders opened in Hoboken over 30 years ago. Based on Madison Street, Water Music may look like a typical non-descript building, but recording history has been made there, right across the street from Shop-Rite. Beyoncé, Shakira, Ryan Adams, Cyndi Lauper, U2, R. Kelly, Taking Back Sunday, and the Dave Matthews Band are among the many artists whose music has been helmed there.

 Owner Rob Grenoble – himself an RCA recording artist before his Water Music life — spoke to RIVER VIEW OBSERVER about his life as a studio owner, which is nowhere near as bleak as music industry critics have led many to believe. In fact, Water Music is currently in discussions to open a satellite studio and artist management firm in 2016.

RVO: What brought you to Hoboken in the first place?
RG: In September 1978, we were dying to get out of Long Branch, where we had moved months before, foolishly thinking it was close to Manhattan. A friend of the band was working as a receptionist at a commercial film production company in Manhattan. One day she turned to Bob Ramos, one of their sales people, and said, “Ramos, my friends want to move to the NY area. They don’t have a lot of money. Where should they go?” Ramos was running out the door. Without missing a beat, over his shoulder he yelled, “Tell them to go to Hoboken. It’s the next big thing.”

Continue reading TALKING WITH ROB GRENOBLE OF WATER MUSIC RECORDERS IN HOBOKEN

COMIC, MUSICIAN, AUTHOR & WFMU RADIO HOST DAVE HILL TALKS JERSEY CITY, THE FUTURE & MORE

By Darren Paltrowitz

DaveHill2Successful as a stand-up comic, musician, author and host, Dave Hill is a proven quadruple threat. As a comic, he regularly hosts The Dave Hill Explosion at Upright Citizens Brigade beyond regular appearances on TV. As a musician, he is the voice and lead guitar behind Valley Lodge, whose song “Go” is the theme to HBO’s Last Week Tonight With John Oliver, beyond playing with a wide array of folks that include Moby, Lucy Wainwright Roche, and Rival Schools’ Walter Schreifels. As an author, he had a collection of essays titled Tasteful Nudes published by St. Martin’s Press in 2012, with a new title for Blue Rider Press slated for release in 2016. As a host, beyond the acclaimed Dave Hill Podcasting Incident podcast, Dave is the voice behind WFMU’s The Goddamn Dave Hill Show. And weirdly enough, those are not all of his credits or projects.

Mr. Hill was very funny in his Q&A for the RIVER VIEW OBSERVER, also proving to be knowledgeable about the Jersey City area. Both original and driven, one cannot help but be in awe of all the work that the guy manages to get done. For more information on Dave Hill in the meantime, click on over to www.davehillonline.com. 

RVO: You’re a comic, a musician, a host on radio and TV, a podcaster and an author. How do you usually identify when someone asks what you do for a living?

Continue reading COMIC, MUSICIAN, AUTHOR & WFMU RADIO HOST DAVE HILL TALKS JERSEY CITY, THE FUTURE & MORE