David Bowie

The post Timeline of David Bowie’s Career first appeared on River View Observer.

Opens Feb. 7^th at the Loewâ€s Jersey City

February 7th  show is sold out -a second show is being added at a later date

JERSEY GIRLS 

 By Sally Deering

Before Beyoncé, and Madonna, Mariah, Aretha and the all-girl groups of the 1960s, there was The Carmelettes, a trio of teen Jersey girls from the Marion section of Jersey City who sang original pop tunes in tight harmonies. It was 1959, and the girls Angela LaPrete, Vicky Cevetello and Virginia Verga recorded two songs, “My Foolish Heart” and “Promise Me a Rose.” A year later, they cut two more records, “Aching for You” and “Something Tells Me Iâ€m in Love.” 

 Itâ€s a Jersey City tale that would be long forgotten if not for Susan Murphy, Angela LaPreteâ€s daughter, a professional singer herself who wrote a play with music about her motherâ€s experience in “GIRL GROUP: A Daughterâ€s Tale” to be presented at the Loewâ€s Jersey City in Journal Square – just blocks from where The Carmelettes were born – on Sat, Feb. 7 at 7 pm. (Tix $20 at www.brownpapertickets.com). A reception follows.

The piece features Murphy along with Tom Cappadona, Elisabeth Ness, Alison Scaramella, and Jenna Sofia. Itâ€s directed by Mario Giacalone with vocal direction by Diane Garisto of Brooklyn. The show is produced by Steven Minichiello, Murphyâ€s close friend who also grew up in Jersey Cityâ€s Marion section. Murphy originally produced the musical in 2011 at LaMaMa in Manhattan.

“I always felt like the show had more life in it,” Murphy says. “Sometimes you do those shows, and itâ€s like great, did it, done. This show is different. The audience loved it. We loved working on it. It has something.”

Murphy describes the piece as, a performance memoir about doo-wop and dreams deferred. Itâ€s a play with music about mothers and daughters, uncelebrated lives and the extraordinary talents that lie hidden within them. The main character played by Murphy is a singer who goes back 50 years to her motherâ€s life as a member of a successful girl group. Murphy calls the piece an “Alice-through-the-looking-glass” adventure where the singer reclaims her motherâ€s legacy and, in doing so, creates her own.

“When I was 15, I started writing my own material,” Murphy says, “and somehow I knew I was going to come to this story at some point in my life.”

THREE GIRLS WITH A VOICE

The songs are recreations of what The Carmelettes recorded. Some of the music was by Beatrice Verde, the older sister of one of the girls and the driving force behind the group, Murphy says.

“She didnâ€t sing but she wrote, arranged and played,” Murphy says.

Beatrice Verde had tremendous ambition and went on to write for Motown. Murphy describes her as the Svengali of the group.

“I think of that time, 1957-196, girls just didnâ€t do that” Murphy says. “Itâ€s before the Ronettes, the Supremes. It pre-dates the girl groups. We had a rehearsal the other day that was so good, it made me realize how good these girls really were. They started the group when they were 14. Here we are professionals struggling as we pick apart the harmonies. These girls were only 14 and they were singing it.”

To get the girl group sound just right, Murphy asked her good friend Diane Garisto to be vocal director. Garisto sings professionally and has been a back-up singer for superstars like Paul Simon, Billy Joel, Laura Nyro, Steely Dan and Neil Sedaka. Having worked as a backup singer, Garisto knows how important it is to get the singers playing The Carmelettes to harmonize perfectly.

“Street corner doo-wop is what all these songs are about,” Garisto says. “Iâ€m sort of keeper of the harmony. Itâ€s my job. Thereâ€s something about being a singer in a group. Thereâ€s a skill to singing that, these songs, these girls really blended in harmony. Thatâ€s why Susan called me. Itâ€s different from being a lead singer.”

THE PLAYâ€S THE THING

Because the Loewâ€s is so big, Murphy has decided to present the show with the audience seated onstage instead of in the auditorium. This helps create an intimacy between the audience and the actors. She also has a band performing the music.

“Itâ€s the only way for this show to be in this type of space,” Murphy says. “The show is an intimate, gritty, viscerally close show. Itâ€s about regular people and relationships. Iâ€m thrilled to be at the Loewâ€s. Itâ€s a beautiful venue with all the memories that are there. Thatâ€s part of the show. Thatâ€s one of the themes of the show.”

The staging is bare-bones, Murphy says. Concert-staging with production elements to a minimum so that the story can be told in a clear and simple way.

 “Iâ€m into giving people an experience, carrying them on a journey,” Murphy says. “Maybe itâ€s my background in experimental theater. If I canâ€t give them an experience, it doesnâ€t matter what venue itâ€s in. Part of me would like to do this show in pop-up form, like at a bowling alley or a church hall or somebodyâ€s living room. “

THE BEAT GOES ON

The Broadway musical about Carole King, “Beautiful” is set in the same time period as The Carmelettes. Murphy took her mother to see the show last year for her birthday and afterwards, they were invited backstage to meet the cast – thanks to Murphyâ€s producer Steven Minichiello.

“They welcomed my mother like she was royalty,” Murphy says.

Like Murphy, producer Steven Minichiello of Over the Top Productions grew up in Jersey Cityâ€s Marion section and attended the same parish elementary school. He and Murphy once belonged to a local theater troupe, and have since remained close friends.

“Iâ€m so enamored by Susanâ€s momâ€s story,” Minichiello says, “and I love what Susan is doing. Sheâ€s not only paying tribute to her motherâ€s accomplishments, itâ€s a story about the love of a daughter for her mother. Iâ€m so honored to be part of it, and add any little touch I can. Itâ€s a wonderful story and it should be told.”

Murphyâ€s hoping the performance at the Loewâ€s will be even more magical than the show they did at LaMama a few years back. Closing night of the LaMama run all three Carmelettes were in the audience, Murphy says, and at the after-party they sang together for the first time in 50 years.

“Something special happened that night,” Murphy says. “It wrapped something up that had not been wrapped up before.”

If you go:

Sat, Feb. 7 at 7 pm

GIRL GROUP: A Daughterâ€s Tale

Loewâ€s Jersey City

Journal Square

JC

Tix: $20

For tix: www.brownpapertickets.com

The post Susan Murphy’s “GIRL GROUP: A Daughter’s Tale” A Jersey City Story about The Carmelettes All-Girl Singing Group first appeared on River View Observer.

By Sally Deering

Mr.Sedaka’s Facebook page

The River View Observer extends our condolences to the Sedaka family on the passing of Neil Sedaka

Our  Love Will Keep Us Together, Where the Boys Are,  Breaking Up is Hard to Do, Laughter in the Rain. Back in the day, these songs swept teens off their feet and into the world of Grammy-winning singer/songwriter and international legend, Neil Sedaka.

Accompanying himself at the piano, Sedaka wrote and sang soulful love songs that made teen girls cry and filled teen boys with youthful longing for that special sweetheart. With a voice like buttercream frosting on a 7-layer cake, Sedaka’s sweet vocals keep on going, and at 75, Sedaka will be back at the piano crooning his oldies and most recent recordings on Fri, Dec. 12 at the Bergen Performing Arts Center in Englewood.

Sedaka will be in the spotlight for one night only to give the audience a chance to hear a master songwriter in an intimate setting. With a look back, Sedaka will sing songs that made him famous and those he wrote that were performed by legends like Elvis, Connie Francis, and the Captain and Tennille. During his 50-year career, Sedaka has sold millions of records and penned hundreds of tunes with lyricists Howard Greenfield and Phil Cody.

Looking ahead, Sedaka will also perform songs from Solitaire his recent album. And while on tour, Sedaka is also working on a new musical slated for Broadway about his life and career that began in Brooklyn, where he lived with his family and studied the piano.

Accepted to Juilliard to study the classics, Sedaka grooved more to Elvis than to Beethoven. He began working with music groups, and then in the late 1950s, he teamed up with lyricist Howard Greenfield, and the two began writing songs that soon became Billboard hits on the Top 40 chart.

Sedaka soon had an office in the famous Brill Building in New York, where he and his partner wrote hit songs, but in the late 1960s and early ‘70s Sedakaâ€s career went through a dry spell. It wasn’t until the mid- 70s when Elton John rediscovered  Sedaka and signed him to his new record label, Rocket Records. Sedaka recorded two albums, Sedaka’s Back in 1974 and The Hungry Years in 1975, which became top-sellers and brought Sedaka back to the music scene for real.

Today, Sedaka has 106 albums listed on Amazon.com, includingThe Real Neil, a new release. Visit his website, www.neilsedaka.com, you’ll see pics of Sedaka with Sir Paul McCartney (of The Beatles), England Prince Charles, and his wife Camilla, and more. And lucky for us, on a recent afternoon, Sedaka found time in his busy schedule to share what it’s like to be a music legend still performing and trying new things.

RVO: Your concert at Bergen PAC on Dec. 12 will be you and a piano, that’s all?

NS:   very upfront and personal. I tell stories of how I write, why I write, and about my career. The audience is into the personal side.

RVO  And you’ll be singing some of your older tunes?

NS: I never get tired of singing the original hits.

RVO: When you were starting in the 50s, you appeared on American Bandstand with Dick Clark. What was it like to be on the show in its early years, and what was Dick Clark like?

NS: It was the thrill of a lifetime for a kid. I used to run home from school to watch the show. Dick Clark was very polished, very classy. He started me off, he had me on the ˜Beechnut Saturday Night show. The first hit I did wasThe Diary.  I knew him through the years. I did the first Rockin’ New Year’s Eve with Dick Clark. He loved the music. It was a great show, and he was one of the American Institutions. It was also a thrill to be on the Ed Sullivan Show and the Carol Burnett Show. I was on Sonny and Cher, Merv Griffin, and Mike Douglas.

RVO: Can you tell our readers what it was like working in the famous Brill Building in New York City?

NS: Howie (Greenfield) and I were teenagers. I was dating Carol King at the time. I brought her up there. At first, we went there five days a week, and we sang songs. It was terrific training.. I was the first at the Brill to sing my own songs. This was from 1958-63.

RVO: Who was the greatest person you ever met, musically, who affected you?

NS: Arthur Rubenstein. Being a child prodigy, I was studying at Juilliard when I met Arthur Rubenstein, the greatest pianist in the world.

RVO: Did you ever meet Elvis?

NS: I met Elvis, and he invited me to the MGM hotel, where he was performing. My wife and I went backstage. I sat at the piano, and we sang a gospel song together. He eventually recorded Solitaire.

RVO: Your career was revived in the 1970s by Elton John, is that right?

NS: My first career was a voice on TV. The second career, Elton John put me on his label, and I had an incredible comeback because of Elton. It was really something. I was out of work for 13 years. During that time, I raised a family, and there were a few countries that still remembered me, Japan, and South America, but I thought my career was over. Now I do mostly concerts. I live both in New York and L.A., so I can be with my grandkids.

RVO: What music do you listen to when you are  home or in the car?

NS: I like Sam Smith.

RVO: Do you like Lady Gaga?

NS: She’s a little too shrieky. I’m inspired by Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan.

RVO: You just released a new album?

NS: Yes.The Real Neil,– all new. These days, I don’t have to write commercially anymore; I write what I feel. I write from inside; nobody puts words in my mouth.

 RVO: Is it true you’re working on a Broadway musical?

NS: Yes. It’s called “Love Will Keep Us Together,” and it’s the life story of Neil Sedaka. It’s along the lines of the Carole King musical now on Broadway. (The show is called Beautiful: The Carole King Musical.)

RVO: What is the favorite song that you wrote?

NS: I’ve had everybody from Sinatra to Elvis, to ABBA, to Cher, to Shirley Bassey sing my songs. The Captain and Tennille recorded Love Will Keep Us Together, and we won a Grammy. I’ve won a few Grammys, but I’ve been nominated a lot more than I’ve won. But I’m still doing it and still loving it. My life has been very blessed.

The Show was on December 12 th 2014

For more information on Neil Sedaka and his incredible talent and life, visit: www.neilsedaka.com

The post THE COMEBACK KID-Everything Old is New Again when Neil Sedaka Performed at Bergen PAC on December 12th, 2014 first appeared on River View Observer.

In Hoboken, on the 4^th floor of the Neumann building on Observer Highway, Aart Markenstein tunes some of the most beautiful and unique pianos ever made. During his career as a professional piano tuner, Markenstein has kept the pianos of some of the worldâ€s greatest music legends in tune. Taught by a master tuner – like Luke Skywalker learning from Yoda how to become a Jedi – Markensteinâ€s tunings have been considered “perfection” by music professionals.

Markenstein has worked with music legends including Beyonce, U2, Stevie Wonder, Paul Simon, Tony Bennett, Cher, The Eagles, K.D. Lang, Cyndi Lauper, the Black Crowes, Aerosmith, James Taylor, Ringo Starr, Chuck Berry – and so many more. He tuned the keyboards for Aretha Franklinâ€s performance at the 53^rd Inaugural Ball and when Bob Dylan played in Hoboken last year, Markenstein tuned his piano, too.

Markenstein owns his own business Aart in America Piano Company in Hoboken and his office is a large space filled with an array of pianos from a Steinway Grand to a small upright brought to Markenstein for repairs by a member of John Mellencampâ€s band. Aart in America is a full-service piano company where Markenstein repairs and rents out pianos and if youâ€re a lucky visitor, he might even play a tune because not only is Markenstein an accomplished tuner, heâ€s a stellar musician.

Helping Markenstein with Aart in America Piano Company is his wife of 32 years, Eileen, who were childhood sweethearts growing up in the Marion section of Jersey City (right behind Journal Square).

“Aart and my brother were best friends when we were kids,” Eileen says. “I would come home from school and Aart would be in my living room playing my piano. It was his passion.”

Eileen came from a musical family and Aart, the oldest of six, always wanted a piano and take piano lessons, but his parents told him he needed to save up the money on his own. He landed a part-time job, saved up $500 and bought his piano.

“He didnâ€t even tell his parents,” Eileen says.

Aart studied with Sal Lombardi, an organist at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel church and when Eileen attended Jersey City State College, Aart sat in on her music classes.

“I never stopped playing,” Aart says. “Eileenâ€s father got me a job driving a truck and I played in bands at night. I wanted to work in the music business any way I could. I saw an ad in the Village Voice for a driver/technician for Complete Music Service in 1991. I started to tune electric pianos, teaching myself. I learned how to set up gear and drum kits and the next thing I knew I was at Quad recording studios and Eric Clapton is in the recording studio. Every day it was another treat. David Bowie was a client, Lou Reed, I was in his house and he had racks of amps that had to be wired.”

In the 1990s, Aart and Eileen had a band ‘World Without Endâ€. They played clubs like CBGBs, and put out a 16-song CD called CITY OF DEAD which got radio airplay here in the states and in Germany and led to a tour of Europe and the U.S.

In 1994, Aart went to work for S.I.R. Entertainment in New York City which rented instruments for national acts coming to town to play venues like Madison Square Garden and Giants Stadium (renamed MetLife stadium).

“They would come to one of S.I.R.s soundstages to rehearse,” Aart says. “Everybody was there, The Who, (Rolling) Stones, Cyndi Lauper. I would deliver gear to SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE. I knew about the gear and didnâ€t crash the truck so I got promoted until I was just dealing with keyboards. I also did backline – set up all the instruments according to the stage plot.”

In 2003 he had an opportunity to study intensive piano technology with Kalman Dietrich, the founder of the Museum of the American Piano in New York City.

“There were six students in the class and one guy asked ‘where are the textbooksâ€,” Aart says. “Kalman said, ‘there are no textbooks. This is an ancient technology and you have to listen and pay attention.†We started disassembling a Steinway antique piano to its core and learning to repair each piece in the piano.”

A year later Aart started his own business.

“Every piano is more than just a musical instrument, it becomes part of the family and memories are made from it,” Aart says. “Itâ€s meant to last 75-100 years and has the memories from families playing and singing around the piano. The keys underneath the plastic are made of sugar pine, so grandmaâ€s DNA is on that piano left from the oils of her fingers. The person is still with that piano because their DNA is on it.”

And throughout the years heâ€s had some great experiences, but probably the one that stands out the most is the time he worked on John Lennonâ€s piano.

“It was a 1901 Steinway Model “B” and when he recorded DOUBLE FANTASY, he used that piano,” Aart says.

Although heâ€s not planning to retire any time soon, Aart says he will likely ask one of his younger relatives if they would be interesting in becoming his apprentice and learning the trade. But that seems like a long time from now. In the meantime, he and Eileen are quite content running the business and still get a little starstruck when Aart is asked to tune a piano for a superstar.

And his favorite piano? The Yamaha Conservatory Grand. He says: “The longer the strings, the better the sound. I love every piano in the shop in the same way. Every piano has its own personality, like people.”

Aart in America Piano Company

300 Observer Highway (Neumann Building

Hoboken

(201) 406-2594

www.aartinamericapiano.com

email: aartinamerica@optonline.net

The post PIANOMAN- Master Piano Tuner Aart Markenstein Keeps Bob Dylan, Stevie Wonder, Tony Bennett and other Music Legends On Key first appeared on River View Observer.

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The post The Art of How Music is Formed first appeared on River View Observer.

 By Sally Deering

 

 Life on the road can be an exhausting and liberating experience for any performer but for a rock band on tour, the road becomes a testing ground for new material, a venue to get the word out about the music and – with any luck – a step closer to a record deal. New York-area rock band Your So-Called Friends has been touring the East Coast, southeast and Midwest since October 2010, playing its original tunes in local clubs and with each show, tightening grooves and polishing their performance. On March 5th, Your So-Called Friends takes a break from the road to make their New York City debut at Crash Mansion on the Lower East Side.

 “We’re a rock band with keyboards and harmonies with a ‘throwback to the ’70s’ kind of feel but still modern,” Tulin says. “And it’s all original.”
 
Drummer Mark Tulin, keyboards and lead vocals Jordan Diamond, guitar and vocals LeeRoyK and bass player Charlie Valentine just returned from three weeks in Florida, playing clubs in St. Augustine, Daytona Beach, Miami and Ft. Lauderdale.  Before that, they were in Washington D.C., Philadelphia and West Virginia and this week, they’re hitting the road for gigs in Bloomington, Indiana, St. Louis, Missouri and the windy city of Chicago.

“We also played a few times down the Jersey Shore,” Tulin says. “We played one show and people from other bars were at that show and offered us gigs based on that performance.”

When they’re not on the road, the band rehearses in a professional studio building in Union City, writing, arranging and rehearsing tunes.  Some songs date back to when Tulin and Diamond played in a jam band in Los Angeles back in 2007. They moved to the East Coast and the Metropolitan area to start a new band with more of a focus on songs. Today, the band writes and performs original songs and the experience has made the band a more cohesive group. 

“From my experience, the best bands are the people that like each other and hang out,” Tulin says. “I’ve been in bands where you show up, play and leave. They had no momentum to do anything else.  Jordan and I know each other four or five years already and this band spends a lot of time talking about music.  We’re all on the same page as far as where we want to go and why we’re here. It’s basically the love of music.”

 March 5th

Your So-Called Friends

Crash Mansion

199 Bowery

New York, NY

Show:  10 pm

Tickets:  $10

 

To learn more about Your So-Called Friends upcoming tour dates, visit their Facebook page at Facebook.com/yscfband; and to hear their tunes visit their MySpace page at myspace.com/yscf.

The post “Your So-Called Friends”-Local Rock Band Takes Touring Detour to Debut in New York first appeared on River View Observer.

LETTING GO

FIRST ALBUM IN SEVEN YEARS

Singer songwriter Jennifer Knapp returned from a seven-year hiatus with her new album Letting Go (Gravlin/RED), released on May 11th 2010. The Grammy nominated, Dove Award winning artist is currently on a cross-country tour, which included performances at SXSW and the re-vamped Lilith Fair.

Recorded in Nashville, Letting Go was produced by Paul Moak (Mat Kearney, Martha Wainwright, and Amy Grant) and features ten intimate folk, country-tinged rock songs showcasing her astonishing straightforwardness and spirituality. 

 
In what many would consider a controversial but brave decision, a month before the release of Letting Go, the acclaimed musician publicly came out as a lesbian. And as always, Jennifer Knapp continues to speak openly and honestly. She told Reuters “If there’s any frustration, it’s trying to politely break the yoke of being asked to be something that I just can’t be, and with all humility go: ‘Just please be kind when you discover the truth.’ It’s kinda all you can do.”

 Knapp’s impressive history includes selling over one million albums with her previous releases Kansas (her debut1998), Lay It Down (2000), and The Way I Am (2001).  The Kansas-born musician toured the globe with artists such as Jars of Clay and was featured on 1999’s Lilith Fair tour.  She received critical acclaim with The Los Angeles Times calling her “a rising star” and People Magazine describing her as “an uncommonly literate songwriter.”

Jennifer went on to win her first Dove Award in 1999 for Best New Artist, scored a Grammy nod in 2002 and another Dove nomination in 2003.  With a considerable fan base, critical and commercial successes, Knapp walked away from it all at the height of her career. She explains her choice wasn’t easy but definitely necessary, “I completely had to divorce myself from the whole thing because I never really took ownership of what music meant for me as an individual. I needed to figure that out, so I really left the music business with the idea that I may not ever do it again.” She continues to explain her decision to return, “It was hard, and the whole time I was gone, it was like I had a shadow following me. I began to return to it in my own private time, getting out my guitar, starting to play and falling in love with music again without any expectations. I just wanted to play because it meant something to me.”

 After seven years of soul searching and time spent in Australia, Knapp comes full circle with Letting Go, an album of songs about inner-conflicts, spirituality, and life lessons.

Tour Dates:

August 28: Northampton, MA: Iron Horse Music Hall
August 30: Hoboken, NJ: Maxwell’s

August 31: New York, NY: Joe’s Pub at the Public Theatre
September 1: Norfolk, CT: Infinity Hall
September 2: Boston, MA: Café 939

September 5: South Boston, VA: Bistro 1888September 15: Redondo Beach, CA: Brixton

September 16: Los Angeles, CA: The Mint
September 17: San Diego, CA: Anthology

September 19: San Juan Capistrano, CA: The Coach House
September 21: Sacramento, CA: Harlow’s Night Club
September 22: San Francisco, CA: Red Devil Lounge
September 23: Portland, OR: Peter’s Room at Roseland
September 25: Boise, ID: Knitting Factory
September 26: Seattle, WA: Hard Rock Café
October 9: Baltimore, MD: Station North Arts District
October 12: Chicago, IL: Lincoln Hall
October 26: Denver, CO: Bluebird Theatre
 
Official Bio Available Here
www.jenniferknapp.com

www.myspace.com/jenniferknapp

www.twitter.com/jennifer_knapp

www.youtube.com/user/JenniferKnappMusic

The post ACCLAIMED SINGER SONGWRITER JENNIFER KNAPP CONTINUES TOUR ACROSS THE COUNTRY -Will Play Maxwells In Hoboken first appeared on River View Observer.