So April came and went in a blur of (as yet) undocumented activity. Firstly, there was playing in the pit at a college production of 'Hairspray' in Jersey City; then came 'Misunderstood' - a new jukebox musical based around the eponymous album by Pink - for which I was the musical director; sandwiched in between rehearsals for that show was an informal reading of a new draft of 'Academia Nuts'; then another concert in Jersey City; then the reading for 'Misunderstood' at the Tada! theatre in NYC
One of my production tracks 'Closer' has been chosen as the title music for Michigan TV Show 'Women of Meridian'.
I'm now on board as musical director for a new(ish) project; a musical based on Pink's 2001 album 'M!ssundaztood'. We auditioned a bunch of ridiculously talented girls over the weekend, and now we're all set for a reading at the beginning of May.
It's been another busy week in the studio, recording more demos for 'The Suicide Club' and starting work on demos for 'A Year With... Veronica Sexton. Thanks to Kyle Post and Charissa Bertels for lending their vocal talent to these projects!
Here's part 3 of my experiment with audio mangling, this time using only a sample of a bicycle bell...
Sometime between the beginning of the year and the end of February I decided to set myself the target of making 52 recordings this year. So far I'm on #12, with progress made on tracks 13 - 15. The bulk of these recordings are demos for musical theatre pieces but they also include relaxation music, production music, and my pet project of the moment Lusitania; an experiment in real-world samples and audio mangling.
As part of an evening of the songs of Becca Anderson and Brandon James Gwinn, NEXT are featuring snippets of music from Academia Nuts at The Duplex in New York City this coming Wednesday.
Find out more on their Facebook page:
Expect geek-ness, nerd-alia and much more...
Some say the best things in life are free. I happen to agree; fresh air, dogs doing crazy dog things, walking through the woods when it's about to snow, NYC water. All free, all good.
Over at Essence Music something else that's free is a track called 'Faith'. Go ahead and check it out. I'll still be here when you come back...
There's more reason than ever to affirm your geek-dom over on Soundcloud: 3 of the Academos are up, with more to be posted over the coming weeks! For tasters, here's Sasha Weiss singing 'Pirate TV':
It's Super Bowl Sunday, so what better way to celebrate than by working on the Brett Favre-inspired track from Academia Nuts. Here's a work-in-progress version:
In the studio today with Becca Anderson and Raja Burrows, recording demos for Academia Nuts!
Great fun writing for Academia Nuts last night, with Becca Andersonand Dan Marshall. Recording demos this month, workshop at the end of March, and concert versions planned for later in the year...
Played at the Uptown Cabaret Open Mic night at Indian Road Cafe, Inwood, last night. A great little song written by Dan Marshall and I called 'Trick or Treat' - watch out for a demo coming soon!
Check out this spoof trailer I did the music for. Conceived and shot/edited by Hudson Meredith...
Excited to be starting demos for Academia Nuts next week, starting with the effervescent Sasha Weiss!
Played at The Bitter End on Bleeker Street last night with pop starlet Caley Rose. Lots of fun danceable tunes, and a couple of choice covers thrown in for good measure. Watch out for some videos in the near future!
Spent all day Sunday at A Bloody Good Record studios in Long Island City recording tracks for Jonathan Cody White's debut EP. Expect black notes, white notes and much noodling.
'Angelina Ballerina: A Very Merry Holiday Musical' opened this week at Vital Theatre in New York to a packed house. Orchestrations by yours truly, cheese and wotsits by the talented acting and creative team!
Here's a couple of productions pics from the recent shoot of 'There You Go'. No idea why the Steinway was running through a Marshall amp...
The glorious Sasha Weiss did one splendiddly cabaret here in New York recently, and chose to include a song from 'Academia Nuts' (a new musical I'm writing with collaborators Dan Marshall and Becca Anderson). Here's evidence of said splendiddly-ness...
And here we are in October. Last month I was working on music for Wrecka's 'There You Go'. The job involved not just playing on the track, but also writing and performing incidental music to be part of the short film being built around the song. The short (and it is short) is being filmed this weekend in Harlem. Expect warm weather, gratuitous slow-motion and a cameo appearance by yours truly.
I've just signed on to do the orchestrations for Vital Theatre's holiday production of Angelina Ballerina. Rehearsals start in October, with the production opening in November.
Ooh! Now Essence Vol. 1 is available on CD Baby...
My new album is now available for download. A soothing and relaxing sound journey in two parts, this album is ideal for meditation, relaxation, yoga, and guided hypnosis. Each track can also be individually downloaded. Available only through Paypal, coming soon to other outlets...
After much deliberation, the new website is up and running. Let me know what you think!
Once again, 'A Year With.... Veronica Sexton' hit the mean streets of New York City, this time as part of R.A.W Theatricals 'Duct Tape & A Dream' festival. The one-woman show has been developed since it's fledgling appearance last year, with new songs, ending and content. Jen Anderson played Veronica, and was directed by Ryan Hallet.
It's been a schlep, but the score for Academia Nuts is now ready for rehearsals this weekend!
New original musical Academia Nuts! has been chosen for a staged reading as part of Emerging Artist's Theatre's festival of new works this coming May. It's an exciting opportunity for the piece, as it will be the first time the songs have been sung by a full cast!
The piece explores the conflicting philosophies within the American education system, and what happens when the underdog fights back. Expect acerbic wit and a dash of extremist-bashing...
Roots and Wings Theatrical's second workshop weekend of 'A Year With... Veronica Sexton' happens this weekend (March 12th - 13th), ending in a reading for an invited audience. The piece is really shaping up ready for the production in May. Victoria (book/lyrics) and I are hoping to have all the structural changes locked down after this weekend.
A special cabaret featuring a host of new songs looking at the quirky side of Valentine's Day is happening this weekend at the Barrington Stage Company, and 'February Pregnancy' is making an appearance! For more info check out their website.
Tonight is the first ever read through of the new musical 'Academia Nuts'! I'm currently writing it with collaborators Dan Marshall and Becca Anderson, and tonight is the airing of the first draft of the show. Thanks to all our talented friends for giving up their time to read the script for us!
I'm finishing up revisions to the score for Kestryl Cael Lowrey's one-man show '348', ready for it's performance at Dixon Place in New York next week (Thursday 18th November). Expect drones, darbukas and darkly beautiful rhodes...
A quick look at some of the goings-on at Ido Sushi last week. Thanks to performers Adam Kern and Sasha Weiss for lending their pipes for the occasion. Full length versions of the songs coming soon! It's a montage, yeah a montage....
... is the title of Kestryl Lowery's one-person show, about the life of a teenager isolated in a lock-down institution. As a work in progress it has a performance on Thursday November 18th at Dixon Place (NYC) and I'm currently working on the score for this piece - an edgy, atonal, percussive affair.
I've been asked to perform some of my work at 'Red Hot & New' - a new showcase for emerging talent in the West Village on Thursday 28th October.
The "Songs By Ridiculously Talented...." series is back again this year, with 'Singing To Myself' being performed once again. As well as performances in Pittsfield, MA, this year's production has a date at Merkin Hall in NYC on September 20th.
You can hear the full version of 'Singing To Myself' in the Musical Theatre/Cabaret section of the music pages here
Burrowing away in the studio in the middle of summer is no trip to the beach, but the score I'm co-composing for an upcoming feature film (the details of which I'm not at liberty to talk about yet) is worth missing the sand in my toes for.
Who knows, maybe I'll make it to the beach before September ends...
Mirrorball Diva, the debut album by Natisse is scheduled for release in the UK on September 6th. A number of songs that I've co-written are on it, so I strongly urge you to buy it!
100 degrees in the city and we know silly season is well under way, when typically not a lot happens.... However I'm keeping myself busy working on a film project that I'm unable to name at present (oo-er...). I'm also beavering away at several theatrical projects, and writing some library material for Northstar and Figure & Groove Music.
Song cycle 'A Year In The Life Of Veronica Sexton' had it's workshop debut at the Emerging Artists Theatre's Illuminating Artists new works festival on 29th April. Expect some rewrites, and expect to see it again!
'A Year In The Life....' is the title of a new one-woman song cycle I'm working on at the moment, following events in the life of fictional (but batty) Veronica Sexton. It's getting it's first workshop performance on April 29th here in New York. More details to follow soon!
I'm currently in the beautiful Connecticut town of East Haddam, working on a new musical adaptation of a Robert Louis Stevenson short story. Housed and looked after by the Goodspeed Opera House, this is an awesome opportunity to get out of the city and find inspiration in new surroundings.
'The Assistors' is being produced at the Lee Strasberg Institute, NY, in December, as part of a series of short musicals. With a new cast and creative team, and some invigorating rewrites, Victoria and I have been assured the angels will have wings!
Season 2 of the sizzling current affairs musical podcast is well under way with episode 2 out now! Check out the daily blog rantings at meridian13news.blogspot.com or subscribe on iTunes at www.meridian13news.com
I've just got back from watching Meredith Monk's 'Songs of Ascension' at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. There was some truly stunning and beautiful music in the piece, and the space is pretty awesome too!
Blaxploitation short film 'Jasmine' has it's first screening tonight in New York City, at the Kraine Theatre in the East Village. Partnered with another short 'Hellmira', the score for Jasmine was a joint collaboration between myself and director Sean Davis. Let's hope there's lots of champagne to celebrate a summer of hard work for all the creative team!
This weekend (4th/5th September) Barrington Stage Company in Pittsfield, MA is playing host to a cabaret night of new material by musical theatre writers, hosted by William Finn. 'Singing To Myself' (lyrics by Diana Oh) and 'A Sandwich Aria' (lyrics by Sean Patterson) are my two contributions to the evening. Find out more at the Barrington Stage Company website
This song, co written by director Gabriel Rodriguez and myself is now on the music page.
And it was such a favourite of vocalist Sophia Kent, that she's singing it in a cabaret in the West Village on Monday night!
So, the final mix of the song 'We Never Died' has been completed for the film 'Rubyfire' - watch out for it on the music pages in the coming weeks. In the meantime check out the sneak preview at http://www.youtube.com/user/howardarrid, which features the 'World of Models' theme - which you can also hear on the music page
So, the score is cooking along nicely for this one. The final cut should be ready in a few days, and the whole shebang will be ready to submit to festivals by August 24th.
Director Gabriel Rodriguez is currently shooting his new feature 'Rubyfire', and to help with the promo footage I've contributed a couple of tracks, which will also appear in the final cut (famous last words...)
Talking with a writer/director at the moment about the possibility of collaborating on the hip-hop influenced score for new short 'Jasmine', featuring artist G-Depp. Watch this space for further developments...
Writing a new 'old' 80's track for Hallam FM at the moment - in the style of PWL circa 1989....
It's a new month, so it's time for Episode 5 of current affairs and comedy podcast Meridian 13 News. You can listen to it or subscribe at www.meridian13news.com - click on the podcast link! Don't forget to check the blog for daily updates....
I'm working on a new series of tracks for kids company Hartbeeps this month. Some are new songs, while others are reworks of classic nursery rhymes, and all are given a special mellow treatment with percussion, celesta and acoustic guitar. Beautiful....
The reading of 20-minute piece 'The Assisitors was today! Big thanks to the cast Sol Baird, Sasha Weiss, and Ben Howes, and director Susanna Gellert for all their hard work.
So we're going in to rehearsal for the first reading of 'The Assistors' tomorrow. Or today, actually. It's so late....
... is the current working title of a new one-act musical I'm working on with fellow Brit Victoria Saxton over here in New York. It's first scheduled reading is for the 7th May, which would be all very exciting were it not for the fact that there's still a bunch of scoring still to do for it!
Well, it's not entirely new.... And there's been a ton of other exciting stuff happening over the past few months, but take a moment to check out http://meridian13news.blogspot.com
It's a (relatively) new podcast I'm involved with writing. It's funny, or at least that's what we like to think.
Hell, why not have two news stories in one day....
I now have a guestbook feature so you can leave your thoughts. Any thoughts will do, as long as they're nice....
This week sees the start of production work on the interestingly titled 'Moo Beeps' album for Hartbeeps. Themed around farmyard characters, I'm hammering those slide guitar samples. Yee-ha....
The next children's album for Hartbeeps has been slated in for recording at the beginning of August. With a decidedly farmyard feel, pre-production begins next week....
Finally finished writing and recording the first album for Hartbeeps, entitled 'Beep Beeps'. The theme is transport, and it'll be on sale soon! For more information check out www.hartbeepsrox.co.uk
New single 'Without You' by artist Jess Carroll is released today, available as a download only. Go to iTunes! Buy it!! You know you want to....
I've just finished the soundtrack to a promo for CITYsj Productions. It's a great track (at least that's what I say...) with a nice chilled out vibe. And it'll be added to the music page shortly - watch this space!
Crack open the bubbly! I've just been invited to go to New York to meet with faculty from NYU....
Welcome to my new website. There's some fresh new tunes on the music page - check 'em out!
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