Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Party For Paul Sat Nov 9th- Plus new tunes from Song in an Hour


We've got some great music coming Saturday, Nov 9th at the Camel from 4 to 8 PM with Song in an Hour project, Tin Can Fish Band (featuring Steve Fisher, Doug Austin, Jack Taggart, and Keith McPhee), Norman Norman, Pam McCarthy, Wendy Pace, and the Neatles. The Camel is located at 1621 W. Broad Street, Richmond, VA 23220. It's one of the best venues in town to hear local music (thecamel.org 804-353-4901). A $3 donation is suggested. 


For those interested in our Song In An Hour project, we will be playing the first four songs that were created in the past year by teams of local musicians. To create each song, we had a tunesmith write the basics of a song in an hour or so using prepared lyrics, and then over time, perfect it with a singer. They will end up on our 2014 CD release of twelve new originals, featuring twelve different singers. We'll be running over the tunes a few times before Tin Can Fish Band takes the stage at 5 PM. 

The video cameras will be rolling, and international photography legend James Fortune will be shooting portraits of all the musicians on the show for the CD.  You can meet the guy who was there shooting during the recording of the first Doors album, plus he was at Kezar Stadium in San Francisco when Led Zeppelin broke attendance records, and worked on various Paul McCartney shoots in Los Angeles. For more info, go to jamesfortunephotography.com

The suggested donation is $3, and all funds go to help Paul Magill, who recently fractured his pelvis, cracked some ribs and bruised internal left side organs. Let's help those who give so much back to the community, Paul has filmed and posted over 1,000 videos with Rockitz on Facebook and YouTube, and many bands owe gigs & new fans from his volunteer efforts. Drop in and say hi.

For more info, contact Brooke Saunders at 804-236-6869 or email brookesaunders@gmail.com

Monday, October 7, 2013

Chianti Restaurant Video

Monday, September 9, 2013

Artemis Gallery Garmezy Glass Show 9 6 13 Richmond Virginia

Here's the latest video of Artemis Gallery, we have over twenty now posted. Contact
us about filming your gallery!  Go to youtube.com/brookesaunders for more videos and
804-277-9184 is the phone #.

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Song In An Hour Project- Party on November 9th at the Camel

For Immediate Release
July 14, 2013

Song In An Hour CD Release Party

On Nov. 9 from 5 to 8 PM at the Camel (1621 W. Broad Street)  in Richmond, Virginia a local music compilation will be released called “Song In An Hour." The twelve new original tunes will be performed by several dozen top local musicians, and Brooke Saunders explains. 
“I had been getting questions over the years about a fourth local music compilation, and I was interested, but only if we could do something different this time. Instead of getting finished tracks, I created a process to write brand new songs and record them mostly live. It will also be more rock and roll, compared to the acoustic Floating Folk Festival CDs.” 
          The songs were written in the first half of the 2013,  and instead of one person writing it all, each song was created by a team of three; a singer, a tunesmith, and a lyricist. 
          Lyrics are selected in advance and a session booked. The tunesmith arrives and sees the words for the first time, and creates a new song in thirty to forty minutes. He or she is then joined by the singer, and they finish a demo of the song to be perfected by the September recording date. In other cases, the lyricist, singer and the tunesmith collaborate on the song. 
  All twelve songs will be recorded live in one day, with additional editing and accompaniment added in the weeks following. A limited run CD will be issued Nov 9th, with the tracks available online. The songs will generally be performed in the same order, in the manner of a concept album or musical. Shows are videotaped, with highlights to be posted later. 
Some of the people involved include Paul Magill Smith, Harry Gore, Wendy Pace, Tina Haney, Rolfe Trimble, Aric Mueller, Roger Koller, Jamil, Matt Manion, Pam McCarthy, Michael James, Margaret Fleischman, Manko Eponymous, Wiley Long, Greg Weatherford, Eileen Edmonds, Jessica Salamonsky, Norman Nortledorf, Steve Utt, Andrew Trongone, Steve Fisher, Chuck Kerwath, Elana O'Neill, Matt Manion, Tabb Justis, Chris Branch, Mark Szafranski, Paolo Franco, Cesca Waterfield, Greg Harrup, and Isaac Friend. 
For more information, contact Brooke Saunders at 804-277-9184 or email brookesaunders@gmail.com

Friday, April 26, 2013

Earth Day 4-20 Jonathan Greenberg and Fred Ostrow Live

Good stuff, listen to the way they play together so well

Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Hobbit is not bad, but certainly not great

We went to see the Hobbit at Westchester Commons Regal Theater, not something we normally do, but our daughter had just finished the book. We walked in the theater $60 poorer with a bucket of popcorn and a couple of drinks, that were also in buckets. The seats were comfortable, and the incline steep enough that you can easily see over the people in front of you. Plus, it was easy to get out of your seat quietly and go for more snacks or to the bathroom.

After being hammered for about 20 minutes by previews, which all seemed to be about the end of the world with lots of computer generated images, the movie started. The previews were all the same, it was as if the movie industry has became some giant video game based on gimmicks and some doom and gloom thrown in.

Having never read the book, I did not have any expectations.  But there were a lot of dwarfs, who were the heroes, and they went off to reclaim some lost place they used to live. The costumes and images were spectacular through our 3D glasses, it really showed all the advances that have been made in movie making. The sound was blasting, though not too loud as it turned out.

As the violence started, it felt like the overkill was unbelievable, scabby looking horrible creatures leaped out and attacked so often it lost effect.  I felt like I was in a GWAR movie, and I wondered how you go any further, with two and a half hours of almost non-stop violence. Someone should have pulled the director aside and told him to whack 30 minutes off the entire film, and see if they can create some more dialogue. The movie was morbidly obese with violence, not blood or torture, but still it was a bloated epic that went on too long. The monsters and the journey fighting them seemed to be something Odysseus might experience in a Homer story.

The music was wonderful, and some of the scenes magnificent, with haunting images, spectacular views. Many of the actors looked like members of Led Zeppelin or bands of the era, beards, mustaches, leather, etc. Indeed, there are a number of references in Zeppelin songs about parts of the Hobbit such as Mordor in "Ramble On."

All in all, we did not feel cheated, but on the other hand, we did not feel like rushing back to see the latest blockbuster. We are happy to go out and see movies that might be important to our daughter, but I'm happy to turn on PBS and watch something really good, like Downton Abbey.