Marge's News

 

Well, it's been quite a season thus far! 

 

The BALM SQUAD (a network of people spreading the word about my Balm in Gilead CD) continues to grow.  Your support has been fantastic.  Many thanks!  New endorsements, contacts, ideas for potential projects and collaborations are streaming in every day.

 

I did a tour of Alaska -- Fairbanks and the Denali National Forest area -- with long-time collaborator DAVID CANGELOSI (www.davidcangelosi.com), tenor with the Metropolitan Opera and Lyric Opera of Chicago.  Great chemistry, stunning venues -- it just gets better and better.  And what a beautiful place to work -- nothing like going white-water rafting in the afternoon, drying off, warming up and then performing to packed houses in the evening.

 

Thanks to gracious hosts Tom and Debbie Gross, and Cassandra Tilly, all of Opera Fairbanks (www.operafairbanks.org), and Kris Capps of Denali.

Saw my first caribou, but alas, no moose (www.moose.com). 

Did eat moussaka at a banquet though -- if it included real moose, I don't want to know.

 

 

coming up

Some exciting new collaborations with:

 

  • Author/songwriter/playwright
    JOHN MAXWELL TAYLOR
  • Composer LARRY KASS and "show doctor" RON NEWELL
  • CLIFFSIDE ARTISTS COLLABORATIVE
  • THE MIGHTY WURLITZER RADIO HOUR
  • SHALOM NAUTICO retreat center
  • Guitarist/Composer BRIAN HENKE

 

and annual collaborations with:

  • WILLOUGHBY FINE ARTS ASSOCIATION (judge for scholarship competition)
  • MAGICAL THEATRE (Music Director for summer musical theater workshop)

 

MORE NEWS TO REPORT -- 

 

Great gigs with fiddler ED CANER at his wonderful venue in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park (www.cvnpa.org/Events)

 

and with Klezmer violinist STEVEN GREENMAN (www.stevengreenman.com)

 -- we wowed 'em on St. Patrick's Day.   "Green-man" --- I mean, who better to hire?

 

Performances for the American Holistic Medical Association (www.holisticmedicine.org)

 

Fun, new collaborations at the Hermit Club.

 

More commissioned, customized orchestrations - wonderful to hear original writing come to life!

 

And to hear it on the radio too --

    To celebrate Opening Day of Baseball Season (April 5), my work for harpsichord "DOUBLES: VARIATIONS AND A THEME REVEALED"

    ('Addo mihi siccu ut Ballgame'/TAKE ME OUT TO THE BALLGAME)was broadcast on WFMT/Chicago (98.7 FM), WGUC/Cincinnati (90.9 FM), and WOSU/Columbus (89.7) --  THREE RADIO SHOWS IN ONE DAY --  A TRIPLE PLAY! --

 

    It will also air on KDFC/San Francisco (102.1 FM) and American Public Media (syndicated) --     I'll keep you posted!

 

And MORE BIG NEWS

 

I have engaged new management.

JAMES REA, President of RAMA / NASHVILLE (Recording Artists' Management Alliance, Inc.)

James Rea

RAMA Mission Statement
RAMA’s mission is to provide a safe and productive Artist Development Support System designed to assist emerging artists achieve their individual potential and goals while addressing the needs, concerns and future of both the industry and the artist.

 

Prior to his move to Nashville from Toronto in 1995, Mr. Rea was an international performer, for twenty-five years. Rea quickly earned a reputation as an articulate and well-informed insider, when he created RAMA / Nashville and has since assisted over 300 artists and songwriters, some of whom have successfully attained recording contracts and publishing deals. James is a sought after speaker, a columnist for the Nashville Music Guide, Nashville’s # 1 Music Industry magazine and, he is the creator and host of ‘The Producer’s Chair”, Nashville’s longest running live talk show.

 

“For the past four years, “The Producer’s Chair” has always drawn an audience of enthusiastic un-signed artists, musicians, songwriters, publishers and young producers/engineers, who are eager to meet my A-List producer guests, have a beverage and rap about a variety of music-related educational topics, “tricks of the trade” and issues surrounding the future of the industry. During the show, my guest producer and I are sitting on stage in a very cool “studio-type” set, while my two female/assistants are on the floor, with cordless microphones retrieving questions from the audience during the Q&A segments of the interview. At the end of the show, we do a meet-n-greet, which I memorialize in a photo album on the Producer’s Chair website and I’m generally given a handful of demos from artists and songwriters in the audience, which I give to my guest producer at the end of the evening. One of the show sponsors, SAE (Sound Audio and Engineering Institute) gives a “credit” to students, who attend the show."

 

 

SPIKE TV calls The Producer’s Chair… “The best show in Nashville, if you want to know how to get a record deal”

 

James is also a volunteer for The Red Cross and he presently serves on three boards;

 

SAE Advisory Board (Sound Audio Engineering Institute)www.sae.org

The Tennessee Jazz & Blues Society www.jazzblues.org

Friends of Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park www.bcmsp.org

 

And...we're cooking up great things to come -- WATCH THIS WEBSITE FOR DETAILS!!