10/24/18

ProgStock and Joe Deninzon & Stratospheerius-Love at First Site

Buzz Act from ProgStock Confirmed for 2019

Paul Whitehead painted this as
 Joe Deninzon
& Stratospheerius played ProgFest.
Right after ProgStock 2018, Melodic Revolution Records Recording Artist Joe Deninzon & Stratospheerius have been confirmed to play at ProgStock 2019.

Joe and his band are still pinching themselves over the outstanding time they had at ProgStock. Posting on Facebook, Joe wrote, “I am over the moon,” and proceeded to exclaim about trading riffs with Fernando Perdomo and In Continuum with David Kerzner at the New Jersey, USA-based, and Northeast’s only, Progressive Rock Festival.

Joe Deninzon & Stratospheerius played a special late night party that was attended by fans and performers including Saga’s Michael Sadler and Enchant’s Ted Leonard, who also sings on Spock’s Beard’s new album, NOISE FLOOR, which Joe listened to as he drove to ProgStock! 

Proglodytes’ Thomas Hatton writes about Joe, “you really need to check this guy out. First of all, the guy has a custom 7 string, fretted violin. He plays spirited, fun music at breakneck speeds. Seeing him play was like eating candy- every time he played a solo, I couldn’t help but smile and cheer. He played a cover of muse’s ‘Hysteria’ that almost bordered on ska. He had an intimidatingly talented backup band as well. In a room full of a lot of musicians, it’s hard to impress, and I can confirm that everyone was blown away. His concert was a blast- one of the most impressive and fun events all weekend.” https://proglodytes.com/2018/10/07/progstock-2018-day-2/ 

Legendary album cover artist Paul Whitehead created what might (or might not) be Joe’s next album cover, the painting of the Stratospheerius.  Paul is best known for his cover artwork for early Genesis albums, including NURSERY CRYME, FOXTROT, and TRESPASS, plus covers for Renaissance and Van Der Graff Generator…  

Joe Deninzon & Stratospheerius are: Joe Deninzon, Michelangelo Quirinale, Jason Gianni, and Paul Ranieri.   


      Pictured (L to R) are: Paul Whitehead (artist), Ann Rinaldi and Thomas Palmieri of ProgStock, and Joe Deninzon








10/20/18

Chris Butler's GOT IT TOGEHTER!, The Songwriter and the Songs

For Fans of artists such as Courtney Barnett, Death Cab for Cutie, Tame Impala, the Waitresses, Tin Huey…. 

Chris Butler’s new album GOT IT TOGEHTER! is a picturesque collection by an older, wiser, and wry guy with humble and thoughtful Midwestern values. Using visual descriptions and incidental dialogue, there's an ironically amused observer that includes equal parts of a perplexed and rock-loving H. L. Mencken, Tom Wolfe, Lenny Bruce, Gary Snyder, Norman Rockwell, and Howard Zim! He sees a range of qualities in a variety of folks: up-and-coming musicians, upbeat people, inconsiderate souls, people in his dreams….

Chris Butler… You may not know this guy, but you might know what he’s been involved with as an artist, from his days as a student at Kent State, being in a 1970s "art rock for laughs" rock band (Tin Huey) signed by Warner Bros. Records, and the founder/songwriter/producer/guitarist of the Waitresses, who—in the 1980s— had the hits (“I Know What Boys Like”, the “Square Pegs” TV show theme and “Christmas Wrapping”). He spent the rest of that decade producing (Freedy Johnston, Scruffy The Cat, Joan Osborne) & writing songs in hard-won obscurity, playing drums and doing freelance writing for tech and music mags.   In 1996, released “The Devil Glitch”, a 69-minute song with over 500 verses (listed in the 1998 Guinness Book of World Records “World’s Longest Pop Song”!  Now online and over four hours long at http://www.infiniteglitch.net. In 1997, released “I Feel A Bit Normal Today” - a CD of bent pop. He played drums with Richard Lloyd (from Television) 1995-2000.  In 2001, released “Un Petit Goûter - The Best of Kilopop!” - a fake ‘Best of’ from a non-existent Euro-pop band.  In 2002, released “The Museum of Me” - a collection of 10-years-worth of audio experiments using antique and obsolete recording gear.  In 2014, released “Easy Life” (plus alt.easylife.cd - an outtake CD) - a song cycle based on witnessing  the murder of four students at Kent State University in 1970. In 2018, Chris Butler collaborated with Ralph Carney (Tin Huey, Tom Waits, B-52s) on “Songs For Unsung Holidays” (Smog Veil), a recording of tunes celebrating offbeat holidays like Gorilla Suit Day and Salami Appreciation Day. Recent projects include writing and producing two short films.

Chris’s new CD is entitled GOT IT TOGEHTER! The title is intentionally misspelled.  

PHYSICS: 
The hook that Chris sings in the song, “Physics” is “Reality never applied to me.” Indeed he shares assorted ways he’s an exception to the rule, from selling out to refusing to compromise.  "I am my own man. Excluded from mainstream culture and job possibilities.  I will have to make my own way...always. So whatever is conventional wisdom, common sense, etc. just never works for me.  My alienation is complete." Almost three minutes into the song, at a break we hear mystical sounding Farfisa organ that he turns on-and-off. “This whole album,” Chris says, “has an assortment of odd instruments. There’s a Stylophone (an oddball keyboard, hand-held synthesizer that uses a stylus to make contact with a metal keyboard.  David Bowie used one on "Space Oddity".) I also used a deluxe version with two styli and an optical sensor that If you put your hand over it, you can get a wah-wah effect." 

SONGS FOR GUYS 
 "I spend a lot of time on the lyrics.  I'm inspired by Becker and Fagan (pre-smooth jazz Steely Dan), David Byrne, Tom Lehrer, Andy Partridge (XTC), Randy Newman, Lowell George (Little Feat), people with an edge, they tell a story, are tongue and cheek, snotty!  My songwriting mentor Bob Kidney, who I played with in The Numbers Band (15-60-75), now in their 48th year, is a master lyricist, and drilled it into me that “words count!  Say something and say it right.  Say it in a witty, intense, human and strategic manner.  In SONGS FOR GUYS, Chris sings about a fixation on a passionate female rocker that sings feminist/female-centric songs, who “scratches my head from the inside."  

NEW ENEMY 
“I can smell your anger.”  The is the type of person that says, “I’ve got all the friends I need. I could use a new enemy, though!”  A little baiting of the other political side, of an uptight, passive person just for the hell of it, but also relevant to extremism where people fight for the sake of fighting.  “Black Butterfly” in the song is about volcanic anger. The unusual instruments include 8-string bass and 12-string guitars, wobbly reverb, and a broken Vox Tape Delay.  

SUMMER MONEY   
“The significance of the title SUMMER MONEY, literally, is it's a lovely summer, and then you get an unexpected check in the mail.  Poetically, just a phrase for maximum goodness. Two good things stuck together.” The simple life in his backyard all summer long, but with a dose of dread seeing that first leaf fall.

“The summer sun is my only church.
And from this pew, I pray for better flowers!”  

Chris uses an acoustic and 12-string guitar. The inspiration for the “wash of a guitar” sound is from 10cc’s “I’m Not In love.” That came from an effect called a Rainbow Machine put out by a local Akron company, Earthquaker.
   
LATE FOR WORK 
Chris wants to stay home and make love with his divine lady, but he’s got a job that he has to go to!  The hook lyric is “I ran after you like a man late for work!” He says the second verse is “the best thing I’ve ever written.” 

“Look at you! You make the morning sunrise jealous
Standing by the kitchen stove. 
With your low-slung gunfighter coffee cup
Daring the day to make one false move.
Girly girl-itous girl-itude.
A mountain of girly-osity.
What's it like to wake up each day and be that lovely?”  

“It's an adult love song, rare for me. I write about predicaments and small things.  Leave the lovey-dovey stuff to those better at it.”

DROMOMANIA    
With electric, and acoustic 12-string guitars as the driving opening riff, DROMOMANIA is about an old pro nomad making fun of a tourist (a “novice castaway” trying to go native.) The tourist has no idea what one gives up to truly be in perpetual motion. They will go back to civilization, but not this guy. He's stuck in high gear. Inspired by the book SONG LINES by Bruce Chatwin. "Some people need to be in constant motion."  

MOMMY GLOW 
Some women and men get mad at this song. "Family-centric people are insulted by it. But I’m not, by nature, a paternal cat. I never understood why anybody would want to get pregnant and have children. This is from my history. My mother was not a good mother. Her message was that children ruin your life. "I was a problem, just 'cause I was there." The Universe had another idea for me, however. I have a son, and he's great."  In recording MOMMY GLOW, Chris used one guitar, multi-mic-ed for stereo with lots of compression to make the guitar sound huge. 
  
NICOTINE WEATHER
Written for a reformed Tin Huey, inspired by the music of Albert Ayler, NICOTINE WEATHER might also be compared to some of the word salad of Captain Beefheart. Chris loves to spew “beatnik poetry” on top of “clutter.” The musical theme of the song is a Salvation Army marching band kind of riff.  The lyrics are how crazy one gets when trying to quit smoking. My bass solo is in the style of Tin Huey’s Mark Price - explosive, ferocious, intense, noisy. 

AWAKE  
“This song is another of my patent one-sided conversations, a lyrical structure I used a lot in Waitresses songs. I have been told I am every girl's best girlfriend and easy to talk to. A wrong-righter. Good in terms of female friendships, not good if you just want to get laid!” Chris says, “At my age, we’re all going to funerals and memorials.  The most punk thing you can do is play rock and roll after you’re 65. I've been to shows here in Akron where the lead guitarists are all on chemo. But they still want to play, and thankfully there is an audience here that still goes out to see live music. Emphasis on the word ‘live’” AWAKE shows what people say to each other at wakes; conflicting things include: “I can tell him anything—absolutely anything!” He sang, “Vegetarians should be shot” in reference to what to bring and not bring, and then was told she was vegan! The song ends with a ghost story/dream sequence.  

NEVER BEEN OLD BEFORE   
Chris proclaims, “If you say you’re bored, then you’re not paying attention.” He got that from a bumper sticker.  And the hook, “whatever I do with you for the first time, could be the last time for me” is the realization that time rolls by so fast, and he doesn’t want his kid to be blasé about life. NEVER BEEN OLD BEFORE compares grownups and childhood, and encourages kids to put down their cellphones and to look at the world around them. The goal is to show the wonderful riches of the world, and “mock the negativity.” Part of the song he’s reminiscing about growing up, and seeing The Who on the television show Shindig that changed his life! 

BITCH BOX   
The entertaining BITCH BOX is a song with dialog, in which Chris lets out his grumpy side, and sings along with himself in hi-fi harmonic choruses that mock him with taunts of “WAH WAH WAH,” and being told to shut up in his own song! Great lines like “half of the half-filled glass is missing,” “I have a bad story about everybody,” “But somehow the fault’s always mine, repeating patterns that fail since 1949”, and “Bitch Box, that’s my name, I do the world a service by taking all the blame,” “You’ve got a right to be silent, I got a right to complain.” 
Musically, Chris was inspired by the blues lick that Tom Verlaine used on Television’s “The Grip of Love.”  

BETTER THAN I EVER WAS  
Chris loves Muscle Shoals Stax-Volt soul, and wrote a song inspired by Dan Penn (who wrote “I’m Your Puppet”). A funky, geezer anthem with powerful horns by Marc Paige that elevate Chris’ proclaiming his survival after all these years.  Chris sings about the messes he made, but they all worked out, “All the BS that I took on faith, it’s kind of amazing it didn’t get in my way….and damn here I am, better than I ever was!…It’s a victory to get up each day.”  “I pinched the idea from working with Richard Lloyd, who was brilliant and crazy. I loved his autobiography, telling stories of his self-abuse and shooting up with Keith Richards and Anita Pallenberg.  I was inspired by his great attitude -  “Wow, I can’t believe I’m still here!” 


BONUS TRACKS 

After the album, GOT IT TOGEHTER!, Chris includes bonus songs—demos, some that made the album, some that didn’t.    

THE WHIRLAWAY (demo) 
This is a four-track demo of an unrecorded Waitresses song about living on borrowed time, and how that debt will be eventually called in. But not today.  

BETTER THAN I EVER WAS (demo) 
Guitars instead of saxes.  Key of A instead of G on the final version.  But you still feel that old school soul influence!  12-string guitar distorted, which is unusual for that instrument.

TOUCH OF GRAY (demo)    
Another in a long line of commissioned songs that never got used. Chris initially wrote the song in the female gender about his grandmother for "A...My Name Is Alice" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A..._My_Name_Is_Alice”). The demo shows an imaginary conversation with a child, and how the grandparent immigrated here in 1894, starting thinking in English to help himself become a citizen. So much of his life including living 50 years with one woman, and 25 alone, burying their heroes, but outliving their enemies.  The character believes his children can do better than he did, that thought bringing contentment.

CURIOUS GIRLS—BIG HIT SINGLE  (demo)
"My attempt at writing a big synth-based hit song. The protagonist in the song is a pompous male chauvinist. I needed a strong masculine voice to fit the character, so vocals are by my friend George Gilmore from The Tall Lonesome Pines.” A break-up song turned inside out -  a “full of himself male” that would forgive his ex after she is disappointed in all her new prospects. “It’s a cold cruel world, and it’s always the meanest to curious girls.” He may be smugly confident that she will return to him, but in reality, he hasn't a clue.

Whatever age Chris writes from, the yearnings for connection are still the same.  He says, “Youthful passions really don't age out. That's a lie that too many fall prey to. Fight it. You have to be really courageous...or rather, just plain stubborn to keep developing, stay curious and/or stay true to wanting to live a vital, exciting life. Entropy will take its toll, but it doesn't matter if you still burn to be creative.”

Chris Butler’s creativity as a song craftsman with an observational sense of kindness, irony, and humor make GOT IT TOGEHTER! a captivating listen. Pay attention.

GOT IT TOGEHTER!: Distributed by Smog Veil Records https://www.smogveil.com/

Press: Fly PR: Ilka Erreg Pardiñas: flypr@flypr.net  
Radio: Robb Haagsman: robb@shineonpromo.com







10/12/18

Robby Takac is "DYIN' TONIGHT" for JOHNNY GRUESOME


CONTACT: Red Hill Movies, redhillmovie1@gmail.com

Buffalo, New York - "Dyin' Tonight," an original song performed by Robby Takac of Goo Goo Dolls fame for the upcoming horror film Johnny Gruesome, has been released by Funhouse Productions and is available for purchase on major music platforms ahead of the film's October 16th VOD release. Takac co-wrote the song with Armand John Petri and Joe Rozler, and recorded it at his GCR Studios in Buffalo, New York. 

The film Johnny Gruesome was written and directed by Gregory Lamberson (Slime City, Killer Rack) and stars Anthony De La Torre (Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, Lords of Chaos), Michael DeLorenzo (New York Undercover, Head of the Class) and singer-songwriter Aprilann ("Crown and the Girl"). The film tells the story of a murdered heavy metal rebel who returns from the grave for vengeance. Red Hill Movies, Deinstitutionalized, and JFR Productions co-produced, with Uncork'd Entertainment distributing.

Petri and Rozler also composed the score, and additional songs used in the film were created by Dean Italiano, Giasone Italiano, and Aprilann. The Italianos' contributions were created for a rock CD, "Gruesome," to promote the novel on which the film is based; that CD is available separately.

Trailer for Johnny Gruesome:



"Dyin' Tonight" by Armand John Petrie, Joe Rozler, Robby Takac:
Apple Music- 
Spotify-
Google Play- 
YouTube- 



Robby Takac sings Johnny Gruesome 

10/9/18

Elliott Murphy’s Back in the USA for More Acts November 7-24


(Long Island Rock Troubadour Returns to the States for An Incredible November)

Elliott Murphy, singer-songwriter and long-time Paris resident, returns to the East Coast this November for an autumn season of touring, events and filming. 

Elliott will be inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame on November 8 at a gala ceremony to be held at the Space in Westbury… Long Island, of course. Former inductees of the LIMHOF include Billy Joel, Paul Simon, Cyndi Lauper, Joan Jett and Lou Reed.

Originally from Garden City, Long Island, Elliott Murphy rose to national prominence with the release of his debut 1973 album Aquashow, when critics declared him, along with Bruce Springsteen, John Prine and Loudon Wainwright III, the new Bob Dylan, even though the original was still only in his mid-thirties. When asked if he considered the “New Dylan” tag to be a curse, Murphy often reminds interviewers that, “… all of us singer-songwriters, who were pushed into that estimable club, seem to be still working. So more than a curse it’s a guarantee of life-time employment!”  

Along with his virtuoso French guitarist Olivier Durand, Elliott Murphy will be performing shows in New York and New Jersey in November along with a highly coveted performance at the Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage in Washington DC.

As well as having released over 35 albums in a career spanning 45 years, Elliott Murphy is a prolific writer of fiction with two novels and numerous collections of short stories published in Europe. One of his earlier stories is currently being made into the film Broken Poet and will feature Elliott Murphy in his first major acting role. Cast members include the legendary Marisa Berenson, Academy Award nominee Michael O’Keefe, and acclaimed French actress Joana Preiss. A Spring 2019 release is projected for Broken Poet by award-winning Spanish Director Emilio Barrachina. Elliott’s most recent album, PRODIGAL SON, (Murphyland Records) garnered 4 stars in French Rolling Stone. 

In 2015 Elliott Murphy was awarded the Chevalier des arts et des lettres medal by the French minister of Culture. 

ELLIOTT MURPHY U.S. TOURDATES
November 8 Long Island Music Hall of Fame, Westbury, NY  
November 9 My Father's Place, Roslyn, NY  
November 11 Ray's House Concert, Staten Island  
November 13 World Café, Philadelphia, PA  
  November 15 The Turning Point, Piermont, NY 
November 16 The Sail Loft, Port Jefferson, NY  
November 17 Rockwood 3 ***5PM Show***  
November 23 Stephen Talkhouse, Amagansett, NY  
November 24 Kennedy Center Millennium Stage, Wash DC  

For further information on show dates please visit:  www.elliottmurphy.com
The Second Act of Elliott Murphy Trailer w/ Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel, Willie Nile: 
Rolling Stone listed two of Elliott’s albums in their list of 10 Singer-Songwriter Albums Rolling Stone Loved in the 1970s You’ve Never Heard: https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/10-singer-songwriter-albums-rolling-stone-loved-in-the-1970s-youve-never-heard-77702/elliott-murphy-lost-generation-165711/



10/8/18

Christmas Fun from my Girlfriends



WHY CAN’T EVERYDAY BE LIKE CHRISTMAS PUNK ROCK Tang
Metal Punk, Fast drums, crunch guitar, female vocals 



WHY CAN’T EVERYDAY BE LIKE CHRISTMAS ballad
CHECK THIS DESCRIPTION: a gentle, lush song with stand out chimes, bells, violin, and viola, angels, stars shining, and bells ringing.  Denny Colt sings in a sweet, girl-next door voice and range similar to Cassadee Pope’s or Emma Roberts.  



"Reiner the Rhinestone Reindeer" by Phoebe Legere
Female electronic music, campy story about Reiner the Rhinestone Reindeer, who wore a tiara and was bullied by the boys and girls. His bling saved Christmas!


JOY TO THE WORLD I GUESS Rebecca Loebe and Findlay Napier  This song is about people’s arguments through during the holiday season, and the resolutions we make to fight less, “Joy to the world I guess….  There are friends we no longer will see in the holidays, because they’re shadows in the moonlight on the lawn.”  










10/3/18

SIDE-BY-SIDE

The new album by Nonhlanhla Wanda and Sharon Katz

Nonhlanhla Wanda and Sharon Katz. Two South African musicians - born on opposite sides of Apartheid's barriers - who sang out in support of Nelson Mandela's vision 25 years ago by  forming "The Peace Train" and steaming across their country. Now as South Africa prepares to celebrate a quarter century of democracy, these two Grammy-nominated humanitarians and friends-for-life have released SIDE-BY-SIDE. It features all original compositions in English and Zulu by Nonhlanhla, Sharon and producer Malcolm Nhleko, formerly a member of The Peace Train and now sound engineer for Ladysmith Black Mambazo. 

The 7 songs on SIDE-BY-SIDE are about courage in the face of adversity; the lessons of our ancestors; and the power of individuals - all passionately expressed through gorgeous vocal harmonies and instrumental wizardry in an Afro-Jazz fusion style that blends traditional South African Maskanda with contemporary grooves and lyrical melodies. Complementing the distinctive voices of Nonhlanhla and Sharon are Qhubekani Mthethwa on bass, Charles Boykie Mnomiya on drums, Sanele Phakathi on piano and synthesizer, and Sharon Katz on rhythm and lead guitars. Magical, Aware, Rhythmic, Powerful, Melodic, Soulful.

Since 1992 when they began their musical mission to help end violence and discrimination in South Africa, Sharon and Nonhlanhla have traveled extensively to lend their voices to human rights struggles around the world, most recently transcending barriers along the border between Mexico and the USA. Their work is the subject of the documentary film, When Voices Meet, which has been selected by 23 film festivals, won awards coast-to-coast, and been shown in over 50 countries. 

In addition to the Grammy-nominated 2002 release “Imbizo,” Sharon Katz & The Peace Train have 5 other albums and appear on the Rainforest benefit album, “Carnival!” alongside of Sting, Elton John, Madonna and Tina Turner. 

‘side-by-side’ songs:
1. Amaqhawe (Heroes) - Emotionally-charged tribute to the heroes who inspire us to reach across the divides and continue our positive work in the world. (pronounced AMA-QHA-WE ) - NOTE: The “Q” is a “click.”

2. Hamba Kahle Mandela (Go Well Mandela) -  A stirring ballad to say goodbye to Mandela and a challenge to carry his lessons forward.  (pronounced HAM-BA-KAH-LE  MANDELA)  (H=soft sound)

 3. Bayajabula (Some Are Happy) - A chunky South African guitar groove dominates this track that describes the dichotomy of rich and poor in the New South Africa. (pronounced BA-YA-JA-BU-LA) 

Sing With Me -  A jazzy ballad with soaring melodies about the courage and survival of children against all odds.

5.  Elamanqamu (Stop the Fighting) - Maskanda guitar licks and powerful Zulu laments make an appeal  to stop the senseless fighting before it's too late. (pronounced EL-A-MA-NQA-MU) - NOTE: The “Q” is a “click.”

6. We Can Be The Change -  Funky Afro-Soul tune  to be the change we want to see in the world

7. Outro -  Instrumental blending the Zulu traditional bow instrument called uDloko with Sharon’s guitar

 (uDloko is pronounced U-DLO-KO )   - NOTE: soft D