Michael Veitch on PBS This Month, New Song & Lyric Video, Number 1 on Folk Radio

 

­ ­ photo of Michael and Rita Schwartz, born Rita Tepper in Vienna, Austria Photo courtesy of PBS   (Veitch is pronounced “Veech)    Michael Veitch has lots to be thankful for this season.  He’s going to be on over 400 TV PBS stations this April, is promoting a new folk radio single/lyric video “April Fools,” and is celebrating a number 1 placement on Folk radio with the song “Valentine’s Day” this past February.      Michael’s new song “April Fools” is making its way to the folk radio charts. Co-written with Judy Kass; it deals with delusional thinking. The song’s message is about how people literally fool themselves in believing things when they know better. It can be applied to any topic, from romance, personal dilemmas and battles, and world situations—anything that can be prevented.      Michael’s album WACHTRAUM (meaning “wake dream” in German and pronounced "Vock traum ") focuses on each month of the year with insights on life from romance to topical themes. WACHTRAUM is Michael’s 11th album.     In February Michael’s single “Valentine’s Day” hit number 1 and his album, “Wachtraum” hit number 16 on the Folk Alliance radio charts.     Michael and 3 other songwriters (Elizabeth Clark, Kelleigh McKenzie, and Jude Roberts) from New York’s Hudson Valley are part of a collaborative documentary “We Remember Songs from Survivors” on over 450 PBS TV stations starting April 26. They are collaborating with Holocaust survivors. The documentary will premiere the week of Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day. The show will broadcast again in the fall. The Online Presskit for the program is www.weremembersongsofsurvivors.com.      Michael's song “Veteran’s Day” has been covered by Judy Collins. He’s been mentored by Shawn Colvin and Bernie Sanders.   ####    "April Fools"       April Fools  Here come those April Fools again Knee deep in all their selfmade quicksand Always smiling with a shake of your hand While they try to pull the wool over on us again   The road may bring us pain There’s a cure for what remains We may be drowning in the pouring rain   Here come those April Fools again Selling their souls just like corn in the can Rolling out all the craziest plans Behind the curtain stands another straw man   Living the deluded dream Blind to what it means I’m shocked by all I’ve seen   Here come those April Fools again On the road that’s lead us to the dead end No more fooling you and fooling me The truth is clear as it will ever be   No matter what these fools believe Winter’s gonna turn to Spring Our eyes are open to the dream   ©2021 Michael Veitch (P)Burt Street Music (BMI) ©2021 Judy Kass (P)Judy Kass (BMI) All Rights Reserved

New Music Winter 2022

What’s a Place Like This Doing in a Girl Like Me  Val Kinzler

Uptempo & edgy, spoken word female voice like Kathryn Hepburn meets Tim Curry, spooky music.  haunted woman inside of a MAN-made hell, graveyard full of rights gone wrong, weak from being strong. dr. jekyll, watch me hide. dismember me. 

Well, Well, Well  John Roy Zat 

Male vocals, upbeat violin about surviving it all.  "Well, well, well, I've been down in the well... my own private hell" and coming out of it.  "I rise up now to dance w/ the sun" 

Inside Looking Out Joe Matera  

Tenor male voice w/ best elements of rock & roll British (Yardbirds-y/Spencer Davis/Hollies tempos) meets modern rock instruments and electronica as rock instruments. Analyzing the situation.  hook: "Lost in Transit, Inside Looking Out"   

Valentine’s Day Michael Veitch 

Slow tempo, male singer w/ falsetto, acoustic instruments, setting a winter melting mood, comparing to a true love who blooms "from beneath the ice and snow

One Good Man  Cornelius Eady

Male vocals. percussion, John Henry's hammer, one good man shook people up, against the odds, mock the devil straight to his face, Resist.

Halfway Normal World Dean Friedman

Slow tempo, piano, tenor. covid-related, wanting to hang out friends again at the movies & at home, diner, ballgame, , throw a party and sound effects from ballgame, "I wish I could get back to a halfway normal world."

Save the Monarch John Hall & Dar Williams 

John & Dar Williams duet on this hymn-like singer-songwriter song, guitar/bass/drums, environment, Monarch, emperor, queen, king--animals with royal names that are endangered species 

Michael Veitch "Wachtraum"

Michael Veitch is releasing a new album, “Wachtraum” on February 4, 2022. 

“Wachtraum,” means “days of dreaming” in German, and Germany is where Michael wrote many of the songs on his new album. “Wachtraum”’s theme focuses on his narrative writing and beautiful tenor voice’s reflections on unique qualities of each month.

The single and upcoming music video “Valentine’s Day,” is about love which helps coldness melt away. It’s a co-write with his longtime recording engineer Julie Last.

Other highlights of “Wachtraum” include “First Day” of a new year. “April Fools” is topical and personal and co-written with Judy Kass; it deals with delusional thinking. “Happy Fourth of July” recalls leaders and peace activists we’ve lost since the 1960s and features Dan playing brother Chris’s guitar. “Wachtraum” ends with the holy days of December with “One Wish” a duet with ethereal singer-songwriter Kirsti Gholsen.

This April, Michael appears on PBS’s upcoming broadcast, “We Remember-Songs from Survivors"-- songwriters collaborating with Holocaust survivors.

Michael’s been thankful on how the folk community has helped him through the years. Judy Collins covered his song “Veteran’s Day,” on her 2013 Live From the Temple of Dendur DVD, and 2011 CD “Bohemian.”  Michael’s song “Pledging Allegiance,” which reached #10 on the 2017 Folk/Americana charts, was honored by Music2Life Foundation. He’s a regular at festivals, notably the 2001 Newport Folk Festival. Breaking out in the1980s, with the help of Shawn Colvin—first sending him to Greenwich Village to expand his songwriting with Jack Hardy, and later—in the 1990s—having him open for her on an extensive tour; she also sang on his first album, “New York Journal.”

He has shared stages with a who’s who of singer-songwriters over many years of touring.     

 www.Michaelveitch.com

 

Wachtraum

1.First Day

2.Valentine’s Day

3.Moving Day

4.April Fools

5.Sunday Afternoon

6.Happy Fourth of July

7.August Nights

8.Always Vermont

9.Birthday Oh Birthday

10.Last Days of Summer

11.First Snow of the Year

12.One Wish

 

Joe Deninzon & Stratospheerius' new single "GUILTY OF INNOCENCE on Feb. 14

www.stratospheerius.com

Buy “Guilty of Innocence” at www.cdbaby.com/cd/stratospheerius4

Progressive rock/jam Band Has Four Singles From Upcoming 2016 Album Release 

Joe Deninzon &  Stratospheerius are releasing four singles throughout 2015, culminating in a full-length album in 2016.  The songs will be available for downloads (CDBABY, Amazon, BANDCAMP, iTunes) and streaming (SPOTIFY, Reverbnation…)  and anywhere that mp3’s are in orbit.

The songs are performed and produced by Stratospheerius, and engineered and mastered by Rave Tesar (Renaissance), mixed by Alex Salzman.  

The first single was “Behind the Curtain” which LET IT ROCK’S Dmitry Epstein writes “Deninzon sings, yet the only magic to happen here comes from his strings attack when Joe loosens it all to get into the eye of the hurricane where the calm reigns. There’s madness, too, but one you would like to be in sometimes – if only for the attention it draws. Step in the zone, the.”   Behind the Curtain was also picked up in China for mobile phone distribution.

The cover of Joe Deninzon & Stratospheerius'
single, GUILTY OF INNOCENCE

The next song will be released by Valentine's Day (February 14) and is called "Guilty of Innocence." Joe says it was “inspired by my 2012 stint in jury duty and deals with crime and punishment. I was presiding on a rape trial and the guy who I thought was guilty got off practically scot-free.  

Get “Guilty of Innocence” at www.cdbaby.com/cd/stratospheerius4

The lyrics include: “We are all guilty of innocence 

We are all blissful with ignorance 

We're planting doubt with a weak defense 

Run to the hills and jump the fence 

…. We're all in handcuffs theoretically   

A room full of people in solitary

Coming up after that will be “Take Your Medicine” and “Face.”  Dates are currently to be announced.

Stratospheerius' members are Joe Deninzon-electric violin/mandolin/vocals), French guitarist Aurelien Budynek (Cindy Blackman, Vernon Reid), bassist Jamie Bishop (The Syn, Francis Dunnery), and drummer Lucianna Padmore (Primordial Jazz Funktet).

Stratospheerius' musical range combines progressive hard rock with elements of jazz, "fiddle funk," and Gypsy influences. The group was a winner in the John Lennon Songwriting Competition, won the Online People's Choice Awards in the Cornucopia Festival, and was named "Best Jam Band" in Musician's Atlas Independent Music Awards.  The band has recently been profiled in both PROGRESSION (the Bible of progressive rock) and DOWNBEAT ONLINE. 

BLOGCRITICS compares Deninzon to "Jeff Beck (as a) "fiddlemaster with a streak of humor."  

THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER praises Stratospheerius for its "funky electric violins, driving guitar rhythms, and fevered drumming layered in an explosive fashion." 

The band is on the soundtrack of the Will Ferrell/Adam McKay-produced movie, VIRGINITY HIT.

Joe has written the book on Electric Violin--literally; Mel Bay books has released his "PLUGGING IN: A Guide To Gear and New Techniques for the 21st Century Violinist." Joe has been called "The Jimi Hendrix of the Electric Violin," because of his innovative performances on the electric seven-string violin.  While leading Stratospheerius since 2001, Joe has worked with Bruce Springsteen, Sheryl Crow, Les Paul, Phoebe Snow, and Ritchie Blackmore, and performed for President Clinton.  He can be heard on over 100 recordings and jingles as a violinist and string arranger.  He is writing his first electric violin concerto to premiere in 2016.

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