Or just something close. Or maybe not that close. Either way, my song "Set To Fly" did make it onto the American Idol Underground Folk Charts (I'm a little bit folk, a little bit rock 'n' roll...) debuting at #5. The chart is here, and you can listen to the song and comment to your heart's desire.
New gig scheduled - January 2, 2008
I'll be doing another acoustic show with Irwin at Googies, the room upstairs at The Living Room. It's really nice, friendly and intimate. And it's free. Wednesday, February 6 at 8:30pm. All the details are on the Calendar page.
The top recording artists of 2007 - January 2, 2008
If there's one thing that makes me sit in front of the computer, or open a magazine, and moan in delight, it's beautifully shot pictures of food. Here's one of my favorites, Smitten Kitchen. I don't know this person, but she takes some of the most delicious photos I've seen. The front page is all cookies now. Yum, baby.
The Cloisters - December 21, 2007
I'm doing a gig at the New Leaf Cafe next month up at the Cloisters in Fort Tryon Park. If you're never been to the Cloisters, I highly recommend it. And I'm not the only one. Check out this great article in the New York Times.
Same Old Lang Syne - December 17, 2007
Dan Fogelberg died yesterday. As I have a long history of being uncool, I'm not afraid to say that this makes me very sad. I've been a fan of his since high school, and I regret that I never had the chance to see him perform live. Dan might have epitimized the soft rock genre that was never particularly hip, but I always found his voice beautiful and his songs catchy and moving. "Same Old Lang Syne" still makes me cry every time I hear it. And I have one of those crystal clear memories of sitting in the hall in high school one very early morning, with the sun streaming in the windows outside the school radio station, and Dan's record "Longer" drifting out of the station door. I was just listening to his songs a few weeks ago. Take another listen yourself.
A poet in the family - December 8, 2007
My sister's husband is a poet. I guess we both have in common the ability to write short lines of text. It works out well for both us.
His name is Jeff Croteau, and he's just published a book of his poety called Oranges. It's published by Penhallow Press and he's doing a reading this Tuesday the 11th in Portsmouth, New Hampshire at RiverRun Books. Jeff's collection is of love poems, each with something to say about oranges as well. And who doesn't love oranges?
New Pull of the Moon review - December 2, 2007
Indie-Music.com just posted a fabulous review of Pull of the Moon! Writer Catherine Tully says, "Lovely. Both the faster and slower tracks on the CD are well done, but it is the softer, silkier ones that really showcase this singer's skill for relating to the listener. Good stuff." The whole review is available here.
Here's a secret... - November 30, 2007
I really love show tunes. I love listening to Broadway cast albums and singing along at the top of my voice. So, it was with delight that I got to join my friend, vocalist Susan Gregory, at the Duplex last night for an evening of show tunes and '70's and '80's pop songs. In case you don't know it, the Duplex is one of those piano bars in the West Village with a piano player who knows every standard number in the book, and a staff and clientele who have no qualms about grabbing the mike and belting one out. And, after a couple of drinks, the whole SRO crowd was belting along too. Good times, good times.
That's right, folks! Now, for a limited time, my catalog albums - "Transparent,""Shed This Skin," and "EP," - are on sale at CD Baby for the low, low price of $5 each when you purchase all three albums together. That's pennies per song! We're practically GIVING them all away! All you need to do is put all 3 albums in your shopping cart. It will look like you're paying the regular price, but when you check out, the CD Baby fairy will reprice the albums at $5 each, for a total of only $15.
And the new album, "Pull of the Moon," is still only $11, and we'll give you a 20% discount if you buy more than one. Why shop anywhere else???
I have officially made it - November 12, 2007
This is possibly the cutest, most complimentary thing I've ever seen. My friend Brian's kids, Priva and Yitzchak, singing along with my "Living in a Bubble." This is up there with my greatest musical moments, ever.
Oh, say can you see - November 11, 2007
The National Anthem was great last night. We got to the TD Banknorth Arena at around 6:20pm, and I got to warm up for a couple of minutes in the Women's Locker Room. Then they led me to the rink, where I waited at the side as the hockey players were introduced and skating onto the ice. A red carpet led from the side to the center of the rink, and when they announced my name, I took the mike and walked down the carpet, turning to the flag.
It's funny - I know in the back of my mind that the announcer is introducing me and giving the (rather large) audience some background info on me, and the only thing going through my head is one note, "mmmm, mmmm..." The D note on my pitch pipe that I listen to moments before I walked out there, and the key to a successful Anthem performance. It's not really a hard song to sing - it's just got a pretty substantial range, and if you don't start on the right note you could find youself screwed later in the song by either starting too high or too low. But I can't blow the pipe immediately before I start, so I have to remember the note by humming it continuously until I begin to sing. So, basically I hear the guy stop talking and I start the song. Going through my brain - "don't forget the words, just relax, enjoy the performance..." A minute later it's over, I walk off, and then watch hockey players slam into each other for the next hour, until we took off for the gig at Jitters.
A long, but fun, night.
And a quick question for my video-savvy readers - I have a HUGE mpeg video of the performance that I want to post here, but I don't have the software to make it smaller and edit it down a bit. Is there any basic free software than can do this? Suggestions are welcome!
I actually said, it's too bad my performance at Quinnipiac is so soon - I won't have time to book a gig in Connecticut while I'm out there. Lo and behold, Jitters Coffee House in Southington, CT just emailed to ask if Jon and I could come out tomorrow night to replace a last minute cancellation. Since we'll be about 20 minutes away in Hamden for the ice hockey National Anthem gig, we said yes! So, if you're in the Hamden/Southington area, come on by and say hello!
Goal! - November 7, 2007
I'm about to add a new sport to my National Anthem roster - ice hockey! My friends at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, CT have invited me back to sing at their men's hockey game this Saturday, Nov. 10 at 7pm. Apparently, they roll out a red carpet onto the ice for me to step out on the rink and sing. Pretty cool.
And in other news... - November 6, 2007
Just some stuff:
In the inexplicable world of song charts, my song, "Long Way to Heaven," keeps running up and down the American Idol Underground Folk charts. It looks like we're back up again - #17 this week, up from #101 last week (talk about up with a bullet!) So if any of you kind people are voting for the song - thank you!!
And finally, I saw the film, "Elizabeth: The Golden Age" tonight. Gorgeous to look at, but a little too good guy/bad guy for me. England: perfect democracy with all people equal. Spain: crazy religious zealots determined to kill everyone who's not Catholic. I'm not buying it. And honestly, history is so much more interesting when it's not so black and white. It's the political subtleties and complications that make for a good story.
Ah. I just got back from my second day of substitute teaching my friend Kay's guitar class to 1st graders at PS 166 on the Upper West Side. Oh, the screaming. Oh, the running around. I might have taught them about quarter notes and half notes, but I'm not sure. It might have been sometime between trying to get them quiet, making them sit down, and, again, make that one little girl stop crying. Throughout the whole class. Elementary school teachers of the world - I salute you. You have far more patience and stamina than I do.
In other news, I found out that a publication in Australia had reviewed my last CD, Transparent. It's called BMA Magazine, and they should be running a review of Pull of the Moon as well. I put the Transparent review on the Press page.
OK - I'm going to pour myself a drink and not raise my voice for the rest of the night...
I got my first review for Pull of the Moon! Anna Creech, of the online magazine BlogCritics, calls it, "a pop/rock album with solid songwriting...I had hooks stuck in my head on repeat...Not to mention, she's got a set of pipes that can easily rival the likes of Stevie Nicks or Sarah McLachlan." The whole review is here!
Hot for Teacher - October 24, 2007
I'm a big proponant of conquering one's fears. Being afraid to do something is usually a pretty good reason to go do it (my first live gig being a prime example). So when my friend Kay Ashley asked me to sub for her guitar class for 1st graders at PS 166, my blood ran cold. Teach guitar to a room full of 7 year olds? How petrifying! Oh, OK, I'll do it!
The fact is you can't really teach much guitar to 1st graders. First of all, their fingers are too small and uncoordinated to do more than press down one string at a time. Secondly, their attention span lasts about a good 5 seconds before they're off to the next thing. And might I add that there were THIRTEEN of them in my class. A couple actually played guitar when I asked them to. Most were just running around and playing with each other. One little girl was crying insessantly for her mother (I eventually had to take her back downstairs, praying my class would hurt themselves during my absence.) The coloring sheets it was suggested I bring (thank you, Allison!) were the only thing that held their attention for more than a few seconds. But I did get a couple of them to play simplified C and G chords, which resulted in a rousing rendition of Mary Had a Little Lamb. Which was followed by one little boy who had written a song about a Cheerio, upon which I got everybody singing along with good ol' C and G.
Did I make a musical impact upon these young minds? Probably not, but I did look after them until their parents could come pick them up from school. And I conquered my fear of teaching a room full of screaming 1st graders. I might even sub for Kay again next week, glutton for punishment that I am.
You may be right; I may be crazy - October 20, 2007
Is it crazy to drive 3 1/2 hours at night in the pouring rain to play a 45 minute, unpaid gig to an audience of 1? Then to drive back in the aforementioned pouring rain to get home at 3am? Taken into consideration - the coffee house, Jitters , was really cute, we were sufficiently entertained by local comedians in the set before ours, Shirley, the owner of Jitters, was a very cool and appreciative audience of 1, and the "German chocolate cake with coconut" flavored coffee was delicious. All in all, I say, yes - definitely worth it.
I got shot this morning - October 16, 2007
Shot by a video camera, that is. In one of those "why don't I give this a try" moments, I sent in a head shot for the Women's Entertainment show "Cinematherapy" . The show is basically just interstitials that run during the commercial breaks of a feature film that WE broadcasts. They wrote me back and asked me to come down to Washington Square Park this morning to be interviewed by commedian Chuck Nice, the "host" of the show. We sat on these big blow-up plastic sofas right by the Garibaldi statue in the park. There were a bunch of women there, and we all got our TV makeup applied, and lined up for our shot on the couch. The movie we were taping for was "Forrest Gump" , so Chuck asked me questions like, "Forrest's first love was Jenny. Who was your first love?" Some of the questions were unexpectedly hard, like "Forrest saves the lives of his entire platoon. What's the most unselfish thing you've ever done for a friend?" I was stymied. Oh my God - I've never done an unselfish thing for a friend! I told him I was a good listener. Lame-o.
Anyway, clips from the interview should run on WE Television in January or February. I'll let you know when I find out details.
Record Release Party photos! - October 15, 2007
I just started a Flickr page for gig photos so I have something to show you when people take pictures at my shows. I put one on my Photos pagewith a link to the other shots. They're here, if you want to check them out - photographs of the band AND of the lovely audience.
I'm so lucky... - October 12, 2007
...for working with a band that is not only a group of great, funny, and incredibly talented people, but who also genuinely like to play my songs. As a songwriter, there's no greater compliment than when musicians you admire actively want to play your music. They've been with me for years, and I love them all. Thank you Scott, Irwin & Paul - you're a big part of how I keep on this musical course.
...for my friends who become fans. Thank you all for coming to the record release party last night - and thank you for coming to see my shows all these years. If you didn't come, I wouldn't be playing. And I know with everybody's busy lives, and a myriad of other entertainment options in this crazy city, it's not always easy to come to an Elisa Peimer show. So I want everyone to know how much I appreciate your presence and enthusiasm.
...for being able to play music. There have certainly been times when I've fought it - it can be mentally, physically, and financially challenging - but I just can't seem to stop. It's a rare gift when you're able to do something you love, and I'll always be grateful that I have that.
It looks like I'm going back to Connecticut! I'll be joining the Whisperado boys, Jon and Patrick at Jitters Coffee House on Friday night, October 19 at 8:45pm in lovely Southington, CT. At least, I'm assuming it's lovely. I'll know for certain after I've seen it.
