The Salon Wrap-Up for December 19, 2010 "The Best of 2010"

It was the best of times, it was the ... best of times at Salon this past Sunday, as we celebrated the Holiday season and the end of 2010. The theme was "The Best of 2010," so performers brought out their big guns - the best pieces they sang in the past year, the best songs written, and the work that makes them feel the best! The co-hosts of the evening were members of The Salon Board itself! They took turns throughout the evening, singing and then introducing the other singers. And we had holiday treats too - each singer was given a beautiful Salon-themed ornament, hand-made by David Gillam.

Mark Janas, after playing a little Chopin ballade, introduced the first co-host of the evening, Board member Sue Matsuki, who opened up the holiday cheer with the lovely ballad "Evening in December." Sue brought up Steve "The Whistler" Herbst, who was inspired by last week's Classical Corner to bring in a whistled version of "Maria" from West Side Story. Mark Levy next brought in the darkly hilarious "Twelve Days After Christmas," which answered the question of what the three french hens could be used for... Next, Board member/co-host Bill Zeffiro performed his original "So It's Christmas," a sweet, reminiscent ballad. Then, returning fellow composer Marc Ostrow sang his original comedy song "Let's Have a Jewish Christmas" (you can view the song on YouTube.com). Then Gladys Nilsen, decked out to the nines, sang "Himno Al Amor" and the sing-along "Feliz Navidad."

Bill Zeffiro

Then, Board member and Blogette Sierra Rein (that's me) sang a solo from what she considered was the best show of 2010 - "Move Over" by Janis Joplin, from Marquee Five's fall show "8-Track Throwback." Then, Keni Fine reintroduced his parody comedy show "A Little Radio Show" Sondheim spoof of "Not While I'm Around" (you can see a previous performance of this also on YouTube.com). Jane Glick then brought in a glass of wine and "Have Some Madeira, M'Dear," a funny waltz uptempo comedy song. She said she'd have a show ready in February. Next, songwriter and Board member Nick Levin introduced a new song, "Sing About Love," and also introduced Ellen Bullinger to duet with him on it. You can hear Ellen's vocals on her Holiday CD "Christmastime is Here" on CDBaby.com. Nick then brought Elaine St. George (whose Ray Charles show "InspiRAYtion" has been extended at the Metropolitan Room) up to the stage, and she sang a touching rendition of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah." Marya Zimmet then sang "I Remember Sky" from Evening Primrose. To close the first half of the singing, Etceterette Marnie Klar revamped "Maybe I Like It This Way," one of her best from Wild Party.

Mark Janas' Classical Corner theme this week was Chamber Music, whereby classical music is slimmed down to a small group of musicians, typically one to a part. Before recordings were available, most people were not able to listen to music unless they could travel to a big city to hear the opera, or symphony, or if they played their own music. Since Medieval times, music would be arranged so it could travel from towns or rehearsed and performed in the living rooms or chambers of homes. Entire opera pieces would be simplified down to a small group of musical instruments. Mark then introduced Ed Gilmore, an old friend of his who is a master clarinetist. Ed explained that to him, chamber music requires listening, being in tune with other musicians on their parts, and to predict each other's movements, entrances and cut offs. Preparation is key, and it requires strong communication and a musical dialogue between musicians. No musical piece can be played the same way twice. The two of them, Mark and Ed, then performed the second movement of Leonard Bernstein's Sonata for Clarinet and Piano, which was dedicated originally to clarinetist David Oppenheimer and was Bernstein's first published piece, in 1942.

Mark Janas and Ed Gilmore

Ed Gilmore

For the second half, Bill Zeffiro (looking dashing in a tuxedo, by the way) returned to sing his devilish holiday tune "What The Hell, It's Christmas." He then introduced Kevin McMullan, who sang composer Jim Fradrich's "Lonely Little Dreamer Boy." Kevin will be taking a multi-month trip around the world, spreading Jim's ashes around the world, and will be bringing back his show "Twist of Fate" in April, 2011. After that touching news, Joan Jaffe sang Kander and Ebb's energetic, comedy rant "Coffee In a Cardboard Cup." Joan is the writer/director of Louisa Poster's show at Don't Tell Mama in February, and will perform her own show "by purim" of next year. Sue Matsuki then sang a wonderfully dark holiday song (a recurring theme for the evening) entitled "The Pretty Little Dolly" by Doctor Demento. This song can be purchased from Sue & Ed Clark's holiday CD on CDBaby.com. Staying on the comedic wry tone, Adam Shapiro sang "Lonely Jew on Christmas" from South Park. His absolutely-no-christmas-carols-whatsoever show "No Chestnuts" has one more performance at The Duplex - 12/30 at 7pm. Directing another singalong, composer Steve Schalchlin performed an original song inspired by flowing ice and water - while he sang the verses, he invited the audience to sing "hey-oh's" in three part harmony. Next, Richard Eisenberg brought back his sexy story-song "Ulterior Motive." To inject some more brand new composer blood into the Salon, returning Jordan Siwek played piano and sang his original piece "Shall I Compare You?" a beautiful pop song that he has been developing in Salon over a number of weeks.

We then had time for some repeats in the second half. Jane Glick returned to sing, as did Elaine St. George with "What More Can I Say" from Falsettos. Singing without a piano, Keni Fine did an a cappella version of "Hymn" from an original musical he's working on, and then Mark Levy invited everyone to join him in the last chorus of "White Christmas." Steve Herbst whistled through "Bring Him Home" from Les Miserables, and then Adam Shapiro sang "Ordinary Miracles." Joan Jaffe sang the funny "Istanbul, Not Constantinople," Kevin McMullan sang "Minnie the Moocher," and Steve Schalchlin performed "Coming Back" a hopeful piece inspired directly from a conversation with the mother of a soldier. Richard Eisenberg next performed his "Winter Arrives," then Bill Zeffiro returned one last time to perform his popular number, "The Final Daze." Sierra Rein completed the solo numbers of the evening with "Trouble in Tahiti." For one final encore, Mark engaged us all to sing "Auld Lang Syne."

NEXT YEAR (!!!!) Salon will return in 2011 on January 16th, on which the co-host will be the gorgeously snappy Rosemary Lohr and the theme will be "January Jazzathon." Mark also hinted at some inventive astrological-themed evenings, as well as a parody/spoof/satire evening. We'll see you all in 2011!!!

Sierra Rein (photo: Steven Herbst)

-Sierra Rein
The Blogette for The Salon
Spelling mistakes? URL's I missed? Did I mess up? Please email me.

The Salon Wrap-Up for December 12, 2010 "6 Degrees of Jerome Kern"

The room was packed and full of energy as Salon got underway this past Sunday, with everyone excited to to see Salon Board member Raissa Katona Bennett light up the stage. The night’s theme was 6 Degrees of Jerome Kern - songs by Kern or any of the many talented collaborators (Oscar Hammerstein II, Dorothy Fields, Johnny Mercer, Otto Harbach, P.D. Wodehouse - just to name a few.) And with a full house, we started at 7pm without hesitation.

The evening began with Co-Host Raissa singing the adorable “Can’t Help Singing” (which, to our delight, was reprised throughout the evening, to great comedic effect.) She then charmed us with an updated version of “Smoke Gets In Your Eyes” which was written by Kern for the classic musical, “Roberta.” Our first singer Salon guest singer was Mark Levy, who sang “September Song.” Mark tells us that he is performing at Grace Church in White Plains with his cabaret, “An Old Man Singing Old Songs About Old Age.” Next up was Elaine St. George with a gorgeous version of “Many a New Day” from “Oklahoma.” Following Elaine was songwriter David Rigano, who sang his touching tune “It’s Art” (a song in the style of Jerome Kern, of course.) Rosemary Loar then graced the stage with surprise guest Steve “The Whistler” Herbst, as they scatted and improv-ed their way through, “All The Things That You Are.” Steve then stayed on stage and wowed us with his whistling talent with, “Somewhere Over The Rainbow.” Next up was Joey Infante, with Mike McDonald on piano, singing the deeply moving, “Old Man River” from “Showboat.”

Lucky for us, Bill Zeffiro was in the house to honor the birth of Frank Sinatra, by playing a song that he got to sing for the man himself - “This Love of Mine.” Next up was a real treat- Terri Givens not only soothed us with her powerful rendition of “My Funny Valentine” but also revealed that she was the childhood babysitter of Salon Producer, Tanya Moberly (we could see how that voice would soothe her as a child!) Following Terri was the producer of “Musical Mondays,” Stephen Hawks, who sang, “”If I Only Had a Match.” Next up was Daniel Wasserman, who gave us his version of “Make Believe” from “Showboat.” Bringing the tempo up a little was Joy Lober with the jazzy standard, “The Lady Is a Tramp.” Yours truly (Erin Cronican) then shifted the mood by NOT singing a Kern song, instead choosing a song (perfect for the holidays) entitled, “How To Return Home.” Etceterette Jan Brennan then graced us with her lovely, soprano voice as she sang, “The Song Is You.”

Closing out the first act was Mark Janas’ “Classical Corner” where he talked about the always inspiring, “West Side Story.” First, Mark invited Bill Zeffiro to come up to sing the Jets song from the musical, and then explained that when the song was originally written, the content was completely different. The gang, The Jets, was so named because of the men’s fascination with space travel. Mark then played an old recording of one of the backer’s auditions for “West Side Story” which included a sung through version of the prologue, where the Jets sang about flying rockets to the moon (say what??) Mark’s moral of the story -- “KEEP TRYING, COMPOSERS & LYRICISTS!” Mark then went on to talk about how Sondheim really grasped the idea of writing characters deeply and specifically. He quoted a song from “Sunday in the Park With George” - “Look, I’ve made a hat where there never was a hat.” Mark said that this is very much what artists do. He then invited Tanya Moberly and Julie Reyburn to the stage to sing the gorgeous, “A Boy Like That / I Have Love.” And thus ended the first half of the show.

Part Two of the evening was kicked off by a 2-song set by Raissa, who indulged ys with a possible medley for her next show -- “I’m Old Fashioned” and “The Folks That Live on the Hill” (I vote YES on adding these to her show- they were wonderful!) Next up was Blogette Sierra Rein with “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas.” Sierra came directly to the Salon right after her Birdland appearance with Broadway veteran James Barbour, which she achieved after submitted for a contest and WON! Bravo to Sierra, and to her accompanist Brian Allan Hobbs, on a fine performance. Following Sierra was producer, Tanya Moberly, with the adorable, “Life Upon the Wicked Stage.” Tanya just completed a successful run of her show, “Theater Songs” with Mark Janas and Ritt Henn at Don’t Tell Mama’s. Next on the stage was Gladys Nilsen with her rendition of Edith Piaf’s “Mon Dieu.” Up next was the full voiced, David Auxier, who wooed us with “If Ever I Would Leave You” from “Camelot”, who explained that Camelot starts with a C, and so does Carousel, which was written by Kern collaborator, Hammerstein. (That’s only 3 degrees of separation, in my book - great work, David!)

Next on the docket was songwriter, Jordan Siwek, who accompanied himself with his own lyrics to the tune, “Can’t Help Loving That (Piano) of Mine.” Bobbie Horowitz was the next to sing, entertaining us with her original song, “Plastic Plants.” Bobbie just published a book called, “Find Your Mini Q’s” which is available on Amazon. Michael Rose came up next with the charming, Arlen/Mercer (1 degree to Kern) classic, “Any Place I Hang My Hat Is Home.” Next up was Janice Hall, straight from her successful cabaret run of Marlena Dietrich songs. Janice sang the holiday appropriate, “The Three Kings” written by California friend, Ali B. Olmo. Stacey Ward MacAdams then came to the mic with “A Neapolitan Song,” followed by Steve Schachlin (with Mark Janas on voice!) singing “More Than a Calling,” which was written for the consecration of Salon sponsor, Father Jeff Hamblin. Maureen Taylor then gave us her lovely rendition of the Shelly Markham tune, “The Sweetest of Nights and the Finest of Days.” Following Maureen was Christopher Sale, who sang the Sheldon Harnick piece, “Far From The Home I Love” from “Fiddler on the Roof.” And rounding out the evening, Raissa Katona Bennett sang the Mark Janas/Peter Napolitano song, written expressly for her, “All I Can Give.”

NEXT WEEK: The optional theme for the evening is “The Best of 2010”! Bring in whatever you feel your best work of the year was, and revel with Salon regulars and newbies by ringing in the holidays. Our Co-Hosts will be The Salon Advisory Board! Julie Reyburn, Bill Zeffiro, Sue Matsuki, Stephen Wilde, Nicholas Levin & Sierra Rein will be joining Mark Janas & Tanya Moberly for this end-of-the-year Salon Celebration! (Raissa Katona Bennett & Roy Sander are, sadly, unable to attend.)

Update from Producer Tanya Moberly - December 13, 2010

SALON, that unique, Bistro & MAC Award winning Weekly Open Mic Event created and hosted by Mark Janas returns to Etcetera, Etcetera - 352 West 44th Street, NYC 10036 - on Sunday, December 19th from 7-10:30PM.

The optional theme for the evening is “The Best of 2010”!

Remember, any material, on or off theme, is always welcome at Salon.

Our Co-Hosts will be The Salon Advisory Board! Julie Reyburn, Bill Zeffiro, Sue Matsuki, Stephen Wilde, Nicholas Levin & Sierra Rein will be joining Mark Janas & Tanya Moberly for this end-of-the-year Salon Celebration! (Raissa Katona Bennett & Roy Sander are unable to attend.)

There will be a $10 cash cover collected at the door by 'Etceterette/Blogette/Board Member', Sierra Rein, and a $15 food/drink minimum (cash or credit) per person. (For further information visit www.etcrestaurant.com or call 212-399-4141). There are no reservations; seating is on a first come/ first served basis, with one intermission. Doors open and sign up begins at 6:15pm with 'Etceterette', Marnie Klar.

Also, as members of Salon you and your friends are invited to a Private Concert with Len Cariou!!!

Special Preview: A Night with Len Cariou
Saturday, December 18th
Concert begins at: 6:30pm
Ripley-Grier Studios 520 Eighth Ave., 16D, NYC 10018
Directions: Subway 1/2/3, & A/C/E to 34th Stop, at Penn Station. Walk to 520 Eighth Avenue, bet 36th & 37th Street.

Len will give a special preview performance (a "Gypsy Run Through") of concert/cabaret material for upcoming dates in 2011. Musical director: Mark Janas. $25 suggested donation (or whatever you can). All proceeds to Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. By invitation only. Limited seating - so please RSVP ASAP by emailing perry@broadwaycares.org or calling 212-840-7310, ext 242.

December 26th: NO SALON

January 2nd: NO SALON

January 9th : NO SALON

January 16th:
Theme: January Jazzathon
Co-Host: Rosemary Loar
On Bass: Ritt Henn

Thanks,

Tanya Moberly
Producer

-Erin Cronican,  Alterna-Blogette for The Salon Spelling mistakes? URL's we missed? Did we mess up? Please email Sierra.

Update from Producer Tanya Moberly - December 6, 2010

SALON, that unique, Bistro & MAC Award winning Weekly Open Mic Event created and hosted by Mark Janas returns to Etcetera, Etcetera - 352 West 44th Street, NYC 10036 - on Sunday, December 12th from 7-10:30PM.

The optional theme for the evening is “Six Degrees of Jerome Kern”, which means anything written by Jerome Kern OR the over 60 lyricists who wrote with him – Oscar Hammerstein II, Dorothy Fields, Johnny Mercer, Otto Harbach, P.D. Wodehouse - just to name a few.


Remember, any material, on or off theme, is always welcome at Salon.
Our Co-Host will be the Delightful, Bistro Award winning Raissa Katona Bennett! Raissa will be returning to Feinstein's, 540 Park Avenue (at 61st Street), NYC 10021, in “Can't Help Singing – The Music of Jerome Kern” on January 13th,14th & 15th. For Reservations: 212-339-4095 / www.feinsteinsattheregency.com.

There will be a $10 cash cover collected at the door by 'Etceterette/Blogette', Sierra Rein, and a $15 food/drink minimum (cash or credit) per person. (For further information visit www.etcrestaurant.com or call 212-399-4141). There are no reservations; seating is on a first come/ first served basis, with one intermission. Doors open and sign up begins at 6:15pm with 'Etceterette', Erin Cronican.

December 19th:
Theme: The Best of 2010
Co-Hosts: The Salon Advisory Board

December 26th: NO SALON

January 2nd: NO SALON

Visit our website at www.markjanasthesalon.com and look for us on Facebook!

Here's some important information about the Salon you should know. The Salon is an ongoing open entertainment event in which singers, writers and musicians share their talent with each other and audience members. We are currently enjoying our new venue, Etcetera, Etcetera where there is a $10 COVER (cash) AND a $15 FOOD/BEVERAGE MINIMUM (cash or credit). You may sign up to perform starting at 6:15 by seeing one the evening's 'Etceterettes' to fill out a card with your name, the name of your song, whether it's a ballad or an up tempo,(up tempos and comic songs are greatly encouraged!) and any upcoming events you'd like the co-host to announce. Please remember that we do not present performers in order of sign-up and, due to our time restraints and other variables, filling out a card does not guarantee you will perform, but we do our very best to get you up! It is usually a good idea to bring a few different song choices to avoid duplication. All types of material including spoken word are welcome at the Salon but please limit your selections to three or four minutes in length and please bring clear, complete charts for Mark to read. Sitting on the piano is not allowed, nor is flash photography. If you would like to add a (or remove your) name from our list, e-mail me at tanya@tanyamoberly.com.

Looking forward to seeing you all Sunday, December 12th!

Thanks,

Tanya Moberly
Producer


-Sierra Rein
The Blogette for The Salon
Spelling mistakes? URL's I missed? Did I mess up? Please email me.

The Salon Wrap-Up for November 21, 2010: "Flower Power – Music of the 60's & 70's”

It was all flower, power, music, and love at The Salon on Sunday. "Flower Power - Music of the 60's and 70's" was the theme of the evening, allowing for some great rock n' roll, musical theater, and inspired new music. Co-hosts of the evening were Lennie Watts and Steven Ray Watkins, two of the three amazing singers (Scott Coulter being the high tenor third) currently performing in "3 Play - The 70's." This show (remaining performances at Don't Tell Mama November 29 and December 6 at 7pm, and Sunday, December 5 at 3pm) will feature "Doobie Brothers, Barry Manilow, Roberta Flack, the Bee Gees and other '70s faves." So this was the perfect evening for Lennie and Steven to co-host the evening (Scott had a performance of his own that evening). Of particular note for the night was that we had a family member of 60's music royalty in the audience - David Baez, Joan's nephew, was in attendance! We were completely full to the brim with singers, so there were no encores, and plenty of non-singers just there to eat good food and catch the talent.

Mark Janas introduced a personal touch - an 8x10 black and white glossy of himself in the 70's - curly hair, sunglasses, and all - and then introduced our co-hosts. Lennie and Steven (who took to the piano) then brought Julie Reyburn up to sing a trio with them on "Love Will Keep Us Together" by Captain & Tennille. "Woodstock worthy!" is how Mark described it after the huge applause died down. After this, Lennie introduced Adam Shapiro up, who then sang "One Tin Soldier." His upcoming show "No Chestnuts" will feature absolutely no Christmas carols (he promises) but a full set of holiday music - shows at The Duplex will be December 17th, 18th and 30th. We next heard the always charming Jane Glick, who sang "I Hear Bells." She will be presenting her own solo show two nights in 2011 - February 20th and 24th at the Metropolitan Room - so mark your calendars. After Jane, Stephen Hanks (new Board President of the Musical Mondays Theater Lab and new writer for Cabaret Scenes Magazine) sang Paul Simon's "Something So Right." His next performance will be December 19th, 1 pm, at the Laurie Beechman Theater.

Elaine St. George returned to us, singing "Louise," a song originally sung by Maurice Chevalier but also recorded by Ray Charles in the 1960's (Charles is the tribute subject of Elaine's show "InspiRAYtion," performing at the Metropolitan Room December 5th). Lynly Forrest then took to the microphone and sang "Nothing Really Happened" with Stephen Ray Watson at the piano. She brought her own 8x10 photo of herself in the 70's - remarkably younger than Mark! We then heard Richard Eisenberg's clever lyrics to his original song "All Good Things Must Come to an End," a song that could be applied to any time period including the heydays of the 60's and 70's. We then heard David Rigano sing a brand new song of his own, an alternatively sweet then hilarious song entitled "An Ode to Beauty." He is Assistant Director of the new play "Can I Really Date a Guy Who Wears a Yarmulke" - last performance is November 29 at 7:30pm. Marianne Berson then sang "Remember Summer" with pianist Rolf Barnes (who wrote this samba piece in the 1970's). Rolf stayed at the piano to play for singer Adrienne Metzinger, who is the Managing Director of the One World Symphony. In a beautiful soprano, she sang a legit-jazz version of "Any Place I Hang My Hat is Home," and although she said she was new to the Cabaret world, she sang in this intimate setting like a pro.

Annie Lebeaux - singer, pianist, composer, musical director - then grabbed the seat at the piano to sing a few songs. She's leaving for a long gig as a in-house piano player on a yacht in Key Largo, so we were certainly pleased that Mark asked her to sing two songs for the evening, before she left. She first sang a new song of her's in a Kingston Trio style entitled "Carry On," a song only two weeks old! She then encored with a Salon favorite, the Joni Mitchell parody (vocals included) entitled "Speed Dial." We then heard David Ballard, with the help of backup vocals by Tanya and Mark, sing the crowd-pleasing "Happy Together" - the entire audience was clapping and singing and swaying along. Shana Farr - with Steven Ray Watkins at the piano - next did a hilarious "girly" medley of Madonna, Barbie Girl, Marilyn Monroe, Shania Twain, and Broadway musical songs.

We then had a special spotlight for the evening - Julie Reyburn! She will be performing her summer show "Summer Nights...in November" at the Laurie Beechman November 28th at 7pm (Director Lennie Watts, Producer Fr. Jeff Hamblin, Music Director Mark Janas!) - check out her website www.juliereyburn.com for more details. She sang the rocking Beatles song "Oh, Darlin'" and the breathtaking Heisler and Goldrich song "Love Like Breathing" as only Julie could.

Mark Janas' Classical Corner connected the classical world (Beethoven, Mozart, Bach) with The Beatles, one of the most important and revolutionary musical groups in modern history. They reinvented each and every musical style, using the same revolutionary energy that Beethoven used in his day - to reinterpret progressions, taking loose influences from all modes of music and applying them to rock and roll. After Ed Sullivan introduced The Beatles to Television audiences, the world would never be the same again. They went from a quartet of rock musicians to recordings utilizing string quartets, orchestras, trumpets and new approaches to harmonics. Listen to "Eleanor Rigby" or "Michelle," and you will hear direct classical influences in both the structure and orchestration of the song. The Beatles - the music of which can now be downloaded at will through iTunes - proved that rock and pop musicians could create their own genre and use all modes of music in their work.

After the break, our co-hosts grabbed their own spotlights. Steven Ray Watkins sang and played the piano to Elton John's "Bennie and the Jets," a song he originally sang in his Under the Cover singthrough of John's "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road." Lennie Watts then joined Steven to sing "Honesty." Then Steven sang from their "3 Play" show, "On and On" by Stephen Bishop. Our Producer, Tanya Moberly, then brought some glorious 70's cheese with Kenny Loggins' "I Believe in Love." Tanya will sing for the Zani's Furry Friends benefit concert on Saturday November 27th, then her own "Theatre Songs" show December 14th with Mark Janas and Ritt Henn at Don't Tell Mama, 9:15pm. After Tanya, newcomer Daniel Wasserman (with Gil Bleich at the piano) gave us a break from rock and pop and sang "My Funny Valentine," a 1937 song by Rogers and Hart. Next, Marya Zimmet effortlessly sang Joni Mitchell's "All I Want," then Father Jeff Hamblin wowed us with a surreal performance - a pastor singing "Puff the Magic Dragon," complete with chorus singalong!

Dani Rhodes was on hand next to rock our world and prove she is instantly castable by singing "Black Boys" from the musical Hair. Bill Zeffiro then assisted Julie Reyburn on piano as she sang Zeffiro's original song "True." Stephen Wilde (playing guitar while Mark played piano) sang "Karma Police" by Radiohead. Marcy Richardson grabbed the stage to sing "My Ship" by Kurt Weill in a lovely mezzo soprano. She is performing in "Weill Wednesdays," December 1st, 8th, 15th, 22nd, and 29th, 7:30-9:00 PM at Ella Lounge - Marcy teams up on these Wednesdays with singer Kate Mangiameli and pianist Carol Wong for these evenings, which feature the music of Kurt Weill in an informal, lounge style setting (No cover, no drink minimum, with half-priced specialty cocktails until 9 PM). You can watch video of this show here and read more about Marcy here. Then, Sierra Rein (me!) rocked out "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman" by Carol King, with the proper accompanying audience call and response. To complete the evening, Lennie and Stephen encouraged full blown gospel rock audience singing - in multi-part harmony of course - to "Takin' it To The Streets" by the Doobie Brothers.

Next two Sundays (November 28th and December 5th) there will be NO SALON! Have a terrific Thanksgiving Day weekend!

We will see everyone two weeks from now on December 12th, when Raissa Katona Bennett will co-host the theme of "Six Degrees of Jerome Kern." So be prepared for some lush melodies, warm lyrics, and classic Broadway music. The week after that, December 19th, the theme will be "The Best of 2010," and the co-hosts will be the entire Salon Advisory Board! So, prepare what you consider your best material, or maybe the best new material written in 2010, or maybe a song from the role you are perfect for! Any interpretation, as well as off-theme work, is welcome!

-Sierra Rein
The Blogette for The Salon
Spelling mistakes? URL's I missed? Did I mess up? Please email me.

Update from Producer Tanya Moberly - No Salon 11/28 & 12/5!

THERE WILL BE NO SALON NOVEMBER 28TH OR DECEMBER 5TH.

SALON, that unique, Bistro & MAC Award winning Weekly Open Mic Event created and hosted by Mark Janas will return to Etcetera, Etcetera - 352 West 44th Street, NYC 10036 - on Sunday, December 12th from 7-10:30PM.

December 12th:
Theme: Six Degrees of Jerome Kern
Co-Host: Raissa Katona Bennett

December 19th:
Theme: The Best of 2010
Co-Hosts: The Salon Advisory Board!!

Visit our website www.markjanasthesalon.com and look for us on Facebook.

Here's some important information about the Salon you should know. The Salon is an ongoing open entertainment event in which singers, writers and musicians share their talent with each other and audience members. We are currently enjoying our new venue, Etcetera, Etcetera where there is a $10 COVER (cash) AND a $15 FOOD/BEVERAGE MINIMUM (cash or credit). You may sign up to perform starting at 6:15 by seeing one the evening's 'Etceterettes' to fill out a card with your name, the name of your song, whether it's a ballad or an up tempo,(up tempos and comic songs are greatly encouraged!) and any upcoming events you'd like the co-host to announce. Please remember that we do not present performers in order of sign-up and, due to our time restraints and other variables, filling out a card does not guarantee you will perform, but we do our very best to get you up! It is usually a good idea to bring a few different song choices to avoid duplication. All types of material including spoken word are welcome at the Salon but please limit your selections to three or four minutes in length and please bring clear, complete charts for Mark to read. Sitting on the piano is not allowed, nor is flash photography. If you would like to add a (or remove your) name from our list, e-mail me at tanyamoberly@juno.com.

Looking forward to seeing you all when we resume on Sunday, December 12th!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanks,

Tanya

-Sierra Rein
The Blogette for The Salon
Spelling mistakes? URL's I missed? Did I mess up? Please email me.

Get out your mood rings! Update from Producer Tanya Moberly!

SALON, that unique, Bistro & MAC Award winning Weekly Open Mic Event created and hosted by Mark Janas returns to Etcetera, Etcetera - 352 West 44th Street, NYC 10036 - on Sunday, November 21st from 7-10:30PM. The optional theme for the evening is “Flower Power – Music of the 60's & 70's”.

Remember, any material, on or off theme, is always welcome at Salon.

Our Co-Hosts will be 2-Time MAC & Bistro Award winner, Steven Ray Watkins & multiple MAC, Bistro & Nightlife Award winner, (and current president of MAC), Lennie Watts! Lennie and Steve will be appearing with multiple MAC, Bistro & Nightlife Award winner, Scott Coulter in 3PLAY: THE 70s at DON'T TELL MAMA, 343 West 46th Street, NYC 10036 on November 22nd, November 29th & December 6th at 7pm and December 5th at 3pm. Reservations are strongly recommended and can be made at donttellmamanyc.com or by calling (212)757-0788.

Our Salon Spotlight will feature the Bistro, MAC, Nightlife & Julie Wilson Award winner, Julie Reyburn! Julie will be returning to The Laurie Beechman Theatre, 407 West 42nd St, NYC 10036, on Sunday, November 28th at 7pm with her show, “Summer Night...in November!” For reservations: 212-695-6909.

For those of you that participated in Demo Night Part II with Peter Millrose, you should have received an email with the mp3 link. Please email her at tanya@tanyamoberly.com
if there are any questions. If you have any further questions, contact Peter Millrose at 212-496-0444.

There will be a $10 cash cover at the door , collected by 'Etceterette/Blogette', Sierra Rein, and a $15 food/drink minimum (cash or credit) per person. (For further information visit www.etcrestaurant.com or call 212-399-4141). There are no reservations; seating is on a first come/ first served basis, with one intermission. Doors open and sign up begins at 6:15pm with 'Etceterette', Shana Farr.

Salon continues every Sunday (Except November 28th & December 5th) through December 19th!


November 28th: NO SALON

December 5th: NO SALON

December 12th:
Theme: Six Degrees of Jerome Kern
Co-Host: Raissa Katona Bennett

December 19th:
Theme: The Best of 2010
Co-Hosts: Bill Zeffiro & a Super Special Surprise!

Visit our website at www.markjanasthesalon.com and look for us on Facebook!

Here's some important information about the Salon you should know. The Salon is an ongoing open entertainment event in which singers, writers and musicians share their talent with each other and audience members. We are currently enjoying our new venue, Etcetera, Etcetera where there is a $10 COVER (cash) AND a $15 FOOD/BEVERAGE MINIMUM (cash or credit). You may sign up to perform starting at 6:15 by seeing one the evening's 'Etceterettes' to fill out a card with your name, the name of your song, whether it's a ballad or an up tempo,(up tempos and comic songs are greatly encouraged!) and any upcoming events you'd like the co-host to announce. Please remember that we do not present performers in order of sign-up and, due to our time restraints and other variables, filling out a card does not guarantee you will perform, but we do our very best to get you up! It is usually a good idea to bring a few different song choices to avoid duplication. All types of material including spoken word are welcome at the Salon but please limit your selections to three or four minutes in length and please bring clear, complete charts for Mark to read. Sitting on the piano is not allowed, nor is flash photography. If you would like to add a (or remove your) name from our list, e-mail me at tanya@tanyamoberly.com

Looking forward to seeing you all Sunday, November 21st!


Thanks,


Tanya Moberly
Producer

-Sierra Rein
The Blogette for The Salon
Spelling mistakes? URL's I missed? Did I mess up? Please email me.

The Salon Wrap-Up for November 14, 2010 - "All God's Creatures"

Mrowr! Woof! Hello!

Now that you have become trilingual in how to greet our fellow creatures, it's time to wrap up this week's Salon! Sunday night was filled with animal magnetism, as the theme was "All God's Creatures." On hand to co-host the evening was noneother than Sarah Rice, originator of the role of Johanna (Sweeney Todd), Bistro Award winner (for her "Screen Gems" show last year) and fervent animal rights/rescue supporter. She will sing in "Love Makes the World Go 'Round," a benefit performance for Zani's Furry Friends on November 27th, 7pm at the Laurie Beechman. This show will feature Klea Blackhurst as host, John Babcock, Celia Berk, Phil Geoffrey Bond, Emily Buttner, Len Cariou, Michael Cone, Brain Gari, Anita Gillette, Janice Hall, Dana Lorge, Marilyn Michaels, Tanya Moberly, Marni Nixon, Craig Pomranz, Gretchen Reinhagen, Julie Reyburn, Sarah Rice, and others. JoAnn Yeoman directs and Tanya Moberly will Stage Manage. Mark Janas and Bill Zeffiro will provide accompaniment. Such a great lineup! Zani's Furry Friends is a non-profit organization which strives to rescue "companion animals from New York City's shelters where, unfortunately, they are at significant risk for euthanasia due to overcrowding." If you cannot be at the benefit performance, consider visiting Zani's website and learn how to help/donate in any way you can.

Mark Janas sported his elephants-and-horses-in-the-circus tie and regaled us with stories of his 2 weeks subbing in synth for the Ringling Brothers Circus (the animals were well cared for, in his estimate, although he did have to adjust to following the conductors every move in order to synch up with the action on the right measure!). Sarah was introduced, and immediately brought up fellow songbird Maureen Taylor to sing the absolutely gorgeous "The Flower Duet" Léo Delibes' opera Lakmé. With Rice's silvery soprano, and Maureen's rich mezzo, I got chills hearing their voices soar with impeccable French. It was a great start to the evening! Sarah then introduced funny lady Joan Jaffe, who sang the comedy song "The Spider and the Fly." Joan just finished directing Louisa Poster's show, is now directing and developing Bill Minife's new show, and will be producing her own solo show soon as well. We then heard Michael Colby, with wife Andrea Colby at the piano, sing a song specially written for the evening's theme, entitled "Him," about Maximus Colby (the "tall dark and hungry member" of the Colby family - a handsome black poodle!).

Bill Zeffiro, who was a friend of the amazing Kay Swift (who broke gender barriers by writing the first hit Broadway musical fully written by a woman), and sang one of her pieces, "The Cat Song," a hilarious piece about a female cat who doesn't want a second litter, thank you very much Tom Cat! Bill is having one of his plays read by the Sink or Swim Reperatory Theater next year - more information will surely come! After Bill, Richard Eisenberg showed his romantic side with a classically-written standard, "On A Night Like This" (inspired by a nice evening out in July this year). Janice Hall, sporting a leopard-print shirt, sang "The Cat," a German composition to which Janice added her original English lyrics! She purred and meowed her way through this sultry song, then reminded us of her "Grand Illusions" tribute show to Marlene Deitrich - this Sunday at 4pm, and on December 8th. We next heard Elaine St. George, a jazz singer with beautiful soprano trills, who sang "Oh What a Beautiful Mornin,'" a song which does mention elephants and cattle! Her choice of song comes from her own show "InspiRAYtion," a show dedicated to Ray Charles, which will be performed at the Metropolitan Room on December 5th (more information at her blog). Maureen Taylor next came to the mic to sing the beautiful "Will You" from Grey Gardens, a song that references larks and grey geese.

I (Sierra Rein) chose to bring some church music into The Salon, this time singing "All Things Bright and Beautiful" (lyrics "All things bright and beautiful/
All creatures great and small")...which then morphed into the sentiment "All Things Dull and Ugly" ("Each little snake that poisons/Each little wasp that stings" - lyrics by Monty Python). Sierra's caroling group, The Definitely Dickens Holiday Carolers, are available for holiday parties, business events this year (and her usual quartet is 4 out of 5 of Marquee Five, so you know it's quality)! After that diatribe against nature, Kathleen France brought her powerful blues rock vocals to "Baby, I Love Your Way." Kathleen is working on a Linda Rondstadt tribute show and is currently a writer for Nitelifeexchange.com.

We then had a spotlight treat - Hector Coris (former MAC Vice-President, winner of the 2010 MAC Award for Male Vocalist)! He is breaking our hearts by moving to Phoenix, Arizona in 2011 and is singing his final performance of "Life is Wonderful" tomorrow, Tuesday the 16th, at Don't Tell Mama. It's his final show, so book reservations if (IF?!?) you can attend! Hector sang two showstopping numbers, the first was the heartbreaking "Come Home," from Mark Janas and Peter Napolitano's show Pinochhio in Chelsea. The second was "Grin and Bear It," a humorously dark piece co-written by Hector Coris with Bill Zeffiro (now THAT's a great writing team). Hector assures me that he will continue his songwriting talens in Phoenix, so be on the lookout for his songs in the future. And speaking of Bill Zeffiro, he was up next to do a quick encore of "Animal Crackers."

The Classical Corner this week of course centralized on the concept of Animals, in particular how classical music sought to capture the movement of different animals, the sounds of animals, or sometimes both. He referenced "Alley Cat," "The Pink Panther Theme," Beethoven's "Pastoral," "Flight of the Bumblebee" by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, and Grofe's "Grand Canyon Suite" (a piece I loved as a child due to its version of the donkey's hee-haw and clopping gait). He also spoke through the musical suite "The Carnival of the Animals (Le carnaval des animaux)" by Camille Saint-Saëns. He quoted different parts of the suite (from the pompous "The Elephant" to "The Cuckoo in the Deep Woods.") Of particular interest was "Aquarium," which at the time of composition would have featured the glass harmonica (a more professional version of one's use of a finger, some water and one's wine glass). Another point of interest was the humorously titled "The Pianists," a jab on the human population which used running scales and piano "bumps" vigorously. Mark closed by playing the most famous of the suite's pieces, the lovely, flowing "The Swan."

After the break, Sarah Rice returned by singing in French again, this time from Francis Poulenc's "La courte paille" song cycle (about Puss in Boots). Referencing her typecasting in playing crazy ladies who sing about birds, she then trilled through the funny song "When I Was a Little Cuckoo." Finally, she spoke through the somber poem "Whispering," and achingly sang "Feed the Birds" from Mary Poppins. Then, Producer Tanya Moberly got set up with her guitar. In the meantime, we had a moment for the audience to share our pet's names (we heard Tinkerbell Killer, Zaphod, and Nocchi to name a few). Then Tanya accompanied herself on guitar to the tune of "The Puppy Song" by Harry Nilsson. She will be singing for the Zani's Furry Friends benefit on the 27th, and will bring her successful show "Theatre Songs" to Don't Tell Mama on December 14th at 9:15 (with Mark Janas at piano and Ritt Henn on bass).

It was then encores time! Elaine St. George returned to sing a uniquely phrased bossa nova-style "Somewhere Over the Rainbow," Michael Colby sang "I'll Stand By You" (lyrics by Colby, music by Paul Katz from the musical Tales of Tinsel Town.), "Pearls" written by Richard Eisenberg and sung by Joan Jaffe, Janice Hall sang "Want to Buy Some Illusions" from her "Grand Illusions" show, and Hector Coris deftly tripped through "As We Stumble Along" from Drowsy Chaperone. I brought in "In My Dreams," written by the late Jim Fradrich, and Kathleen France tore the roof off with a thunderous "Cry Me a River." Richard Eisenberg, always ready to tickle the dirty funny bones, sang a parody lyric about Viagra, and then Sarah Rice read the poem "From the Death of a Stray Cat," and then sang a hauntingly beautiful piece ("For Always" by John Williams from the movie A.I.) to end the evening's entertainment.

NEXT WEEK! Get out your headbands, bellbottoms and taste for Barry Manilow - the theme is "Flower Power – Music of the 60's & 70's"! Co-Hosts will be Lennie Watts, Scott Coulter & Steven Ray Watkins, and there will be a special Salon Spotlight on Julie Reyburn! Sing your favorite Beatles, Joni Mitchell, Manilow, Elton John, Eagles, Queen...or beyond!

Special thanks to Mariann Moery, who took pictures of The Salon throughout the evening!


Sierra disses the snakes and the hornets...


Mark Janas and Sarah Rice


Kathleen croons


Hector wails.


Elaine jazzes it up


Michael sings about a doggie!

-Sierra Rein
The Blogette for The Salon
Spelling mistakes? URL's I missed? Did I mess up? Please email me.

The Salon Wrap-Up for November 7, 2010 "Here Comes the Holidays!"

It started to feel like the Holidays, what with the weather being colder - let alone looking like Christmas (apparently the moment the Halloween costumes are off the racks, the ornaments and fake snow are on display). To get us into the Holiday mood, songsters Sue Matsuki and Edd Clark co-hosted the evening's Salon, dubbed "Here Comes the Holidays!" It was a welcome warning, and they helped us through some traditional (and even some non-traditional) holiday fare. Mark kicked off the holiday flair by wearing an $8 plastic holiday tie! Nothing but class here at The Salon...! Actually, Peter Mark, Founding Artistic Director of Virginia Opera, and his wife Thea Musgrave (an opera, ballet and concerto composer in her own right) were in attendance, so The Salon did have quite a lot of class that evening!

Sue and Edd have a new show they're producing, "Sue and Edd's Fabulous Christmas Show," which will be at The Laurie Beechman Theatre, 407 West 42nd St, NYC 10036, 212-695-6909 on December 4th at 8pm, among other dates and venues. For more information, and to purchase/download their “Fabulous Christmas” CD: http://www.fabulouschristmas.com/. The duo - Edd with his operatic style and Sue with her smooth jazz vocals - started out the evening by singing "That Holiday Feeling." Next, songwriting couple Jennie Litt and David Alpher performed their adorably comedic holiday song "Christmas in the Doghouse." They'll be reintroducing their show "Composing Ourselves" after the holidays are fini, January 15th and the 29th, 2011 - more information to come! After Jennie and David, Stephanie Zagora (who claims "New Jersey is as rural as I want to be") sang the season-themed "Autumn in New York." Next, Tony Ingrum (singing in a rich, innocent tenor) performed the reverent "Mary, Did You Know?"

Bringing non-religious holiday cheer and heartfelt sincerity, Michael Colby sang his lyrics of "The Greater Gift," a song written with his wife, Andrea, and inspired by their 5 year old son at the time. Next, the lovely songstress Julie Reyburn sang a "holiday mashup" arranged by Mark Janas of "Carol of the Bells" and "Silver Bells." Julie is singing up a storm this holiday season, with performances at the Jim Fradrich DVD Party November 14th (solo and with Marquee Five), at The Benefit for Zani's Furry Friends - LOVE MAKES THE WORLD GO 'ROUND
November 27th, at her solo performance "Summer Night...in November" November 28th at 7pm at The Laurie Beechman Theatre, at "Sondheim Unplugged" December 3, and is working on a Sondheim concert with director Miles Philips. Whew!!! After Julie, Steve "The Whistler" Herbst sang the antithetical song "I Don't Believe in Christmas," and then whistled Mozart's "The Queen of the Night" at Mark's behest. Steve has a CD "Broadway and Beyond", which is full of his whistling talent, for those who have yet to hear his unique skill!

Richard Eisenberg then took over the piano to sing and play - he is always up to writing new songs, this Bistro Award-winner! We then had another song-maestro, Bill Zeffiro, who brought in his favorite Holiday-rancor song "What the Hell, It's Christmas." He's performing each Tuesday night at La Mediterranée French Bistro at the piano, and is welcoming people to pop by to sing a song and drink something French! Next, our waiter David Ballard (who will be leaving for a short time soon to do the "Miracle on 34th Street" West Coast tour!) sang the belty "What Do I Need With Love" from Thoroughly Modern Millie. Bringing to the stage a future belty Broadway song, Sierra Rein (me!) sang "Start a Little War," a new song from new musical The Many Women of Troy, with composer Brian Allan Hobbs at the piano. The show is currently in development, and Sierra's directing a demo version with Brian at the moment for promotional use. The last singer of the first half was Liz Ulmer, who performed the lovely "Happiness." Liz, in addition to being a singer and dramaturg, is a Producer (NYMF's I Got Fired) and is now getting into lyric writing - snap her up, composers looking for lyricists!

This week's Classical Corner with Mark Janas had to do with rags! No, not the rags worn by little street urchins singing "God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen." We're talking ragtime, the music labeled as scandalous for its time and which was made famous by Scott Joplin's compositions. Mark brought the genre back to its roots in the rhythms of slave music (the "Cakewalk," similar in texture to ragtime, apparently mimicd the practice of slave masters who demanded the slaves strut their stuff in dance in order to get a "treat" of cake), and spoke about how the music was thought to be connected with sex, booze, and the not-so-innocent nightlift. No wonder it became popular! Indeed, it became so popular that the scandal eventually wore off - the children's show Kukla, Fran and Ollie used the ragtime song "The Naked Dance" as it's theme song! Mark went on to introduce the poster composer of ragtime - Scott Joplin, who was classically trained and went on to codify the ragtime genre (although he often complained that ragtime was played too fast!). In ragtime, the bass figures have their own melodies while the right hand punches synchopated second melodies above them. Mark played many different ragtime songs, including "The Ragtime Dance," "The MapleLeaf Rag," the descriptive "The Wall Street Rag," and the uniquely named (and favorite of Mark's) "The Heliotrope Bouquet."

After the break, we were treated to a seasonal smorgasbord of seasonal delights, as Sue and Edd did a lovely medley of a number of songs, including "Warm as Winter," "It's Cold Enough to Snow" and one that I believe was called "Summer Leaves." We then heard Producer Tanya Moberly effortlessly sing "I Wish I Had a River," by Joni Mitchell. Tanya is also singing at the Zani's Furry Friends benefit along with Julie Reyburn and others, and will be bringing her "Theatre Songs" show back again soon. After Tanya, we saw songman Kevin McMullan perform an adorably sweet and sassy song by the late composer Jim Fradrich (from a Nancy Drew song cycle) entitled "Little Caboose, Come Home." Kevin is producing The James Fradrich Memorial Concert DVD Party at the Metropolitan Room this Sunday the 14th at 4pm. In attendance to sing will be Marquee Five (to sing as a group and as individuals - Julie Reyburn, Sierra Rein, Mick Bleyer, Vanessa Parvin, Adam West Hemming), and Joan Jaffe, Rob Langeder, Rosemary Loar, Sarah Rice, Maureen Taylor, Walter Willison, and Kevin McMullan himself. Donations ($20 suggested) will go towards the JAMES FRADRICH MEMORIAL SHOLARSHIP for Classical Pianists and Composers at Lawrence University, Jim's alma mater. Kevin is also continuing his run of "Twist of Fate" at the Laurie Beechman this month into next. After Kevin, pianist extraordinaire Matthew Ward banged fabulously on the keys, this time doing a mind-boggling medley of music - he called it a game to "count the quotes" - mostly to the tune of "I Got My Love to Keep Me Warm." Matthew will be performing with Christine Pedi in the show "There's No Business Like Snow Business" at the Laurie Beechamn, weekends in December!

We had some time for encores! Julie Reyburn expertly sang "Stardust" by Hoagie Charmichael. Steve Herbst whistled "Somewhere Over The Rainbow," with Mark accompanying on piano. Sierra Rein threw some Sondheim in with "Children Will Listen" from Into the Woods, and Richard Eisenberg revamped his "Color Blind Blues." Liz Ulmer threw in another Sondheim piece, "Marry Me a Little," then Tony Imgrund returned and sang "Do You Hear What I Hear?" We then had a true return as Bill Zeffiro brought back his popular new piece "The Final Daze," this time using the Salon to workshop a slow, bluesy version - and it worked! I still laugh at the lyric "My heart is stupid / Sometimes I'd like to pummel cupid." Sue and Edd took the stage back for one last song, a jazzy, comedic duet of "We Wish You a Merry Christmas."

NEXT SUNDAY! November 14th -
Sarah Rice (original Johanna from Sweeney Todd and a beautiful Cabaret artist), will co-host the evening, entitled "All God's Creatures" in honor of the Zani's Furry Friends Benefit that she and many Salon regulars will be performing in. Check out the website for Zani's Furry Friends and see the show at the Laurie Beechman on November 27th, and bring your cat, dog, pig, fish, whale, gnat, platypus, elephant, or alien-themed songs to the Salon (what, you don't have a platypus song in your repertoire?!?)!






-Sierra Rein
The Blogette for The Salon
Spelling mistakes? URL's I missed? Did I mess up? Please email me.

Update from Producer Tanya Moberly - “All God's Creatures”

SALON, that unique, Bistro & MAC Award winning Weekly Open Mic Event created and hosted by Mark Janas returns to Etcetera, Etcetera - 352 West 44th Street, NYC 10036 - on Sunday, November 14th from 7-10:30PM.

"A Stage for Stars and Fans Alike "- The Salon mentioned in the Wall Street Journal - Oct 13, 2010 !

The optional theme for the evening is “All God's Creatures”.

Remember, any material, on or off theme, is always welcome at Salon.

Our Co-Host will be the Incomparable Bistro Award Winning Sarah Rice. Sarah, the original Johanna in SWEENEY TODD, will be hosting LOVE MAKES THE WORLD GO ROUND - A BENEFIT FOR ZANI'S FURRY FRIENDS at The Laurie Beechman Theatre, 407 West 42nd St, NYC 10036, 212-695-6909 on Saturday, November 27th at 7pm (doors open at 6pm). For more information: www.zanisfurryfriends.org.

Our Salon Spotlight will feature the Marvelous MAC Award Winning Hector Coris! Hector will be at Don't Tell Mama, 343 West 46th Street, NYC 10036, (212) 757-0788, on Tuesday, November 16th at 7PM. For the rest of his busy schedule: www.hectorcoris.com.

There will be a $10 cash cover at the door , collected by 'Etceterette/Blogette', Sierra Rein, and a $15 food/drink minimum (cash or credit) per person. (For further information visit www.etcrestaurant.com or call 212-399-4141). There are no reservations; seating is on a first come/ first served basis, with one intermission. Doors open and sign up begins at 6:15pm with 'Etceterette', Kathleen France.

Salon continues every Sunday (Except November 28th & December 5th) through December 19th!

November 21st:
Theme: Flower Power – Music of the 60's & 70's
Co-Hosts: Scott Coulter, Steven Ray Watkins & Lennie Watts
Salon Spotlight: Julie Reyburn

November 28th: NO SALON

December 5th: NO SALON

December 12th:
Theme: Six Degrees of Jerome Kern
Co-Host: Raissa Katona Bennett

December 19th:
Theme: TBA
Co-Hosts: Bill Zeffiro & a Super Special Surprise!

Visit our website at www.markjanasthesalon.com and look for us on Facebook!

Here's some important information about the Salon you should know. The Salon is an ongoing open entertainment event in which singers, writers and musicians share their talent with each other and audience members. We are currently enjoying our new venue, Etcetera, Etcetera where there is a $10 COVER (cash) AND a $15 FOOD/BEVERAGE MINIMUM (cash or credit). You may sign up to perform starting at 6:15 by seeing one the evening's 'Etceterettes' to fill out a card with your name, the name of your song, whether it's a ballad or an up tempo,(up tempos and comic songs are greatly encouraged!) and any upcoming events you'd like the co-host to announce. Please remember that we do not present performers in order of sign-up and, due to our time restraints and other variables, filling out a card does not guarantee you will perform, but we do our very best to get you up! It is usually a good idea to bring a few different song choices to avoid duplication. All types of material including spoken word are welcome at the Salon but please limit your selections to three or four minutes in length and please bring clear, complete charts for Mark to read. Sitting on the piano is not allowed, nor is flash photography. If you would like to add a (or remove your) name from our list, e-mail me at tanya@tanyamoberly.com

Looking forward to seeing you all Sunday, November 14th!

Thanks,

Tanya Moberly
Producer
-Sierra Rein
The Blogette for The Salon
Spelling mistakes? URL's I missed? Did I mess up? Please email me.

Update from Producer Tanya Moberly! Tomorrow - “Here Come the Holidays!”

Hello Salon fans and singers! Great News!

I have a lovely update for those who attend Salon - David Ballard, who typically serves The Salon as waiter, charms the audience with his blue eyes and cheeky smiles, and sings in his beautiful clear-toned tenor voice, has booked a Holiday show!!! He'll be on the West Coast tour of "Miracle on 34th Street" this coming December, hitting the cities of Santa Barbara, Spokane and Vancouver. If you have friends or family in these cities, give them a headsup that some New York Salon talent is heading their way. Congrats to David!

And now, from Producer Tanya Moberly:

SALON, that unique, Bistro & MAC Award winning Weekly Open Mic Event created and hosted by Mark Janas returns to Etcetera, Etcetera - 352 West 44th Street, NYC 10036 - on Sunday, November 7th from 7-10:30PM.

"A Stage for Stars and Fans Alike "- The Salon mentioned in the Wall Street Journal - Oct 13, 2010!

The optional theme for the evening is “Here Come the Holidays!”

Remember, any material, on or off theme, is always welcome at Salon.

Our Co-Hosts will be Two Beloved Salon Family Members: Bistro Award winner Edd Clark and Multiple MAC Award (and Julie Wilson Award) winner Sue Matsuki! Sue and Edd's Fabulous Christmas Show will be at The Laurie Beechman Theatre, 407 West 42nd St, NYC 10036, 212-695-6909 on December 4th at 8pm, among other dates and venues. For more information, and to purchase/download their “Fabulous Christmas” CD: www.fabulouschristmas.com.

There will be a $10 cash cover at the door , collected by 'Etceterette/Blogette', Sierra Rein, and a $15 food/drink minimum (cash or credit) per person. (For further information visit www.etcrestaurant.com or call 212-399-4141). There are no reservations; seating is on a first come/ first served basis, with one intermission. Doors open and sign up begins with 'Etceterette', Liz Ulmer at 6:15pm.

Salon continues every Sunday (Except November 28th & December 5th) through December 19th!

November 14th:
Theme: All God's Creatures
Co-Host: Sarah Rice

November 21st:
Theme: Flower Power – Music of the 60's & 70's
Co-Hosts: Lennie Watts, Scott Coulter & Steven Ray Watkins

November 28th: NO SALON

December 5th: NO SALON

December 12th:
Theme: TBA
Co-Host: Raissa Katona Bennett

December 19th:
Theme: TBA
Co-Host: TBA

Visit our website at www.markjanasthesalon.com and look for us on Facebook!

Looking forward to seeing you all Sunday, November 7th!

Thanks,

Tanya Moberly
Producer

-Sierra Rein
The Blogette for The Salon
Spelling mistakes? URL's I missed? Did I mess up? Please email me.

The Salon Wrap-Up for October 24, 2010 "Recording Artists"

Annie Kozuch

There was an exciting buzz in the air as Salon attendees began to arrive at Etc Etc, because they spied Peter Millrose in the front of the room setting up his professional recording equipment for the occasion. That’s right, the optional theme for the evening was “The Recording Arts/Demo Night Part II with Peter Millrose,” giving Salon members the chance to take home studio quality recordings of their work in front of a live audience.

The evening was hosted, as usual, by the charming and talented Mark Janas. His co-host was the blonde and sassy songstress, Annie Kozuch. Annie announced that her solo album, ”Here With You“ just hit #6 on the CMJ Jazz Chart, and will be performing a teaser set from her show at the Lincoln Square Barnes & Noble on October 27 at 6pm.

Annie kicked off the show with a jazzy rendition of ”Gorgeous“ from The Apple Tree, and ”I Thought About You.“ Rosemary Loar then tempted and teased us with a medley of songs including ”The Lady is a Tramp,“ ”Nobody Does It Better,“ and ”Treat Me Rough.“ Joining us on the stage next was Mark Levy, who charmed us with Mr. Maraczek’s song, ”Days Gone By“ from the musical She Loves Me. Up next was Julie Reyburn, who haunted us with her gorgeous version of ”Another Winter in a Summer Town“ from Grey Gardens, followed by Tony Imgrund, who gave us a glimpse at adorable with ”The Kite“ from You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown. (And, for the record, we think the revival version is A-OK in our book!)

Annie then paused the show to ask us to admire her earrings... because they were designed by none other than Shana Farr, who was up next to sing ”I Could Have Danced All Night“ from My Fair Lady. (A side note from me, Erin, your blogette- My Fair Lady is a perfect show to sing from when talking about recordings. The lead character, Professor Higgins, is a phoneticist, specializing in dialects and the collector of voice recordings from his gramophone. Much of the show is about Eliza being recorded, and then trying to match the sounds she hears from other speakers. Quelle coincidence! But, I digress... ) Next up was Marya Zimmet, who sang a silky and sultry version of ”Lazy Afternoon.“ Johnnie Kozuch, Annie’s brother, then came to the stage and sang ”Malaguenia Salerosa“ while accompanying himself on guitar. Annie announced that they were a globe trotting family - he was born in Puerto Rico, while she was born in Mexico. It was wonderful having such international flavor during the evening!

Coming up to the stage next was Richie Eisenberg, who shared his clever, original tune ”Never Too Late.“ Deb Berman came afterward, singing the beautiful ”If I Love Again.“ Deb has a show coming up November 2 at the Metropolitan Room at 7pm- hop on over to the club after you vote in the election! Up next was Stephanie Zagoren, who shared her love of Gershwin with ”The Man I Love.“ After that was The Salon’s newest volunteer, Danielle Erin Rhodes (our Times Square Postcard-ette!) who gave us goosebumps with Dan Furman’s original tune, ”The Trouble with Dreams.“ This song is from his new musical, Rip!, which is having a concert at the Puffin Cultural Arts Center in New Jersey on November 6.

Next up was yours truly, Erin Cronican, with She Loves Me’s signature ballad, ”Will He Like Me.“ (I’d be crazy if I didn’t mention that I have a few shows coming up- I’m currently doing the classic British play, Look Back In Anger, which performs through October 30. I am also appearing in a musical reading of Nab-A-Date, which is open to the industry guests November 15.) Next up we had Etceterette Danielle Grabianowski, who wowed us with the playful and touching Jamie Cullum hit, ”Photograph.“ Danielle also has a show coming up at the Metropolitan Room October 28 & November 3, both at 7pm. Up next, Mark and Peter led us through Classical Corner, where we discussed the ins and outs of recording live and in the studio (see the bottom of this post for a list of tips & tricks that were discussed during this segment.) To close out the 1st half of the evening, we were delighted to present the Salon Spotlight - this week with Janice Hall. Janice sang two songs from her show, ”Grand Illusions: The Music of Marlena Dietrich“ - firts was ”The Laziest Girl in Town," followed by ”La Vie En Rose.“ We capped the 1st half of the evening with a birthday cake and song for Salon member, James Eden. (It was delicious, by the way...)

The 2nd set of the evening was led by Annie Kozuch, who sang the Spanish tune ”Nosotros,“ followed by ”I Can Cook Too“ by Bernstein/Comden/Green. Annie then introduced Salon producer Tanya Moberly, who gave us a stunning rendition of Peggy Lee’s ”I Don’t Know Enough About You.“ Tanya is working with the benefit ”Zani’s Furry Friends“ as well as being a featured guest at The Iguana on November 3. Following Tanya was Scott Tucker, accompanied on the piano by Steve Watts. Scott recently married his long time partner, and shared with us a story about his song, ”Sailor“ - he had planned to sing it at his wedding but instead of singing he found he was crying through the whole song! So, he brought it to the Salon so that he could get a clean recording to present to his new husband. I tell you, there wasn’t a dry eye in the house!

Coming to the stage next was Salon Board Member, Sue Matsuki, who sang a fun and spicy version of ”Lullaby of Birdland.“ Up next was Salon Sponsor, Father Jeff Hamlin, who dedicated his song, ”The Impossible Dream“ to birthday boy, James Eden. James then followed with a song from one of his favorite musicals: ”Double Talk“ from the Cy Coleman show City of Angels. Following James was Blogette-on-Vacation Sierra Rein, who finally got to sing the full version of ”This Place Is Mine“ from Maury Yeston’s Phantom, after singing only 16 bars in audition after audition. We all agreed that she’d blow the roof off the audition room singing any amount of measures from this song! She's now singing for Kevin McMullan's show "Twist of Fate" at the Laurie Beechman Theater (thru December4th) , and is in the cast of Musical Monday Theater Lab's reading of "The Good Girl" on Thursday, Oct 28th. Annie then finished the evening with the amazing & gorgeously sung ballad, ”And The World Goes Round“ (from the Kander/Ebb revue of the same name.)

Special thanks to Peter Millrose, who provided an incredible service Sunday evening. For those of you who recorded, we will be sending notifications of when the tracks are ready to be listened to and purchased. In the meantime, a little bit about our fine recording engineer: Peter has been ”in the mix“ for over 20 years and specializes in live cabaret recordings, piano/vocal demos, VO Tapes, transfers & editing. You can reach him at www.millrosemusic.com.

And, here are 8 tips & hints about Recordings, via The Salon’s Classical Corner

1) Try to spend time in the booth before you start your recording - get to know the acoustics as much as you can.
2) If you have you own mic that you love and trust, bring it with you.
3) Try not to record and mix on the same day - give yourself some space of a few days before you start mixing.
4) Do at least 2-3 takes, get a CD of all performances, and sleep on it!
5) You’re never going to get your performance just the way you want it. As Peter says, ”Don’t let the search for the perfect get in the way of the perfectly good.“
6) If at all possible, record the band while you are singing. Even if you are not recording your voice at the time, having your voice in the musicians’ headphones as they play will enhance their performance.
7) When setting mics at a live event with multiple instruments, be aware that a little bit of the other instruments will bleed into each individual mic. To help fix this problem when mixing, consider placing voices together that are on opposite sides of the spectrum (for example, a soprano singer near the upright bass.) The engineer can usually tune out the opposite frequency and get a pretty clean sound.
8) If you have several live performances, record 2-3 of them. That way, you have some choices to mix between.


NEXT WEEK! --- NO SALON (It’s Halloween, go get dressed up and have fun!)

TWO WEEK’S FROM NOW -- NOVEMBER 7 - Co-Hosts Edd Clark & Sue Matsuki present optional theme, ”Here Come the Holidays!" where Salon attendees can sing songs about any holiday. Special points go out to those who find songs about obscure ones, like “Peanut Butter Lovers Month” or “National Accordion Awareness Month“ (no joke, they exist.)


-Erin Cronican
The Blogette for The Salon

The Salon Wrap-Up for October 17, 2010 - "The Great American Chorus Line-– A Tribute to Gypsies Everywhere"!

Valerie Lemon

It wasn't all bangles and tarot cards, but The Salon was filled with gypsies on Sunday! The theme of the evening was "The Great American Chorus Line-– A Tribute to Gypsies Everywhere," and certainly our co-host of the evening has some wandering in her past - Valerie Lemon guided the singers through the evening, extolling us with stories of her 12 years as principal vocalist for Marvin Hamlisch, in the National Tour of The Student Prince, and her Jane Froman Cabaret show. She will be performing "Valerie Lemon sings Music by Marvin Hamlisch" at Feinstein's this coming Sunday at 8:30!

She started out the night's festivities with an ebullient "Sunshine, Lollypops and Rainbows." Then, David Rigano performed his original (and bet-inspired) piece "One Night in Paris" - David has a slew of things happening: he is co-director of Can I Really Date A Guy Who Wears A Yarmulke?, his show Facing East is being developed by Nathan Gardner with a libretto by Mark Garcia and will have a world premier in 2011 before opening in New York. After David, Kathleen France woke the saints up with "I Just Wanna Be a Star" from Nunsense. She is working on a Linda Ronstadt show for 2011, so keep an eye out for that. Sunny Leigh next sang "Love is Where You Find It" in a gypsy soprano voice. Her CD show "Sweet Feelings" will showcase her pop rock vocals and a full band, at the Metropolitan room on November 6th, 4pm.

Matthew Ward played piano and sang the song "Everything Happens to Me," and then Valerie's good friend Pamela Dayton sang the diva comedic song "Broadway Boogie Woogie" by Ed Kleban. Pamela was a gypsy herself in the tour of "The Producers" and has been on Broadway herself...but as she said "it's not always been an easy road." Michael Colby next sang "The Gypsy Love Song" (music by Gerald Jay Markoe, lyrics by Colby) and had us all singing in the chorus! Next, Marianne Berson sang, with Rolf Barnes at the piano, a Barnes original piece (lyrics by Mary Rich) called "I Can't Handle the Loneliness." The two of them will be working on a CD, to be announced and released soon.

We then had a treat from Danielle Rhodes - a true International gypsy - as she read directly from some personal journals she had on hand while she was travelingwith the European tour of Grease, on the Oliver tour, and on the Footloose tour. She had written about the process of writing and lyrics, a humorous breakdown of her scene changes and lines, and even wrote down a limmerick-poem! She then sat down at the piano and played her original instrumental, which will become the theme for her future musical, she says. Richard Eisenberg sang a sexy story-song about a sultry woman in "Alterior Motives," and Mark Levy sang "The Two Grenadiers" by Robert Schumann, as a little pre-intro to the Classical Corner.

And next was the Classical Corner with Mark Janas! Mark parlayed what he spoke of Robert Schumann in a previous evening - how he writes in two voices (lyrical and angry), and asked a number of singers and performers to sing and play piano on some different Schumann pieces. He gave into both the mercurial and the mars-war sides of his own personality, and Mark played a number of concerto familiar to Schumann's work. Matthew Ward then played piano "The Prophet Bird" from Schumann's "Forest Scenes" song collection, detailing that it's very much a mix of mysterious bird-like sounds and chorale music. Mark returned to the piano, remarking how Schumann was very much a text and tone painter with music. They then went on to the Lieder series, and how the settings of Schumann's works are so specific in landing emotional points, harmonies, rhythms, and even how the vowel and note sits in the voice. Sierra Rein then sang #1 and #8 from "Frauenliebe und leben," a song cycle of a woman's experience with love and life. Bill Zeffiro ended the Classical Corner by singing "Widmung"("Du meine Seele, du mein Herz"), a musical setting to a richter poem, in a robust voice (and spotless German I may add).

To close out the first half, we then came back into the 20th century with David Ballard singing "What Would I Do?" from Falsettos. Sierra Rein (who will be backing up Kevin McMullan in his gypsy-inspired show "Twist of Fate" starting this Saturday at the Laurie Beechman, 4pm) sang a mashup of "Savoy" and "The Joint is Really Jumpin' in Carnegie Hall," and then Annie Kozuch (co-host of the Salon on 10/24!) sang a the playful "I Double Dare You." Annie will be co-host of this upcoming Salon theme "The Recording Arts/Demo Night Part II with Peter Millrose."

After the break, our gypsy lady of the hour, Valerie Lemon, took to the stage to sing "Traveling Life" and "At the Ballet" from A Chorus Line, admittedly many years away from her days singing as a waitress in New York! Bill Zeffiro returned to the piano to play his song "The Final Daze" and to tell us that his gig at Flute each Thursday has been moved earlier to 8-11pm (but he may stay until 12 if the mood suits him!). Tanya Moberly, who will bring her "Theatre Songs" show back to Don't Tell Mama on December 14th, sweetly sang "Lion Tamer" from The Magic Show. Salon favorite Jane Glick brought in "Welcome to the Theater," and announced that she does indeed have a show in the works. Then Shana Farr sang an incredible combination of "Let Me Entertain You" from Gypsy and...well, let's just say a surprising number from Avenue Q...

We then welcomed Gladys Nilsen and guitarist Jaime Diaz back to The Salon to sing "Chile, Chile" and "Gracias a La Vida" in honor of the saved miners in Chile. Songwriter Ray Jessel and tenor Stephen Wilde then presented two songs from Jessel's musical treatment of "National Velvet": "I See it In You" and the show's chorus-of-jockeys number, "What a Way to Make a Living." Ray has a great photo in the Wall Street Journal article on the October 13th entitled "A Stage for Stars and Fans Alike." Ray will also sing at the University Glee Club (it's Free!) on October 26th!

We then welcomed sound man and composer Tommy Schull to the piano, where hey played a very gypsy-sounding score he wrote for his twin brother's film. Stearns Matthews, with a beautiful clear voice, sang "What I Saw" by Brian Lasser. His show "This Will Be..." will be on October 30th and November 6th and 4pm at the Laurie Beechman Theater. Valerie Lemon then closed the evening with a touching "What I Did For Love," and then roused the audience into a singalong of "One" from A Chorus Line (and I was on hand to do a little kickdancing in the back with David Ballard!).

NEXT WEEK! The optional theme for the evening is “The Recording Arts/Demo Night Part II with Peter Millrose". Peter Millrose will once again be recording the entire Salon evening! Check out our previous blog entry on the matter, but it will be run very much like all other Salons (only Mark will be on hand to cue audience applause, just in case the singer wishes for an entirely "studio" sound to the recording).

-Sierra Rein
The Blogette for The Salon
Spelling mistakes? URL's I missed? Did I mess up? Please email me.

Update from Producer Tanya Moberly!

SALON, that unique, Bistro & MAC Award winning Weekly Open Mic Event created and hosted by Mark Janas returns to Etcetera, Etcetera - 352 West 44th Street, NYC 10036 - on Sunday, October 24th from 7-10:30PM.

"A Stage for Stars and Fans Alike" - The Salon mentioned in the Wall Street Journal - Oct 13, 2010 ! Visit www.markjanasthesalon.blogspot.com for details.

We are running a Special for the month of October. Bring two new people and get in for free! That's right! BRING TWO PEOPLE THAT HAVE NEVER BEEN TO SALON BEFORE AND YOUR ADMISSION IS FREE!

The optional theme for the evening is “The Recording Arts/Demo Night Part II with Peter Millrose". Peter Millrose will once again be recording the entire Salon evening! That means that everyone will have the opportunity to listen to a studio quality, live recording of their performance via the internet before deciding whether or not they care to purchase it for a $30 fee. Salon will run as it normally does - Peter will just be recording it live. (For more information: http://millrosemusic.com) Whether you are interested in having a song recorded or not – the theme is “The Recording Arts”. Bring the song you love to listen to or the song recorded by your favorite singer; a the song from that record (LP, 45, CD or iTunes) that means something to you or a song you've always wanted to sing for your friends and family and then send it to them for the holidays!

Remember, any material, on or off theme, is always welcome at Salon.

Our Co-Host will be that Rising Star Annie Kozuch! Her debut CD, Here With You, is currently Number 6 on the CMJ Jazz Charts! Annie will be at The Metropolitan Room, 34 W 22nd Street, NYC, 10010, 212-206-0440, on October 21st, October 28th, November 4th & November 11th. She will also be at Barnes and Noble, 1972 Broadway, NYC 10023, for a performance and CD signing on October 27th at 6pm. Admission is free. For more information: www.anniekozuch.com.

Our Salon Spotlight will feature Internationally Celebrated Singer Janice Hall! Janice is making her New York cabaret debut at The Metropolitan Room, 34 W 22nd Street, NYC, 10010, 212-206-0440, November 3rd, November 6th , November 13th, November 21st & December 8th. For more information: www.metropolitanroom.com.

There will be a $10 cash cover at the door UNLESS YOU BRING TWO NEW PEOPLE, IN WHICH CASE THERE'S NO COVER CHARGE FOR YOU, collected by 'Etceterette/Blogette', Erin Cronican, and a $15 food/drink minimum (cash or credit) per person. (For further information visit www.etcrestaurant.com or call 212-399-4141). There are no reservations; seating is on a first come/ first served basis, with one intermission. Doors open and sign up begins with 'Etceterette', Danielle Grabianowski at 6:15pm.

Salon continues every Sunday (EXCEPT Oct 31st, November 28th & December 5th) through December 19th!

October 31st: NO SALON

November 7th: Here Come the Holidays!
Co-Hosts: Edd Clark & Sue Matsuki

November 14th:
Theme: All God's Creatures
Co-Host: Sarah Rice

November 21st:
Theme: Flower Power – Music of the 60's & 70's
Co-Hosts: Lennie Watts, Scott Coulter & Steven Ray Watkins

November 28th: NO SALON

December 5th: NO SALON

Visit our website at www.markjanasthesalon.com and look for us on Facebook!

Here's some important information about the Salon you should know. The Salon is an ongoing open entertainment event in which singers, writers and musicians share their talent with each other and audience members. We are currently enjoying our new venue, Etcetera, Etcetera where there is a $10 COVER (cash) AND a $15 FOOD/BEVERAGE MINIMUM (cash or credit). You may sign up to perform starting at 6:15 by seeing one the evening's 'Etceterettes' to fill out a card with your name, the name of your song, whether it's a ballad or an up tempo,(up tempos and comic songs are greatly encouraged!) and any upcoming events you'd like the co-host to announce. Please remember that we do not present performers in order of sign-up and, due to our time restraints and other variables, filling out a card does not guarantee you will perform, but we do our very best to get you up! It is usually a good idea to bring a few different song choices to avoid duplication. All types of material including spoken word are welcome at the Salon but please limit your selections to three or four minutes in length and please bring clear, complete charts for Mark to read. Sitting on the piano is not allowed, nor is flash photography. If you would like to add a (or remove your) name from our list, e-mail me at tanyamoberly@juno.com.

Looking forward to seeing you all Sunday, October 24th!

Thanks,

Tanya Moberly

Producer-Sierra Rein
The Blogette for The Salon
Spelling mistakes? URL's I missed? Did I mess up? Please email me.