Message and Thanks from Producer Tanya Moberly

From Producer Tanya Moberly:

SALON WON THE MAC AWARD FOR BEST OPEN MIC FOR THE SECOND YEAR IN A ROW!!!

Thank you to all of our Salon members and all of the MAC members who voted for us!

THERE WILL BE NO SALON MAY 22ND through JULY 3RD. (Mark Janas will be in Maine with “The Marvelous Wonderettes”).

SALON, that unique, MULTIPLE 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, July 10th from 7-10:30PM. House Opens/Sign-Up Begins at 6:15.

July 10th:
Theme: Myths & Legends
Co-Host: Adam Shapiro

Salon will then continue every Sunday through Labor Day!

In the meantime, check out The Free Concerts at Tudor City Greens hosted by Raissa Katona Bennett on May 25th (rain date May 26th) & June 22nd (rain date June 23rd) at 6:30pm. For more information: http://www.tudorcitygreens.org./

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

Thank you to our sponsors Dr. Garrett Bennett & Father Jeffrey Hamblin, MD!
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, July 10th!

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 May 15, 2011: "Moulin Rouge"

Stephen Hanks

While there was no long line of leggy kickdancing girls, the Etcetera, Etcetera stage on Sunday was filled with characters that certainly could have performed on the Moulin Rouge stage a hundred years ago.  It was an exciting evening, one that celebrated The Salon's win the previous Tuesday of it's second MAC Award for Open Mic! The theme was "Moulin Rouge," that can-can-do venue of Paris, and the co-host of the show was Stephen Hanks, co-producer of "The Fartiste," the 2006 NYC Fringe Festival award-winner for “Best Musical.”  The Fartiste refers to Joseph Pujol, who literally expelled air from his nether-region to entertain the crowds at the Moulin Rouge itself for six years in the late 1890s.

Mark Janas was dressed in an old-timey bow tie and vest and introduced Stephen Hanks to the stage, who started with the opening credit song from the movie "Moulin Rouge" from 2001, "Nature Boy."  Stephen then aided us through a lesson on how to do a good Jerry Lewis impersonation, and gave us a short history of the Moulin Rouge - the "Red Mill" - which opened in 1889.  Stephen then introduced Erin Cronican, who sang "How Long," and was thrilled to be singing through the role of Guenevere in her "Actor-Own" reading the coming week.  Next, Richard Eisenberg sang a song that could actually have been used in "The Fartiste" - "The Essence of Love" (I'll let your imagination wander on that one).  Then, Barb Malley sang the appropriately inebriated song "As We Stumble Along" from The Drowsy Chaperone, which (as she stated) is what she's going to do for the 7 weeks away from The Salon.  Her show "You Must Remember This" will perform on June 3rd at 7pm, Don't Tell Mama!

Maureen Taylor then sang a David Friedman ballad, "You're There" from Good Time Charlie, which evoked the history of French icons Charlemagne and St. Joan.  She is doing a tribute to Lauren Bacall late September and early October of this year.  We were then treated to Mark Levy, who sang "It Was a Very Good Year" with personalized lyrics for the Salon: "...for lovely Salon girls to sing on Sunday nights / singing for you at 75"...so cute!  Adam Shapiro then sang "A Guy Like You" from Disney's Paris-based The Hunchback of Notre Dame.  And we finally heard the official news: he will be heading out in July to perform in the International Tour of Zorro: the Musical - yay Adam!!!  We then heard Lauren Robert, who absolutely broke down the walls with her unique, smoky-rock rendition of "God Bless the Child."  Kevin McMullan, who recently came back from a trip around the world (including Paris) sang "I Don't Want to Know" from Dear World.  He is planning on recording a studio CD version of "Twist of Fate" and many of his late partner Jim Fradrich's songs in the near future.

Lauren Robert

Sari Schorr then sang "I'm Just a Gigolo," showing off her blues vocal prowess (which was flawless), and then let us know that she is recording a blues album with her band Bertha for Viceroy Music, and is performing at the Iridium this Monday, May 23rd.  The beautiful soprano Jessica Burrows sang Ricky Ian Gordan's "A Horse With Wings" - he has been playing the sexy headliner La Goulou in previews of "The Fartiste," which had a fantastically successful reading on May 12 at the Laurie Beechman.  Then Erin Cronican and Anna Marie Sell did a duet from "Spitfire Grill" - "The Colors of Paradise," showing off some flawless blending of their two voices.  Then, our own waiter David Ballard sang the Edith Piaf song "Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien" in French - he started a cappella, and then was accompanied by Mark midway through!  Sunny Leigh, with Barry Levitt on piano, then sang "This Can't Go On," an original Leigh song that fit her voice beautifully.  Sierra Rein (that's me) came up in bowler had and boots to sing the old Lenox & Sutton song "I Don't Care," and was excited to go with Marquee Five into the recording studio in the next few weeks to record "8-Track Throwback"!  Then, Candice Oden sang "Don't Rain on My Parade" from Funny Girl, almost blowing the roof off!

Erin Cronican and Anne Marie Sell

The Classical Corner for the evening talked a bit about Gershwin - Mark spoke about how a librarian from LA Phil at the Hollywood Bowl once told him that Gershwin struggled once with the second theme of "Rhapsody in Blue." Grofe, who was doing orchestrations at the time, helped Gershwin by just giving it to him right off the bat.  And if you think of it, the second theme to "Rhapsody" matches the feeling of "Sunset" from Grofe's "Grand Canyon Suite."  Mark then talked about how the themes in "An American in Paris" reflected the sounds, emotions, and essences of Paris, and then played "Rhapsody in Blue" from memory as only he can.  We then took a break!

After the break, we heard three songs from "The Fartiste," which Stephen said could be doing a regular run Off-Broadway come this fall. Ah yes, how to truly describe "The Fartiste" to the unprepared audience! Go, read his wikipedia entry...read it? OK, then we will all know about Joseph Pujol and his unique ability! Stephen Hanks brought two cast members from the show’s previews; Jessica Burrows returned, this time in the role of Joseph’s wife Elizabeth Pujol and singing "What Kind of Man Is He?" Herndon Lackey (playing Toulouse Lautrec) and Stephen Hanks (playing Aristede, the club MC) sang the sweetly funny "We Live For Art." Then Herndon switched to the character of Moulin Rouge owner Charles Ziegler and sang "Give ‘Em What They Want," a song that utilized as many euphemisms for farting in its lyrics as it possibly could.

Jessica Burrows

Stephen Hanks and Herndon Lackey

Herndon Lackey

Producer Tanya Moberly, whose legs were one of the reasons Stephen said he wanted The Salon to win the MAC award, sang Sting's "Roxanne" and had the full audience singing the chorus along with her.  Then, Barbara Porteus (with Barry Levitt) sang "All in Good Time" by Barry Levitt and Peter Napolitano; her new show "I Wish It So" (sharing the stage with Barry) will be Wednesday May 25th at the Laurie Beechman at 7pm.  Mr. Levitt himself then stayed at the piano and SANG for once, performing "Pennies from Heaven."  Next, Joey Infante performed "The Boulevard of Broken Dreams," and brought us the dates for his show "Babalu": June 21st at the Metropolitan Room, 7pm - music director Barry Levitt and Directed by Jillian Lauraine.

Tanya Moberly

We then heard from young composer Jordan Siwek, who has been working on an original musical, "Fall," from a concept he came to in a Parisian cemetery.  The song, "Everybody Loves You," is sung by the main character, a pop musician (a la Jim Morrison) who fakes his own death and discovers what his music and fame truly means in the scheme of things.  It was inspiring to hear the work of this young composer, who has continually brought newer and more evolved work to The Salon each time.  After Jordan, Bill Zeffiro sang and played "La Comedia Et Finita, Baby."  Stephen Hanks then closed the evening with the touching "Your Song" by Elton John from the movie version of "Moulin Rouge."

Jordan Siwek

Aaaand...that's it for Salon, until July 10th, when we will return : Adam Shapiro will co-host the evening's theme of "Myths and Legends" (which is fitting since he's going to be leaving for the Zorro tour!).  We hope all our Salon family has a creative, fun, and joyous break, and feel free to keep in touch with us via our Facebook group. 

Mark Janas and Sierra Rein

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

VIDEO: The Salon Backstage Interview at the 2011 MAC Awards, BB King's!

Mark and Tanya, amongst others, are interviewed for NiteLifeExchange.com backstage after the 2011 MAC Aards on Tuesday, May 10, 2011 at BB King's.

Part 1
Mark Janas & Tanya Moberly - Raissa Katona Bennett - Karen Oberlin - Tommy Femia (Judy) & Christine Pedi (Liza) - Julie Reyburn - Marianne Challis - Joseph Macchia - Faye Lane



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

We want to hear from you!

Sierra here! Boy we had a terrific night last night, as Stephen Hanks co-hosted the theme of "Moulin Rouge."  I'm going to take a bit of time this week to type up the blog entry for that evening.  In the meantime...

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/TNZLZRX

That there text is a link to a very short (VERY SHORT) survey that I've put up for our Salon regulars and Salon fans to fill out.  Now that we are taking a break, the Board members want to know what the best communication tool is for you, and we want to hear any good times or constructive criticism you may have of The Salon.  (Criticism you say!?!?! We just won a MAC Award! Yes, but...there's always room for improvement)! So, please take 2 minutes to fill out this survey and help The Salon become an even better Open Mic experience!

Mark Janas will be away at Maine State Theater - the next Salon will be on June 10th, 2011 (Theme to be announced, but the co-host will be the amazingly wonderful Adam Shapiro!!!!) and will resume every Sunday through Labor Day!

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

More Coverage and Full List of the MAC Award Winners (including The Salon!)

More links and images from this past Tuesday's MAC Awards!

BroadwayWorld.com has a full list of winners here, and photo coverage of the ceremony itself - view here - you can also see more photos of our Salon family members backstage here.

Open Mic Award-Salon Host Mark Janas and Producer Tanya Moberly

Host-Variety Show/ Series or Open Mic-Raissa Katona Bennet-The concerts at Tudor City

HostTanya Moberly, Raissa Katona Bennett and Mark Janas



Major Artist Julie Reyburn

Julie Miller (Producer of the night's show), Julie Reyburn and Mark Janas

Female Vocalist-Sarah Rice

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

THE SALON HAS WON THE 2011 MAC AWARD FOR OPEN MIC!

Photo: Stephen Sorokoff

It was a glamorous 25th Anniversary MAC Awards show last night, and Mark Janas and Tanya Moberly were on hand to accept and thank the MAC community for their second MAC Award for Open Mic.  It was thrilling to see them on stage again, and Stephen Sorokoff captured some pictures (below) of them on stage and backstage.

And special congratulations also go to many of our Salon family-regulars: Sarah Rice, Julie Reyburn, Raissa Katona Bennett, and Sean Harkness for winning some major awards too!!!! A full list of winners will be posted soon.

Congratulations all!!!

Photo: Stephen Sorokoff

Photo: Stephen Sorokoff

Photo: Stephen Sorokoff

Photo: Stephen Sorokoff

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

The Salon Wrap-Up for May 8th, 2011: "It's All Relative"

"My mother had a great deal of trouble with me, but I think she enjoyed it."
-Mark Twain

Ahhhh Mother's Day was on Sunday, and it was time to reminisce about dear old Mama or Papa or any relative at all. "It's All Relative" was the theme of the evening, and Erin Cronican (whose voice Mark Janas rightly described as "clarion") was our funny, beautiful, charming co-host. Mark first began the evening by opening up his memories of his Mom to us.  His Mom introduced him to a wonderful mixture of popular and classical music, gave him a toy piano, and took him to his first audition for a piano teacher as a kid, and his Grandmother taught him how to say the alphabet backwards and forwards (a trick that proved himself to be a precocious child). It was lovely to hear that Mark had such a wonderful, supportive upbringing from his Mom and Grandma.

Erin Cronican, "The Story Goes On"

Erin, who looked fabulous in a dark plaid dress and sparkly necklace, started the evening out with the gloriously emotional "The Story Goes On" from Baby, a perfect song about the ever-revolving mother-daughter circle of life. She then gave us a little back story into Mother's Day - how it emerged from a celebration of Mother Earth, and then became an official U.S. holiday in 1914. Erin then introduced Barb Malley, whose mother always sang while she did chores in an Irish accent and claimed she had "the devil in her soul" when she did so.  Barb sang "When You're Good To Mama" from Chicago. Next, Steven Stein-Grainger (who happens to be my voice teacher - you can check out the Steven Stein-Grainger Vocal Studio online!) sang "American Hymn (Theme from East of Eden)" by Lee Holdridge , a personal favorite of his mother's. He also had a wonderful story of seeing his mother burst into tears outside the Stage Door as soon as he walked outside after replacing George Hearn in Sunset Boulevard on Broadway...Mamas are always proud of their boys!

We had a lot of newcomers to The Salon that night, many of them professional students of Erin Cronican, who runs her own actor's career counseling company, The Actors' Enterprise. Eliza Pupko was the first of these to get up and sing - she sang "Pulled," the song sung by the character of Wednesday from the musical The Addams Family. Next, Joey Infante, with Michael McDonald on piano, sang "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" - his show, "Babalu," is going to be at the Metropolitan Room on June 21st, with Music Director Barry Levitt! We then saw the always spunky-creative Danielle Erin Rhodes, who sang "The Rebuttal," a hilarious song she wrote about relativity and that size does...well...matter, although Mark cried out "I'm not sure that's what Einstein had in mind." Danielle is performing in "Booze In The Boroughs," a new play by Penny Jackson, which runs until May 22nd (more info and tickets here), and then will leave with Mark to Maine State Theatre to do The Marvelous Wonderettes.

After Dani, we heard from next week's co-host, Stephen Hanks! He has a LOT on his plate this week in addition to his co-hosting gig: he is the Board President of Musical Mondays Theater Lab and writes for Cabaret Scenes magazine. He's co-Producer of The Fartiste, which will be featured in The FringeBENEFITS Series preview performance at the Laurie Beechman Theater this Thursday the 12th at 9:30pm. More info here about the Fringe. Stephen sang "Wonderful Baby" by Don McLean, a song he used to sing to his daughter, but which he was now singing to his wife (in attendance). He'll be co-hosting the theme "Moulin Rouge" on May 15th.

After Stephen, Anna Marie Sell, the Associate Artistic Director of Seeing Place Theater, sang the touching ballad "I Won't Mind." I saw her and Erin perform in Twelfth Night, which just closed a few weeks ago - it was a grounded, real production of Shakespeare's play, and I immediately signed up for their mailing list. Anna Marie's got this relatively young theater company going in the right direction! After Anna Marie, Elaine St. George came up to stage with a snippet of "Come Live With Me" from her show "InspiRAYtion." I saw this Ray Charles show last Wednesday, and was blown away by the attention to detail, the wit and style Elaine brought to Ray's songs - she apparently had a fun audience at last night's final performance, so yay for her! We then heard from Blogette Arianna, who sang a haunting piece, "Dante's Prayer," a beautiful, flowing lullaby of a song that was sung almost in a whisper. Arianna can now be seen in the new opera The Death of Don Juan, now playing at the Theater for the New City until May 22nd, and BREAKING NEWS: Arianna is a finalist in BroadwaySpace.com's "Broadway's Next Big Star 2011" competition, so vote for her!

Returning friend of The Salon Lea McKenna-Garcia next sang "Look Mummy, No Hands," a heartbreaking song about the ebb and flow of one woman's need for her mother's attention. Lea won the Relative Presence award that night - she had her mother, grandmother, and two aunts in the audience! After Lea, Kevin McMullan sang the classic song "Mammy" with full energy.  Then we got a song-teaching session from David Ballard, who taught us a gospel song his mother used to sing to him. Harmony was strongly encouraged, and by the end of a few repeated examples, the whole audience was singing along. Next, Sierra Rein (me) sang a song she remembered her mother singing, which in turn her mother remembered her own mother singing: the old-timey song "It's a Sin to Tell a Lie." Etceterette Jan Brennan closed the first half of the singers with "I Want You to Be...," a hilarious song full of Freudian slips and double-puns.

This week's Classical Corner with Mark Janas centered around "Relativity," which in musical terms can reflect upon the many different elements of how notes connect, contrast, harmonize, and create tension with each other. He reflected on how music scoring was the first media we had; the written score finally put down how music moves through time in accordance with what the composer wanted (plays don't move through time like music does), and how we can currently freeze the relativity of everything in time now (with the use of video, audio, and photographic recordings). When a pianist performs the notes on a sheet of music, they have to take into account the relative qualities of each note, the words, tension and release of tension, and harmony. Good pianists knows the relativity of all these things, and can mimic the human voice by emotionally stretching and flexing the timing of each measure. One must "steal from Peter to pay Paul" in music, sometimes throwing the melody to the left hand and then back to the right hand, and trying to make (at least for pianists) the piano sound like a full orchestra through "voicing." Sometimes, "the unimportant notes are more important than the less important notes," Mark said (that blew my mind!). Mark then notes that pianists and other musicians self-diagnose themselves even through a live performance, and just like singers can critique the last few measures sung whilst missing the emotional content of the current measures. For singers and pianists, this is a bad thing; one must feel the relativity of the notes in the moment. Mark then demonstrated this by putting away his sheet music and performing Chopin's "Ab Ballade" with the thought of an almost drunken-like abandonment. He received a Standing O for this, for the piece(which we've heard many times before) sounded completely different, even to us. With that, we took a break!

Mark, like Einstein, has a tendency to blow our minds.

After the break, Erin Cronican (who had all the while been effortlessly guiding and interviewing singers as co-host) got up to the mic to sing a set of three songs. She first began singing "Part of Your World" from The Little Mermaid; however, it soon became apparent what Mark Janas thought of the song, as he kept interjecting hilarious quips and riffs to the increasingly frustrated Erin ("Out of the sea"/"Dinner you'll be" was one of my favorite lyric/quip combos). It was all choreographed good fun, and Erin showed off her comedic acting chops as well as her vocal ones. Next, she sang "Home" from Phantom in her beautiful legit soprano; Erin used this song to reflect upon her own supportive family life. Lastly, Erin brought in an "underserved topic" of discussion, that of "Making Love Alone," which was hilariously paired with her wide-eyed innocence...but we all know better than to fall for that, right? It was a great set!

Erin Cronican

Erin then brought up Producer Tanya Moberly, who sang the gorgeous and emotional "Daughters" by John Mayer. Then Maree Johnson, who is a past Saloner but new to the Etcetera, Etcetera venue, sang "Blue Skies" in a flawless, jazzy voice. She didn't say if she was coming back to The Salon soon, but she and her talent were very welcome indeed. Then, Anita Vasan belted her way (and Mark played excellently) through "And I Will Follow" by Jason Robert Brown...that's a hard song!  Erin then revealed to us that Anita has her own personal show, "Dream Like New York," which is all about the experiences of being an Indian woman in New York - we all look forward and encourage her to bring the show to one of the many Cabaret spaces here soon! Then, Louisa Poster sang a song written "before songs were as explicit as my gynecologist," as she put it...the song was from The Ziegfeld Follies of 1912, "Row, Row, Row." Louisa is currently appearing in Line at the 13th Street Repertory Company.

Anita Vasan

Candice Oden, who I had the pleasure of seeing as Adelaide (Guys & Dolls) in one of Erin Cronican's Actor-Own reading series, then stepped up to sing "Gold" by Frank Wildhorn (from Camille Claudel). Tony Imgrund then sang "Who Is Silvia?" from Donna Stearn's musical farce of "As You Like It." It was a lovely combination of Shakespeare's lyrics and beautiful undulating music. Bill Zeffiro grabbed the piano bench from Mark to sing "Universal Truth," which is soon to be recorded by Terese Genecco and her Little Big Band. Bill also had a reading that Sunday day of a one-act he wrote, and will return to La Mediterrane to bang the keys weekly starting Tuesday, May 17th (this might be a great place for Saloners to sing in the next few weeks!). Erin Cronican then closed the evening by singing the tearfully beautiful and perfectly chosen song, "For Good," from Wicked.  She dedicated this song to The Salon, and was the last song she ever sang in her father's presence before he passed away, so the lyrics "Who can say if I've been changed for the better...because I knew you I have been changed for good" were incredible affecting for all of us. Brava, Erin!

NEXT WEEK! Stephen Hanks co-hosts the evening's theme of "Moulin Rouge." So...put on your high-kicking shoes and bowler hats, wax your moustaches and throw the glitter on! Bring songs in that you can do a kickline to, songs that are in French, songs that remind you of the 1880's Cabaret scene, songs that remind you of the Baz Luhrmann movie, anything goes at the Moulin Rouge!!!

AFTER THAT: SALON WILL BE TAKING A SEVEN WEEK BREAK AFTER MAY 15TH. WE RESUME JULY 10TH AND WILL CONTINUE EVERY SUNDAY THROUGH LABOR DAY!

See you there...then!

-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 - May 10, 2011 "Moulin Rouge"

SALON, that unique, 2011 MAC Award NOMINATED, 2010 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, May 15th from 7-10:30PM. (House Opens/Sign-Up Begins at 6:15.)

The optional theme for the evening is “Moulin Rouge”.

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

Our Co-Host will be Stephen Hanks! Stephen is the Board President of the Musical Monday Theatre Lab, an 11-year-old non-profit organization that presents workshops of new and developing musicals four times each year. He is also Co-Producer (with composer Michael Roberts and book writer Charlie Schulman) of The Fartiste, which won “Best Musical” at the 2006 Fringe Festival and plans to open Off-Broadway in the Fall, 2011. Stephen will be bringing Jessica Burrows & Herndon Lackey from the cast of The Fartiste to perform songs from the show! For more information: www.musicalmondays.org.

Stephen Hanks

 There will be a $10 cash cover collected at the door by 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, Candice Oden.

SALON WILL BE TAKING A SEVEN WEEK BREAK AFTER MAY 15TH. WE RESUME JULY 10TH AND WILL CONTINUE EVERY SUNDAY THROUGH LABOR DAY!

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

Thank you to our sponsors Dr. Garrett Bennett & Father Jeffrey Hamblin, MD!

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, May 15th!

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 May 1, 2011: "Not Just For Kids"

Sierra Rein (left) & Kay "ThePal" Pringle (right)

Special Guest Blogger Kay M. Pringle here! I also go by Kay ThePal, and I co-hosted this past Sunday's Salon with my friend Sierra Rein. It was a total blast to perform and meet so many talented, funny, wonderful people.  The theme was "Not Just For Kids," and centered around those things in life that remind us of childhood, of being childlike, of acting immature and such.  The evening was full of silliness, raucous jokes, puppets, and lively energy!  To open the night, Sierra brought me on stage and I nervously started singing "If You Feel Like Singing, Sing" from the Judy Garland/Gene Kelly movie musical Summer Stock.  I gained confidence as I saw the friendly faces in the audience, and then went into "Rubber Ducky" and "Splish Splash," in honor of the little rubber duckies - those wonderous bathtub playthings - that happened to be lining the side of the piano.  Each singer got to take one home as a memento! Thanks David Gillam for gifting them to us!  Tony Imgrund then came to the mic to sing a mashup of "As Long as He Needs Me" from Oliver and "Bill" from Show Boat; it was a surprising and lovely combination of two heartfelt songs.  You can always present these awesome musical creations at Salon!  Mark suggested I offer a duckie to Tony using only my mouth.  I don't know what kind of weirdness Mark is into, and I flatly said "No!"

When little rubber duckies attack, Mark freaks!

Another, Mark - Mark Levy - then put on a ballcap to one side and jauntily sang "Hello Mudder, Hello Fadder" by Alan Sherman.  I remember listening to that live-taped version a long time ago, boy did this bring back memories!  I asked Mark when the last time he went to camp, and he replied that it was summer of 1948, and that he actually had an "Aunt Bertha."  We then met a crazy-cool character, the "handy-capable" squirrel Shell (MSM's Anna Lawrence), who sang "If I Only Had a Nut" (a parody of "...Had a Brain" from The Wizard of Oz).  Shell was charming, even with her lateral lisp, and I was very jealous of her fancy tail.  I then introduced Julie Reyburn, who attended the Salon with her beautiful and spritely daughter, Layla.  With Mark providing some background music, Julie read from the immortal book "Goodnight Moon," then segued into "Child in Me Again," one of the first songs that she sang with Mark.  Call it a song from the childhood of Mark and Julie's creative life together!  Layla gave me a wonderful drawing afterward, which is now on my refrigerator.

Mark Levy

Kay and Shell meet on stage

After Julie sang, audience members were handed sheet music - one set for ladies, the other set for the guys.  Richie Eisenberg had brought in sheet music and lyrics to "Clean Up The House," a song he wrote for the role of Snow White (ladies) and the Dwarves (men).  Each part was taught their own AABA song, and then both parts were combined and sung together in brilliant counterpoint.  Unfortunately, I sometimes relate to the Dwarves, who "would rather read a book than clean up the house."  So much fun!  Dani Rhodes then kicked Richie off the piano bench and sang/played an original piece, "Next Year."  She was so happy to be back at The Salon, but then announced that she'll be joining Mark Janas at Maine State Theater as a Marvelous Wonderette, and was excited to tell us Dan Furman's musical Rip! (which was featured here at Salon) will be at the Midtown International Theater Festival!  Yay Dani! Yay Dan!
Remember Shell, our squirrel?  She returned, this time accompanied by three more friends, in the Salon Spotlight.  With her was Robin (Adam Behlen), Bernnanut Squirrel (Rachel Policar), and Crow (Christopher Sierra).  They sang from The Secret Music Garden, a show adapted and written by Mark Janas and the Manhattan School of Music Discover Opera students. Songs included "Rockin' Robin," "Nobody Likes Me, Everybody Hates Me," "Children Will Listen," and "She'll Be Comin' Round the Mountain," then all four of them sang a brilliant operatic quartet (adapted and "futz'd" with from Rigoletto) about worms and nuts.  My response? "Holeee crap!"  And I thought the Crow was cute...what?!?! I'm a SBF (Single Blue Female) in New York...you can't fault me for lookin'!

Shell, Crow, Robin & Bernnanut
(Anna Lawrence, Christopher Sierra, Adam Behlen, and Rachel Policar) 

We left the animals of the woods to go meet the fish in the sea, as the leggy Marnie Klar sang "Part of Your World" from The Little Mermaid with sweetness and spunk. Then, Edie Stokes sang Jacques Brel's "Carousel", from her upcoming show "A New Ride on the Carousel: The Carousel of Love" at Don't Tell Mama - May 15th at 6pm and May 24th at 7pm.  Bringing a question to light that has certainly bugged me, Joan Jaffe sang the bawdy music hall song "Red Riding Hood."  Joan's CD "Joan Jaffe Sings Funny" can now be purchased at New York City's Colony music store, on Amazon, CD Baby, or iTunes...she's everywhere!!! You know who else was everywhere that night? Our waiter-man, David Ballard, who sang next and was so cute that I had to ask him out for coffee.  But then he sang the horribly funny original "A Song About Your Baby," and I had to cancel our coffee. Next, he's going to write a funny song about a woman killing her husband...ahem! Such WONDERFUL INNOCENT THOUGHTS here at Salon...sheesh!

The mature, 2011 Bistro Award-Winning Janice Hall regally stepped to the stage and sang the wittily-silly Cole Porter song "Let's Do It (Let's Fall in Love)." Then, she sang the Noel Coward lyrics to this well-known song, reminding us that even our grandpa's generation had childishly dirty minds back in "the days"! We then had Blogette Erin Cronican (who is chronically talented) sing "No One is Alone" from Into the Woods, bringing a loving, warm, tearful lump in everyone's throats.  Erin will be returning to The Salon this Sunday, May 8th, to CO-HOST with the theme "It's All Relative" in honor of it being Mother's Day.  So come back on Sunday to hear and sing songs about mothers, family, or anything that you can bring a relationarish insight into (yes I made that word up, sue me).

The Classical Corner was next, and since I have no piano-playing experience and usually listen to only Judy Garland or Morrissey CD's, I was fascinated by Mark Janas' talents as pianist and teacher.  The music festival he is attending (along with Julie Reyburn and Marquee Five) this summer at Skytop, PA, is doing a jewelbox version of Carmen, and it occurred to him to introduce to Salon how an opera is created.  He brought in many versions of Carmen in book/paper form, starting with the 50-page novella by Prosper Mérimée (written in 1845).  He then showed the libretto, which is adapted from the novella not like a musical (which is direct and more "realistic") but instead is written in an elevated, poetic language.  Musicals "vamp 'til ready" all the time, but operas are precicely written to make the music lead the show rather than the drama and lyrics/dialogue (as traditionally in musical theater).  The composer will then take the libretto and create some sort of musical sketch.  Carmen's character is adamant and uncompromising; even the "Habanera" tango bass intro in the left hand, the "D" is unwavering in staying on its own (ie, it does not change with the chord progression).  Then Don Jose's character is revealed with a beautiful aria, which Christopher Sierra obligingly and gorgeously sang the "Flower Song"—"La fleur que tu m'avais jetée."  Mark revealed that "Toreador" is a made up word from Carmen, and then went into how the structure of the music surrounding Carmen's death (spoiler!) hinted at an ironic combination of death, culture, and the "dark eye" of fate and love awaiting.  Once the overall structure of each character's piece, setting, events, and scene structure is created, an orchestral score (the biggest book, containing the vocal line and each instrument's line of notes from start to finish, is made (composers used to do their own, but modern musical composers often hire others to do so...not opera composers).  Eventually, a reduced singer/piano version is created for easy travel to and from the theater, and to and from open mics like The Salon!

After the break, it was MY TURN! MY TURN! MY TURN!  I first sang "Twelve-Tone Melody," a decidedly silly, discordant, but loving letter from Leonard Bernstein to Irving Berlin.  Then, Sierra forced me to take a break on the piano (talk about indignity!) and sang "There's A Fine, Fine Line" from Avenue Q, a show that she's been gunning for ever since she saw the touring production in Los Angeles.  I was then called back to stage and sang one of my favorite new "special material" songs, "My Moment" by Hector Coris.  Hector moved away to Arizona, but is returning May 12-15th to perform "Around the World in a Bad Mood" for four performances at The Duplex - more info here.  You can watch video of "My Moment" here.

Next to jump onto the creative Salon trampoline was Adam Shapiro (who is a wonderful teddy bear of a guy) and Tanya Moberly (who is a fantastic playdate, but watch out!). They sang "The Doctor is In" from You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown, and even had an adorable "Psychiatrist Help 5c" poster to create just the right setting for the song and these characters.  Tanya is singing at the Zani's Furry Friends "LOVE MAKES THE WORLD GO 'ROUND" benefit concert at Birdland on May 7th, so if you like entertainment and helping animals, definitely go!  And speaking of animals, the sassy Elaine St. George was next.  She told us a great story of loving The Cowsills (the real-life model for The Partridge Family) as a kid, and how she asked her parents for the Cowsills' version of their hit song "Hair," but got the Original Broadway Cast Album of Hair instead.  Elaine then sang "Sodomy" with some of her own original lyrics to reflect upon the life lessons she learned as a kid listening to the OBA of Hair.  Elaine is currently performing her show "InspiRAYtion" at the Metropolitan Room - the last show is this Monday, May 9th, and Sierra tells me it's a great show (part tribute of the music of Ray Charles and part roast of the man, well-crafted, funny, and beautiful) - go see it if you can! 

The Whistler Steve Herbst sang next, with Bill Zeffiro at the piano, performing "Scarlet Ribbons," a simple ballad dedicated "for everyone with little girls out there."  Louisa Poster, who is appearing in the Israel Horovitz play Line at the Thirteenth Street Rep. Theater (the longest Off-Broadway show!) sang the delightful "Dipsy Doodle" from her Betty Hutton tribute show.  Christopher Sierra and Adam Behlen then sang a duet-mashup of "They Say That Falling in Love is Wonderful" and "Song on the Sand," providing an example of how art imitates life (as Mark put it) as well as a great example of onstage teamwork, and with beautiful young male voices to boot!  Adam Shapiro returned to the stage to sing about where he'd like to go on vacation, that pilgrimage of childhood itself, "Disneyland."  It was a great power ballad, full of joy, yearning, humor, and high belt notes!  Tommy Shull, who is practically a baby himself (haha) then sat at the the piano and played a moving piano piece, "Charle's Motivation," originally written by Tommy for a movie score and dedicated to his twin brother.  Unfortunately, I learned Tommy's brother isn't single...darn!  Bill Zeffiro then played the lovely "Waltz For Debbie," which had a gorgeous instrumental opening, followed by sweet and lovely vocals.  I then closed the evening with "What a Wonderful World," reminding everyone to keep the "kid" inside them alive, and to never forget to take the time to look at things with an innocent, open, youthful attitude, and always with that "wide-eyed-in-wonder" perspective.

Sierra and I thank The Salon so much for having me and co-host! A terrific time was had!

Erin Cronican

THIS SUNDAY, the beautiful, talented, lovely, beautiful, smart, beautiful, talented, lovely, blonde and talented Erin Cronican will co-host The Salon, and the theme is "It's All Relative," in honor of it being Mother's Day!!! Feel free to bring your mothers, brothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, cousins, or any other people in relation to you, and certainly come sing songs praising them or songs despite (or "to spite") them. Either way - everything and everyone is welcome at The Salon!

Sierra & I love Adam Shapiro!

-Kay "ThePal" Pringle
Guest Blogette for The Salon
Spelling mistakes? URL's I missed? Did I mess up? Please email me.

Update from Producer Tanya Moberly - May 4, 2011 "It's All Relative"

SALON, that unique, 2011 MAC Award NOMINATED, 2010 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, May 8th from 7-10:30PM. (House Opens/Sign-Up Begins at 6:15.)

The optional theme for the evening is “It's All Relative”.

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

Our Co-Host will be the Fabulous Blogette/Etceterette/Salon Regular Erin Cronican! Erin is the Founder/Producer of The Actor-Own Musical Reading Series as well as a Founding Member of The Seeing Place Theater, an ensemble driven theater in it's second season in New York. Her theatre credits include Cindy in the national tour of “Suds: The Rockin' 60's Musical Soap Opera”. Film & Television credits: “Veronica Mars”, “One Life to Live” and “Cold Souls”. For more information: www.erincronican.com.

There will be a $10 cash cover collected at the door by Blogette, Arianna, 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, Jan Brennan.

Salon continues every Sunday!

May 15th:
Theme: TBA
Co-Host: TBA

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

Thank you to our sponsors Dr. Garrett Bennett & Father Jeffrey Hamblin, MD!

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, May 8th!

Thanks,

Tanya Moberly
Producer

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