Deirdre Broderick: News

ok, so it's february 11th and STEVE JARRELL, the daddy-o on the patio, has just flown in from nashville on the last plane before the snow. no problem (we repeat to each other like a mantra for the next 24 hours). so nyc wakes up on sunday the 12th to 27 freaking inches of the stuff and it's still flying! i call up JOSEPH GARGANO, sid's business partner and the co-promoter of the event..."are we still on, joseph?" not missing a beat..."we're still on, deirdre"...that's the spirit! so i collect the daddy-o and we trudge downtown to THE CUTTING ROOM - me with my guitar and him in his loafers...the valiant crew unlocks the club and we get our soundcheck underway. the phones are ringing off the hook with people making sure we're going on (hell yeah!) and we do some quick jiggling with the evening's program...we're going to have an audience and we're going to give 'em one heck of a hootenanny!

first up is "that guitar man" from central park - DAVID IPPOLITO. guitar slung, tanned and barefoot, he launches into a mixed set of beatles and originals, melting the room with his charm and his music. lucky for me, he calls me up to duet on "all my loving"...

next up is me! a golden opportunity to flex my jazzy arrangements of "can't buy me love" and "in my life"...i also throw in some solo lennon and solo mccartney tunes and a few of my originals...

then it's the daddy-o himself - STEVE JARRELL - stepping in at the last minute and warbling a little beach music for the crowd. he said in honor of the beatles he was going to sing something, and he did - we picked a key and be danged if he didn't sing "something"!

our next surprise guest was none other than KATE TAYLOR! she had appeared at the venue just a few nights before and gallantly trudged through the snow, got up there with her guitar and mesmerized the crowd country-style...

then young MYLES MANCUSO blew the folks away blues-style with his multi-instrumental talents and the drumming backbone of his dad, nick.

last up was liverpool import NEVILLE SKELLY - a top-coated crooner in the smoothest tradition. it was my pleasure to accompany him on his beatles tribute numbers.

and speaking of beatles tributes, somehow all of us pulled together with no rehearsal for a spirited set at the end featuring "twist and shout", "love me do", "hey jude" and sid's favorite song in the world "imagine". good thing i'd spent my tortured puberty locked in my room learning all my beatles albums - sure came in handy to pull them out of my hat on february 12, 2006!

all in all, we had a great full-house crowd, everybody was singing along and laughing and crying and eating personal pizzas (i only know that for certain 'cuz they smelled so good from where i was sitting...at the piano) snow??? this is new york city!!! we don't let a little blizzard get us down...especially not when we're given the honor of being presented in THE CUTTING ROOM by JOSEPH GARGANO and the great SID BERNSTEIN!!!! i've been told repeatedly that this was one of the best nights of people's lives - i know it was one of the best in mine.

so steve jarrell is a dj down in tennessee who goes by the name daddy-o on the radio! anyway, he's an independent (none of this clear channel crap) so he can play whatever he damn well wants to. so sid bernstein and joey gargano had a speaking engagement down there in nashville and introduced him to my music. anyway, he gave me a great talking-up on his show today! he played the beatles "please please me" and then spoke for a minute about how yesterday was the anniversary of one of their album releases xxxx many years ago and that sid had called in to speak with him on the air yesterday. and then he went on to talk about how the beatles started their career by covering many artists of their day and in that tradition that sid had introduced him to me and my music. he said my cover version of "in my life" is "the best beatles cover i've ever heard" and that he was going to play it now and then come back to let people know how they could find me on the web. so then he spun my track and sure enough, he came back and started with "dang! that girl can sing!" he then proceeded to spell my name very carefully and give my website address so people could look me up. he said i'm a songwriter as well and they should give a listen to my music on my site 'cuz they'd really enjoy it...that i'm an up and comer and he wishes me all the luck in the world - "not that she needs my luck with a voice like that". so, that was incredibly great and such a wonderful thing for him to do - i'm looking forward to checking the numbers on my website tomorrow to see if some new people came to visit me...i've had a huge spike in my numbers this month already (about 5000 hits so far) so i'm definitely getting the message that you all are listening! THANK YOU!!!

so, i now have the distinction of being passed over by blue note records TWICE. thank you. evidently i'm not a fit for their label, not commercial in their particular way, but i do have my merits! that's always very reassuring, don't you agree? so my question for you, gentle reader, is how would you like me to proceed? i've noticed there are more of you checking in every month - THANK YOU - and it's been suggested that perhaps i should assemble an album. you know, self produce it and make it available for sale here on the site. whaddaya think? would you like that? or maybe i should just have a bake sale? email me either on the guestbook page or at deirdre@deirdrebroderick.com........i await your advice!

so i get all gussied up and get down to blue note for my big 2nd meeting with bruce lundvall. again, he's very warm and encouraging and asks to hang onto my cd's so he can listen to them at home. it's an oddly pleasant, friendly kind of familiar feeling being there with him again and still i'm a little confused as to what the thinking is behind the meeting...perhaps i'm being gently dissected?

so, this is really unheard of, or so i'm told: our marvelous friend sid bernstein has evidently been leaving messages all summer with blue note records. and being the gentleman he is, mr. lundvall has now returned the call. armed with the best showbiz quote i've heard in a long time, sid to bruce: "you may have too many female singers, but you don't have deirdre broderick!" guess it was a convincing argument 'cuz now i have a 2nd interview! hmmm...

ya know, it's a wonderful feeling to sit back and hear someone else take your work and make it their own. i had the pleasure of hearing catherine dupuis sing some of my lyrics on thursday night at the jazz club iridium. i know what i'm thinking when i choose the words, but a great singer can take those same words and live inside them - make them immediate and universal. and if those words, delivered on the river of a great melody, can transport someone hearing them, the lonely hours spent with pen and paper are suddenly transformed into the most intimate communication. intimate and vicarious all at the same time, actually. it's great to be the lyricist!

ok, so the lesson is that there is no black and white - only beautiful, smoky grey. i got a letter from bruce lundvall yesterday basically saying that he thinks my work is very good, there have been some recent "budgetary issues" which prevent him from doing anything about me at the moment, but he enjoyed our meeting and encourages me to send him material in the future. so...not too shabby and pretty nebulous all at the same time! ah, the glamour of the music industry...

so the reason i couldn't post all this news before now was because i was afraid if the blue note people accessed my site to check me out, they'd read all this and stick pins in me or something. well, i think the danger has passed...

turns out after a couple of weeks of deliberation, blue note is my personal blue not. sid gets a call from the first assistant (you remember her from the last story...) and she has the lovely job of telling him that blue note is afraid that they already have too many female soloists on their roster and they're a bit cash strapped SO they are going to have to pass on me. blahblahblah they really liked me and my work blahblahblah. so sid meets me for chocloate eclairs (glaser's on 1st ave. and 87th street by the way...) and breaks it to me gently. ah well...we'll always have paris. oh wait, that wasn't me...

anyway, onward and upward. sid's determined to get me placed with some label...i don't know. maybe this way is actually better - do it yourself -"damn the man" kind of grassroots...what do you think?

ok - so NOW i can tell you what's been going on... well, i told you about the legendary sid bernstein coming to my show in december, right? so, we really hit it off and he's taken me under his wing - which is AMAZING because this man has worked with the greatest icons in music history. no really! seriously - google him... your jaw will drop like mine did. anyway, sid decided he wanted to help me get heard. SO, he called up his old friend bruce lundvall who happens to run blue note records (!!!) and tells him that he needs to meet me and listen to my music. again, i say (!!!!) so, what follows is a dramatic retelling of my fateful trip to oz on an early spring afternoon:

so i get to the offices of blue note/virgin/EMI records and am ushered into a cavernous, grecian temple-looking waiting area which is sparsely furnished with 2 mod black chairs, a grand piano and a very groovy receptionist sitting at a flat screen computer. the first of mr. bruce lundvall's assistants comes out to greet me and to tell me that he'll be right with me. she disappears behind a frosted glass door and i'm left with the scrawny reception boy, the bouncing echoes of his typing and my thoughts of how this experience is beginning to feel like visiting the wizard of oz.

the second assistant to mr. lundvall appears from behind another frosted glass door and invites me to follow her into the inner sanctum. we pass down a corridor, flanked by gigantic framed album covers of their best sellers - nora jones stares me down as mr. lundvall opens his office door...somehow, he even looks like the wizard of oz - warm and fatherly - a kind record industry executive???

he shows me into his office which is surprisingly human-sized in comparison to the entrance i've just experienced. the walls are bluish-grey, the carpet a darker grey, the furniture a mix of highly polished mahogany and black velvet. the walls are covered with framed photographs of 40 odd years of mr. lundvall's associations in the music industry, icon next to legend; the side tables heavy with awards and memorabilia. lena horne peeks at me over his shoulder as he says with a smile - "so sid bernstein tells me i should listen to you!" "well, that's why i'm here..." i say, mustering my best confidence...i proceed to tell him the strange tale of how i actually met sid bernstein at a bus stop one afternoon and how we hit it off from there and he laughs. "so what did you bring for me to hear?" "plenty! but i can start you off with this sampler disc...it's got 5 songs on it." "originals?" "4 originals and one arrangement of a beatles song." "good. ok, well i won't need to hear that...are they instrumentals or vocals?" "vocals." "good. i'm not looking for instrumentals right now...so let's let the music do the talking now..."

he pops the disc into his stereo and cranks the volume up so high lena's teeth began to chatter. thinking it might feel creepy to make eye contact with the man as my voice is blaring, i look around the office - still keeping him in the corner of my eye...the first song starts - "the ninth" - just one guitar and an upright bass and my voice way up front in the mix - this is the most exposed song i have recorded. i see him freeze at his desk as the first verse spins. i'm thinking "frozen record executive" could be either very good, or very bad...he's silent and let's the song play to the end. he looks up and into my eyes and says "well, sid's right about you. you have an amazing voice." (!!!! i guess "frozen" is good) "so tell me...what's the significance of 'the ninth'?" "well, i can't give away all my secrets, but it's the birthday of an ex." "ah...now it all makes sense...very good."

the second song spins - "a fitting song" - again i survey the room...noticing that his foot is tapping along to my drum tracks...it suddenly strikes me that i'm sitting in the office of one of the 3 most influential men in the music industry, and he's listening to my music and liking it. my head's about to explode. he plays the track to the end and asks "did you do the production on this as well?" "yes...i'm a bit of a one man band..." "very impressive!" suddenly the intro starts on the beatles song "in my life". instead of skipping over it, he seems intrigued, picks up the cd liner to read the title, and let's it play all the way through. at the end, he looks up, nodding his head, "that was very good. what's your primary instrument?" "piano...then i moved onto keyboards and picked up the guitar." "and that's you playing on these tracks?" "yes sir." "very impressive..." he smiles and i offer - "that beatles track is kind of sentimental...i recorded it as a birthday present for my husband..." "well, he must have liked that."

the fourth song is "i won't forget" from the soundtrack album. again he's tapping that right foot and playing the track through to the end. "i bet you didn't write that one about your husband!" "hey mr. lundvall! you've done this before, haven't you..." "i've been married for 46 years...i know a thing or two."

the last song on the disc begins - "smack" - my dirty little kitty-dance song. there goes that tapping foot again, now joined by the pencil beating out the cymbal hits on the notepad. it plays to the end - "i'm going to say that you wrote this about your husband, but before you were married..." "that's uncanny!"

we smile at each other for a few seconds. "great! it's all great. i think you're very fresh. i really like your voice and i really like your writing. i'm very impressed. your vocal quality's different on this last song..." "well, that's my theatrical background - sell the lyric..." "ah...i like it. you have performance experience in theatre?" "yeah, but also i've spent the last year gigging around nyc..." "great. do you have anything else for me?" "well sure! i have 3 more discs in my bag! but i've broken the songs down into categories, if you're interested: naughty songs, jazzy songs and poppy songs." he looks at me and says, "i want them all." did i just see lena horne smile at me from over his shoulder?? "i'm going to listen to these tonight...i wanted my a&r man to sit in with us but he got tied up on a project. so i'm going to give him these discs, and there are a few more people in the office i'd like to hear these. it'll take about a week for everyone to hear everything - so how about we give you a call in a week?"

ok. so this is happening, right?

we sit chatting for another 10 minutes or so..."where are you from? where did you go to school? you have a very strong voice - good projection..." " years of church work..." "went to good use...how long have you been married?" "almost 3 years." "ah...you'll figure it out soon enough..." (this is going very well - he's so nice...and he really heard my music...this is a good match....)

it's been about a half an hour now. he didn't interrupt our meeting...he played my music all the way through, without skipping or fast forwarding...he's reiterating that he's impressed and they'll call me in a week. we shake hands and i turn to leave. "hey! i have to tell you a story about sid bernstein! sit down..." and so he launches into a tale of 2 music guys travelling on a train in france in the late 70's..."be sure to tell sid i told you that story!" " i will..." we shake hands and i'm out the door as his phone starts ringing.

i'm waiting at the elevator block. the giant paper head of norah jones is peeking at me from around the corner. another office door opens and a man stands next to me waiting for the elevator. i say "they keep you late here at emi..." "nah...this is an early one. i have to go listen to somebody play at 7...hey...was that you singing earlier?" "it had to be me...he was playing it so loud!" he looks me up and down - "you sounded wonderful." "thanks!...i sort of felt like i'd gone to meet the wizard." "yeah...bruce is the wizard, but i'm his dr. no. i'm the one everyone's scared of." the elevator opens and another man is inside - "nobody's scared of you, tom." tom shakes my hand and introduces himself and the other elevator rider. "and you are..?" "i'm deirdre." "great to meet you. you sounded really wonderful..."

the doors open and suddenly i'm out on 5th avenue in that pink nyc sunset with evening crowds rushing on all sides. i head for the uptown bus in my heels wondering if i'm going to need to put together another outfit next week...

hi - well, unfortunately the month of january was spent saying a very long goodbye to our beloved little friend, teddy. for those of you who were unaware of young master ted, he was a super hero chihua-ier and my muse for a too-short year and a half. on february 12, his little body could no longer sustain his huge spirit and he left us for other dimensions. he is very missed and now i look forward to being haunted by him - the more obvious the better, is what i'm saying here! don't give me any of that "gently blowing curtain" or the "scritchitty scratch somewhere in another room at 2am" crap. i want the "HOLY SHIT!!! IT'S THE TRANSLUCENT VERSION OF TEDDY LICKING ECTOPLASM ALL OVER MY FACE" ghost version. dammit.

so the december show at Danny's went so well that i'm only now able to write about it...we were PACKED, and also had a critic, a theatrical representative, and a legendary music promoter in attendance. not too shabby! the legendary music promoter is none other than the man responsible for the Beatles at Shea Concert and the entire British Invasion - the famous Mr. Sid Bernstein! Google him - his career and impact on American music will make your little heads spin... anyway, the show was great good fun, nobody lost an eye and we all lived through Christmas. any questions?

so here we, fast approaching the apex of the holiday season...what a perfect time to sing a melancholic christmas set! i just can't help myself - i can get so introverted that i wind up back on the outside again. nothing like a good cry under the tree, huh? just watch the wires...

so on this coming monday night, nov. 22, i'm gonna get up and sing a little something at nyc's classiest musical "happening" - jim caruso's cast party at birdland. it's a wild night...you never know who's going to show up, blow up or throw up but it's always a hoot an' a holler and lots of music and shenanigans. so if you're free, come on down - it really starts cooking at about 10pm and there's only a $10 minimum (great portabello and goat cheese sandwich, by the way...) here's the pertinent information:

Monday Night at 9:30-10-ish pm
BIRDLAND
315 West 44th Street (between 8th & 9th)
212-581-3080
No Cover, $10 Food/Drink Minimum

and manning the piano is the legendary billy stritch - you've gotta hear this guy play...

and now - talk amongst yourselves...

hello again - just wanted to let you know that i had the pleasure of singing for 3 mondays in october at a swanky club on the upper west side called MAKOR. it's a very cool room, actually a part of the 92nd St. Y organization. norah jones used to appear there every wednesday for awhile - before all the statuettes started piling up on her piano...anyway, i was very happy to be invited up to perform and look forward to more opportunities there in the new year.

also, i had the pleasure of hearing some songs i'd written with composer russ kassoff performed at club opia by the great jazz singer, catherine dupuis. what a great night! i'm thrilled that catherine and russ will be recording these songs in the coming months and look forward to hearing them broadcast on jazz radio all over the place...

and how weird and wonderful to be served up in cyberspace via a website - seems i'm being googled and msn searched by folks i haven't heard from in ages (go ahead - admit it - you're keeping tabs on somebody, aren't you..?) be brave! drop me a line on the guestbook...chances are i'd like to hear from you. unless you're, well, you know who you are...

more later - d

Hello again! Well, it was a great show - even though the fabled "Ghost of the Skylight Room" failed to materialize...Actually, I think I may have felt a cold breath on the back of my neck harmonizing with me on "I Got It Bad"...Many thanks to all in attendance (ectoplasm included). Any comments are welcomed on the guestbook page - or just give us a sign...

Well folks, here we are. You are present at the birth of a website. Many thanks to Derek Sivers, Stacy and the folks at Hostbaby for making this possible. Ya see, I'm a grateful guinea pig for their maniacal experiments in website creation. They asked me if I wanted to build a site from scratch using their developing technology and templates and such. And so, with no personal or practical knowledge of how to put together such a thing, voila! If you happen to be in the market for putting together your own swanky new website, I'd highly recommend you try this...

Now, aside from all this technological wonder, I'm hoping you like what you're seeing here. Let me know on the "guestbook" page, ok? And check back in later 'cuz I'll be adding more MUSIC and stuff and changing things around. See you then!