I was at the bar Splash in Chelsea a month or so ago for "Musical Mondays" with my friend Mark, and an incredibly talented woman performed. It's tough out there, I thought, if someone this fantastic isn't a huge star. Or maybe I was just a few vodka sodas in and so thrilled to hear someone sing 'The Trolley Song" that I couldn't tell if she was good or bad? Regardless, it got me thinking about doing one's own publicity. A few years ago, I wrote a blog post about why you should hire a publicist. To sum it up: you hire a publicist because … [Read more...]

Cole Haan, a high-end label that sells men's socks for $18, is now providing footware for Urban Explorers (i.e. people who live in a city?) like myself. My friend Megan sent me this, which appears to be a suede Cole Haan boot meant for...concerts at the Bowery Ballroom? The sketch is clearly of Bowery Ballroom, whether they got permission or not: OK first? They spelled "Guarantees" wrong. "That also looks cool"? If you have to point out that it's cool, it's probably not? "Rock a comfy boot"? Rock, get it? For a ROCK show. And … [Read more...]

I keep talking about launching a secret Twitter feed called "Dumb Artist Tweets", which I guess I can't do now that I've told you all. But really, there is some Truly Terribly Tweeting out there. As blogged about here, I think publicists/managers/"social media experts" ((shudder)) Tweeting as artists is a waste of everyone's time. The entire point of social media is that you have this immediate, unfiltered, access to the artists, and if they "don't have time" or "aren't into that stuff", then they should interact with their fans in other … [Read more...]

The heavens have smiled on us today, friends. Oh, happy Thursday! "Have you seen this picture of Helene in the Tonhalle Dusseldorf brochure?" my friend Andy e mailed this morning. And no, no I had not. I'm not sure if she's supposed to be some kind of romance novel Little Red Riding Hood, ...or perhaps Poison Ivy? Das rotkäppchen, Helene's title, translates to The Wolf, so I guess she is, in fact, supposed to be Little Red Riding Hood because of her wolf conservation efforts? Although wolves are demonized in Little Red … [Read more...]

It's my blog and I can self-promote if I want to, self-promote if I want to, se-lf prah-mote-if-I-want-to. I've been working with Housing Works Bookstore Cafe on a new series for classical musicians and authors called "Safe Space". Musicians will play about a half hour of music, authors will read original material for 15-20 minutes, and then there will be a discussion About Art. There are always Hip Young Things hanging around Housing Works, so we figured why not try putting the classical music there, getting smart artists to talk to one … [Read more...]