The Reading Rockstars

Michael and I have gone under a few different names... our givens names, J-Gro... We once had a grunge metal trio that we toyed with naming "Lode Gun". But then Mike Reola (the 3rd member) had to go and move to L.A. Party pooper.

Last night, at the elementary school where Michael teaches 1st grade, we were "The Reading Rockstars". There's nothing like playing r&b classics to an auditorium full of screaming children. If you can't smile after that, you're taking life way too seriously. Michael got to play the drums, something he looks for almost any excuse to do legitimately. It was a blast. I even signed an autograph and gave my balloon hat away to one of the kids :)

In other news... My album shipped today. The shipment is supposed to arrive at my door by the middle of next week. I am counting the hours.

Last Week

A little busy, but no complaints since my last update. I didn’t get a chance to blog about my show last weekend at UnWINEd, which was due in part to how successful it was. Close to 30 people signed up for the mailing list. Just about everyone I spoke to wanted on. Consequently, the time I might have spent blogging was instead spent adding the new names to my address book and sending out a welcome message. Not a single email bounced back, which means that a.) I could read their writing (which isn’t always the case, especially when the audience is drunk) and b.) all the addresses are real. It’s nice to be appreciated. Really, it’s hard to describe how refreshing and rewarding it is to perform for an audience with open ears. To those who know me personally, I know I keep going on and on about this, but it's true. I guess I've been longing for something like this a little more than I realized. Michael is back from Madrid now, which means we’ll be together again at UnWINEd this coming Saturday. We played at Jose O’Reilly’s last night in Norwood. Even that went better than we expected and felt a little different than I remembered. We added a few names to the list there as well.

Something a little interesting… This guy came up to me after the last set and wanted to know how to play “Stand By Me” (that was our last song). I showed him. He seemed really appreciative. It was kind of weird. That’s never happened to me before. He went on to tell me how he had started learning to play the guitar over the past few years and had recently been practicing a lot. I guess it stayed on my mind because it’s nice to think that no matter where you are or what time it is (in this case, it was 1 AM on Saturday night/Sunday morning), music never loses its ability to inspire. Knowing that I very often get to be a part of that experience makes me feel lucky.

In other news, I went to a Mets game this Thursday. The new stadium is awesome. I had very good seats courtesy of a very good friend. He might make a Mets fan out of me yet.

YouTube

I finally figured out how to post some clips on YouTube. It was a lot easier than I thought. Enjoy.

UnWINEd

Last night was about as much fun as any performance I can remember. And the end result is going to be a residency of sorts at UnWINEd at Symphony Space. Michael and I have been given an open invitation to perform there weekly on Saturday nights. We probably won’t be able to fully embrace the schedule right away because of some prior commitments. I will be there this coming Saturday (the 11th), flying solo. The music should start around 8:30 or 9 and go until 11 or 12, depending on the crowd. I’m planning to do a Bill Withers tribute set. The few of his song’s that we covered last night were well received. I love his music, both listening to and performing it. I hope you’re as excited about this as I am. I’m determined to make the most of this opportunity. I think there’s real potential for a great scene here. As always, I’d love to see some familiar faces in the audience. UnWINEd at Symphony Space has great food, desserts, wine, and beer, and there’s never a cover charge.

On a slightly different note, yesterday afternoon before the show, Michael and I were in the recording studio working on the J-Gro EP (our duo project). More to come on that…

Impromptu Show Last Night Leads to Impromptu Show This Weekend

Last night I discovered -- and by "discovered" I mean my good friend Michael invited me to -- a vibey little performance venue on Manhattan's Upper West Side. The place is called UnWINEd. It's a wine bar on 95th Street just west of Broadway, right next to/beneath Symphony Space. Michael is Mike Clifford, a musician seriously worth going out of your way to hear (he's bound to show up on my other blog, probably in the not so distant future). I sang most of the first set with him, which felt pretty good. People seemed to enjoy it. Apparently, the manager dug it. After I left, he asked Michael if we could come back Saturday night. We'll be there from 8:30 to 10:30 if anyone wants to hang. To be continued...

The Kevin Haden LP

Well, it’s taken longer than I anticipated, but it’s finally done. I sent the master CD to Disc Makers for manufacturing yesterday. Lots of thanks are owed to many, but at the front of my mind right now is Carl Crott, who devoted so much time, effort, and creativity to the visual design and artwork. The album is entitled "Volume I: Humanism" and it should be available in May. For those of you that know me, I expect to have copies in hand before the end of the month. Maybe if you’re nice, you can get one early :)

I'd Better Get Used to This

I'm officially starting the PhD program in music at NYU this fall, so I'd better get used to thinking and writing about my own music. What better way than by starting a blog?