Warren Malone

GREAT TALENT ON TAP for ARTISTS WITHOUT WALLS' ROCKWOOD MUSIC HALL DEBUT

New York-based singer songwriter Warren Malone is originally from Manchester, England and has played thousands of gigs on stages, street corners and bars across Europe, Ireland, and the United States, playing with Steve Earle, David Gray, Lucinda Williams, World Party and many more. Currently embedded in the folk scene of New York, Warren has released four albums in three years—including Spit ‘n’ Kisses, featuring members of the Tori Amos band. Here’s what one reviewer said of Warren Malone, “Malone has created an absolutely amazing album. And The Ants Ate The Bee never sounds the same twice/absolutely spellbinding/each listen feels fresh and different/The album is like a audio kaleidoscope/And then there’s that voice…an entirely unique instrument that sounds like a slightly androgynous soul singer/this album deserves repeated spins.” Here’s a quote from Warren: “I try to be good, I love to sing, I sing all day, everyday.”

Popular New york based jazz singer and stylist Tara O’Grady is currently recording her 4th album Irish Bayou a tribute to the Irish in New Orleans. Tara was chosen to perform in New Orleans at the city’s Famine Commemorative Gala–the Irish in New Orleans love her unique fusion of jazz and Irish music. She has a concert on Nov 21 at Swing the Teapot in Floral Park, Queens, or you can catch her every Monday at the NYLO Hotel and every Tuesday at the Refinery Hotel swinging jazz, blues and folk with her band in Manhattan.

Sasha Papernik is a Russian-American pianist, singer, and composer. She has recorded three albums of original music and has been a featured artist in Lincoln Center’s Meet the Artist, Lincoln Center Local, and Carnegie Hall’s popular Musical Explorers series this year. This week, in addition to Rockwood, Sasha will be performing with her piano duo at the Bruno Walter Auditorium in celebration of her newest recording project: an album of piano four hand and solo music called Four Hand Band!

Veteran actor Jack O’Connell has appeared on stage and in film and TV. Recent favorites include, Inside Llewyn Davis, Doubt, Knight and Day and Men in Black 3. Jack will co-star in the soon to be released Medal of Victory. He also co-stars with Michael Cera in the YouTube favorite, Brazzaville Teenager. Jack will be performing Bob Dylan’s “Desolation Row.” If you haven’t seen this you’re in for a treat.

Deni Bonet is a pop/rock singer/songwriter and classically trained violinist who has recorded and performed with R.E.M., Sarah McLachlan, Cyndi Lauper, Scissor Sisters, and Warren Zevon among many others. She was an original member of the cast of the nationally syndicated NPR radio show “Mountain Stage”; singing and performing in her own right and accompanying guests on the show. Deni left the show to pursue a solo career, with a mission to prove that there is more to the violin than concertos and hoedowns. She has performed at Lilith Fair, Carnegie Hall, the United Nations, and just recently performed at the White House for the President, First Lady and Vice-President of the United States. Deni Bonet has become an in-demand act, headlining various festivals, performing arts centers, clubs, colleges and international venues. Her music has been featured on HBO, NBC, American Airlines, several film and modern dance projects, and has been described by the Wall Street Journal as like “Sheryl Crow meets the B-52’s”.

Aisha Badru is a 22 year old singer-songwriter from Yonkers, New York, who will be making her debut appearance at Rockwood. Aisha, a self taught guitarist, has been inspired by a diversity of genre and style, which has allowed her to create her own, very unique sound. A fourth year college student, Aisha plans to pursuit a career in music. She is currently putting the finishing touches on her debut EP.

"THE ATMOSPHERE IS ELECTRIC' at an AWoW SHOWCASE

“The atmosphere is electric; it encourages creativity, imagination, and very importantly, friendship and discussion between like minds amongst the audience and the performers. Everybody is welcome at Artist’s Without Walls.” Eimear O’Connor, Ireland, author, Sean Keating: Art, Politics and Building the Irish Nation.

Here are a few of the great moments from AWoW’s 10/22/14 Showcase:

Ron Vazzano performed a monologue entitled “Ten Totems of Obsolescence in Passing,” adapted from an essay he had posted online in his monthly “Muse-Letter.” This stunning piece, that ran the full gamut of emotions— from pathos to joy— captivated the audience. A highlight, was his bemoaning the fact that the 100 Watt bulb had now been replaced by a new squiggly fluorescent one, which he suddenly produced from his jacket pocket with an existential bewailing: “A light bulb that will outlive me!”

Ceramic artist Sana Musasama began her compelling performance, which included a filmed photo-journey of her art and travels, stating that as a world traveler she seeks out the comfort and protection of women in traditional cultures. She visits markets that are dominated by women who invite her into their lives, guide her and teach her; they feed her passion. Describing her mission, Sana said, “Heart first…you touch lives and you are touched by life.” A riveting presentation.

Dan Yurkofsky, Noah Hoffeld,and Melissa Stylianou performed “Wyoming” and “MIddle of the Road”, songs from Hoverhill, Dan’s recently released album of his original songs. “Wyoming” featured Melissa’s gorgeous singing voice and Noah’s superb cello playing. Both songs displayed Dan’s evocative composing and lyric writing style. Hoverhill is available for purchase on CD Baby and Amazon.

Liz Queler and Laurie Lewis, were joined by musicians Mike Visceglia, Seth Farber and Robin Daniels in a piece written expressively for their AWoW performance called “The Owl and the Pussycat. Here are few of the audience’s comments:

“Everything about it was perfection—the contrast between the nursery rhyme and your narrative, the beauty of the underlying melody, Robin’s eerie percussive touches, it all coalesced into an incredibly moving and emotive piece of art.”

“Wow. That was wonderful. It came together beautifully and moved me to shiny tears. I expected the piece to be poignant, but the joy and hope came from the performance.”

“I just loved the piece – as lulling as a lullaby but oh so subtly becomes an adult odyssey, daydream, night mare….”

Israeli born Jazz guitarist Idan Morin said, “My playing is based off of jazz, but is influenced by rock, classical and world music. The music that I write tends to be very melodic, cinematic at times.” Idan began his set playing an improvised intro to an old jazz standard called “My Ideal,” followed by the actual tune. He followed with two originals, the first called “Mental Comp” and the second “Movement.” Idan is clearly staking out his own territory with his technical brilliance and melodic sound.

Richard Deane read a scene from his novel in progress “When Yesterday Comes.” In this scene Richard invites us into the private retrospection of a young woman reflecting upon the psychological abandonment and abuse that haunted her childhood. Elle Hatcher’s survival comes at the cost of her innocence and portends consequences that will affect not only her own life but those of her younger sisters. Richard’s words evoke a universal poignancy meant to scratch below the surface of our sympathetic responses to life’s tragic disappointments.

Warren Malone and his son Gibson lit up the theatre with three inspired tunes. Warren began with one of his own works, a soulful tune called “Ash and Smoke,” then was joined by his son Gibson on piano for “Good Golly Miss Molly” and “Mean Woman Blues.” Have a listen below.

Artists Without Walls next Showcase will be at The Cell Theatre on November 25th. For more information contact info@artistswithoutwalls.com

Photos by Vera Hoar.

PHOTOS from the ARTISTS WITHOUT WALLS' SHOWCASE at THE CELL, OCT 22, 2014

Vera Hoar’s photos from the Artists Without Walls’ Showcase at The Cell Theatre, October 22, 2014. The names of the photographed appear above each photo.

Ron Vazzano

Laurie Lewis, Mike Visceglia and Liz Queler

Gibson and Warren Malone

Noah Hoffeld, Dan Yurkofsky and Melissa Stylianou

Sana Musasama

Richard Deane

Idan Morin

Steve Silver and David Sharp

STELLAR LINEUP for ARTISTS WITHOUT WALLS' SHOWCASE at THE CELL, WED, OCT 22, 7pm

“Artists Without Walls allows the various artists to bring things they ‘make’ to The Cell, to share with others. Sharing my neon animations last night was a real honor. To have been able to offer the crowd a touch of fun and joy is the icing on the cake for an artist.” Jack Feldstein, animator and scriptwriter, after a recent AWoW Showcase.

And they’ll be more of the same on Wednesday, October 22nd, 7pm at The Cell Theatre, 338 W23rd Street, NYC.

Ron Vazzano is a writer and poet, and his monthly on line “Muse-Letter” (a mix of essays, reviews, poems, quotes, wordplay etc) just reached its tenth anniversary this month. Ron’s essays have been posted on the Artists Without Walls’ website and he’s also read his poetry on a number of occasions at Showcases over the past year. In a former life, he spent some years as an actor appearing in theatrical productions in New York City as well as on the road. Ron will be working in both capacities on Wednesday, doing a character monologue that he has adapted from an essay appearing on his website this month, entitled: “Ten Totems of Obsolescence in Passing.”

Laurie Lewis is a nationally and internationally acclaimed composer/producer/owner of Incommon Music, an original music production company, established in 1990. Incommon Music has produced hundred of scores and songs for film, commercials and multi media installations. Joining Laurie will be Liz Queler who is a touring and recording artist. Liz’s first theater piece ‘Still Will be

Heard’ was recently commissioned and produced by Montclair State University to rave reviews. AWoW is delighted to reunite Laurie and Liz – a songwriting and production team that began 25 years ago. They’ve developed a piece called “The Owl and the Pussycat” specifically for Wednesday’s performance.

World traveler, humanitarian and ceramic artist Sana Musasama will be joining us once again this Wednesday to discuss her efforts on behalf of abused young girls around the world and her work, which as she says, “Is about an experience that triggers an emotion, sometimes of a place or a time.” She then submerges herself with information that informs these ideas and concepts. “When I feel this overwhelming presence I poetically call my extra heart beat. I then pick up my clay and begin to build.” If you missed Sana when she visited us six months ago here’s another chance to meet this very compelling woman.

Singer/songwriter Warren Malone loves to sing, write songs and play guitar. “I love traditional folk music as much as I love a great pop song. The first record I ever put on was a Hank Williams’ record when I was four years old. As a kid I loved Elvis.” Joining Warren on the piano for some old time rock ‘n’roll will be his son Gibson Malone. If you haven’t heard these two play together you’re in for a treat

Richard Deane will be reading a scene from his novel-in-progress, “When Yesterday Comes.” At a reading earlier in the year Richard read a scene that poignantly explores the existential conflict between a cabdriver’s skittish trepidations and the allurement of his prurient desires as he drives two menacing street pimps uptown to Harlem on Christmas Day. We’re looking forward to another excellent passage from Richard’s work.

Singer/composer Dan Yurkofsky will present two songs from his recently released CD “Hoverhill. “Although he now resides in New York City, many of the songs on the record are inspired by life in Santa Fe, New Mexico where he lived for several years. He’ll be joined by two of the outstanding musicians that play on the album: cellist Noah Hoffeld and singer Melissa Stylianou.

Idan Morin, a guitarist who hails from Israel and studied at the Tel Aviv Conservatory of Music and more recently at the New School for Jazz and Contemporary music in NYC, grew up studying the giants of jazz and musicians from all over the world. His ability to communicate without words is cleary present in his music and Improvisation.

Hope to see you at The Cell this Wednesday.

THE SIGHTS and SOUNDS of an ARTISTS WITHOUT WALLS' SHOWCASE: Part II

Haven’t been to an Artists Without Walls’ Showcase? Here are some of the sights and sounds you’ve been missing. Music provided by Warren and Gibson Malone, Sasha Papernik, Jenai Huff and Deni Bonet.

WHAT A NIGHT! AWoW's SHOWCASE at THE CELL 8/26/2014

It was another splendid evening of performances at Artists Without Walls’ Showcase at The Cell Theatre this past Tuesday. Mark Donnelly got the evening started with the opening monologue from his new play No Dead End (still a work-in-progress). A terrific performance, plus cool props — black-and-white posters of Humphrey Bogart, James Cagney, Spencer Tracy and the Dead End Kids in the background.

Honor Finnegan roused the crowd with her humorous lyrics and powerful voice. She sang a new song, “Fortune Cookie”, on which she played the ukulele; Aviv Roth joined her on guitar for Christine Lavin’s hilarious “Air Conditioner Song”, followed by Honor’s rousing blues, “Internet Junkie”. At the break, Honor was seen enjoying salted peanuts at the bar. Channeling Dizzy Gillespie for a future tune, Honor? “Salt peanuts. Salt peanuts!”

Cannes Film Festival and Obie award winning actress Renata Hinrichs gave an engaging and riveting performance of a section from her solo show, Random Acts. The play brings humor and pathos to a time in our history we shouldn’t soon forget. Tickets are now on sale for her second show, October 18th at 6pm, in the United Solo Festival Link to tickets: http://bit.ly/1nuGzZT

Warren Malone, a New York based singer/songwriter who is originally from Manchester England, was joined by his eleven-year old son Gibson for a rousing set. They began with a Jerry Lee Lewis tune, “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On,” with Gibson on the piano, pumping out a driving boogie pattern with his left hand while his right added some flashy ornamentation. They followed with Warren’s poignant song about his father, “Whole Life Blues,” and concluded with another great flashback, Fats Domino’s “Blueberry Hill.” A sensational performance by this very talented father and son duo.

Nicholas Garr opened the second half of the Showcase by giving a wonderfully moving and hysterically funny performance from his solo theatre piece Paper Tigers, which explores our shared issues of love, sex, ambition, and self image in a world where things are often not as they appear. And the lobster outfit was incredible!

Marty Kleinman, the popular New York storyteller, read an excerpt from his new short fiction collection, Home Front. Careening between heartbreak and hilarity, Marty’s tale took us on a white-knuckle joyride through the convulsing Bronx landscape of the late 1970s. Through his spot-on dialogue of ne’er-do-well characters, and keen observations of life during New York’s nadir, we were reminded that there were darn good reasons why “Fun City” apartments could be had so cheaply back then.

Last night, Steve Simring’s mother returned from the grave to tell a sympathetic audience about her less than successful marriage. She rarely made mistakes, she said, but she screwed up royally when she married Simon. At last, according to her, she found vindication and understanding in a group of lovely, caring people at the Cell. She’s happy to report that today she is resting peacefully. Perhaps she’s recovering from expending so much breath in the final moments of her act. You had to be there!

All in all, a great evening, bringing AWoW’s Summer Showcase Series to a close. The next Artists Without Walls’ Showcase will be at The Cell Theatre on Tuesday, September 23rd, 7pm, 338 W23rd St.

Photos by Mitch Traphagen

For more information on Artists Without Walls contact info@artistswithoutwalls. com

MITCH TRAPHAGEN'S PHOTOS from ARTISTS WITHOUT WALLS' SHOWCASE at THE CELL 8/26/14

Mitch Traphagen’s photographs from Tuesday’s Artists Without Walls’ Showcase at The Cell. The names of the photographed appear above the photo.

Mark Donnelly

Honor Finnegan

Renata Hinrichs

Warren and Gibson Malone

Nicholas Garr

Martin Kleinman

“Mrs” Simring

Niamh Hyland

Charles R. Hale

The Evening’s “Cast of Characters”

BRILLIANT LINEUP ON TAP for ARTISTS WITHOUT WALLS' "SHOWCASE AT THE CELL" 8/26

Why attend an Artists Without Walls’ Showcase? Here’s what poet Connie Roberts said about a recent event. “It was a thrilling, life affirming night—life-affirming in the sense that an Artist Without Walls’ showcase highlights beautifully, often spectacularly, our shared humanity. In our fast-paced, rat-race lives, it is easy to feel disconnected from the world, from our fellow man/woman. But then you have a space like AWoW has created, where people bring their stories and share them—their hurts, betrayals and joys—in various mediums, with a bunch of other folks, who have their own stories. It’s as if by magic, the whole room experiences a sense of connectedness, real-time affirmation that we’re all part of a rich and complex tapestry.”

We have a great line up planned including Mark Donnelly who will perform the opening monologue from his new play No Dead End. Set in Los Angeles in the late 1980s, No Dead End explores the blurring of movie fantasies and reality through the friendship of a film librarian and an aging actor. Mark writes plays, poetry, short stories and nonfiction. Mark holds an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from Brooklyn College and is an adjunct English professor at St. Francis College in Brooklyn Heights.

Honor Finnegan is a Kerrville New Folk Song Contest Winner, and an accomplished vocalist. She will be sharing a couple of her songs, and covering one by Christine Lavin. Aviv Roth will accompany her on guitar. She will be peddling CDs so bring your spare change.

Renata Hinrichs, a Cannes Film Festival and Obie award winning actress, will present a section of Random Acts, a solo piece she wrote about growing up on the South Side of Chicago in the late 60s. Her father, a young Lutheran minister, wants to change the world, and her mother just wants to be the perfect pastor’s wife. Renata is performing in the United Solo Festival on Theater Row, Sunday, Oct 12th at 2 pm.

Nicholas Garr has appeared in film, TV and Broadway. “Lobsterman” is an excerpt from his solo play, Paper Tigers. Nick appeared at a Showcase earlier in the year and meshed his great physicality and comedic skills with piped in sounds as diverse as spraying mouthwash, bullets flying through the air and screams to create an intense piece of theater.

Martin Kleinman, a native New Yorker, who was born and raised in The Bronx, returned in 2010, after living in Manhattan, Jackson Heights and, for 25 years, in Park Slope, Brooklyn. Over the years, he has written a novel, screenplays and a recently published collection of New York-centric short fiction. Martin will read a short section from that collection, from the story called “Home Front.”

The Cell's Artistic Director, Kira Simring and Steven Simring — **The Cell’s Artistic Director, Kira Simring and Steven Simring**

Steve Simring is a forensic psychiatrist with more than a passing interest in theater. In his quest to understand his long deceased mother, he has attempted to channel her and explore her long and problematic marriage to his father. He’ll be doing just that on stage this Tuesday.

And maybe a short film and an additional song or two. So join us Tuesday, August 26, 7pm for a great night of entertainment and conviviality at The Cell Theatre, 338 W23rd St., NYC. See you there.

UPCOMING ARTISTS WITHOUT WALLS' EVENTS

Pianist/singer/ composer Sasha Papernik is getting married Saturday Aug 23 in North Carolina to fellow musician Justin Poindexter. Performing the service will be legendary composer/jazz musician David Amram. A “bluegrass wedding” in the Blue Ridge Mountains is planned with AWoW members Annette Homann and Tara O’Grady in attendance. Congratulations Sasha and Justin.

Artists Without Walls Showcase at The Cell Theatre, 338 W 23rd St., NYC. Tuesday, August 26th, 7pm. With Renata Hinrichs, Warren Malone, Honor Finnegan and more.

And down the road a bit. MAGDALEN, written and performed by AWoW member Erin Layton, will be presented by the 2014 United Solo Theatre Festival. Venue: Theatre Row, 410 West 42nd Street. Date and Time: Friday, October 3 at 6PM. Tickets: $18; Click here to purchase tickets. Click on “Find Tickets” and go to Friday, October 3rd at 6PM ONLY or call (212) 239-6200. Ask for tickets for United Solo show MAGDALEN.

NICE PHOTOS AND WRITE UP IN THIS WEEK'S IRISH ECHO

The March 26th Artists Without Walls’ Showcase was an incredible evening. Here are a few of Vera Hoar’s photos as they appeared in the Irish Echo.