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Frank Marocco 1931-2012

Mon, 5 Mar 2012 08:44:53 -0800

The world’s greatest accordionist passed away March 3rd. I was lucky enough to have worked with Frank many times over the years. From several songs on records of mine (Retro Metro, Sad Salamanders) to numerous TV cues, to Frank even playing at my 10th wedding anniversary party. His level of musicianship was astounding. He always made a track better than I ever could have imagined it would be. And aside from all that crazy musical ability, he was an incredibly nice guy and fun and energetic and always looking for ways to make music better. Every time he’d come over for a session, I would watch with awe as he opened his case, revealing that beautiful instrument that had played on so many recordings. It was like watching film, TV, record music history. And then he’d touch the keys and beauty would appear. Out of seemingly nowhere. I used to tell Frank that he must have paid a fortune for that accordion because as far as I could tell it didn’t have any wrong notes on it. He was just that damn good. I’m so lucky to be able to sit here today and listen back to so many pieces of music with Frank working his magic on them. He will be missed. Here’s a couple of tracks that Frank played on with me.

Remixing songs for “Grace”

Wed, 19 Oct 2011 08:11:54 -0700

A couple of months ago, I had the great pleasure of working on a one hour drama pilot for ABC called “Grace.” Unfortunately, it wasn’t picked up. It was a great show created by Carrie Ann Inaba (of Dancing With The Stars fame) and Krista Vernoff (from Grey’s Anatomy) and starring Eric Roberts. Dance Choreography was by Mia Michaels. I did probably 12 or so remixes of songs and some original cues as well. Working with everyone from Carrie Ann to Krista to Mia was incredible - they’re all very creative, fun people. Throw in how great it is to work with Dawn Soler (head of music for ABC) and the music super on this show, Frankie Pine - and well, it was pretty much a dream gig.

Here are a couple of tracks I did for the show.

Tightrope (original track by Janelle Monae) This remix features the “blow your mind” vocal chops of RaVaughn Brown (Glee).

This next one is a remix of Seal’s classic “Crazy.” Don’t know if any of you need a great male singer - but if you do - Ken Stacey should be your “go to” guy.

DO YOU WANT IT BABY?

Tue, 22 Feb 2011 16:46:55 -0800

Last night, Feb 21, on ABC Family, the hit show GREEK used another song from Sweet 17’s album SUPABEAT. About 30 some odd minutes into the show the ZBZ’s perform to the song for their pledge competition. It’s hot, sexy and lots of fun. Check it out the whole episode at http://abcfamily.go.com/shows/greek

As always, songs are available at iTunes.

Special thanks to Beth Wernick at Imaginary Friends Partners for getting us on the show!!!!

How Impatient Is Too Impatient?

Wed, 1 Dec 2010 10:17:40 -0800

I often get accused of being too impatient. I want everything to happen yesterday. No matter what project I’m working on, even one without a due date, I feel like I’m behind. And shit, once a project is done - I want it out there! I’m going through it a bit right now having recently pushed the door to the theatrical world about a quarter of an inch. The play that is getting some attention right now, “Drawing Straws”, was finished in October of 2009. We held a reading here at the studio for about 25 people on Thanksgiving weekend of 2009. It was accepted into a festival of new plays for another read through in July of 2010. Then we got a producer in New York interested and we just did a read through there - one year after the first read here at the studio. In NY, we got additional interest so now we are looking at June 2011 for another reading back east. That’s over a year and a half and it hasn’t even been staged yet! If I’m one of the luckiest people in the world and this makes it as far as Off Broadway or Broadway it will most likely be in 2013! Or 2014! And in the midst of my complaining about how long it is taking, everyone involved with the project who knows better is telling me I’ve skipped many steps and we’re on the fast track! The fast track? I could be dead by the finish line!
All right, calm down. Learn to accept the pace that things move at. That’s what I tell myself. It isn’t much help. So what I’ve decided to do is, since these plays are on somewhat of a 3 year cycle, I’m now pushing to get additional plays in the pipeline so that months and months don’t go by with nothing happening. I think that’s key for people who create product. Keep things coming. Don’t rest on the last thing you finished. Otherwise you kill yourself making it, then it sits there! I imagine the more popular creators in the world have people who take over and run with it - but in this internet/DIY world, I think for most of us, as soon as we finish creating, the real work begins. Promotion, distribution, word of mouth, blogging, posting, on and on and on. It’s the same for books, music, plays, scripts. Yes, it’s great that big entertainment companies are not always needed anymore with the invention of the internet, but sometimes I feel like I just added 3 more jobs to my resume.
Don’t bad mouth impatience. Impatience is key to success. That’s my opinion. As the originator of something, it is up to you. And only you. You have to be the first person to believe in it. Then you have to convince everyone else. But how impatient is TOO impatient? When does one’s impatience hurt a project? We all know you have to push hard to move projects forward. But I guess if you push too hard there’s the potential you could alienate people involved. Or piss people off. Or come off as a real dick.
For me, I use my closest friends and business associates to gauge how pushy I am. If my wife or partner in the project mentions “backing off”, I’m pretty sure I need to back off. A little. I wish I had more to add and suggest in regards to making projects successful but my feeling is most people probably don’t push hard enough. Aren’t impatient enough. Most people I talk to need motivation (which to me is a synonym for impatient) In retrospect, I should be writing a blog about how to BE impatient. How to keeping pushing when it ain’t moving. How to stay positive in the face of unrelenting reluctance. Good idea. Stay tuned.

New York Backers Reading of “Drawing Straws”

Tue, 30 Nov 2010 07:50:23 -0800

The above picture is from The Jerry Orbach Theater and the backers reading of my play “Drawing Straws” on November 18, 2010. From right to left, Robin Dearden, Sean Wing, Bryan Cranston and reading our stage directions, our NY producer, Danna Hyams. I do have to say that walking up Broadway to the theater for the reading was quite a thrill. I have walked Broadway many times - not always looking for hookers but sometimes to actually see a show - but to walk it when you are going to a theater for something you are involved in . . . well, it’s an emotional moment in life. The actors did an amazing job and we have gotten some great response from backers. We hope to be back in June for another reading. Reading aside, we stayed at my favorite new hotel in NY - The Chatwal. (130 W 44th between 6th and 7th). The hotel used to be Stanford White’s Lamb’s Club. Very art deco. Very new. Very cool. I knew I was home when I saw that the first drink listed on the bar menu was an Americano. As Lucy says in the play “The drink that gives drinking a bad name.” The staff and management at the hotel were superb. Service was incredible. I highly recommend it.
One other plug here - and might I say without any compensation whatsoever! - we ate for the second time at Mario Batalli’s Otto Pizzeria at One Fifth Ave. It’s incredibly good and not expensive. The Pasta Carbonara is fantastic. Great pizzas and side dishes as well.