LATEST NEWS
Music Review
Celebrating a Southern California Light Before Its Sunset
Lauren Fox at the Metropolitan Room
by Stephen Holden
Photo by Adam Jason Scherer
Upcoming concert:
download poster
Wednesday, October 17th
7:00pm
23rd New York Cabaret Convention
Rose Theater - Jazz At Lincoln Center
New York City
For Info Call: 212-721-6500
CD of the Week
Kati Mac's new Cd "Save Me From Myself"
Kati Mac released a new CD - "Save Me From
Myself" in January 2012. I had the pleasure of playing both
electric and acoustic guitars on the recording. Kati
is a wonderful vocalist and songwriter.
"Save Me From Myself" is available at Amazon.com and Katimac.com
Kati Will be joining us on Mar 4th at the Bean Runner in Peekskil at the Fundraiser for Rob Morsberger.
Sunday, March 4th - 7pm
Living with Cancer - Benefit Concert for Rob Morsberger &
his family
with w/ ROB MORSBERGER, PETER CALO and MANY SPECIAL
GUESTS
Bean Runner
Cafe
201 South Division Street
Peekskill, NY
914-737-1701
WSJ Cafe: Carly
Simon Performs 'Let the River Run'.
Carly Simon sings "Let the River Run" from her new album, "Never
Been Gone," at the WSJ Cafe with WSJ's Christopher John Farley.
Video
of Peter Calo on Joe Viglione's "Visual Radio" program
"Don't be made with Joe, He's reading an article about me, as I'm
playing
a short version of "Cape Ann" from the release of the same name.
Available at www.petercalo.com,
itunes or Amazon.com."
Announcing CD Release - Christopher Brown "Characterist"
August 8, 2011
produced by Peter Calo
Music Review: Christopher Brown – Characterist
by Joe Viglione, November - 8 - 2011
The twelve songs on Characterist present Christopher Brown in
a simple setting, his Harry Chapin-esque story songs sometimes
happy, sometimes plaintive, yet always textured in pretty sounds. “Do
the do over, starting now” is a simple and snappy ode to
reinvention, reworking one’s perspectives in sometimes startling
ways. “Not so polite” is the direction here, to ruffle feathers,
talk louder and get into fights. Provocative talk for a cute ditty, indeed.
Producers Peter Calo and John Walsh played live onstage with Brown back in July of 2008, a video of “Dominoes” (not on this CD) on the CBOnline.net website, both musicians performing with him on and off in 2011. Calo’s work with April Martin, Pamela Ruby Russell and many others is a guiding hand that brings the best out of the songwriter/singers while making sure to not get in the way. That’s a tall order when the tendency is to sometimes bring in some Phil Spector arrogance of a musical director putting his own stamp on the artist’s work. That two producers can work in harmony to get a strong performance on “Got To Give The Devil His Due” is an indication of how well these pros work together – efficiently with the mission in mind.
“Guinevere of Camelot” has an intentional old-world feel and a telling vocal, neo-Celtic and begging for a duet with Loreena Mckennitt. “Cyrano and Juliet” continues the nod to music from years gone by, and a deep and authoritative voice to punctuate the message. Brown says that he’s not even sure if “Characterist” is a word, that he first used it to describe Albert “Al” Hirschfield which Wikipedia calls a “caricaturist” who “was known for his simple black and white portraits of celebrities.” From the “UFO Song” to “One Ice Cube” Christopher Brown is in control…be it as a musical caricaturist (one who specializes in drawing ) or as his new term, Characterist. Perhaps it’s time for him to write a song about that… a title track from this disc to come to life on his next.
Video
of "Takin’ a Sip" from "Wired To The Moon"
Playin a Tippin "Bravado" made by Bill Tippin
from "Wired To The Moon" En Route Records
Tater Music BMI
Announcing CD Release - Cassandra and the Gravel Road
Band "Here I Am"
October 2010 Saladay Records
"Here I Am" Cassandra and the Gravel Road Band produced by
John Hegner release date October 2010.
I had great fun playing acoustic, electric, slide guitars and mandolin
on this CD. Cassandra has a powerful voice and writes fantastic tunes
that are fun to play on. She is based in the Chicago area.
The CD was produced and mixed by my good friend, John Hegner and mastered
at Absolute Audio.
Check out her website www.cassandraandthegravelroadband.com
Announcing CD Release - David Lockwood "Lucky
Me "
October 2010 Saladay Records
This is a great CD. Dave is a excellent songwriter with interesting lyrics coming from a personal place. Song is his deep baritone range. I loved working on this project. We recorded the basics at Cedarhouse Sound in North Sutton, NH with a very cool rhythm section consisiting of Paul Ossola/bass and Chris Marshakdrums with Dave playing the acoustic piano. Then Jeff Pevar, Randy Roos and Jerry Leake added their magic.
Announcing CD Release - April Martin "Pennies in a Jar"
produced, engineered and mixed
by Peter Calo
2010 Shrimp Toast Music
WSJ Cafe: Carly
Simon Performs 'Let the River Run'.
Carly Simon sings "Let the River Run" from her new album, "Never
Been Gone," at the WSJ Cafe with WSJ's Christopher John Farley.
Vanities opens JULY 2 ‚ AUGUST
9
2nd Stage Theatre, 307 West 43rd Street, New
York, NY 10036, 212 246-4422
Book by JACK HEIFNER
Music & Lyrics by DAVID KIRSHENBAUM
Based on the original play Vanities by JACK HEIFNER
Musical Staging by DAN KNECHTGES
Directed by JUDITH IVEY
Vanities, a new Musical, spans the turbulent ’60s through the early '90s and explores how important friends are as one faces life’s defining moments: growing up, getting older and getting over it. Vanities is a funny and poignant look at three women who discover that, even in 30 years of rapidly changing times, the one thing they can rely on is each other.
Peter will be in the pit for a 5-6 week run of Vanities
at the 2nd Stage Theatre.
Peter's good friend Lynne Shankel and did the
arrangements was nice enough to ask Peter to do the run.
CD RELEASE - Face the Music Joseph Firecrow produced
by Peter Fish released March 31 2009.
Joseph Firecrow is a Cheyenne flute man. The songs on this CD were written
by Joseph Firecrow and Peter Fish. It was great
working with both of these masters. Lots of fun!! Definitely a wonderful
listening experience. I played guitar on on ìFace the
Musicî and Lizard Bluesî. Iíve been doing
concerts with Firecrow over that last few years.
Heís a very special musician. The CD is available at
Wednesday July 29th - 8pm
Record Release Party at Scullers
with Johnny Ray
Peter produced "Songs from the El Ray Motel," and played all
the instruments on it.
Johnny Ray's CD will be released in March, 2009.
Peter recorded at Looking Glass Studio for the Stuttering Foundation.
Carly Simon and Peter recorded a song
written and performed by a young girl of 16, who uses singing as a way
of over coming her troubles with communication.
Everett Bradley, the Grammy nominated singer
songwriter, was the organizer of the session, and John
Forte of Fugees fame, recently free from prison, stopped by to
lend his vocal talent. " Out Time Theatre Company", is
the name of the organization.
Peter has also been co producing another CD release with Carly Simon, a reworking of her old and famous songs, together with Ben and David Saw.This largely acoustic album will hopefully be available in early summer on Iris records.
Peter continues to keep busy in this winter of both a tough economy and relentless snow. He has been working closely with an old friend, who happens to be an amazing singer and song writer. Peter as been recording, arranging, producing, and mixing the entire Johny Ray album, in his home studio here in New York. Johnny has been coming down from Boston to do long involved night and day sessions, and then disappearing back up North while Peter turns the tracks into a first class album for Johnny Ray. Due out next month. Johnny Ray has been offered a room in Las Vegas, where he is developing his own show with both original and covers of songs. One of the cover songs that Johnny Ray does so well, is "whitchita Linesman" by Jimmy Webb. Which is a full circle for Peter Calo as he wrote two songs with Jimmy and Carly Simon for Carly's 'This Kind of Love Album". As well as performing this song and others with Jimmy Webb at his regular monthly gig at the Cutting Room in NYC.
I'm so proud to be part of such a great project. I was the Musical director on the CD and co wrote 4 songs with Carly and Jimmy Webb including the first single "Hold out your Heart".
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CARLY SIMON released a new album entitled This Kind Of Love on the Starbuck's label (Hear Music) on April 29, 2008. This will be her first album of all original music. It went as high as #13 on "The Billboard 200." Inspired by and subtly infused with the rhythms of Brazilian music, This Kind of Love explores a wide swath of emotion-romance, reflection, melancholy, anger and humor. It's at once one of Simon's most personal albums as well as one of her most stylistically diverse outings. The CD is co-produced by Simon, Frank Filipetti and Jimmy Webb who also wrote or co-wrote most of the arrangements. Filipetti worked his talent as the engineer as well as producer. The three first teamed up for Film Noir, Simon's album of standards that Webb produced in 1997. Grammy Award-winner Carly Simon is one of the most respected vocalists and songwriters in music today. This Kind of Love ranks among her most personal albums, as well as one of her most stylistically diverse excursions, with songs ranging from gorgeous melodies to driving rhythms. On This Kind of Love, Simon delivers 10 of her own songs (some of which she co-wrote), including the gently swaying title love song, the funky castigation of conniving celebrity-identity thieves ("People Say A Lot"), the catchy "How Could You Ever Forget" (one of Simon's personal favorites), the r&b-vibed "So Many People," the lyrical gem, "Sangre Dolce," and a waltz-time homage to her close friend, the humor columnist Art Buchwald, who passed in January 2007 ("Too Soon to Say Goodbye"). "Hold Out Your Heart" was co-written by Carly Simon and Peter. |
| Carly Simon’s Gamble Pays Off Of the latter: it’s the high end of the A.C. experience, where the blackjack tables have $25 minimums and there is a surfeit of people playing $5 slot machines even in a recession. The Hotel’s main theater seats around 2,500, and every chair was filled for Simon. The legendary singer songwriter brought an eight piece band and a cute mixed breed poodle named Molly to the stage. It was maybe the longest, and most comprehensive Carly Simon show seen in some time anywhere. Simon showed off new arrangements of old songs like “You’re So Vain,” “Anticipation,” and “You Belong to Me” with numbers from her latest album, “This Kind of Love,” which had the misfortune of being released by Starbucks’ HearMusic a few days before the label went out of business. If Starbucks’ Howard Shultz and Concord Records’ Norman Lear were feeling chivalrous, they’d give Carly back her album to re-release elsewhere. The songs, as performed, are as good if not better than anything by a “contemporary” artist. The wildly enthusiastic audience agreed. They gave Carly many standing ovations, shouted out names of songs they wanted to hear, and cheered after her many funny reminisces. Instead of playing the entire version of “That’s the Way I Always Heard It Should Be,” she instead incorporated it into an amusing story about playing the song live for the first time back in 1971 when she opened for Cat Stevens at the Troubador in West Hollywood. While she played the piano, she was forced to knock a loose mike back into position at the end of each line she sang — “like return on a typewriter,” she laughed. Those in the audience who knew what typewriters were really enjoyed
this. Luckily, it was most of them. |
PETER
co produced and performed on Jan
Horvath's recent release, "Never Too Late"
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SPECIAL
PERFORMANCE WITH QUEEN LATIFAH |
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"MISSISSIPPI MORNING" “Truly an enriching experience to write the music for this childrens book.“ Peter Calo Piece by piece James William's comfortable life
begins to unravel. First he learns that the burning of a black man's
house was not accidental. Then his fishing buddy LeRoy tells him
about the hanging tree and the Klan. James simply can't believe
that racial hatred exists in his own community until he comes face
to face with a Klan member. |
Blowin' in the wind
Willie Nelson with Peter Calo on guitars and mandolin
produced by Rob Morsberger
I had the pleasure of playing on a track that Willie donated to the folks at http://www.ilovemountains.org. Please take a few moments to check this site out and enjoy the song.
More than 470 mountains have been destroyed by mountaintop removal coal
mining. Watch this video about mountaintop removal, including excerpts
from the documentary Kilowatt Ours, featuring Woody Harrelson and a soundtrack
featuring an original recording of “Blowin’
in the Wind,” sung by Willie Nelson.
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"Hairspray: The Movie"
In Theaters December 21, 2007
Peter is currently up in Toronto, recording tracks for the up coming Film version of "Hairspray." The rhythmn section is smoking, with David Spinozza and Peter Calo on guitar, Clint De Ganon on drums, Frankie Centento on bass, Keith Cotton on piano. Lon Hoyt and Keith Cotton are on hand running things with composer Marc Shaiman.
Adam Shankman, (Bringing Down the House, The Pacifier), will direct the film, which will star John Travolta as Edna Turnblad, Queen Latifah as Motormouth Maybelle, Christopher Walken as Wilbur Turnblad, Michelle Pfeiffer as Velma von Tussel, Amanda Bynes as Penny Pingleton, Zac Efron as Link Larkin, Brittany Snow as Amber von Tussel, Elijah Kelly as Seaweed and newcomer Nicole Blonsky, a seventeen year old New York native, chosen to play the lead role of Tracy Turnblad.
"Hairspray" was originally a 1988 John Waters comedy movie about star-struck teenagers on a local Baltimore dance show, starring the drag queen icon Divine, who gained her fame in the 1971 John Waters smut film "Pink Flamingos." The new version of the film "Hairspray" will be based on the hit Broadway adaptation of the film which debuted in 2002, and went on to win eight Tony Awards including Best Musical, Best Score, Best Book and Best Director.
Marc Shaiman (Sleepless in Seattle) and Scott Wittman will contribute new songs to their existing Tony Award winning score. Shaiman will also serve as the film’s music supervisor and will compose the music score for the film as well as produce its songs. Wittman and Shaiman will also serve as executive producers on the film. The new screenplay for "Hairspray" is written by Leslie Dixon (Freaky Friday, Outrageous Fortune).
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Carly Simon |
Peter has been recording an upcoming CD with Carly
Simon at Parr Studio's on Martha's Vineyard.
Carly Simon will release "Into White,"
a collection of pop standards and traditional lullabies, Oct.
24 via Columbia.
Taking its name from a Cat Stevens song, "Into
White" features Simon covering classic tunes such as Judy Garland's
"Over the Rainbow," the Everly Brothers' "All I Have To
Do Is Dream," the Beatles' "Blackbird" and traditional
Gaelic lullabies "Hush Little Baby" and "My Bonnie."
"Into White" also includes two new songs penned by Simon, "Love
of My Life" and "Quiet Evening." Simon is joined by children
Sally and Ben Taylor for a familial rendition
of ex-husband James Taylor's "You Can Close Your Eyes," from
1971's "Mud Slide Slim and the Blue Horizon."
"Into White" is the follow up to Simon's previous collection
of standards, 2005's "Moonlight Serenade," which peaked at No.
7 on The Billboard 200.
Jill Menze, N.Y, , billboard.com
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"THE CONCIENTIOUS OBJECTOR" “The Conscientious Objector”, played to a packed audience at The Cinequest Film Festival, in San Jose , CA. Peter Calo has been on board throughout the labor of love, that it has taken to see this project through to completion and the recognition that this film deserves. His music casts a haunting and panoramic picture as the powerful story unfolds about Desmond T. Ross, a man who desperately wanted to serve his county in WW11, even though his strong religious and moral beliefs would not allow him to kill another human being. The film went on to win Best Feature DXD , and Audience Choice Award Documentary.“ view a trailer of "THE CONCIENTIOUS OBJECTOR" |