Greetings From Hollywood

Claudia has just returned from the Midwest, where she co-starred at the Milwaukee Rep in a five week run of Old Friends, a musical revue of the songs of Paul Simon. The Milwaukee paper had some nice things to say about the show and Claudia.

I, on the other hand, am glad to have her back in sunny California. The two of us will be playing at Ghengis Cohen next Sunday, January 23rd at 9:00 o'clock. The address is 740 Fairfax Boulevard, (just N. of Melrose) Ave in West Hollywood. We'll be playing a delicious combo of stir-fried original compositions, potsticking traditional songs, and spicy hot tunes by many of our favorite songwriters. Things generally run on time at GC so we'll have you home in time for bed. Be sure to tape the Sopranos (or X files, according to your religion). We have already received advance orders for Claudia's debut CD, SongFood, which is now at the pressing plant. The Official release date is February 14. You can hear a sample song on Claudia's web site (www.claudiarussell.com, of course) and order direct, for now.We hope to have the CD for sale on a number of sites by the end of February. We're pretty sure you're going to like it, unless you just hate folk music.

The website is still under construction, but with the CD and packaging done, expect to see more stuff on it over the next three weeks. Right now, you can see the CD artwork, read Claudia's extended bio, and listen to the first "single" from the record if you have Real Audio installed. (BTW--there is a free version of Real Player available but you have to look towards the bottom of the page for it). Real soon now, we'll have pictures up of the recording sessions, and a pretty interesting story on how we picked the name and logo for Radio Rhythm Records. We will need some help getting the word out about the record. In a few weeks we'll send you an e-mail explaining how you can help us promote the record if you want to.

Greetings from Hollywood - Valentines Day 2000 Web site commentary	Last week we attended the Folk Alliance Conference in Cleveland Ohio, home of the Rock and Roll Hall of fame. The Folk Alliance is a national umbrella organization for people involved with all sorts of non-mainstream music, ranging from highly ethnic strains, such as Celtic, Cajun and Slavic to singer/songwriter acoustic, and including obvious genres such as bluegrass and traditional American music. It¹s a big tent and about 1700 presenters, performers, promoters and press attended this years 5 day event. And coming from Los Angeles, we just found out about this event, even though this was the 12th annual meeting. The meat of the show (or perhaps more apropos, garden-burger) were the showcases. There were showcases everywhere--in the halls, hotel lobby, even the bathrooms. In the small theatre of the Cleveland Municipal music hall, the Folk Alliance presented about 10 artists each night. Each performer was allotted 15 minutes, just enough time to get an idea of what they were about. Three acts we liked a lot were: Hillbilly Idol, who write and play country songs in an updated no frills style of Buck Owens and Merle Haggard; and the Mollies, a band out of Tuscon, AZ, who you might describe as the Brides of Los Lobos, only more Irish. Then there was David Holt, a Grammy winning heartfelt storyteller, banjo/slide guitar player who hails from North Carolina and digs deep into the soul of folk music. He did about fifty epsiodes of Hee Haw and collects story songs from all over the world. He also took Claudia"s sister to the Senior Prom way back whenŠ.but I don't think he has any songs about that! After the official showcases end, the real party begins, back at the Sheraton, the official conference hotel. In rooms all over the Sheraton hotel, songwriters and bands performed for people squeezed into standard sized hotel rooms, perhaps sitting on the floor, sitting on the bed. We caught Kevin So this way. We saw Kevin once before at the Kerrville Festival, where he charmed a couple thousand people with his charismatic multi-timbred style. Kevin has a number of personas. He can play a funky Asian blues singer, complaining about an Old Man Driver who won¹t get out of the way, to a chatty cruise ship pianist. In any case, if you have the chance, catch his act. We are big fans and want to spread the word about him. Some performers were lucky to make it into one of the commercially sponsored rooms (D¹adarrio and Fishman sponsored a room) with a small stage and sound system and seating for about 30. We saw Kelly Joe Phelps and Peter Mulvey in this room. Kelly Joe plays slide guitar, growling out tunes like a pissed off George Benson, often singing the same line he's playing. Peter Mulvey, accompanied by Goody (David Goodrich) on some very smart Mandocaster playing, worked through some fine songs from his CD, Deeply Blue. No matter what room you played in, the ac/ventilation was not working. They turn it off in October and turn it back on in May. This made for bad breathing,. Highpoint of the week for me was watching four women labeled Kick Ass Women trade songs. We went to see Nashville native Carol Elliott, who wrote one of the songs on Claudia's CD, Try, Try Again. Carol was great, and sang a song called It's Half Bullshit, It's Half Beautiful, reminding us that she wasn't just one of those Nashville songwriters cranking out songs just for mass consumption. I was completely blown away by Mary Gauthier, (pronouced Goshay). A Lousiana native now living in Boston, Mary has a persona of a hard-drinking, quick thinking rabble rouser, Sort of a lesbian version of Kris Kristoffersen. She played two of her most popular songs, and they were brilliant: I Drink and Drag Queens and Limousine, the title track of her most recent CD. Buy this record. Now. Down to Business Claudia and I played a couple songs at the All (most) Star Café, and were well received by the 15 or so people hanging there at 11:30. All in all, we were astounded by the multitude of folk singers and the fact that nobody east of downtown LA has heard of us. (uhŠjust kidding, we weren't really that shocked). Agents don't want to represent you until you're making $1000 per night, and festivals don¹t want to book you until have an agent. Get out there and play the coffee house and club circuit was the advice we got, and do not pass go. There is a thriving folk scene out there, but the its center of gravity leans heavily toward the East Coast, with the western border seeming to be Austin. Look Eastward! Lessons Learned: We are learning a lot and hope to share them with you. In the upcoming installments we'll tell you a little bit about the world of radio, and tell you about a must have book for any music performer. Until then, thanks for reading and 1) buy our record 2) tell all your friends about our site! --Bruce Kaplan, with contributions from the artist known as Claudia
Claudia Russell Update February 2, 2000 email newsletter	The Claudia Russell website has been completely revamped. The audio links are now compatible with older versions of Real Audio and there are a total of three songs from the CD for your listening pleasure. There is also an interesting bio, photos from the recording sessions, detailed credits for each song on the CD and an amazing story about Claudia's father, Gilbert Russell, who recorded a million selling record with the BBC Dance Hall Orchestra in the 1930s. There are also links to several of our favorite sites and details on an upcoming show. Blue Flame Cafe, one of the 3 tracks now on the site, has been selected for inclusion in the Sony Pictures film Trixie, starring Nick Nolte and Emily Watson. The film was shown last week at the Sundance Film Festival and is slated for release this spring. The SongFood CD is at the pressing plant and the booklets are being printed. Sometime next week, they will be married in Glendale with the results arriving on our doorstep. We have chosen CD Street for secure online ordering and fulfillment. You can order now direct from our website. Your credit card will not be charged until the CD is in the mail speeding towards your home. The first CDs will ship sometime the week of February 14th and from that point on, they will go out the same day they are ordered. The full-on, too-many-people-on-stage version of the Claudia Russell Experience will be playing at Genghis Cohen on March 4, at 8:30. Expect to see many of the fine players from the CD letting it all hang out. Anyone who can memorize the correct song order on the CD (it's up on the site) gets a drink on me! Help get the word out. We're really serious about getting this record out there, and getting enough fans so we can tour the US this summer. We need your help if we're going to make it happen. If you like Claudia's music and you want to help get the word out, send everyone in your e-mail address book (that you think might appreciate it) a email message that reads something like this: I know you like a lot of the same music that I do. I discovered a really great singer named Claudia Russell. Check out her music at her web site: www.claudiarussell.com. Thanks, Your Name Here Well, we're off to the Folk Alliance conference next week in Cleveland! Can't get enough of that midwest weather!
January 17, 2000 Music News From Claudia and Bruce email newsletter	Claudia has just returned from the Midwest, where she co-starred at the Milwaukee Rep in a five week run of Old Friends, a musical revue of the songs of Paul Simon. The Milwaukee paper had some nice things to say about the show and Claudia. I, on the other hand, am glad to have her back in sunny California. The two of us will be playing at Ghengis Cohen next Sunday, January 23rd at 9:00 o'clock. The address is 740 Fairfax Boulevard, (just N. of Melrose) Ave in West Hollywood. We'll be playing a delicious combo of stir-fried original compositions, potsticking traditional songs, and spicy hot tunes by many of our favorite songwriters. Things generally run on time at GC so we'll have you home in time for bed. Be sure to tape the Sopranos (or X files, according to your religion). We have already received advance orders for Claudia's debut CD, SongFood, which is now at the pressing plant. The Official release date is February 14. You can hear a sample song on Claudia's web site (www.claudiarussell.com, of course) and order direct, for now.We hope to have the CD for sale on a number of sites by the end of February. We're pretty sure you're going to like it, unless you just hate folk music. The website is still under construction, but with the CD and packaging done, expect to see more stuff on it over the next three weeks. Right now, you can see the CD artwork, read Claudia's extended bio, and listen to the first "single" from the record if you have Real Audio installed. (BTW--there is a free version of Real Player available but you have to look towards the bottom of the page for it). Real soon now, we'll have pictures up of the recording sessions, and a pretty interesting story on how we picked the name and logo for Radio Rhythm Records. We will need some help getting the word out about the record. In a few weeks we'll send you an e-mail explaining how you can help us promote the record if you want to.