A big welcome to our new artists!
Felo Master - Habiba - Julian Yeo - Katy Pfaffl
Give it up for all the acts who played for Hearts & Voices in the last three months!
African Drum & Dance - Al Lee Wyer - Aly Panichi - Andy Mac - Ben Godwin - Cassandra Kubinski - Chloe - The City Bar Chorus - David Pearl - Felo Master - Grace Garland - Habiba - Jon Davis - Julian Yeo - Katy Pfaffl - Larry May - Lucinda - Marcus Goldhaber - Maria Davis - Markeisha Ensley - Michael Ashanti - Michael Butler - Olivia Detante - Peace Of Heart Choir - Seth Rudetsky - Sonia Montez - Sunshine Lemonade - Tha Heights - Theory
And finally, a big hand for our volunteers who've been keeping it all rolling!
Adrienne Almeida - Alyssa Johnson - Angeli Florentino - Brandon Rabinowitz - Caitlin Deliso - Christine Lin - Ed Oliver - Eliza Encarnacion - Erin O'Donnel - Jamie Chan - Janelle Hailey - Janete Scobie - Jen Grossman - Jennifer Myrom - Jennifer Rios - Juana Perez - Justin Zupnick - Lauren D'Amico - Marsha Jean-Charles - Paula Bu - Rachel Kartsonas - Rebecca Love - Reeva Makhijani - Sherie Pope - Stephanie Ko - Xi'an Glynn
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Featured Artist- Seth Rudetsky
Seth Rudetsky plays piano not only at some of the top Broadway shows, but also is an Emmy nominated comedy writer, award winning stand-up comic, actor, and host of a weekly Broadway talk show, Seth's Broadway Chatterbox, at Don't Tell Mama, which benefits Broadway Cares / Equity Fights AIDS. In addition, he's been a Hearts & Voices performer ever since the program's inception way back in the 90s. We asked him to share some stories with us...
-Tell us about how you started performing with Hearts & Voices. I was at DON'T TELL MAMA's Christmas party back in '92, and I saw a guy that was CUTE! It was Matt McClanahan and he was talking about the program that he and Nancy Sondag started...bringing entertainers to hospitalized people with AIDS. I had been volunteering at GOD'S LOVE WE DELIVER, but really wanted to do volunteer where I could use my talents (I ain't no cook). Plus, I had a crush on Matt! Anyway, I played piano for a show at Cardinal Cooke and kept going!
-How many shows have you done with us? I don't remember the exact dates, but in 1993 I started running the Prison Ward at St. Clares. These were AIDS patients whose prisons didn't have adequate health services. So I did those shows every week for around four years, then I did a place in the West 20s for around a year, then did a half year at a place in the West 60s, and one on Roosevelt Island. Finally, I started doing my once monthly shows at Cardinal Cooke. SO to answer your question...let's see...carry the one...divide by three...around three hundred shows.
Tell us about some of the people you’ve brought to sing for Hearts & Voices. I love to bring singers whom I think are GREAT. That's my main priority. The patients don't particularly care about stardom. I brought Betty Buckley (Tony winner for CATS) and the prisoners were just like "Wow. What a voice!". They never saw her on Broadway so her credits meant nothing, it was about her performance. They were a little more impressed when I brought Jon Secada because they had seen him on TV. Some of my regular singers have been Audra MacDonald, Kerry Butler, Andrea Burns, Darius and Aisha DeHaas, Elaine Brier, Norm Lewis, Ric Ryder and Kristine Zbornik (whom I did my first Hearts and Voices show with) and Lauren Mufson (who did the very first Hearts and Voices show ever!) One of the favorite memories happened in the Prison Ward. Naomi Naughton ran it with me and since we had done A CHORUS LINE together, she would always sing the song NOTHING. The guys would always request it. One week, I brought Priscilla Lopez (the original singer from A CHORUS LINE) to the hospital to sing it and see how much the guys loved it. That song is all about her horrible High School experience. How nice for her to know that from the nightmare came a song that all kinds of people love!
How has the program changed in the time you’ve been with it? The biggest change is that now there are more than two people running everything! It used to be just Matt and Nancy. And if I couldn't get a guest, I was scr*wed. Now that we have LIFEBEAT running everything it's much more smooth. It takes the pressure of me knowing that there is a whole organization behind me.
What do you get out of playing these shows? I get what the performers get, too. It brings music back to it's basic level. When you're working in this field, sometimes it's all about competition and reviews and not wanting to go to work etc... Doing these shows reminds you how much fun it is to perform and what a difference music can make in someone's life. I can't tell you the amount of shows I've gone to in a bad mood or with a headache and, after seeing the patients sing or clap along, or close their eyes and sway, or even cry, I wind up walking out in a great mood.
Find out more at Seth's Broadway Chatterbox.
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Hearts & Voices Benefit at the Bitter End
Long-time program stalwart Cassandra Kubinski, along with rising star Katy Pfaffl and H&V coordinators Aly and Ben, will be playing a special one-off show on September 19 at the Bitter End in the East Village. All the door proceeds will go to benefit the program, and we are looking forward to a great big celebration of the talent that's in this program!
The details in full:
Sept 19th, 8pm
The Bitter End, 149 Bleecker St
NYC
$10
Come along, enjoy some great music, and celebrate with us!
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Hearts & Voices artists winning big!
Grace Garland wins the 2007 TIMMY AWARD for Best Singer! Grace was the proud recipient of the 2007 TIMMY award for Best Singer. She received the honor during the recent 10th annual awards for her album Lovers Never Lie (In Bed). The 10TH ANNUAL “TIMMY” AWARDS ceremony is the culmination of Talent In Motion Magazine’s 2006/2007 endeavor towards producing a publication to promote emerging artists. For more information on Grace, visit www.GraceGarland.com.
Cassandra Kubinski wins Anna Sosenko Trust Award. Cassandra Kubiski won the 2007 Anna Sosenko Trust Award in NYC to help underwrite costs for her new CD, Hold The Sun. The Anna Sosenko Trust is a foundation formed by the late, great, Broadway legend and composer/producer/manager Anna Sosenko. For more informartion on Cassandra please visit www.CKubinski.com and for the Trust please visit www.annasosenkotrust.com. Cass, as always, has lots of exciting upcoming shows and projects including a feature film launching in 2008 so be sure to get on her mailing list!
Daniel Ferrari wins Abe Olman Songwriting Award. Daniel Ferrari was recently selected by the Songwriters Hall of Fame to be featured at their New Writers Showcase. Daniel was chosen from 150 songwriters for this prestigious industry event. Daniel also received the Abe Olman Songwriting Scholarship Award for excellence in songwriting from the Songwriters Hall of Fame- you may recall that H&V Superstar Cassandra Kubinski won this award last year! Past recipients also include John Legend and Joan Osborne so our H&V stars are in great company. Other Songwriters Hall Of Fame members in the Hearts & Voices community include Markeisha Ensley and Lucinda.
We always want to hear more about what our artists are up to. Got a cool story to share? Tell us about it!
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Volunteer Appreciation Party 2007
It's that time of year again- where we put on our dancing shoes and celebrate YOU, the people who make all of our programs possible. Last year's Party was a roaring success, with well over 100 of you turning up for a fine old time at the Cutting Room.
This year's event is going to be bigger and badder- in fact it's so rocktacular that we can't even give you all the details yet, because our mailing list computer just couldn't handle how much fun this is going to be. What I can tell you is that it'll be at a top New York hotspot, it'll be from 6-9pm, and you should save the date of Oct 12th.
Look out for the official invite soon- see you there!
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LIFEbeat hosts Kelly Rowland's official album launch party!
An all-star roster of celebs and a couple hundred lucky fans came out on July 10th to show their support for Kelly Rowland and LIFEbeat at the Columbia Records recording artist’s official album release party. Hosted at the exclusive Home & Guesthouse nightclubs in NYC, the event was a fundraiser for LIFEbeat.The stars came out to support Kelly Rowland and LIFEbeat
The paparazzi swarmed the red carpet as the celebs braved the record heat in NY to show their support of their friend "Ms. Kelly". The only thing hotter than the weather was the scene inside the club, where Rowland mixed and mingled with friends and fans to the beats of Power 105’s DJ SUSS ONE. Seen: Beyonce, Mathew & Tina Knowles, Michelle Williams, Jay-Z, actor Trey Lorenz, Heatherette’s Richie Rich, and MTV’s Tweetie, among others.
LIFEbeat would like to send a special thanks to Kelly Rowland for all she has done for LIFEbeat over the years! Be sure to check out her latest album Ms. Kelly, in stores now!
We’d also like to thank all the fans and celebs who attended the event as well as our sponsors and partners:
- Columbia Records
- Music World Entertainment
- Spin Cycle
- NEXT Magazine
- Home & Guesthouse
- Power 105
Check out a video clip of Beyonce and Jay-Z at the event.
Stay tuned to LIFEbeat.org or sign up to receive our eBlasts so you can be at the next LIFEbeat event and show your support!!
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LIFEbeat on General Hospital
For the first time ever on ABC’s “General Hospital,” actor and musician Rick Springfield sang on the multi-award winning daytime drama. LIFEbeat was incorporated into the concert storyline to educate the audience on our mission and programs.
In the storyline, Dr. Noah Drake (Rick Springfield), his son, Dr. Patrick Drake (Jason Thompson), and Dr. Robin Scorpio (two-time Emmy® winner Kimberly McCullough) told hospital patient and rock star Eli Love (Rick Springfield in a dual role) that he needed emergency surgery and would have to cancel his appearance in a charity concert benefiting LIFEbeat. Enter Anna Devane (Emmy® winner Finola Hughes) who quickly devised a plan to transform Dr. Noah Drake – who strikingly resembled the rocker – into the musician so that the show could go on as scheduled. Pandemonium ensued as Dr. Drake tried desperately to become the rock star for whom he was "pinch hitting."
The on-air concert concluded an integration with "General Hospital" that that ran throughout August, with numerous script mentions – including our web address, LIFEbeat.org– as well as banners used in set decoration throughout the series. "General Hospital" has been consistently committed to exploring issues and experiences around HIV/AIDS, including one of their continuing storylines about Dr. Robin Scorpio, one of the first characters on television to be infected and diagnosed with HIV.
Naturally, we were pretty thrilled about the whole thing, and it gave us all a great excuse to watch daytime soaps (while hard at work, of course!) Executive Director John Cannelli- "As the music industry’s AIDS organization, part of our work is to bring HIV/AIDS prevention awareness and education to young people through our concert outreach programs, so this opportunity to reach the huge ‘General Hospital’ audience with our message is just amazing!"
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Afterword
Goodbyes and hellos at LIFEbeat this month, with Local Tour Outreach coordinator, Rachel Hill, leaving at the end of July (last seen partying with rock stars in the UK!) We'd like to extend a HUGE welcome to the new LTO coordinator, Kizzy-Kay Graham, who will be rocking the program henceforward.
Lastly, though it's still hot and sunny and thoroughly lovely out there, the holidays are just round the corner. As ever, we're going to be providing some festive vibes to our audience members in the form of gift bags, the contents of which are being donated by all sorts of companies. Would YOUR company like to donate? We can always use more holiday lovin'! Send details to Aly Panichi.
Much love,
Aly & Ben
Love LIFE beat AIDS
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