The Daily Show Taping

My viewing habits of The Daily Show vary. Sometimes I watch it a lot, sometimes I'll go weeks and weeks without seeing it. Recently - thanks to the government shutdown and the roll-out of HealthCare.gov - I've been watching a lot. Almost every day. And so since tickets are free and I can, I decided I wanted to go see it live.

If you've ever been to the taping or live broadcast of a show like this, you know that the one thing you do the most of is wait. Tickets are handed out starting at 2:30. By the time I got into the city and made my way to the studio it was 1:15, and there were already 78 people in line ahead of me (I know this because tickets are numbered and I got 79). So, I waited In the sun. Then in the shade. Listening to Paul Simon's Concert in the Park. It truly was a gorgeous day to stand in NYC and do nothing. After killing 2 hours it was back in line, through security, and then to my seat. Of course the studio was smaller than it looked on TV. However, the thing that struck me the most was how the studio looked in person. It's hard to describe how starkly real everything looked after having only seen it on TV for years and years. The map behind the desk. The globe hanging from the ceiling.

And then we waited some more. But while we waited I got to meet my seat neighbor: Joe, a retired contractor from western Canada on trip with some of his friends. They had spent a few days in Boston, seen a couple Patriots games, then made their way to New York. We had a great conversation, and he asked me what I would recommend doing in the city that he hadn't through of. I suggested riding the Staten Island Ferry at night so he could see the skyline and Statue of Liberty all lit up from the water.

After the very funny warm-up comedian, Jon Stewart came out and took questions from the audience...but the first question wasn't a question at all. It was an older woman telling him he should donate money to Wendy Davis, who is running for governor of Texas. It would be like me going to up to Billy Joel and forcing him to take one of my CDs. (I would never, ever do such a thing, right?! Right.) The last question was the best, though. A woman asked him if he thought comedy was inherently cynical, and he gave an inspiring answer about how he actually thought the reverse: comedy is inherently idealistic and and a way to shed light on things that can and should be better. And then he said, "Let's do the show!" Springsteen's "Born To Run" came on the PA, he sat down, the crew hurried around a little, and within seconds we were into the taping with a lot of great energy.

The show itself was very funny and Alan Greenspan was a interesting guest, but it struck me that Jon Stewart wasn't really performing the show for the live audience (though we were there and an integral part of the show). He was actually focusing his attention on the viewer at home. He spoke directly into a camera that was often fairly close to him, and his voice was amplified only just enough for the crowd to hear what he was saying (presumably for technical reasons). As a result, some moments of the show were lost on us because we were cheering or laughing too loud to hear everything he said or did. For example, the beginning when he says, "Welcome to The Daily Show, I'm Jon Stewart," etc. But we couldn't hear him say any of that because we were cheering so wildly.

We were in and out of the studio in 2 hours. And then I had dinner at Empanada Mama. Now I've just gotta go back for Colbert

The "Best of Hudson Valley" Party

In late August, my cover band In The Pocket found out that we won "Best Local Musician" in Hudson Valley Magazine's annual "Best of Hudson Valley" contest. We had asked our fans and followers to vote for us online, but to be quite honest we didn't think we had a chance of winning when you consider the amount of talent in the area. As a result we were surprised, excited, and somewhat amused at the implication that apparently our 6 abilities have to be combined in order to win an award meant for just one person. Oh well.

Last Thursday was the party at the Poughkeepsie Grand. We were offered the option to play and were happy to be asked, but after a few considerations decided it wasn't going to work out for us on that date. Instead, 3 of us - along with friends and family - went to enjoy ourselves. None of us had ever been to the event before, so we were all looking forward to a good time. And a good time was had.

I can sum up the party in two words: free stuff. If you've never been, it's worth experiencing. You walk in the door and people start putting free stuff in your hands - including free tote bags to carry all the free stuff. Stickers, pens, raffles, pamphlets. Drinks! I mean just the fact that less than 30 minutes into the event we had had beer, wine, bourbon, and rye (all of which was top notch) should be enough to get anyone in the door. But maybe drinks aren't your thing? The food was intense. We had Indian, Mexican, Italian, American. Bar food, gourmet food, light food, heavy food. Cheesecake, cannolis, cookies, chocolate mousse. There was more food in more styles from more places than we could possibly eat, but we sure tried.

And they did have a band playing. Not one that got an award, but a band. How were they? A pretty standard wedding band, really. A few of the members looked fairly unenthusiastic, and some of them looked like subs. We don't do that.

A big thanks to everyone who voted for us, and I guess we'll see if next year we can win again! Maybe in 2014 we can win "Best Local Band," though? Somehow that seems more appropriate.

New York Songwriters Circle: Part II

In my last blog, I talked about how at my New York Songwriters Circle showcase I was on stage with some serious talent. Well, here are my favorite performances from each of them. Check them out - I bet you'll be impressed. (For whatever reason, blogger.com was only able to find and embed Brian's performance, but not the others. The links will take you to YouTube to watch the rest.)

Brian Dunne

Merrily James - http://youtu.be/qvSFmBbVits

Sara Lewis - http://youtu.be/asrr-WDTQyg

Lynda DeFuria - http://youtu.be/fE1Dp1dEUdI

The New York Songwriters Circle Showcase (AKA The Night I Met Billy Joel)

Presumably because the universe likes to play games with me, I was not guaranteed to make it to my first New York Songwriters Circle showcase on Monday. A long line of storms and a tornado watch not only had me driving to the train station in a monsoon, but also had me stuck on a train impeded by a downed tree on the tracks. This turned a normally "blissful" 1:40 train ride into a...somewhat impatient and inconvenienced 2:45 train ride. And did I mention I forgot my headphones? As a result I got to the Bitter End a full hour after I had planned, and had missed the 6PM soundcheck. Oh well, I'll roll with it.

If you've never been to the Bitter End, it's not a big place, and if you're there an hour or two before the start of a show it's also pretty empty. So, I walked in, found the director of the Circle, Tina Shafer, introduced myself, glanced past her, and saw the man wearing a jacket and baseball cap having a glass of wine with a woman at a table about 15 feet from me. I knew immediately it was Billy Joel. What the hell was he doing here other than stopping into one of his early venues for a drink? No idea, but there he was. Was he going to be staying for the showcase? No idea, but there he was. I finished my conversation with Tina and then pretty much went about my business waiting for the showcase to start. I walked past him a few times, but I didn't want to interrupt since I know I hate it when I go out for a drink and fans are constantly coming up to me. I mean, we all know how that feels, right? Riiiiiight.

Around 7:20, he and his friend got up and started gathering their stuff together, and a couple of other showcase performers who were sitting near him made their move for introductions and pictures. OK, this was my chance. I grabbed a CD and walked over. As he turned to head toward the door I went up to him and said, "Hey, can I be that guy?" I introduced myself, shook his hand, asked if I could give him a CD because I had done a cover of "New York State of Mind" on it, and told him he had been a big influence on my music. He thanked me, took the CD, and then wished me luck in the showcase. He took a couple more pictures with other performers and looked at the big mural on the back wall while mentioned that it didn't used to be there, and then he was gone. And that was it. My entire encounter with him lasted probably 30 seconds, and I didn't get the chance to apologize for lying to his face the first time we met. But I got the CD in his hand. Why didn't I ask for a picture? Because I felt I had room for one request - either a picture or offering him a CD - and the CD was the more important option. Sure, Tony Basile may not believe any of this happened without a picture, but that's his loss. Do I think anything will come of it? Nah. But that's not really the point, is it?

And then the showcase went really well! Believe me when I say that the talent on the stage was seriously impressive. There were more piano players than Sara Lewis and I both expected, and lots of songs about lost loves and broken relationships (that part wasn't so surprising). I played "Over The Edge," "Shadow," and "A Kind Of Faith," and it was absolutely my best performance at the Bitter End. I played well, the audience was very receptive to all the music, and after "Shadow" Merrily James sat at the piano and said into the mic, "That was awesome." Thanks, Merrily. You were pretty awesome, yourself.

The CyberPR Digital Press Conference

Last Wednesday I spent the day in Brooklyn at my first CyberPR Digital Press Conference. What is a digital press conference? Well, it's exactly what it sounds like. It's a day to get together with bloggers, internet radio DJs, and other artists at the CyberPR headquarters. I knew it was going to be a good day because I got a parking spot right out front and nailed the parallel parking job.

The majority of the day was spent meeting other people at the conference. I've been involved with CyberPR since the beginning of the year (and with founder Ariel Hyatt for longer than that through her books and social media strategies) but had never actually been to HQ, so it was great to finally shake hands with the people I've been working with. And it was fantastic to meet those I didn't even know had done work on my campaign, like  interns working with the company. I had a particularly great conversation with Brooke, who was so excited to me meet, tell me that she worked on my blog pitching, and and tell me that she loves my song, "Shadow." I definitely appreciate the positive feedback from my music.

Musically, there was a good mix of artists present and performing, ranging from Roswitha, to Kent Gustavson, to Scott Krokoff, to Ken Coulson, to Greater Alexander (who drove all the way from Detroit), and more. I could go on about each of their sets, but suffice to say that my favorite performance was by Mike Krenner.

Along with the networking (and putting my CD into the hand of practically anyone who would take it), I had a few scheduled interviews and a 20-minute showcase. The keyboard I used was a lovely piece of...antiquated equipment, but it absolutely got the job done, and performing was one of the highlights of the day. Funny moment: I opened my set with "Over The Edge," and as I sang the first line Ariel Hyatt's assistant, Bryn (hey, Bryn), turned and looked at me with wide eyes as if to say, "Holy shit, where did that voice come from?" The answer is Poughkeepsie, NY.

All in all, a good day. It's nice to be around and included in such a wonderful group of people.

And the food was great.

Deconstructing "New York State of Mind": Part II

Over the past 2 weeks since the released of the "New York State of Mind" video, I've gotten some questions about it. Let's answer some.

Did you visit places in NYS that didn't make it into the final video?

Yes. There were a number of places that we filmed but just didn't have enough time to include. Especially since I wanted to make sure the video wasn't too heavy on the NYC locations. Because of that, Little Italy and Chinatown didn't make the cut, as well as few Long Island spots. Here's a video I put together of locations that were deleted due to time constraints:

There was also one spot we visited but didn't end up filming, and that was the United Nations. Why? Because they didn't have any flags out when we got there, and without the flags it's not really all exciting. And that's about 8 blocks of walking that I will never get back.

Many shirts, washed shirt, or stinky shirt?

Somewhere in the middle, actually. On the first 3-day leg I had a different black undershirt for each day, and I took the blue button-down off and hung it up between locations. Each of the other days were filmed separately, so I was able to wash my shirts no problem. But I will let you know that I wore the same jeans. These are the sacrifices you have to make.

What was your favorite location?

I really loved being in the Adirondacks because I spent a lot of time there when I was growing up but hadn't been there in years. A friend's grandparents had a house right on Tupper Lake and I would go up with him and his family (his aunt, uncle, and cousins live there now...and yes I drove by to see it!), so it was great to be there again. But my favorite location was Whiteface Mountain. For all the time I spent up there I had never made it to the top before, and if you've never been you have to do. Amazing views and great history.

Niagara Falls is obviously also spectacular.

The video is up over 3,500 views and climbing. Let's keep it going.

Deconstructing "New York State of Mind": Part I

I've gotten a bunch of questions about my recently released video for "New York State of Mind" - everything from what was your itinerary, to did you visit places that didn't make the video, to how dirty was that shirt by the end of shooting? So, let's break it down. First, the video:

I wanted to include a cover song as a bonus track on Over The Edge from the beginning, and since "New York State of Mind" has become a bit of a standard for me it was obviously the most appropriate song. But I wanted it to be more than that. So early on the idea came to make a video about me traveling around New York State to go with the recording. I distinctly remembering having my first conversation about it with Tony Basile at Gourmet Pizza in New Paltz late one night in August/September 2010 (that's how long I've been planning this out). It was very important to me that we show New York State as more than just "the city," which is what a lot of non-New Yorkers think when you tell them where you're from.

The first 3 days of shooting took place September 25-27, 2012, and they broke down like this: Wappingers Falls to Buffalo, Buffalo to Potsdam, Potsdam to Wappingers Falls. We traveled over 1,400 miles, and our days started at 5 or 6 in the morning and didn't end until 9 or 10 at night. It was 3 days on the road and it was a lot of fun. Some places I had never been to and more places Tony had never been to. Niagara Falls was great (the only part of the video filmed outside of New York), as was going to the top of Whiteface Mountain (which neither of us had done before). And I think I can speak for Tony when I say that the best place we ate along the way was Piggy Pat's BBQ outside Utica, which we were turned on to by my friend Matt Taube.

One Sunday afternoon the next month, we were supposed to do some shooting for the "Shadow" video, but we had to reschedule. So, Tony & I decided to use the time to instead shoot some of the historic areas near us in the Hudson Valley. And it was that day at the FDR Presidential Library where this picture occured:

Bad ass.

The next plan was to shoot Long Island, but we got hit with conflicting schedules, Hurricane Sandy, and winter, so we had to wait. Shooting resumed on June 18, 2013, with a one-day trip through Long Island and back. I very much wanted to get shots of the historic Montauk Point Lighthouse at the tip of the island, and we got there at 5:15PM. It closes at 5:30. We got lucky. The most fun of that day was shooting the test-of-strength scene at Adventureland in East Farmingdale, but damn was it hot.

Six days later, on June 24, we set out to do all 5 boroughs of NYC. This turned out to be somewhat tricky because you could make multiple videos of just New York City, so we had to pick and choose what we shot. And again, my plan was to show that New York State was more than just NYC, so we didn't want to overload the video, anyway. We hit the Bronx, Queens, Brooklyn, and Staten Island, then took the Staten Island Ferry into Manhattan. We then went up to 125th St. and started making our way down the island. Its safe to say that we walked well over 60 blocks, and believe me when I tell you it was hot and humid, and I was wearing jeans, two shirts, a fedora, and very inappropriate walking shoes. Plus I was carrying my trumpet for the scene at the Apollo Theatre. It was an adventure.

All in we traveled over 2,500 miles to shoot what we did. Obviously we could've traveled more, but time kept us from getting everywhere we wanted.

That seems like enough for now. More breakdown in my next blog!