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Gretchen Parlato performs at the Bimhuis in The Netherlands, Photo by Jula Kalshoven, protected by copyright ©
Broadway Actress Sarah Rice
Sarah Rice would
later take a more substantial step to stardom when she left the Phoenix
– Tempe, Arizona area as a young woman, straight out of college, in the
mid-1970s. “I was going to
school at Arizona State when I won a singing contest. The Phoenix
Musical Theater had run a contest and I won first prize, which was $400.
They would not give me the money until I left town, because they wanted
me to use it for a career. They paid for my ticket one way and I came to
New York City with $200 and two cats,” she recalls.
That bold step launched a career in which she has demonstrated
excellence at her craft, as well as versatility. Ms. Rice was cast as
The Girl in the Broadway production of the
Fantasticks and she was the
original Johanna when Sweeney
Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street opened on Broadway in 1979,
which also starred Len Cariou and Angela Lansbury. The musical would go
on to claim eight Tony Awards and nine Drama Desk Awards. Sarah Rice has
performed as an Opera soloist on some of the most prestigious stages
worldwide and in 2011 she took her music in a decidedly different
direction with her Screen Gems Songs of Old Hollywood, winning both a
Bistro Award and MAC Award for her cabaret show.
Ms. Rice’s
accomplishments are too numerous to note in this space, but to give the
reader a small sampling of her career, consider this; she won a Theatre
World Award for her role in
Sweeney Todd and a Grammy Award for the Original Cast Recording of
Sweeney Todd. Among the many leading soprano roles Ms. Rice has been;
Marie in Daughter of the Regiment, Cunegonde in
Candide, Mabel in
Pirates of Penzance, Maria in
West Side Story, Magnolia in
Showboat and Christine Daae
in Phantom of the Opera. Her
dramatic roles include numerous |
Interview With Nena Anderson
“I didn’t like
that stuff growing up, but as you get older it comes around and you say,
I love it so much, how come I hated it so much as a kid. It definitely
was an influence on me,” she says of her father’s musical tastes.
Nena Anderson’s mother was the rocker of the family soaking up the vibes
at concerts by The Beatles, the Rolling Stones and Janis Joplin. Ms.
Anderson’s mother also listened to artists such as, Bob Dylan and Joni
Mitchell. It should therefore not come as a surprise that various
elements from the styles of music that her parents listened to inform
the songwriting and vocals of Nena Anderson who has in the past been
nominated for numerous San Diego Music Awards.
While listening to Nena Anderson’s song “I Fall In Love Too Fast,” the
listener is struck by the beauty of her vocals as they are light and
velvety like a chocolate ganache, lingering only long enough to make you
want more. For a southern California girl who grew up by the beach, she
does a good job of infusing her vocals with a twang, but then she did
tour with the Johnny Cash tribute band Cash’d Out portraying June
Carter.
“I Fall In Love Too Fast, is
a hook that I had so many years ago and it was just this one line and
the melody in that line that I had for literally a year.
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Mercedez-Benz Fashion Week Berlin, Germany All Photos by Dan and Corina Lecca / Getty Images for Mercedez-Benz Fashion Week, protected by copyright © , all rights reserved |
Sarah Hethcoat's Pillow Talk
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Melissa Stylianou - Silent Movie
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Melbourne's Kate Slaney
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Boston's Katrin Rocks
Marotta who has worked with artists such as Peter Gabriel, Paul
McCartney, Sheryl Crow and Hall & Oates and is regarded as one of the
music industry’s premiere drummers, says “Katrin Roush is one of the
most powerful performers I’ve come across in years. I was so fortunate
to have our paths cross. There were many great moments making Frail To
Fearless, when she would be playing guitar and singing and I would be at
the drum kit playing and we went toe to toe. There was such a deep
connection between us. She has a tremendous voice, is a great
player and has remarkable presence.”
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Johanna Sillanpaa In Concert
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Trampled Under Foot
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Kimmie Rhodes Interview
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Chelsea Crowell: Crystal City
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Photos of the Greater Hartford
Festival of Jazz All photos courtesy of David B. Newman protected by copyright ©, all rights reserved |
Sweet Youth - Tish Oney
Ms. Oney sings effortlessly and we particularly
appreciated her easygoing, smooth flowing approach to her scatting on
her original tune “Year Round Blues,” rather than sounding like so many
singers that sound like they might run out of steam or explode, before
they arrive at the end of their scatting. As for Chiodini, his playing
reminds this writer of another fabulous and elegant guitarist “Bucky”
Pizzarelli.
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From Queens to Nashville
Diane Marino credits her mother for being the
first major musical influence on her life, “She didn’t have the
opportunities that I did to study and to really play correctly or
whatever you want to call it, but she had the ear and I was introduced
to a lot of standards too.
She would sing around the house all day long. The piano came into it,
because she would play by ear. I might add that she did not play
correctly by ear and she played a kind of stride style, whereby her left
hand would be moving back and forth, but not playing the correct chords
and changes. She would
plunk out the melodies with her right hand octave and her left hand
would be going back and forth, but it was not right. She was playing
only the black keys. Occasionally, she would find the right notes or she
would
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After Hours with Stew Cutler
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Thievery Corporation at the Sugar Mill - New Orleans
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Late For Breakfast
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| All written material, all photographs and all designs are protected by copyright © and patents by the writers, photographers, editors, designers, musicians, songwriters musicians and filmmakers who contribute to Riveting Riffs Magazine or have by consent allowed their work to be exhibited in Riveting Riffs Magazine, and / or Riveting Riffs Magazine and Joe Montague. Use of any material that appears in Riveting Riffs Magazine, without the written permission of the publisher and where applicable other rights holders, is strictly prohibited and is subject to legal action. This includes the reprinting, in whole or in part on the internet, by photocoping, reposting on blogs or other websites or magazines or newspapers that appear in print or quoting more than 200 words of any one composition, on terrestrial radio, internet radio, satellite radio, webcasts or television. |