Joe Jung

: News

Thanks to all the folks over at Live Mix Studio in downtown Charleston, WV for having me play at your holiday celebration on Saturday. Thanks also to all you partygoers who gave such a gracious welcome. I met a lot of new friends and hope to return to lovely WV soon for more music and revelry.

I hope your holiday was full of friends, family and joy and wish you all the best for 2009!

Joe

Thank you all so much for joining us at Waltz for a wonderful evening with Allison Cipris and D.B. Reilly. I had a wonderful time and hope you did too. D.B. Reilly and friends, you are magnificent, lovely peoples and I greatly look forward to sharing another evening of music with you.

Thanks again,

Joe

Well, I'm back from my vacation/ mini-tour of Hong Kong! Thanks to my big bro for acting as my HK promoter and all of those new friends who came to Gecko and McSorley's for two of the most exciting and memorable nights of my life. Also, thanks to the Hong Kong police for shutting us down at McSorley's before I popped anymore strings. Stop back soon for photos of the debauchery that insued.

We at Project: Theater will be performing two one-act plays by John Guare, "Something I'll Tell You Tuesday" and "The Loveliest Afternoon of the Year" at 8pm, Thursday-Sunday, August 10-19 at the 78th St. Theatre Lab (236 W. 78th St. @ Broadway off the 1, 2, or 3 trains). Rehearsals are going very well and we are most excited to perform these lovely shows about various relationships in NYC for you. If you're up for a quick evening of good theater for a fraction of the going rate both on and off Broadway, come on up to 78th St. We also are proud to bring to you our Project: Theater meet and greet after each performance, where we will provide refreshments and an opportunity to speak with the company about your thoughts and ideas regarding theater, music/musical instruments, life, dogs, the plays, world history, mongooses, shaolin kung fu, and whatever else might come to mind.

For tickets, go to the links page and hit the Project:Theater web site. We've already sold quite a few tickets, so we suggest you get yours early in order to guarantee a seat.

Thanks for all your support.

Peace.

O' Death--awesome awesome show, kind of like Iron and Wine possessed by demons--along with Nicole Atkins and the Sea opened for
The Avett Brothers at a sold-out show at the Bowery Ballroom. Cracker played the next week and ,after all these years of listening to these guys, I finally got to see them live. Euphoria.

Still playing every Thursday at Failte Irish Whiskey Bar. Huge thanks to everyone who keeps coming back for more music. You make it a blast to play and when that place gets dancing, the atomosphere is fireworks.

I've been doing some heavy running around the last few weeks, seeing some great bands, rehearsing new show, playing some tunes here and there. Our story begins on June 30 when Blue and I fled NCY in a mad rushing rental car so we could get to Baltimore to see the Avett Brothers play a show for which we had bought tickets the month before. Of course, with rain and it being a Friday, getting out of the City was quite a chore and we, with the Bros. blasting on the car stereo, made it to the club just as throngs of fans poured from the doors, smiling and saying, "That was the best show ever! They're playing their second encore." By the time we found a parking space, the show was done and, heartbroken, we drove on to West Virginia. WV is a wonderful place where music is a staple at every gathering and you get into long, friendly conversations with folks with names like Rafter, Jedediah, Melody, and Ely; where all the one-time hippies that moved out there in the '70s are now lawyers, resauranteurs, union leaders, and potters. Blue and I went to a few weddings and, at each of the receptions, a music circle was formed and I got to finally play a little mandolin in the company of other musicians who were more than happy to put up with my rudimentary picking and offered some useful tips. A slight hush always arose when they asked where I was from and I answered, "New York, but I was raised in Michigan." I received many a, "What are you doing here playing mandolin in a bluegrass circle in West Virginia" look and before I could come up with a smart answer, the music resumed....

Long story short....

The Josh Dion Band is playing this Friday, June 23 at the Bitter End! If you haven't heard them, this is the perfect opportunity to get hooked. The Josh's web site is in my links section. Check them out. They rule.

I just want to extend my deepest and most heartfelt thanks to all of you who came out to see The Florentine at the 78th St. Theatre Lab. The show was a huge success and we at Project Theater are all very proud of it. The crowds' energy was electric. Thanks for supporting the theater!

Keep your eyes open for our next production, a pair of John Guare one-acts: "Something I'll Tell You Tuesday" and "The Lovliest Afternoon of the Year". Check out www.projecttheater.com for more details.

Here's a breakdown of the show I'm directing. It's going to be a blast--think Pulp Fiction meets Groundhog Day but with live. More info is on the pictures and show dates sections of the site, or check out www.projecttheater.org to see our theater company's web site.

Project:Theater to Open the New York Premier of The Florentine,
June 8, 2006 at the 78th Street Theatre Lab

New York, NY – May 31, 2006

Michael Hilliard’s The Florentine is an iconic story of deception and revenge; however, beneath the surface, spawned from the fears and doubts of everyday life, is a journey into the dark recesses of human insecurity. The play focuses on a seemingly average photo technician who unexpectedly finds himself living the same day over an over again, first as Anthony, devout but sickly husband and father, then as the direct descendent of Niccolo Machiavelli (hence the title of the play), Anthony Pangellini, a crime boss at the center of a deadly blackmail plot. What begins as a twisted scheme designed to part a man from his money quickly morphs into an ever-evolving nightmare, where Anthony struggles to maintain his sanity and identity at his own peril as well as that of everyone around him.

Artists involved in this piece are Garrett Ayers, Ruark Downey*, Brian Frank, Jessi Blue Gormezano, Erin Gorski*, Michael Hilliard, Andrew McLeod, and Brian Sell*.

Project:Theater is a certified 501(c)3 organization composed of a continuously developing group of performers dedicated to expressing theatre ability to promote social and artistic awareness and diversity through a dynamic collaboration among artists, audience and community.

The Florentine will play June 8, 9, 10 and 15, 16, 17, 2006 at 8:00pm, at the 78th Street Theatre Lab, 236 W. 78th Street at Broadway. Running time is approximately one hour. Admission is $15. For tickets or further ticket information, please call 800.838.3006 or go to www.brownpapertickets.com. Tickets can also be purchased at the door prior to each performance. As this is an Equity Showcase, members of Actors’ Equity Association are admitted for free on a standby basis when they present their card at any performance.

Hey people, do yourselves a big favor and go see the Avett Brothers play the Bowery Ballroom in New York City on Friday, July 14. Doors open at 8:30 and Nicole Atkins will be kicking off the evening. If you want your musical experience kicked into a new dimension, see these bands! I promise you won't be the same. Links to both Atkins and the Avetts are in my "links" section. Check them out.

Last night I had the pleasure of kicking off a fun night of music at the 169 Bar in Manhattan and playing some new songs as well as revisiting a few of the old Meltdowns tunes. The place had a really jumping atmosphere (especially for a Sunday evening after an afternoon rainstorm). After playing, I and some friends hung around and tapped our toes to the groovy rock 'n roll stylings of Thompson Automatic (great name!). I was extremely excited that they kicked their set off with Link Wray's "Rumble."

If you are able, come down to the Living Room this Thursday, May 25 at 10 for the release party of Robbie Gil's album "Stumble Inn." The band will play for a while and it should be a great time.

Cheers!

Robbie Gil, a regular at The Living Room, blasted through the house with his band for a super-charged, scotch-driven hour-and-a-half of groovy musical frenzie. His album will be available on May 25 (there's a release party at the Living Room that night!) and if you are interested in great songwriting, brutally expressive vocals, tight musicianship and good stories, check it out asap. Each time I see him ive, Gil plays and sings as though it's his final show, graciously surrendering all his passion, talent, pain, redemption, and heart to a wide-eyed, mezmorized, insatiable audience always left longing for more.

Tonight went to Town Hall with my pal Brian to see Chris and Rich Robinson of the Black Crowes play an acoustic set (though Rich occasionally pulled out the odd telecaster to do some good clean noodling). Lordy! I've seen the Crowes a good number of times, but this was totally different yet equally as enthralling. Sitting in wooden chairs with a few guitars on nearby stands and a tech running onstage between songs to replenish the open-tuned six string buffet used by the Atlantian brothers, the duo played a cornicopia of tunes ranging from Dylan to traditional spirituals, to solo works, to pieces from each Crowes album (now spanning close to 20 years!). They sounded great. Consummate musicians...I'd venture to say that Chris has one of the top rock voices ever, and Rich is a guitar master. They (including the Crowes' bass player) played an extended version of Thorn in My Pride that sounded as though it was being produced by half a dozen musicians. It brought down the house. I love hearing one guitar player sound like three. Brilliant.

Last night I had the pleasure to once again attend a Josh Dion Band show at the Bitter End and, let me tell you, these guys made the building levitate with their unique brand of super energized funk/soul/rock power. Every song had the audience jumping out of their seats, clapping and singing along, and smiling. How wonderful is it to just see a bunch of people in a small, tightly packed room all smiling and basking in an overwhelming shot of musical energy? Even the servers, who are usually elbowing and prodding everyone to order their second minimum drink, were bobbing and shuffling to the enrapturing grooves that Dion and his band produced. I'd love to see them play a bigger club where the audience could actually move around and dance. It's rare to find a band that produces the absolute need to move and dance, as though the music exists perfectly as its own entity and uses the band as its vehicle by which it is conducted into the listeners within whom the music dances carryingwith it the limbs and asses of anyone lucky enough to be near...I may be waxing a bit poetic, but it's simply out of appreciation for real musicians who play real music uncorrupted by the "industry" or the rules of pop culture. Bands like the Dion Band (and the Avett Brothers) tap into the most human aspects of music with their talent, work ethic and energy and connect their audience. Within that connection is joy, real joy for life. These are the kinds of bands that change the way of things, that make things better. Keep it up, y'all.

This is my very first entry on my very first web site! Thanks for stopping by.