So it's been a little while since I've written a blog, but I'm back! I'm at my house in Wisconsin right now and it feels so good to be home. After I finished school (done with Sophomore year!) in May, I went to Italy for 3 weeks to take another class. It was such an amazing trip. I met some incredible new people from NYU and am so excited to see them all again back at school in the fall. Italy was beyond beautiful and I felt so grateful to not only see the country, but to be able to experience the culture. The food was ridiculously amazing, of course. I literally ate gelato once a day. Yay Italy.
BUT I'm back in the country now and Julian and I are getting ready for our Milwaukee/Madison tour! Julian flew in from California last night and it was so fun to see each other after being apart for a month. We have our first gig tonight at Hart Park in Wauwatosa for the Wauwatosa Summer Concert Series. We're going to practice today and maybe even write a new song for the show tonight! We've kind of gotten into the habit of writing a new song for every new out-of-town show that we do, it's pretty fun. But anywho, I'll be back tomorrow writing you all again. Have a wonderful Wednesday and HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my friend STACY! She is 20 today!
OBAMA MUST BECOME THE NEXT PRESIDENT. It seems like the world depends on who the next president is. With all the problems that our country and the world has, we need someone who understands what is going on, someone who can speak, and someone who has some real perspective. Just listen to the man make a speech. IT IS LIKE MUSIC. For Grace and I, it's music to our ears. WE MUST ALL UNITE AND DO EVERYTHING WE CAN TO GET OBAMA IN OFFICE!!!
-Julian
Well, it's been almost a year now since Grace and I started working together. But, it's only been since August that our CD has been out.
I just had Christmas here in Northern California (Albion, it's by the Pacific Ocean). Had the whole fam here. It's definitely been nice being able to relax, but I can't wait to get back to NYC! New York has that energy that keeps our music burning.
THERE MAY BE A NEW SHOW DATE IN FLORIDA IN JANUARY. The Jazziz Bistro in Fort Lauderdale may have us play there on Friday, January 11th. So if you live near there and are in town, please come! Or come by and say what's up to me and Grace at our hotel while we lounge by the pool! I can't wait for the warm weather. It's cold here in Cali.
Well, if we don't see you any of you in Florida, we'll see you back in NYC in January for the third and final round of the Shure Presents at Blaggard's Pub.
Happy New Year!
-Julian
Hey everyone! So we won the first round of the Shure Original Sessions National Band Competition! Thank you soo much to all of you who came out, you guys made the show so fun and we couldn't have won it without you all there. The next show for the second round is going to be on SATURDAY, DECEMBER 15th, 9:00 pm.
It's at the same pub that we played at last time, Blaggard's pub. We'll send out another invite so come out and support us in December so we can make it to the third and final round of the competition!
Thanks guys, have a great Thanksgiving!
Grace and Julian
Hey Everyone! We got asked a couple weeks ago to compete in this nationwide band competition and we're really excited. There will be two other bands playing with us and we each get a 45 minute set. We'll go on around 9:00, the more people we get at the door the better we do in the competition, so make sure you say you're there for Grace and Julian! We need a big crowd at this gig so bring your friends! Then let's all party after.
Robert Di Pietro - Drums
Jayme Silverstein - Bass
Here are the Competition Details:
Shure Microphones and Sam Ash Music Present: OriginalSessions National Band Search 4th & final Quarter 2007
The Original Sessions National Band Search is a talent search in which one band will be chosen to receive full sponsorship and 14 others will receive partial sponsorship as runners up!
Complete Sponsorship and prizes include:
$50,000.00 Production value professionally produced Music Video shot on Film, HD & Mini DV. Edited on Final Cut.
1 song featured in indie film
SXSW OriginalSessions Showcases in Austin Texas
National band status and gig swaps with bands from other territories
1,000 manufactured CDs
Guest musical artist @ Times Square Comedy/Tragedy Film Festival (New Festival in NYC 2008)
Co-branded merchandise
National promotion in an OriginalSessions CD compilation
Photo spread and feature story on FMFB and other media outlets...and more!
The band search takes place in various clubs in New York City and over 11 satellite territories. Cities & States include: NYC, LA, Philadelphia, CT, Boston, ATL, Miami (downtown Miami & South Beach only), Austin, San Francisco, and Jersey City.
There will 14 finalists at the end of the Fourth Quarter, plus one band who will be chosen as the winner and presented with a full sponsorship.
At each show, the door person will ask each patron which band he/she is there to see. Bands will then be paid based on their draw.
______________ Big deal right? We really want to do well with this, and at least make it to the second round of the competition. Please do come a support us for this show even if you don't make it to any other show the rest of the season.
the new videos from the metropolitan are finally available. they are on youtube as well as on this site. the ones on our video page are more hi-fi than youtube. Just click on the video page, you can watch it on the spot, or you can download it as well (by right-clicking and "save link as"), which is doubly exciting. hope you enjoy!
i went to sing with a gospel choir in harlem today, up on 125th and madison ave. it was pretty amazing, watching and listening to these singers. i could see them feeling the music and the song through their entire bodies, as it reached to every little nook and cranny of their being. one woman got up and sang about overcoming her pain and it was so real and so moving. she and the other soloists sang from such honest places and it was beautiful. the way the audience reacted to this honesty was just as beautiful and real. people weren't afraid to show their joy or their sadness. they stood up, shouted, waved their hands, and just let out their gratefulness for being alive in the most electric way. there were no judgements, only acceptance and encouragement for everyone to get up, wake up, and experience the music and more importantly experience life with their whole bodies.
i went up and sang "his eye is on the sparrow." i connected with the song and with the entire church's energy and it felt so good. i go to a different place when i sing gospel music, versus any other music. there's no way to explain it except that the music entirely enters my body and it almost expands in there, allowing me to feel it in an almost overwhelming way. there's nothing else to do but let it out, gratefully. i'm not a religious person, but sometimes i really feel like music and art come from some higher being, whatever or whoever that being may be. when you really let it in, let whatever art form it is really fill up your soul to the brim, you feel something that can't be described in words. i find my spirituality through art. i'm happy for that.
grace
so, we created a facebook group about a month ago and i've been getting really into it. ive been trying to get as many members as possible into the group and every day the number of members gets higher. my goal was to get 1,000 people in the group and we just got 1,077 members! let's just say i'm excited. so now the next goal is 2,000. i think we can do it. if you're not in the group, it's called "grace and julian" and you can find it in the search button on facebook. join the group and invite your friends! if we get 2,000 members in the group, i might just throw a party. and everyone's invited.
until next time,
grace
Pictures from the Cutting Room are now available in our gallery. Thank you guys so much for coming to the show. It was a blast seeing you out there enjoying yourselves, and it was great talking to you guys afterwards as well. Our next shows are on the the 9th and 17th of November. We're playing a smaller show with just the two of us without the band on the 9th, and it's $5 flat the Think Coffee basement by Washington Square. Come check us out if you haven't already. More info to come about the Nov 17 at Blaggard's Pub, which is a huuuuuuuuuge show for us.
We will keep you posted on upcoming shows in New York and other cities. We can't wait to get our music out there and we are so excited to start performing. Let us know what you think about the CD, we wrote all of the songs together and recorded it at Avatar Studios in NYC. Robert DiPietro played drums and Rob Jost was on the Bass. Julian added guitar, rhodes, and Hammond B3 to some of the tracks.
