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| Last updated: 06.29.09 |
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pianist / composer NEWS 06.29.09: Alicia's song "Hamadryad" was nominated for a 2009 Just Plain Folks Award in the solo piano category! Judges' only criterion: Does the music move you? Less than 1/3 of 1 percent of all entered songs received a nomination. These awards are known as the grassroots Grammies. For more information see jpfolks.com. 11.11.08: It's official: Orchard, Alicia's followup to Reservoir, is finally here. On Orchard you will hear thirteen gorgeous tracks -- 46 minutes of original solo piano compositions performed by Alicia and recorded at Studio in the Sticks. Orchard is available today for purchase through several venues in Massachusetts and New Jersey. Check back here soon for online purchase availability. Thank you for continuing to support Benj and Alicia -- and for spreading the word about Orchard to your friends, family, colleagues, acquaintances, and perfect strangers. It truly is universal music that begs to be repeated, and repeated, and repeated. Enjoy! 03.31.07: Alicia was back in the studio today to record the last song for Orchard. Benj has a baby on the way soon, so it may be a while before he begins post-production. Stay tuned for news about Orchard's release! 04.02.06: Ten tracks in the can, but we're not finished with Orchard quite yet... 07.25.05: Studio in the Sticks came alive with music and incense once again. As of today, nine tracks have been recorded for Alicia’s next CD, Orchard. 05.23.05: Alicia gave a debut performance of her new song, Semuhenna, at First Congregational Church in Princeton, Massachusetts. She was part of a benefit concert honoring fallen soldier Christopher Sullivan, Benj and Alicia’s high school classmate who died in Iraq. Sales of Reservoir after the show raised money for an educational fund for Christopher’s baby. Thanks to Carrie Dolmat-Connell for the opportunity to participate. 10.23.04: Alicia will be away studying and seeking inspiration at Kripalu for the next 4 weeks. Hopefully she will have a surplus of tunes knocking around in her head waiting to hit the keyboard when she's back! 10.06.04: Alicia and husband Matt are back after 6 weeks in Africa. The chance to take this life-changing trip spontaneously presented itself, and although it will delay her new album, she couldn't refuse the opportunity. 06.01.04: Alicia, in conjunction with Wachusett Records, celebrates its first year of cooperation with local non-profit organization NEADS. Based in Princeton MA, NEADS trains hearing, mobility, and social assistance dogs for children and adults. Three times each year Alicia donates music for their graduation photo CD-ROMs and Wachusett Records provides free duplication services. 01.23.04: Eric Meece, host of Mystic Music on KKUP in Cupertino, included Reservoir in his list of Picks of the Year for 2003. Thanks Eric! 12.04.03: Thanks to Michael Woodhead, a music reviewer at Synchronicity: The Magazine, for reviewing Reservoir in the December/January edition. The review is reproduced on the main page of Alicia's site. 12.01.03: Alicia's music has been accepted to participate in the Music Oven Network commercial background music service. Businesses sign up for this service (similar to Muzak or DMX) in order to provide their customers in-store or on-hold music. Music Oven is different in that they feature independent music, providing free promotion and exposure to artists like Alicia. 11.23.03: In honor of Reservoir's one year anniversary, we've dropped the price from $15 to $12! (That's right -- now it's priced like a normal CD!) But wait. If you buy more than one copy at cdbaby.com, you get a 20% discount. Think stockings. Or the person on your list who has everything... That person does not have Reservoir. Yet. 10.11.03: Alicia has begun recording her second album! Studio in the Sticks, recently relocated to Boylston, MA, had its piano bench warmed back up and its incense relit. The album will be called Orchard, and we've captured its first four tracks. If Alicia's muses permit, Orchard will be available next autumn. Her muses respond well to cash bribery, so pick up a few more copies of her last album, Reservoir, to share with your friends and family! 08.06.03: Alicia is being featured at FreeSoloPiano.com, a site where listeners can freely download selections from their favorite piano solists. If you don't have a copy of Reservoir yet, here's your chance to listen to a few tracks and get hooked! 06.23.03: Another review! This one's from Kathy Parsons at Solo Piano Publications. Thanks for listening, Kathy. 05.12.03: The first official review of Reservoir is in! Check it out in the May issue of 04.30.03: Alicia has set up a mailing list where she'll send a quarterly update and other important news tidbits as they occur. You can subscribe by entering your email address at the top right of her main page. 04.27.03: Now Shapeshift is at #5 on Spinner! 04.20.03: Reservoir's Shapeshift track charted at #6 on Spinner for the last couple weeks! (Spinner powers Radio@Netscape). 04.17.03: We've learned of a number of additional radio stations playing Reservoir! 01.23.03: Jim Keogh at The Landmark has printed an article about the Reservoir project. You can read it here. Thanks, Jim! 11.26.02: After more than a year of composing, practicing, recording, and mastering, the labor of love that is Reservoir has been born, and the umbilical is cut. Now it needs a home in your livingroom. I am proud of this album, Alicia is proud of this album, and I'm sure her mother, Barb Bessette, is proud of this album. Alicia and I each have our free copy of Reservoir. Barb will have to hand over cash for her copy, as will the rest of you. I've had a great time producing this album, and I owe a lot to Alicia for the opportunity. What other record label has a budget item for incense? (Again, this is where your hard currency comes into play.) Listen to the MP3 samples, then place an order! Surprise a friend with a holiday gift. Or maybe a copy for each room in your house? Be creative. Let Reservoir inspire you. 09.01.02: The last three tracks have been recorded. Next stop, production. CDs? November! 08.17.02: Benj has completed mastering the newest three tracks and remastering the first six. One more recording session to go before we're ready to finalize the CD. We plan to have the finished product in time for the winter holidays! 07.01.02: Up in New England for our friends' wedding (congrats, Beth & Tim!), Alicia decided now would be a good time to capture some of the new compositions running around in her head. We managed to trap three of them before speeding off to the Sox game, but the fourth one got away. The fourth composition is aptly named "Soon." 10.31.01: Alicia's writing is not suffering for her musical endeavors. Read about her short story in the November issue of Yankee Magazine. 09.29.01: The first recording session was a complete success. Nine hours of hard work, candles, incense, and screaming paid off in the form of a rough draft CDR which we listened to the next morning over The Bagel Inn bagels and coffee. This first session included about half of the pieces which will be heard on Reservoir. Now it's back to work, with Benj mastering the first session's tracks while Alicia returns to composing new music. |
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