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Tuesday, October 18, 2005
Interview by Dan Kimpel
Produced by Denise Bradley
Cinegrill at Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel
7000 Hollywood Blvd
8pm Jill Sobule
9:30pm Mark Luna, Eddie Cunningham, Paul Marshall
$15.00 / ASCAP Members $12.00
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"I'm kind of a music nerd," Jill Sobule confesses. "I always win in music trivia and that radio game you play in the car. The one where you go through the dial and whoever gets the artist first wins. I just love that game," she says. Jill Sobule's passion for music history shines through on her fifth album, Underdog Victorious especially in the opening of her first single "Cinnamon Park" when the riff from Chicago's "Saturday In The Park" comes right at you.
Besides a Chicago riff, Underdog Victorious is jam packed with 13 clever and emotionally resonant stories which range in subject from prostitutes in Tel Aviv, to fat little boys imagined as superheroes who rock out to the New York Dolls to Joey Heatherton. The record bounces from sweet to melancholy, downbeat to upbeat, and as Jill Sobule sings on the title track, Underdog Victorious is simply glorious.
Sobule started playing her guitar and writing songs while growing up in the comfort of her parents' home, in Denver, Colorado. Even though her family knew what she was up to, it wasn't until Sobule's third year of college that anyone else knew just how good her songs were. "I was abroad in Spain, and started busking on the streets for fun. A guy walked by in the first five minutes and asked if I would play his nightclub. I've always sort of wondered if this guy hadn't walked by whether I'd be doing something else with my life. It's one of those, odd, life changing moments."
Soon after Sobule returning home, Sobule landed a record deal. 1990's Things Here Are Different was produced by Todd Rundgren and released to critical acclaim.
Within a few short years, Sobule would become a household name when her self-titled second album hit the racks with the hit single "I Kissed A Girl." The song was a playful jab at America's fascination with lesbianism, with some radio stations banning the track. The video featuring romance novel cover model Fabio, became a mainstay on MTV and VH1 and catapulted Sobule's profile to a new level.
Sobule quickly followed up the success of "I Kissed A Girl" with another hit anthem. The satirical "Supermodel" (featured on the soundtrack to Alicia Silverstone's breakout film Clueless) became the song of the summer for teenage girls everywhere. By now according to Vanity Fair Sobule was established as a "witty and clever" musician with an original take on the world many listeners could relate to.
In 1997, Happy Town was released to critical success, receiving 4 ½ stars from the All Music Guide. It was followed up with 2000's Pink Pearl. The New Yorker praised Jill Sobule as a "feisty post-punk feminist whose work brings to mind a cross between Liz Phair and Gertrude Stein." People Magazine proclaimed Sobule a "vocally gifted and peerless satirist," while The New York Times commented, "Topical, funny and more than a little poignant, Pink Pearl is grown up music for an adolescent age."
More important than the love of critics, Jill Sobule has earned the respect and devotion of her peers and mentors. She's been personally asked to tour with Don Henley, Billy Bragg, Paul Weller and Warren Zevon among others. Zevon once said, "I've been down dark roads with Jill and I can testify that she's a genius; she's a cross between Tolstoy and the Tomahawk Thrower at the Cheyenne Rodeo." Sobule version of Zevon's "Don't Let Us Get Sick" is included on the upcoming tribute album Artemis Records will be releasing this fall.
Sobule was invited by Neil Young to play his Bridge School Benefit and joined Lloyd Cole's band The Negatives on lead guitar in 1999.
Like many of her mentors, Sobule is a poignant storyteller and songwriter. She dives into her subjects and immerses herself with the tiniest of details. On songs like "Tel Aviv" Sobule did her homework and studied up. "The song was inspired by a national television news program, I watched about women forced into prostitution. I'll become the character in that situation, I'll do the research, and become very knowledgeable about my topic, and of course," she adds, "I'll still throw myself into the story." Despite the subject matter of "Tel Aviv," Underdog Victorious is the most upbeat and hopeful of any of Sobule's records.
Besides Underdog Victorious, Sobule has scored and written songs fro the upcoming Nickelodeon series Unfabulous, made a guest appearance on NBC's hit series, The West Wing, and wrote music for the off-Broadway play Prozac and Platypus, currently in development. Additionally, Sobule has a starring role in the film Mind The Gap (dir. by Eric Schaeffer of If Lucy Fell), an audience favorite at last year's SXSW festival, which will be released this September. Sobule plays a character she can very much relate to: a musician buskin' on the streets of queens. Many of the tunes she plays throughout the film appear on Underdog Victorious.
"I feel like right now I am just hitting my stride. And I feel like a total late-bloomer, because I just skirted success. On one hand I feel like I'm still struggling, but on the other more positive side, maybe that's why I'm still writing the songs I write. I haven't gotten comfortable yet. That's for sure."
The road between Texas and Los Angeles is at the heart of singer/songwriter Mark Luna's music. A former A&M Records recording artist, Mark writes music that evokes American purists like James Taylor, Springsteen and Sheryl Crow but with a passion and timeless quality all his own. He also has a voice that comes around once in a generation. Blessed with a gorgeous tone as well as extraordinary range and power, it's a voice that has brought audiences to their feet from the Royal Albert Hall to intimate listening rooms around the country.
In addition to recording with superstars such as Faith Hill, Mark has performed around the world from Los Angeles to London. Highlights include a European solo acoustic tour opening for Willie Nelson and most recently, a performance in Washington DC at a ceremony commemorating the one year observance of 9/11, where he shared the stage with Roberta Flack and Muhammed Ali.
Mark's songwriting voice is equally remarkable. "Amazing, is how Shawn Colvin described Mark's song "Never Saw Blue Like That, which she subsequently recorded for the hit film Runaway Bride. Since then, it's been heard on the Dawson's Creek soundtrack and is now the title track for Manhattan/EMI artist Melissa Errico's new record, "Blue Like That", produced by the legendary Arif Mardin (Norah Jones, Aretha Franklin). Mark has also had songs recorded in the worlds of pop, folk and even country music, by artists such as Trisha Yearwood and Lee Roy Parnell.
In 2001, Mark returned to the theatrical stage, a love of his youth, by starring in Warrior, An American Tragedy, an acclaimed new musical based on the life of legendary Native American Olympic Champion Jim Thorpe, written by Grammy-nominated songwriter Marcus Hummon. Last year, he starred in Red River, in Los Angeles' hip NoHo arts district, to critical acclaim and made his film debut in The Last Game. Currently, he can be seen performing on the NBC series American Dreams, a 1960's family drama about the birth of "American Bandstand".
www.markluna.net
California native Eddie Cunningham began his singing/songwriting journey as a child some thirty years ago. Eddie has shared the stage with many great artists like Garth Brooks, Brooks and Dunn, Montgomery Gentry, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Bryan White, Joe Diffee, Aaron Tippin, Jim Lauderdale, Trick Pony, Jesse Colin Young, Boy Howdy, and Big House. In 1996, 97 & 98, Eddie was named Songwriter of the Year & Male Vocalist of the Year by the California Country Music Association. In 1999 Eddie won First Place at the "Country Music Showdown" sponsored by the Country Star Restaurant in Hollywood and sang The National Anthem before a packed house at a Los Angeles Lakers Basketball game at the Great Western Forum and at Hollywood Park Race Track.
In 2000 Eddie won The Jim Beam Country Band Search national talent contest and earned the title: The Best Unsigned Artist in America. Also in 2000, Eddie topped the Americana charts with a couple songs in The Gram Parsons Notebook, his song "Jesus Is More Than A Name was co-produced with Grammy winner Carl Jackson and Mike Ward. (the album was up for 3 Grammy nominations). Other songs to note: "If You Need a Miracle (Ben E. King) / "I Was Taken (Moe Bandy) / "Bad Cowboy (Jenny Slate) / "Lay Your Burden Down To Die (Mark Insley). Eddie has co-written with some of the best songwriters in the business including: BMI "2003 Songwriter of the year Jeffrey Steele, Grammy winners Wendy Waldman & Desmond Child, Country Music Hall of Fame Legend, A. L. Doodle Owens, Mentor Williams, Kostas, and many others.
Eddie's songs and or vocals appears on: NBC's Emmy Award Winning reality TV show "Starting Over", The E! True Hollywood Story "The Judd's, CMT's "Greatest Tour Buses", Style Network, Black Starz, Encore, TBS, TNN, CBS & Hallmark's multi-Award Winning "Touched By An Angel", Gundam Cartoon and more...his beautiful song he co-wrote with legendary country rock pioneer Chris Darrow "Get Back On That Horse And Ride is slated to be in the new Disney movie Black Stallion 2 "The Last Mustang." Eddie is also a in demand demo singer in Los Angeles and Nashville and has worked with the likes of Bob Doyle (Garth Brooks), Berry Gordy, Desmond Child, Diane Warren, Mountain Dew, Florida Marlins, Ford, Chevy, Nissan, Dodge, Los Angeles Boat Show, Radio Gets Results, and many others.
www.eddiecunningham.com
A long time ago (it seems like another millennium) Paul was born and raised in Southern California. His progenitors had escaped the frozen winters of Ohio in the 1920's, and found California too comfortable to leave. As a child, he loved listening to the classical and pop 78 rpm records of his grandmother, and later, the rock & roll and country music that came from the radio and television.
While in Junior High he learned to play guitar, and with two friends formed the band that would eventually be signed by Bob Keane and become a Mustang Records recording group, releasing singles while Paul was still a junior in High School. After a couple of years at the University of California at Santa Barbara, Paul retuned to L.A. and joined the Strawberry Alarm Clock, touring, recording, and featuring an appearance in the movie, Beyond the Valley of the Dolls.
Later, he began playing bass, and after learning 1 and 5 in a few keys, started working as a bass player, eventually leading to gigs with Hank Thompson, Johnny Tillotson, George Highfill, Mary Kay Place, and many others and recording for labels both major and indie. Paul has been writing songs since his first Mustang record release, and some of those who have recorded them include Patty Loveless, Juice Newton, Highway 101, Jill Sobule, and Boy Howdy.
Paul's also been producing records for some time, including a 1970's re-recording by Jon and Sondra Steele of the self-penned classic, "My Happiness. Recently, Paul has produced Russell Scott and His Red Hots, Single Bullet Theory, and Rebekah Florence. Paul released his own CD, Weed and Water, with a lot of support and help from family and friends, world-class musicians and Steve Pouliot as co-producer / recording engineer. Listen to some samples on the music page.
Now a member of the notorious and award winning I See Hawks In L.A., Paul can be found with them around Los Angeles and across the U.S.A.
www.paulmarshall.net
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one of the media's foremost authorities on pop music and songwriters, contributes to a variety of print and electronic mediums, including LA's Music Connection. 14 million monthly passengers hear Kimpel's interviews with songwriters and recording artists on United Airlines flights. Author of the best-selling book, Networking in the Music Business, Dan has taught a course based on this text at Sir Paul McCartney's Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts since 1998 Dan has produced concerts and events with Sheryl Crow, Sting, Paul Simon, Joii Mitchell, Crosby, Stills & Nash, Quincy Jones, Tom Petty, Burt Bacharach, Kenneth Babyface Edmonds, Glen Ballard and Diane Warren.
www.dankimpel.com
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