Jump City Music and Keith Spencer Present "Too Darn Hot - an evening with Cole Porter and friends"

Hello, friends!

As the weekend comes to a close, I wanted to let you all know about a "hip" production currently running at the Bristol Riverside Theater, "Too Darn Hot - an evening with Cole Porter and friends."  The performance runs through June 27th, and features friends and members of Jump City Jazz Orchestra! 

A brief description from the production's website:

"Hip...witty...sophisticated...timeless.

These were the feelings that described his songs when Cole Porter electrified Broadway.  Opening our summer concerts, smooth-voiced baritone Keith Spencer brings back the era when everyone hummed the melodies of “Night and Day,” “Begin the Beguine,” “Love For Sale” and “I’ve Got You Under My Skin” and danced to their undulating beat.

In this special presentation, Keith Baker, in partnership with Jump City Music, Philadelphia's elite jazz performance organization, has assembled the area's best musicians to bring a true big band experience to the BRT stage.

Combine the enduring songs of Cole Porter, the jazziest of ensembles, the magical voice of Keith Spencer and guest vocalist Jessica Edwards, and your summer will be Too Darn Hot!"

Remaining performance dates/times:
Wed. June 23 - 2:00 pm
Fri. June 25 - 8:00 pm
Sat. June 26 - 3:00 pm AND 8:00 pm
Sun. June 27 - 3:00 pm

Visit the production's webiste to purchase tickets!  Tickets are $31 or $10 for those of you who are 25 and under with student ID!

Enjoy!
Tina

Music Shoot with Eileen Cicutti!

Hello again and Happy Tuesday, everyone!

As many of you may have noticed :), I have recently been working more actively to promote myself as a freelance musician and also piano and clarinet instructor.  As part of these efforts, I wanted to have a professional photo shoot performed, the photos from which I plan on using in future marketing materials, such as business cards, postcards, etc. 

In March of this year, I had the pleasure of working with Eileen Cicutti to complete this shoot, and was delighted with the finished product!  I have included just a few of the photographs from the shoot, below, but you can view the rest on my Facebook Page, "Tina D Music."

Thanks again to Eileen for doing a wonderful job on this project!  She was a joy to work with and worked hard on this project for several weeks, resulting in quality photographs! 

And thanks to all my friends and family for your support in my musical efforts!  Thanks to your support, I continue to have the drive necessary to achieve my goals and pursue my passion that is MUSIC!

Musically yours,
Tina 

Box Five Featured in "TALE: A Night of Music, Dance, Animation, Trapeze, Art, & Psychoanalysis"

Hello fellow music lovers!

Those of you currently taking up residence in New York, specifically in Brooklyn, this one's for you!

I am excited to announce that I will be performing with Mary Bichner & Box Five this Thursday night, June 17, 2010, at Galapagos Artspace at 16 Main Street, Brooklyn, NY.  Box Five will be just one of the many musical acts featured in "Tale," a performance that seeks to answer the question: "What happens when we revisit the fairytales of our youth?" through music, dance, animation, trapeze, burlesque, and psychoanalysis.  A hint: Box Five will be playing something related to "Alice in Wonderland."

The show is presented by Poison Peach Productions and What Time Is It, Mr. Fox? and hosted by Mika Cooper and Tracey Wood. Doors open at 7 pm and the show begins at 8 pm.  Tickets are $15 and you must be age 21 to attend.

More details about the show, cast, and tickets can be found at the official website or via the show's Facebook event page.  You can also purchase tickets directly at http://www.smarttix.com/.

This is sure to be a fantastic event!  Hope to see you there!!!

Center City District Lunchtime Concert Series

For those of you who work in or around Center City, Philadelphia, this one's for you!

This summer, Center City District (courtesy of TD Bank) is once again presenting lunchtime concerts every Wednesday through the end of the summer--August 25, to be exact--for our listening pleasure!  The concerts, which are held from noon - 1:30 pm, will feature a variety of musical genres at different locations throughout the city.  The concerts are generally set to take place outdoors, with back-up locations arranged in case of rain.  Musical acts and locations can be found at the following link:

http://www.centercityphila.org/life/LunchtimeConcerts.php

Specifically, I'd like to give a shout out to long-time classmate and friend, Chris Despo, who will be performing original acoustic rock on July 7th at The Shops at Liberty Place.  You can visit his official website here: http://www.chrisdespo.com/.

Take advantage of this opportunity to break away from your desk once per week for a few moments to take in some live music!

Tina

"A Blue Note: Ortlieb's Has Closed"

Hi friends!

It's been a while since my last post, my apologies... I've been in mourning over the closing of my absolute favorite spot in the city--arguably the best jazz club in Philadelphia--Ortlieb's.  More about that here: http://www.philebrity.com/2010/04/27/r-i-p-ortliebs-jazzhaus-1986-2010/ 

In all seriousness, the closing of Ortlieb's did make me very, very sad.  I hope that someone will step in and revive the place, but only time will tell.  Ortlieb's was always packed and jammin' with a variety of people enjoying the Creole style cuisine and best jazz in town... I find it hard to believe that there isn't enough demand for such a venue in Philadelphia... your thoughts?

That aside, there are other jazz venues in Philly, such as Chris' Jazz Cafe at 15th and Sansom in Center City, and a less known place (shhhh) the 23rd Street Cafe,which has a live jazz jam session every Tuesday evening from 7:30 - 11:30.  On Tuesdays at 23rd Street, catch the house band, "Father John" D' Amico on piano, "Big Jim" Dofton on drums, and Kenny Davis on bass.

Additionally, I recently learned that the familiar and talented house band from Ortlieb's is back for Tuesday Night Jazz Session and Open Jam on Tuesday nights at Grey Social Lounge in Old City--exciting stuff!  Admission is free, and all jazz musicians are encouraged to perform.  If you're not familiar, the following familiar names make up the house band:  Byron Landham - Drums, Mike Boon - Bass, and Syd Simmons - Piano.  The music starts and sign-ups begin at 8:30 pm.  Did I mention admission is free?

At this point, even though Ortlieb's isn't around (for now) you have no excuse to get out and listen to live jazz, or jam with some fine jazz musicians, on Tuesday nights at least!  And if you ever need a buddy to tag along, you know who to call...!

Cheers!
Tina

A Weekend in "Music City"

Hello friends!

Well, I'm BACK in Philly after an awesome trip to Nashville, TN, "Music City," for a jam-packed weekend!  The purpose of the trip was three-fold:  to visit with family, to run in the Country Music Marathon/Half Marathon with my two uncles, and to explore Music City! 

The Race!
The race was fabulous and inspirational!  First and foremost, I beat my personal goal of running this, my third half marathon, in under 2 hours!  Also, my Uncle Chris ran in the half with me--it was his first half and he did great!  AND my Uncle Michael ran the full marathon and finished in excellent time, making us all proud!  After finishing the half, it was truly touching watching the full marathon runners finish.  Watching runners of every age, race, physique, and unique stride finish a full marathon, 26.2 miles, in under 3.5 hours only reinforced my belief that you can do whatever you put your mind to.  This applies to music, too!!  All you need is the drive, the passion, and the dedication to meeting your goal, and anything is possible!  Now I am all too tempted to indeed complete a full marathon by the end of 2010...

Uncle C, Me, Uncle Michael Pre-Race

The Music!
While in "Music City," I did of course also get to experience some of the excellent live music that Nashville has to offer.  On Broadway, I had the privilege of enjoying some traditional country, "honky-tonk" style music, which was taking place in every bar along the strip.  One place of particular note, "Robert's Western World" http://robertswesternworld.com/, is a great spot--part boot-shop, part bar--I highly recommend you check out if you're ever in Nashville.  Somewhat off the beatin' path, at The Basement, we got to see some world class musicians (Michael Rhodes, Josh Leo, George Marinelli, Reese Wynans, and Pete Abbott) play together in a group called "The Purifiers."  Some of the most rockin' original tunes I have heard in my lifetime!

A look down Broadway

Robert's

Inside Robert's

The Purifiers playing at The Basement

More pictures from the weekend can be found via my facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2183944&id=6103848&l=61a9ac6cf4 or official pictures from the race, as well as a video of me crossing the finish line, can be found here: http://nashville.competitor.com/results/ (my bib # was 8449)

And a big "thanks!"
Huge thanks to my Uncle Chris and Melody for hosting us and for helping to pull such a nice weekend together!  And thanks to all my friends and family who helped support me in my training for the race!  If you get the chance, get to Nashville!

And with that, night y'all!
~Tina

Neumann University Jazz Band and Wind Ensemble: Musical Styles

Hi Friends!

Wanted to let you all know that I will be performing this Thursday night with the Neumann University (not just a college anymore, haha!) Jazz Band and Wind Ensemble in their spring concert.  The concert will take place in the Meagher Theatre located in the Thomas A. Bruder, Jr. Life Center on the Neumann University campus.  The concert begins at 8:00 p.m. and will be conducted by Dr. Rick Sayers, a.k.a. the coolest director I know!
I pulled the following description from the University's website:  "The Jazz Band and Wind Ensemble join forces to present a variety of musical styles and instrumental combinations at this annual event."  Sounds really formal, but really it's a bunch of students and some volunteer community members getting together to play music and having a fun time doing it!  So if you happen to be free this Thursday, come out and support the music program at Neumann!  

Since I mentioned it, the "volunteer community members" as Rick so lovingly refers to us as are as follows:

Tina DiCroce (that's ME!) on alto sax
Andy Hutton and Bob Tokonitz on trombone
Jim Hoeffer on french horn (big shout-out to Jim!)

A funny sidenote (or at least I find it funny):
A while back, when I used to work in the administrative offices of Enterprise Rent-a-Car, I actually had both Andy and Bob call me, at work, and when asking to speak with me, introduce themselves as "Andy, the trombone player" and "Bob, the trombone player."  Completely separate incidents, in the same week.  Needless to say, my co-workers started to wonder about me after that... haha!  No idea why they both called me in the same week, or better, at work, but hey it resulted in a couple jokes at the time... and a really uninteresting blog post four years after the fact!  So sorry!

Anyway, some additional details about Thursday night's concert at Neumann:
Admission: General $8; Seniors/Students $5, Neumann Students with ID and children under 12 FREE

Hope to see you there!!
~Tina