ORANGE COUNTY FRIENDS: STOCKDALE MUSIC IN THE O.C.! (and PlayDead at the Geffen in Westwood)

ORANGE COUNTY FRIENDS: STOCKDALE MUSIC IN THE O.C.!

(and PlayDead at the Geffen in Westwood)

A bunch of my Orange County friends said to let them know when I’m playing down in their area, so this is the OFFICIAL notice! I’ll be doing the 22 Rabbits House Concert Series in beautiful Irvine on NOVEMBER 14th, at 7:15pm. Tickets are $20, payable at the door, and, as is the case with House Concerts, you need to email  the host, Peggy Flinn Glenn, to get the address. Her email is ItzPeggy@gmail.com. This will be my first solo house concert!

Now let me tell you a little bit about Ms. Peggy. I first met her when she read some of her poetry at a salon at Severin and Melinda Browne’s house (called “The Abbey” because it looks like an 18th-Century monastery. It was used for the abandoned church where Edward James Olmos and Colin Hanks killed their victims in Dexter, Season 6). Soon after, I started seeing her everywhere there were songs being sung: Kulak’s Woodshed, Julie’s Joint, and spoken word shows like “Tell It.” There are actually people in this world who, though they are artists themselves, give a good deal of their energy to lifting up other artists, encouraging and gently nudging them to be their best. Peggy is one of those people. Besides attending so many of our shows, she worked tirelessly for all of us at FAR-West, helping me jump through all the hoops for my first Official FAR-West Showcase. A spoken-word artist, a poet, a lyricist, and an editor, Peggy is one of the people who make our community a beautiful place. Come to this cool show, and hang with Peggy and her talented boyfriend Jime Van Booven, bass player for John Zipperer and Friends.

PLAYING DEAD with TELLER and TODD ROBBINS

Some of you may know that, for 20 years or so, I have been the composer for most of Penn & Teller’s TV and live performance projects, including the award-winning Penn & Teller: BULLSHIT! One of the greatest things about this has been my relationship with Teller, who, besides being part of the team that made magic “cool,” is a brilliant director and writer himself. In 2010, he brought me in as composer for an Off-Broadway play he directed and co-wrote with Todd Robbins (another good friend who also stars in the show) called PlayDead.

This show may be one of the scariest things you’ve ever seen. In service of its macabre examination of those villains who have sought to play upon our grief and fears of death, it plunges the audience into TOTAL DARKNESS (not even exit lights), and proceeds to scare the living bejeezus out of everyone without the aid of digital effects or high-tech devices. I composed music that is played live onstage by a ghostly piano. It officially opens November 20th at the Geffen Playhouse in Westwood and runs until December 15, or you could see one of the preview performances from now until the opening. Todd himself is truly an amazing performer, who is a walking encyclopedia of the world of the Carny.

By the way, the Orange County Concert is one day before my birthday, so I would love to celebrate it with all of you. It won’t be as big a party as last years’, but it will be just as much fun.
Happy Thanksgiving, and I hope to see you in Irvine.