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STOCKDALE MUSIC ON BROADWAY!

and

DOUBLE-BILL WITH JOHN Z.

The first time I heard my music played on the Broadway stage was in the show “Penn and Teller, the Refrigerator Tour” back in 1991. I had been working with the “Bad Boys of Magic” since 1990, when I scored their first NBC special, “Don’t Try This At Home.” I wrote music for many of their projects after that, including the last true TV variety show, Penn & Teller’s Sin City Spectacular, (here’s a montage of all their introductions of me) which ran for 24 episodes in ’98-’99, and, of course, Showtime’s Penn & Teller: BULLSHIT!, which ran for 8 seasons.

Those two guys changed the way “magic” worked on TV, surpassing generations of “rabbit pullers,” pressing lies and chicanery into service to tell a greater truth. Their exacting high standards, and brilliant marriage of comedy and content made me a better composer, and I did some of my best work for them.  Now they are on Broadway again this summer, for a limited engagement in July and August, again featuring some Gary Stockdale music. Tell your New York pals! http://www.pennandtelleronbroadway.com/

You’d be hard-pressed to find anyone who doesn’t love John Zipperer and Friends. John and his band never fail to have the audience singing along with their infectious tunes.  On July 11, at 7pm, at Bob Stane’s legendary Coffee Gallery Backstage I get to appear with John, and “Friends” Tara Sitser and Jime Van Booven (with John O’Kennedy sitting in for Barrett Tagliarino). Call (626) 798-6236 for reservations, only 18 bucks.

Incidentally, John’s lovely wife Julie Zipperer presents one of LA’s coolest concert venues, Julie’s Joint. Check the link for upcoming shows.

John is also one of the nicest guys in the biz, and a great friend. So come see us at the Coffee Gallery. John, his Friends, and I plan to tear the place up. We’ll blow the roof off of the place.  We’ll rip it apart!

…I mean, you know… musically. We won’t actually cause any physical damage to the venue. We’re all pretty responsible.

This coming Thursday, June 18th at 7pm, I will be appearing at The Safari Club, in the Bay Park Hotel in beautiful Monterey CA. The show was booked by Kiki Wow, who has brought some of the best musical artists in the country to the venues and shows she produces in the area. This is in the same neighborhood where I played a concert last year, and I’m happy to be back in Steinbeck Country again.

Then the following Sunday, June 21st, I’ll be playing the very first Make Music LA Festival in my own neighborhood of Glassell Park. I’m doing a 45-minute set starting at 6pm, but make sure to come early, because some of my favorite friends are playing before and after me: The show starts at 4pm with the great tunes of Karen Tobin, then comes the always-perfect Lauren Adams, followed by the extremely cool Skip Heller. I love all of these artists, and I know you will, too. The festival ends with local indie-retro funsters The Roswell Sisters. The location is at the Glassell Park Recreation Center at 3759 Verdugo Rd., LA  90065, and it’s FREE!

See you in July!

This Monday, June 8th, is a very special night for me, and my co-writer, Spencer Green (who is “Hal Philip Walker” on Facebook. Don’t ask.). We are premiering five songs from our new musical “Bumpersticker” at 7:30pm in Hollywood at Rockwell on Vermont. This is part of the Festival of New American Musical’s “Musi-Cal” series, which spotlights new works by theater composers and lyricists. Thanks to Linda Shusett and Bob Klein for this great opportunity. Rockwell has tasty food and drinks (and little buttons at each table by which you may summon your waiter), so please come and enjoy. Reserve your seats here.

And this Saturday, June 6th, I’ll be appearing as a part of the Make Music Pasadena Festival on the stage of the Pasadena Public Library. I go on at 1:30pm, but I’m also surrounded on both sides by good friends and great songwriters Dan Frechette and Laurel Thomsen, Aireene Espiritu, Shelby and Tieg, Lauren Adams, and many more. It’s FREE, so come and enjoy some of LA’s finest from 11am-5pm.

All of us in the music and writing community recently suffered a great loss: Taylor Negron, an actor and comedy performer who was able to combine the most scathing wit with the deepest emotion, making you cry and laugh at the same time. Taylor’s first well-known role was as the Pizza Guy in Fast Times at Ridgemont High. I got to know Taylor partly because of his appearance in the movie The Aristocrats, for which I wrote the music, and partly because of the 15-year phenomenon of Sit ‘n’ Spin, a show which, if it didn’t give birth to the current plethora of spoken word evenings, was certainly in the delivery room. I got to sit to the side of the stage and watch him captivate the room so many times. Here’s a TED Talk Taylor did in 2013 which will give you an idea of who he was and how he communicated his life to the world: “I’m not afraid to get older… I have muses that will help me… (But) It’s very, very hard to get older, especially when you’re a man…You can’t, you know, get a face-lift because the surgeon only gives you two choices: Siegfried, or Roy.”

I’m doing the show again on June 11th at 8pm, and it’s the first time I will have done it since Taylor left us. Maggie Rowe always orders pizza before the show. I’ll make sure to tip the pizza guy, in tribute.

Comedy Central Stage at the Hudson Theater. Call 323-960-5519 for reservations. It’s free, but it fills up fast.

COMMITTED TO CAMARILLO THIS FRIDAY

LOCAL CONCERT THIS SATURDAY

I wrote a new song the other day, and played it for some other writers, and after some (nice) comments, one said, “It’s a ‘Gary Stockdale’ song.” …not sure exactly what that is, but they seem to be the only ones I know how to write. Luckily, I’m their foremost purveyor.

I just put a new video up on my website, a performance from my showcase at FAR-West in 2013, accompanied by the wicked guitar of Ed Tree. It’s called “Smokin’” and it’s about what things were like when ashtrays were found on nearly every table, and no one noticed that every place smelled like burned tobacco.

By the way, I’m playing somewhat fewer live gigs these next couple months so I can catch up on working on some long-form projects, as well as to record and release the rather large bucket o’ newish tunes I’ve been playing the last couple of years. But here’s what’s coming up:

On Friday night, March 20th, I’ll be going up to appear in a great concert series, The Camarillo Café in the town of the same name – where once was located an infamous mental institution which closed in 1997. Though my co-inmates in this upcoming musical asylum are the MacMammals – who play gorgeous Irish and Celtic music (and even sea-chanties!) – I will come on after them and bring the lion’s share of the crazy, I’m sure. The show starts at 7:30. Thanks to Gary and Kathy Lynch for having me.

Then the very next night, March 21st, I’ll be back in Burbank for Theta Sound Studio’s TSS Live concert series, appearing with my good friend Amy Engelhardt. Amy is a veteran of the wacky a capella group The Bobs, and we used to have a band together called The Peepshow Trio, which some of you might have seen. She is delightful, and we will probably be playing and singing together on a few things. It’s $20, or for a couple, $30. That price includes a CD of mine and one from Amy, so, you know, what a deal! This show will be live-streamed on Concert Window https://www.concertwindow.com/10856-theta-sound-studio-live so if you can’t be in Burbank that night, watch us on the interwebs.

Oh, and congratulations on the great James Hurley’s upcoming nuptials, (Nup-up!), shared with the talented Melinda Gibson. Everybody celebrate!