Tracy Newman + Art Podell
In Concert at TSS Live!
- Price: Donation at the door (see below)
- Date: Sat, May 23, 2015
- Time: 7:00 pm - 9:30 pm
- Venue: Theta Sound Studio (directions below)
- Location: Burbank, CA
Randall Michael Tobin presents Theta Sound Studio LIVE! — A chance to see amazing artists before they become the hottest ticket in town!
TSS Live! is your ticket to hearing top artists, hand-picked by award-winning music producer Randall Michael Tobin just for this series. For a nominal donation (all of which goes to the artists), you get admission to Theta Sound Studio’s main room to experience two artists, each performing their own set in an intimate environment. Additionally, your donation entitles you to receive one CD from each artist! (see below for details)
Parking is free and you may partake in the awesome food and drink that’s available before the concert and during intermission!
Seating in the main room is limited to 23 guests. But there are a few seats available in the control room where you can watch, listen, and see Randall Michael Tobin work his magic at the mixing console.
Our May concert features two of the best storytellers/songwriters on the planet: Emmy Award-winning songstress Tracy Newman (in a rare solo performance) and Grammy Award-winning folk icon Art Podell!
TRACY NEWMAN
Tracy Newman grew up in Los Angeles. She started playing guitar at 14, usually sitting on the diving board of her family’s pool, strumming for hours each day. Back then she was mostly influenced by the Kingston Trio, because she could actually play some of their songs, especially Tom Dooley which had, and still has, only two chords. After high school, Tracy wanted to be a folksinger, but her parents insisted she go to college. She went to the U of A in Tucson and quickly discovered the “folk” community. She stopped attending college and began playing on street corners for money, otherwise known as “busking.” Understandably, this freaked out her mother who flew to Tucson and dragged Tracy back to L.A. for “help.” The therapist, an elderly man in a suit and tie, kept nodding off during the sessions. Apparently, he couldn’t relate to an upper-middle-class teenage girl who just wanted to be a folksinger. It’s taken Tracy a while to get back to her dream.
In the early 70s, she joined an improv class taught by Gary Austin, which soon became The Groundlings. Tracy is a founding member, and besides performing, she taught and directed. Her sister, Laraine Newman was the first Groundling to be discovered there by Lorne Michaels for Saturday Night Live. Some other Groundling alumni include: Melissa McCarthy, Will Ferrell, Kristen Wiig, Paul “Pee Wee Herman” Reubens and Lisa Kudrow. It was at the Groundlings that Tracy met her future TV writing partner, Jonathan Stark. Their first staff-writing job was on Cheers, followed by Bob (Bob Newhart), The Nanny, Ellen and The Drew Carey Show. In 1997, Newman and Stark won an Emmy and Peabody Award for writing the groundbreaking “coming out” episode of Ellen. In 2001, they created the ABC comedy, According to Jim, which ran for eight seasons.
Tracy had been writing songs all along, many of which were featured in TV shows. Now she’s once again performing her music full-time. Her CD, A Place in the Sun is still a favorite with young and old alike, for long car rides across the nation. The title track on her latest CD, I Just See You, highlighting the beauty of a long-term relationship, is now a music video on YouTube. Her newest release, I Can Swing Forever is a children’s CD with a coloring book by Tracy’s daughter, writer/artist Charlotte Dean.
If you’re one of the fortunate few who RSVP for this event and arrive early, you’ll get to spend some quality time, up close, with Tracy Newman, and another superlative singer/songwriter…
ART PODELL
Art Podell’s fascination with folk music began in Greenwich Village in the early sixties — days and nights of excitement and passion alongside the emerging greats of the folk music explosion. Sundays in Washington Square with Pete Seeger, Bob Gibson, Theo Bikel, intoxicating nights at the Café Wha?, The Gaslight, with Peter Yarrow, Noel Paul Stookey, Odetta.
Along with Paul Potash, Art and Paul recorded two albums for Columbia Records: their passport to Los Angeles where Art was one of the first to settle in Laurel Canyon and continued his career of writing and performing. Art has written songs for the Smothers Brothers, Glen Yarbrough, Rod McKuen. He co-wrote the title song on Ann Murray’s Christmas album.
Art was one of the original members of the New Christy Minstrels and wrote many of their songs. In the intervening years, he produced unique artists like Biff Rose. Art’s first solo album, From The Village To The Canyon, recorded right here at Theta Sound in 2014, charted in the top 10 of the internet radio Roots Music Report for the year 2014, and three of the songs from the CD placed in the top 10 for the year.
Art continues to write his own story, the stories of others and he continues to pull some of the great forgotten folk music chestnuts from the days of the great folk music revival. He currently hosts Roots Music and Beyond on KPFK 90.7FM Los Angeles.
Art Podell’s life has touched so many… why not let it touch yours for a brief time?
Suggested donation options: Single Guest: $20 (includes concert and one CD from each artist); Couple: $30 (includes concert for two and one CD from each artist).
This event will fill up fast so RSVP asap!
RSVP via e-mail to rmt@thetasound.com to reserve your seat(s)!
Directions to Theta Sound Studio:
Note: Due to the increasing unreliability of global e-mail communications, it is recommended that you also call 818-9-555-888 to confirm your reservation.
To see/hear a taste of the magic from our previous concerts, go here.
Thanks for supporting live music by great artists at Theta Sound Studio LIVE!