ANNIE DINERMAN: *NEWS

The Huntington Folk Festival was a relaxing day of fun, camaraderie and free music in a beautiful park, closing with a fine evening concert.

 

Adam Levy, Gretchen Witt, Joe Iadanza, Stu Markus, Robin Greenstein and I were among the many area songwriters and musicians playing under the trees for groups listening on the grass or relaxing in folding chairs.  We entertained the crowds all day. The Festival closed with a wonderful concert by Vance Gilbert and Susan Werner.

Mark Underwood covered the news of the day at Patch.com.  “Annie Dinerman showed eco-cred when she played "One Planet at a Time." She handed out homemade shakers made of "garbage" – recycled plastic pill bottles filled with pistachio shells. She said she enjoyed playing the festival…”

CLICK HERE to read the full article.

 

I had a weekend of fresh air, good food, fine people and wonderful music at the People's Music Network Summer Gathering.  The event was held at Epworth Camp and Retreat Center in High Falls, New York.  We all enjoyed three days of relaxation, workshops, concerts, making new friends and hanging out with old friends.  It was pretty much a no makeup zone, no bra zone, and often a no shoes zone, too.  Ahhhhhhhh.

(photo by Linda Meris)

The reason I look so happy is that I was spending time with good friends like singer-songwriter-choral director Bev Grant, and Diane Crowe, a folk DJ who has played my music on her radio show several times.  Also, everyone volunteers with event chores, and I got to help cook for over 100 people.  For me, that's heaven!  I also helped out at the CD table, where I made everyone laugh by saying, "We're making change for social music!"  Another fun thing was a song circle of parodies.  About 40 people went around the room, taking turns singing parodies of well-known songs.  I'd love to do that again sometime.  That's a great, old part of the folk music tradition.  Some were serious and political, others were frivolous and fun.  I sang my Passover version of the traditional Irish drinking song, The Jug Of Punch.  (email me at mail @ anniedinerman.com if you want the lyrics.)

The PMN members say it's a mystery as to why so many PMN people snore!  Yipes!  It was impossible for me to sleep but it didn't bother them.  So I dragged my mattress to the kitchen floor where I spent a blissful, quiet night alone with the hum of the refrigerator canceling out the sounds of snoring.  So much for your expensive white noise machines!

Annie's "Broken Cookies" CD received a total rave from Jamie Anderson of Sing Out! Magazine.  It's quite an honor to be reviewed in the 60th Anniversary Edition of this venerable music magazine.  CLICK HERE TO READ THE REVIEW.

Sing Out! was founded by Woodie Guthrie and his friends and colleagues, and later carried on Pete Seeger and Lee Hays of The Weavers, among many others.  To read about the history of Sing Out! Magazine, CLICK HERE. 

In January, 2010, Karen Duda came to hear Annie sing at the American Folk Art Museum, and then gave Annie's "Broken Cookies" CD a wonderful review at FeministReview.org.  On Memorial Day weekend, she brought her friends to hear Annie sing at Gizzi's in the Village.

Pictured (L-R): Lauren Albert, Lynn Messina, Karen Duda, Annie Dinerman.

Thanks to John, co-owner of Gizzi's, for the photo!  Thanks to Lauren, Lynn and Karen for the cherry strudel and green tea. Yum! Thanks again to Karen for the CD review.

I'm a big fan of Rockabilly artist Monica Passin, who plays around NYC with her band, Li'l Mo and the Monicats, and heads out to regional gigs in Texas and other states every year.  Monica and I worked up an arrangement of "Walk Right Back," a Sonny Curtis tune that I just love.  It was recorded by the Everly Brothers.  Mo taught me a new strum and she sang lovely harmonies.  I had so much fun doing this song for the audience at Banjo Jim's. Jessy Dunn took this photo of Mo and me for you to see.

Sydne Garchick, co-founder of theEcoLuxeLife.com, blogged on Annie's eco-song, "One Planet At A Time."  TO READ THE BLOG, CLICK HERE.  Blog includes a great photo of Annie with percussionist Rex Benincasa, who played "garbage" in the recording studio.

My beautiful, new Martin guitar has arrived!  It's smaller and sweeter sounding than the Martin dreadnought, a DC-16GTE, that I used to play.  A year ago, I told the good folks at Martin that I was recovering from a broken right elbow and needed a lightweight guitar that would be easier to carry to shows.  They kindly offered me the artist discount on a new guitar direct from the factory.  It arrived today and here's a first look at it!

 

It was fun having a big guitar for awhile!  I'm only 5 feet 4 inches tall and my hands are small, so this smaller guitar with a narrower neck is a much better fit for me.  And the dreadnought always sounded bright but brassy to me.  This new Aura has a lovely warm sound I am already in love with.  The top is spruce and the back and sides are Indian Rosewood.

It was really hard to wait a year to own this new guitar!  Times being what they are, I felt I had to sell the other guitar before buying the new one. Just when I thought I had a buyer, I discovered the dreadnought had been damaged. I went through the insurance thing and had it repaired.  Within 2 weeks, Dave Talvo bought it, right at the end of January, when I sang in the round robin at the People's Music Network Winter Event.  (READ ABOUT THIS SHOW in Annie's blog at myspace.)  Dave has already played the guitar onstage and says he loves it.  Dave sings with the Clearwater Walkabout Chorus, a vocal group that performs songs about the environment and the Hudson River, and they sing some toe-tappin' stuff, too.

I first learned to play on a vintage Martin New Yorker, a small "parlor" guitar which has pretty much spoiled me totally. Martin isn't making that model now, and I wouldn't install electronics in that guitar, so I had to hunt around and make a new choice. Last September when I sang at Bread and Jam Cafe in Cohoes, NY,  I visited Guitar Center in Albany and played a Martin 000C-16RGTE Aura.  I knew right away that I wanted to own one.  And now, I do!  I hope you'll come to hear me play it soon.  It's a sweetie.

Annie shared the stage with three British songwriters, playing to a standing room crowd at Gizzi's, the coffee house and acoustic music hangout on 8th Street.

(L-R) Edd Plant, Tommy Milsom, Annie, Alex Day

READ ABOUT THIS SHOW in Annie's blog at myspace.

Mother got upset when you crayoned on the wall. But now, you've got permission from a former Vice President of the United States! Write on AL GORE'S WALL.  Join Al Gore's new project and add your voice to the call for a cleaner, safer planet.  What can you do?  Upload a photo or a video and add a few words.  Talk about ways to use less plastic or lower your carbon footprint, how you recycle, or the Clean Energy Jobs bill.  I've just posted at The Wall (and it's my birthday today).  CLICK HERE TO SEE WHAT I WROTE AT THE WALL.

My environmental song, "One Planet At A Time," was tweeted at Twitter by BrighterPlanet.com, where you'll find great ideas for managing your carbon footprint.  You can join for free and find out simple ways to conserve.

CLICK HERE TO READ THE TWEET.

CLICK HERE to read an interview in the Queens Courier about my new CD, BROKEN COOKIES.  I talked with Entertainment Reporter Jessica Lyons about my goals, how I began performing my music in college, and how the Recession influenced the songs I wrote for the CD.  The interview is also in this week's print edition.  I'm the cover story of the Arts and Culture section!

Jeff Kart of Planet Green posted a blog about my environmental song, "One Planet At A Time."  On my new CD, BROKEN COOKIES, Rex Benincasa plays recycled garbage percussion on this song, creating a fun rhythm track with a world music beat you can dance to.  I'm excited about this blog! Check out Bev Grant's photo of Rex playing a coffee can.  All over the planet, people can read about the song.  Maybe they'll be inspired to do good things for our environment.  You'll find lots of cool and useful stuff at Planet Green: Ideas for saving money, food and health, tech news, travel tips, even fashion and beauty news.  Planet Green is a website of the Discovery Channel cable network.  PLEASE CLICK HERE to read the blog and leave a comment! Thanks!!!

My environmental song, "One Planet At A Time," is featured in the September 20, 2009 program of Newsweek On Air, the online radio show of Newsweek Magazine.  The song introduces good news:  headlines about big corporations who are taking steps to protect and preserve our environment.  Want to hear the part of the program with my song?  CLICK ON SONGS/PODCASTS in the navigation bar at Right.

Willow Belden, Western Queens Editor of the Queens Chronicle, phoned me to ask some questions about my new CD, BROKEN COOKIES.  We talked about the music that made me want to become a songwriter when I was a child. We also discussed how the lyrics on the CD are a product of our times.  CLICK HERE to read the interview in the Queens Chronicle.

Annie's new CD, BROKEN COOKIES, is available at CDBaby.com at last!!! CLICK TO BUY ANNIE’S 2ND CD

Don Cato, who won an award at Cannes for Best Short, has created a video of my song, "The Lady Down The Hall."  The video was shot at my recent performance at Kenny's Castaways.

Want to see it?  CLICK BELOW to visit me at myspace. And if you haven't already done so, "Befriend" me while you're there:

VIEW ANNIE’S VIDEO AT MYSPACE

"Broken Cookies" CDs have arrived at long last! Annie will have CDs at her upcoming show at Sidewalk Cafe on Sunday, June 12, 2009. (CLICK SHOWS in the menu at right for more details.) Annie's new CD will be listed at CDBaby.com very soon. Can't wait? You can hear and buy downloads, read all the lyrics, and more. Just CLICK HEAR and BUY in the menu at right.

Right now, you can download all 12 songs from Annie's second CD, BROKEN COOKIES, plus other fun and useful stuff at Annie's new webshop. Have a look!

http://www.thebizmo.com/anniedinerman

At last (HUGE SIGH), the mastering of my new CD, "Broken Cookies," has been completed by Jon Gordon, who did a wonderful job. In fact, he got 6 of the 12 songs right on the first pass. Jon was Suzanne Vega's musical director, and also worked as a session guitarist for Arista Records for many years. (In case you are not familiar with the term, Mastering means using technical expertise to make the recorded tracks sound their very best.)

Folk DJ Ron Olesko is writing my liner notes. Ron is the longtime host of the Traditions program on WFDU-FM Radio in New Jersey, and for many years has run The Hurdy Gurdy Folk Concert Series in Fair Lawn, New Jersey. He gives real support to Traditional and Contemporary Folk artists across the country.

After singing for a great audience at the Dance Flurry (Saratoga, NY) on Valentine's Day, Annie broke her right elbow in a fall on an icy sidewalk. Recovering quickly from surgery, Annie's back in action already. She'll be performing in April in Connecticut (see Calendar page) and is already booking dates for May and June. PLEASE SEND YOUR GOOD WISHES. Annie would love to hear from fans and industry friends.

Annie Dinerman was selected to close the Friday night showcase at the 2009 Cape May Singer Songwriter Festival in Cape May, NJ. Due to a recent injury to her right elbow, Annie had to cancel her Cape May showcase performance. However, her song, "My Ex-Boyfriend," was one of 17 songs selected from over 350 for the 2009 Cape May compilation CD. This limited release CD was only available at the Festival. Annie has just a few copies and will offer them to fans and audience members in the coming months. To get the details, SIGN UP FOR ANNIE'S EMAIL LIST (see link at top of page).

I'm excited to tell you that the photos for my new CD, "Broken Cookies", will be taken by noted Folk Music photographer Rober Corwin. Downloads and CDs will be available in the Spring or early Summer of 2009. I'm so proud of these 12 new songs, and feel they are among my very best. The CD was produced by Steve Addabbo (Suzanne Vega, Shawn Colvin). Steve played lead guitar on all the songs and bass on 9 of the 12 songs.

Annie's finished recording her new CD, "Broken Cookies", and the 12 songs are being mastered. Robert Corwin, noted photographer of Folk musicians, shot the photos for the CD last week. Annie plans to release the CD in Spring or Summer 2009. If you're on her email list (see link above), you'll be among the first to get the news when the CD is ready for you.

SATURDAY, AUGUST 9TH AT 2:00PM, ON WJFF RADIO (90.5 FM and 94.5 FM) Bill Jumper will interview Annie during the Jambalaya program around 2:00PM. WJFF is a listener sponsored station cuddled up in the beautiful Catskill Mountains of upstate New York. Bill will feature favorites from Annie's first CD, “1,001 American Nights". He'll also preview newly recorded songs from Annie new CD, “Broken Cookies”, to be released in November. IT’S SIMPLE TO LISTEN ON THE WEB! JUST CLICK HERE. CAN'T LISTEN AT 2:00PM ON AUGUST 9TH? By 5:00pm, the program will already be archived on the website and will stay in the archive for two weeks. TO LISTEN AT THE ARCHIVE, just CLICK ON THIS LINK, LOOK FOR "Jambalaya"; THEN CLICK PLAY at the right side of your screen.

On June 7, 2008, Annie opened for The Refugees at the Hurdy Gurdy Folk Concert Series in Fair Lawn, NJ. New photos have just been added here. Please click PHOTOS above to view them.