Bassist/vocalist Nicki Parrott is featured on All My Friends Are Here, the last recording produced by multi-Grammy winning and iconic producer Arif Mardin. Over a storied 40-year career, Mardin was responsible for well over 50 million-selling recordings throughout the world, and is credited with creating sonic imprints for countless superstars including Bette Midler, Aretha Franklin, Chaka Khan, The Bee Gees, Dusty Springfield, Norah Jones, Willie Nelson and Carly Simon, among others. All My Friends Are Here is a testament to both the beloved producer’s genius and to the many artists with whom he collaborated. As was indicative to Mardin’s knack for crafting profiles in sound and featuring the perfect voice to bring these images to life, Mardin hand-picked Parrott to interpret and croon the film noir song “No Way Out”. Here, Mardin and Parrott successfully convey a precision that allows us to see the emotional underpinnings of the song with our eyes closed. Just months preceding his death, Parrott and Mardin were collaborating on the string arrangements to accompany Parrott’s sultry vocals. A companion documentary, appropriately titled The Greatest Ears in Town, directed by Joe Mardin and Doug Biro will be released for theatres, broadcast and on DVD later this year. Parrott is one of the artists featured. As Ahmet Ertegun, the late, legendary founder of Atlantic Records comments in the documentary, “Arif developed a sense of artist loyalty and friendship that few producers I know have ever done, because of his natural nobility. He was one of the greatest producers of the 20th Century.” All My Friends Are Here is available on and other retailers.
The gorgeous paperback of Hats & Eyeglasses just hit the stores (with a reading guide and a Q&A with the author). A gloriously written memoir of growing up in a family of hard-core gamblers. Martha Frankel thought the gambling gene had passed her by, until she found herself addicted to online poker and knee-deep in debt. Published by Tarcher/Penguin Hats & Eyeglasses has been called: Intimate, exuberant— O, The Oprah Magazine Fast-paced and amazingly funny— New Orleans Times-Picayune You will feel not only as if you have known [Martha] all your life, but as if you still have one of her sweaters.— The New York Times Fearless… powerful, even uplifting and funny— The New York Post A heady joyride. Fast, funny and frank.— USA Today Funny and disturbing— The Washington Post Frank and unaffected— Publishers Weekly In Martha’s own words: The paperback is cheaper than a latte and a scone! Please buy copies for your friends and family, your reading group, your gambling cousins, your aging aunts. I bet they all find something to like about it… Wait, did I just say “I bet”? There really is no stopping me!
We are nearing the end of a rough financial year, but I’m sure that each and every one of us still have many reasons to be thankful. This time of year is about helping others — the food banks at the supermarket, the bellringers with their kettles…. In a time when many people are losing their homes, our artist Josh Charles is helping to rebuild them, and you can too. All you have to do is download a 99¢ song. Josh is donating his song “Healing Time” to help rebuild the homes — and lives — of residents still struggling in the wake of Hurricane Katrina in Louisiana. In a new and revolutionary partnership with Amazon and Tunecore, 100% of “Healing Time” will be donated to the Preservation Resource Center for New Orleans, which helps build green, sustainable homes in the Lower 9th Ward of New Orleans — among the hardest hit areas. Josh was mentored by Dr. John, and was in the process of making New Orleans his home when Katrina hit. He was forced to get on one of the last buses to Houston and evacuate. He was scheduled to record the day after Katrina roared through town, claiming lives and flooding homes and businesses. Three months after the storm, Josh returned to find people displaced, heartbroken, and hungry. Troubled by images that will never leave him, he wrote “Healing Time”. The song speaks of hope for a better tomorrow. Our initial goal is to obtain 150,000 downloads by New Year’s Eve, the cost of building one home through the Preservation Resource Center for New Orleans. Please take the time to go to the following link and download “Healing Time”. And please post this to your Facebook if you have one, send out a bulletin on Myspace, and email your friends, family and business colleagues. Everyone can afford 99¢, and collectively we can help rebuild New Orleans and put folks back in their homes. Website:http://tinyurl.com/HealingTimeThank you! Wishing you a warm, safe and happy holiday season.
Thanks to our friends at HIP Video, and all the folks at Leblon, the “Caipirinha” video was just added to VH-1 Brazil as well as tons of other shows in the United States (The Bobby T Show, Video Jam, WoozyFly.com, Billboard.com, California Music Channel, Vid Dream, Screen Play, the list goes on and on). Andy at HIP Video, you and your team rock!!! A VERY BIG thank you from da Silva Artists.