the please, please me hits the big stage

Who knew Bethlehem, PA was so hip?  We played a festival at what is perhaps the most innovative space to perform we've ever experienced. Check it out!

Thanks to Robin Zaremski & the whole Artsquest crew for making it happen.

We're back MON, AUG 6 at MUSIKFEST....we expect to see some of you Sunday lawnchair folks!

Auggie style

How do you get ready for the big thang?

    How do you warm up on game day?

This is how Agustin does it.  

Flam, triple paradiddle, crash. The Madison Scouts would be proud.

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how do you get ready to be at your best?

Today, it starts FOR REAL. Agustin, Alissa & I go into the studio to make our first band EP.

We've spent so much time preparing for this -- picking a studio, a producer, losing sleep over how to raise money, writing / re-writing / arranging songs, arguing about songs, declaring our love for songs.

And now, in just over a week, we'll be DONE.

This is awesome, but it also makes me feel the realness of what's at stake.

     That's only a little bit of time to spend a lot of money and make something which I quite literally hope will transform my career -- will put this band on the map.

So in between sleeping 10 hours a night all weekend or downing Whole Foods smoothies and practicing, I've been wondering:

       WHAT IS THE BEST WAY TO GET READY?

       What do you do -- not just in music, but in sports, board meetings, in LIFE -- to know you'll be at your creative and physical best when it counts???

       Pls pls send me your comments! We'll try some of these ideas.

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... and the winning puppet is....

....DRUM ROLL PLEASE......

Once again, kudos to Sarah Danko at Archimedes Media Lab for giving birth to such a lovable lil' lady.

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Some days i love my job.

Being an indie rock 'n roller isn't as glamorous as it sounds. There are days where all I do is send emails, or spend hours working on a song that'll never make it out of the starting gates, or spend $200 and a friday night mailing out posters.

But some days, it is EVERYTHING it's cracked up to be. And tomorrow will be one of those days.

Tomorrow, the Please, Please Me -- Alissa, Agustin I -- will be onscreen. On a green screen to be exact where four very talented film & animators shoot the video we will use to announce OUR FIRST NEW LONG-AWAITED E.P. & KICKSTARTER CAMPAIGN to the world.  

More about both those things coming soon...

               but  first, meet THING 1 and THING 6

The cool creative kids of Archimedes Media Lab here in Austin have been amazing. (hooray johnny bones, They jumped in when we posted a plea for help on Craig's list because our last video person left us at the altar. They were honest enough to say, well we could fix your video... but we counter-offer with a cooler, more interesting vision... PUPPETS??!... one that we would be super proud to be a part of. 

They had to sell us on a puppet & how we could do it pls pls me style. But odd fellows make amazing creations. And we wouldn't have it any other way.

I won't give all the secrets away, but check out some ideas they sketched out of our puppet hero/heroine... A long last fan who'll tell the story of the band & (we hope!) persuade you to donate generously to Kickstarter campaign.

 

 















Tomorrow, they shoot the real human us to make a guest appearance in the video.


Which creature do you think we'll pick? Which is your fav???

ps-- If you haven't heard the song yet, go download it FREE here.
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Thursday Trailer Park Show Canceled!

Hey Southby'ers--


The storm has begun. We're dancing in the rain....


Unfortunately, our show at the East Side Trailer Park Thursday is canceled. Someone forgot to get a sound permit & they are really cracking down this year.


Apologies!  If you'd like to see us play, we will be closing out SxSW at LeeAnn's famous barn dance.
   SUNDAY at 9pm; 3600 S. 2nd St ATX 78704; www.fullmoonbarndance.com


In the meantime, more time for us to see great music & catch up with our rockin' rollin' friends.
   Don't forget to drop a line if you're in town!


xoxo
~jessie


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it's beginning to look a lot like christmas

Ho ho ho, it's that time of year again.

Put on your Sexy Santa outfit.... cry your heart out into your stocking.... whatever route you choose, we're with you, as long as it's not traditional.


And on that note, we have a little video for you. It's the Chipmunk Song redone -- a track I recorded with Mark Addison at Aerie Studios in Austin, TX. The video was made by Anna Mumford in NYC.


I was totally obsessed with Alvin, Simon & Theodore as a kid. Carried their dolls with me everywhere.


      Fast forward 20 years. Throw a little Brasilian guitar in there. A naughty streak. Some updated lyrics about blue jeans & iPhones... and voila.

Video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdV7jgjlAHk

Our free download: http://www.jessietorrisi.com

On an interesting side note, Ross Bagdasarian, the composer of this tune, passed away nearly 40 years ago. But when I called him estate to get permission to sell this, they turned me down. They did not appreciate my lyric improvisation or sexualizing of the old classic.

Hey boys, have a sense of humor! Or imagination! 

   It's a cartoon afterall.
     And if you won't let me sell it, I'll give it out.
      

So Please, Please Me foot soldiers.... go forth and spread the love. Or music as the case may be.

   Forward the link, post it to Facebook.... Alvin, Simon & Theodore would be proud.


ps --- Get over to our website & you can download the track fo' free. Along with another original holiday tune.
                That's right...... FREE!
          We could use a little more of that this time of year.


pps --- My birthday is christmas... no joke! What i want is another year of rock 'n roll awesomeness.  And a little financial help making this next record.

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how do they kill all those hours in the van?

With so many new songs in the repertoire for this tour, we've been practicing in the van.

Harmony central.

Here's us finetuning our "ooh ooh's" for Tennefuckin'see.
Afterall, got to make that f*ck you song sound purty.

We rewarded ourselves with a high-class dinner when we got to the gig.


Apparently, this is where John Paul Jones eats his sushi when he's in Lexington, Kentucky.

Thanks to everyone who came out to the Green Lantern. We got to sleep in a recording studio...  and not just any studio -- These United States & Ben Sollee recorded their latest album here.


We got discover an amazing new songwriter -- Reva Willams (check out tunes at http://www.myspace.com/gretelmusic).


And let's not forget breakfast the next morning at Tolly Ho.


A wrap on our fav food from the Freeze Freeze Me 2011 tour coming!

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almost ran out of gas in kentucky

check this video out!

         .... but we didn't.
                     (the please, please me pulls through again.)




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can the rhythm section have some?

Why is jessie torrisi the one who always get to monopolize the blog, and the emails, and the mic?
    Doesn't she know it's not all about her???


oh really...


Here's Agustin Frederic (beatkeeper, thundermaker) & Alissa Schram (cello mistress) telling stories about the first 48 hours of tour. afterall, if you haven't met them yet, IT'S ABOUT TIME.

But seriously, how is the tour really going???

See ya out there friends! Be sure to check http://jessietorrisi.com/tour for our remaining Kansas City, St. Louis, Evansville IN, Indianapolis, Chicago, Milwaukee dates on this run.  

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Take that Bob Lefsetz

Not sure how many of you follow Bob Lefsetz's blog on the music biz....

He's a blowhard for the revolution; he has a lot of great ideas on why the industry's broken & what it'd take to fix it. He LOVES music.

Only one problem. He seems to think those who live for the art of it, to write a great song, chase the muse, or bring an audience to its knees died off around 1985.

We know he's wrong. The world is fuckin' overflowing with talent, amazing young artists coming of age in a DIY world.

So here's my response to his blog on creativity & James Taylor. (his original rant here.)
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Dear Bob--

People still write like this...every day.

They stay up 'til 3am, even though they have to be at work 'til 9am, because they know there's something longing to be said if they can just be patient enough for it to emerge.

They show up late to important business meetings and dates with pissed-off boyfriends or girlfriends because they were obsessed with nailing down that last line to the bridge, because the hook took off good but didn't land quite right.

I just spent 4 days in a Marriot hotel in Memphis for the Folk Alliance. Hundreds of artists (a few agents, labels, promoters, but mostly artists) cramming into bedrooms & jamming, usually unmic'ed, 'til 4am every night. The whole time, I hardly left the hotel. I got to sit in a song circle with Ron Sexsmith, and he was just as humbled by the talent of young New York, Texas, California writers there as we were by him.

I am not a folk artist but damn am I glad I went. Because now I know I'm not alone in my madness. And that 90% of what I worry about when it comes to "making it" (read, building a career), while important, doesn't matter to me half as much as BEING GREAT.

There's a lot of us out there who are hustling and sweating... ticking off the 10,000 hours... wanting nothing more to write a great song, make a great album... one that captures all the whimsies and soul and comi-tragedy of life, of us.

There are a lot of us out there who think Nashville is bullshit... who constantly devour music and have no clue what's up in Top 40 world. And we pour out songs that would make James Taylor, or you crack a smile and lose the everything-great-happened-30-years-ago speech.

I wish you would talk more about us. We're out there. We do it because we can't not. And we're trying desperately to connect with you, with all the great music lovers still out there.

~Jessie Torrisi