More new photos from Russia!!

Laura Marie Duncan took the following shots in St. Petersburg...
Here I am singing at the Grand Hotel Europe:

Photos from Russia

Photos from the Canyon Cub show

Here are some photos my dear friend Laura Cozzi took at the Canyon Club show in October....

My Trip to Russia!

I just returned from a 2-week trip to St. Petersburg, Russia, where I performed at the Grand Hotel Europe with my dad and two Russian jazz players. What an experience!! I'll post photos shortly (I took over 800 photos, so I need to go through them all and choose the best ones).
I went on this trip with 8 other singers, all from New York, and all established singers on Broadway, all as part of the "St. Petersburg Young Artist Alliance", headed up by the amazing George White (who has too many titles, responsibilities, and jobs to list). While the other singers put on two amazing shows of Broadway tunes to honor the late Russian composer Andrei Petrov (entitled "Andrei & Broadway" and directed by Tony Winner Ted Sperling), I had my own show of jazz standards, selections from "Somewhere in this Room", and Russian tunes (yes, I managed to sing in Russian!) at the Grand Hotel Europe.
Over the period of two weeks, we visited (and sang at) the American Consulate, the home of a Georgian Prince, and the apartment of a very famous Russian actress named Anastasia Melnikova. I also got to see the Hermitage, The Russian Museum, The Pushkin Apartments Museum, the Marinsky Theatre (for a ballet performance of "Romeo and Juliet"), and a Russian stage production of Chekov's "Uncle Vanya". I saw the Church of the Spilled Blood (built on the site where Tsar Alexander II was murdered), St. Isaac's Cathedral, The Yusopov Palace (where Rasputin was murdered...we even went to the basement to see where it happened), we walked up and down Nevsky Prospect, and now I know how all those great Russian novels were created. I have a lot of reading to do!
The talent in this city is amazing. The singers I encountered in St. Petersburg were nothing short of amazing. We stayed right by the Musical Conservatory, so all the waiters at the local restaurant were singers...they broke into Russian Folk Songs (sung operatically) every few hours. There were some Russian singers who sang in the chorus of the "Andrei & Broadway" who could really rip your heart out with their soulfullness. One of the singers had the highest, most gorgeous soprano I think I've ever heard, and I have a feeling all of us will be hearing from her soon in the USA!
More later...so much to write about, so much to share...I'll just have to post those photos. Stay tuned.....

THE BIG SHOW - Wed., October 17

Hi everyone! Please mark your calendar for Wednesday, October 17th .... I'll be performing at The Canyon Club for the big CD Launch Party. This will be quite a production, it's for the press, it's being filmed, and you're invited!

The album is now available on Amazon.com and CD Baby , iTunes coming up in a little bit, and it will also be in over a thousand retail stores all over the country. Radio promotion is also about to start . If you're interested in purchasing a copy, please visit Amazon and CD Baby , and feel free to write a review!
http://www.somewhereinthisroom.com/
http://www.canyonclub.net/

Finally...a new CD!

I haven't recorded a CD in 7 years - after all, I did three back-to-back from 1999-2000. So I guess a break was in order. I had no idea that the break would last 7 years! Well, thanks to Andy Bonime and Cloudshine Music, I was able to record a collection of original material, all drawn upon experiences in my life. Andy wrote the music, I wrote the lyrics, and we've spent the last year and a half writing, recording, re-writing, re-recording, and then finally bringing my Dad, Bill Pursell, in to handle three arrangements, conduct an orchestra, and play on the record. It was an opportunity I never thought I'd have again, and I'm very grateful. For more info on the record, go to http://www.somewhereinthisroom.com/. There will be a big CD release party in October with a live performance, and the CD's will be available in a few weeks!

Boris

This is our new dog, Boris...I rescued him from the North Central Shelter. Everyone asks me what kind of dog he is, and honestly, I haven't a clue! Whatever the RCA Victor dog was - that's what Boris is. He is a gentle, sweet animal who never leaves my side. He loves to throw his toys up in the air and then chase them. And he runs like a greyhound! He was in the studio with us when we recorded at Westlake Recording in Hollywood, and he completely stole the show...

Farewell, my friend

The world lost a treasure yesterday morning.

For those of us who were fortunate enough to know him, to hear his voice, to listen to his stories enveloped in that singularly unique baritone voice and to relish his wicked sense of humor, there will never be another like him.

Last year, after a concert, he was asked to read aloud a translation of a piece he didn't particularly like and he found the translation woefully inaccurate..so, instead of reading what was on the program, he pulled the following out of his pocket and read it aloud, unforgettably, to a hushed audience:

"Love is not all: it is not meat nor drink
Nor slumber nor a roof against the rain;
Nor yet a floating spar to men that sink
And rise and sink and rise and sink again;
Love can not fill the thickened lung with breath,
Nor clean the blood, nor set the fractured bone;
Yet many a man is making friends with death
Even as I speak, for lack of love alone.
It well may be that in a difficult hour,
Pinned down by pain and moaning for release,
Or nagged by want past resolution's power,
I might be driven to sell your love for peace,
Or trade the memory of this night for food.
It well may be. I do not think I would.

Edna St. Vincent Millay"

Godspeed, dear Roscoe.