swell city

happy holidays to all!

i’m home now, nesting and resting. been doing press for “my one & only” since i’ve been home from tour for the last 4-5 weeks. here’s an interview that went up this week at the swell city guide:
click HERE.

my one & only

This summer I went to Baltimore and worked on a movie. I played the part of Tanya, a nightclub singer in the 1953 period flick, “My One & Only” starring Kevin Bacon, Renee Zellwegger and Chris Noth. Kevin’s character, Dan Devereaux is a musician who had a hit with his band “5 years ago” sung by yours truly called, “My One & Only”. I sing the song in a couple of nightclub scenes and have a few more with my boyfriend KB. It was quite an experience acting in a movie for the first time, a bit different than I imagined it would be. Time takes on a different flow than it does in the music world. All in all I’d say I enjoyed the experience but would have to do a few more just to make sure. Mr. KB was very sweet and helpful, picking up that this was my first time on set. I’d say, “What does that mean? What does this mean?” and he patiently clued me in to whatever was going on. The film is scheduled to come out in the fall of ’09.

That’s me as Tanya in the photo above with the musicians who played The Dan Devereaux Band in the film. They are out of Baltimore and are called in real life, THE BLUE MOON BIG BAND. We had a good time messing around with old standard songs between takes, some of which may or may not end up on the extras of the DVD.

This part came my way through my friend Steve Lindsey, the guy in the white shirt next to me in the pic below, who produced my album, “I Confess”. He is the music supervisor on the film and pitched me to the director and producers after I sang the demo of the song for our friend the excellent songwriter, Dillon O’Brien. Thank you Steve!

This is the actual band who recorded the song, “My One & Only” that will be heard in the movie. As I mentioned, Steve Lindsey is to my left in the photo and to my right is Steve’s father, the legendary Mort Lindsey who was for many many years Judy Garland’s arranger. The mischievous looking gent with the white goatee in black tee shirt further to my right with arms folded is Chuck Bergdorfer who played the unforgettable bass line in the Nancy Sinatra/Lee Hazlewood classic, “These Boots are Made For Walking.” What a band this is! It was a pleasure to record with them!

Ok, what else….

I sang on a couple film scores this spring, “The Women” and “The Express” for Mark Isham. “The Women” just opened and “The Express” is opening soon. Love those kind of jobs…

Going to New York to do a couple of shows at The Living Room at 11 pm on October 16th and 19th. Gonna play music off of all my albums and do a kind of retrospective, culminating in a live album that I’ll release digitally soon after. Looking forward to these shows. Been working out the songs, some of which I haven’t played in a very long time. My New York band is so good! They all are working all the time and inevitably we can only find time for one rehearsal for my NY shows, but that always adds to the fire.

Back in Los Angeles, on October 25th, I’m doing a set at Genghis Cohen. The new music I’ve been working on is an album of Brenda Lee music. If you’ve never heard her, check her out particularly the songs, “I’m Sorry”, “Break It To Me Gently” and “Jump the Broomstick”. She’s been making records since she was 14 years old and is STILL making music all the time. She came out of the rockabilly world, sang with Elvis, was mentored by Patsy Cline and was said by John Lennon to have the “original rock & roll voice”. So I’ve recorded a few things, and am planning to play ‘em the Genghis Show, maybe solo, or maybe with a band.

Then I’ll be back out with Idina Menzel from October 30th – November 16th doing more US dates. We always have a good time so that should be fun.

Oh here’s a good one: I’ve got a song that’s going to be in the Grey’s Anatomy spin-off, “Private Practice”! The air date is November 5th and the song they are using is the last one on “Songs for Tuesday” called, “Be The Only One.”

And oh yeah, I’M HAVING A BABY!

should i choose to accept it

hi all….

to andy from berklee…”love gets old” has not been published per se as a “score”. benji hughes and i wrote it and then chris botti recorded it and that recorded version is the only one out there. the chords are very simple. you are welcome to jot ‘em down and make your own lead sheet. do you need help with that?

been quiet on the site, but a lot going on at home.

#1…i’ve been singing at THE KID’S COTTON CLUB, a jazz night hosted by danny masterson at teddy’s at the roosevelt hotel in hollywood that happens every thursday night. it’s a good good time. i get up and sing 2 or 3 songs around midnight, then hang out for awhile and then do it again around 1. the band starts at 11:30 and we go till 2 am. i’m doing songs like “bloodshot eyes” by wynonie harris, “fever” by little willie john and “never loved a man” by aretha. we have a great horn section and an exuberant rhythm section that makes my dreams come true. if you’re in LA or planning a trip, i want you to come. it gets a little packed but if you leave me your name HERE in a comment, i will put you on the list so you can get in. there’s no cover, so the only catch is that guys got to wear ties, even if it’s over a t-shirt. but listen, every girl likes a man in a suit so break one out and see what i mean. they sell ties at the door for $20.

#2….i did some singing with leonard cohen last month. he was putting together his band for his first tour in 15 years! his promoter called me up, after i was recommended for the gig by justin meldal-johnsen, my buddy, co-producer of “songs for tuesday” and GREAT bass player, writer etc. i went and had a meal with l. cohen, rosoe beck his musical director and elliot lufkin, the promoter. it was a sweet, happy lunch and i was delighted to be sitting there with those guys. we sang together a few weeks later which was fantastic. leonard’s voice is as rich and deep and dark as it ever was and singing with him was delicious. they went about hiring the band first before seeing any more singers and i was in touch with roscoe for the next month or so. he asked me to come back and sing again after the band was hired and they were gonna bring in some more singers at that point and cast the two parts. over that month period, i took a look at what is going on with me.

i wrapped up with allee on bubbles & cheesecake in february, the week before i got the call to sing with leonard. the reason for that is that as much as i love working with allee, and bubbles & cheesecake, as time continued on, i began to itch to focus on my own solo music again. it was a big decision, yet a vital one!

to get the call to sing with the legendary l. cohen the very next week put that decision to the test in a major way. i don’t aspire to be a background singer, rather i aspire to create my own foreground and background and everything in between… but if i did want to devote myself to someone else’s mission, who would it be? leonard? prince? andre 3000?…. barack obama?

is there someone, anyone who’s mission is more important to me than my own? the answer is no.

i realized that no matter how much i would enjoy standing on stage and mixing my voice with l. cohen’s, i could not turn my back on my own music. i couldn’t come up with an argument that made it make sense to delay getting to work on new hp music for another year, which is how long a commitment i would have needed to make.

so, this is why it’s been a bit quiet on the site. been making decisions, turning some corners and ultimately, making new music. when i have something to share, YOU kind reader will be among the first to hear it.

mark isham called me to sing on another film score. this one was for “the women”, a remake of the clare booth luce book that became a movie in the 50s. the music supervisor is chris douridas so it was nice to reconnect with him. the score is a kind of 60s jazz feel mixed with new yorkican soul, roy ayers type sounds. i sang some great horn lines over both organ trio type pieces and more traditional jazz as well. i’ll let you know when the film will be released.

THAT’S WHY THEY CALL IT ROME VIDEO….is for sale on i-tunes now!
lee! thanks for the heads up!!

oh yeah, billy! you said you missed the other journal format. i know what you mean. the thing is, this iweb program that i’m using is so easy for me. i can upload and edit photos and extra bits so quickly that it makes more sense for me to do it this way now. i’m a little greedy with my time so that’s why this one wins.

lots of love all….

holly

I met Rickie Lee Jones….

…….for the second time this weekend. The first time was in 1996 at Irving Plaza in NYC right after my first album came out. I blurted out “I LOVE YOU!” on being introduced upstairs at show by some warner executives. I think I pretty much bowled her over and she quickly introduced me to a guy in her band named Ray who was standing nearby. That’s the only time I’ve spoken to her until this last Sunday.

A lady with a big dog came into the dry cleaners where I was picking up some things with my little dog. The two dogs had a moment and she laughed or smiled or said something to them. This caught my attention and I glanced at her and noticed that she was my original music hero, Rickie Lee Jones! Her second album, “Pirates” was on repeat when I was a kid. My dad used to get vinyl from the library to check out new music and that album was one that he brought home one day. I couldn’t believe my ears and I played it over and over again.

On Sunday afternoon when I saw her, I remembered right away the uncontrollable flow of admiration which made me unreal to her in that moment in the dark at Irving Plaza. I didn’t want to repeat it and I said to myself, “Now just be cool. Just tell her how much you appreciate her. Don’t freak her out. She might like to hear it.” Then I said to her, “You’re Rickie, right? She said, “Yes.” I said, “My name is Holly Palmer. You gave me permission to use a bit of one of your lyrics in one of my songs on my first album. “ She said, “Oh that’s great, Polly.” I said, “It’s Holly, but, yeah, I just wanted to thank you.” She said, “Oh you’re welcome,” and smiled at me. I said, “You’ve been a huge inspiration to me.” She looked really happy. I looked at her closely cause i wanted to make sure that she really got it and said, “..really, for my whole life!” She thanked me and I felt that a cycle was complete. I felt that i was finally able to get her the message of how much she had meant to me and how much her music had affected mine. It was a short, simple, sweet exchange. She told me that she’s playing in Silverlake on the next two Mondays and invited me down. We were both smiling pretty big as I left the dry cleaners. I kept saying to myself for the rest of the day, “I met Rickie Lee Jones for the 2nd time today….”

mark isham and “the express”

last week i sang on a film score for my friend, the brilliant film composer mark isham.  the film is called, “the express” and stars dennis quaid and rob brown. it is the true story of ernie davis, the first black heisman trophy winner.  it looks to be a great film!   the score is very dynamic and largely orchestral.   my melody lines were written to be sung with a fairly pure tone.  mark didn’t ask me for a typically “classical” tone but did want me to use my voice as an instrument, stepping out in front of the orchestra at points with the intention of giving a more directly human feel to the some of the more emotional points of the story.  i love using my voice this way.

i played saxophones in junior high and high school and then in college my best friend and  roommate was cuong vu, one of the truly great modern trumpet players.   from when i was a kid and up throughout that time in college in boston, i was very into jazz music and particularly singers that sounded like horn players and horn players that sounded like singers.  specifically, i spent a lot of time with sarah vaughn, rickie lee jones and billie holiday in the first category and chet baker, sonny rollins and miles davis in the second.   i am very interested in the different sounds, tones and colors that a horn or a voice can make.  so anytime i can use my voice as a horn, i am happy as a clam.  no pun intended.  the film will be out this spring and i will let you know when i hear more on that.

here’s a new section of the blog:

ANSWERS……..

menno from amsterdam.  you named your cat after me.  hmmmm…….i’m not sure i believe you.

my friend from the people’s republic of china.  in general, YES, I PLAN TO GET OVER TO YOUR SIDE OF THE WORLD.  in specific, the truth is a little more drawn out.  these days what i am thinking about it making a new album.  when that is done, i will set about putting a team together to get it and me everywhere.  the last couple of years since leaving warner brothers have been a time of constantly reconfiguring my goals, beliefs and ways of getting things done.  some of my friends say, “you have an album that you just put out, “songs for tuesday”! tour now!”  but, all i am thinking about every day is a new album, and to do otherwise feels like going backwards.  anyone that has been with me for even a little while, will agree that this lag time between my making an album and then promoting it, touring etc, is just way out of hand.  it won’t always be that way.

so, right now, here’s what i’m up to: listening to leonard cohen, thinking about doing a covers album while writing songs for my new album, working on a new video for bubbles & cheesecake, doing some background vocals for my friend idina menzel who has an album coming out soon, writing songs with my friend che pope for our album tentatively titled, “i wear high heels to make coffee”, singing commercials, teaching voice and the rest of my time is about joe and the animals, spooky, milo and me-you-key.

okay menno, maybe i do believe you after all. my girl cat me-you-key, i just remembered, is named after a beautiful lady i knew from japan.

gerry from edinburgh…..i loved that show at the olympia theater!  i remember that is was such a gorgeous place.  we’ll get back there soon and i will let you know.  are you on the email list? there’s a sign up form on the news section of this site if you want to make sure to hear bout everything.  thanks for keeping up with me.

jenn…yeah, the youtube biz was surreal.  now after some time has gone by, it doesn’t seem like such a big deal.  it feels like that kind of vitriole is just par for the course when you hold up anything to public scrutiny.  there’s always gonna be somebody with something to say. thanks for your support.

lee!  don’t worry. when it goes quiet it just means that i am working and moving fast and the days are filled from top to bottom.  happy new year to you too!

xoxohp