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Russ Lorenson

Last Updated: 4/4/2009

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Status: Single
City: San Francisco
State: California
Country: US
Signup Date: 12/23/2006

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Thursday, May 21, 2009

Cabaret Singer Russ Lorenson Returns To The Rrazz Room With 'After Hours' 6/6

http://broadwayworld.com/article/Cabaret_Singer_Ru...

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Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Half-price tickets available through Goldstar Events!
Current mood:

stoked
Category: Music

Hey there!

There are half-price tickets to my shows in New York available via Goldstar Events, but MySpace won't let me post the link. Go to goldstarevents.com and search for Lorenson in New York.

Here's the actual link - but it won't work if you click on it. Just copy it into your browser:
http://www.goldstar.com/events/new-york-city-ny/russ-lorenson-performs-standard-time.html

Cheers-
Russ

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Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Cabaret Scenes review of "Standard Time"
Current mood:

excited
Category: Music

Wow, what a wonderful review by Joe Regan Jr! Thought I'd share it with you all. Also, if you happen to be in NYC on October 25th or 28th, come check out the show at The Metropolitan Room!

http://www.cabaretscenes.org/cab_revs/2008/oct08/lorenson_russ_10-08.html

Currently listening:
Broadway Scot's Way
By Scot Wisniewski
Release date: 2005-11-15

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Monday, October 20, 2008

Check out this event: Standard Time
Current mood:

excited
Category: Music

Hosted By: Russ Lorenson
When: Tuesday Oct 28, 2008
at 9:30 PM
Where The Metropolitan Room
34 West 22nd Street (between 5th & 6th Avenues)
New York, New York|33 10010
United States
Description:
Russ Lorenson

Click Here To View Event

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Monday, October 20, 2008

Check out this event: Standard Time
Current mood:

excited
Category: Music

Hosted By: Russ Lorenson
When: Saturday Oct 25, 2008
at 9:45 PM
Where The Metropolitan Room
34 West 22nd Street (between 5th & 6th Avenues)
New York, NY 10010
United States
Description:
Russ Lorenson

Click Here To View Event

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Monday, October 13, 2008

S.F. Theater Examiner: Neo-crooner Lorenson shines in Rrazz debut
Current mood:

thankful
Category: Music

http://www.examiner.com/x-428-SF-Theater-Examiner

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Saturday, September 20, 2008

Jazz News: Jazz Vocalist Russ Lorenson Debuts at Rrazz Room
Current mood:

excited
Category: Music

http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/news.php?id=23204

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Saturday, August 09, 2008

Summer 2008
Current mood:

busy
Category: Music

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Russ Lorenson News

Summer, 2008

Above: Lee Meriwether, as she was when I had a teenage crush on her
Below: Lee with me in Michigan - and I still have a crush on her!

I hope your summer is going well! Though it's been quiet for me on the performing front, I've been busy working on a revamp of A Little Travelin' Music for it's first performance in 2 years, as well as putting the brand-new show together for our Fall debut and recording.

Since the last newsletter, I had an absolute ball working on Nunsense Jamboree in Michigan, working with 4 great co-stars, including the incomparable Lee Meriwether. What I hadn't disclosed in past newsletters is that one of my biggest teenage crushes was on Ms. Meriwether, during the years she starred on the TV show, Barnaby Jones. It was such a great thrill to meet her in person (she is still Miss America gorgeous!) and get to become friends with this incredible lady. One of the highlights of my life will be remembering going grocery shopping with Lee at 2 in the morning...details will remain confidential, but let's just say we had a blast...

As I've said, the new show will debut in October in both San Francisco and New York, and then it's straight into rehearsals, reprising my role as Father Virgil with those wacky Little Sisters of Hoboken in Nuncrackers: The Nunsense Christmas Musical, which will keep me busy until New Year's. We are already busy booking 2009 appearances (including an appearance at the Peppermill Resort Casino in Reno!). I hope to see you at one thing or another, and if you can't make it yourself, please tell your friends to come see a show.

As usual, thanks for your love and support!

..
Russ Lorenson

On The Road Again...

Fresh off my "April in Paris" trip, I'm eager to do the first performance of A Little Travelin' Music in over 2 years! Dusting it off after all this time has been fun - we've taken a good look at the show and have made several changes to the set list, adding some great new tunes that we missed the first time around. That being said, "I Love Paris" is definitely a keeper, now that I've finally gotten to visit there.

Unfortunately for most of you, the performance will be a private event for the members of the Rossmoor Community here in the San Francisco Bay Area. Rossmoor is a gated community in Walnut Creek, California, with a population of about 9,200. It was one of the first "active adult" communities for residents 55 years or older in the U.S., and has won numerous awards for its outstanding community.

As part of their annual Summer Outdoor Concert Series, the boys in the band and I will be taking the Rossmoor residents on an evocative excursion through the Great American Songbook, featuring songs by composers such as Cole Porter, George and Ira Gershwin, Johnny Mercer and Cy Coleman. We will fly away on wings of song...from London to Chicago, Rome to New York, and from Paris back to San Francisco.

Sunday, August 17 at 4:00pm

There used to be a time when pop music was jazz, when the hippest singers were also the most popular, and when the elastic swing of jazz propelled feet as well as toes. But with the dominance of hip-hop, the fragmentation of the music audience, and the current distance of real jazz from the cultural center, it's easy to see why the Great American Songbook has been declared dead, if not at least on life support.

Well, I disagree! And I have a show full of "new standards" to prove my point that well-written songs with meaningful lyrics are still being written today, just waiting to be interpreted by thoughtful, jazz-inspired vocalists. My brand-new show - Standard Time - explores the Great American Songbook of the New Millennium, featuring great songs written within the last 20 years.

We've reconfigured the sound of the band for this show, and in addition to Kelly Park on piano and Brian Carmody on drums, we will be featuring New York-based (or is that "New York bass-ed") Tom Hubbard on upright bass, and San Francisco Bay Area favorite Terrence Brewer on guitar.

I'm pleased to announce that the show will debut in October at two of the best clubs in the country:

The Rrazz Room at the Hotel Nikko in San Francisco
Sunday, October 12, 7:00pm

AND

The Metropolitan Room in New York City.
PLUS - we will be recording the New York shows for a live album!!
If you live in or near New York City, or will be heading there for this year's Cabaret Convention (which starts October 29), mark your calendars now to be there!

Saturday, October 25, 9:45pm
Tuesday, October 28, 9:30pm

It's beginning to look a lot like... Christmas??

Yup, that's right! I'm so excited that creator Dan Goggin has asked me to reprise my role as Father Virgil in a new production of Nuncrackers: The Nunsense Christmas Musical at The Willows Cabaret in Martinez, California.

Nuncrackers: The Nunsense Christmas Musical is the first "TV Special" taped by the Little Sisters of Hoboken in their convent basement cable access TV studio. It stars the nuns you love plus Father Virgil and some of Mt. Saint Helen's most talented students. It features all new songs including: "Twelve Days Prior to Christmas," "Santa Ain't Comin' To Our House," "We Three Kings of Orient Are Us," and "It's Better to Give Than To Receive." This show is filled with Nunsense humor, some of your favorite carols, a "Secret Santa," and an uproarious take on Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Ballet. Nuncrackers will make you laugh and maybe tug at your heartstrings. It's the perfect way to ensure your holiday season is merry and bright!

Nunsense was originally produced as a cabaret revue at The Duplex in New York's Greenwich Village in 1983, scheduled to run for four weekends only. 38 weeks later, the show was a certified hit, and it was expanded to a full-length musical. It opened Off-Broadway in 1985, won four Outer Critics' Circle Awards, and in 1992 became the second-longest running Off-Broadway musical in history. The show has been produced in over 25 countries in over 5000 different productions and has generated ticket sales of over $300 million! Since the original, there have been 6 additional shows in the Nunsense franchise, including Nunsense 2: The Second Coming, Sister Amnesia's Country Western Nunsense Jamboree, Nuncrackers: The Nunsense Christmas Musical, Meshuggah-Nuns, and Nunsensations: The Nunsense Vegas Revue.

The show runs November 17 - December 28, 2008 at The Willows Cabaret at the Campbell Theatre in Martinez, California. Tickets are $15-$25, available by calling the box office at (925) 798-1300, or purchase online by clicking here.

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Book me for your private party or corporate event!

Though I stay plenty busy, I am available for private parties and corporate events. If you or someone you know is looking for a way to make your event something to remember, give Aaaartistes International a call at (212) 799-4814 and see how affordable live entertainment can be!

In addition to my packaged shows below, I can work with you to customize a program specific to your event.

Benedetto/Blessed: A Tribute to the Life and Music of Tony Bennett - my love letter to an American musical icon.

A Little Travelin' Music - a musical journey around the world.

Standard Time - straight ahead jazz vocals, focused on the Great American Songbook of today.

The First American Idols: The Music of Rosemary Clooney and Tony Bennett - co-starring Jenna Esposito, a celebration of the lives and music of two legendary performers.

What I Want For Christmas - a cozy winter's evening of jazz and jingle bells, perfect for your next holiday party!

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Quick Links

Saturday, May 10, 2008

Russ Lorenson News - Spring 2008
Current mood:Jet lagged!
Category: Music

The latest newsletter is available at http://www.russlorenson.com/spring_2008.

Cheers-
Russ

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Friday, April 04, 2008

In Awe
Current mood:

inspired
Category: Music

I just got home from one of the best shows I’ve seen in years! I was able to see Diane Schuur’s show at the new Rrazz Room here in San Francisco tonight, and it was pure heaven. Why this show wasn’t sold out, and how the heck I was able to get tickets on Goldstar is beyond me. This woman is a legend (and I don’t us that word to describe someone who used to be great and now is not so much) - where were all the jazz fans in San Francisco? Forget San Francisco, how about in the Bay Area? To have any empty seats in that room boggles the mind!

Diane has been an idol of mine since I was a kid, when I used to see her on the Johnny Carson show. Johnny always had great taste in jazz vocalists, and he loved Diane (she was his guest 11 times). I can’t believe that I not only got to see her show, but I was sitting only FOUR FEET from this incredible artist. It was like attending a master class!

Diane has such a unique voice and style - she can twist the melody of a phrase like nobody’s business, yet never stray so far from the tune that you don’t recognize it (unlike a certain Grammy winning singer I saw at Yoshi’s a few weeks ago whose show was so bad I left halfway through). She knows exactly what a song is about, and pays close attention to the lyric. And because she is blind, she doesn’t do all the theatrical histrionics that so many of us performers feel we need to do to "connect" with the audience. She simply sits there, center stage, and inhabits the music. Her audience can’t help being connected to her - her love of the craft and her artistry demand it.

For those of you here in the Bay Area - get yourself to this show! Diane is here through the weekend, and believe it or not, there are still tickets on Goldstar!

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