benefit concert this saturday eveing

Elisa Girlando and her band Out of Truth will perform a benefit concert Saturday at 7 p.m. at Eastern Christian High School, 50 Oakwood Ave. in North Haledon. All proceeds will be donated toward the ECHS mission project of purchasing solar panels for the St. Stephens School in Uganda and also providing clean water for a local hospital and surrounding village. General admission tickets are $20, with premiere admission, which provides limited reserve section seating and an admission to a Meet and Greet with the band, at $35 a ticket. Call the high school at 973-427-0900.

Click on Link Free mp3 downloads

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"Another Songbird" can be seen by millions of viewers!

When we finished our first round of recordings with Elisa Girlando we backed off and gave our ears and minds a little time to decompress. Then when we went back through the songs one song jumped out at all of us "another songbird". We were concerned about leading with a ballad, but the vocal was so good we felt we had to go with it.

About that time we were approached to make a video. After discussions we felt the visuals from another songbird with Elisa would make for a great video. We went with the performance and went with "another songbird" as the video. We were more than pleased with the results.

We then had this tremendous video with this tremendous vocal and we decided to push the video ahead of our RED release; get a little pre-show buzz going if possible.

After interviewing several people I came across an old friend Andy Gesner who runs HIP video promotion. I felt very comfortable that Andy and his team would give us a great effort in getting the video out to the tertiary, secondary, and if we got lucky primary video markets. Phil and I discussed and Phil gave me the go-ahead to hire Andy.

The results from our first two weeks with another songbird is VERY Positive. We received adds throughout the county with some very big adds including:

1) FUse On Demand: 18,000,000 households add for September

2) Powerplay Music TV: 17.8 million viewers

3) Sidewalks: 3.5 million viewers

4) Street Timez 190,000 viewers

5) VME media 5,000,000 viewers

6) Screenplay 25,000 retailers nationwide

7) multiple Internet sites including :billboard/tvguide/allmusic video, 9:30 club, singinfool and many others!!!

We have a great song, we have a great vocal, we have an awesome video and programmers are seeing it. Wait until they see Elsia live it will blow their collective socks off.

Live SHows:

1. Point Pleasant Thur July 30'th Jenkins on the boardwalk-huge

2. The Living Room: Our RED music showcase all should come to this one! Thur 8/6 @ 7PM sharp!!!

3. Sparta Dykstra Park acoustic set Elisa alone Fri 8/14

4. Maxwell's Hoboken NJ Fri 8/21

5. Krough's Open Mike every Thursday we are not performing 10pm

Kicking into High Gear

peace,

dave.hitplay

ps check out Elisa on Twitter : elisagirlando

Microblog

A lot to report on the another songbird video tomorrow

Dave Bollard
Http://hitplayllc.blogspot.com

Whats the word this week at Hitplay

As soon as Elisa Girlando finished her third song at Kroughs open mike last Thursday she was approached by the talent agent wanting her to play the club. By the end of the first 30 seconds she had the place under her spell. Codos to Dave Bollard for his jembe support.

SONY/RED showcase is Thursday august 6'th 7pm sharp at the livingroom. Nice story on Elisa in the living room artist page

Elisa will be performing on her own without the famed "out of truth" august 14'th in Sparta NJ at Dykstra park 7:15 sharp

Elisa and out of truth are slated to open the HIP video promo night at Maxwells Friday august 21st, should be a rocking night don't forget your earplugs!

Hitplay is debating whether to place one additional song on the rise-up CD for hard release. The song "again and again" is so powerful that hitplay president Phil Garland is seriously thinking of making the addition.

peace

dave.hitplay

killing em at Kroughs

Just finished an open mike show at Kroughs in Sparta NJ. Went down to the club to meet Elisa Girlando and her pals so she could work on some piano vocal things. Also meeting Mike who was working with HIP video promotion. They wanted CD's to give to PD's so Elisa signed 60 of them for the team.

Anyway I'm listening to one after another come and go and I start to realize Elisa is going to slay this crowd. Then I think I should have some fun and go up there with her, so I drive home pick up my Jembe and get back in time to play the spot.

30 seconds into this thing the mood at the club changes people go from indifference to awe. I mean awe. Elisa killed this place people were screaming. When she was done the booking agent came up and said she needs to play there asap. I've been playing for years and very few times in life do yo get that feeling where you are certain you are destined to be a winner. With Elisa tonight I had no doubt. She will be a major talent within the next two -three years. What a great feeling that is.

peace,

dave.hitplay

Summer Heating up at HitPlay

We have a lot of stuff happening this month at HitPlay.

First up the Elisa Girlando "another songbird" video campaign is kicking off! Kudos to Andy Gesner and HIP video for being so passionate about the project. With that enthusiasm it cant miss. The video is going for adds across the country starting tomorrow!

Next up the band is rehearsing for our live support of Elisa. We have three shows lined up:

1. Friday July 10th 7pm at Dykstra Park Sparta NJ with Daniella Cotton

2. Tuesday August 4'th 7pm at The Living Room NYC. This is our SONY/RED showcase-very important

3. Friday August 21'st Maxwells Hoboken NJ. This show is a showcase for HIP Video with some live clips being shot and interviews etc. 10pm.

More to come,

dave.hitplay

Can you digg elisa/ RIP Micheal Jackson

Elisa Girlando video "another songbird" was added to the digg site today. Go over and give us you diggs!

On a serious note thinking about Micheal Jackson this week. What a tragic life. Such a talent but like a lot of talented people they seem to surround themselves with folks that are not always interested in their best interest. What doctor would inject narcotics into a patient multiple times a day? What would be the purpose? What kind of pain did Micheal suffer from that he needed that? Sounds like people keeping him in a drug induced fog so they can all keep sucking off his assets. That's my opinion, what do you think?

peace,

dave.hitplay

Elisa Girlando CD "Rise Up" out now

The debut CD by Elisa Girlando entitled "rise up" is now available for digital download on itunes! The long awaited premier features 10 full length songs. The songs include the single "another songbird".

Another Songbird made a stir on reverb nation rising into the top ten this spring, and the video is set for national release this week. Being promoted by HIP video promotion, look for the video nationwide. Props to the HIP blog for the shout out.

Elisa will be ready to start performing with the popular "out of truth" band this summer. Elisa will also be performing with a paired down band enabling her to perform more intimate venues as well.

Elisa is also launching her new web page www.elisagirlando.com. Come over and check it out.

dave.hitplay

meetings tomorrow

Have two meetings in Manhattan tomorrow for hitplay records.

First we are working on developing our network for promoting hitplay artists. We have two areas to focus on tomorrow.

We are meeting with "themusebox" president Nadine Gelineau to discuss marketing hitplay and specifically Elisa Girlando. Her company has many resources which we feel may work well for us here. We shall see.

We are also meeting with the music house "face the music" for lunch ( ilovelunch). They have a person for us to meet who places bands with advertising agencies for tv commercials. Bringing recording acts to television could be a great way to promote the band and have the band promote the products it works both ways.

Well that's what we are up to let you know how we make out.

peace,

dave.hitplay

21,000 Hits

Hi Folks, Dave from HitPlay here happy to inform you that Elisa Girlando surpassed 21,000 myspace hits today. All this before we have released her debut CD "rise up". We are also moving closer to picking a promotion company to co-promote the Elisa Girlando video "another songbird". HIP video promotion. Life is funny, turns out their president Andy Gessner is a fellow I've known for close to 25 years. He played with the band Spiral Jetty back in the day. Many a show I played with that band.

Things are getting hectic; and that's good.

peace, 

dave.hitplay

HIP video promotion looks good

Spent the day interviewing and talking with potential promotion companies for the Elisa Girlando CD. I think I'm liking HIP video promotion and the musebox. Will be meeting with them in the future to begin a marketing plan to work in conjunction with the SONY RED team.

Spent the evening rehearsing for Elisa's upcoming NYC debut. We are awaiting the date but it should be happening in June. The band is cooking and Elisa sounds terrific so don't miss that show!

Tiger Bill just sent me a slew of video snippets from the Boodles gig and they look great Ill try to get them onto the blog soon.

peace,

dave.hitplay

That Loving Feeling

What makes a band a special thing? Why are some groups of very talented players uninspiring and the next group so much more to behold? That is the magic and mystery of music is it not?

I've had the privilege over many years of playing in many bands. Some with great players who underachieved. Some with average players that made great music and inspired fans to love them.

I've been thinking a lot about this during the past week. Playing with "Out Of Truth" has been a great honor. A rare mix of great players who when they get together make awesome music "the magic factor". But what keeps a group together is respect and a feeling of familia. Like the crazy family that if you say anything bad they all gang up on you: that's how a band needs to be respect for each other and the music.

Tonight I'm going to bed loving the music and respecting the players and unable to wait to play the music for the people. That is a comforting place to be.

peace,

dave.hitplay

Another Great Show

Well it was quite a night at the  Mohawk house. After some serious technical sound problems delayed the start of the show by over an hour thing s settled in nicely. Props to Screaming Colour for opening the show and cutting their set short to get Elisa on stage by 10pm.

What followed was a 2 hour master concert by Elisa and Out Of Truth. The show rocked and as we left around 2AM I could feel the great vibe still lingering in the air. 

Next week we pick a publisher for Elisa and HitPlay records.

dave.hitplay

Man this is a lot of work

A GamePlan for the Elisa Girlando Project :updated MAY 09

 

1)   CD : completed and mastered.

a.    Tittle? Y/N “rise-up”          actoion:

b.    Graphics: new photo? Y/N action:

c.     Art work: disc makers? Or private artist?

d.    Liner Notes: Elisa with edit by Phil

e.     First run 1000 copies for promotion 1000 for sale?

2)   Live:

a.    NYC: Have RED/SONY book city showcase have in house marketing staff work the party

b.    Tour: Currently looking at 12-14 dates Conn/NY/NJ/Pa/Del

                                                     i.     Continue to work with agency to get this coordinated

 

3)   Promotion:

a.    HitPlay PR: finish RED release send to PR web

b.    Do monthly PR web release

c.     NJ Girl does good interest article: get to all NJ papers this week

d.    Coordinate promo release on E-Girl with RED (next meeting)

e.     Radio: 8 week initial campaign for industry awareness. Need RED input here

                                                     i.     College

                                                       ii.     AAA

                                                         iii.     Adult AC

4)   Internet:

a.    What will RED be doing need to hammer down next meeting with contact people and responsibilities

b.    Blogs/websites/socialmedia/streetteams/design what cant get from RED need to purchase

c.     How can Hitplay Mike coordinate this with RED

 

5)   Publisist: what is the best timing before during or after CD release.

a.    If before need recommendations from RED and start the process now

6) Alternative Branding: per RED we cant do this

 

 

 

CD COMPLETE !

The debut Elisa Girlando CD is finished and will be delivered to RED music tomorrow. The CD contains 10 tracks. We anticipate a digital release in approximately four weeks and a hard copy release four weeks after that. Now comes the real work marketing and playing live. Should be Fun!

DAVE.HITPLAY

Phil dont hit the soundman or the daniella cotton story

We were asked to play with Daniella Cotton today for a summertime concert. We played with her last summer and the mix of her rocking with Elisa's bluesy vocals was pretty good. So why are we hesitating??

Well the show last year was one of our worst, and not because of anything we did. The sound company was a bunch of knuckleheads who treated us like a lame opening act rather than the powerhouse band that "out of truth" is and the great vocalist that Elisa Girlando is. We are peace loving people here at hitplay but I thought Phil was gonna deck somebody. So when we were asked today I hesitate to say yes because if things go the way they did last year.... We will all need bail money for this show:)!

Any rate on a good note we are scheduled to go into RED next week and meet about the E-Girl release so this show is really taking a back seat in my mind.

peace,

dave.hitplay

A tremendous show another milestone

This past weekend we had the debut performance of Hitplay recording artist "Elsia Girlando and Out Of Truth". The show took place at Bodles Opera House in Chester, New York. We choose this venue for their love of music. We also wanted to see how the band and E-Girl would mesh, away from the NYC crowds.

Well we couln't have been happier. E-Girl sang her heart out, the band played their guts out, and the near capacity audience was BLOWN AWAY!!!! What a night!

After a discussion with CEO Phil Garland, who performed with an intensity I have never seen before, we all feel the band is capable of playing with anyone anywhere in the world. Elisa's vocals where spot on perfect, and the banter between songs was both relaxed and intirguing. The show is ready to go my friends so dont miss it.

Also today I was notified by Mike Lewis, director of internet marketing at HitPlay, that E-Girl's myspace page surpassed 19,000 hits tonight.

Another great week here at HitPlay.

peace, 

dave.hitplay

My MySpace Hell or how 4 months work disappeared in an instant

Well hitplay fans, we can't have a great week all the time now can we. This week started out very hellish! I was getting ready for E-Girl to hit 19,000 myspace hits this week in conjunction with her top ten listing on the reverb nation charts. Then it happened.

I logged onto the myspace page and it was GONE! Gone I said. No 19,000 hits no 3500 email fans no 11,000 listens to E-Girl songs. Gone all gone. Just a note saying the page has been deleted! We spent the next three days trying to figure out what the --- happened and were getting nowhere fast.It got so bad we were making plans to just start a new page, after four months work!

And by the way you cant get any info from myspace if you need it, nadda nothing.

Then just as mysteriously it was back. Like a lost child showing up at the doorway it reappeared. I aged a few years and got a cold from the stress, but its back home safe and sound. I am well a little wiser. 

 My take home point, nothing is a sure thing and the Internet can be a very mysterious place.

Don't forget boodles this Saturday night.

peace, 

dave.hitplay

The Blues or not the Blues? That IS the question.

We had an interesting conversation today at hitplay. We posed a question vital to the success of the E-Girl CD. On the surface easy to answer but when we really thought about it it became much more difficult. 

And what is the question you are asking?

How should we characterize Elisa Girlando's music. Is she blues, contemporary blues, aor, pop, RnB? 

On the surface we felt that E-Girl was definite contemporary blues. But what about the single "another songbird". That's not blues that's definitely pop, and so the dilema. If we push blues the audience may be smaller, but it would be easier to climb up the charts. This is evident by our reverb nation chart climb with minimal promotion (currently number 20 on the blues chart). But there are more pop fans and although it is harder to get noticed when you do the rewards can be greater.

So we are going to sleep trying to decide what we will ultimately do with the Elisa Girlando CD. Although we thought we had it all down we go and start thinking again, and that can usually means trouble my friends.

Listen to the songs and tell us what you think.

dave.hitplay