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.

Elisa Girlando new video ROCKS!

Releasing New Children's Music

Hitplay records is launching a new children's music division ; Lifepathentertainment.

 Lifepath will initially be devoted to releasing quality children's music. The first release "Americana vol 1" contains 16 classic children's songs such as: BINGO.itsy bitsy spider, old grey mare, etc. An additional bonus track written by Phil Garland is also included on the CD.

There are several things that separate Lifepath from other children's music. First and foremost is the quality of the music. "We noticed from a musical perspective that most children's music available was  hastily arranged, poorly recorded, and generally pretty terrible" states Hitplay CEO Phil Garland. "Additionally, it can be quite trying for a parent to listen to this over and over and over"! "So I came up with the idea of putting quality first", states Phil. "Great players, real instruments, serious vocalists (like ELisa Girlando) with quality packaging,combine to make a cd children will love and parents will enjoy. Its like a record should be!"

Of course having the resources of RED music behind the CD gives it a shot at being sold in some of the largest outlets in the country. So that allows lifepath to focus on the extra quality.

As if having quality music with major distribution is not enough, lifepath has developed an online activity book to accompany the CD. "We thought it would be a great added value if we had lyrics, coloring pages, mazes, and puzzles available for children on line" states Dave Bollard. Parents can sign onto the lifepath page and their children can safely surf the site and download whatever activity pages they want. "Additionally we will offer free mp3's and special offers on new products once the site develops" states Bollard.

COME OVER TO THE LIFEPATH WEB PAGE NOW AND GIVE US YOUR FEEDBACK ON THE SITE. Sign on and run through the pages and we are sure you'll agree that this is an excellent concept for brining music to children.

Classic songs, professional production, online activity book, and major distribution are the cornerstones of lifepathentertainment. We hope you enjoy.

http://www.lifepathentertainment.com/

dave.hitplay

Free Elisa Girlando downloads Sept

We are very pleased to offer free MP3 downloads of two Elisa Girlando songs for the month of September. The songs "another songbird" and Scheming" will be available to fans through the reverbnation/elisagirlando site. In order to get the free downloads fans will have to register their email account with Elisa. This will be used for elisa promotions only including future exclusives and will not be sold to any third party type folks. If interested click on the link above.

Some new Live video

Live clips of Elisa Girlando have been starting to surface all over the place so I made a link of them on youtube for you to check out. Also here's one from DYkstra park friday evening audience about 400 people. Its not the usual song for Elisa so I thought you might find it interesting. Leave me a comment what do you think?

Dave.hitplay

A review of The Living ROom, NYC!

Oh yeah I was gonna tell you about the RED/SONY music showcase we had for Elisa Girlando at the Livingroom in NYC wasn't eye.

Well I took the day off from work to be well rested (cause I new if I made any mistakes playing Phil would kill me), so no mistakes here. We left for the city at 2:30 pm cause the traffic into the city can be at best unpredictable and at worst a nightmare. More on traffic later.

Getting to the club was uneventful (how we like it), so was setting up through our sound check. Getting to the club reasonably early lets you get the vibe for the place going. I was feeling very confident.

After our sound check we had about 1 hour to start getting ready.So folks started to pop in. That's always a good sign. During the check ELisa was hitting the songs perfect so our collective confidence was growing. I cant say enough to bands out there that you need to rehearse and rehearse so when the real thing comes you're not thinking and just grooven. Doing the dress rehearsal at the sound stage was a pain, but man did it pay dividends Thursday night at the Living room NYC.

I know record folks like these early (7pm) weeknight shows cause they get done with work, have something to eat, see the show and go home. But man they are a pain if you and your fans live in Jersey!

I new we had one chance to make a first impression and I wanted to make sure we had a large turnout, so I called in some BIG favors and got a bus to take people to the show!The bus trip is becoming legendary. Apparently a lot of these people don't get out much. Add to that no food, a lot of alcohol, and a few old time partying type instigators.Combine this with a ton of traffic and you have a "cougars gone wild" party bus with total mayhem and a side order of "girls gone wild".

We were into our set when the bus arrived but we all could feel the presence of the people staggering in. It was an energy boost like the Calvary arriving. We did not need it but boy it sure sealed the deal.

The band played flawlessly, Elisa Girlando sang like a star and the people in the audience new they had something special. After the show I talked briefly with Alan Becker VP at RED. He seemed blown away. Told me how good it was and how large the crowd was. He went out on a line to set this up and I think he was feeling pretty good about the results. We will meet with SONY/RED in the coming weeks to refine our game plan and I will keep you all posted.

Problems we did have a few:

1. Amanda Carl who co-wrote the original songs was not allowed into the show because she was under age! (bogus)

2. Doorman was a bit of an ASS harassing people a little; very unnecessary!

3. A bus member vomited on Bob the President of RED!!! I think it was either a near miss or a shoe slopper but that is gonna cost me some shoe polish next time I see him!

4. Elisa's mom ,Donna, was on the infamous bus and was upset at the carrying on and that the bus was 10-15 minutes late. She never was late for a show before and that upset her very much

5. We had to stop playing even though it was a sellout and people were going crazy cause another group was due on at 8pm. Club could have let us go on with the crowd we brought them.

recap. We sold the place out, played as good as we could took them all to school about how good players can be supporting a singer and had a real powerhouse vocalist who stole the show. The following quote from Andy Gesner of HIP video promotion sums it all up:

"Speaking of performances, I wanted to congratulate and applaud you on the outstanding performance you had last night in New York City. Realizing that Elisa is still a very young artist, I was concerned that the packed room and all the pressure might be visible. Boy, was I wrong! Her confidence and incredible voice stole the show, and the overall presentation was magnificent. The musicianship was stellar, and there was a palpable sense of love and positive energy just washing over the room. Now more than ever, I’m thrilled that you will be a part of our big event in just two weeks(maxwells show Hoboken NJ)!"

dave.hitplay

Ready For the Living Room NYC

We spent most of the past week getting ready for the Elisa Girlando showcase this Thursday August 6'th at the lvingroom nyc. The show will be well attended by SONY/RED music folks and will start promptly at 7pm.

Much of the work we did was getting the band ready for the show, coordinating the show with the Livingroom and RED music, and energizing the Elisa fan base for the show. I think we are ready on all levels.

The band set is very solid and it showcases Elisa's amazing voice and talents with her on Piano and straight vocal. We go from modern pop to ballads to blues rock and ELisa handles it all. Out of Truth is sounding great and although we had a small health scare everyone should be there. A founding member did go down but was released from the hospital in time for the dress rehearsal. You think Phil was nervous in the past you should have seen him when he heard Bob was in the hospital. Think Xanax BIG DOSES!!HAHA  Well it all worked out and everyone is ready to go.

Alan Becker over at RED is acting as ELisa's A&R man and was instrumental in getting the show together and getting the RED team fired up for the show. Its amazing how things can come together quickly and easily with the right people behind you. Thanks again Alan. 

Alan assured us and the club a strong RED turnout and asked me if we could bring some people over to the city to support the show. I guaranteed him a strong Elisa turnout. Because this was my first guarantee I have been working non-stop to make sure we have a great turnout for the show. I have a few tricks up my sleeve which I will tell you about if they work next week. Needless to say the fan base will be there in force.

We also had to coordinate with the club getting in and unloaded and getting a sound check and having our own sound man work with the living room sound people. Cu dos to Candy for making all that happen.

Well the band is ready, Elisa is ready, the club is ready, and RED is coming so here we go everybody...........

dave.hitplay

here is a sneak peek at rehersal this will only be here for a few days so check it out then its gone forever!!

I forgot to tell you "another songbird" held number one pop slot on singingfool this weekend and was up to number five on the California Music Channel this week!

In The RED; music that is

This past week we spent some time in the city working on the Elisa Girlando project.

Our first meeting was a lunch meeting with Tom Carrabba of SONY. He has been a fan of ELisa's and was instrumental in bringing hitplay and RED music together. He offers us guidance and other sagely advice and Phil and I appreciate his time and effort. Most of the meeting revolved around working with RED and the things we hope to accomplish with the livingroom show.

After lunch we caught a quick cab ride down to RED music for our strategic planning meeting. We met with ALan Becker and two of his staff Billie jean and Brandy. They work the RED Internet marketing department and a lot of our meeting was devoted to promoting ELisa Girlando over the Internet and how RED can assist us with this. The other half of the meeting revolved around promoting the livingroom gig and getting folks to the show. I found this to be a very comfortable group and the ideas they have are going to be very helpful to the cause. Everyone was psyched when I told them about the FUSE on demand add for September!

Phil and I then hopped down to the livingroom to get a feel for the room before heading home.

We had a long day but it really was a lot of FUN.

This week more video adds to report???

peace, 

dave.hitplay

"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

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

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

New! - "Another Songbird" Music Video

A Strategy Develops

After our 2 hour meeting with the president and vice-president of RED music our Elisa Girlando CD release strategy is starting to develop. 

First we are going to go with the song "another songbird" as the single. The new video is up on the net and I would ask you all to check it out. The video came out great, it is "art". Most times we would not lead a new act out into the market with a ballad but the song and performance are so special we have to take the chance.

Next we are going to team up with the RED Internet team and really boost E-Girls web presence and style. Watch the sites over the next month we should see quite a lot coming from our RED partners.

The goal is to begin having Elisa play regionally with a strong Internet presence in an attempt to build on the buzz surrounding Elisa. Once that occurs we will have ammunition to go after larger venues and radio.

Our meeting was very positive and business like as the RED team really is looking for ways to break E-Girl to the world. It should be a fun ride.

peace,

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

Elisa Girlando breaks first top ten chart!

Elisa Girlando (aka E-Girl) has just broken her first top ten chart! We just came in at number nine on the reverb nation blues chart, on the strength of our upcoming single "another songbird". You can listen to the song on the reverb nation site. Our first milestone before we even get the song over to RED music. I hear a buzz, do you?

Elisa also top 18,000 hits on myspace this week and is rapidly moving towards 19,000 hits. Our strategy at hitplay seems to be working. Find great songs, mix them with great musicians (out of truth band), and let Elisa finish them off and we would have that "retro-fresh" sound, the "HitPlay Sound". Slowly start to spread the word and let it build.

Don't miss Elisa and out of truth at boodles opera house Sat March 28'th at 9pm

Its fun to be here at hitplay 

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

A Drummin Kinda Weekend

Hey there hitplay fans. This is gonna be a fun weekend for our hero (that's me). I get to go to the studio and play drums all weekend long. Boy this hitplay lifestyle is really tough on a boy!

First up is a new song for ELisa Girlando. The hitplay studios and E-Girl teamed up with talented songwriters Max Huber and Jav (his central American sidekick) to write an awesome song.Max, Elisa, and Jav are a great songwritting team and we cant wait for more. We at hitplay feel so strong about the song that we want it on the finished CD. SOOOOOOO its back t the studio I go. When you get that special feeling with a song you gotta run with it.

Next up is a great project and a possible future release at hitplay. The Jon George project. This is a tremendous project and I'm honored that Wayne George asked me to be a part of it. Once this gets a little further along I'll have more to say about it.

Well I need my beauty rest cause I'll be drumming all weekend long.

peace,

dave.hitplay

Candace Giaquinto joins Out Of Truth band

We are pleased to announce the addition of Candace Giaquinto to the "Out Of Truth" band. Candace is in rehearsal with the band and will be playing percussion, some bass, some harp, and backing vocals. The band will be supporting Elisa Girlando with her up coming CD release on HitPlay records.

Candyce Giaquinto’s powerful and distinctive vocals reflect a unique blend of influences ranging from R&B, soul and blues, to jazz and rock. But whatever the style, one of her greatest talents lies in her ability to always deliver a genuine and emphatic performance.

In addition to her vocal prowess, Candyce also plays flute, bass, harmonica, mandolin and percussion. She is an accomplished writer as well and one of the primary writers on the most recent album by The Suits, as she was for her former bands, Bliss and The Adults. Working out of her home studio, she has also written and produced several soundtracks.

Candyce's compositions are as diverse as her vocal talents and reflect a variety of styles from austere and moody to searing Latin, jazz and Afro-Cuban inspired pieces. Lyrically, she will take you on an emotional journey, often told through the eyes of one of her vivid characters.

Throughout her musical career Candyce has performed in numerous venues where she has shared the stage with Black Sabbath, Colin Quinn, Room Full of Blues, Papa John Creach and Kathleen Turner. She has also entertained many foreign dignitaries including the Prime Minister of Italy.

In the summer of 2004, Candyce traveled to China as the featured vocalist and percussionist in an R&B / jazz / reggae band, touring seven cities including Beijing, Hong Kong and Shanghai.

In addition to her live performances, Candyce has spent a great deal of time in the studio recording her own compositions, jingles, corporate tracks and has recorded work for “Sex and the City” and “The Sopranos”.

Wherever and whatever the performance, Candyce’s expressive renderings are sure to leave a lasting impression.

You can see Candace live with Elisa Girlando and the Out of Truth band throughout 2009. Its shaping up to be an awesome year isn't it!