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

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

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

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

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

 

 

 

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

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