Although I loved and do still love NY, LA in the 70’s was a revelation. It wasn’t crowded, people really were laid back and friendly, it still had the weather it’s still pretending to have, we hadn’t heard of smog, and I could live on unemployment. There was so much money available that a publisher would give you $100.00 (that was a lot of money) just to hold a song,. I went there to pursue my songwriting career and, like me, all my friends were scuffling to carve out a career in show business; actors, singers, writers, composers, comics… so I wrote “Hollywood Has Got Her”

These songs are all on my CD “I Won’t go With a Whimper” which was produced by the ridiculously talented Michele Brourman, who also arranged the songs and played all the keyboards. Michele is a brilliant singer/songwriter/performer/composer/musical director and producer. Check her out at Michelebrourman.com

I’m a therapist. The first time Sara (not her name) came to see me she was impeccably dressed in a business suit and low-heeled pumps. She sat very straight and described her problem matter-of-factly, showing no emotion, as though she was speaking about another person. She’d mentioned a stuffed animal she’d had as a child that she was very fond of. When she returned the following week, I handed her a stuffed animal. She put her arms around it, buried her head in it and dissolved in tears. Later that day I was thinking about her – and wrote this song. “Behind the woman, there’s a child” click the link to listen

These songs are all on my CD “I Won’t go With a Whimper” which was produced by the ridiculously talented Michele Brourman, who also arranged the songs and played all the keyboards. Michele is a brilliant singer/songwriter/performer/composer/musical director and producer. Check her out at Michelebrourman.com

I spent much of my 20’s worrying about the fact that, although there were always men in my life, I wasn’t MARRIED! When I moved from NY – where I was born and raised – and moved to LA, I began a new life. One day I realized that I was not only very happy, I no longer cared that I wasn’t MARRIED. And I wrote this song in celebration.

The Sweet Single Life is the first cut on My CD “I Won’t Go With A Whimper”

3-9-20 Singer and Cabaret Performer Anne Pringle Burnell thought she was going to be an actress. Listen to the ironic way she discovered that she is really a singer and was drawn to Cabaret where, unlike acting she can express herself. Anne was instrumental in creating the Chicago Cabaret Professionals and is currently its President. Along with many other music genres The Chicago Cabaret Professions will be participating in the Year of Chicago Music, and she and husband Mark Burnell will be performing along with 46 Cabaret performers at Chicago Cabaret Week, 3/20-39.

2-17-120 Laura Kepley, is in Sarasota to direct Into the Breeches at the Asolo Repertory Company. Laura fell in love with theater the first time she saw a play at 3 or 4 years old, and she can still remember the sticks with twirling lollipops. Not basically an extravert Laura persevered studying acting and theater until she realized that what she wanted to be was an Artistic Director. Apparently the Cleveland Playhouse though so too and so now she its Artistic Director. Listen to this charming, dedicated professional talk about her journey to discover her destiny. And come see Into the Breeches a “big hearted comedy,” whose message is you can be more that you, or others think you can.

2-24-20 Jeanne Corcoran is the director, Sarasota county film & entertainment office since 2007. She is an award-winning writer/producer/creative director and on-camera talent, in television and video productions, including dozens of concept-to-completion projects plus original tv and video content, music, books, electronic media, and web content. Listen to this amazing woman describe all the things she has done and is doing and come to the Film Commission’s 6 & a mix event – at Suncoast Technical College : 4748 S Beneva Rd, Sarasota, FL 34233 on Thursday Feb 27 – see details below

Featuring two upcoming young stars from Los Angeles, who have been on abc and other networks, cable and streaming, plus marvel and disney and numerous other major feature films and tv shows — Booboo Stewart (x-men, descendants, twilight saga and much more) and his sister Fivel Stewart (Hansel and Gretel, etc.) will speak on our vip panel in the conference center at 6:30 pm and if you’d like to just attend the beverages and nibbles mixer at 5:30 and then the vip panel, it’s only $12 total! if you’d like to come to any of the six workshops that run from 3:00 pm to 5:30 pm you can register for those too at a different total cost of $50 for everything including the workshop, but it is not required, of course!
And if you have any questions, call the office at (941) 309-1200 extension 104
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/six-and-a-mix-tickets-86606968775

2-17-20 Derek Speedy, is charming gregarious and very intelligent. As he says, he could have chosen and excelled at many careers which would have been more “secure,” but Derek was captured by the theater. And at twenty-three, only two years out of Harvard, he is steadily working. Come see him at the Asolo, along with two other wonderful actors, in Lifespan of a Fact, brilliantly directed by Celine Rosenthal. Come see him now, so in the near future you can say that you saw him before he was famous.

2-10-20 The Crown Prince of Cabaret, Steve Ross can be seen, remarkably for free, one night only – Thursday Feb 13th at Pritchard’s Piano Co 2108 Bee Ridge Rd, Sarasota, FL 34239, (941) 924-1204.Although he knew that music, he began playing piano very early, would always be a part of his life, his passion for performing the works in the Great American Songbook, the impact he would have on audiences and the success it has brought him, emerged slowly over time until even he could see it’s inevitability. Listen to this charming, thoughtful, self-deprecating man describe his ironic journey to becoming one of the best known Cabaret performers in the world.

1-27-20 – Actress/Singer Jannie Jones is one of a tiny percent of performers who actually make their living with their talent. Jannie was five years old when her mother taught her and her two sisters to sing Acapella. They became the sought after Ford Sisters performing at church and community groups. Known as the little girl with the Golden Voice, Jannie didn’t understand that she was “special.” Listen to this animated, vibrant woman describe how she came to appreciate her talent: how she accidentally became a theatre major and how, without any help or guidance, she found her way to her “place.” And come see her as Caroline in Caroline or Change at The Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe’s brand new building.

1-20-20 Celine Rosenthal, is an Associate Artistic Director at The Asolo Repertory Company. She was captured by theatre very young and predictably studied acting. Surprisingly, although she loved everything about acting; script analysis, the rehearsal process etc., she really didn’t like being on stage. And in tandem with her acting studies she was also a pre-med student. After graduation she spent a year in Mumbai India creating a children’s theater, then found her way into producing, achieving Tony nominations for her work on Leap of Faith and Seminar. She worked as a New York City Medic before and taking the plunge to get her Directing degree from the New School of Drama in NY. Listen to the thoughtful, serious, exuberant woman describe the circuitous path that lead to her true calling – directing – and hear her describe “Lifespan of a Fact” the unique play she has directed for the current season at Asolo Rep.