Songwriters Spotlight

Hosted by Joe Grushecky and Rick Witkowski

FEATURED GUESTS: Margot B. - Jon Belan (of Gene the Werewolf) - Karl Mullen
Presented by the New Hazlett Theater

May 22, 2010

Saturday, May 22, 2010 - 8:00 pm

Join us for this new series of intimate evenings of music, songs and stories hosted by two local legends who have collaborated over the years on many projects - Joe Grushecky and Rick Witkowski.

This quarterly event will feature three songwriters in addition to the hosts. Each songwriter will perform some of their original music as well as a song that they wish they had penned. They will also share the story of how their songs were born.

Carsickness was a band.

Sometimes, if I got lucky, I could pick up RCT radio in my bedroom on the northside if I held the clock radio just so and extended the antenna toward the window. In my first year of high school, I would sit there for hours and catch snippets of Carsickness, Laurie Anderson, the Five, Talking Heads and Half Life. My sister thought I was a big dork. The Electric Banana had all-ages shows on Sundays and, once I had my driver's license, I would reserve use of our parents Aries K wagon weeks in advance and trade chores to make sure I could get to the shows. I didn't know him them, but Karl Mullen was one of the bandmembers. He's appearing Sat. night at the New Hazlett Theater for the Songwriters Spotlight series. If he's up for it, perhaps we'll try to recreate those good ol days of stage diving off Judy and Johnny's bar.

A few years ago, my band shared a practice space on the South Side with Margot B. Sometimes we screwed up the schedule and would show up on their day or just as they were wrapping up their rehearsal. Awkward. Margot B. is also featured at the Songwriters Spotlight Saturday night.

Jon Belan and I share no past. He's the third featured musician Saturday.

Come out to the show and see if we can all create some kind of ruckus for me to write about later. --

Sara Radelet, Executive Director, New Hazlett Theater

More about Margot B.:

The Pittsburgh native (now based out of New York City) began her career in front of the cameras at the age of nine, modeling for local and national talent agencies. It's been a steady, accomplished rise ever since.

Her first full-length CD, Unframed, was released to a sold-out crowd at the Hard Rock Cafe. Another release, Inspired - is an EP featuring covers of songs by five African-American artists who truly inspired her to live her own dream.

2009 kicked off with Margot being named Best Female Vocalist at the Pittsburgh Hip Hop Awards, and hitting the recording studio to finish her second full-length CD Two Thousand Mine.

Look for Margot in the upcoming feature film "Love and Other Drugs" and the made-for-TV movie "My Destiny", a two-part film/documentary showcasing both her acting and singing.

More about Jon Belan:

When he was 18 yrs old, his dream of simply starting a band, and playing a show at the annual spring carnival sounded too good to be true. Now 32, musician Jon Belan has found that he has achieved much more than he had dreamed. Jon is the singer/frontman of one of Pittsburgh's up and coming groups "Gene The Werewolf", who have played with the likes of The Clarks, Eddie Money, Joe Grushecky and Blue Oyster Cult just to name a few. Not only was the bands first show at Club Cafe sold out in 20 minutes, but their CD release show in October 2009 reached over 550 people at Pittsburgh's own Club Diesel in the South Side.

Prior to Gene The Werewolf, Belan has not only toured the entire USA multiple times, but has also toured the UK with his prior band Punchline, who were on Fueled By Ramen records, the same label that brought you Fall Out Boy. In 2005, Belan also found success in Japan, when his band The Berlin Project, had a music video in regular rotation on MTV JAPAN.

Belan continues to make music, and devote all his time and efforts to Gene The Werewolf, where he hopes to achieve more and more of his dreams. However far that is, one thing is certain, he has come a long way from wanting to just perform at the spring carnival!

More about Karl Mullen:

Karl Mullen has been prolific in the past year, with Art exhibits in France and USA, composing music for the Philadelphia based Koresh Dance Company and Donald Byrd 's Spectrum Dance Theatre company in Seattle and now recording a CD of new acoustic folk songs. The album is called 'Little Sticks' and was recorded with longtime friend, acclaimed Appalachian singer Jennifer Goree largely in a cabin in the woods of South Carolina.

"Jennifer's family has this cabin by a river in Six Mile, SC and invited me to come stay and write some tunes. We like singing together and have been since we met in a record shop in Pittsburgh years ago. Jennifer's husband, [Irish producer Kevin Maloney (U2, Sinead O Connor )] convinced us to record a few tracks. The process was just great fun. We had no plan for world domination or a number 1 hit. It was just 2 friends singing together in the mountains", Mullen said.

The friends recorded for two weekends in a nearby studio in a trailer with barking dogs and tornado warnings, and no lack of torrential rain on the roof. There was no fuss or fanfare and the budget was $300. A few talented friends sat in on some tunes and learned them on the spot. Having been invited to show his paintings at Yard Dog Gallery during the SXSW music festival, Karl and Jenny decided to introduce the songs there and played a number of showcases.

'I went to a house party at music-biz insider Stephen Easley's downtown Austin apartment, where R.E.M. and Johnny Cash art hangs on the walls. I got there just in time to hear Karl Mullen, the former World Cafe Live booker, who proved himself a true Renaissance man by singing three new simple and stirring songs from his impeccably restrained collection Karl & Jenny (Jennifer Goree will join him at a gig Saturday at the Yard Dog Folk Art gallery)' -- Dan De Luca, The Philadelphia Inquirer

More about Joe Grushecky:

Grushecky is a musician, singer, songwriter, record producer, music arranger, recording artist and teacher.

MCA released Grushecky's first album Love's So Tough in 1979 to tremendous critical acclaim. He and his band were then known as the "Iron City Houserockers", and the collection was crowned the "debut record of the year" by Rolling Stone.

For 30 years now, he has continued to produce albums with the band and as a solo artist that encompass the singer's many influences, including blues, roots rock, hard rock, pop, and a hint of country. A song he co-wrote with Bruce Springsteen, Code of Silence, won a Grammy for best solo rock vocal performance. He met Springsteen in New York City in 1980, they still collaborate and remain close friends. Armed with a special-education degree and many postgraduate credits, Grushecky has also been teaching developmentally disabled, physically disabled and emotionally disturbed kids for more than 25 years.

More about Rick Witkowski:

Witkowski has been in the music industry as musician, writer, producer, engineer for over 30 years. He has composed and produced themes for Nickelodeon's Kids' Choice Awards, GUTS, Action League Now, Figure It Out, Family Double Dare 2000, as well as VH-1's DIVAS.

Along with his wife, Deborah, he has successfully recorded book-to-tape projects for Macmillan/McGraw-Hill Publishing Co., NYC, and Scholastic Publishing Co., NYC, that were featured in school systems internationally.

A member of the 70's progressive rock band, Crack The Sky, local favorite, B.E. Taylor and kid-friendly/parent-favorite group, Kelsey Friday and the Rest of the Week. He has performed, recorded and produced other artists including Kathy Troccoli, Donnie Iris, Joe Grushecky w/Bruce Springsteen, Scott Blasey and The Clarks. He continues a variety of recording projects at his own recording facility, Studio L, Weirton, WV.

See the video from the October 2, 2009 Songwriters Spotlight

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