Carla Lynne Hall: Billboard’s Artist of the Year

This is the coolest thing EVAH! Get your own Billboard cover!

Michael Jackson RIP ~ 1958 – 2009

Today’s obituary for Michael Jackson is one that I definitely hadn’t expected to have to write yet, and most definitely, one that I am loathe to even begin. But fortunately, I’m a blogger, not a journalist, so I can create my Michael Jackson tribute however I see fit.

Besides, there are not enough words to express what the world is feeling right now.

Instead, I’ll just feature one of my favorite songs sung by Michael Jackson: “Who’s Loving You”, which was recorded by The Jackson 5 when Michael was still a young pup. Whenever I hear this song, I am blown away by Michael’s musical gifts. No matter what name you could ever throw at me, to this day, I’ve never heard this kind of singing talent in anyone so young.

The world is in shock and mourning today because of Michael Jackson’s legacy as an entertainer. His music and performances have the power to move us, and touch us deeply. He was truly “The King of Pop”.

My sincere condolences to the family and loved ones of the Jackson Family.

-CLH

Musicians Lunch NYC ~ Saturday, June 27, 2009 at 1-3pm

Musicians Lunch NYC is back, and scheduled for this Saturday, June 27th at 1pm!

Musician’s Lunch is a luncheon event to bring together musicians who are interested in learning about the latest trends in music marketing and ideas for promotion over a meal. The cost is $25 in NYC, and you pay for your own lunch. In addition to the fun we’ll be having, each lunch attendee in NYC will also get a free music marketing strategy guide! If you have your heart set on sitting next next to me, that spot goes to the first musician who offers to buy my lunch!

I love talking about music, I love breaking down marketing strategies, and I love eating out. This project is right up my alley, and I plan to do as many musician lunches as I can fit in this year.

If you’re interested in learning the latest music marketing techniques successful musicians use to build a buzz, grow their audience, and sell more CDs, visit Musicians Lunch!

Click here to book your seat via PayPal

Make Music New York ~ Sunday, June 21, 2009

Now in its third year, Make Music New York is a unique festival of free concerts in public spaces throughout the five boroughs of New York City, all on Sunday, June 21st, which is the first day of summer, AND Father’s Day!

I’ll be performing at 2pm in front of Divalicious Chocolate! at 365 Broome Street in NYC (212 343 1243). If it rains, we’re taking the party inside! Run by the Executive Singing Chef, Jackie Gordon, the show is gonna be SWEET!!!

Related blog post:
Carla Lynne Hall’s Rock Star Schedule for June 2009

Today is Coney Island’s Mermaid Parade!

Rain or shine, today Coney Island’s Mermaid Parade welcomes Summer!

This annual art parade in Brooklyn’s Coney Island is the place to dress up as your favorite mermaid or sea creature. Last year I was a spectator, but this year I may break out my fins and participate. For more info, read the article below, and visit The Coney Island Mermaid Parade.

Hope to see you there!

Related blog posts:
Mermaid Parade 2008
Carla Lynne Hall’s Rock Star Schedule for June 2009

Sickle Cell Disease World Day ~ Friday, June 19, 2009

For the first time this Friday, June 19, 2009, the United Nations will recognize Sickle Cell Disease World Day, and my cousin Shirley Miller will be on hand to share her personal and professional experiences with this life-changing disease.

Sickle Cell Anemia is among the world’s foremost, and at times most lethal, genetic diseases. In the United States, 2 million people are carriers of the sickle cell trait. Shirley, who is the advocacy manager for the hematology-oncology research service at Children’s Medical Center in Dallas, TX, is one of 70,000 people who are living with this blood disorder, a disease characterized by a shortened lifetime of anemia and a number of other side effects like infections, ulcers, vision loss, strokes and pain crises.

In the 1970s, the median survival of a person with sickle cell disease was 14. Today, the median is 42 for men, 48 for women. At 53 years old, Shirley is an inspiration to the more than 600 patients she works with at Children’s Medical Center, and everyone living with the disease.

In her speech to the UN, Shirley will share her hope that the first international recognition day will be “the beginning of a renewed and energized fight for increased access to care and services and eventually a cure for sickle cell disease.”

Listen to a live webcast of the UN’s Human Rights Council and Shirley’s speech this Friday at 10am EST.

Article adapted from Children’s Medical Center blog

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I am SO proud of my cousin Shirley Hall Miller!!!!

Refi Rock Tonight on The Intrepid!

Tonight, Thursday, June 18th, the guys from Aged Inventory and I are playing Refi Rock at The Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum, which was formerly known as The Intrepid Aircraft Carrier.

Refi Rock is a Wall Street Fundraiser for the Boomer Esiason Foundation, which raises money to fight Cystic Fibrosis. Aged Inventory has been fortunate to play this gig twice a year for a few years now, and we always have a lot of fun!

If you’re in the mood for some Jimi Hendrix, U2, or Green Day, this former aircraft carrier is the place to be! Tickets are $40 (no credit cards accepted on the ship), and proceeds benefit The Boomer Esiason Foundation whose mission is to fight Cystic Fibrosis. Visit Refi Rock for more details!

Aged Inventory plays Refi Rock on The Intrepid on June 18th
Pier 86 – 46th & 12th Ave ~ New York City
8pm sharp

Related blog posts:
Credit Suisse Traders Keep Rockin’ Through Firings
Carla Lynne Hall’s Rock Star Schedule for June 2009

Credit Suisse Traders Keep Rockin’ Through Firings

Credit Suisse Traders Keep Rockin’ Through Firings
By Dawn Kopecki

June 18 (Bloomberg) — The lead singer of Aged Inventory spent last year looking for a job after cutbacks at Credit Suisse Group AG. Three other members of the band, formed by mortgage-bond traders at the bank, no longer work there.The group has kept playing, belting out covers of U2’s “Vertigo” and Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Gimme Three Steps” even as members have been shaken by the financial collapse. Front-man Allen Oppici, and saxophonist Jason Weyeneth, are working elsewhere on Wall Street, trumpeter Mike Marriott retired, and vocalist Carla Lynne Hall, has changed careers. “It’s the music that keeps us together,” Marriott, said from his vacation home in Naples, Florida. “The fact that I’m hanging out at the beach and a lot of guys have left the firm hasn’t diminished our desire to play together. ”

Aged Inventory, named for a bond that sits in a trading book for more than 60 days, is one of three acts with talent from mortgage-bond dealers playing in New York tonight at Refi Rock, a financial-industry charity fundraiser that has expanded to twice a year from annually. “It’s great when all these people work so hard and then you can go to an event like this and look at your coworker up on stage and for a minute, they’re a rock star,” said organizer Russell Middleton, a mortgage-bond trader who ended up at JPMorgan Securities Inc. after losing his job twice since 2007. More than 183,700 Wall Street workers have been fired in the past two years amid the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

1,400 Tickets Sold
Refi Rock’s Spring Fling grew out of Halloween fundraisers started in 2004 by Middleton, who continued the event after finding himself out of a job at HSBC Holdings Plc in 2007, and again in 2008 when Bear Stearns Cos. folded. Middleton said he has sold 1,400 tickets at $40 each to the event at the Intrepid, a World War II aircraft carrier moored in the Hudson River as a museum, and expects to reach the site’s 1,800-person capacity. “It’s a great way of doing something else than work Wall Street,” said participant John Ou, the lead guitarist for cover band Yellow Man. By day he is a director in the fixed-income group at Guggenheim Capital Markets LLC in New York. “Even though things have been challenging for the industry and economy, I think the community and Wall Street is still making charity a real priority,” Ou said.

$50,000 Raised
With today’s program, which starts at 7 p.m. New York time, Middleton said he’s trying to match the $50,000 Refi Rock raised in October for the Boomer Esiason Foundation, a group named after the former National Football League quarterback that helps to fund cystic fibrosis research. The event is sponsored by Jersey City, New Jersey-based Tradeweb, an electronic bond and derivatives trading network owned by Thomson Reuters Corp.Half of Aged Inventory’s eight original band members still work at U.S. offices of Zurich-based Credit Suisse.

A ninth member, drummer Tom Graf, is a Credit Suisse client as a managing director of structured products at Boston-based Standish Mellon Asset Management Co., his second job since the financial crisis began in 2007. Marriott, who ran the structured products business at Credit Suisse, said he started seeking early retirement at the end of 2008 after having one of his best years at the bank. The hours and pressure were intense, he said, and the work was increasing, including a weekend when he helped the government value Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. assets before that investment bank’s unwinding in September. The father of three said he once worked 38 days without a break.

`That’s Enough’
“At some point you have to say that’s enough,” he said. Hall, the vocalist, began as an administrative assistant for Credit Suisse’s fixed-income desk and eventually moved to the human resources department. Credit Suisse cut her along with 500 other employees in the first quarter of 2008. “It was stressful because so many people were losing their jobs and morale was low,” said Hall, who is pursuing a music career full-time. “I’m much happier,” she said. “I feel like I’m living the life I always wanted.”

Oppici says he was fortunate to lose his job in November 2007, before firms started slashing bonuses and when Credit Suisse was trading above $64. The company’s American depositary receipts, each worth one ordinary share, rose 59 cents, or 1.4 percent, to $43.28 as of 9:47 a.m. in New York Stock Exchange trading.Last year “wasn’t a bad year to miss,” said Oppici, who didn’t work at all in 2008. Oppici performed at Credit Suisse’s 2007 holiday party a month after he lost his job. Marriott played with the band at his own retirement party in April. “The whole stigma about getting laid off and what that meant, it’s become different than what it was,” Marriott said. “It doesn’t mean you were a bad performer. A lot of jobs just disappeared and a lot of good people lost their jobs.”

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This article originally appeared in Bloomberg Media, June 18, 2009

–Editors: Romaine Bostick, Larry Liebert.

Related blog post:
Refi Rock Tonight on the Intrepid!

Are You Going to TechKaraoke Tonight in NYC?

As a last minute entry to this whirlwind week, I’m headed to tonight’s TechKaraoke, as part of Jeff Pulver’s 140 Character Conference, which explores the disruptive nature of Twitter, “140 characters at a time”.

Says Jeff about the 140 Character Conference:

While the original scope of the event was to explore “the effects of twitter on: Celebrity, “The Media”, Advertising and (maybe) Politics”, the scope of the event has expanded and we will be covering these topics and a lot more. #140conf will be taking a look at twitter as a platform and will be taking a look at some of the industries which have been disrupted by the advent of twitter.

For the final night of this event, Mashable’s Brett Petersel (@brett on Twitter) has organized TechKaraoke, which is gonna be awesome! Tonight’s event will raise money for North Shore Animal League America, Inc, America’s largest no-kill animal shelter, is the largest hands on humane organization in the world. They rescue and give medical care to over 20,000 orphaned animals each year,

At tonight’s event, keenkong will match each dollar (up to $400) for every song sung at TechKaraoke. It’s recommended that you donate $1 for every song you sing ($2 if you rickroll) at FirstGiving. All money will be sent to the North Shore Animal League America and all FirstGiving donations are tax-deductible.

If this is up your alley, sign up now at http://techkaraoke.eventbrite.com/ and I’ll see you there!

Related blog post:
Carla Lynne Hall’s Rock Star Schedule for June 2009

Carla Lynne Hall’s Rock Star Schedule for June 2009!

I don’t know how it happened exactly, but my June schedule has EXPLODED! In addition to gigs and Musician Lunches, I’m also hosting my first BOWLING MEET UP at Harlem Lanes, which should be a lot of fun. Lots of great things happening, and I hope to see you out and about this month!

Thursday, June 18th – Refi Rock Spring Fling on The Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum
I’ll be playing Refi Rock, the Wall Street music fundraiser, with Aged Inventory, my classic rock band of bankers. If you’re in the mood for some Jimi Hendrix, U2, or Green Day, this former aircraft carrier is the place to be! Tickets are $40 (no credit cards accepted on the ship), and proceeds benefit The Boomer Esiason Foundation whose mission is to fight Cystic Fibrosis. Visit Refi Rock for more details!

Aged Inventory plays Refi Rock on The Intrepid on June 18th
Pier 86 – 46th & 12th Ave
8pm sharp

Saturday, June 20th – The Coney Island Mermaid Parade
This annual art parade in Brooklyn’s Coney Island is the place to dress up as your favorite mermaid or sea creature. Last year I was a spectator, but this year I may break out my fins and participate. For more info, read the article below, and visit The Coney Island Mermaid Parade. If you’re planning to attend, let me know!

Sunday, June 21st – Make Music New York
Now in its third year, Make Music New York is a unique festival of free concerts in public spaces throughout the five boroughs of New York City, all on Sunday, June 21st, the first day of summer.

I’ll be performing at 2pm in front of Divalicious Chocolate! at 365 Broome Street in NYC (212 343 1243). Run by the Executive Singing Chef, Jackie Gordon, the show is gonna be SWEET!!!

Tuesday, June 23rd – Red Room Open Mic
In the Washington Heights neighborhood of NYC is a popular open mic held on the 2rd and 4th Tuesdays at The Red Room Vinoteca. Open Mic-sters at this diverse venue play everything from rock, pop, to hip-hop, and I’ll be there too with my guitar. If you’re an adventurous NYC musician, make the trek to “Upstate Manhattan”, and I’ll see you there!

Red Room Open Mic starts at 7pm on June 23rd
1 Bennett Ave (at 181st St)

Saturday, June 27th – Musicians Lunch NYC
Interest in Musicians Lunches has been steadily growing, and I’m totally psyched to host my third Lunch in NYC (My fifth one in the States!). If you’re a musician who wants to learn how to market and sell your music over a tasty meal, visit Musicians Lunch

Musicians Lunch NYC June 27th 1-3pm
Restaurant suggestions still being accepted!
Click here to book your seat via PayPal

Tuesday, June 30th – Carla’s Bowling Meet Up at Harlem Lanes
If you’re on Twitter, @HarlemLanes celebrates “Twitter Tuesdays” at 8pm: Unlimited bowling plus shoe rental for $20 if you TWEET you’re at @HarlemLanes! They also serve food and drinks, so let’s have a party – remember to bring your socks!

Harlem Lanes
2116 Adam Clayton Powell Blvd, 3rd Fl
212-678-BOWL (2695)
@HarlemLanes on Twitter
“Twitter Tuesdays” at 8pm: “All you can bowl”, plus those HOT SHOES for $20!

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That’s all for now (I think)! I’ll blog more info about these events closer to their date. Hope I get to see you!!!