rick berlin profile picture

rick berlin

songs from a torn pocket

About Me

NEW CD OLD STAG is done. It's a beauty. Available early fall.info here: http://www.rickberlin.com/storefront/os.html------------Some thing cool in the air as well. 6/7 friends of mine (so far), film makers all, have elected to make music videos (a song of their choice) from the tunes on OLD STAG. I plan to preview them at my CD release night (TBA) as well as to have 'em up on my site, YouTube, and on my my-space page.------------on iTunes world wide (and soon AMAZON mp3. RHAPSODY, NAPSTER, eMUSIC, Groupie Tunes) these albums of the past:RB LIVE@JACQUES (just like it was in 1996) ME & VAN GOGH (last year, recorded at the hi-n-dry loft) FORCED2SWALLOW (last live-in-studio, Woolly Mammoth, record by THE SHELLEY WINTERS PROJECT) HALF IN THE BAG (produced by Chet Cahill) BERLIN AIRLIFT (Professionally Damaged) EP, self-produced, includes HUNGER STRIKES The KINGDOM (Berlin's Musical) BERLIN AIRLIFT (Epic/Handshake)info + direct links:http://www.rickberlin.com/storefront/cds.html--------- ----MUSIC VIDEOS (plus new ones from OLD STAG in the pipeline):BERLIN & MEREDITH COOPER at Hi-N-Dry loft 'Rent Party' playing Don't Know What I'd Do http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVjr8Le6SsoBUDDHA (by Corey Smithson)http://www.rickberlin.com/storefront/buddha.htmlME & VAN GOGH (by Carter Timmins Boyajian)http://www.rickberlin.com/storefront/van.html------ ----------MERCH (which I haven't had since Live@Jacques) You can buy Berlin Airlift, Me & Van Gogh + even Old Stag t-shirts, mugs, whatever online:http://www.qrsts.com/store/ -------------- DOCUMENTARY http://www.jamaicaplainspoken.com has a brand new 'sample reel' on the home page (the one shown at our fundraiser last saturday. it's 13 minutes long, but worth a looknote: if for some reason the clips on our website play oddly, try em on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=jamaica+plain+sp oken&search=---------- ORCHESTRA LUNA (re-release through Sony UK)The new CD has manynew (old) photos of the band as well as this giant piece I wrote about the whole OL 1 and 2 experience and early days as a neophyte writer, music biz 'player'.It's released by Market Square under license from Sony UK. The distributor in the UK is www.properdistribution.com The guys who did this have been promoting the album to UK and US music media.It can be purchased from us via secure server at www.marketsquarerecords.com --------------- NEW SONGS ON BACK PORCHRecorded at home on M-Audio mp3 device in sweaty lap. Stuck em up here:http://www.rickberlin.com/sounding/legs.htmlif ya want t try em out. CALL ME A BITCH PEOPLE LAUGHED AT ME MY WHOLE LIFE KING OF KENMORE SAUARE (for Mr. Butch) REAL SLOW (for Townes) SAD SONGS MAKE ME HAPPY (for Lucinda) MORE LOVE THAN OXYGEN (for Rene) NEVER STOPS RAININ' HERE (for kids in war zones) WHEN MY MOM WAS A GIRL (for Jane) FRAGILE (for Mike G) PIAF YOU SAVE ME FROM MYSELF (for every friend of mine) NOBODY LISTENS ARTIST W/OUT A GENTRE DO YOU THINK I'M HOT? (for Hendrik) MR SILENT (for Brett) ------------NEW CD - OLD STAG Piano + Vox in my livingroom. One mike out the window to grab street sounds, later mixed in. Recorded string quartet in a BU classroom. String Arranger/Conductor: Brendan Cooney - W Philly. Engineer: Joe Stewart. Viola: Joseph Simcox Cello: Katie Franich 2nd Violin: Christina Hornby 1st Violin: Meredith Cooper Photos: Rene Rives Tearful, striking pieces of music. Each song idiosyncratically complimented by Cooney's composition. Plus - Sand Machine backround vocals. Mixedg at Woolly Mammoth Sound by Dave Minehan. Mastered by Dave Locke. CD design: Shaun Wortis. Release: Spring.--------------ORCHESTRA LUNA (re-release in the UK)An amazing, unexpected thing. The guys who did this write:ORCHESTRA LUNA - ORCHESTRA LUNA Described by one critic upon its 1975 release on Epic as "the soundtrack to a musical that never took place", Orchestra Luna is the only album by this highly-original Boston (USA)- based art rock act which converged glam rock with Vaudeville and the glory days of early Hollywood musicals to grand, highly theatrical (and often camp) effect. Big budget meant a full orchestra and the exceptional production talents of Rupert Holmes and Jeffery Lesser. The resulting cocktail takes in Rocky Horror and Bonzo Dog by way of Sailor and Cockney Rebel with a twist of Roxy Music (who the band supported on the latter’s contemporary US tour). Orchestra Luna is a glorious and lavish one-off: a true ‘original’ - made at a time when the sky was the limit and anything went.The new CD has manynew (old) photos of the band as well as this giant piece I wrote about the whole OL 1 and 2 experience and early days as a neophyte writer, music biz 'player'.It's released by Market Square under license from Sony UK. The distributor in the UK is www.properdistribution.com  The guys who did this have been promoting the album to UK and US music media.It can be purchased from us via secure server at www.marketsquarerecords.com ------------DOCUMENTARYhttp://www.jamaicaplainspoken.com has a brand new 'sample reel' on the home page (the one shown at our fundraiser last saturday. it's 13 minutes long, but worth a look as is the clip 1 Word For The USA (on the 'clips' link) in the meantime due to the enormous, tireless and generous efforts of our kick ass, unflappable volunteer team it's safe t say - ball park - that we raised nearly $10,000 that incredible night. ------------From the Hi-N-Dry website:Rick Berlin is a giant on the Boston music scene. His colorful songwriting and strong stage presence have influenced countless other artists since the early 1970s, when his innovative band Orchestra Luna was on Epic Records and harnessed a potent blend of theater and music years before the Tubes. Throughout the decades and the shifting fortunes of the business Rick has continued to make music with intelligence and integrity, building an international reputation around his knotty, singular piano playing, straight-from-the-heart singing and a style of character-based songwriting that's drawn favorable comparisons to the likes of Tom Waits and Leonard Cohen - although Rick rocks more than both. His most recent band, the Shelley Winters Project, recently split after two terrific CDs, but Rick's still busy creating. He's making a new solo album, tentatively titled Me & Van Gogh, at Hi-N-Dry Studio with Billy Conway producing. You can learn more about Rick, and read his short fiction and the script for his musical The Kingdom at www.rickberlin.com. ------------

My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 6/3/2005
Band Website: rickberlin.com
Band Members: me myself & i (narcissism trio)
Influences: friends bands, absurd mistakes, movies - bad & good, books, waiter gossip, bar talk confession, other's life stories (vampire as songwriter), the dangerous & beautiful, a scotch-taped heart, a nasty joke, the empathy of the judgemental, my nephew, nightmares & loss
Sounds Like: my stuff is all over the map. years around the block. all can be heard at my site http://www.rickberlin.com/sounding/index.html lately tho, just piano/voice recorded at the loft, hi-n-dry tom dube - engineer billy conway - producer 'going for' randy newman live at the bitter end. & a nod t joni (blue)
View Rick Berlin's EPK

Record Label: Hi-N-Dry http://www.hi-n-dry.com
Type of Label: Indie

My Blog

gay schmay

jury out on this one: in my head flicker out-takes of The Worst Cliche Images of Homos - worse even than some radical born against. through my judgmental binoculars 'they' squeal, hiss, walk funny (qu...
Posted by rick berlin on Mon, 21 Jul 2008 09:25:00 PST

fat face

out of the sack. fart. piss. feed cat. rip open curtains. gulp vitamins. park in front of computer. suddenly a strange hot tingling grows on surface of my chest. it ekes it's way up my neck, down acro...
Posted by rick berlin on Tue, 15 Jul 2008 10:35:00 PST

bad burgers

in the dentist chair for a new crown to replace one 30 years dull w/ decay. doc says i have 'long roots' which is why i need not one but three hits of Novocain or else i flop around in the chair like ...
Posted by rick berlin on Sun, 22 Jun 2008 11:37:00 PST

Rick Berlin - ORCHESTRA LUNA - DORIS DREAMS

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uX57YEyQkuE ...
Posted by rick berlin on Sun, 01 Jun 2008 12:22:00 PST

fish nets

you make a snap decision + it turns out a total fiasco. this time it was fish nets. lime green, sparkly fish nets. at a college, a fucking college. short shorts, a see-thru skimpy 'blouse', gold refle...
Posted by rick berlin on Sat, 31 May 2008 12:57:00 PST

Rick Berlin - Music Video - Always

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8T9bz6wfsY ...
Posted by rick berlin on Thu, 29 May 2008 11:10:00 PST

rage dichotomy

when i was a teenager one of the seniors in my high school, a kid named castigliano, punched me in the face, twice, + shoved me into a swimming pool for 'foul-mouthing his girl' (why do we never forge...
Posted by rick berlin on Tue, 13 May 2008 03:33:00 PST

cute

'cute' applies in a weird way to my mom, even as she's fighting lung cancer with chemotherapy treatments in portland. and this the day before her 77th. she tugs at the edge of her wig. the tendrils of...
Posted by rick berlin on Mon, 14 Apr 2008 02:04:00 PST

vacancy

watching last weekend’s winter soldier II i was struck by how distant i am from knowing, in any profound or visceral way, what it is that a soldier, any soldier, suffers. i’ve not been the...
Posted by rick berlin on Wed, 02 Apr 2008 11:14:00 PST

first fight

weatogue, connecticut. 1955. our house is a big-box, 3-story, white clapboard, wrap around porch, acres of lawn, copper beach trees, massive untended vegetable garden. it is idyllic, the least disturb...
Posted by rick berlin on Thu, 20 Mar 2008 07:25:00 PST