Recorded in two days at the Sound Kitchen in Franklin TN, and co-produced by Pagetta with acclaimed country music engineer Steve Marcantonio, four of the five rock and contemporary folk songs on OTHER PEOPLE'S NEWS possess the added distinction of being about things outside Pagetta himself -- rare in the genre known as "singer-songwriter." It's only on the EP's title track that the Jersey City, NJ native goes inside, giving voice to a narrator struggling with "living in my head/and blue/I've been living in my head/and can use/some other people's news."

From the "take no prisoners" guitar riff that kicks off the first track, the listener is escorted through a musical journey that can only come from some serious soul searching. If Pagetta's 2004 full-length CD JOYWOOD mused about reconciliation, OTHER PEOPLE'S NEWS clearly is about the personal faith, perseverance and rebirth that come after it.

OTHER PEOPLE'S NEWS is the follow up to the acclaimed pop and roots-rock JOYWOOD, which was heard on NPR, MTV and close to 200 college stations nationwide. It was called “….a tough but pretty new album… complete with sidewalk grit" and "pop sparkle” (Tennessean), "...a sweet roots-rock collection packed with mandolins, chiming pop melodies and easy rhythms" (Nashville Scene) and "a combination of wit and muscle that's pretty hard to resist. (Rapid River Arts)."

Born and raised in Jersey City, NJ, the first-generation Italian-American Pagetta got his musical start in the early 1990s with the melodic hardcore outfit Horror Time. After two years as the band's frontman and co-writer, Pagetta left to reinvent himself as a contemporary singer-songwriter and troubadour in the songwriter clubs of Greenwich Village in the mid-90's. He picked up early acclaim from the CMJ New Music Report Weekly "( ( ("more to do with hallowed troubadours like Leonard Cohen, Mark Eitzel and Skip Spence…") and the Aquarian Weekly ("Pagetta rhymes internally like a young Dylan"). Fronting the Joe Pagetta Band in the mid 90’s, he performed frequently at clubs like the Bitter End in New York and the Saint in New Jersey and recorded two EPS, one prompting the Aquarian Weekly to call the band "a great acoustic pop band at work."

Pagetta moved to Nashville by the end of the decade and in 1999 released an EP of odds ‘n’ ends from his Northeast days called RECOLLECTIONS OF MAYBEVILLE. The EP was licensed in its entirety by the Oxygen Network and hailed by the Louisville Eccentric Observer as being "filled with wonderful observations...with a right-sized rock format that would please on any John Mellencamp fan." 2001 saw the release of the mostly-acoustic full-length SMALL WORLDS. The Rage in Nashville said it called to mind "easy-going Northeastern folk like Ellis Paul with a little sleazy 1970's N.Y. rock a la Lou Reed thrown in."

Pagetta continued to build his songwriting and performing skills in the early 2000s and soon became part of the burgeoning Americana and singer-songwriter rock scene developing in East Nashville. Working with producer George Marinelli, Jr. (sideman to Bonnie Raitt and original member of Bruce Hornsby and the Range), Pagetta released the pop and roots-rock Joywood in 2004, named for the East Nashville neighborhood where he resided. The album featured a guest spot by "Bette Davis Eyes"-icon Kim Carnes. Good reviews appeared in the Tennessean, Time Out New York, The Nashville Scene, Americana UK, Now on Tour, The East Coast Rocker. Pagetta hit the road in 2004-2005 and performed in New York, Boston, New Jersey, St. Louis and Philadelphia while securing opening slots for up-and-coming bands Antigone Rising and Blue October.

A former journalist for his hometown Jersey Journal, Pagetta holds a bachelor’s degree in English and continues to write prose both professionally and leisurely, while currently handling media relations for non-profit cultural organizations in Nashville. He lives just outside of Nashville with his wife Kathy and two cats.

During a career that spanned more than 35 years, Ms. Baird had become a well-known music business executive, media relations professional and journalist in the music industry, befriended by dozens of noted authors, artists, music producers and executives.

She began her career as a publicist for prominent music producer Jimmy Ienner, helping to launch the careers of emerging talent such as Isaac Hayes, Donny Hathaway, Three Dog Night, Blood, Sweat & Tears, and Grand Funk Railroad. In 1974 she joined industry trade publication Record World as Assistant Editor where she authored an influential column devoted to music publishing, and developed a broad network of contacts among executives in the publishing industry. In 1981 she became East Coast Professional Manager at Arista/Interworld Music Publishing Group, with responsibility for signing writers and managing the company's New York office. Later, as head of her own media relations consultancy, she represented artists and projects associated with Atlantic Records, Elektra Records and MTV Networks. In 1984 she was hired by RCA Records where she was Director of National Publicity, working with artists including Lou Reed, the Eurythmics, Diana Ross, Starship, John Denver and Hall & Oates.

She joined BMI in 1987, heading up its Media Relations department, and was promoted to Assistant Vice President in 1993. She built a national media relations team for BMI with staff in New York, Nashville and Los Angeles. She also served as Senior Editor of BMI's MusicWorld magazine, the largest circulation magazine for music professionals in the United States. As a writer, reviewer and journalist, she made frequent contributions to music publications and was a sought-after music industry collaborator for television producers and authors, contributing to biographies of Johnny Ace, Tim and Jeff Buckley, and Brian Wilson, among others. She was the awards coordinator for the Ralph J. Gleason Music Book Awards and a frequent consultant for the BBC.

Over the years, she served as Media Chair on the committees for major music industry charitable organizations, including the Rhythm & Blues Foundation, the City of Hope, the T.J. Martell Foundation, and the Mr. Holland's Opus Foundation. She served as a governor of the New York chapter of the Recording Academy, and was a member of the Country Music Association, Gospel Music Association, Songwriters Hall of Fame, and the Television Academy.

She is survived by cousins Patricia Casey of Marlton, N.J., Richard Casey of Darien, Conn., and Joanmarie McMahon of Princeton, N.J.; a niece, Shannon Winkler of Voorhees, N.J.; a nephew, Blake Fadem, of Richardson, Texas; and a great-niece, Eve Winkler of Voorhees, N.J. The family plans a private interment ceremony and has requested that in lieu of flowers, donations in her honor be made to the T.J. Martell Foundation for Leukemia, Cancer and Aids Research. A celebration in her memory for her family and her many friends and colleagues in the industry is being planned for early fall in Manhattan.

The T.J. Martell Foundation may be reached at 212-833-5444.]]> 2006-08-22T05:00:00-05:00 http://www.bmi.com/news/entry/234468 Artists, Keane, Reed, Lou, Snow Patrol, Awards, BMI Foundation Awards, Musical Styles, Classical, Pop, Rock, Regions, London, Type, BMI Europe, International, Ivor Novello Awards 50th annual Ivor Novello Awards presented on May 26 by the British Academy of Composers & Songwriters in Association with the Performing Right Society at the Grosvenor House in London. The Ivor Novello Awards honor British songwriters and composers and their contributions to the music industry.

Pictured at the 2005 Ivor Novello Awards ceremony are BMI's Phil Graham, Special International Award winner Lou Reed, Reed's longtime companion and fellow BMI songwriter Laurie Anderson, and BMI's Brandon Bakshi.

BMI's 2005 IVOR NOVELLO AWARD WINNERS

BEST SONG MUSICALLY & LYRICALLY
"Dry Your Eyes"
Writer: Mike Skinner
Performed By: The Streets
UK Publisher: Universal Music Publishing

ALBUM AWARD
The Final Straw
Snow Patrol
Mark McClelland, Jonny Quin, Iain Archer, Nathan Connolly & Gary Lightbody

OUTSTANDING SONG COLLECTION
Brian May, Freddie Mercury, John Deacon & Roger Taylor of Queen

SONGWRITERS OF THE YEAR
Tom Chaplin & Richard Hughes of Keane

THE SPECIAL INTERNATIONAL AWARD
Lou Reed

THE IVORS SPECIAL AWARD FOR SONGWRITING
Sir Mick Jagger & Keith Richards]]> 2005-06-07T18:00:01-05:00 http://www.bmi.com/musicworld/entry/234210 Artists, Bowie, David, Foo Fighters, Reed, Lou, Smashing Pumpkins, The, Sonic Youth, Musical Styles, Dance, Pop, Rock, Musicworld, Feature There’s a delightful irony in the fact that David Bowie’s most recent album is called Reality . After all, he’s the artist who came to fame in the early 1970s as the master of many musical guises such as Ziggy Stardust, Aladdin Sane and The Thin White Duke. Of course, from the hindsight of a quarter-century later, we all know that whatever form the artist or his music takes, he remains David Bowie — dynamic, challenging, fascinating, imaginative and always pushing the envelope of his own artistry and the state of popular music in general.

And the reality of David Bowie is that he is one of the major pop music artists — with a capital “A” — of our time. Voted “the most influential artist of all time” by England’s New Musical Express , he has sold millions of records, appeared as an actor on the screen and Stage, and produced such other notable artists as Lou Reed, Mott The Hoople and Iggy Pop, to name some but hardly all of his varied accomplishments. As a measure of his impact on contemporary music, he was joined at Madison Square Garden in 1997 for a 50th birthday celebration by such other artists as Reed, Sonic Youth, Robert Smith of the Cure, Billy Corgan of The Smashing Pumpkins, Foo Fighters and Frank Black of the Pixies. And then, of course, there are his songs: landmark numbers such as “Changes,” “Fame,” “Young Americans,” “Rebel Rebel,” “Let’s Dance,” “Heroes,” “Golden Years,” and more.

Born David Jones in the Brixton section of London, he picked up the saxophone as a teen due to his interest in jazz and then played with a succession of rock and pop bands before emerging in his own right as David Bowie in 1969 with the U.K hit. “Space Oddity.” On albums like The Man Who Sold The World , Hunky Dory , TheRise And Fall of Ziggy Stardust and The Spiders From Mars , Aladdin Sane , Pin-Ups and Diamond Dogs , Bowie took the nascent glam and metal movements to their wildest extremes, matched by some of rock’s most theatrical and incendiary stage shows. With 1975’s Young Americans , he took a left turn into American soul music, and scored his first #1 U.S. single with the title song. Bowie again changed tack with the modernist sound of Low and Heroes , and then conquered dance music on Let’s Dance in 1983.

Since then, Bowie has continued to stay at the cutting edge with a variety of albums, bands and tours, reigning as an elder statesman of modern rock and becoming one of the first major musical artists to pioneer an internet presence. For 2003’s Reality , his 26 th album, “I said to myself that I would just do a collection of songs that I was writing at the time,” says Bowie “A collection of songs with no through line, no undercurrent of any kind of narrative, no concept of tying it all together.” Nonetheless, it was an album that still reflected his continuing diversity and innovation.

Married to supermodel Iman, Bowie was in the midst of a 2004 world tour when, first, a pinched nerve and then, later, emergency heart surgery, caused him to cancel remaining dates. Now recovering, David Bowie will no doubt return to the public eye soon to continue to create more of the visionary artistry that has made him a man who has changed the musical world.

POEtry, which made its U.S. debut in November 2001 as part of BAM's Next Wave Festival in New York, following runs in Hamburg, Paris and Amsterdam, is a surrealistic meditation on the work of legendary American author and poet Edgar Allan Poe, incorporating elements of the texts of eleven Poe classics, including "The Raven," "The Pit and the Pendulum" and "The Fall of the House of Usher," and 13 new Reed compositions, whose distinctive arrangements feature an array of instrumental textures, incorporating piano, cello, flute, digeridoo and hurdy-gurdy, in contrast to the raw, guitar-based rock for which the artist is best known.

Reed - whose most recent rock album, Ecstacy, was released in 2000 - admits that he was initially skeptical when Wilson approached him with the idea for a theatrical piece based on Poe's works. "I saw it as a can't-win situation," he recently told the New York Times. "I knew people would say 'How dare he rewrite Poe?' But I thought, here's the opportunity of a lifetime for real fun: to combine the kind of lyricism that he has into a flexible rock format. I really like my version of it. It's accessible, among other things. And I felt I was in league with the master. In that kind of psychology, that interest in the drives and the meaning of obsession and compulsion - in that realm Poe reigns supreme."

As Reed told the New York Daily News, "I realized that when I was younger, I had really missed out on Poe - the subtleties, the nuances, the psychology. You can't just say he was macabre and had a sense of dread. He was interested in psychology - why you do things."

Reed and producer Hal Willner have also been working on an album of the songs from POEtry, which is slated to include guest appearances by David Bowie, Ornette Coleman, The Blind Boys of Alabama, and actors Elizabeth Ashley, Steve Buscemi and Willem Dafoe. Reed describes POEtry's recorded incarnation as "a radio play on steroids."

POEtry is the latest installment in a three-and-a-half-decade career that's earned Reed a reputation for consistently pushing the envelope. In the late '60s, as leader of the seminal Velvet Underground, Reed merged literary tradition with unflinching explorations of the human soul's darker regions, while the band's precedent-setting mix of raw minimalism and melodic craft permanently altered the face of rock and helped lay the groundwork for the punk explosion that would blossom in the following decade. Since launching his solo career in 1970, Reed has maintained high standards of unflinching lyrical forthrightness while continuing to test the sonic boundaries of the electric guitar.

Although Reed's early lyrical evocations of drug use and deviant sex - subjects that were completely alien to popular music when the Velvet Underground released its 1967 debut album The Velvet Underground and Nico, which Universal will reissue in March in an expanded Deluxe Edition - were considered shocking and transgressive at the time, he recently asserted that his lyrics had precedents in other branches of the arts.

"There are great old blues songs that cover so much of it," stated Reed, who studied literature under the famed poet Delmore Schwartz at Syracuse University. "There are novels that have been covering it forever. I come with a university background in English, so naturally it's not shocking to me. . . . Drugs? Sex? Murder? Hello? Let's go back to Greek tragedy. Or look at the end of Hamlet."

The Velvet Underground's seminal sound is documented on the recently released three-CD set The Bootleg Series Volume 1: The Quine Tapes, which Reed claims he hasn't heard. "I don't listen to anything I've ever done," he said, adding, "I was there, I know what was going on. It's a version of what I'm doing now, and it was there from the get-go, as they say. The Quine Tapes have the power of youth and not worrying at that point about your ears being hurt. But that particular sound, that idea, that approach, runs through everything I do. I've just tried, as I've gotten older, to refine it."