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Lou in his custom-fitted Lazy Boy.

MacAdams and Jennifer Grassman webcast from Sugarhill  It was a night I will never forget.

1. Jennifer Grassman and MacAdams,  back-to-back at Sugarhill Recording studio with me, guest host for the special webcast, sitting in a Lazy Boy in the middle of the recording studio while MacAdams is rocking out and Jennifer Grassman is beautifully telling her little sister why men are no good.

I’m going to tell you the story in a minute but I wanted to provide you with a link to the audiocast of the actual recording. Click HERE and it’ll take you right to the webcast.

PHOTOS: Everett Taasevigen

Ok, here’s what happened. I got a call from my friend, Ross Welles who asked if I would help out on a certain project. Knowing all the cool stuff Ross has been doing with the GHCVB, I said sure.

Ross then proceeded to tell me about this very interesting project he was working on with Dan Workman, president and owner of Sugarhill Recording Studio over next to Produce Row off of Old Spanish Trail.

Wanting to help emerging Houston songwriters and players, Ross Welles and Dan Workman teamed with Troy Burwell of ExpressCom to open an exciting new outlet for Houston area musicians and performers.

And the “Live from Sugarhill Studios” webcast was born.

Ross wanted to use me as a guinea pig to test this new concept he wanted to try. His vision was to have a “guest host” from a different creative industry in Houston while sitting in a Lazy Boy recliner in the middle of the studio while the musicians played.

He said, “We’ll just have this microphone handy in case there’s anything you’d like to say during the performances. Sounded good to me.

First up was Jennifer Grassman, a very talented songwriter who just happens to have one of the most amazing voices I’ve ever heard. Kind of like a cross between Tori Amos and Sarah Brightman.

It was an honor just to be in the same room with her.

I was about five feet away to the right of her as she played the piano and sang. She performed five songs, each with a different story line but all with a recurring haunting theme.

Jennifer is one of those eye contact performers where she looks at you dreamily as though you were the only person in the room and that she was singing only to you. It took me just five minutes to realize that I was, in fact, the only person in the room.
Jennifer is a shining example of the high quality of talent that Houston has living within its borders.

Next on the agenda for the evening was a 20-minute performance by MacAdams. Now, I had never heard this band before so I started talking to them to find out more about them. I think I first started talking with the bass player, Jake.

Then, Perry  walked in and started talking and after a while, you realize how dedicated these two guys are to their art. They both have regular jobs during the day then play whenever they can, much like every other group playing in Houston.

Robyn walked into the kitchen in the studio a couple of minutes before we went live to eat dinner, a hamburger from some fast food place. I didn’t know who he was so I asked him if he worked at Sugarhill. He said no, that he was the lead singer and guitarist for MacAdams, one of the groups playing.

And I don’t want to forget Jake. His bass was thumping in my right ear from a few feet away keeping my entire body captivated by this three piece group.

Bio – Jennifer Grassman

Jennifer Grassman is a Texas based recording artist who lives in Houston with her husband, Jason Greenberg, and two cats, Agatha Mittens and Mr. Charles Bingley.

Grassman composes original piano and vocal songs which embody her own haunting and idiosyncratic style. She likes to call her genre “Arabesque,” because her songs are typified by ornate, serpentine melodies, with heavy classical and theatrical elements. Her vocals are graceful and nimble, and her piano accompaniments are passionate and fanciful. Indeed, her lyrics are often derived from classical literature, and inspired by authors including William Shakespeare, Jane Austin, Lewis Carol, J.R.R. Tolkien, and George MacDonald.

The media has compared Grassman’s music to that of Sarah McLachlan, Tori Amos, Loreena McKennitt, and Enya, while fans have compared her to the likes of Sarah Brightman. But nothing quite sums up the music of Jennifer Grassman better then the songs themselves.

Born in Austin, Texas, in 1984, Grassman grew up with an avid love for music. A rather odd child, she was more interested in reading books and absorbing herself in music then collecting dolls or talking on the phone with friends. In fact, her piano was often her best friend, and she would daily spend hours obsessing over a new Chopin or Debussy piece or an Agatha Christie murder mystery. She particularly appreciated minor melodies from the romantic period, although she tributes Handel’s Messiah as being her favorite work of all time.

In addition to Jennifer’s strong classical influences, she also holds an affinity for U2, the Irish rebel band headed by social activist, Bono.

“I was obsessed with Boy, War, and Unforgettable Fire when I was in my early teens,” Jennifer reminisced smiling. “Besides the fact that they were my first introduction to rock music, I was enthralled by their passion for a cause. There was always something just nauseating about the millions of pop songs revolving around boyfriends and cattiness. I wasn’t interested in that sort of thing. I needed something to latch onto and believe in. I had no idea of the cultural or historical background behind U2’s convictions, but I got the anti-violence message loud and clear. I’ve always believed that it is important for us as individual human beings to have a cause. We need something worth dying for. Otherwise, merely living is so hollow.”

In the past and present, Jennifer has devoted her music to the promotion of various causes. In 2003 and 2005 she hosted fundraising concerts for Crime Stoppers (one of which took place at Six Flags Astroworld), in honor of her late high-school friend, Rachael Koloroutis. In 2007 she hosted several benefit concerts for Houston area no-kill animal shelters including SMART and Adopt-A-Cat. In 2008 she organized a campaign of events to raise funds for The Rape Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN) and bring awareness to the anti-abuse cause. She also works fervently to promote local abuse victim’s resources such as HAWC, The Women’s Home, and The Bridge Over Troubled Waters.

Grassman met her husband, Jason Greenberg, on a cool September morning in 2003 while she was attending The University Of Houston, Moores School of Music. Having canvassed school message boards for performance opportunities, Greenberg was the one and only musician who responded to an ad Grassman had posted for band members, reading, “got a band?” They met at a stone bench in front of The Moores School of Music, dated for three years, and were finally married on Saturday, September 30, 2006.

Since their marriage, Jennifer and Jason have been collaborating on several musical projects, including Jennifer’s upcoming album (June, 2009), and Jason’s progressive metal project, Orisonata, which is comparable to the music of Dream Theater, Nightwish, Suspyre, Blind Guardian, and Falconer.

Grassman’s debut album, At The Back Of The North Wind, was a 17-song CD produced by MD Thompston for Ivory Tower Realizations. Shortly therafter Grassman was signed to TLM Productions, and independent record label founded by Andrew Amelang and Dan Workman.  Like Jennifer’s Christmas CD, Keep Silent, A Collection of Ancient Carols (November, 2007), Jennifer’s next CD will be produced at Sugarhill Recording Studios by Dan Workman.

Jennifer’s recent projects also include a music video for the At The Back Of The North Wind song Pretty Girls, which was created by ZenFilm. The video will be released in early December, 2008 – just in time for Jennifer’s birthday on December 8th.

With a new album in the works, a music video anticipated to launch her career onto the main stage, a slew of upcoming concerts and tours, and new songs popping sporadically into her head at a prolific rate, Grassman is thrilled that her musical career is now on the verge of blossoming into something truly phenomenal.

“I’ve worked so hard for the past six years to develop my song writing style and hone my performance abilities. I feel as if it is time. So many doors are opening for me, before I even knock. So many things are happening so very quickly, and I can’t wait to see what the next couple years hold.”

Jake Bramwell has been playing in bands based in the Austin and Houston music scene for 15 years. After trying Jake out only once, it was apparent that there was a synergy between Jake and the MacAdams boys that transcended musical training. With Robyn’s creative songwriting, guitar, and vocal abilities, Perry’s ‘rock your face off and leave you begging for more’ drumming skills, and Jake’s distinct and unique ability to blend the brothers’ sometimes opposing musical views into a lush and organic tapestry of expressive passages, they decided it was time to share their collective gift with the world. This brings us back to the end of the beginning.

Tags: jennifer grassman, lou congelio, macadams, Only in Houston, ross wells, sugarhill recording studio

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