2011-May-07
A Revamped Website, Own a Piece of St. Jimmy & Discounts to ''Sleeping Beauty Wakes''
The glow of my MacBook Pro's screen stares me in the face at 7:22am on this Friday morning. The almost-all-the-way-dimmed display isn't enough to stop my eyes from burning and watering, thanks to both the early hour and the spring bud-break. The desire to compose something that's informative, inspirational and yet also honest is feeling like a daunting task and my thoughts are all over the board. Perhaps because my morning caffeine hasn't yet kicked in... or maybe it's the result of last night's beverages. I supposed I could be distracted by Miss Kate's new morning ritual of running laps around the flat. Or is it simply because I'm journaling from a location that feels somewhat uninspiring? Don't get me wrong, my new surroundings are beautiful-- even breathtaking-- yet something here feels a bit empty, placid and ultimately isolated. Perhaps not smelling bus fumes and hearing sirens from cop cars below my window at all hours of the night makes me feel like I'm in a suspended place in time.
I'm writing "newsletter-to-be" text this morning from Princeton, NJ, my temporary home for the next several weeks. Some of you may know that my lady and American Idiot heroine, Aspen Vincent, is playing the lead in a new musical called Sleeping Beauty Wakes, which is being mounted by the reputable McCarter Theatre. As a result, I'm currently splitting my time between NJ and our home back in Manhattan. I've decided to take the next several months to work on new material for my next record while Aspen retakes her proper position as a leading lady here in Princeton.
While I'm on the subject of "SBW", the incredibly generous PR department of the McCarter is offering Tony Vincent fans/newsletter subscribers a discounted ticket price for Tuesday, Wednesday and Sunday performances. The show has already been getting great reviews and it's definitely something to catch before it continues its run at the La Jolla Playhouse in San Diego this summer. The details follow in the
"coupon" below...
Although the change of location hasn't exactly brought the creative focus I was hoping for, I am quite excited about a recent development. I've recently reconnected with an old friend and songwriter named Martin Santti, a Swedish gent who is currently operating out of Ireland. He and I are in the early stages of passing ideas back and forth, and the collaborative energy that we both feel has been infectious and inspiring. As this process continues, I will of course keep you posted about our progress together. (Also, for all you gear-heads, I'm sharing an image-- with details below-- of the mobile set-up I'm working with in Princeton while I'm away from my main home-studio.)

MacBook Pro 15" Intel Core i7, 2.8 GHz, 8GB
Metric Halo's ULN-2 2D+dsp w/ the Jensen mod on channel #1
Focal CMS40 Monitors
Neumann TLM 102
(2) G-Tech G-RAIDmini Hard Drives (one for streaming samples, one for tracking)
Gretsch G6120TV Brian Setzer Hot Rod w/ TV Jones® Pickups
AKAI's MPKmini keyboard
Macally's 7 port USB 2.0 hub
Wacom's Intuos3
Various VSTis and plugins from Arturia, Camel Audio, FabFilter, FXpansion, iZotope, IK Multimedia, LinPlug, Loomer, Modartt, Native Instruments, reFX, Sonic Charge, Spectrasonics, Synapse, Tone2, Toontrack, u-he, Waldorf, Waves, XILS-lab, and more.
Since leaving American Idiot I've been doing a lot of soul searching, reading, writing, and most recently, working with the talented web designers and programmers at czustudio.com to revamp my website. We've completely redesigned tonyvincent.com and it's now live and ready for your viewing pleasure. The new site is really slick and incredibly logical to navigate through. It's now easier t
o view specific pages, to place product orders, and to get the current low-down on what I'm up to. (The home page even includes a real-time Twitter feed.) Drop us a note here and let us know your thoughts on the changes we've made. Also, while you're on the new home page, click the "Like" icon in the black Facebook "social plugin" box to get status updates automatically delivered to your Facebook page. And, as always, if you'd like to follow me on Twitter, I can be found at @TVofficial.

In other news, you may or may not know that when an actor finishes his or her time with a Broadway show, they are allowed to take their "show shoes" home with them. When I decided to leave American Idiot this past December, I chose to keep the boots I wore onstage as St. Jimmy-- specifically because I wanted to use them as a vehicle to give back to the theatre community. When it was announced that American Idiot would finish its Broadway run on April 24th, 2011, I decided to set up an online auction for the sale of the original Broadway St. Jimmy boots. 100% of the proceeds will benefit the non-profit group Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, a remarkable organization that provides assistance to people living with AIDS and numerous other health issues. (For more details on the many programs that BCEFA assists, visit BCEFA or http://www.broadwaycares.org/mission_statement). You can find auction details and place your bids at: http://webstore.com/id=8381459. Bidding has already begun and the auction will close at 10am on May 25th. Again, all profits from the sale of this collectible piece of groundbreaking Broadway theatre will be going to BCEFA. Please bid high and bid often to support an organization that helps so many in need.
With that, I'm off to get back to being creative... or destructive-- however the spirit leads. Don't forget to get your discounted tickets for Sleeping Beauty Wakes, and I thank you in advance for bidding generously on the "St. Jimmy boots". BCEFA and all those that benefit from their assistance thank you as well.
Best to you all-- always,
