Will Knox added to CD party lineup!

I'm psyched to say that Will Knox will be joining Alec Gross and myself (+ my awesome bandmates) at the CD release party! 

That's all :).

You're invited to my CD release party!

This is the most exciting thing I’ve posted in a long time.  Actually, maybe EVER. 

Come celebrate that I finally finished the album by listening to live music, drinking, and being merry in the very space where it was recorded!

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Julia Barry's CD Release Party!  Facebook Event.
WHEN: Saturday, July 17th @ 8pm
WHERE: Flux Studios, 154 E. 2nd St., Manhattan, NY 10009
WHO: You & me & everyone we know (yeah ok, I like that movie)
HOW MUCH: $10-$15 suggested donation in exchange for drinks, a whole night of music, fun, and love.  What a bahgain.

WHAT WILL GO DOWN:  The talented, funny, and wonderfully heartfelt Alec Gross will open, then I’ll play with *FULL BAND* (woohoo!!).  Wear your dancing shoes, bring your cowbell and hula skirt, whatever makes you happy.  We’ll all go nuts.  Lots of hugs.  Happiness.

\\\\\\\\\\ RSVP TO: rsvp@juliabarry.com //////////

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But Wait, There’s More
If you just can't contain your excitement--or would like to help send the CD to press--you can *PRE-ORDER* the album now!  To thank you for being so awesome and pre-ordering, you can pay whatever the album’s worth to you. (Wow, life just keeps getting better, doesn't it? ;)


That’s it for now—hit me back with any questions.  If you or anyone you know would be interested in doing a review, interview, podcast, blogpost, or other media form of celebration, please let me know and I’ll happily extend the invite to them too.

OK, feel free to jump around and yell “Hooray!”  That’s what I’ll be doing for at least the next couple minutes.

Play Me, I'm Yours

Since today is Make Music NY Day, I was all psyched to play the Play Me, I'm Yours piano in Grand Army Plaza.  So psyched in fact, that I actually got up at 8:30am (which for me is an olympic event) and jauntily walked to the plaza to find the piano. 

At first I didn't even see it, but then I spotted a tiny yellowish looking thing under some plastic. 

And there it was, sitting in the middle of the concrete -- with cars whizzing by on both sides and gardeners watering the plaza greenery -- looking as peaceful, playful, and cute as anything.  It even had a tiny square bench and funky curvy legs.  (I dig the stripes too.)

The only thing is, it was locked.  And teasingly so, with one of those 3-number-combo gym locker type locks that probably would open if you sneezed on it.  But I have no lock-picking skills (or going-to-jail-skills), so I took some photos, stood next to the Grand Army Fountain to cool off, and sauntered home.

I'll try again later. 

And in the meantime, note to self: When in NY, 9am means at least 11am, possibly tomorrow.  Maybe next week.

p.s. A Note

We also got this lovely note in Sam's open guitar case.  Makes me'heart do a little dance. :)

Music on the street

It's summer.  That means people are out and about, there are street fairs everywhere, and I'm sweating buckets.

Today (and yesterday, too), all three of those things came together while I played at 5th Avenue Music in the Streets.  I was lucky enough to team up with super-talented guitarist, Sam Stein (of The Great Republic of Rough & Ready), and do some jazz standards along with some of our own material.

Thanks to there being lots of water and good spirits, I really enjoyed playing music on the sidewalk.  I love the idea of music existing in a public space where people of all stripes can enjoy it. 

Thanks Sam! (and Aunt Suzie's, for having us outside their restaurant!)

Dog days

So you may be wondering about the curious title of this post.  You may be wondering what's happening with my album, when I'll be playing live again, and of course, why quiet air conditioners haven't been invented yet.  But dogs?  Yes, I know this is a new topic altogether.

Last weekend, I was lucky enough to head up to Defiant Recording with my engineer, Meredith McCandless, where we sat on in a masterfully masterminded mastering session with Michael Tudor. It was really exciting to hear the final gloss and sparkle go onto the album, and I was super psyched to be there, since most musicians don't get to sit in on mastering.  (I promised to be absolutely quiet the whole time.  I think I made it to about the last three hours, at which point the jokes started flying.  I tried.) 

But dogs, Julia, dogs.  Michael Tudor has one of the coolest dogs I've ever met, named Cosmo.  He's some sort of hound/lab/who-knows-what mutt, and has the chillest, sweetest, slobberiest temperament of any dog I've met.  Despite his snoring through my mastering session (I sure hope my album gets a better human response--), he was a seriously great presence at the session.

But the thing is Cosmo proved his mettle before we even got started mastering--while out on his morning walk in the beautiful countryside of Woodstock, NY, Cosmo got attacked and bitten by two other dogs! (duhn duhn duuuhn--)  He was so stoic that at first we didn't even know, and mastered a whole bunch of the record before realizing a trip to the vet was in order.  He did get his painkillers and was proclaimed fine in the end, but it was quite a scare.  He can be my mascot any day. 

Perhaps I'll write a song about him.

Gig next week + Album news

It’s that time again!

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Julia Barry w. Dan Tinkoff, guitar
Fri. June 11 @ 6:30pm
Bar Matchless, 557 Manhattan Ave, Brooklyn, NY
http://www.myspace.com/matchlessbar
21+, $10
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Hope to see you Friday...and in July for my CD release party!!  More deets coming soon.  For now I’ll just say that we’ve been mixing, photoshooting, (lots of staying-up-lating), and things are pretty durn exciting.