Category Archives: Extracurricular Activities

A Val + Bren (+ Joel McNeely) Song at Carnegie Hall Fri Mar 12

March 10, 2010 – 2:03 pm

We wish we could be there…for the first time ever, one of our songs is going to be performed at Carnegie Hall!
Méav Ni Mhaolchatha will be singing “Where the Sunbeams Play,” a closing-credits song for the movie TINKER BELL AND THE LOST TREASURE that we wrote with brilliant composer and great guy Joel McNeely. Méav [...]

By Valerie | Tagged | Comments (0)

Val & Bren to play Kennedy Center “Broadway: Today & Tomorrow” Series Feb 13, Millennium Stage

January 28, 2010 – 4:08 pm

Michael Kerker and the fine folks at ASCAP are presenting a week-long series of free performances at Washington, DC’s Kennedy Center Millennium Stage, and have given Val and Brendan the final one-hour concert slot: Saturday, February 13 at 6 PM. The two of us will be playing a bunch of songs from a bunch of [...]

By Valerie | Also posted in Gigs | Tagged , , | Comments (6)

LONG STORY SHORT San Diego Rep Wrapup

November 3, 2009 – 3:01 pm

LONG STORY SHORT ended its triumphant San Diego run this past Sunday. We are thrilled with the progress the show has made, and are very optimistic that it will continue to be produced (and that we’ll get to do a bit more work on it!). Lots of you have asked when the next opportunity will [...]

By Valerie | Tagged | Comments (0)

First 6 Minutes of “Tinker Bell & The Lost Treasure” Online

October 28, 2009 – 6:40 pm

The movie came out yesterday on Blu-Ray and DVD, and the first few minutes are watchable here, including our opening song. It’s the first time we’ve seen it in its full-on animated glory, and we are pretty thrilled.

By Valerie | Tagged | Comments (1)

Critical Acclaim For LONG STORY SHORT: Don’t Miss It

October 17, 2009 – 2:02 pm

The 3 of us had a blast at opening night on October 9. Apparently, so did the critics: we are absolutely delighted, and it’s clear the momentum of this show is now revitalized. We have very high hopes for the future, as does the San Diego Union-Tribune: “Long question short: when does it go [...]

By Valerie | Also posted in Press | Tagged | Comments (0)

Flying solo, tech stuff and SHACKLETON teaser at Joe’s Pub

October 16, 2009 – 2:45 pm

I have to say, I feel rather triumphant, after my first-ever totally solo gig, doing a 25-minute presentation of ERNEST SHACKLETON LOVES ME at Joe’s Pub as part of the Public Theater’s Music Theater Initiative.
My trip started out pretty ignominiously, as I arrived at the airport in St. Louis without my driver’s license…apparently I had [...]

By Valerie | Also posted in Gigs | Tagged , , | Comments (4)

Tinker Bell and the Big Sequel

October 15, 2009 – 2:23 pm

Ladies and Gentlemen, it’s out. It’s called “Tinker Bell & the Lost Treasure,” and it’s the first feature film we’ve ever been involved in. An album featuring two (okay, one-and-a-half) songs (one has music by slammin’ film composer Joel McNeely with lyrics by Val and myself) is released on iTunes as of September 22 (but [...]

By brendan | Tagged | Comments (2)

Tell Me What’s On Your Soap Opera

September 2, 2009 – 2:53 pm

One of the first songs I wrote for GrooveLily is “Tell Me What’s On Your Mind.” It’s very sweet, very straightforward, and (in my humble opinion) memorable — so much so that we actually recorded it three times over the course of four years in an effort to get it on the radio. (To wit: [...]

By brendan | Also posted in Tales From The Road | Tagged | Comments (6)

…and we’re on our way.

August 1, 2009 – 6:58 pm

Here’s the first demo Brendan and Val have released of a song from ERNEST SHACKLETON LOVES ME–it’s a tune Ernest has written for video-game composer Kat, and he sings it to her over the speaker phone. This demo consists of Brendan singing and playing fake banjo, fake violin, and fake everything, but the live performance [...]

By brendan | Tagged | Comments (4)

This is the life … no, really.

August 1, 2009 – 12:36 am

This is what I bargained for. Today, in a nutshell, is my life these days: chaotic, completely full, and yet exactly what I want/need/fear. It’s 12:20 AM and I’m just back “home” (at my in-laws’, where my wife and 2 sons are sleeping peacefully upstairs) after meeting my college buddy AJ for [...]

By gene | Also posted in Latest News | Comments (2)