Category Archives: Extracurricular Activities

Bren & Val nominated for an Annie Award

Well, this is a wonderful surprise. Brendan and Valerie (along with film composer Joel McNeely) have just been nominated for an Annie Award for Music in a Television Production, for our music for “Tinker Bell & the Pixie Hollow Games.” Check out the details in Theatermania and Stitch Kingdom. We’re up against the composers and [...]

“Dig Down Deeper,” our first Tinker Bell pop single, about to be released on iTunes

One of the songs we’ve written for TINKER BELL is really heating up at Disney — and it’s fascinating to see the resources of this powerful company in action as they get behind this song. The single will “drop” on iTunes on November 8th: it’s the theme from the upcoming TINKER BELL & THE PIXIE [...]

Cara Dillon performing “Come Flying With Me”

One of our earlier songs from the world of sassy fairies is catching some ears. We’re proud of this simple lullaby, co-written with film composer Joel McNeely, that plays over the end credits of TINK 3 (TINKER BELL & THE GREAT FAIRY RESCUE) — and we love the singer, Cara Dillon, whose gorgeous voice and [...]

Gene at Carnegie Hall, continuing rest of tour with Audra McDonald

Gene writes: “I am loving touring with Audra … the music is wonderful and the hang is great.  This photo is the trio backstage at Carnegie Hall on 10/22: l-r it’s me, Andy Einhorn (piano, musical director), and Mark Vanderpoel (bass).  It was such a thrill to play a full concert there with Audra, Ted [...]

I can’t believe I do this for a living: The Behavior of Broadus.

I’m getting to work on something wonderful and strange: a piece of theater about the father of behaviorism, entitled “The Behavior of Broadus.” Back in March I lucked into seeing an invite-only, hastily-rehearsed and gleefully thrown-together performance of this play with songs by the Burglars of Hamm. Center Theatre Group was commissioning this piece–and my [...]

Gene at Carnegie Hall with Audra McDonald and NY Philharmonic on PBS TONIGHT, 5/31

Gene writes: On May 5th, I performed with Audra McDonald and the NY Philharmonic at the 120th Anniversary gala at Carnegie Hall.  Audra performed 4 pieces from a Duke Ellington suite, 3 of which I play on.  I work regularly with Audra, and it’s always a thrill, but in this case it was sorta a [...]

Say You Do is screening on May 15th…

Interestingly, the 10-minute movie musical that Val and I wrote music and lyrics to, and that Val and Gene and I played on the soundtrack of (along with Chris Tarrow and Sean Flahaven), and that Jimmy Ray Bennett starred in–well, it’s getting screened on Sunday, May 15th in NYC. Admission is free, and if you’re [...]

Striking 12 bonus tracks on bandcamp for your downloading pleasure; and a free new Warner-Chappell demo.

Hey everyone! It came to our attention this evening that there might be some folks out there who want access to the four bonus tracks to Striking 12 — the ones recorded in 2008 at the Zipper Theatre, and then released with a physical nifty download card last year. The only problem with the lovely, [...]

Microphones and Wires and Instruments and Songs…

First things first: a BIG thank-you to all you righteous people who came to see us on our East Coast jaunt last weekend. It was such a pleasure to see you and share the new Wheelhouse stuff with you. Back in the day, when we drove from gig to gig all the time and brought [...]

Our latest Tinker Bell song goes international

We have vague recollections of hearing something about Disney taking the master tapes of “Summer’s Just Begun” (not yet available on iTunes), the song we wrote which opens the film “Tinker Bell & The Great Fairy Rescue.” and sending it off to get re-recorded with translated lyrics in a number of different languages. But we [...]