Artist
Below Fourteenth
Song Title
New York City
Synopsis
Below 14th (or Below Fourteenth) is the latest project from East Villagers Bart Bryars and Jen Price.
After touring and performing for 7 years and 1000+ shows as an 80s cover/party-band on the Southeastern US greek circuit (www.myspace.com/readmylipsband), Bart and Jen decided to move to NYC from Atlanta, GA (July 2006) to pursue a career in original music. As lucrative a career as it was, singing Jessie's Girl and Come On Eileen every single gig for so long eventually took it's toll. Upon their arrival, they formed a rock band (www.myspace.com/sundaynightsocial), made a record at the famed Quad Studios, and played at the usual new-band venues in Manhattan and Brooklyn (Arlene's Grocery, Kenny's Castaways, Trash Bar, etc...)
Bart had taken to writing musicals on the side, and decided to write one specifically for Jen. This song, "New York City", is the opening number to that musical still in development (entitled "JOEY", a take on contemporary NYC stereotypes in which all the numbers are sang by the lead character, in this case Jen).
Bart wrote it, performed and recorded all the the music, and produced it. Jen recorded and performed all the vocals and they both produced them. They both produced the video and Bart edited it. With a simple standard Sony digital camera that happens to have a minimal movie feature. Lo-fi, indeed, but it seems to work for this.
The video and songs they are producing are all made in the closet of their 1-bedroom Manhattan apartment. They call it "In The Closet Studio". This is also the first video from them that's completely self-made.
The current plan for Below 14th is to finish recording production of all 11 songs from the musical, perform them live in sequence as a duo with 2 backing female vocalists (minus the book), and gain enough support for a full production of the musical here in Manhattan. Also, it will be submitted to musical theater festivals in NYC and around the world.
In other recent news, a song from their 2006 debut EP, "Baby, Don't You Cry", is prominently featured in a son-to-be-released featuref film entitled "Havok". (http://vimeo.com/8857237)
A song from their NYC rock album ("I'm A Star" from the album "The Money" by now-defunct Sunday Night Social) is presently being attached to an unnamed major American TV network national commercial spot by award-winning production company 99Tigers (www.99tigers.com).
Lastly, this video "New York City" is now the intro and outro to "The Vinny Vella Show" on the Manhattan Neighborhood Network (MNN) television program (beginning with the airing of the September 25, 2010 episode). (http://wn.com/Vinny_Vella)
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