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Falzone CD
Launch Party to Raise Funds for Ewart Family
Singer/songwriter Vince
Falzone of Santa Clarita casts a wider ’Net with new ‘Out of
Time’ album.
3/10/2006
Stephen K. Peeples / Signal Staff
Writer
Popular Santa Clarita-based pop/rock singer,
songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and performer Vince Falzone
is hosting a party and concert starting 8 p.m. Saturday at the
300-seat Canyon Theatre Guild in Newhall, with a dual
purpose.
One is to celebrate the
official release of “Out of Time,” his seventh complete album
of original material, the final version of the work in
progress he released last summer as an EP. Falzone and his
three-piece backing band — Allan Christen (bass), Mike Spenser
(drums) and Bob Spears (lead guitar) — will perform several of
the album’s songs, plus a few favorites from his previous
albums.
The other purpose is to
help raise funds for another local musician — classical
violinist and in-demand film/television/record session ace
David Ewart, who along with five members of his family were
injured by intense radiant heat from a blaze that gutted their
Valencia home Dec. 20.
“This is my
seventh album, and I felt it’s time to make something happen
with my music,” Falzone said, explaining the “Out of Time”
title. “This was the hardest album for me to complete, since I
made a real effort to change my style and write better
material. I wanted each song to stand independent of all the
others. Working with other musicians and producers (including
Grammy-winner Pete Orta) helped me do a better job on my
material.”
The new album’s already
off to a strong start on Internet radio. Songs from the new
album and a couple chestnuts from Falzone’s catalog are
currently streaming on almost 150 Internet radio stations
worldwide. The list of countries includes Canada, Mexico,
Denmark, Germany, Italy, Belguim, Australia, France, Russia,
Korea, Taiwan, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Sweden, Norway,
Ireland, Singapore, Spain, Switzerland, Greece and The
Netherlands.
In the United Kingdom,
where four different live365.com stations are airing “Out of
Time” tracks, Falzone’s sales are heating up. “I just had an
order for 200 CDs to be shipped to London, which I’m very
excited about,” he said.
“The radio
play has driven the traffic to our Web site, musicbyvince.com,
up to more than 20,000 hits per month,” said Lily
Qian-Falzone, Falzone’s wife and chief marketeer, who added
their site had a record 23,000 hits in
January.
Santa Clarita Web radio
station Radio Buzzed will be recording Saturday night’s event,
then posting it for streaming at radiobuzzed.com.
“I have my material ready for
digital distribution and it will be available for purchase on
MSN Music, iTunes, Yahoo Music, MOG, Virgin Digital, Sony
Connect and many other sites that allow single-song purchase,”
Falzone said. “So right now, my main focus is on getting my
material heard, and targeting colleges in California and
Arizona for performance
dates.”
Falzone’s “Out of Time” is
also available locally at Barnes & Noble in Valencia, in
the music department’s pop/rock
section.
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David
Ewart, 48, suffered radiant heat burns over 43 percent of his
body in the Dec. 20 house fire, the cause of which remains
undetermined. His 81-year-old father, Hugh, had burns on 15
percent of his body. Fifteen-year-old son Michael, a student
at Hart High, suffered burns over half his body. They’re all
healing well now; Ewart and his son are receiving physical
therapy designed, over the next several months, to help them
recover almost completely.
But the
family’s medical bills have topped a staggering $7
million.
Saturday night at the CTG,
half the proceeds from the door, half of lobby sales of
Falzone’s CDs and whatever additional funds concert-goers wish
to donate will all go into the Ewart Family Catastrophe Fund.
Ewart friends and supporters created the non-profit charitable
organization as a clearinghouse for contributions to help
defray the family’s medical costs and help them rebuild their
lives.
Among everything else, the
Ewart family lost all their photographic memories, school
projects, art pieces, music collections and musical
instruments. Ewart’s primary violin, made in Naples by Italian
Jannarius Gaglianus in 1765 and worth nearly half a million
dollars, was reduced to ash. This was the instrument Ewart
used to play at the Hollywood Bowl as a member of the Los
Angeles Philharmonic, and most recently played as a member of
the New West Symphony.
“Being a
musician, I really feel the personal loss David is going
through, and I want to show my support,” Falzone said. “I find
it find it hard to fathom losing all of my equipment and
instruments. The Ewart fund- raising team were very receptive
to accept our offer to help, and after meeting David I really
want to make this a successful event to help his
family.”
Ticket prices for the CTG
show are $12, which includes Falzone’s full set plus coffee
and pizza donated by sponsors Starbucks and Primo Pizza. There
will also be raffle drawings for valuable donated items. The
event may not raise as much money as comedian Jay Leno’s March
23 performance at Hart High will to aid the Ewarts as well as
local young leukemia victim Ryan Baker, “but it all adds up,”
Falzone said.
“I’m totally touched
by this,” Ewart said two days before Falzone’s CTG show. “It’s
one thing when a colleague or someone you know gives you a
benefit, but Vince was someone I didn’t even know, and I
thought that was pretty cool. The whole thing was very sweet
and very touching.”
Ewart and
Falzone met for the first time at a recent lunch to talk about
the CTG gig. “When I was Vince’s age or younger, I played
coffee houses, too,” Ewart said. “We’re from different
generations, but we both love music so we have a lot in
common. It turns out that he wants me to play with him, too.
He’s doing his own original material, and to the extent I can
add a little string sound to the mix in the background, that’s
what I’d like to do. I don’t want to be
featured.”
Ewart said he was very
pleased with the pace of his physical recovery. “I’m very
encouraged. I’ve been playing again this week and feeling
hopeful to be playing with an orchestra again in a few more
weeks.”
It’s going to take a bit
longer to rebuild their house, and who knows how much longer
to pay off those astronomical medical costs.
“It is kind of surreal — $7
million — but I think it will all work out,” Ewart said.
“I’m more concerned right now with
where should I be each day and what my mission for that day
will be,” he continued. “My greatest hope is that people will
see God’s hand working with my life and those of my family,
and how the community has been supporting us. This is not
something you would want to go through alone, and we are not
alone. There are so many people helping and praying for us.
I’m not as independent as I was before the accident, but those
things are covered, I have a long list of would-be chauffeurs
and cooks and people to help me in ways I can’t yet help
myself, and that’s great.”
Things
are going right, Ewart added. “The good in people — that’s
what keeps me alive, not worrying about the massive bills and
the house rebuild. Not having a house doesn’t keep me from
living a full
life.”
To
purchase tickets for Saturday night’s benefit concert, call
803-5594 or e-mail lily@musicbyvince.com. Find the Canyon
Theater Guild at 24242 San Fernando Road in Newhall. For more
info about Falzone and his catalog, visit musicbyvince.com.
For more info about the Ewarts, visit
ewartaid.org. |
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