Author Archive

Colors of Sound and Light – The Art of Annie Haslam

Tuesday, May 10 at 12:00pm – May 12 at 9:00pm

Twenty-Two Gallery of Fine Art
236 S. 22nd Street
Philadelphia, PA 19103

Special Guest Artist: ANNIE HASLAM, voice of English Classical Rock Band “Renaissance”

Limited exhibit 3 day show. Extended gallery hours: noon to 9 PM each day

VIP Private Opening Reception, Monday, May 9, 6 – 9PM (by invitation only)

Personal Appearances by Ms. Haslam during the exhibit. Call for details

http://www.twenty-twogallery.com/
215.772.1911
info@twenty-twogallery.com

Annie Interviewed on WXPN 88.5 FM Philadelphia Friday April 22

Annie Haslam will be a guest of Michaela Majoun’s “Women’s Music Hour” on WXPN 88.5 between 9-10am EDT on Friday April 22.

Live stream at http://xpn.org/music-artist/xpn-stream

Station web site: http://www.xpn.org/xpn-programs/xpn-morning-show

Message for Japan

To all our fans and friends and all the people of Japan, you are in our thoughts and prayers.

We look forward to visiting your beautiful country again in the near future.

Love

Annie, Michael and Renaissance

Annie Haslam to appear on a panel at NY-area Beatles fan convention

The “B.U.I. (Beatles Under The Influence)” musicians forum on Sunday afternoon is to be joined by a very special, previously-unannounced guest. Annie Haslam lead vocalist of the legendary British fusion band Renaissance – has just been added to the lineup and will join musicians Gary Wright, Mark Hudson, Joey Molland, Mark Rivera and forum creator/moderator Martin Lewis in an informal conversation and jam session celebrating the myriad musical influences that shaped the Beatles.

Annie’s brother, the late Michael Haslam, was a ballad singer managed by Beatles manager Brian Epstein in the early 1960s – he performed at the Beatles Christmas shows 1964-1965.

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/thefest

Website: http://www.thefest.com/

Specific webpage about the upcoming event: http://tinyurl.com/cejl3y

Annie Haslam to show her unique painted guitars as part of Jonathan Singers ‘The Art of the Guitar’ at the Morrison Hotel Gallery, NYC

Dear Friends

I am very excited to be showing my painted guitars at The Morrison Hotel Gallery in Soho, NYC, from February 11th, and feel very honoured to have been invited by Jonathan Singer to be part of his very special show.

Please take a moment to read about the show, if you can get down to see it you will not be disappointed, his photographs are ‘stunning’!

♥ Annie

The Morrison Hotel Gallery Presents

THE ART OF THE GUITAR

The Photography of Jonathan Singer
Curated by Bernard “Buzzy” Levine

A Celebration of Guitars from Famed Photographer Jonathan Singer
at The Morrison Hotel Gallery Loft at 116 Prince Street in SoHo, NYC.
VIP/Press Preview Thursday, February 10 from 5:30-6:30 pm

January 20th 2011, New York, NY – For the first time ever, The Morrison Hotel Gallery loft in Soho is thrilled to introduce The Art of the Guitar: The Photography of Jonathan Singer as fine art photography in a special VIP/press preview on Thursday, February 10 from 5:30-6:30 pm, sponsored by Guitar Aficionado and Canson Infinity.

This special show is curated by Bernard “Buzzy” Levine, owner of Lark Street Music, appraiser for the Metropolitan Museum of Art and longtime contributing editor to the Vintage Guitar Price Guide.  Featured photographs will include guitars by Fender, Gibson, Martin, Gretch, Mandolin Brothers and John Monteleone “Four Seasons” guitars in signed, limited edition sets, among others.

Jonathan Singer has been shooting guitars for over 20 years and has appeared in Acoustic Guitar magazine, Guitar Maker, Premiere Guitar, Vanity Fair, and ARTnews, among others. He has also been featured on CBS Sunday Morning and ABC News.  Singer is renowned for his unusual shooting style which he developed for his botanical work, bringing him world wide acclaim and entry into the Smithsonian Institution and The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and earning him many accolades and awards.

On his newest exhibition Singer says, “By turning the guitar into an art piece it takes on a whole new meaning. The style I use either makes the guitars melt into the background or jump off the paper they are printed on. The instrument must have the power to be a celebrity on its own.”

Some instruments featured in The Art of the Guitar will be shown for the very first time to the public.   For any musician or individual who appreciates the history and craftsmanship of the guitar, this exhibit is sure to please and inspire.  In addition to his exhibit, Jonathan Singer has collaborated with artist and Renaissance singer Annie Haslam, whose paintings on guitars will also be featured and up for sale in the gallery windows.

On the exhibit, curator Bernard “Buzzy” Levine says, “The American guitar is eternal in its stringed simplicity, yet novel in its ability to connect the soul and fingers. Singer captures and honors the beauty and utility of these relics of American craftsmanship in a way befitting the majesty of their legendary sound.”

Stan Jay, President of Mandolin Brothers adds, “Jonathan creates art into what was formerly merely description.”

Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top says, “Well it’s that time again…! Guitars, guitars, and mo’ guitars. And the photographic styling’s from premier camera master Jonathan Singer takes the many forms of the 6-string into an elegant excursion into fresh versions of passionately observing wood and wire.  A goodly combo all way ‘round.  Enjoy Jonathan Singer’s exquisite capture of form and focus.”

The Art of the Guitar: The Photography of Jonathan Singer
is sponsored by Guitar Aficionado & Canson Infinity

5:30-6:30pm The Art of the Guitar Exhibition – VIP/Media Preview
Morrison Hotel Gallery Loft, 116 Prince St.

*The Art of the Guitar Exhibit Will be
Open to the Public beginning February 11 at both 116 Prince Street & 313 Bowery, NYC*

www.morrisonhotelgallery.com

The Morrison Hotel Gallery was founded in 2001 by Peter Blachley, a former record company executive, producer Rich Horowitz, a former independent record store owner, and Henry Diltz, a legendary music photographer. The gallery has since grown to become a major brand in fine art and music photography and is respected amongst peers and artists alike.

‘Annie in Wonderland’ re-release plus a bonus new recording of Roy Wood’s huge ‘hit single’ from the 60’s… ‘Flowers in the Rain’

I am very excited to tell you that my very first solo album Annie in Wonderland produced by Roy Wood is being re-released on Friday Music. This has been a rare album/CD to get hold of in the past few years so I am happy that it will be readily available again. Of all my recordings this was the most fun. Working with Roy who is a ‘musical genius’ and learning so much from him during the recording was priceless.

Roy also painted and designed the unique whimsical cover art… and Yes I used to wear striped stockings like that, and Yes I used to laugh like that and still do! Ah! the 70’s….

We also recorded one of his hit singles Flowers in the Rain as a bonus track! Please check it out, it’s a gem!

Love, Peace and Harmony

♥ Annie

ANNIE IN WONDERLAND
Original Recording Remastered + Bonus Track
Release Date Jan 25th 2011

Pre-order everywhere at all leading online retail accounts like Amazon.com and at Fridaymusic.com:

FLOWERS IN THE RAIN
Annie Haslam
ITUNES digital download single – available now!!!!!

Glorious Korea

October 13th

Hi All

We are now back in respective countries and homes, hard to believe that we were only away for five days! The second show was as enjoyable as the first and earlier….showtime was 6pm! One lady drove 4 hours with her triplets in the car and apparently was very emotional listening to the music, unfortunately we didn’t get to meet her after the show as she had such a long drive. Another ‘young’ man the night before had been on a train for 5 hours to come and see us, quite amazing and we did get to meet and chat with him albeit  with a little language problem. We noticed that there were quite a few younger fans than one would expect, which made the experience even more fulfilling for us! We had the same reaction to the songs, especially ‘Mystic’ and also once again they sang along in ‘Ashes’. We spent time after the show signing autographs, this was a real pleasure as the people were just so nice…I think I can speak for all of us when I say that we would have loved to have stayed and done some more shows and had the opportunity to see more of the country and it’s history. I was told they have beautiful waterfalls, that would have been a real treat. We look forward to going back there, the sooner the better, jet-lag and all! So here are some photos I took, I did do a small video from my ‘Droid’ phone and am hoping I can transfer it so you can see it too. I hope you enjoy the photos….

Peace

Annie and the guys

The Palace Band…

Changing the Guard

Palace Guards and Little Girl

Palace Guards

Palace Guard

The Palace Guards in place

First gateway to ‘Gyeongbok Palace’

King’s Palace

King’s Palace..

Palace and Mountains

Old and New

Horse Statue

Palace Throne Room

Throne Room Ceiling

Throne Room Ceiling..

Not sure what this ‘Urn/Pot’ is

Children at the Kings Coffee House

Michael Jason and Rave at Coffee House

King’s Coffee House

Michael, Annie and Jason at the Palace

Renaissance banner at Mapo Arts Centre

Just before set-up

Rave tells yet another funny story!

Mapo Arts Centre Pre Show

Frank Chillin’ out

Michael at soundcheck

SET LIST

PROLOGUE • CARPET OF THE SUN • MIDAS MAN • RUNNING HARD • BLACK FLAME • THINGS I DON’T UNDERSTAND • OCEAN GYPSY • THE MYSTIC AND THE MUSE • MOTHER RUSSIA • ASHES ARE BURNING

Rave and Frank in our ‘Butterfly’ Bus

Photos • Annie Haslam

Chris Capozza – Soundman

Annie, Rave , Michael and Frank at Mapo Arts Centre

Photo • Chris Capozza

October 11th

Hi Everyone from warm and friendly S.Korea….

We  had travelled halfway across the world again in such a short space of time, but the show last night at the Mapo Art Centre in Seoul was certainly worth it.
But to backtrack, in the afternoon of our day off, Si-Wan the promoter of our shows, took us to see the Royal Palace (more details coming with photos attached soon).
It was a lovely late summer day, in the low 70’s. The grounds of the Palace were vast, with wide paving stones, each holding their own fascinating stories I’m sure.
We arrived to the sound of a huge echoing drum, that was calling in the changing of the guards. It was almost like it was planned specially for us. The timing was perfect.
It started with approximately 30 red clad musicians all playing some kind of ‘weird’ sounding (weird notes too) flute type instrument. This heralded the arrival of the guards appearing from another direction through an old palace gateway. This was quite a sight! they marched  in with banners flying in bright vibrant blue, red and yellow, matching their regal flowing robes, carrying ‘Spears’ that had big scary looking blades on the ends.
I got quite emotional, it was a beautiful sight.
As the drum and the procession died down we meandered around the courtyards, peeking in to the main temple to see the King’s throne.
It would have been so easy just to sit down on one of the old stone walls and stay and watch the sunset over the mountains that that were the backdrop for all of this.

Another memorable part to this afternoon were many (possibly hundreds in all) of young schoolchildren, the little ones were very cute. I had little girls that seemed to be drawn to me because of the color of my hair.
Tiny voices saying, “Nice to meet you” followed by giggles and smiles.
The same happened to the guys, I guess we did stand out a bit!
This was a beautiful way to start our adventure in Korea!
I think we all felt humbled and privileged to experience another country that is so far from home and what we know.
There couldn’t have been a nicer ending to our day.

Now to the first show.

The Mapo Arts Center is lovely and holds approximately 850 people.and site in the centre of the city of Seoul. We had a nice big stage and beautiful lighting. The crew at the venue and Si-Wan’s staff had worked very hard to make sure we had what we needed for the show. Our sound man, Chris Capozza also did a marvellous job making sure that our required equipment would be available….this had been a bit of challenge when communicating across such a vast distance.
Of course we were all ‘jet-lagging’. It is quite a challenge to fly half way across the world to perform, and then only have one day to get acclimatised….one really needs a week! In any case we all performed excellently considering all of this and our first show was a resounding success.

When we came out on stage the audience were very loud in their appreciation of seeing us in person for the first time.
We were told after the show, that standing ovations do not happen here, but I guess we have now changed that!
I could see that people were singing along and they were very excited at every song announcement we made.
Once again ‘The Mystic and The Muse’ struck a big chord with ‘everyone’, the crowd went wild and LOVED it and just wouldn’t stop applauding. I was so overwhelmed I nearly fell over…hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
It is quite obvious that this song is very ‘special’

But the real surprise that Michael and I could hardly believe, is that when I did my ‘operatic’ solo at the end of ‘Ashes are Burning’ the fans answered my singing, there was a tumultuous roar of voices completely filling the theater. I could could barely contain myself. We had never thought of ‘Ashes’ as a ‘sing along’ but I guess now, Korea has started a new trend!  🙂

We signed autographs after the show, and some of the comments were very touching, especially because it is our first time in Korea and also that they never thought they would see us perform here. Lovely warm people…

So as I would really like to go to bed now even though it is only 11.53am, in my mind and body it is 10.53pm and time for beddy byes.
So I will go and get myself into show mode. Show time is earlier tonight, 6pm.
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh an early night/morning or whatever.

Back tomorrow to give you another update.

Love and Peace from us all   x

October 2nd 2010

Korean poster

Soon we will be on our way to the other side of the world for the second time in two months, to S.Korea! It’s not always easy to route shows/countries together as in this case, even so the need and desire is there, so off we go.  I have done some research and it looks like a very beautiful country, wish we had the time to travel around and see the countryside and beautiful temples. We are looking forward to performing in Seoul and getting to meet some of our loyal fans we have had for many years. We have to brush up on our Korean 🙂

Shows are at The Mapo Art Center, Seoul, October 9th and 10th.

August 21st 2010

Last night the newly created annual ‘Rock Legends’ Progressive Rock Fest’ was born! It was in Tokyo at an open air theater called ‘Hibiya Open Air Theatre’. Very nice venue a little like the Greek Theatre, LA, on a smaller scale on the edge of a park. There were 2000 people there.We had another great audience and of course The Mystic once again was a triumph. The big banner that flew above the stage was by Roger Dean. The soundcheck in the afternoon was most uncomfortable, it felt like it was in the 100’s… but as usual the crew did a marvellous job in getting everything ready in time…we were three major acts playing the same length of time….huge amounts of equipment, three drum risers and also keyboard risers. When the show started we took the stage again to wonderful reception (it was still daylight..5.20pm precisely) I think I was the most uncomfortable as far as the heat goes. It was about 96 but felt like 106! I lost concentration for a split second in Mother Russia but managed to get through. The band did a great show, but we were all still tired from the jet lag. After the show we went for a Japanese meal and drank LOTS of Sake! Perfect ending!

PS

It was great to meet up once more with our ‘sparring’ partners Steve Hackett and his band who of course played an amazing show!

Procol Harum shows

July 3, 2010

The two June shows with Procol Harum went spectacularly well.
The musical combination of both bands was perfect! Audience reaction was very warm and appreciative.
It’s always quite an experience to play in Atlantic City and this time was no different. We performed at the Tropicana which had a huge stage and also great lighting!
The sound system was excellent as were all the people involved in promoting the show (Bill Rogers, Ken Alderfer and all at BRE Presents) who also promoted the 2nd show we did with Procol at the very beautiful Longwood Gardens. The backdrop for this show was similar to a stately home in England, full of beautiful buildings, ornate greenhouses bursting with hundreds of species of flowers and plants, fountains, and arbors dripping with sweet smelling flowers. The stage area was surrounded by tall manicured trees mimicking the ramparts of a medieval castle, or a scene from Alice in Wonderland! The daylight was still with us when we performed, and the promise of imminent rain was not not fulfilled. I was due to play a rain stick during our new song ‘The Mystic and The Muse’, but everyone in both bands including my friend Gary Brooker gave me a look of concern, I knew it would be tempting fate! so I played the piano pins instead. It was a delight to sit out in the audience during Procol’s performance as the fireflies worked their way into the light show. I was very happy to see Gary again, a brilliant singer and songwriter and extremely funny too! Procol Harum consisted of Gary Brooker on Vocals and Keyboards, Geoff Whitehorn on Guitar and Vocals, Matt Pegg on Bass, Josh Phillips on Keyboards and Geoff Dunn on Drums.
They put on a fabulous show, BRAVO!

More to come from Annie and the band….

Soundcheck at Longwood Gardens 6/16/10

Denny Bridges • sound engineer • extraordinaire

SHOWTIME • Longwood Gardens

photos • Krista Wallhagen

Annie and Gary Brooker backstage at Longwood Gardens 6/16/10

photo • Spencer Zahn