Jordan E. Spivack: News Updates

I just added 30 new pics to the Photo Gallery - the first 4 were taken last Saturday night (1-16) at the Adam Millman "Believe" fund-raising party for The Dysautonomia Foundation (so far Adam has already raised and unbelievable $12,000, in just two weeks!). The other pictures were taken at Christmas-time during our annual visit to Rochester, to spend quality time with Joe's family - as you can see, we had a lovely time!

CD Baby has announced that starting on Monday, January 25th and continuing for two weeks, they will donate $1 of their cut from every CD sale through their website, and $1 from every download sale over $8.99 on the site, to the American Red Cross and to Mercy Corps, a Portland-based relief organization with a large presence in Haiti. With your help, they hope to raise tens of thousands of dollars. So, if you haven't already bought or downloaded a copy of my CDs "Think Lovely Thoughts" and "My Provincetown", please consider doing that now - they make great Valentine's Day gifts! Go to: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/jordanespivack  or  http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/jordanespivack2

My song "Lucky Day" is in the running for the monthly prizes and the judging for the 2009 National Musicoz Awards, Australia's biggest music prize and recognition program. Just click on the widget below to vote for me in the Musicoz National People's Choice Award. 

Also, I will be featured in a revealing interview in an upcoming Issue of D.A.M. Magazine (Dynamically Active Movements), an online Arts publication out of New York City. I'll let you know more soon. If you'd like to explore the site in the meantime, go to: http://www.dammagazine.com/

There's more great news coming up in the next few months, so make sure you visit my site regularly at http://jordanesp.com/

Thanks for making last month the most successful ever on this website!

Jordan's arrangement of Adam Millman's original composition "Snow Day" appears on Adam's new CD "Believe", now available at http://www.familialdysautonomia.org/believe/
All proceeds are for the benefit of the Dysautonomia Foundation (F.D.). Please buy a copy of the CD, and donate to this important cause!

Just in: my "Shimmer" has won Best International Instrumental Song in the 2009 TORONTO AWARDS! This is the 3rd year in a row I have won an award in this competition (2008 Best International Instrumental Song for "Commercial Street", and 2007 Top 5 nominee Best International Jazz Song for "Groove 2 U"). It is a great honor, and I am very pleased and thankful!

 

My instrumental composition "Toccata", Silver winner in the 25th Annual Mid-Atlantic Song Contest, is included in the just-released "It's All About The Song" MASC compilation CD. The track is #7 on Disc 2, and features me performing the solo piano composition live. Another feather in my cap!

HAPPY, HEALTHY, PROSPEROUS,

AND PEACEFUL 2010!

 

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

LOVE,

JORDAN

I am very proud to announce that my piano composition "The Poet" has won Finalist in the Instrumental category of the 2009 (26th Annual) Mid-Atlantic Song Contest! This is the 2nd year in-a-row that MASC has honored me: last year my "Toccata" won Silver (2nd Prize) in the Instrumental category.  

Jango Radio has just begun playing my tracks "Commercial Street" and "Jordan ESP" this week (and soon "Groove 2 U"). Jango is a service where listeners create their own radio stations according to their own tastes, and listeners can become my fans. The service has requested that I promote myself to my friends: "By promoting yourself/your band, you can end up in general rotation.
All it takes is that 50 people tell us they like your music.
The easiest way to promote your music is to send this link to your friends."

http://www.jango.com/music/Jordan+E+Spivack

So, at their suggestion, I am giving this link to YOU in the hopes that you will go to Jango.com now and tell them that you like my music. Then my music will go into general rotation, which is the very best thing that could happen for me at Jango.

When you click on the link, you'll be taken to a page that says: "You just created a radio station! It will play Jordan E. Spivack and similar artists." Then click I'm a Fan! It's that simple, and will only take you a few seconds.

What you do after that is your decision. You ARE NOT required to become a member of Jango or partake of its services (although it is a pretty cool thing to create your own personal radio station). 

As always, I greatly appreciate all the help and support you give me. I'll let you know how it all turns out soon.

Thanks again!

Best wishes for a healthy and happy 2010 !

Jordan

I have recently returned home from a 4-day trip to Milwaukee (12-10 to 12-13-09) to visit with my sister and brother-in-law Linda and Poul, and to see my Mom at her residence in The Jewish Home. It was a lovely time: as usual, my hosts were generous and welcoming, my Mom was in reasonably good health, my flights were good, and the weather was not too severe (well, the first day was 9 degrees).

Among the highlights of the visit were a dinner with my niece Kim and nephew Kurt and their kids, going to the movies to see "Fantastic Mr. Fox" (fantastic animation), and a trip to the Milwaukee Public Museum with Poul's son Dane and his kids. Plus I got to spend Chanukah with my Mom, and to play the piano (on a very nice grand piano in The Helen Bader Center) for her - I performed "The Poet", the piece I composed in honor of my Dad's life, and Aram Khachaturian's exciting "Toccata", always one of her favorites. Mom was very happy, and I was very happy to be with her again.

I have posted 90 new pics of my trip. Go to the Photo Gallery, where you can see a slide show of the pics, 25-at-a-time. This is a new feature of my website, and it's very cool!

Great news: my instrumental composition "Shimmer" has been named a Nominee for the prestigious 2009 TORONTO EXCLUSIVE AWARDS! The winners will be announced in late December. In 2007 I was one of the 5 Finalists for Best International Jazz Song with "Groove 2 U", and in 2008 "Commercial Street" was named Best International Instrumental Song. So I have a good feeling about the 2009 awards.

If you want to see the list of Nominees on their website, go to: http://www.torontoexclusive.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=203&Itemid=96

Here in Nanuet, NY we had our first snowfall of the season yesterday. See the new pics in the photo gallery!

So "July To September" won First Prize #1 in the Jazz category for November on OurStage! All Music Channel Winners from the November competition receive a $100 online gift card. Plus my success in the Jazz Channel reaped these stats for the month:

#10 Top Track. #18 Fan Favorite, #11 Most Played (and over 5,000 plays during the Finals!), #3 Top Fan Club, Favorited 11 times (an OurStage member added the song to their personal member page), and #1 Top New Artist To Watch. and for the first time ever, I was highlighted in the OurStage monthly e-mail, which is sent to all members.

Overall, a great success for my music!

If you'd like to join OurStage, go to: http://www.ourstage.com/

If you'd like to visit my OurStage page, and listen to my music, go to: http://www.ourstage.com/profile/jordanespivack

And any votes you can give me are greatly appreciated - thanks for all your support!

I am happy to announce that "July To September" from my "Symmetry" CD has won the Jazz category, achieving #1 at the end of the voting "battles"! Now the track goes head-to-head with the winners of the other 34 categories for one day (November 30th) - at midnight tonight we'll know the results of the Finals. If you'd like to be part of the voting process, go to http://www.ourstage.com/judge?channel=38-music-finals and vote for me - thanks!

I'm wishing everyone a very safe and Happy Thanksgiving! Have a wonderful day with family and friends, and enjoy all the great food - just remember, everything in moderation, and be thankful for all the good in your life! I know I have so much to be thankful for.

I have just added a few new family pics to the Photo Gallery. These were taken August 16th, 2009, at dinner the same day as the unveiling of my father's gravestone. Although that was a somber occasion, the stone looked beautiful, and the ceremony gave a sense of closure to the long and sad period of grieving following my Dad's passing in February 2008 . Later in the day, Joe and I got a chance to have a relaxing dinner with my sister Karen and her husband, my brother-in-law Walter, and also my cousin Barbara. We had a great meal at Biagio's Italian Restaurant in Paramus, NJ. As you can see from the pictures, everyone had a good time, and we were all happy to see each other againl

Also, there are 4 new lovely late-Fall pics taken at the Dellwood Golf Course in New City, NY - enjoy!

My music is off to a great start in November!

At Indie104 Radio L.A. my tracks "Groove 2 U" and "Commercial Street" are receiving airplay several times a day, and both tracks have appeared in the Top 10 most-requested tracks every day for the past 2 weeks. The station estimates the number of listeners at anywhere from 15,000 to 30,000 people at any time of the day. Today, for instance, over 27,000 people were listening when "Groove 2 U" was played at 12:45 PM (EST)! Please go to this link right now to request my songs: http://www.1.fm/Station/indie/SongDB.aspx?search=Jordan E. Spivack - the more requests, the more often my tracks get played! And to listen to the station go to: http://www.1.fm/station/indie/History.aspx - click above the song titles for your choice of listening options. Thanks for all your help!

Also, the Kanal Jazz Stream online radio station (out of France) is playing my "Shimmer" and "Groove 2 U" a few times per day as well. To listen to this station use this link: http://kanal-jazz.blogspot.com/ - click on "Tune in here".

In addition, over at the OurStage site, "West Virginia Two-Step (longer version)" is currently ranked #9 in the All Instrumental category and #2 Hot New Track for 11-15-09, "July To September" is #18 in the Jazz category, and "Eternally (dedicated to my Grandma Tillie)" was recently #18 in the World category. These rankings can fluctuate by the hour, but "West Virginia Two Step" has maintained a ranking of #11, 10 or 9 for the entire month of November so far.

If you would like to hear (or download) any of these OurStage songs, or any of the over 30 other of my tracks on that site, click on this link: http://www.ourstage.com/profile/jordanespivack - enjoy!

I am happy to announce that this website enjoyed a particularly successful October! For those of you who understand the lingo, for the month: over 4,000 visits, 32,820 hits, and 1,317,058 KBytes (yes, that's well over One Million for the third month-in-a-row!), from over 60 different countries worldwide, with especially high numbers of visitors from Australia and the United Kingdom. (Now, if I could only convince all those people to buy my music.)

I am very thankful for all your support, and hope to continue to bring you more original music, more interesting photos, and more good news in the coming months!

I'm wishing everybody a very safe and Happy Hallowe'en - Trick or Treat! (Hopefully Treat!) Have fun!

Now you can hear and buy downloads of the complete versions (not just samples) of over 30 of my songs at OurStage.com by going to: http://www.ourstage.com/profile/jordanespivack/songs - listen anytime, then become a member of OurStage (for FREE), and purchase any individual tune as a download - it's simple!

Now you can request my songs "Commercial Street" and "Groove 2 U" on Indie104 Radio L.A. Just click on this link:
http://www.1.fm/Station/indie/SongDB.aspx?search=Jordan then click the word "Request" next to the name of the song - so far the station has been playing each of the songs at least a few times a day. If you're so inclined, click on the 5th "star" (the star furthest to the right) to give the song a 5 star rating - this increases the chances of getting the song played even more. I really appreciate any help you can give me here!

Hope you enjoy these new pics of Fall from around our home!

Great news - my music is being added to the playlists of 2 more internet radio stations! On the French station KANAL JAZZ you'll be hearing "Shimmer" (and soon, "Groove 2 U") at http://kanal-jazz.blogspot.com/ and on the Los Angeles based station INDIE 104-iRADIO LA you'll be hearing "Shimmer", Groove 2 U" and "Commercial Street" at http://www.indie104.com/ I'm very excited to have this kind of attention given to my music. In addition, I've continued to receive airplay on Plattsburgh Pipeline http://plattsburghpipeline.com/radio , Radio Electric.com at http://76.12.47.152/radioelectric/t/index.cfm, Music Independence Radio, 100% Music Radio, Acoustic Fuel, and The Que 98,2 FM Smooth Jazz/New Age Internet Radio Station at http://www.cimplexsounds.com/. Little by little, this unknown artist is starting to be known!

My composition "West Virginia Two-Step" made it into the Top 10 All Instrumental in the September competition on the OurStage site, out of over 600 entries!

If you would like to hear the tune, and several others which are posted there on my Profile Page, go to http://www.ourstage.com and put Jordan E. Spivack into the search engine - my page will come up with all 31 selections. Once you become a member, you can purchase/download any individual song you desire.

If you would like to join OurStage and participate in the voting each month, please explore the site, where you will be given instructions on how to become a member. This month I have 3 compositions entered: "Sunlight At Midnight" in All Instrumental, "Journey To A Foreign Land" in World, and "Pictures Of You" in Jazz. If you have any questions about the OurStage voting process, please let me know, and I'll give you a further explanation.

Previously, my "Commercial Street" was voted #9 in the Instrumental category in December.

Happy Rosh Hashanah! I'm wishing all my Jewish family, friends and fans around the world a very healthy, happy and sweet New Year!

Rosh Hashanah, or Jewish New Year, is also known as the Feast of the Trumpets. It is observed on the first day of the seventh month, Tishri, occurring usually in September. Rosh Hashanah is held in great reverence as the Day of Judgment (Yom ha-Din), the beginning of the 10-day period concluding with Yom Kippur and known as the Days of Awe, during which, according to tradition, all the people of the earth pass before the Lord and are marked in the Book of Life or in the Book of Death. A distinguishing feature of the New Year is the blowing of the shofar (a ram's horn), which summons Jews to penitential observance.

My wish for the world is peace, and particularly in this year, a return to civility and recognition of truth. We cannot begin to understand each other if we will not first listen quietly. We cannot find the essence of truth if we are forever surrounded by lies and hate, and are afraid to stand up to the loud and rude voices of injustice. We became better human beings when we learn to listen and make intelligent choices. We become more productive citizens of our world when we learn to recognize the difference between lies and the truth.

To SerenaWilliams, Roger Federer, Kanye West, Joe Wilson, et al: think before you speak/act, then think again, then be quiet. Know the difference between passion and anger. None of us is perfect, I'm certainly not. Be ready to apologize, be ready to forgive.

Let us all be peaceful, be quiet, be loving! Love is the answer.

My gift to you for the New Year: new free download of THE GOOD SIDE - believe in miracles! Enjoy!

I have just received the good news that my "Commercial Street" has been honored as a Semi-Finalist in the Instrumental category of the UK Songwriting Contest 2009! This means the song was in the top 23% of 6,000 songs entered. In addition, my composition was awarded a score of "7", which indicates that the piece was a "borderline finalist" and almost made it through to the final 4. It's always gratifying to have my work recognized, and this is the 2nd year-in-a-row that I was awarded as a semi-finalist in the UK Contest.