Bowery Ballroom

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Matt White

Matt White

Sharon Little / Schuyler Fisk / Emergency Service

Mon 11/3
Tickets

18+

Doors 7:00 PM

$13 adv / $15 day of show

Matt White

  • profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid= 1058252
  • www.mattwhitemusic.com
  • Take one listen to the music of Matt White and you're hooked. His songs are relatable-you'll think of the one who got your heart, the pains and pleasures of growing up and the remarkable journey in discovering just who the heck you are. Drawing inspiration from Elton John, Jeff Buckley, and Coldplay, (He's like Maroon 5 in one person), Do You Believe, marks the arrival of a gifted songwriter who draws from his own experience. Matt White delivers a song with a smooth voice that will immediately put the listener at ease.

    Music is in Matt's DNA-his grandmother was among the first jazz orchestra leaders in the 1930s. He grew up in New Jersey and started taking piano lessons when he was three-years-old. Sure, he was a member of the swim and lacrosse teams throughout high school, but it was making music that made him happiest. Being the romantic he is, he followed a girl to the University of Wisconsin where he taught himself to play guitar since he "couldn't fit a piano" in his room. Upon graduation, Matt returned to his favorite place in the world, New York City, and had a different kind of education. Knowing the streets of the city as well as he knows his own songs, he took his guitar to Washington Square Park, Greenwich Village and Bleeker Street, performing on the sidewalks and in the parks. "I think I always knew deep down I would be a musician but after graduating, I was still trying to figure things out," he says. "I think everyone around that age does."

    He started playing with local artists in clubs like Joe's Pub and the Living Room and gradually built up a strong following on the net-he currently has over 45,000 friends on his myspace.com page. Soon after, he signed with Geffen Records and released the EP Bleeker Street Stories. Released in the spring of 2006, Bleeker Street Stories has sold over 15,000 songs on iTunes.

    It also only takes one time for you to meet him to know that you already like him. Tell him your name once and he'll remember it. He cracks jokes and can laugh at himself with a raw honesty that's refreshing and his album is proof of that. Getting dumped, being spontaneous are the themes on the album, along with his favorite topic of all: girls. "I fall in love easily and the album is almost like a diary about my different relationships" says Matt. "My first girlfriend thinks the whole album is about her and she tells everyone that and it drives me crazy. Actually, all the girls I dated think the songs are about them." His first single, "Best Days," is "about a girl, whom I cannot name, who challenged me to go camping-I'm the guy who'd rather sleep in a hotel and watch Spectra Vision," Matt admits. "So we went but she never called me after that. Maybe my second album will be about abandonment."

    "I'll Be There" has a darker melody, and the grand piano will remind you of The Fray. "It's about a girl who wanted to leave me and follow her dreams. It's a love letter to her telling her I'd be waiting for her," he says. "But I didn't stay there," he pauses. "Get it?"

    The melody to "Miracles" came to Matt one night and the lyrics were inspired by a "very pretty girl who was out of my league," he says. "So I thought it was a miracle in and of itself that I got her!"

    Since Matt spent so much of his youth in New York City, it was inevitable that the people there would have a major influence on his life, hence the song, "New York Girls." "I felt that all these New York girls were kids that had adult problems and I'm like dude these girls are crazy."

    "Love" is a different and classic love song describing "how crazy and stupid and silly and kind of absurd the whole game of love is." It was also prominently featured in the 2005 film, Little Manhattan.

    Matt's a doer. He's played over 100 shows this year alone and hosts weekly online chats. Chances are you've already heard his songs on Laguna Beach, The Hills, Men in Trees and in the 2005 movie, She's The Man. His album asks, "Do You Believe?" and chances are once you listen, you will.

Sharon Little

  • http://www.myspace.com/sharonlittle
  • http://www.sharonlittle.com/
  • At the start of 2008, Sharon Little was working as a waitress. Less than five months later, she is appearing in concert halls throughout the country as the opening act on the Robert Plant/Alison Krauss and T Bone Burnett “Raising Sand” tour. She’s winning ovations as Perfect Time For A Breakdown, her brilliant album of heartfelt personal songs, is released nationally. While this might seem that she’s an “overnight sensation,” Sharon is anything but a flash in the pan. She’s a singer of intense emotional honesty and the songs she’s written reveal an old soul that just happens to be within a person possessed of undeniable physical and spiritual beauty. The journey that has taken her so far in seemingly so short a time has actually been a life-long quest to find her voice, both in the literal and figurative sense.

    “I’ve known since I was four that I wanted to perform,” says Sharon, noting that her mother says she would hum songs even before she knew how to talk. “If I couldn’t hear music and wasn’t able to perform, I just don’t know what would have happened. I have a lot to say and I’ve always wanted people to listen.” She would never hesitate to sing in whatever talent show school might offer; tellingly one of the songs she most liked to perform at those events was Sly & The Family Stone’s “Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Again).” She seemed uncannily at ease in front of an audience. Her real self was to be found in performance – it was just a question of how to let it out to blossom.

    Her early repertoire was appropriated from Billie Holiday, Etta James and Nina Simone and she sang wherever she could, including coffee houses, open mic nights, weddings and small club gigs. The opening track of Perfect Time For A Breakdown is “Follow That Sound” and it gives some indication of Sharon’s quest for a musical and emotional connection. The assertive tone of “Try” echoes her affinity for gospel and soul.

Emergency Service

  • http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=23963361
  • http://www.emergencyserviceband.com/
  • Emergency Service is a New York City based band with music that fuses the relaxed vibes of reggae, the consciousness of hip hop, the rhythm and groove of funk, and the energy of the city they call home. Singer songwriter Sammy G and lyricist Aureliam joined forces in 2005 and began creating unique, thought-provoking songs that they first started playing as a duo around the New York City open mic scene. After receiving an extremely positive reception, the two embarked on a mission to create a full band that could bring an explosive live show and add musical depth to their sound. They brought in trumpet, drums, bass, lead guitar and keys, and thus, the band collectively known as ‘Emergency Service’ was born. Over the past two years the band has been headlining weekend shows at all the hottest New York City clubs and around the Northeast, developing a strong following and base of fans that love the energy and originality of a music that can’t fit into one genre. In the summer of 2006, Emergency Service came together to record their first full-length album ‘This Emergency...’ as an independent release. Their new EP "The Better Days" was released in June of 2008.

    Emergency Service has opened for a number of nationally and internationally touring acts in the past year, including Groundation, Robert Bradley's Blackwater Surprise, and SOJA among others. The band continues to play frequently in NYC and around the East Coast, with the goal of bringing their music and their message to as many people as they can.

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Mercury Lounge

217 E. Houston St. (corner Ave A & Houston)

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212–260–4700

Hours: Mon–Sat, Noon–7 pm

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718–486–5400

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