Los Angeles – DENISE MARSA

New music video

In my long career in the music business, I have only been physically involved in 3 “official” music videos for a single. The first one was for “Lucky Stars,” the duet I sang with Dean Friedman. We went to the CBS / Columbia Studios in New York to record the “live” video. I sat on a stool and Dean sat on a piano bench and played the song. We lip-synced. I enjoyed it, the link to watch the video is here.

The second was for my debut single “The Land Had a Dream,” from my debut solo album “SELF.” We went into my uncle’s movie studio in Los Angeles, he was a successful filmmaker and lent me his studio for a day. We spent a full day making the video. It was great fun and everyone worked very hard on the project. Editing was so much work! The link is here.

The third is about to be released, my new video for the track “FLOAT.” The video is an animated adventure that came to me, as I was mixing the first demo of the song. I worked with a wonderfully talented video graphics designer Karolina Tyszkowska and it was so much fun to work on. I am very proud of this video. I will share the link when we go live.

Matza Ball Soup

As a Jewish woman, it is in my blood to nurture. I was surrounded by nuturing women my entire childhood and my teen years. Some might say, a bit too nurturing leaning towards bossy, at times. Whatever. The intent was/is always to care for those we love. The Yiddish saying Balabusta (Yiddish: בעל־הביתטע‎) is a Yiddish expression describing a good homemaker. And I was called that by my dad, during his final years on earth. He thought it meant bossy. Yup, I got a bit bossy with my dad (desperate times call for concise measures!) –I wanted to be sure he was comfy during his final years. Love.

I believe I started writing songs out of love, to nuture listeners or to bring a respite from everyday life, to express feelings in a song to those that might not be able to expess themselves as freely. To entertain. That is how I started my singing career, as Baby June in Gypsy, with the famed song “Let Me Entertain You.” Well I guess I took it literally! Thank you Jule Styne (music) Stephen Sondheim (lyrics) for the inspiration.

Now you may be wondering why the title of this blog is Matza Ball Soup, well here we are with the answer. Today I sent a sick friend in Los Angeles, Matza Ball soup, from Canter’s in LA and delivered feverishly by Uber Eats (Odi) and ordered from my West Village apartment. Nurturing has never been easier and if I could, I’d send a quart of Matza Ball soup to allthe people I am close to. It is good for the soul. We all need some nurturing these days!!

And check out my next performance where I share all kinds of stories and songs during the United Solo Theatre Festvial 2021 of THE PASS Musical: https://unitedsolo.org/shows/the-pass-musical/

Time for some soup…

Remembering Dolores O’Riordan & THE PASS

I don’t remember the year however I remember the scene vividly. I was at Griffith Park park in Los Angeles with my friend Helen and my dog Ceasar, a handsome sheltie dog and he was playing and running around and he got very close to a few people sitting down near us. I yelled out to him to come back to me, and then the woman in the crowd spoke out with a very melodic heavy Irish accent – “Ceasar, Ceasar.” She then said, “He is lovely!” As he ran back to us my friend said in a very docile tone, “That’s the lead singer from The Cranberries.” I heard her voice from that day on, and often times mimicked it when calling my boy! So for me, Dolores O’Riordan was much more than just a great pop voice, she was one of the most distinct voices I ever heard call out my dear companion’s name, “Ceasar, Ceasar”. I can hear her today…still.

ThePass_London_logo On another note, I am starting to introduce THE PASS to a few key people in London. So far, so good…more to follow as the story continues. Fall/winter 2018! If you can dream it, you can do it!

United 777, Mylene Farmer & Equality

I flew from NYC to San Francisco last week on a new plane, the United 777. Wow.

The first officer announced it was the 2nd week the plane had been in the air. Pretty cool. Brand new. It is a very large plane with lots of leg room and a new business class. It was traveling on a big scale. A great way to start the trip. Went to San Francisco to Burbank on a paper plane, or so it seemed in comparison. Very small.

Have been seeing friends, family and meeting new people. Went to an Oscar party last night. I have often thought about having a song of mine or one I worked on- in a movie – and the song being up for an Oscar. Many people hold the award in their hand (s) and say – “I have always dreamed of this moment.” and so I dream on…

Off to Tucson for a few days then back to LA – celebrating this birthday in California.

Just found this fab video from Mylene Farmer, one of my favorite French artists, which I want to share: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQ7L9XLjBic

Here’s some encouraging news. Our post on Facebook (we boosted it) featuring the lyric video EQUAL https://www.facebook.com/DeniseMarsaProd/posts/1201971819851862 has been getting a good amount of likes and we are seeing new names coming across our computer. Hello new friends…in Brazil and Spain and here and there!

“Did you sit at your window gazing at the world, wondering if you’d ever fit in?”

For all those demanding, seeking Equality…how can anyone expect less?