Jonathan Auerbach: News

Viva Portugal!...Slammin' 5-week major club and venue tour of Portugal, this September-October 2009. Targeting gigs in Lisbon, Porto, Aveiro, Coimbra, Vaguera, Algarve and more. First play dates on my Calendar posted, more pronto, stay tuned!

Jonathan’s Portugal team is...
Tour Manager: Sebastião Salguero (Porto, Portugal).
Promoter Rep for The New 7 Wonders of the World Festival – 2007 (featuring Jennifer Lopez, José Carreras, Joaquim Cortez, among others, and hosted by Hillary Swank and Ben Kingsley). Promoter Rep for the Marés Vivas Festival 2009. Producer of shows by American artists of note such as Charlie Musselwhite and Allen Toussaint, as well as many of the top Portuguese Pop-Rock acts.

Booking agent: Miguel Bello of BrainMusic, www.brainmusic.biz (Porto, Portugal)

Check out my new cube!

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Jonathan, now in his 5th year of supporting music therapy in cancer care, proudly announces he joins the Business Development and Strategy Advisory board of The Global Music Therapy Project. This non-profit organization specializes in the global delivery and evaluation of music therapy services to disadvantaged populations through the creation of fellowships that enable certified and trained therapists to serve developing countries. http://www.globalmusictherapy.org/Home

"Inside the Institute" (a DFCI publication)
'Jamming with Jonathan'
DFCI Volunteer Spotlight


“OK, this jam is going to be about three minutes long because that’s the usual length for a number-one song. I want you guys to get a $1 million contract, and I want to be at the CD release party.”
Jonathan Auerbach motions to 12-year-old Jon Lunedei, who counts to three and rips into a bluesy keyboard intro. Two guitarists and a harmonica player follow his lead, and a smile cracks Lunedei’s face. He’s taking control of the song. This is Auerbach’s goal. Each month the professional musician turns ordinary Dana-Farber rooms into recording studios, bringing in his own equipment and leading pediatric patients like Lunedei in master class music workshops as a volunteer with the Leonard P. Zakim Center for Integrative Therapies. Although most of his studentscan already play well, he further hones their skills and teaches the subtle aspects of performance – everything from how to best open and close a song to how to confidently introduce yourself to an audience. The program is run through the Zakim Center.
“Four years ago, a loved one was treated here, and since music was an important part of healing at home, I decided to merge my love of music with helping cancer patients,” explains Auerbach, who plays guitar himself in the sessions alongside Dana-Farber Music Therapist Brian Jantz. “For these young people, it’s a chance to explore their inner rock star and have fun, leaving behind the world of cancer, if only for a short time.” The students welcome the distraction. “This is my favorite place to go [at DFCI],” says Lunedei, to which his mother Ann adds, “It’s like a sanctuary.”

To learn more about volunteer opportunities at Dana-Farber,
go to www.dana-farber.org/volunteer/ or call 617-632-3307.

Story by Saul Wisnia, DFCI senior writer & Photo by Sam Ogden, staff photographer, DFCI http://www.samogden.com

March Sunday, 3/29, Jonathan's Siren Call CD tracks "Undercover Roulette" and "Fall Reaching" spun on Squid Jiggers Ball show

Jonathan gives March 22 on-air Q & A interview with special DJ host Tom Brogan of "Outermost Rock" show, WOMR 92.1 fm radio and internet -- while the most excellent Brogan spins a grand slam of "Siren Call" tracks -- Slow Motion, Fall Reaching Memory Lane, All Along. Brogan also regulalry features "Siren Call" tracks weekly on his two-hour Sunday comedy show, "The Funny Thing," on WOMR. Click the link to listen live to WOMR http://www.womr.org/index.html

Jonathan teaches his "Rock in Time - Rock Music Performance Jams." The focus is on all aspects of performing for patients of DFCI -- and Jonathan's students who have some prior music and a willingness to be open to learning more. For these young people it's a chance to explore their inner rock star and to have fun, leaving behind the world of cancer, if only for a short time.

Jonathan boasts a new sponsor: Mono Hybrid Cases. Monocases are best-of-breed amazing light hardcases that protect many top player's valuable guitars, and have received domestic and international acclaim.

Here's a taste of their review on me called "Chiming in with Jonathan Auerbach"...
"It's plain and simple, Jonathan Auerbach is a rocker. Someone who likes to lay into the music he was gifted to play. I had the chance to get Jonathan on the phone and we talked a good while about the opportunity for MONO and JA to do some heavy groundwork on an endorsement. Jonathan's newest release "Siren Call" has seen some worldwide radio play in Europe as well as his native New England area. It has garnered him praise not only for its musicianship, but the soul it possesses."

To see the full feature about me on their website. Visit http://www.monocases.com and click on "Studio" to see the full feature on Jonathan on "Monolog (blog)."

Jonathan's sexy and sultry rocker from Siren Call, "Slow Motion," plays on the show Root Soup with host Tom Brogan, who also regulalry features "Siren Call" tracks weekly on his two-hour comedy show, "The Funny Thing," on WOMR 92.1 fm radio and on the internet. Click the link to listen live to WOMR http://www.womr.org/index.html

"Music Moves, Music Frees, Music Heals"

Jonathan Auerbach, Copyright © 2009

Fellow friends and supporters of the DFCI and the Zakim Center for Integrative
Therapies:

2009 marks my fourth year of donating and raising money, and volunteering as a
teacher in support of the Zakim Center Music Therapy Program for pediatric
cancer patients receiving treatment at the Jimmy Fund Clinic. As a busy rock
guitarist and singer/songwriter, performing and recording my original music, my
mission has been merging my music with helping cancer patients. Some of you
heard me speak about this cause in remarks I gave on music therapy at the
reception following the annual Lenny Zakim Lecture at DFCI on December 12, 2008.

At that gathering, I announced that Dana Farber has named as an official event a
new series of house concerts that I've created and planned through 2009 in
support of the Zakim Center Music Therapy Program. These concerts are modeled on
past ones that I and other musicians of note have performed in people's homes
throughout the country. At the first of the new series on December 14, 2008,
in Providence, Rhode Island, I performed at the home of a staunch supporter of
DFCI music therapy. 75 guests attended, and we raised $1800.00.

With the goal of making music therapy at Dana Farber rival the arts-in-medicine
therapies services of the nation's leading cancer centers, I thank you for your
past support, and ask for it again. Our new DFCI benefit house concerts are
building a buzz. I ask you to consider hosting or attending one. I like to say
a house concert is seeing a musician of note on the "Living Room Tour: Live From
Your Home, where the best seat in the house is really in the house." Hosting
one of these provides an intimate setting for friends to enjoy two-30 minute
performances of live music over food & beverage. If you are interested in hosting an evening, please contact me at jonathan@jonathanauerbach.com.

The house concerts are an exciting addition to all we've achieved these past
three years: I produced and performed in June, 2008, at my third annual benefit
concert for music therapy -- also an official sponsored Dana Farber event.
These three concerts together raised a total of almost $60,000. On the
teaching front, I created and taught in 2008 a series of master class workshops
for pediatric patients at the Jimmy Fund Clinic called, "Rock in Time - Rock
Music Performance Jams." The focus is on all aspects of performing for students
who have some prior music and a willingness to be open to learning more. For
these young people it's a chance to explore their inner rock star and to have
fun, leaving behind the world of cancer, if only for a short time. See my calendar: these classes
will resume again in March 2009.

All of this has enabled the Zakim Center to add needed musical equipment and
resources, to increase hours of one-on-one music therapy for patients, and
further explore ways to broaden music therapy services into the adult patient
population. And it's been thumbs-up from patients and family members and Dana
Farber staff, as well as growing community support - from press coverage, to
partnering with interested parties at Berklee College of Music and other
academic institutions, to individual and business sponsors who have generously
donated money, time, goods and services.

You can get complete information, links, press coverage, and testimonials of
what we're doing right here on my website, www.jonathanauerbach.com!

In good health... Jonathan
<http://www.jonathanauerbach.com/> .

On December 12 in Boston, MA, Jonathan gives speech on music therapy at reception following 9th Annual Lenny Zakim Lecture of the Leonard P. Zakim Center for Integrative Therapies at Dana Farber Cancer Institute.

Jonathan volunteers a (slightly belated!) Veterans Day performance, rockin' solo acoustic, in
salute to the nation's veteran servicemen and women who reside at the fine care facility Oceanside Nursing & Rehab Center, Tybee Island, Georgia

I'm late posting this, but blame it on a stupor from eating heroic amounts of shrimp and raw oysters... See, since November 1, I've been livin' way down south in Savannah, GA, performing my rock & roll, high on the gentility and refinement of this most storied and haunted belle of the South. Folks here are hospitable and gracious. Good old-fashion manners abound, and the "Spanish Moss hangs heavy in the oak trees." Very seductive and sultry southern comfort... Here for a few more weeks and shows. Check my "calendar" for postings.

THE UPTON & MENDON TOWN CRIER – SEPTEMBER 19, 2008

WITH MUSIC THERAPY PROGRAM, PATIENTS DISCOVER THEIR INNER ROCK STAR

By Bonnie Adams, Staff Reporter
(excerpts)

As a young man who is still in his early twenties, Paul Coskie has had more than his share of pain and sorrow. But for this young Upton man, who has been dealt a double whammy of a life threatening brain injury after a car accident and then only four years later, a leukemia diagnosis, complaining is clearly not his thing, instead, he looks outward and spends much of his time and energy in helping others to overcome what he has and still is going through.

Paul is no Pollyanna – he’s only human, so of course, he has his moments of sadness, grief and anger. No young man wants to be known only by his conditions in his life. But now, thanks to a terrific and innovative program at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute (DFCI) in Boston, Paul can add one new exciting title to his resume – budding rock star.

Since spring, Paul has been participating in a music therapy program at the Leonard P. Zakim Center for Integrative Therapies at the DFCI. The master class workshops, known as "Rock-in’ Time: a Rock Music Performance Jam,” were created by musician Jonathan Auerbach as a way to allow students a chance to explore their inner rock star while also enjoying the chance to have fun and even leave behind the world of cancer, if only for a short time.

Drawing on his own experiences as a successful musician, Auerbach, with the support of music therapist Brian Jantz, MT-BC/DFCI, works with his students on all aspects of performing. To be considered for the program, each student must have some prior music experience and importantly, a willingness to be open to learning more, Auerbach said.

“I teach them about music but don’t focus on a traditional curriculum," he noted. "The focus is on performing - I challenge them so that they can electrify through music"

"It's meant to be fun and a way for the students to express themselves musically," he added. "It helps them forget - for a little bit - about cancer and chemo.”

Teaching the workshops has been a way, Auerbach noted, to merge his interest in music with helping cancer patients. "After a loved one was treated at the Dana Farber successfully, I thought hard about how I could show my appreciation," he said. "And music therapy spoke to my passion.'

As a member of the DFCI's Leadership Council, he has made a commitment to continue his work with the music therapy program as not only instructor, but as fundraiser as well. This past summer he performed at a private event in Hopkinton that helped raise over $30,000 for the music therapy program.

Also appearing that night was Paul, along with his mother, Dixie. "Paul gave a 'wow' - a smash talk and Dixie was, absolute grace under pressure," Auerbach recalled. "I know it was emotional for both of them, but they were amazing.”

And although Paul did not perform musically, his words made as big an impact on the crowd as if he had done a sizzling guitar solo. "This special music program not only relaxes me and other patients, but it gives us an opportunity to feel “normal” and builds confidence and teaches us to improve the quality of our music,” he told the audience that night. "It has been fun working with a professional musician and teacher such as Jonathan and I am thankful for the program and to Brian and Jonathan for their friendship, hard work and time - and to all of you who generously donate money to keep the music and beat alive. "

For Dixie Coskie, the program has come as a welcome respite in a world of sadness and pain for her son. "The music therapy program at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute is special in that it gives patients a place to regroup, revamp, and revive,” she said. "Through his guidance, the new "Rock-in Time Jam Workshop” which Jonathan created and directs -- Jonathan and Brian have been able to transform the dismal cancer experience into something fun, engaging and healing.”

"I personally have witnessed the healing transformation in my son Paul's demeanor during these "Music Master Class Workshops,” Coskie said. "It is so uplifting to see a smile on my sons face after all that he has been through. With help and donations from people like you, Jonathan’s vision to help more kids through the music program at the Zakim Center at Dana Farber can bring more joy and some sort of normalcy into the hearts of these aspiring musicians - who just happen to have cancer," she added.

The program itself is continuing to generate extremely favorable response, Auerbach noted, with enthusiastic support from such medical luminaries as Dr. David Rosenthal, who is the Medical Director of the Zakim Center for Integrative Therapies as well as a professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and is affiliated with the Department of Medical Oncology at Dana-Farber. Also exciting, he added, was the number of businesses who had generously donated goods and services for the fundraiser that night, as well as a growing number of corporate sponsors.

Although he started out as Paul's teacher, that relationship quickly grew to something much more, he said. "It was galvanizing," Auerbach said. "He teaches me. He is an unbelievable lion. Even in the face of bad times, he does what it takes to stand up and be a man."

To learn more about the music therapy program at DFCI, go to www.jonathanauerbach.com and www.danafarber.org/pat/support/zakim/default.html

Insider's-insider hot tip... And if I wasn't such a sport I'd give out wildly wrong directions and bogus tel. # for this all-time classic barcelona hang -- Madrid-Barcelona restaurant (Aragó, 282 , tel. 93.215.70.27) Open since the 20s, when the train to Madrid passed through Carrer Aragó, thus its name. Everything in the place is vintage dating from that romantic age -- decor, chairs, attic, even the organ, date from those bygone days. Simple, seasonal super-fresh transcendent Catalan cuisine with a daily stew on offer, and great house wine, at reasonable prices. A friend and I powered through the house speciality of, well, everything -- Jabugo ham (think Italian Proscuitto, but melts in your mouth like butter), sauteed mushrooms, squid in sauce of caramelized onions, cod baked in toasted honey, and a roasted lamb shank of the Gods, garnished with whole roasted sweet garlic... "Hallucinante!"

Back to USA in two days ... Capped my last show in Barcelona with intimate evening, playing for group of new friends in a great flat in the Pedralbes barrio. Thanks all -- you know who you are! -- for organizing memorable night of fine food, wine, hospitality, and for hosting my music.

Barcelona is a smash town, and I'm already missing it -- and plotting a "reconquista" soon.

...Want to tilt at windmills in Barcelona, you hit the ground running. This seaside capital of the region of Catalonia, of worldwide fame, of Picasso, Gaudí, Miró and Dalí, is the ultimate city lover's city and walking town. Yet Barcelona offers the mixied milieus of the Mediterranean with the intellectual sense of Europe. Wandering its mobbed sidewalk cafes and unmarked plazas, I feel a city in constant flux, pulsing with irrepressible brio...Perpetual creativity is Barcelona's marvel, hallucination its trick. Aimlessness overtakes me, and I enter the city's pysche, where the stone architecture seemingly becomes fluid. The heart of the city is its inborn theatricality and voyeurism...My flat is in a grid of neighborhoods called the Eixample, where the spirited quirky facade of each building is legacy of an epic design war. The component forms of Art Nouveau that were capturing the world's imagination at the end of the 19th century were expressed most riotously in Barcelona, producing spectacular surreal fallout in the Modernismo design movement. Less may be more, but Modernismo's god-head, Antonio Gaudí, the Catalan architect, decreed that too much is even better. His Casa Milà on the Eixample's main drag is a breaking wave frozen in stone. A block away is the famous Manzana de la Discórdia, three style-clashing buildings united in orchestrated chaos. And of Gaudí's staggering and ever- unfinished masterpiece, the Sagrada Familia, Salvador Dalí remarked, "a cathedral cooked up by a schizoid angel."

...I've been buzzed, strafing the night, moving from nightclub to bar to café, the whole frenetic flounce repeating itself again until suddenly its way too early in the morning. Couple more gigs, then back to the USA to get my blood drained and replaced a la Kieth…if it doesn't work, I'll wrap myself in muzzlin and come back in 4,500 years.

Word-of-mouth in right places spawns impromptu October 9 Barcelona house concert for friends “en suite” at Hotel Arts – garnished with gargantuan Frank Gehry fish sculpture outside window. Trippy...next, Gehry should forge stock pot large enough to stew that sucker... This unique design dazzler of contemporary architecture soars above the shores of the Mediterranean and overlooks a 5-mile sprawl of Barcelona beachfront and the Port Olimpic. Still high from this gig…Sneak a freak peek at the fish and property at http://www.ritzcarlton.com/en/Properties/Barcelona/Default.htm

Feverish few days pounding Barcelona, getting the music heard,promoting Siren Call, scheduling shows... Chillin' one sultry midnight to reggae vibe & Jamaican spice at Stush & Teng, my Jamaican friend Lincoln Anderson's stylish venue, Barcelona's -- and Spain's -- first Jamaican restaurant-lounge-bar. Killer Jerk chicken, curried lamb, of course -- and faraway the city's best mojitos. The bomb! www.stushandteng.com

Just arrived in this highly caffeinated Mediterranean city of beauty, brio and cosmopolitan cool. Got great apartment digs in the stylish Eixample part of town and will be rockin' it around Spain from here for the next two weeks. This city is a movie moment, one to relish. The combo punch of fueled locals and pulsing 24/7 scene is a staggering mix. As is the Spanish custom, the nocturnal Barcelonese are fiends who matar la noche - kill the night. It's in their DNA. The hallucinatory wave crests long after midnight when most of the rest of the world is deep in REM sleep. Keeping up the espresso to ensure it doesn't complete the killing - of me. More to be posted...

Wild shores, bohemian spirit: like the painter Salvador Dalí, I felt right at home upon arriving here October 2 in the seaside village of Cadaqués on Spain’s Costa Brava. This strange rugged landscape of whitewashed houses on cliffs and rocks juxtaposed with sea held powerful sway over Dalí. It drew him, drew attention to him, and he drew it and made it home and gave it fame. My contribution to the repertoire? Less flamboyant, but nonetheless got Siren Call heard, then hung over copious booze and grilled seafood with a rippin’ jazz-blues combo at Casa Anita, a former Dalí haunt, now the town’s coolest club-restaurant. www.casa-anita.com. From midnight on: cerca del mar... un grupo de aficionados míos arreglaron un espectáculo de mi música viva, sólo acoustic. Muchas Gracias a Fernando y Anna, y gracias como siempre por la ayuda de mi agente en esta excursión: Evolution Tourist Marketing. www.mediaperformance.it

September 27, rocked outdoors on the banks of the river Mur in Graz, Arnold Schwarzenegger's home city in the Styria region of Austria -- one of the best-preserved old city centers in Central Europe and a UNESCO list of World Cultural Heritage Site. Schnapps, Schnitzel, Strudel… did I mention schnapps? Wunderschoen! The name Auerbach is Austrian, (my father's kin are Austrian). Sehr Gut! --1st time in my life everyone I meet both spells and pronounces my name right.

Club Z, Trieste Italy

Buzzed on jet-lag & double espressos! Tour opens September 26 at invitation-only showcase for fans old and new at exclusive private Club Z in Trieste, Italia. Trieste is the location of the stunning “Siren Call” CD photos, taken by top Italian Photographer Paolo Rinaldi. This is my 3rd trip in three years playing this amazing Adriatic seaside town in Italy’s northeast corner, on the border with Slovenia.

Tour management: Evolution Tourist Marketing http://www.mediaperformance.it Italia Photography: http://www.reynolds-fotografo.com

September 23 to October 22, I'm off to Europe to storm the clubs & do private house concerts, dates and locations to be posted.

First, I dive-bomb into Trieste at the north eastern corner of Italia. Then a low-level sortie into Slovenia and a sonic boom fly-by over Austria, followed by a crash landing into Barcelona, Spain, for 3 weeks 'round the country. Dios mio!

As I endure and survive the midnight-to-3:00 AM gigs, the 5:00 AM nightcaps, and 6:00 AM bedtimes, you'll receive other missives...

Jonathan's European tour management, publicity and press furnished by Evolution Tourist Marketing of Italy www.mediaperformance.it

Jonathan uses his time and talent to get involved and to help others. September 2008 marks his 4th year of raising and donating $$$, outreach and volunteer time, teaching music master classes and producing and performing benefit concerts to support"music therapy" in cancer care at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute (DFCI) and its Jimmy Fund in Boston. Jonathan is a member of the DFCI Leadership Council.

On March 26th, Jonathan began teaching a series of master class workshops titled "Rock-in'-Time: a Rock Music Performance Jam” at the DFCI Zakim Center for Integrative Therapies. This workshop series is designed for patients in the Music Therapy Program. Assisted by Dana Farber’s Brian Jantz, board- certified music therapist, Jonathan helps each student explore their "inner rock star" by focusing on their individual performance skills.

Jonathan believes, “Performing music well while having fun doing it empowers and builds confidence. Each young person has unique health challenges, but music is a universal gift: music moves, music frees, music heals.”
Rock-in Time Jam Master Class (from the left) DFCI Board Certified Music Therapist, Brian Jantz, student musicians Paul and Riley with master class instructor Jonathan Auerbach.