Musician

Flourishing, Despite COVID: Musician & Consummate Artist Drew Bordeaux

April 2, 2021 by Stacey Pfeffer

Drew Bordeaux recalls a time when the music scene in Northern Westchester and its environs was bustling. The Mount Kisco born and bred singer/songwriter who plays both guitar and violin would play upwards of 150 gigs a year at local venues including the now defunct Winston’s in Mount Kisco, Village Social in Mount Kisco and Lucy’s in Pleasantville. At these smaller venues, he enjoyed getting to know his fan base. But he also played larger venues in the tri-state area with some well-known musicians including Lauryn Hill, Boz Skaggs, KT Tunstall and the Gin Blossoms.

All this, in addition to holding down a job in his boutique digital marketing firm, Silver Rush Media, and doing fashion photo shoots and portraits of celebrities like actor Kiefer Sutherland, and musicians including Grace Potter, Ani DiFranco and Steve Earle. To say that he’s a Renaissance man is an understatement. And COVID hasn’t stopped him from creating and coming up with innovative solutions to continue his many creative pursuits albeit in new formats.

A Musician at Heart

The eloquent Harvard educated Bordeaux first fell in love with playing violin in first grade. He recalls many afternoons spent at the Westchester Conservatory of Music and Hoff-Barthelson Music School. Growing up blues music was a fixture in his household. “BB King was my first concert,” he recalls.

After picking up guitar and playing in some indie bands in college, he credits musicians such as John Mayer and Dave Matthews for influencing his music. He played at several Manhattan venues in the eponymous Bordeaux Group post college such as The Bitter End and the National Underground. The managers from those venues recommended him for several gigs which led to a jam-packed gig schedule “much to the chagrin of my friends and family,” notes Bordeaux.

A Pandemic Pivot

But of course all of that came to a screeching halt in March of 2020 and with that Bordeaux’s gigs. In the beginning of the pandemic, he was literally itching to perform. “Every day felt like a year.” But after talking with his fellow creatives, he decided to experiment and try new platforms to perform. By April, he was performing from his Tarrytown home via Livestream. “This gave me the opportunity to be in pajamas one minute and performing the next.”

Bordeaux used several of his Livestream performances to raise funds for causes near and dear to his heart such as MusiCares COVID-19 Relief, a Grammy created program to help music industry professionals during the pandemic and also a local beloved landmark, Tarrytown Music Hall. “It was great to have family and friends donate too to these causes who normally might not be able to see me perform.”

A silver lining of the pandemic is that Bordeaux has had time to finally start working on an album which will be released this spring titled Impulse/Instinct. Bordeaux fans will be happy to hear him playing loop-based acoustic guitar a la Ed Sheeran. “If you’ve seen me perform, it won’t deviate too much from that.” He’s been busy researching platforms for him to release the album himself like Spotify.

He’s also found that the pandemic can actually be liberating for creatives like himself. “Now is the time that we can literally do anything–all preconceived notions about what would or wouldn’t work have gone out the window.” For instance, he has been doing virtual Zoom photo shoots. One photo shoot featuring local Chappaqua fashion model Danielle Zinaich wound up in Vogue.

Elevate20 Photography Project

Bordeaux also used his photography skills this past summer for a photo series project he titled Elevate20. Bordeaux’s wife Tammy started working at the Tribeca Film Festival about three weeks before the pandemic hit. They watched a Tribeca-produced documentary in partnership with MCM about the music and fashion scene in NYC together called “The Remix: Hip Hop x Fashion” and Bordeaux was instantly inspired by this amazing community of musicians and fashion designers.

“The Elevate20 series was the nexus of my photography with the Black Lives Matters movement,” he explained. Bordeaux posted to his Instagram this summer that he was looking to do pro bono photo shoots for 20 Black creatives. So for instance if a model needed to update his/her “look book” or a musician needed a new album cover, Bordeaux would photograph it. “I wanted to uplift people and do my best work for people of color. I met amazing musicians and designers through the project.” Photos from the series can be viewed on drewbordeaux.com.

Raising Awareness About Racial Inequality

The subject of race also propelled him to write several essays on the topic after the George Floyd killing this past spring. “When the video came out, I didn’t want to watch it. I was cynical enough to know how it ends. But when I did see it, it was a turning point.

I had friends calling me and asking me what they could do to help. My Facebook became a diary and chronicle of my thoughts and feelings about the social unrest that was happening and a way to have a dialogue with people [about race] at a time when I didn’t necessarily feel it was that safe to go out and protest.”

His social media feed and essays caught the attention of editors at Bedford & New Canaan Magazine and they approached him about becoming the arts/culture editor there as well as photographing for various stories. “Any chance I have to be creative this year, I’m like, let’s go,” he explained.

Obviously, Bordeaux has a lot on his plate but when he has downtime, he enjoys spending time at the Tarrytown Sleepy Hollow (TASH) farmers market of which his wife is co-president. With both in creative fields, they’ve had to pivot and rethink how to approach their jobs. “The Tribeca Film Festival this year is going to be this immersive and reimagined experience. I can’t wait,” he said.

Like all of us, Bordeaux is waiting for some sense of normalcy to resume. Once Covid is behind us, he wants to go to his favorite restaurant Mint in Tarrytown for brunch with his wife. “I just want to sit in our window seat and feel transported like you are in Europe.” He also wants to go to a rock concert. “That was one of the last things I did before the pandemic started and I remember standing there thinking this is the last time I am doing this for a while. I just want to feel the music wash over me again.”

A STAR ON THE RISE: Interview with Chappaqua’s Emma Freeman

April 2, 2021 by Robin Chwatko

Emma Freeman’s First Single, ‘Verona’, Debuts, and another Single, ‘Do You’, is being Released this Month.

Emma Freeman PHOTO By Face By Dee Photography

First, the stats! Tell me a little about yourself.

I’m 24, a Greeley grad Class of 2014, and I went to the University of Miami where I got a BFA in musical theatre.

When did you know you were interested in music?

Since I was tiny! I’d wake up in the morning and start singing from my bed to announce that I was awake! If music was ever playing around the house, apparently I would immediately stop whatever I was doing to listen and just focus on the music. My parents even had to stop playing music around me to get me to do other things! This eventually turned into an interest in musical theater and acting. But my love for pop music remained and stayed strong through all the years, and even within the theater I always loved the more contemporary and pop-driven musicals.

Where did you hone your musical skills?

Fortunately, I had a very artistic life at Greeley. I took advantage of every performing and musical opportunity – and there were many- chorus, acting, Theatre Rep, and music theory. I performed in every show possible, and was a member of the Enchords a cappella group. I am so lucky to have grown up in a town and with parents that presented me with so many opportunities. These experiences made me grow as an artist and performer and motivated me to continue with the arts through college and beyond. I took voice lessons, and even trained classically at an NYU Steinhardt program when I was in high school. I continued with vocal training and performing at the University of Miami, and that’s where I began songwriting as well.

How would you describe your sound? Who are your musical influences?

My all-time favorite is Joni Mitchell. I also love Regina Spektor, Ingrid Michaelson, Phoebe Bridgers and dodie. My songwriting professor from the University of Miami taught me so much and inspired me to keep writing.

Generally, my music is usually indie-pop or indie-folk style, but varies song to song. I try not to limit myself and just write where the story and feel of the song takes me. But my songs still feel like “me” even with different genres–they are usually very melodic with a wide vocal range, and often change up typical song structure. I like to include a lot of harmonies in my music, with multiple vocal lines of me singing harmonies and backup vocals with myself.

In addition to vocals, do you play instruments?

Yes! I learned piano as a kid, and I also play ukulele and recently started guitar.

What do you generally write about?

I write a lot about love and heartbreak, self-discovery and self-struggle. I try to keep my music relatable but with an air of mystery, in hopes that anyone can hear my music and find it specific to them. I love it when people reach out to me and tell me how they related to my music, or how they interpreted something in my song, because sometimes it’s something that I hadn’t even thought of yet, but completely makes sense. It’s just an amazing feeling to know you connected with someone.

Still shot from video taken at 54 Below by Famous in NY Video

Tell me about your new (and first!) single, Verona.

Verona is an indie-pop song about longing for love and seeing it everywhere. I had just finished playing Juliet in a production of Romeo and Juliet when I wrote it, and was inspired by the story and the language–I even included some of the text in the song. I wanted to capture the feeling that someone might have of reading the story and wishing for their own Romeo (or Juliet)–seeing other people in love and watching them and wishing they could have it too.

How did you get it made?

I had been recording vocals for a very talented musician’s own project. I showed him some of my original music and he became interested in producing it for me! It was a very rewarding process working on it during the pandemic when everything was being done virtually. We worked back and forth until we got it just right, but I knew from the very beginning that I was working with excellent people who understood the song and that it was in good hands. This was the first song of mine that anyone worked on and I cried when I heard it all put together for the first time–it was everything I wanted.

What’s next?

An album is the goal. I can’t wait to share more of my music; a new single “Do You” comes out April 1!

Verona can be found on all streaming platforms. Follow Emma @emmaraldcity and emmapfreeman.com

Frank Shiner Finds Home, Again, In Music, Acting

June 3, 2017 by Brian Donnelly

Shiner with his daughter Lindsay at the Chappaqua Performing Arts Center
PHOTO BY Carolyn Simpson/Doublevision Photographers

Frank Shiner and his wife, Suzanne, have restored two 100-year-old homes since moving to Westchester. The first was in New Rochelle–built in 1906 –and the second in Chappaqua–built around 1912–which he and his wife have called home since 2003. The couple has three children: Matthew, 28; Jeremey, 26; and Lindsay, 17.

Since moving in, they have restored or replaced lighting fixtures with period pieces, resurfaced the wood–while preserving a “historic patina,” and, of course, restored the original pool.

“We bought dilapidated places and brought them back to what they were originally,” said Shiner, who is involved in the New Castle Historical Society.

In front of their home was a live-in cottage, which Frank has converted into a garage and his own rehearsal space. The award-winning singer and recording artist practices there before shows, where he performs some of his favorite songs. But, he is quick to point out, “I don’t do covers.” “I put another spin on it, or make people think about it a different way,” he said.

Randy Radic, who reviews music for Huffpost.com, agrees. In addition to declaring, “the man can sing,” Radic says, “you’d be hard pressed to say who did the original. And who cares anyway, because Shiner’s rendition is so darn good.”

His recent shows, which included one at the Chappaqua Performing Arts Center April 22, featured songs from his new album, Lonely Town, Lonely Street.

The 12-track album dropped May 19 and features his reimagined versions of R&B, jazz and blues classics popularized by artists like Elton John, The Rascals and Donny Hathaway. The Doc Pomus song “There Is Always One More Time” is both the last song on the album and at shows because, he says, it drives home the message that it’s never too late.

“People walk out of there feeling like anything’s possible,” the “Blue-Eyed Soul” singer said.

Originally, Frank was an up-and-coming actor in New York City, earning roles in soap operas and theater. He was doing well, but not making enough to support his wife and son. When his second son, Jeremy, was born, he decided to give it all up and take a sales job.

“I was like, ‘OK, I’ve got a baby, one on the way, a mortgage. I can’t be this selfish and do this any longer,’” he said.

In 1995 he started his own business managing payments for doctor’s offices, which today has 130 employees nation wide. He never thought he would perform again, until one night in 2011 when the couple stopped in for a bite at the since closed 353 Restaurant in Bedford. “They had an open mic night,” Frank said. “I hadn’t sung in front of people in 12, 15 years, and Suzanne said, ‘get up and sing me a song.’”

Frank tried to say no. But, Suzanne, who was going through chemotherapy for triple-negative breast cancer, “literally cried and pulled her wig back and showed me the bald head,” Frank said. “She played me pretty good.”

He then got up and sang and, “had a little bit of fun.”

The bandleader asked him to sing another song, and then a third. After that, Frank ran out of songs he knew well enough, which he said was the only reason he got off stage.

“It meant a lot to me, because I felt like he wasn’t himself for so long for us, to give us this amazing life,” Suzanne said, looking up with her glassy blue eyes as if watching Frank take the stage all over again. “It was like it never left him.”

Afterward, the bandleader running the open mic asked him to join his orchestra. For the second time that night, Frank unsuccessfully declined an offer.

“I didn’t want to do it, he said. “I just wanted to be with [Suzanne] and support her through the illness. She insisted.”

Suzanne’s battle with breast cancer spanned what Frank calls “five years of hell” and multiple complications. She had 12 surgeries all together. Today she is cancer free.

“Anything I have ever done she has inspired,” Frank said, calling the dancer from Arkansas “the best woman I know.”

From there the businessman made music his career–while keeping his day job. He performed with the orchestra, and everywhere else he could until he caught the eye of his now manager, Ken Levy. “It was like, ‘Bam,’ we went right into production,” Frank said.

His first album, appropriately titled “The Real Me,” was released in 2014 and picked up by Universal Records. Through songs by Van Morrison, Randy Newman and Elvis Costello, he told the story of putting his dreams on hold to raise his family, and then coming back to it.

Lonely Town, Lonely Street is Frank Shiner’s sophomore album. PHOTO BY BRIAN DONNELLY

“The message was, ‘who is the real you?’” he said.

On his new album, every song is about love, which Frank said he didn’t notice until he started recording.

“I don’t believe in coincidence,” Frank said. “Something happened at that open mic night… It was almost like the world or god was saying, ‘job well done, and now you guys need some healing.”

After a deep breathe to exhale the emotion, the Blue-Eyed Soul singer picked his head back up, locked eyes with his blue-eyed bride, and continued.

“Music has been so healing, I cannot tell you. It’s totally changed our lives.”

And with another change coming–their youngest, Lindsay, going to college in the fall–the soon-to-be empty nesters are looking forward to the next chapter. Suzanne wants to take tap dance and yoga classes, and both want to travel. Frank may even try to perform while abroad. The resurgent singer also wants to, like his home, return to what he was originally. “I want to do Broadway musicals,” he said.

Frank Shiner met his wife, Suzanne, in an acting class in Manhattan. When he first talked to her she tried selling him clothes from the store she worked at. Offended, he didn’t speak to her for the duration of the class. Luckily, they had another class together. PHOTO BY BRIAN DONNELLY

And Frank is taking steps toward picking up where he left off nearly 30 years ago, when he was cast in a “Broadway-bound” musical scored by country music superstar Garth Brooks–support fell through for it when Brooks dropped out. Frank has tasked his agent with starting the process of getting him in front of agents, and he said he may just sing some Broadway songs at his upcoming show at Feinstein’s 54 Below in Manhattan, scheduled for July 8.

“We’re just going to do a lot of things we haven’t been able to do for a long time–find ourselves again,” Suzanne said.

Find out more about Frank Shiner at www.frankshiner.com.