I don't usually write songs for anything other than Sea Wolf, but David Bowie is one of my favorites, and David Goyer, the show's creator, told me when we spoke that he wanted it to 'sound like Sea Wolf' and that I could do whatever I wanted, so it wasn't hard to say yes to.  The only problem was that I was super busy prepping for the upcoming release of the new Sea Wolf record, White Water, White Bloom and I needed help recording 'Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps)' in order to be able to do it at all.  So, I asked my very good friend and neighbor, singer songwriter Patrick Park to help me out by producing the song.  Joey, Sea Wolf's drummer, was in Portland, but Ted (bass) and Lisa (keys) were around, so we all got together and  recorded it  one day in a little studio not too far from where we all live, with Patrick filling in on electric guitar and backing vocals, and our friend Blair Sinta filling in on drums.  It was a bit of a whirlwind, but Patrick and I had been wanting to work together for a while, so it was a lot of fun to get to finally do it.

- Alex

The views and opinions expressed on this post are mine and do not necessarily represent or reflect those of The Walt Disney Company

October 28th 2009: V music video featuring Muse’s “Uprising”:

One of my favorite things about working for ABC is the way we marry music to picture.  Whether it’s a montage on Grey’s Anatomy with “Keep Breathing” by Ingrid Michaelson or The Rolling Stones singing “Like A Rolling Stone” on FlashForward, there’s nothing better than when you find the perfect song for a scene.  Knowing the way one scene can make us feel, we thought why not make a whole music video for our favorite ABC shows (genius idea from Mike Benson).  That’s how the music videos from The Fray (Grey’s Anatomy, Bothers & Sisters, and LOST), Shakira (Desperate Housewives), Mika (Ugly Betty), and others came to be.  Our latest endeavor comes from a show that is AH-MAZING and a band that is in a league of their own.  First off, make sure to tune in to see the premiere of V next week on Tuesday, November 3rd @ 8/7c.  Until then, you can enjoy the music video for V featuring MUSE’s “Uprising” on the ABC Music Lounge - Take A Look. 

-Melyssa Hardwick ABC Music Lounge Producer

The views and opinions expressed on this post are mine and do not necessarily represent or reflect those of The Walt Disney Company

Every year I create a list of my favorite songs for the year.   It’s always a daunting task, so I’ve started early this year.  Below is my preliminary list for the year.  I’d love to hear what some of your favorite songs of the year are.  Do tell…

“Mel’s Musical Journey of 09” in no particular order:

Handsome Furs: I’m Confused
The Veils: Sit Down By The Fire
Metric: Front Row
Neko Case: This Tornado Loves You
Bon Iver: Blood Bank
Phoenix: Girlfriend, 1901 and Lisztomania
Death Cab: Talking Bird
Matt & Kim: Good Ol’ Fashion Nightmare
Pearl Jam: Just Breathe and Unthought Known
The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart: A Teenager In Love
Elvis Perkins: Hey
Joe Purdy: Miss Me
Feist + Ben Gibbard: Train Song
Yeasayer: Tightrope
Yeah Yeah Yeahs: Hysteric, Runaway and Dragon Queen
A.C. Newman: Take On Me
Monsters Of Folk:  Ahead of the Curve & Map of the World
Iron & Wine: Hickory
Band Of Skulls: I Know What I Am and Death By Diamonds & Pearls
The Horrors: I Only Think Of You
Sea Wolf: Wicked Blood

-Melyssa Hardwick ABC Music Lounge Producer

The views and opinions expressed on this post are mine and do not necessarily represent or reflect those of The Walt Disney Company

Manchester Orchestra @ The Hollywood Palladium 10/17:
I first heard Manchester Orchestra in early 2007 when they self-released “I’m Like A Virgin Losing A Child” and I instantly fell in love with their Georgia roots (like my own) and their resemblance to some of my favorite artists, the most prominent being Death Cab For Cutie.  When I went to their first show, I had a mild feeling of being a 26 year old slacker as they were all under the age of 21, but that feeling quickly dissolved as I watched these incredibly talented youngsters on the stage.  Now two years later at my second show of theirs, a few things have changed.  For one, they have a major record label deal, kudos to them.  Secondly, the resemblance to their influences has faded into a true coming into their own sound, a sound that even made their older songs like "Now That You're Home" sound new to me.  My only complaint was that the set was too short, but then again it gave me the chance to head over to Amoeba to get some new vinyl for my record player (I ended up getting Doolittle by the Pixies).
Being in this business known as music, you hear a lot of artists and some of them you become attached to and it pains you not to see them succeed.  I’m so glad to see Manchester Orchestra growing and being acknowledged for their talent and even though the band members are now pushing the ripe old age of 25, I believe we are just at the beginning of their success.

Set List:
"Pride"
"Shake It Out"
"Now That You're Home"
"My Friend Marcus"
"I've Got Friends"
"Everything to Nothing"
"The River"
"The Only One"

Monsters Of Folk @ The Greek Theatre 10/18:
Most of my experiences going to The Greek Theatre have been traumatic.  Experience one (Death Cab For Cutie): I parked all the way at the bottom of the hill so I wouldn’t have to pay for parking. I get up the hill, sweating mind you, only to find out Death Cab isn’t playing there, but they are at the Nokia Theatre in downtown LA.  I go flying back down the hill in my crinoline petticoat and rushed off to make the show.  Experience two (Phoenix and Metric): I’m driving up the hill looking for parking and get redirected all the way around the hill.  I have to drive all the way back up to Burbank and back down the freeway and it almost took me an hour to get back to the venue.  I ended up finding parking WAY down the hill and began walking up, with flash backs of the Death Cab venue debacle making me wince a little.  As I’m walking up my legs start cramping right at the moment I can hear Metric taking the stage and starting their set.  Finally I get to the top, get my ticket and enjoy the show (which on a side note was stellar, I do love me some Metric and Phoenix).  Hey, at least I was at the right venue this time, right?

That brings me to my latest Greek Theatre endeavor (**long exaggerated sigh**), it was incredible.  Just so you know, I learned my lesson about parking and paid the $20 to park at the top of the hill.  I had received an email over the weekend saying the show would be starting at 7:30 with no opening band and they would be playing for over 2 ½ hours.  Since the super group has only recorded one album, I knew that could only mean I was going to get the pleasure of hearing my favorite Bright Eyes, M. Ward and My Morning Jacket songs.  While in line to get my tickets, I ran into Maria Taylor who, hands down, has to be one of the greatest people ever (you can see her Live On The Lot Performance on the video player).  I got to my seat and within minutes the lights were dimmed, the curtain was split and there was Monsters of Folk clad in suits and framed by a red velvet curtain.  As they were playing “Say Please” I had this strange, surreal moment.  For me, Monsters of Folk is like this amazing entity that may or may not exist.  You hear about them, you read about them, you even listen to them, but then there they were this collective talent all on one stage.  It was kind of like seeing Santa Claus in my living room, a sort of “oh, I wasn’t sure if you really existed” type of feeling.  After the first two songs, they went into a Conor Oberst (of Bright Eyes) solo song “Soul Singer In A Session Band” and I had finally started to absorb the moment.  There were still moments throughout the show where I let out an audible “wow!” after the song.  In all honesty, I think I wasn’t the only one in the crowd feeling the greatness of the moment, as there were times when the entire Greek Theatre was completely silent.  I’m not talking about a hushed sound; I’m talking the silence of almost 6,000 people to the point where I was afraid to breathe.  The whole night was a mixture of both solo and collective songs with each member taking turns on the stage.  There was a point when M. Ward (Him of She & Him) was alone on the stage and was killing it on the guitar so much so that I had to keep counting his fingers as I could have sworn he had an extra one.  Jim James (of My Morning Jacket) has this ghostly howl that sounds so beautiful and other worldly it gave me cold chills.  Mike Mogis (producer extraordinaire) is like quiet thunder, he might not say anything but his playing makes the earth shake.   Last but not least, the quartet was completed with the soulful crooning of Conor Oberst who has had my heart since I first heard “Messenger Bird” back in 2002.  On the last song, Conor hammered it out on the piano so hard it felt like the notes were literally hitting me.  Yet, my favorite moment came not in a song, but in a statement.  You see, I have this running joke with my roommate that everything in LA is green screened or CGI.  If you haven’t been to the Greek Theatre it really is one of the more beautiful things in Los Angeles.  It’s completely hugged in by trees and the way they have the lighting, the trees actually look like they are shades of pink, blue and orange as opposed to simply green.  As the band was thanking everyone Jim James slipped in “And we’d like to thank Lucas Films for the beautiful CGI trees”. It was perfect because my roommate was sitting next to me and just rolled her eyes and blurted “I’m just sayin... I told you so”.   It will definitely go down in my book as one of the best shows I’ve ever been to.  I have to give a big thanks to Mike Mogis, Conor Oberst, Jim James and M. Ward for loving each other enough to want to create a group so talented it’s almost absurd and for letting us all in on it to enjoy. 

Set List:
“Say Please”
“The Right Place”
“Soul Singer in a Session Band”
“Vincent O’Brien”
“Man Named Truth”
“Lullaby + Exile”
“One Hundred Million Years”
“Chinese Translation”
“Outta My Head”
“Golden”
“Ahead of the Curve”
“Baby Boomer”
“I Will Be There When You Die”
“We Are Nowhere and It’s Now”
“The Big Picture”
“Smoke Without Fire”
“Sandman, the Brakeman and Me”
“Goodway”
“Whole Lotta Losin’”
“Magic Marker”
“Lime Tree”
“Bermuda Highway”
“Look at You”
“Wonderful (The Way I Feel)”
“Map of the World”
“Slow Down Jo”
“Dear God (Sincerely M.O.F.)”
“At the Bottom of Everything”
“Smokin’ from Shootin’”
“Hit the Switch”
“Losin’ Yo’ Head”
“At Dawn”
“To Save Me”
“Another Travelin’ Song”
“His Master’s Voice”

Unfortunately, I missed The Decemberists at Royce Hall last night.  Did any of you go? How was it?

-Melyssa Hardwick ABC Music Lounge Producer

The views and opinions expressed on this post are mine and do not necessarily represent or reflect those of The Walt Disney Company

My showcase experience at ABC was a wonderful one! The Peeps and I played a three song set in a sweet little courtyard to a very attentive and interested crowd of music supervisors and other industry professionals. We were then very kindly taken on a tour of the original Disney animation building and the Disney Lot. We also got to walk by a few other ABC show sets which was totally exciting for me as I'm a big fan of many ABC shows!

It remains one of my favorite showcase experiences and I hope to get to be able to do it again. Thanks ABC!

-Meaghan Smith


Meaghan Smith and band on the Disney lot

The views and opinions expressed on this post are mine and do not necessarily represent or reflect those of The Walt Disney Company.

Being a fan since 91’ when I first heard the rich tortured tones of Eddie Vedder’s vocal on “Jeremy”, I was more than ready to again see Pearl Jam. Something you should know about me is that although I listen to a ton of music and see great artists here at ABC with our “On The Lot” showcases, it takes mountains to get me out to a concert anymore. One because I spent 15+ years going out every night. Second, I have a husband and daughter I like to go home to and third, I don’t do well in the public……so this was big! Because Melyssa and I miscalculated time and were blown off by studio friends for drinks, we didn’t arrive in our seats until after 8pm. Melyssa and I love to people watch and while we were enjoying the people show I remembered another reason I loved going to Pearl jam shows….the boy to girl ratio! I was single during those first albums and the guys that liked Pearl Jam were always a great mix of rock men mixed with thinking sensitive souls. This was true again last night except that the ages were now from 16-60. A mixed combo of guys, the young and old die hard packs going together for boys night, the guys with their dates and the father son duos. Men ruled the room last night and it’s a good thing because when the whole and I mean 85% of the audience knows all the words, having male vocals is key to mix with Eddie! My 6th grade heart jumped when they opened with “The Long road” from the Tim Robbins film DEAD MAN WALKING. I was the exec in charge of music on this film and had one of my top 5 great career moments was recording the score and this song with Eddie, Ry Cooder and the late Nusrat Fateh Ali Kahn. My thoughts raced that this was a sign that Pearl jam was saying yes to the pitch we made to them in the morning to use one of their songs, something they rarely do… Then I just let go and again became the music lover, singing along, enjoying a band that has always transported me. Pearl jam has changed though, not in the music or the depth of their lyrics, but in their performance and how they relate to the audience….they have fun now. Eddie makes jokes, shares his beer and appreciates where he is and who he is doing it with. Maybe that comes with experience, having kids or just growing into to your skin. We heard old, new and obscure , all intense and beautiful, but now with an invitation to be a part of it and not just watch. When they did “Just breathe” and “The End”, Melyssa and I both gasp when they ended because we were probably both holding our breaths not to miss a note. Driving home I played those two songs over and over so I could relive my night out with Pearl Jam.

-Dawn Soler VP of Music at ABC

The views and opinions expressed on this post are mine and do not necessarily represent or reflect those of The Walt Disney Company.

One of my favorite parts of my job is putting on the “Live on the Lot” showcases because it gives me a chance to interact with the incredible artists we place in our shows. Last Friday was certainly no exception. We brought in two out-of-towners, Josh Rouse (Spain) and Meaghan Smith (Canada), to come over and play. Meaghan, who is so cute I want to shrink her and put her in my pocket, performed three songs off her album “The Cricket’s Orchestra” and Josh, who has to be one of the coolest guys ever, performed songs off his upcoming album that isn’t going to be release until February of next year. My personal favorite moments were when Josh was playing “Valencia”, which is in Spanish, and he was trying to get ABC executives to sing along with him… Surprisingly enough, they did. Then I thought it was so great when Meaghan said during her performance, “we’re just excited to hear Josh play”. Later she told me her and her husband had been fans of Josh’s for years, which I had no idea about when I booked them both to come in on the same day. All in all it was a great time and the performances, which are fantastic, will be going up in the video player next Thursday, so make sure keep an eye out for them.

Josh Rouse (featured in Brothers & Sisters and Grey’s Anatomy)

Meaghan Smith (featured in Grey’s Anatomy)

-Melyssa Hardwick ABC Music Lounge Producer

The views and opinions expressed on this post are mine and do not necessarily represent or reflect those of The Walt Disney Company

Very rarely does an artist take up so much heart space in the music industry with merely a full-length album and a four song EP, but somehow Bon Iver (aka Justin Vernon) has done just that. When we were first launching the ABC Music Lounge, I would ask musicians such as Ingrid Michaelson and Greg Laswell to send me lists of songs they loved. List after list came in and list after list had a Bon Iver song on it (including my own).

Needless to say, when I found out Bon Iver was coming to LA I was elated. The show was on September 25th and my birthday is September 22nd and I was more excited for the show. I’m not going to lie, I even bought a new dress to wear and a bow for my hair to celebrate. The day finally came and I headed over the hill in Loretta (the Jetta, she’s my car) to the Wiltern to get my ethereal, so beautiful it hurts, best albums of 2008 & 2009, groove on. When I got there the line was around the block. I couldn’t even remember the last time I went to a show that had a line, but alas it was there and I had to stand in it for 20 minutes.

I finally got up to will call to get my tickets and I’m not sure if anyone else has been to the Wiltern lately but they now have these ginormous Willy Wonka “I get to feed my face on chocolate” size tickets. I stuffed the ticket in my purse and headed down to the front of the stage. As I made my way through the crowd I literally ran into half of the music community (should have brought my b-day “thank you” cards to hand out). When the band finally made their appearance on the stage, people were at a flipping out level of excitement. This is a rare occurrence in LA, kind of like an LA native as opposed to a transplant from Ohio (like me). Most shows I go to in LA there is this essence of “I’m really too cool to be here” or an “entertain me and play what I want” sort of vibe about the audience. Not tonight, tonight there was a genuine love radiating out of the crowd and this made for one of the greatest show experiences for me for the year.

Before the show, I had wondered how the songs and voice that lulled me to sleep night after night would transfer onto the stage. I was pleasantly surprised when the set included two drum sets and some power guitar chords, something very absent on the actual albums. Even with all the power backing the tunes, the emotion and the prettiness that is Justin’s voice still rang out filling the Wiltern from the vaulted ceilings, to the balcony, to the back door. Every song was sung along to, including my favorites “Blood Bank” and “For Emma” (one of the encore songs). The night was coming to a close when Justin said something I heard Chris Martin from Coldplay say a long time ago when I saw them at the Mayan: “We would keep playing for you, but we don’t have any more songs”. It reminded once again what a privilege it was to be there watching someone make their mark on the music world. Obviously I don’t know what the future holds for Bon Iver, but I do know after that night, I firmly believe it holds something pretty stellar.

Bon Iver featured on Grey's Anatomy and Brothers & Sisters

-Melyssa Hardwick ABC Music Lounge Producer

The views and opinions expressed on this post are mine and do not necessarily represent or reflect those of The Walt Disney Company