What would Burt Bacharach Do? I wish I knew while looking for this next chord.
Also, this is what Hal David looks like:
Hal David wrote most of the lyrics for Burt Bacharach’s music including “Alfie,” in my opinion and limited knowledge, one of the world’s most perfect “songs.”
I love Men (with a capital “M”.)
Last night I was honored to perform at Mitchell-Innes & Nash as part of an evening celebrating the launch of Justine Kurland’s newest photography book ‘This Train is Bound for Glory’ (Ecstatic Peace Library, 2009) as well as the closing of her exhibition of the same name.
Justine Kurland, Ghost Town CSX, 2007
Thurston Moore
Rebecca Schiffman (Photo by Melanie Berliet)
Luke Roberts
The non-profit Miami-based gallery, The Bas-Fisher Invitational celebrated its 5-year anniversary last night with a benefit and unveiled a limited edition portfolio called ‘Wow We Have Come This Far’ of prints by thirteen artists including myself.
The BFI was founded in 2004 by artists Hernan Bas and Naomi Fisher and is currently run by Naomi Fisher and Jim Drain.
Artists in the portfolio:
Kevin Aaron, Alejandro Cardenas, Clifton Childree, Jessica Dickinson, Harlan Erskine, “Freegums” aka Alvaro Ilizarbe, Frederico Nessi, Rebecca Schiffman, Francine Spiegel, Jen Stark, Mike Taylor, and Jonathan Thomas.
Red Bucket Films has posted the first few episodes of The Talk Show and I am the first musical guest! Check it out. I think it’s very funny.
Stills:
I have decided to start releasing each song as I finish it, as a digital single.
Buy it now for a mere 99 cents! 
I wrote and recorded this first single, Me and Katie on the U.E.S. a few years ago, and am sending it out to the ever shrinking world of paying-for-music-customers before I finish up some newer stuff. Because I still love this song!
It’s about my best friend Katie and I growing up on the Upper East Side. We grew up in the same building and were in the same class at Spence. In 2006, some NYU kids e-mailed me asking if I would let them engineer a song of mine at the Clive Davis School of
Photo by Stephen Kosloff of me performing in a Chainmaille dress I just made.
On Saturday, September 26, the Red Hook-based gallery and artist collective Kidd Yellin, where I am an “artist-in-residence,” hosted a benefit concert for ShowPaper, a free bi-monthly print-only newspaper which lists all-ages music and art events in the tri-state area and features a work of art on each cover.
The event was a collaborative mix of musicians and artists. Shilpa Ray (sans all-male “Happy Hookers”) was backed by friends- including Kendrick Strauch (of the recently dissolved Harlem Shakes which featured my fellow Dalton alum, Lexi Benaim). Jason Trachtenburg played keyboard on two of my songs and Rachel Trachtenburg played drums for Kendrick Strauch, before the the Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players‘ own set, which also featured Tina Trachtenburg playing the slide projector. Sarah and Michelle Cagianese opened the concert with pretty songs using vocal and cello harmonies, and Your Nature closed the evening with a hard rockin’ bang!
Artwork was on view by Charlotte Kidd, myself, Gibby Haynes (Butthole Surfers), Dustin Yellin, and John Gordon Gauld. One hit of the evening was Kidd’s portrait of a former cop turned Elvis impersonator:
‘Scarecrow’ 2007 by Charlotte Kidd
Check out the photos and video of the evening.
The video is part of Flipswitch Films’ Show Capsules series that will lead up to their ShowPaper documentary in the works. Also seen in the video is artist 0H10M1ke doing a “livedraw” during Kendrick’s performance. He gave me the “livedraw” he did during my set and it’s good!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kosloff/sets/72157622478042880/
Last week Teddy Blanks and I played our second show at the always fun, always a crazy time, Bar Nine in Hell’s Kitchen. Igor took a lot of great pics. For more, go to his website, Driven by Boredom.
Note well:
SHOWPAPER, the volunteer-run, free, and one-of-a-kind “DIY” newsprint of concert, art, and film listings, will be feted at a benefit starring indie showstoppers on Saturday, September 26th at 7 p.m. in Red Hook’s jaw-dropping Kidd Yellin Gallery and artist collective at 133 Imlay Street in Red Hook, Brooklyn.
This benefit will immerse its audience in a multimedia blend of art, music and film—just as ShowPaper does. The event will reach out to an extended new audience of arts enthusiasts while preserving the intimate feel of a typical ShowPaper underground show. Artwork by Kidd Yellin resident artists and special guest art curation will be on exhibit along with a projected, rotating “virtual gallery” of ShowPaper cover art—with works by artists (often with music ties) such as Raymond Pettibon,Bjorn Copeland (Black Dice)Ben JonesPaperRadChris JohansonEd Templeton, Mark Mothersbaugh (DEVO), Brian Chippendale (Lightning Bolt) and many other talents. Music videos will be screened between sets, including acts from past ShowPaper concerts and music video screenings. The event will truly represent the symbiosis of high- and low-brow arts.
ShowPaper is known for raw, no-frills, and affordable underground shows (that support its bi-monthly publication) where art is valued above hype. ShowPaper is brought to life by the front-running tastemakers of the NYC music scene, who first introduced such artists as Vivian Girls, Matt and Kim, Dirty Projectors, Dan Deacon,and Vampire Weekend, and who are relied on by countless young people for their next taste of great and interesting music to be experienced up-close-and-personal.
With a circulation of 10,000, ShowPaper is the only publication in the tri-state area to exclusively list all-ages shows, distributed and propagated by a small army of dedicated volunteers. A hub of creative-minded people, it is a community founded on inclusion, meant to inspire the next generation of tastemakers, artists, and musicians. ShowPaper’s poster-sized cover art makes brilliant work by emerging artists accessible, and the offbeat and hilarious horoscopes, classic indie rock dating sidebar, “I Saw U,”and, of course, music listings, make it a coveted item; ShowPaper is known to a few and beloved by those who do.
Admission will be $8 – $25, sliding scale.
Tonight only, I will have paintings here:
X INITIATIVE, 548 West 22nd Street, New York, NY (the former Dia building)
RECEPTION & book release: Wednesday, September 16, 7:00 – 9:00pm.
A colony of geodesic domed tents for temporary colonization, squatting, taking over, and making yourself at home in the San Gabriel Mountains.
“This is a Test” a trial run for “This is a Performance” – organized by Sam Gordon
To workshop the exhibition opening at ACP (Los Angeles, 01.23.2010) in one of the tents, a trial balloon, to gather work, drawings, ephemera….Action Painting vs. Performance Relic – Artifact vs. Document – Jake Ewert, Daniel Feinberg, Keltie Ferris, Daphne Fitzpatrick, Jacob Robichaux, Rebecca Schiffman, A.L. Steiner, and Wesley Willis. artists meeting – video display and sales.
Thank you to everyone who came to the show at The Surf Lodge, and thank you Stephanie Gilmore and Ava Warbrick for inviting me to play.
Photo by Jay Israelson.
Click HERE to read Brandon Kim’s really funny and nice review of my performance at The Studio@Webster Hall on his IFC blog, The Independent Ear.
Pics of me by Ian Mohr:
Hess is More:
Thank you to everyone who came to the Hess is More record release party on Friday. Hess is More and also DJ Fagget Fairys were so insanely awesome that I danced without being drunk.
Pic of me at Hess is More Record Release party by Dominic DeJoseph:
The lipstick poll is tied at 44-44! Thank you to everyone who came out to vote. Honestly, when I left for the concert yesterday Red was up by one point, but since Blue had some serious support and was the more exciting option I went for it. It was more of an opinion poll or focus group. I swear if it were a presidential election I would obey the results!
I welcome more costume ideas for performing… Pics from last night coming soon.
Click on the pics to enlarge.
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For anyone who is curious, the lipsticks are:
Red- Shu Uemura RD128
Blue- Shu Umerura BL040 with Shu Uemura Me Blue Drawing Pencil
Wednesday, June 17 – The Studio @ Webster Hall
with Walter Schreifels (Quicksand, Rival Schools) and
Borrowed Eyes and The Blood Red Road (And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead)
Friday, June 19 – 92Y Tribeca
Hess is More record release party
Visit the shows page for details.
Yesterday my recent friend Dar e-mailed me that he found an old photo (pre-digital) he took of a band at a party many years ago and I’m the bass player! I used to play bass in a band called Pearl Harbor and this picture, which he gave me, is from a show at the old Some Records office on West 29th Street in 1999.
So, I’ve gathered up the other few photos I have of us and created a separate photo page for Pearl Harbor. Check us out here. And if anyone out there has more pics of us please let me know.
Thanks to everyone who came to Glasslands Gallery last night. Here are some pics.
Photos of me by Katie Wagner
Aerial East accompanied by Michael Leviton and Victor Magro
I was in New York Magazine last week. Click below to enlarge or here to go to NY Mag site.
Here is a video interview I did with artist, Dustin Yellin, for ArtObserved. His show ‘Dust in The Brain Attic’ opens tomorrow at Robert Miller Gallery, New York, and if you are in New York it is not to be missed!
(April 23, 2009, 6pm – 8pm, 524 West 26th Street, New York, NY)
Thanks to everyone who came to the show at Zebulon last night. Here is a song from the show.
I’ve just posted pics from my recent trip to LA, Las Vegas, and Palm Springs. Here I am with Steven Segal’s longjohns from the movie On Deadly Ground at the Planet Hollywood Hotel in Las Vegas. More pics…
My new album “To Be Good for a Day” is now available on CD, with artwork and stuff, at Other Music, one of the last standing record stores in NYC.
Pick it up in the store at 15 East 4th Street between Lafayette and Broadway, New York, NY or order online: www.othermusic.com
Directed by Jack Bryan.
Here is the scanned magazine…
Or read my review and many more on the Vice website.
Finally, today marks the official release date for my second album “To Be Good for a Day.”
Check out my acting debut in the movie, Fashion Party, a musical farce written and directed by Alec Coiro. Go to the website for the trailer and to RSVP for the premiere.
As many of my friends know, I have been making chainmaille jewelry for several years. I have finally launched a jewelry line called IMK (after the Ill-Made Knight from T.H. White’s The Once and Future King).
Please visit the website to view the collection and check out the online store.
www.imkjewelry.com
Me and Charlotte in Alluminum Vests
Photo by Charlotte Kidd
Two-Tone Cuffs – Fine silver and EPMD rubber
Photo by Charlotte Kidd
I recently had two little cameos in friends’ music videos.
Stayin’ Alive Remix – Directed by Matthew Frost
Rory Guinness – Sportscar
It was a lot of fun.
Photos by David Benjamin Sherry
I just found out I’m playing this Wednesday. Here is the info.
December 3, 2008 – Zebulon, Brooklyn, NY
258 Wythe Avenue between North 3rd and Metropolitan in Williamsburg.
9pm Rebecca Schiffman
10pm Scary Mansion
No cover! It’s a cafe so you can drink as well as eat.
Thanks to everyone who came to the show at Lit on Wednesday. I think that was one of my favorite shows.
I am on a road trip to New Orleans with Charlotte and Wilmot. We stayed with Steph last night in Blacksburg and are about to drive to Nashville, maybe even Memphis today.
Photo by Justin Cox.
I am performing this Saturday at The End of the World’s Record Release Party:
Last week I took part in a collaborative art installation/performance by the artist Dominique Gonzalez Foerster and the composer Ari Benjamin Meyer at The Solomon R. Guggenheim. Nicolas Ghesquière of Balenciaga custom-made our dresses and I had to take mine off on-stage. Being part of the rehearsals and watching the final pieces of this work come together I had no idea how it would come off to the audience.
Among other things: I and three other young women simultaneously played different children’s computer games as an improvisational music ensemble. I derobed and took a shower with a man. The Staten Island Richmond County Orchestra played part of Beethoven’s 6th. Someone cooked mushrooms. Old people sang old songs like Row Row Row Your Boat.
Most of my family and friends hated the work, offering feedback such as “Awful, just awful” and “…audience victimization.”
I still don’t know what I would think if I had walked in off the street to watch this but I do feel good about Roberta Smith’s New York Times review.
I am the “young woman” Roberta Smith refers to here, in the opening of her review:
A few minutes into “NY. 2022,” a performance piece at the Guggenheim Museum last Friday night, a young man and woman stripped naked, stepped into a frosted-glass shower stall and started pouring water on each other. As if on cue, two audience members got up and left the museum’s theater, huffily.
Recently, Some Records gave me back the rights to my 2003 album “Upside Down Lacrimosa.” They had never paid me for digital sales. Sucks. So I just had them take the album down from iTunes, I resubmitted it, and it is back up! Now if you buy some tracks or the whole album (only $9.99!) I’ll get paid.
Click here to buy it on iTunes!
Also, the second album will be available reeeaaaally soon… within the next two months.
Did you know that I can see what search terms people enter to find this website? Lately there have been several “midget fondling” queries! The words “midget” and “fondling” occur separately in captions on the Halloween pics page.
I will be playing at Lit on Nov 12. Details TBA.
Zizek’s recent book “Violence” did go into it’s second printing and I finally got credited for the painting on the back inside flap. (They originally used it without my knowledge or permission and without giving credit!)
This weekend I was a guest on Shawn Honnick’s Plate Show, a radio show about “life, vanity plates, and the meanings behind them.” It happened super last minute so I didn’t have time to post it beforehand but click HERE to listen to a recording of the show.
I just posted two downloadable cover songs in the mp3s section. (Neil Young and Electric Six)
I’m playing this Tuesday, August 19 at The Delancey. I will be opening for my friend Peter Toh.
See the shows page for details.
Also please check out my new blog of interesting vanity plates.
I am in the mixing phase of album 2. Hopefully it will be ready to be released in a month or two.
Click the invite to enlarge:
For more information visit www.petraprojects.com
Woodys, Roses, a two person exhibition of work by myself and Karine Fauchard, curated by Abraham Orden, is on view April 29 – May 23 at Song Song Gallery in Vienna, Austria.
Click here for details.
Thanks to Arthur J. Fournier, seen in the original photo at the end of this post, I can add Playgirl to my photography resumé.
Today’s issue of The New York Observer ran an article about me by George Gurley titled “Who’s That Girl? It’s Rebecca Schiffman!” Maybe I’ve been out of school too long because lately I’ve had the urge to write letters to Harper’s Magazine responding to various articles. Once I begin the effort, however, I quickly become discouraged because I know Harper’s usually publishes responses from people of some related scholarly authority, and unless I have some revelatory insight on the subject, which has not yet happened in these mere self-assigned challenges, I will not be saying anything new or worthwhile. But now an article exists on which I might be a leading authority! So here is my response.
George interviewed me over the last several weeks and I must first say that he did a great job of parsing the hours and hours of taped rantings to output this fairly accurate and vivid (graphic!) depiction of where I am in life.*
Illuminating some references:
Title: I am assuming George based the title “Who’s that Girl?…” on an article in Vice Magazine that he alludes to when he mentions he saw my bare ass on the internet, called “Who’s That Ass?” The April, Read More
I am in the current issue of the french magazine Jalouse (Avril 2008). Article by Lolita Pille. Photograph by Matthew Frost. Click below to enlarge. Scroll down for a better look at my leg.
Note the difference in my calf…
(Left: Before, Right: After)
Other people born on April 9:
Jean Paul Belmondo, Dennis Quaid, Hugh Hefner, Paul Robeson, Cynthia Nixon, J. William Fulbright, Charles Baudelaire
Green Owl Records’ first release, a compilation featuring Feist, Of Montreal, Muse, The Exit, Bloc Party, Deerhoof, and Violens, as well as a video for my song Penguins and Igloos, directed by Supermarché, came out today. It is available at every Whole Foods Store, among other places. Click here to find out more, order online, or download: The Green Owl Comp: A Benefit for Energy Action
Southampton
I went to Southampton this weekend and saw a baby seal on the beach.
The Rainbow Painting
This is a painting my parents bought in the mid-late 70’s by the artist Pat Lipsky. My family has a tradition of taking photos of people in front of this painting. I’ve rounded up many of these photos and taken some new ones.
Photo by Arthur J. Fournier
Between 2am and 5am tonight I completely broke and put back together this website. I didn’t make the improvements I was going for but I learned a lot- about wordpress and .htaccess files…
I have written a new post on TNB about songwriting.
Please check it out here:
http://www.thenervousbreakdown.com/rebecca_schiffman/2008/03/some-thoughts-o.html
Above photo by Arthur Fournier
Rory and Rebecca Guinness sang Irish songs.
Me, Jay Israelson and Reka Reisinger
Photo by Benjamin Butler on a disposable camera
Come to:
Lit 6 Year Anniversary Party
Lit Lounge, 93 2nd Ave between 5th St and 6th St, New York, NY
8:30pm Doors open
9pm Rebecca Schiffman
9:45pm Mike Bones
10:30pm Sian Alice
11:15pm Blood on the Wall
DJ’s Andrew Kuo, Josh Wildman, Brian Degraw, Leo Fitzpatrick, Paul Sevigny
February 5, 2008
NYC Board of Elections Pollsite Locator
http://gis.nyc.gov/vote/ps/index.htm
Thank you to everyone who came to the show tonight at The Living Room. I had a very nice time. The residency has been extended and I will be playing there every Monday in February with the regular Meltaway Mondays lineup: John Wolfington, Alexa Wilding, and Tim Foljahn.
Photo by W.R.K.R.
John Wolfington
Thank you to everyone who came to the show last night.
And thank you Michele for taking photos.
Thank you to everyone who came to the show yesterday.
Upcoming schedule:
Saturday January 26 – show in Bushwick at Troutman Street.
Monday, January 28 – last show upstairs at The Living Room
See shows page for details.
From last night:
Two upcoming shows in New York:
Monday January 21 at The Living Room, Upstairs in Googie’s Lounge
Saturday January 26 at 322 Troutman Street, Brooklyn
See the shows page for details.
Thank you to everyone who came to the show last night. Here are a few pics, the ones of me taken by K.D.
So, I’ve tinkered around with the website some more and I’m pretty happy with this layout as opposed to the one from a few weeks ago.
I will be playing at Googie’s Lounge which is upstairs at The Living Room in New York next Monday, January 7. See the shows page for details.
The RS logo above was designed by Jordy Rosenblum from Glomerate a few years ago.
Other web stuff – I moved The U.E.S. Journal back to www.uesjournal.com from blogspot.
My trip home New Year’s Eve
I fixed the broken links on the MP3s page. Also, the sound of the live mp3 i put up is so painful, it was the first song of the night and not all the kinks were worked out, so I’ve taken it down.
Thank you to everyone who came to the show on Wednesday.
If you enjoy reading please check out my newest entry on the creative non-fiction website The Nervous Breakdown.
Hi! I’m just testing this out – I could switch back to the old site in a few minutes, but I like how easy this is to update and now I have comments!
So please leave a comment with any remarks or suggestions for the site.
There will also soon be an RSS feed button. RSS is also my initials (middle name after Suzanne Farrell) and the other day I passed a car with this license plate. It’s not like there are a bunch of cars with this plate and I just happened to see one. It’s the only one in New York! So, I thought it was sort of exciting.
Thank you everyone who came to the show on Sunday.
I have been added as an official contributor to The Nervous Breakdown, a creative non-fiction blog founded by Brad Listi, author of Attention.Deficit.Disorder.My introductory entry has just gone up and should be at or near the top of the page. Please check out the site when you have a chance – there are over 70 contributors and you might find a few you especially like.
www.thenervousbreakdown.com
Two of my oldies are soundtracks in short internet videos.
Yesterday GOOD Magazine guest-curated YouTube’s homepage and used my song Penguins and Igloos from Upside Down Lacrimosa throughout their intro. You can watch the video here.
Elena Stratigos used The Desert in a film school project. Watch here.
I have moved my zine The U.E.S. Journal to uesjournal.blogspot.com to try to make it easier to update and easier for readers to interact with. Please visit!
This morning I was interviewed by Nicolas Vidal on his show Petit compagnie on ALIGRE FM 93.1 in Paris. The interview was sort of in French and English and Nicolas translated my English answers into French. He is a songwriter too and I love his songs – click on his name to go to his myspace page.
Hi from Munich.
Here’s a pic from the Sidewalk Show.
This coming Friday I will be playing at the RiYL Records Summer Slam 3 at Sidewalk (July 13).
Go to the SHOWS page for details. Or read this flyer:
I’m playing this Saturday June 30, 2007 in Brooklyn, NY
on the roof of The Old American Can Factory.
Go to the SHOWS page for details.
May 21, 2007
Last night I played at Piano’s upstairs with Sebastian Blanck and Benji Cossa. I didn’t post it on this website because it was very last minute… but I am playing this Friday at Cakeshop on Ludlow Street in New York, NY. See the shows page for details.
Sorry for the lack of updates. There are a few new photos in the section on the making of the new album: To Be Good for a Day
I have a tentative show scheduled in Brooklyn in June – details TBA. Once the album is finished, I will be performing more often again. Meanwhile, as always, please visit my zine The U.E.S. Journal.
I am on the cover of and inside this month’s Vice Magazine.
I am on the right and Lily is on the left. Lily passed away a week after they interviewed us for the article and it was too late to add or change anything but there will be a special tribute to her in the next issue.
I am performing an acoustic set tomorrow night.
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
Club 205, Chrystie & Stanton Street, New York, NY
10pm Lissy Trullie
9pm Rebecca Schiffman
8pm Modrocket
It’s been a while since I updated the site but things are still going on:
Four things:
1. I am playing at Rutgers on December 3rd. Check the shows page for details.
2. The first issue of The U.E.S. Journal is finally done! Visit www.uesjournal.com for more details. You can also add the journal on myspace- look up the e-mail address info@uesjournal.com
3. I am on MySpace. Look up the e-mail address rebecca_schiffman@yahoo.com
4. I added a Halloween section to the photos page. For now it is only 2005 but eventually I plan to add past Halloweens. Below is this year’s costume- John Reed and Louise Bryant, perhaps even more obscure than my Poochie costume of 2003.
I just put up photos of my performance at the Canal Room on August, 15, taken by Tim Barber. He took so many great photos. Some are on the shows photo page.
I just got back from Paris. You can see my PARIS VACATION PHOTOS HERE. I will be playing this Tuesday and Wednesday at The Canal Room in New York opening for Todd Snider. Unfortunately (or fortunately) both shows are already sold out.
A few things:
Tomorrow, Monday June 26, I will be reading lyrics on a boat in the Gowanus at Jonathan Curley and Chris Leo’s “Haiti’s Hades Harlequin’s Hymns” – a poetry vs lyrics event in which two guest poets go tete-a-tete with two guest lyricists sans musique.
I will be in a group painting exhibition at Ratio3 Gallery in San Francisco opening June 30, 2006.
Go to the SHOWS page for details on these two events.
I will be in Paris late July – early August. If anyone wants to set up a show please e-mail me! rebecca@uesjournal.com
Yesterday night, for the first time, I met my pen pal of two years, Rebecca Schiffman – from Nashville! She is 23 and, just as my father is a Rabbi, I believe her father is a Baptist minister. Just so you know, if you google me and you see that a Rebecca Schiffman worked on the Sidwalk Film Festival in Alabama that was her. I, on the other hand am the one who played at Sidewalk Cafe in New York.
Left to right: R.S. New York, R.S. Nashville
Vinyl coming out 1/3/2017!