Hewlett Anderson: News

Due to strong demand for tickets to the "Music of John Lennon and Paul McCartney" concerts at the Strand, we are pleased to announce that a special, Matinee performance has been added on Sunday, February 12 at 2:00 PM.  If you weren't able to get tickets on 2/10 or 2/11, or if you just want to see it again, get you seats reserved for the Sunday MATINEE!!  See you there...

We've been raiding the archives and posting lot's of new video lately.  Check in to see what is posted and keep checking back often!!

Local musicians work with Beatles producer
By Rege Behe, PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Friday, May 21, 2010
Last updated: 2:15 pm


It's a story that connects Los Angeles, London and, somewhat improbably, the sleepy Pittsburgh suburb of Dormont. It's a confluence of talent, opportunity and friendships forged long ago, and it thrilled local musicians Buddy Hall and Pete Hewlett.

Who wouldn't be ecstatic to be part of a project that involves, however tangentially, Sir George Martin, the producer who shepherded the Beatles on albums from "Please Please Me" through "Abbey Road"?

"It did freak me out," says Hall of a check he received from Martin's company, Grandmaster Productions. "It was amazing."

Hall, Hewlett and B.E. Taylor were enlisted by Steve Dudas, a Swissvale native living in Los Angeles, to record music that would evoke the Beatles as though they were a working band in the 21st century. Dudas, who plays guitar in Ringo Starr's band, works with Extreme Music, a company that produces music for use by film studios, television networks and ad agencies.

Martin served as an adviser on the project, with final approval of the work. Snoop Dogg, Quincy Jones and Hans Zimmer are among the artists who have worked with Extreme Music, in addition to Martin.

Dudas, who also had worked on a project for the company involving Jones, was charged with writing songs that reflected the psychedelic era of rock 'n' roll. He collaborated with Mark Hart, a keyboard player who performs with the New Zealand band Crowded House.

"How do you define that?" Dudas says. "It's a fine line. ... They don't want it to sound too Beatles and they don't want it to sound too American. When we first started writing for the project, we got rejected. Then we got a little Beatle-y and they liked it."

Enter Hewlett and Taylor, who Dudas calls "great singers. They're as good as it gets in their own genre. ... When I played with B.E. in the '70s, I always thought he had a side of John Lennon's voice when we would to a Beatles song," Dudas says. "And when I saw Pete do 'Maybe I'm Amazed' with Sweet Lightning in the early '70s, he blew me away. That's why I thought of these guys."

Hewlett needed little prodding to sign on to the project. The producer of the "Live From Studio A" programs on WQED-TV, his impressive resume includes recording and touring with artists including Billy Joel, Carly Simon, Julian Lennon and Eric Carmen and the Raspberries. The opportunity to be part of the project related to the Fab Four, however indirectly, was one he couldn't turn down.

"I grew up listening to the Beatles," Hewlett says. "That's why I started playing music."

Hewlett and Taylor, with Hall recording, worked on three songs: "Love Is All Around," "Soon," and "Stranger." But Hewlett proved to be so apt at mimicking McCartney "we had to tone it down a bit," Dudas says. "He was too good."

Hall says the music evokes the feel of the Beatles' work circa "Magical Mystery Tour" and "Rubber Soul," with perhaps some elements of "Abbey Road" in the mix.

"It sounded amazing, and it wasn't even mixed or anything," Hall says, noting that Starr was the drummer on one of the songs. "These were just raw tracks, but the playing was pretty amazing for me to hear. There's only been a few things I've done which have blown my mind, and this is one of them."

"It's very Beatle-esque," Hewlett says. "To say the songs sound like what the Beatles would be doing today, who can say? But they actually do sound more like the Beatles than what McCartney's doing."

Rabid Beatles fans, however, won't get to hear the recordings any time soon, if at all. Extreme Music owns the rights to all the material, and will release the songs only for use in films, television or advertisments.

Hi everyone,

We just added a new blog page to the website. We'll post updates from time to time and comments are always welcome. Check it out!

Our recent CD release, "TRACKS" is now available at the iTunes music store! Check it out here: http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/tracks/id330538115

We have redesigned our website and added some cool new features.  The new site should be up and running in the next couple of days, so keep an eye out for it.  Those of you that love the current design, take a nice, long, last look around!

A number of people have written to us inquiring if our new CD, "Tracks" is available for purchase anywhere online.  

 

We had hoped to have our online sales up and running when we released the CD on July 24, but there have been a few snags.  We hope to have everything worked out in the next week or so, at which time we will post all the info.

 

Until then, the only place to purchase "Tracks" is at one or our gigs.  Check out the schedule and come on out to see us!

 

Thanks!

 

Scott

We're proud and excited to announce that the long-awaited follow up to our CD, "That's What I Heard" is going to be released on July 24.  The CD release party will be held at Fresco's, in Wexford.

 

The new CD is called "Tracks" and contains 13 songs, including two originals (one of Pete's and one of Scott's) as well as a sampling of some of our favorite and most requested songs from our live performances. All 13 tracks feature Pete, Scott and Joe and are brand new, studio recordings.  Stay tuned for an early preview of a couple of the "tracks" in the coming days.

 

The CD release party will be held at Fresco's, in Wexford, which is fitting because we are also celebrating 10 YEARS of performances at Fresco's this summer!  Hard to believe.  Our first gig together as a trio was at Fresco's in 1999.  We had a great time playing together right from the start, but I don't think any of us would have believed it would still be going strong 10 years later!

 

Please join us on July 24 to help us celebrate our first new recording in years, the completion of our first decade together as a group, and to share some great music.  Hope to see you there!!

 

Pete, Scott & Joe

Hi Everyone,

We regret to announce that, after 7 1/2 years of great times and great music at Ciao on Monday nights, it is time to move on. Playing at Ciao was one of the most special experiences that either of us has had in music, and we will always treasure the memories of some of those nights. We also treasure the friends that we made there and will always be grateful to everyone who came down on Mondays and made them so special.

The good news is that Monday night music is NOT over, it's just moving a couple of miles away!

Beginning Monday, July 28 we will be appearing every other Monday night at Wright's Seafood Inn in Heidelberg. We'll get started around 7:30 or so, just like Ciao, and we are looking forward to a lot of great times, great food and great music at Wright's for a long time to come. Please come down on the 28th and help us kick off a new tradition!

As for Ciao.., never say never. We're very grateful to Nick and Sabrina for giving us a home on Mondays for so long. We wish them success and hope that you will all continue to stop in to Ciao for the fabulous food and fine wine. It is truly a one of a kind place!

Thank you to everyone who came to Ciao and we look forward to seeing you soon!

Sincerely,

Pete & Scott

Performing "Sycamore Tree" a great song written by Jim Britton, from one of our LFSA shows. Check it out!
Just go to YouTube, enter "Sycamore Tree" (there are a few of them) click, and check it out.

Live From Studio A!!!!!!!!!!!

It's true, "Live From Studio A: American Standards" has won the 2007 Mid-Atlantic Emmy award for Outstanding Arts Program or Special!

I'm posting this from Philadelphia, where the awards were handed out just a few hours ago, and it's hard to express the feeling; seeing 6 years of hard work and joyous performance culminate in this award.

We've always been proud of LFSA, and we've been nominated 3 times, which in itself is a humbling achievement. But to bring this one home exceeds all of our expectations and is truly an amazing feeling! Thanks to all of you for supporting the show and for you good wishes throughout the last six years.

It's time to celebrate!

Scott

We're very proud to announce that "Live From Studio A" has been honored with another Emmy nomination! "Live From Studio A: American Standards" was nominated for Outstanding Arts Program or Special in the 2007 Mid Atlantic Emmy Awards.

The awards ceremony is September 15, 2007 in Philadelphia, PA. We'll announce the results on this page immediately following the ceremony.

Wish us luck!

Supplies of our CD "That's What I Heard" are starting to run very low, so we're delighted to announce that the CD is NOW AVAILABLE on the iTunes Music Store. Click here to check it out or download some tunes to your iTunes library.

If you already have the CD, why not write a little review and post it to be read by the entire iTunes community. If you do, please be kind! :)

Sorry to brag, but I'm THRILLED to announce that I WON the EMMY award for Music Composition for the documentary "From Pittsburgh to Poland: Lessons from The Holocaust." I'm posting this update from Philadelphia, where the Mid Atlantic Emmy Awards were presented earlier this evening. I couldn't be happier, and I just wanted to share the news immediately!!

Sarah is with me, and now we're going out for a drink.., or maybe several! More later...

Scott

I'm thrilled to announce that I just received an Emmy Award nomination for Musical Composition! The nomination is for music that I wrote for the documentary "From Pittsburgh to Poland: Lessons from The Holocaust" last year. The documentary itself was also nominated, and has already WON other national awards.

The awards ceremony is September 9th, so I'll be sure to post again afterward to let you know how it went. Win or lose, it's a great honor just to be nominated, and I'm very excited!

More later...

Scott

We just added a cool new feature to out website. It's a "guestbook" where you can leave comments, questions, feedback, or just chat. The guest book is located on our "Contact Us" page - www.hewlettanderson.com/ContactUs.htm
Give it a try, we'd love to hear from you!

We have changed the format of our news page to allow for easier updating and posting. Check in from time to time to see what's new!

trying this out