https://www.eventbrite.com/.../murderers-row-presents...

Wait. Does that mean that it was someone's 68th birthday this year? Or does it mean that it's all songs from 1968?

(SORT OF! That's what it meant before we were all so rudely interrupted by COVID-19. So, in fact, I'm 69. But we refused to skip a year.)

Back to The Cutting Room by popular demand -- Mike Fornatale (Losers' Lounge, The Left Banke, Moby Grape, The Monks, The Washington Squares, Ellen Foley, Mark Lindsay) leads the NYC all-star collective "Murderers' Row" through more songs from 1968 than you'll even remember.

Mike says: "I decided a few years ago that, starting with 1964 -- the year I started loving music again after walking away from it, while still in kindergarten, during the Fabian/Avalon/Rydell era (something I still haven't forgiven Philadelphia for) -- I was going to assemble a group of stalwart musicians and singers every year and do a show consisting of great songs from the corresponding year. We had a blast with 1964, '65, and '66. I'm going to do this every year for as long as I can still stand up. Hey! I can still stand up."

Well, he no longer has to assemble a group of stalwarts, because now they're right here.

Russ Alderson!
Emilie Bienne!
Rembert Block!
Tommy DeVito!
Lizzie Edwards!
Pam Fleming!
Dave Foster!
Jeff Hudgins!
J.J. Jordan!
Charly Roth!
Tom Shad!
Erica Smith!

...and a Cast Of Integers! Including but not limited to...

Lauren Agnelli!
Jim Allen!
Tom Clark!
Ellen Foley!

...I said ELLEN FOLEY!!!

Stephanie Marie!
David Milone!
Carlton J. Smith!
Jahn Xavier!
Tony "Z" Zajkowsky!

Hits! Misses! Things you've never heard! And just some stuff I like!

How many songs? TONS OF 'EM!! OVER SIXTY OF 'EM!! Don't worry! They're short! We're old!

And it's all from 1968...like so many of the best things. Color TV comes to The Netherlands! The ABC Radio Network splits into four parts! Dr. N. E. Shumway performs the USA's first adult heart transplant! Surveyor 7! The Civil Rights Act! Elvis' Comeback Special! The GE College Bowl! Rosemary's Baby, Funny Girl, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and of course Bye Bye Braverman! Johnny Cash does a nice little show at Folsom Prison! The Beatles fly to India! The Fillmore East! The Seattle Pilots! Hot Wheels! The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, I Never Sang For My Father, Golden Rainbow, George M, Half a Sixpence, Promises Promises, and of course HAIR! The first unmanned lunar module! The Rotterdam Metro! The fourth Madison Square Garden! San Antonio's HemisFair '68! MR. ROGERS' NEIGHBORHOOD! Mauritius! Radio Brumble! Paul McCartney and Jane Asher attend an ANDY WILLIAMS CONCERT! (May 21st. Go ahead, look it up.) The Gateway Arch! The Poor People's March! Tiny Tim! Kees Verkerk, Peggy Fleming, Jean-Claude Killy, Lindy McDaniel, Catfish Hunter, Virginia Wade, and Earl Weaver! And Satchel Paige finally qualifies for his pension! Douglas Englebart! Apple Records! Saundra Williams! Shostakovich's 12th String Quartet! Adam-12! Circus Circus! Redwood National Park! Pierre Trudeau! The infamous "Heidi" broadcast! "La La La" wins the Eurovision Song Contest! ROWAN AND MARTIN'S LAUGH-IN!!

(And if any of the songs fall apart onstage, we can just blame Leo Fender for selling the company to CBS. BOOOO!)

This year we're proud to be presenting this show at the lovely Cutting Room again. Because a) we love The Cutting Room, and b) if you really like the music of 1968 all that much, you MIGHT be the kind of person who's old enough to want to sit down while you listen to it. We'll be playing two long sets with no repeats. Bring your own oxygen. The 65 show had 47 songs in it. the 66 show had 64 songs in it. Last year's 67 show also had 64 songs in it, and we left out a LOT. This year we started off with a list of 182 must-have, cannot-possibly-cut-any songs and tearfully shaved it down to 63. It took two months. And it's STILL longer.

Tickets are on sale now!

https://www.eventbrite.com/.../murderers-row-presents...

This is not a "series." This is not an "anthology." This is a CRUSADE. We're going to do it every year. I hope I can make it at least as far as, oh, I don't know, 86? 87? I want to make DeVito play the tympani on "Life in a Northern Town."

You have NOT been out of the house enough. Now get out of the house.

Starting at 7PM sharp. Not 8. Not 7:30. Be there. Or we're sending the ghost of Owsley to your house. And he's not holding, and he doesn't have any tapes either. So you don't want that.