ALBUM PODCAST with Joe Iconis and Jennifer Ashley Tepper
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ALBUM PODCAST is a behind-the-songs deep dive into the creative process of writer and performer Joe Iconis. Through a series of conversations with his friend/collaborator Jennifer Ashley Tepper, Joe will offer a behind the scenes glimpse of the writing and producing of his 44-song epic Album. The longtime friends weave through their common history, share war stories of their time spent in the battle ground of contemporary musical theater, and introduce you to the Rogue's Gallery of showtune misfits who make up their chosen Family. A sprawling, rafter-shaking podcast that is the ultimate companion piece to Iconis' massive body of work. http://BPN.fm/Album to get the music.
26 Episodes
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This is the first full Christmas song that Joe has ever written. He loves New York City, he loves a cocktail, but he REALLY loves Christmas (the holiday garbage, not the religious stuff). Much to Jen's dismay, this song is not secretly about Bernie Madoff. The tune is sung by Grace McLean, who elevates it in an "unreal way" that straddles the line between humility and insanity.
http://BPN.fm/Album to get the music.
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This song is one of Joe's absolute favorites he's ever written. It's about feeling stuck, like your ship is waiting to come in and may never arrive. Very autobiographical, the feeling of this song is what Joe was feeling in the exact moment it was written (and even more recently when Joe and Jen recorded this episode). Eric William Morris and Joe Iconis became insta-besties almost immediately when they met during an audition. Katrina Rose Dideriksen and Joe met as NYU Undergrads, both making music that didn't quite fit the mold (then and now.)
http://BPN.fm/Album to get the music.
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This is a song title in parenthesis so it won't spoil the joke. Once you listen, you'll get it. Sung by Jason SweetTooth Williams, who Joe Iconis is simply in love with, was basically born to sing this song. The episode devolved into a SweetTooth lovefest... but the song at the heart of it all is very much about someone with a secret. Can you figure it out?
http://BPN.fm/Album to get the music.
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Inspired by the movie Psycho, this song "Normal" was penned in 2010 and first performed a Halloween gig at The Beechman. The idea was writing a cheesy love song from the point of view of Norman Bates. Sung by Lance Rubin, this song only gets better every time he performs it.
http://BPN.fm/Album to get the music.
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Learn how to "pull an Iconis" by listening to this episode. In addition, this song "The Saddest Girl in the World" was written specifically for Kerry Butler, who played a one-legged dancer in a 24-Hour musical Joe wrote with the great Jonathan Marc Sherman. With a lot of fancy people involved, 24 year old Joe felt like the not-so-fancy guy who now wouldn't even think twice about shouting out a lyric if Kerry were to forget the lyrics again.
http://BPN.fm/Album to get the music.
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Initially called "The Buddy Song", this is another tune that Joe renamed to include a slash in the title. As interpreted by Krysta Rodriguez, the song turned into something different from its original intent and Charlie Rosen's period orchestrations provide a reframing that serves the message of the song well. A hidden gem in Joe's massive body of work.
http://BPN.fm/Album to get the music.
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Based on Stephen King's Misery this is a song that truly gets under your skin and brings the subtext of King's novel to the forefront. A rumination on the cyclical nature of addiction and how it relates to the life of an artist. Be prepared and scared for a brutal performance by Taylor Trensch.
http://BPN.fm/Album to get the music.
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This is a song in which Joe channels the jealousy and envy he feels toward other musical theater writers and filters it through the lens of Robert Zemeckis's 1992 film Death Becomes Her. A personal song that also doubles as a character piece written from the point of view of Goldie Hawn's character in the film, Lorinda Lisitza performs with a level of ferocity that can barely be contained. And look out for her vocal nod to Goldie.
http://BPN.fm/Album to get the music.
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"Sympathy for the Killer" is a peculiar little 1920's-style number which repurposes the classic horror film killer-victim scenario as a metaphor for a modern relationship. Sung by the fearless Liz Lark Brown, the song aks the question: who is really pursuing who?
http://BPN.fm/Album to get the music.
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Have you ever wondered what a song inspired by the plight of HALLOWEEN's Michael Myers might be like? Well, Joe Iconis sure did. A nod to his love of Halloween (the day and the movie), "Haddonfield, 15 Years Later (For Judith)" tells a simple story of Mike Myers getting out of the hospital, putting his mask back on, and heading back to his hometown. It also tells the story of a person returning to his suburban hometown and feeling like he no longer belongs. This song is sung by madman Jared Weiss and features a choir arrangement by lunatic Joel Waggoner.
http://BPN.fm/Album to get the music.
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As a kid, the disappointment of dropping an ice cream on the ground feels like the end of the world. As an adult, the circumstances of our disappointments change, but the feeling is the same. "Building a Fort" is sung by Harrison Chad, who is always able to embody youth and adulthood. It was originally written for a musical that Joe got fired from.
http://BPN.fm/Album to get the music.
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Originally written for a proposed T.V. project, this ode to the complexity of nostalgia is performed by The Jasons: Tam and Veasey. Hear about the origins of the song and the implications of being nostalgic for a time you weren't around for in the first place.
http://BPN.fm/Album to get the music.
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A companion piece to the previous episode "The Song", this one is brings the underlying to the surface. It's about a writer, still definitely not Joe Iconis, who is coming to terms with only being able to write his life versus living it. Joe and Jennifer go deep into the lyrics, music, and arrangement of this deeply-personal-not-at-all-autobiographical rocker.
http://BPN.fm/Album to get the music.
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Upon hearing that multiple people in his life were worried that Joe would write a song about them, he did what any jerk songwriter would do: he wrote a song about it. Is this song about Joe himself? Nope. Definitely not. Is it about Emily? Who can say... all we know is that Emily is a name that doesn't rhyme with anything.
http://BPN.fm/Album to get the music.
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A tragic and hideous tale of an actress navigating a path through a dangerous obstacle course of high-belting and tasteless riffing. Joe's lifelong collaborator Katrina Rose Diderikson expertly acts her way in and out of this epic story-song which is both critical of and complicit in our current musical theater vocal landscape.
http://BPN.fm/Album to get the music.
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A cut song from the Joe Iconis musical "Bloodsong of Love," which itself is a wild musical theater interpretation of the Spaghetti Western film genre, "Play the Princess" is another song about art and theater, this time examining the boxes society places us in and the roles we are assigned. It is performed by Destinee Rea and L Morgan Lee, two beautiful humans who defy categorization.
http://BPN.fm/Album to get the music.
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A song about the history of an actual New York City street, "64' takes us back to the past, before Lincoln Center existed, to explore the less glamorous side of tearing down the past to build the future. Performed by Alan H. Green, George Salazar, Jose Restrepo, if you're anything like the rest of us, you'll be rushing to play this one on repeat as soon as it's done.
http://BPN.fm/Album to get the music.
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Depicting a real-life situation almost every New Yorker can relate to, "Jeff," sung by Jeremy Morse, tells the story of a man seeing a neighbor in the buff in a nearby building and the existential crisis that follows. What happens to him in the end? The world may never know.
http://BPN.fm/Album to get the music.
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An intentionally mysterious song involving impossibly complicated states, both mental and geographical. A character piece written for Jason SweetTooth Williams, who navigates the strangeness like no one else could.
http://BPN.fm/Album to get the music.
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Sung by Lauren Marcus, this haunting song was inspired by a certain character in a certain movie featuring a ghost-with-the-most. It wasn't part of the subsequent musical based on the movie, but we're sharing it with you nonetheless nonetheless nonetheless.
http://BPN.fm/Album to get the music.
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