News 2009
November 5, 2009 - Bek Phillips on Jimmy
Bek Phillips,
is a young and upcoming singer/songwriter from Connecticut. She was
recently signed for ZW Records and spent a couple of
days in September in Jim's studio in LA, writing and recording. Here is
what she wrote in anticipation of her work with Jim:
"Today
is the BEST day of my musical life! My first stop is LA where I start
writing and recording with Jimmy McGorman (see video below). Jimmy has
toured with Avril Lavigne, Goo Goo Dolls, Michelle Branch and made up
the house band on Rock Star INXS. Jimmy is a very talented musician,
song writer and producer. I can't wait to hear what we come up with."
You can read the entire blog entry here.
Check out here
on our Video page to see how her work with Jim went! |
October 29
2009 - Jim is in NYC with Weezer.
Jim
is currently in NYC, doing a series of shows for Radio, TV, contest
winners and what not with Weezer who are promoting their upcoming CD Raditude. Jimmy is the current
Weezer's Musical Director but he is also multitasking and jumping in
when needed:
Tuesday,
Oct 27
Hard Rock Cafe in Times Square, for the Sirius XM "Artist Confidential"
- playing lite touch drums on the cover of the Killer's "Human" and
then acoustic guitar and singing backing vocals for the rest of the
set. Photos
Wednesday,
Oct 28
PC Richard and Son theatre on Avenue Of The Americas near Canal St.,
for the Stripped / iheartradio secret show, which went down exclusively
to a small audience of contest winners - counting down, playing lite
touch drums and singing on the cover of Coldplay's "Viva La Vida". Photo
Check back for more news as we get them!
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October 24,
2009 - Update from Jim on his involvement with Weezer.
We
just got a li'l note from Jim. Thanks Jim!
Says Jimmy:
I am
the current musical director for Weezer - just helping them get set up
for some upcoming shows. Unexpectedly, I was asked to play with them
for one song (guitar) on Jimmy Kimmel last night. It was fun. I will
not be playing with them in December.
In addition - here is
what Weezer said about the show last night. Among other things, you'll
find the following:
Sharp
eyed fans may have noted an additional guitar player beyone Brian and
Pat on stage for that song. That was Jim, who has been helping the guys
get organized musically for the upcoming tour and in the meantime
helping out here and there on guitar where needed. He is not a new band
member, but in the upcoming shows he or other guitar players may guest
on the occasional song depending on whats needed. All in the spirit of
collaboration and mixing it up a bit.
There are some photos from the show there, you can see Jimmy clad in
white, rocking out.
Pretty damn cool, eh?
|
October 23,
2009 - Jim to perform with Weezer on Jimmy Kimmel!
Weezer
will be
playing a mini concert at the Jimmy Kimmel show taping today, Friday
Oct 23. Jim will be part of the lineup - playing guitar. An interesting
tidbit, Steve Ferlazzo, Jim's bandmate from The Best Damn Band
did programming the synths for Weezer for when they tour and, we
assume, for this show.
Please notice that the episode will not air on TV till a later date -
to be announced. We will let you know as soon as we find out - because
we will! |
October 22,
2009 - Jim in XWPN 88.5 tribute to the Boss
WXPN ( 88.5
FM, a non-commercial, public radio station operated by the
University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia that broadcasts a music
format called adult album alternative) - recently invited 27 local acts
for the Bruce
Springsteen's Birthday Bash to cover the Boss for his 60th birthday
(man, does time fly!)
on Sep 23. They performed Bruce's seminal album Born to Run in its entirety, as
well as other Springsteen songs.
Jim was one of the acts invited. Jim didn't take part in the live show,
however his rendition of Born In The
USA was broadcast
as part of the celebration on the day, at 11 am.
Unfortunately, we learned about this too late and the Tribute tracks
are not available online anymore, however we figured it's a very cool
thing that Jim took part in - so we thought to let you know.
It would have been awesome to hear Jim baby belt out "Born In The USA"
- we are sure Jim did justice to the iconic song. |
August
9, 2009 - Confirmed: MTV Starmaker starts August 16.
After
a couple of delays - MTV Starmaker, the reality show where, according
to the press release, "14 singers from all over the country are
coming to Los Angeles for their shot at fame" and so on; starts showing
on August 16th. Here is the show page on MTV, says it there, white on black.
Jim is in the backup band, but if you expect something like Rockstar
and this,
keep your shirt on. Because, this is what Jim said about the show:
"... the band is not nearly as much of a focus as it was on RockStar.
We are much more of a supportive background. Though without seeing any
of the episodes yet, I’m not sure what it will be..."
Well - at anyrate, it's starting, we'll be watching and hoping for the
(Jim) best. |
April 26, 2009 - Another update from
Jim
Says
Jim:
A few weeks ago I started playing with the Goo Goo Dolls - just doing
some corporate shows right now (while they are making a new record).
No immediate tour plans. I am working on a few production projects as
well as my record. It is great to be working from the home studio.
Since I won't be touring this summer, I will be concentrating on
writing/recording and relaxing. |
April
17, 2009 - An update from Jim
Jim
checked in today and said (among other things):
Things are good. I am busy working on my record and doing a lot
of other recording as well - working on a bunch of new songs for
some TV stuff. My plans for this summer are to finish my record and to
record 10-20 new songs for use in TV placements. |
March
23, 2009 - A cool little
mention of Jim in the March issue of the Keyboard magazine
Jim's
bandmate from The Best Damn Band, Steve Ferlazzo is featured in the
March issue of the Keyboard magazine, so we were checking that out. By the way, cool article.
Anyway, browsing that one and the past few issues, we stumbled on this
cool reference of Jim and his New
Radicals days. It's a review of the key tracks of the New
Radicals only album,
Maybe You've Been Brainwashed Too .
The entire article is here but this is the Jim excerpt:
"Though the capable Jim McGorman played all the parts live, no less
than six players laid down the beautiful piano and keyboard parts that
underpin the album’s 12 songs"
In other words, Jim baby played live what six keyboardists played on
the record. We take it as a compliment to Jim which, in our humble
opinion, speaks volumes about his keyboard playing skills. Plus
he sang backing vocals!
If you want to see some video clips of Jimmy with the
New Radicals, check out our Miscellaneous Clips page (bottom of page). |
February
24 , 2009 - A little review
from Cher's Feb 22 concert in Las Vegas
We've
networked with a number of Cher fans who promised to take some photos
and record audio and video of Jim performing with Cher. Here is a
little review from OstremMN.cher:
"I noticed there was a new keyboard player. The band is split, guitars
and drums on one side and keyboards and backup singers on the other
side. The pedestals they are on slide on and off during the show.
During 'After All', the keyboard slides out and he plays keyboard and
sings. Cher comes out on the other side with lots of fog and on a
Viking ship that moves across the stage."
All we can say is that we really hope to see that. Jim in front,
playing and singing (not the ship).
But... we don't hold much hope as the camera policy is very strict
(metal detectors at door and all that ) - so even if we get a blurry
photo of Jim in the background, wearing dark clothes against a black
background with the spotlight on Cher... we'll be very happy. |
February 14 , 2009
- We just got an
update from Jim!
Says
Jim:
Things are going well for me. Crazy busy though. I just
learned the Starmaker show is not scheduled to air now until May - but
who knows? As soon as I hear anything definitive, I will let you know.
My record is going well - all of the main basic tracks are done,
but there are still a ton of overdubs and edits (then mixing and
mastering) to do.I am not sure when I will be done with it - we don’t
really have a set schedule or a release date.
I have also been doing a ton of other writing - and am going to be
producing a lot of songs for use in TV and other possible avenues.
Also, I will be playing in Vegas with Cher for the next month. I am
filling in for Paul Mirkovich.
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January 4 ,
2009 - Our New and
Exclusive Interview with Jim!
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