Colin Hay from "Men at Work" and Cecilia Noel & the Wild Clams July 26, 2009

Adults: $8
Children (3-12): $5
Seniors (60+)/Disabled: $5
Children 2 and under free
A limited amount of tickets may be available for purchase at the Starlight Bowl on the
evening of the performance

Parking - $5.00
Parking lot opens at 4:30 p.m.
Gates open at 5:30 p.m.

Colin Hay from "Men at Work"
Close of day, Los Angeles. Colin Hay emerges from his basement studio, where the entirety of his new album Are You Lookin' At Me? was recorded. “I like working,” he says, matter-of-factly. “I love being in the studio, writing songs, and just being in that environment - and I enjoy it more and more as I become more self-reliant in the studio. There's a lot of messing around with ideas, not being really sure what the day is going to bring...being on your own, able to work through the ideas and work the machines, is quite liberating.”

Are You Lookin' at Me? is Colin Hay's first studio album of new material in over five years. A tuneful, insightful meditation on life, love, sobriety, maturity and perseverance, the album finds Hay at the absolute peak of his craft. As a writer and vocalist, he has never been more masterful: finding intriguing new angles on instantly relatable scenarios, skewering and savoring in equal measure. His less acclaimed but no less formidable skills as arranger, engineer and bandleader insure that each song is supported by evocative musical backdrops ranging from electronic textures to plaintive acoustic balladry to classic guitar-driven pop. Are You Lookin' at Me? is unified by Hay's immediately identifiable voice, relentless curiosity, wonder and a decidedly uncluttered sound which has its roots in Hay's consistently busy tour schedule.

”Since my last album Company of Strangers in 2002,” Hay explains, “I've been pretty much either on the road or in the studio...when I'm not on the road, I'm working on songs and trying to make them as good as possible. When I was working on these, I had my road band in mind, and in a way tried to limit the arrangements to match our live sound.” Songs like the refreshing, buoyant “Lose to Win” and the disarmingly direct, horn-spiked “Pure Love” reflect this commitment to, in Hay's words, “avoid over-recording.” Hay also performs regularly as a solo acoustic artist, weaving new and old songs with touchingly hilarious tales of his experiences. These solo tours have left him unafraid to strip his music to its bare essentials, such as on the bittersweet “Up In Smoke”.

Throughout Are You Lookin' at Me?, Hay's perspective is one of an observer, an outsider. “A lot of people feel like outsiders: for me, it's not a problem,” he reflects. “Being born in Scotland and growing up there for 14 years, I felt a particular way. Then my family moved to Australia, we were instantly in a very different place. But I quickly learned to adapt. When you look closely, you find more similarities than differences.”

Hay first landed on American shores as the frontman and principal songwriter of the pop sensation Men at Work. With Hay's wry songs and burnished vocals leading the way, they were responsible for a series of massive hits, such as “Down Under,” “Who Can It Be Now?” and “Overkill,” that defined pop music of the early eighties. Men at Work were also one of the first pop icons of the video era, with Hay's distinct visage gracing a number of intriguing, humorous videos that aired endlessly in the early days of MTV. He stared down at the world from the most extreme heights of pop stardom, and yet stardom is not something he yearns for today. “When you have commercial success, it takes a while for the effects of that to leave you. But after a while you stop asking “Is that gonna get on the radio?' over and over. Now I just want to try to write cool songs that people will get something out of - the rest really doesn't matter.”

As the eighties gave way to the nineties, Hay continued to write and perform, parlaying his gifts as a performer and storyteller into such varied enterprises as a narrative television special and a one-man stage show entitled Colin Hay: Man at Work. His music made the migration from commercial radio to the world of film and television, gaining prominent placements in the hit television show Scrubs and the acclaimed film Garden State. “Having my music out there like that opened up a new younger audience to me,” Hay explains, “which is fantastic.”

The appearance of this new audience is indicative both of the timeless quality of Hay's craftand also of his honest, refreshingly slanted perspective - both of which are readily apparenton Are You Lookin' at Me?. Musically, what gives the album coherence is Hay's clear-headedwillingness to let the songs shine through, his warmly conversational singing, and the steadypresence of Hay's wife, vocalist and songwriter Cecilia Noel, whose strong but subtlecontributions are felt throughout. “Cecilia has a certain color to her voice,” Hay explains, “andit gives the album continuity.”

Nowhere is Hay's gift for touching, relatable songwriting more immediate than the title track of Are You Lookin' at Me?, which opens the album. What at first seems an autobiographical litany unfolds, over the course of four minutes, into a gripping reflection on dreams, aging, and maturity. “Yes,” Hay admits, “it's my story. But it could be anyone's story.” Beginning with a litany of childhood fantasy (first cowboys, then rock'n'roll), it follows Hay through the whirlwind of his success and the subsequent hard truths that emerged because of it. “Basically, if you hang on to one idea too long, it will kill you...you can't be a cowboy or a rock star forever - well, you can, but it's not as glamorous as people make it out to be...the dream of living some kind of pastoral existence in whatever way shape or form it is gets shot down all of the time. You have to roll with the punches. You have learn to weave and move out of the way...”

Few have endured and survived the way Hay has, from an unimaginable pinnacle of success to forging new roads as a working artist and songsmith. Avoiding the pitfalls that have claimed so many of his peers (drugs, depression, delusion), he continues to ply his craft. The rewards, he knows now, are greater than something as fleeting as fame and notoriety. Are You Lookin' at Me? is the next chapter in a story that is still unfolding - on his terms. “I feel really great about this record,” Hay reflects, “because I feel close to it. I don't listen to it and think “Oh, that's not me' or “I'm trying to do something weird here.' That's what's different...I have a great band and a great group of people to work with. It's fun now. But not in a light way - it's got some weight to it. But,” he says smiling, “it's not like I have to please anybody. Well, maybe my wife.”

Cecilia Noel & the Wild Clams
Cecilia Noël is passionate, flamboyant, exotic, and incredible talented - and on her aptly titled new CD A Gozár! (to enjoy), she demonstrates why critics have long called her the “Latin Tina Turner.” “Salsoul”, the genre Noël created to describe her sound, combines elements of salsa, soul, jazz, funk, and afro-cuban. Featuring smoking hot Latin grooves laced with rapid-fire Spanish lyrics, A Gozár! is a manifestation of Noël's love of music and dance and a dedication to her family in her native Perú. Noël wanted the CD to be “something that you can put on at your party and dance to, take a little break to dance to the ballad cheek-to-cheek and then dance some more.”

Close to her extended family back in Perú, Noël hopes, more than anything, that this album makes them proud. “In 1996,” she says, “I went to Perú and I saw how important it was to them that I was living my vision and inspiring them, and the money I make - all of that money goes back to them. That re-energized me and motivated me to put this album together.”

The tracks on A Gozár! range from tributes to some of the great Salsa and Cuban artists of the past, to Noël's originals, and some of her favorite long-time standards. Written by Rafael Hernández, one of the most prolific Puerto Rican composers, “El Cumbanchero” references the “party man” or percussionist. Her choice to record the song was made at the request of her mentally handicapped cousin, Mateo, who has repeatedly asked her to add it to an album. “La Culebra” is a Cuban standard that has been part of Noël's repertoire for many years. It was originally done by Benny Moré, a famous Cuban band leader and singer in the early 1960's. “La Cumbita” is a tribute to the Fania All-Stars (of which Celia Cruz was a member). Put together by Jerry Masucci and Johnny Pacheco, the band created the salsa movement in the US in the 1970's. The name of Ismael Miranda's “Asi Se Compone Un Son“ translates to “how to write a groove”. The lyrics, says Noël, “speak to mixing ingredients and cooking slowly because otherwise you'll spoil the recipe. You have to make it perfect so that the dancers who are not professionals can feel the groove.”

While “Candela” is “just a little song about fire and flirting with men”, Noël covers heavier topics in “Tu Condena” which talks about the weight carried by those who betray their friends and “Bolero de Salon” which, Noël says, “is the song I imagine my father singing to my mom. My father would drink a lot and this is a song of him regretting that”. Originally recorded in Spanish on Noël's Bongoland album, “Carlito's Way”, was written for the 1993 mafia film of the same name. While it didn't make the soundtrack, it remains as one of the originals Noël is most proud of.

A Gozár!, says Noël, “is the soundtrack of my life in a way. These are the songs I've enjoyed singing the most, the ones that get people up and really dancing, and the ones that really blow people away. I call what I do “hardcore salsa' because nowadays there is a lot of romantic salsa but I'm more of a punk salsa singer. I hope people will appreciate the intensity and the passion of this record. It's not lightweight; I'm the Nine Inch Nails of salsa.”

Originally from Lima, Perú, Noël's career began at the age of eight with a starring role in a Perúvian television show called “El Tío Johnny”. As a teenager, Noël's mother Menina Pereira sent her to Argentina and Germany to take voice, violin, and piano lessons. Encouraged by the legendary Stan Getz to move to the US, Noël relocated to New York City and briefly performed as a dancer with Jo Jo's Dance Factory and Menudo. Noël moved to Los Angeles in 1989, shortly getting involved in the local artistic movement and in the early 1990s, formed Cecilia Noël and The Wild Clams. A James Brown meets Pérez Prado band, The Wild Clams received quick attention for their explosive live shows and were consequently booked at the House of Blues and the Playboy Jazz Festival. Cecilia Noël and The Wild Clams released a live concert DVD "Live in Hollywood" in the summer of 2008 and in December, participated in the Los Angeles County Holiday Celebration on PBS/KCET. Noël also performs and records with husband and former Men At Work frontman Colin Hay.

Official Website: http://www.starlightbowl.com