Dean Friedman at the French House Party

• Thursday, 28 January 2010

The French House Party is named Top Retreat in the National Geographic book "The 100 Best Worldwide Vacations to Enrich Your Life" by Pam Grout.

A rare opportunity to learn song-writing from a virtuoso!

We’re delighted to announce that New York singer-songwriter Dean Friedman will be presenting a three-day series of residential song-writing workshops with The French House Party in Carcassonne this July.

Dean shot to fame in 1977 with the unusual and irresistible love-song “Ariel”, following this with the iconic story-song “Lucky Stars” - which went to the top of the British charts. Later singles included “Woman of Mine”, “Lydia” and “Well Well Said the Rocking Chair” and he has continued to write songs, record albums and perform both nationally and internationally. Dean is scheduling his summer European tour to include a stay at the French House Party’s eight-bedroom country house.

This exciting and exclusive opportunity to spend three days learning songwriting techniques from one of contemporary music’s most original musical lyricists has limited availability. Bookings at the all-inclusive price of £750 per person (sharing twin/double bedroom) will be on a first-come-first-served basis.

The course dates are 30 July – 2 August, 2010.

The French House Party is named Top Retreat in the National Geographic book "The 100 Best Worldwide Vacations to Enrich Your Life" by Pam Grout.

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Dean Friedman is a New York master songsmith described by one music critic as “A genius. An original. A musical craftsman of unrivalled expertise.”

Comparisons have inevitably been drawn with Billy Joel, Sting and Paul Simon. In fact, another writer, praising his “unmistakable and unforgettable voice “ described him as “Billy Joel with the blandness removed and an acerbic streak inserted”. Friedman’s music has influenced a new generation of recording artist, including top bands such as Canada’s Barenaked Ladies, the Blenders and Ben Folds Five.

Dean’s music is not easy to pigeonhole. He is a painter of pictures with words: immaculately-written literary songs with witty lyrics and a strong melodic base. The success of his biggest British hit “Lucky Stars” – a dialogue of a lover’s tiff sung with Denise Marsa - was because its astonishing originality stood out amid a majority of other rock and pop offerings which followed more formulaic patterns. More remarkable still, to consider that its composer was but a boy of 22 when he wrote it in 1977.

These days, opinions on “Lucky Stars” divide between those who hail it as a musical beacon - one of the greatest romantic duets of all time - to people who list it as one of their “most hated” songs. Dean deals with the flak good-naturedly, admitting that the song was "corny" and "kinda mushy". It lends itself to parody – Dean himself sportingly sang the duet with a sock-puppet at last summer’s Edinburgh Festival, which thrilled the audience, even though the sock-puppet deprived them of their customary responsive role in concert. Philosophic, Dean muses: “The song revealed me to be someone with the audacity to rhyme ‘dumb’ with ‘glum’. Having done that, I have to accept the consequences.”

Since the 1980s, as well as continuing to record his own albums (another is due this summer) Dean has fitted his performance work around composing soundtracks for film and TV, writing seminal textbooks in the 1980s about the newly emerging synthesizer industry, and being an inventor. One of his companies, Cool Stuff for Kids, markets his own creations of over-sized interactive musical instruments with names such as Honkblatts and Boobles, for theme parks and children’s playgrounds.

Importantly, he also entered the world of computer games. Inspired by a powerful virtual reality programme which put the user inside the game – similar to the later Eye Toy - in 1989 he designed his first big virtual reality game for children, called “Eat a Bug”, which was licensed by Nickelodeon TV and he went on to produce more games. He is now the President and Creative Director of InVideo games.

Unsurprisingly, he now defines himself as ‘a multi-media artist’. “While I feel most adept as a songwriter, I love performing, as well. And as for my wacky musical instrument inventions and virtual reality game designs, the creative process involved is not all that different from sitting down and writing a song.”

Dean does not restrict his performance to international concert tours for an adult audience. His music workshops for children, containing original songs such as ‘That Stove is Hot’ and ‘Please, Don’t Tease the Bees’ means he has an enormous group of American fans under the age of 10. He sees little difference between these and performing for 10,000 people in a theatre: "The essence of the exchange of music is the same."

A family man with an enduring marriage, two children - and a pet monkey called Amelia - he says he is extraordinarily happy. The Worldwide Web has meant that fans are now able to converse with him through his website, www.deanfriedman.com - which delights him. "People write and say things like, ‘Thanks for helping me get through college,’ or ‘through my divorce’," he says. "And I get lots of e-mails from girls named Ariel.”


• French House Party Workshop Synopsis:

Dean Friedman’s three-day workshop will explore a handful of useful tools and strategies for inspiring and facilitating the craft of songwriting.

The role of choice in determining the theme, idiom, narrative voice and goal of a song will be examined along with strategies for creating an environment that encourages inspiration to strike. Students will be encouraged to share their original compositions, for comment and review. Each day, students will be given specific songwriting assignments, individually and/or in pairs, tailored to explore some of the basic principles of the craft of songwriting.

Dean will also be in concert one evening at a venue local to the French House Party. Admission to the concert is included in the price of £750 per person.

Contact Moira Martingale on 0044 1299 896819 or by email on enquiries@frenchhouseparty.co.uk for more information.

Website: www.frenchhouseparty.co.uk

This press release was distributed via Response Source, a service from Daryl Willcox Publishing, on behalf of The French House Party Experience. For more information visit http://www.dwpub.com/pressreleasewires