GREAT FRIENDS SHARE SONGS
LISA BURNS Jackson Heights musical legend and her good friend in need GEORGE USHER teamed up to compose songs of hope and recovery.
Entire ARTICLE VIA EXAMINER.COM:
Cancer survivors often look at their illness and treatment as a “journey.” For veteran New York art-pop singer-songwriter George Usher, it’s been a musical one, culminating Oct. 13 at the Mercury Lounge with his first band performance of songs inspired by his journey.
Usher will join Lisa Burns, with whom he composed and recorded a duets album,The Last Day of Winter. He calls the 12 songs “snapshots from an ongoing struggle to find meaning in a life that might be ending.”
A member of the 1980s cowpunk band Beat Rodeo, Usher later fronted his own band House of Usher, and collaborated with such New York music luminaries as Richard Barone, Kate Jacobs and James Mastro before forming the George Usher Group. He also composed the titletrack for Laura Cantrell’s acclaimed 2000 alt-country album Not the Tremblin’ Kind and co-wrote Edward Rogers' first two solo albums prior to releasing his last solo album,Yours and Not Yours, in 2009.
“I was diagnosed with cancer in August, 2010,” says Usher. “I began chemo and radiation programs in September, and almost immediately developed neuropathy in my hands, which became useless to play an instrument.”
After major surgery in November, Usher spent two months at home recovering.
“During this time, a handful of friends stepped up, making regular visits and giving me their time and attention. Lisa Burns was one of them.”
Singer-songwriter Burns has been a New York music scene mainstay since her 1960s girl group-influenced 1978 self-titled album debut.
http://www.examiner.com/article/george-usher-teams-with-lisa-burns-duet-cd-documenting-his-cancer-treatmentCOME HEAR THIS AMAZING DUO
MONDAY OCT 13
7:00pm.
MERCURY LOUNGE
217 East Houston St. between Ludlow and Essex.
New York, NY 10002
