Comic Tales of Tragic Heartbreak

Dear Good People,

Hello there - I hope this finds you in good health and booming prosperity.

We would to be a part of your event and have music to present that we think would be a perfect fit.

Please find enclosed materials for review on Robert Whaley and Comic Tales of Tragic Heartbreak ("The best show I've seen in months. It was a fit of deliberate performance that riveted every eye...Dan Aquilante, New York Post).

We perform as a duo (piano and vocals/trumpet), trio (add bass), or quartet (add percussion), and are known around New York City for being quite engaging, original, and entertaining.

Here is our new, 17-song release: (link hidden)

Take a dash of Herb Albert, a pinch of David Bowie, add a handful of soul-jazz, and you've got
Comic Tales of Tragic Heartbreak. Added bonus? The Leonard Cohen/Tom Waits-inspired lyrics.

Recent songs, bio, videos, and photos may be found on (link hidden)

National television appearances (Good Morning America, Oxygen Network, Fox, etc.) may also be seen online here and here, as well as recent show clips and a live montage.
Comic Tales has done many types of special/celebrity/charity events, including Best Buddies (through the Rose Kennedy family, for the mentally impaired), Change for Kids (for inner-city school children), and the annual meningitis fundraiser, hosted by Dave Attell, featuring top comics from around the country.

A bit of background - lead singer, Robert Whaley, cowrote and recorded the original score for the feature film, “Joe the King”, starring Val Kilmer and Ethan Hawke. “Joe the King” won the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award at the Sundance Film Festival.

Locally (New York City), the group performs at the The National (in the lovely and luxurious Benjamin Hotel), The Rum House, Jules, The Strand, and the Way Station, among many others.

Again - thanks a million for your time and consideration. We look forward to hearing your response.

Best,

Robert Whaley / John Lacy,
Charitable Records, Reason Management

Press Quotes:
"It was a performance Jim Morrison would have loved. Lunacy? Spectacle? And music too??"
Rene Chun, New York Times

"...the best show I've seen in months. It was a fit of deliberate performance that riveted every eye..."
Dan Aquilante, New York Post

"...A high-turbo blend of manic songs and clever and whacked out improv. Robert Whaley should be a Ritalin poster boy. And I mean that admiringly."
Cynthia True, Time Out New York

"Sharp-dressed showmanship and sharp-witted pop."
New Yorker Magazine

"It's painfully obvious why Robert Whaley is part of one of New York's longest-running acts. His songs are odd hybrids of Beatles-esque melodies and Zappa-esque rhythms."
Dawn Eden, New York Press

"Singer/cornetist/clown prince Robert Whaley tosses Bowie/Morrissey and Quentin Crisp into a Ventures blender, adds a dash of grenadine, a splash of mescaline, hits ultra-whip and splurt! It's all over the ceiling."
Steve Santos, Alternative Press

"Musicians can get by on mere talent. But beauty turns talent into a luxury. Comic Tales is a handsome quartet who dress like Harry Connick Jr. and sound like a cross between Leonard Cohen and David Byrne."
Rob Kemp, Musician Magazine

"Stars fall for these guys."
Candace Bushnell (creator, Sex and the City), Vogue Magazine
"You must not try to make love definite. It is the divine accident of life."

So said the great Sherwood Anderson in his groundbreaking book, Winesburg, Ohio.

Comic Tales of Tragic Heartbreak knows all about accidents. Of birth and place. Of Top-40 radio heard through summer screen windows. Of lonely faces smiling in discos during blizzards. What’s a young criminal to do? Read every book he can get his hands on, play the Breathe Easy Method over and over on a rented trumpet, lose a thousand fistfights till he finally wins one. Ride a stolen bike, hop a Peter Pan bus, grab a hitchhiked ride…something, anything, to get out.

Years later, redemption at last. Robert Whaley is just about where he should be. Compared to everyone from David Bowie to David Byrne, he’s been welcoming audiences into a private world of enchantment and debauchery, and oh, the influences are clear: Anderson (words and emotions), Fosse (dance and controlled hysteria), Artaud and O’Hara (poetry, more hysteria).

Whaley had a lot of practice riding the line between rock n’ roll, performance art, and stand up comedy as front man for the Niagaras, a legendary force of Manhattan’s live music scene, back when a wild child could dance on bar tops and swing from light fixtures without getting banned, except for when he was. No wonder the attraction included a salacious following – everyone from Ethan Hawke to Kevin Spacey to the good people in Anthrax.

As a songwriter, Whaley has covered a lot of ground and has shown range through a number of outlets. He cowrote the original score for the feature film, Joe the King, starring Hawke, and has also written for the stage – his rock musical Wrong Way Up ran for months off-Broadway at NYC’s Zipper Theater. He is currently working on Selling Sacred Objects, a musical adaptation of Arnold Bennett’s prescient 1908 novel, Buried Alive.

One Car Crash, the second release from Comic Tales of Tragic Heartbreak, reflects an obsession with pre-1974 soul, 60s garage rock, and the old masters (Rodgers and Hart, Tom Waits, Bill Evans). Jazz pianist Mara Rosenbloom sets the tone with her loose/attacking touch on grand piano and Rhodes. Pete O’Connell lends a sophisticated drive and counterpoint, as both bassist and coarranger. Whaley’s long-time collaborator, lead guitarist and singer, Tony Grimaldi, shines with masterful harmonies and chiming guitar lines. And Chris Schultz, percussionist with Blue Man Group, shimmers, cascades, and of course, rocks.

It’s a wild concoction filled to the brim with nuance and tender-bitter sweetness. Recorded live in the studio with a minimum of overdubs, a maximum of misfit charm, and this in mind:

“Only the few know the sweetness of the twisted apples.”
(Sherwood Anderson, again.)