There's the song about us all being Martians, and the one about his
father resembling Moe of the Three Stooges which add to that overall
impression. They'll be included on his soon-to-be-released CD, tentatively
titled "Junk Mail." They're also available on separate Modern Man CDs.
Modern Man is a comedic folk group that George has been performing
with since 1999, He shares turns performing humorous songs with satirists
David Buskin and Rob Carlson.
George has lived in Brooklyn his whole life. His connection to music began
when he was 8 or 9 and the Beatles appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show.
His mother bought him a Beatle wig, Beatle boots and a collarless jacket - the kind
that the Beatles wore and that Carnaby Street helped to popularize.
All this enabled him to act out a childhood fantasy.
A couple of years later, the family moved next door to a church. George
was allowed to go inside during slack periods, after school and on weekends,
and play the piano there. He tried to find the chords to Beatles songs.
Without knowing what a triad was, he figured out how to create chords
using alternate white keys and how to augment them using the black keys.
The first song he learned by ear was "House of the Rising Sun."
Not realizing it until much later, it acquainted him with the "circle of fifths,"
the basis of western chord progression. He figured out easy songs to play like
"Season of the Witch" (2 chords) and "Dear Mister Fantasy" (3 chords) and
play them over and over for hours. A year later he asked his parents if he
could take lessons. He remembers they cost a judicious $4.50 an hour.
During junior high, he'd get together with friends and they'd form bands and
play at parties. There were parties every week at someone's house. They'd go
off on a tear, sometimes playing a song like "Atlantis"… "Way down below
the ocean, where I wanna be, she may be…" over and over, with everyone
joining in. That's one way to build performing experience. Sheer exuberance.
In George's senior year of high school, he had completed all the required credits
except for English and gym and, due to the dedication of a great music teacher,
who prepared special lessons for a small group of 4 or 5 students, he was allowed
to work on music eight periods per day for the entire 2nd half of the year.
Because of that extra studying, he enrolled at SUNY City College as an advanced
student with Music Composition as a major. While he gigged as a rock piano player
from high school onward into college, often in a band with his older brother Carl,
he still had to play classical pieces before a board of professors each year before
advancing to the next year's studies.
At times, a weird juxtaposition occurred between the classical and the commercial
playing. As an elective, George performed with an a capella Renaissance choral
group. He said, "I'm not kidding, I'd be doing a performance at 6 o'clock at some
cathedral in Manhattan, maybe Palestrina, a mass from the 14th century, and at
11 o'clock the same night, I'd be in a bar, doing Beatles' songs." However, he asserts,
"Being flexible always helped me."
As far as the degree in Music Composition went, he says: "No one cares if you have
a degree in music… you do that for what you can get out of it training-wise. If there's
an audition, 'Can you do it?' That's all that matters. Actually, I thought it was the kiss
of death. I expected that I would teach music for a living."
What happened was, he just kept on gigging. After college, he spent 2 or 3 more
years doing covers in bands with his brother Carl, before setting out to do "original
music."
He says, " It's a much harder way to make money. Playing covers for money is safe.
You can always make money if you can play a variety of things. If you're going to
do your own stuff and expect to get paid for it, you have to commit to it for a little
while and that can be very costly."
"I did it toe-in-the-water, two toes in the water, that sort of thing, as a side man, a
keyboard player for other people doing original music, just to get used to that for
a while. I played for a lot of bands on Bleecker Street… Great Gildersleeves when
it was open, The Bitter End… On any given night, there are going to be 6 or 7 acts,
since the turnover they bring in is how the clubs make their money. So, playing for
them you get to know everyone. If bands are short-lived or they end up going into
some other excursion, they'll remember you if they like the way you played." It was
mostly word of mouth, personal referrals. I did a want ad once or twice, but they
didn't go anywhere.
George went on that way, gigging, writing a few things, not much, until the early
90's. Asked to participate in a World Hunger Year concert, He met David Buskin and
a wide array of singer/songwriters and a whole new world opened up for him.
He attended the Kerrville Festival in Texas in 1995 and walked away with the
New Folk Award. I saw him play solo at the Fast Folk Cafe in the late 90's and
thought he was staggeringly funny then and have the same opinion today.
He joined forces with David Buskin and Rob Carlson and the group called itself
Modern Man. His most recent work with the group has earned a Backstage
Bistro Award and MAC Nomination.For the past two years he's worked with
only Modern Man, but is now doing solo gigs again as well.
He's admits that he's hooked on dealing humor. He observes that while audience
members may feel compelled by habit to applaud at the end of a conventional song,
they will not laugh at something they don't think is funny. He continued, saying that
"Once you've achieved the reaction of laughter from an audience, you want it again
and again. It becomes an addiction." That's just fine with us. Pass the syringe.
George's web site georgewurzbach.com shows these listings:
July 10 with Modern Man Ocean Grove, NJ
Opening for Kingston Trio & Glen Yarbrough
14 George Wurzbach with The Excellents
23, 24(day) George Wurzbach with FRFF Most
requested Artists Falcon Ridge Folk Festival Hillsdale, NY
24 (eve) with Modern Man, Grounds for Sculpture Hanover, NJ
26 In-The-Round 7pm Red Lion Song Circle Bleecker Street NYC
He can be reached at: mail@georgewurzbach.com
Satalla - The New Kid on the Block by Richard Cuccaro
37 W. 26th St., Manhattan
212-576-1155
www.satalla.com
It's an ill wind that blows no one any good. Two months ago, word reached me
that a new local club, in the Chelsea area was advertising shows for the likes of
Cheryl Wheeler and Patti Larkin. I was amazed and incredulous, figuring that
spaces for acts of that caliber in that area would be difficult to procure and sustain.
I hadn't anticipated someone with the imagination and fortitude of Michael Yaacobi.
Back in December of 2003, the folk world began it's lament for the impending loss
of The Bottom Line to a greedy, closed-minded New York University. Yaacobi, owner
of newly-opened Satalla nightclub began receiving calls from booking agents looking
for a venue for their stables of contemporary folk artists.
Michael Yaacobi The entrance to the ancient city of Petra made an impact on Michael
who wanted to create a similar experience for patrons of Satalla.
Michael had originally thought he might include some blues and Zydeco acts
in his venue, which features predominately World Music. He knew of the
Bottom Line's history of presenting the best singer/songwriter acts and figured
he wouldn't bother to compete with it. As most of our readers know,
The Bottom Line was forced to shut down in January. This became the green
light for Michael to begin pursuing folk acts. Satalla, is a sister club to Kavehaz,
right next door. Kavehaz features jazz, a primary love of the owner.
The two clubs are joined by a kitchen which serves a more upscale food selection
and both clubs offer a much less crowded seating scheme than the Bottom Line did.
Satalla's decor, with it's black-lit day-glo wall decoration may not be everyone's
idea of feng shui, but pose no problem for this author. The menu lights up very nicely.