Music Video: The Manhattan Scene "Where Were You"

Despite filming in a sweltering print shop in +90-degree heat, these boys (and film crew) still rocked it out.


Cast: The Manhattan Scene
Brandon-Marshall Edmond – lead vocals
Matthew Augusta – lead guitar
Ryan Augusta – rhythm guitar
Dan Thompson – bass
Andy Moore – drums

Filmed at Live It Up print shop in Akron, Ohio, with the permission of owner Andy Moore (featured drummer in the music video).

Directed by Stephen Mlinarcik

Videographers: Terry Geer and Ralph Miller


The Manhattan Scene | Where Were You from Stephen Mlinarcik on Vimeo.


Post updated August 23, 2011
Originally posted August 6, 2011

Sneak Peek: The Manhattan Scene's "Where Were You" music video

The Manhattan Scene (TMS) has spent the better part of the year in a dark, in-home basement studio tirelessly wheeling away to perfect the follow-up record to the band's 2010 debut EP, Constellations.

TMS is celebrating the release of its first full-length, self-titled album on Sunday, August 7, at The Grog Shop in Cleveland Heights. Along with the 10-song compilation, TMS is launching a music video for the first single off the record, "Where Were You," directed by Stephen Mlinarcik.

Here's a sneak peek.


The Manhattan Scene | Where Were You (Trailer) from Stephen Mlinarcik on Vimeo.

Update: TMS released the official music video on Saturday.
Watch it here.

The Manhattan Scene CD release party
Sunday, August 7

Doors open at 6 p.m.
Tickets are $8 in advance/$10 at the door
Click here to purchase tickets now.

The Grog Shop

2785 Euclid Heights Boulevard

Cleveland Heights, OH 44106

Tom Evanchuck strikes a chord with three new records

Written by Priscilla Tasker

At only 22 years old, one knows Tom Evanchuck could not have lived all the tales he sings, but he tells them better than most ever could. He’s drawn from the greatest storytellers of eras gone by, the music of our mothers’ and fathers’ time, and the tunes their parents tapped to before that.  The air of an ageless soul flows in his music and strikes a listener still.

Better known as an acoustic folk artist around the Greater Cleveland area, Evanchuck is reshaping the mold with his first electric record, Tom Evanchuck is back as The Evanchucks, and still holding true to the sound that has captured fans — not only from the local scene, but beyond Ohio’s state line — with the simultaneous release of his third acoustic album, Fadin’ Glow.

Fadin’ Glow

In Evanchuck’s traditional fashion, Fadin’ Glow is a patchwork of stories sung over an undulating acoustic guitar. But breaking away from the mirthful melodies heard on Tom, Fadin’ Glow is a collection of somber chanties. While the record starts with “Sunshine,” an upbeat rockabilly jive with an optimistic message about taking life as it rolls, the record’s title song is a brief, lonesome ballad encapsulating the silent moments of a heart aching in hope. Leah McCoy’s innocently sweet vocals complement the depth of Evanchuck’s own on the song “Fadin’ Glow,” as well as several other tracks featured on the album including “Glory,” a matrimonial love duet with the potential to steal the hearts of brides across the country picking out their perfect wedding songs.

Evanchuck said his writing for this album was more personal than his previous work. “All My Friends” is true down to the very last verse, he said. In the song, he candidly expresses his sentiment regarding his brother’s departure to the Navy, warbling, “They call it a tin can, for a grown man, the office of the sea. I say, those thievens stole my brother, and it’s a while ‘til he’s free.” 

“The development of my writing has gone from strictly wanting to write story songs to more personal writing. It’s matured in many ways,” Evanchuck said. 

However, his broad stock of songs is evidence that Evanchuck is a storyteller at the core. Fadin’ Glow’s third track “Everett” is a brazen western-style fable that tells the tale of an unscrupulous character who steals the life of another man and makes it his own only to be caught.

“My mind is somewhat of a scary place,” Evanchuck laughed.

The record ends with the low-tumbling strain “Somebody’s Got To,” a prelude to the electric release.

Tom Evanchuck is back as The Evanchucks

Tom Evanchuck is back as The Evanchucks picks up where Fadin’ Glow left off, with a charged reprise of “Somebody’s Got To.” The electric-infused record signals Evanchuck’s crossover from humble folk singer to bonafide rock musician. The album is an ode to Americana. Hints of blues and gospel permeate through distorted guitar riffs, going back to the roots of rock ‘n’ roll.

“Take Me Back” is a carefree anthem one-way bound to make you want to forget responsibility and hit the open road. Drummer Anthony Evanchuck kickstarts the song with a Texas shuffle rat-a-tat that drives the energy of the roving guitar over Patrick Jenkin’s gravel bass line and straight on through Will Nolan’s wild organ interludes.

The band switches up the tempo on “Long, Long Ohio,” a steady-building tribute to the unchanging comfort of home peppered with simple, percussive tambourine taps beneath melodic guitar murmurs. 

“I love Otis Redding, Ray Charles, and Lightning Hopkins — that old bluesy sound mixed with Motown. Basically, if I could sing like an old black man, I would,” Evanchuck said of his inspiration for both the electric and acoustic releases.

Dwelling on the fight to surrender to lover’s adoration, Evanchuck feigns the fervor of Charles’ “Georgia On My Mind” as he cries out for “Peace of Mind” on the aptly titled blues, doo-wop tune. The song, he said, is “basically telling the girl, she knows and you know — so just give in. Find that peace of mind.” 

The good-time spirit of Tom Evanchuck is back as The Evanchucks makes it a fitting summer soundtrack. With the collaboration of talented musicians backing Evanchuck on this album, his newfound sound ascends to a class of music lost in your parents’ record collections.

Fadin’ Glow and Tom Evanchuck is back as The Evanchucks were both recorded by Division Sound and are available on iTunes and Amazon. The three-song EP, Nebby Thomas and Zrenner Lewis, which Evanchuck recorded with Bad Racket Recording Studios and launched in advance of the dual release, is available on CDBaby and Amazon.

Editor’s note: For an optimal listening experience, begin with Nebby Thomas and Zrenner Lewis, follow with Fadin’ Glow and end with Tom Evanchuck is back as The Evanchucks.

Follow Tom Evanchuck and The Old Money on 

Facebook and Twitter. 

Read more on Tom Evanchuck in these Rhythm Report articles:

• "TOM" beyond the Evanchuck: An interview with The Old Money
• United We Stand: Evanchuck, Red Wanting Blue

Also, check out photos of the band's summer festival junket in Ohio in 

The Rhythm Report's Facebook albums: 

• Painesville's Party in the Park 
• 6ixth City Tech Fest

Music video: Tom Evanchuck "Mother Lewis" CD release promotion

Tom Evanchuck is releasing his third acoustic album, Fadin' Glow, along with first full-length electric album, Tom Evanchuck is back as The Evanchucks, in a dual record release on May 21, 2011, at Beachland Tavern. Visit www.tomevanchuck.com for more information.

Song: "Mother Lewis" by Tom Evanchuck
Album: Nebby Thomas and Zrenner Lewis
Bad Racket Recording Studios

This video was filmed by The Rhythm Report's video production unit, De los angeles Productions, under the direction of Priscilla Tasker, with the help of Megan Medgyesi, production assistant and photographer.

Ty Kellogg to release second full-length album April 2

A cool spring breeze is blowing up from Appalachia and on it the tintinnabulation of a bronze-stringed guitar plucked by Ty Kellogg. Raised in Geauga County, Ohio, Kellogg does not hail from the misty mountains of the eastern United States but that is where he’s found the muse for the music he creates.

Kellogg is releasing his second full-length album on April 2. The self-titled folk country record, originally planned for release in 2010, features 10 songs, nine labeled and one untitled “hidden track.” He calls it "dirt" music, nitty-gritty tunes from another time in which the vocals aren't clean but gruff and a twang of the guitar may result from a misplayed chord.

"It's about how into the music are you," Kellogg said.

Kellogg shared with The Rhythm Report a sneak preview of a song on the album called "Chain Gang," a call-and-response work song inspired by Tom Waits and Cool Hand Luke, the 1967 film in which Paul Newman plays the role of a man imprisoned in a harsh Florida prison camp for popping off the tops of parking meters. Kellogg actually used chains to recreate the sound of leg iron dragging in the dirt on the side of a road. It is like listening to a record pulled from an early 20th century archive; one almost expects to hear the pop and crackle of the 45.

"This song will likely never be played live," Kellogg said. "It would be to hard to recreate its sound in a live show."

However, music fans can hear it here by clicking the video below and, if they're lucky enough to pick up one of the albums at Saturday's show, can add it to their own collection.

The album release show is being held at The Hambden Grange in Chardon and starts at 8 p.m. on Saturday.

Special guests will include members of Gypsy Dave & the Stumpjumpers of Pennsylvania, The Ruckus Juice Jug Stompers of New York, Rebekah Jean, Leah McCoy, Bluebird and many more. Rumor has it, Kellogg and his band of misfit musicians will be equipped with banjos, a mandolin and a cross between the two called a banjolin, an upright bass, harmonicas and even a tuba to put on a show that is sure to be a boot-stompin’ delight.

“I’d like to think, even if someone doesn’t like folk music, they’ll be entertained,” Kellogg said.

Preview: "Chain Gang" Ty Kellogg

Article written by Priscilla Tasker, editor and creator of The Rhythm Report