Rock Star on Tour, 10 Cities 2 Weeks

Producing my TV series requires many layers of talent. In addition to the beauty of the locations, food and people you see on each episode, there is the editing and sound that must translate the feeling for the viewer to ‘Live it UP’.

The original music score, appropriately titled “Livin it UP with George Hirsch” was written, produced and performed by Joey ‘Coach’ Hanna, Thunderhoof Productions. You’ll hear this (Watch the making of the music) tune during the show open, sting between segments, bumps and credit roll. For Coach it’s a talent he was born with or I say, that flows in his blood.

Coach was born into a musical family with performing traditions spanning generations. His drum technique took him to the Berklee College of Music in Boston. He tours with top high-energy bands throughout the country; singing, writing, arranging, and the ability to provide layers of tight instrumentation. This talent brought Coach into a series of collaborations, including Noah Rickun (Everyday Productions), Mike Seifert (producer of Bone Thugs and Harmony), and most recently Lava Recording Artist, Toby Lightman with ‘Overflowing’ from the new hit release ‘Bird on a WIRE’. Coach has appeared on shows such as David Letterman, Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Conan O’Brian, Carson Daily, The View and The Today Show. Coach is the drummer who is called first to play with American Idol artist Carrie Underwood and Bo Brice.

Aside from my favorite tune, ‘Livin it UP with George Hirsch’ written, produced & performed Joe Hanna; there are two other songs you should listen to.
Listen to ‘Preacher’ written & performed by Gibb Droll, performed & produced by Joe Hanna
and ‘Semi-Normal Life’ written, produced & performed by Joe Hanna.

"Coach" will be on a ten city national tour with Sony BMG Platinum Artist Gavin DeGraw beginning Feb 26 in Gainesville Florida, wrapping up March 11 in Los Angeles, California.

For the next two weeks Coach will BLOG IN from time to time, while on tour reporting on life on the road. We’ll find out about city life, food, with some surprises added. So what's it like to be a rock star touring the US?

George

Joe "Coach" Hanna, Thunderhoof Productions

Comments

[whisper]

cool story, good luck on tour....

[Dena]

I love Joey Hanna.
He's too cute to be a rock star; doesn't wear spandex, can't see any tattoos, and he keeps his shirt on, on stage. But he must have a little bad boy in him.

Joe "Coach" Hanna has collaborated with Toby Lightman, on her new album Bird on a Wire, song "Overflowing".

http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?i=167317619&id=167316984&s=143441

Available on itunes, ipod must have, can't stop listening to it.

Joey see you at the Bowery in NYC.

:) Dena

[Jenny]

Bid for a chance to meet Gavin DeGraw.

http://www.gavindegraw.com/news/bid-for-a-chance-to-meet-gavin-at-the-show

in love with a girl fan. of course he wrote this song about me.

[trish]

A prayer for Gavin, Joey and Band

To hold light, love and good health around them on tour.

Prayer to Saint Cecilia

Dear Saint Cecilia, We do not know that you were a musician but we are told that you heard Angels sing. Inspire musicians to gladden the hearts of people by filling the air with God's gift of music and reminding them of the divine Musician who created all beauty.

Amen.

We love you.

[Ben]

George, cool posts on the people behind the scene, keep em coming. good luck on the tour-

[David]

Joey has some great music. Thanks for the
heads up. I'll be sure to let all my friends
in Florida know of his tour and Gsinesville
date.

[Coach]

Hello to all, and thank you George for the VERY nice introduction! I have to say I'm quite exhausted from a long week + of rehearsals down here in Tampa, so I'm going to keep this very short.
Tomorrow is the start of the tour, and it's looking like it should be quite an interesting year. I'll do my best to post as often as I can, and thanks again for checking out the blog!

[ann & mike]

thanks for the clip... enjoyed the tune. Coach Rocks!

[Coach]

Hello again! We are 2 weeks into this promo tour, and the shows have been going GREAT! Gavin's new single, "I'm in love with a girl" has been the number one most added song to hot a/c radio for the past 3 weeks, and we'll be playing the song on Jay Leno on March 12th.
I have to say, in terms of "tour food", I've been incredibly lucky to eat at some killer places around the country so far. My goal, food wise, has been to not eat a single french fry for the entire tour, and although I had one small slip up with "Moraccan fries", I'm telling myself that those don't count. :-) It becomes a bit of a game out here, trying to find decent places to eat in a new city every day. The entire band seems to have a similar passion for food like I do, so we'll keep looking for great places around the country. I'm sure this will get a bit more challenging when we start hitting the smaller markets, but for now, the big cities are treating us right!
That's about all for now. We play Chicago tonight, and Minneapolis tomorrow, and then we head out to the west coast. I'm going to make a point to write as much as I can, and I think I'll start writing tidbits about each person we have out on this tour as well.
Until next time.....

[George]

You are still FF Free; 'Moraccan' fries don't count.
Here's a game I have played (after a few bottles of wine) with my TV crew towards the end of a shoot. Towards the end of the tour, see if the gang can remember all the restaurants and all the meals. If they can, have them vote on the top ones during the tour. We'll pass on and do a story on your picks.
Regards to Jay; keep on drummin'; safe travels,

[Coach]

We pulled into Reno tonight for a travel day off. I'm going to just leave it at this...Reno, what the hell? This should be the town moto.

On to San Fran, and not a minute too soon!

[George]

By now you've pulled out of SF; So how was the city by the bay;
Dim Sum, China Town, ??
Have a great run tonight on Leno.

[Coach]

Thanks George! Well, it's been a very strange past few days, Gavin has gotten sick, and we had to cancel the LA show last night, and they moved the Leno show to Friday. The travel schedule for this run has been pretty intense, and a few guys in the band are also feeling a bit under the weather as well, so now we have 2 days off here in LA, so hopefully everyone can rest up, play Leno Friday, and then finish up the rest of the dates on this leg without a hitch.

About San Fran....I'm not sure how we managed to do it, but I think we ate at two of the worst restaurants on the west coast! Like I said, it's been a strange few days....

[George]

Hope you are getting some LA sun, it'll work miracles for the travel crapola.
I'll alert the troops, as we have a huge following for you on Leno, we'll rally them up for Friday! You need my George radar for eats on the road; honestly I never have a bad meal...LA is so huge if you get me a neighborhood I'll try my radar from NY and see what we can do to turn around the bad eats...

[Coach]

Hello! Long time, no write. I'm sorry about that. We've been preparing for what is shaping up to be a crazy run now. Yesterday we flew down to Jackson, Ms, to start a 19 day run, in which we play on 6 different tv shows, and a bunch of radio festivals. There are tornado watches all over the area today, so it looks as if day one is shaping up to be an interesting one. This run is going to involve lots of travel, and lots of lack of sleep, but I'm really going to try to write as much as possible.
On the food front. There's not much going on, well ok, after 8pm, there's nothing going on in downtown Jackson. By the time I got to the hotel, I was STARVING, so I did what I try not to do, I went to eat at the hotel restaurant. I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised. I had an amazing pork Osso Buco! Really very good, and it certainly came at the right time, after flying much of the day on one of my least favorite airlines, Southwest. It's day one, so I want to stay positive, but I've already requested, yet again, to never fly on Southwest. Anywho....Comfort food was a must, and the Jackson Marriot didn't let me down! I'm off to soundcheck, and after the show we are onto Birmingham, where if things go according to plan, I can get some Dreamland BarBQ! I'm really going to need to run alot on this trip....

[George]

Sounds like there's more than a weather update with the tornado! Love Birmingham, lots of great eats and the people are very nice. Did a NASCAR tour a while ago and was surprised to find a J. Alexanders restaurant. One of the finest chain operated restaurants around. The gang will love it; they have all foods for tastes; from comfort to upend. Open late for after concert eats.
For locations: http://www.jalexanders.com/locations/locations.htm.
Success & safe trip.
ps. agree on SW, you can keep em. Nice folks but the seating has to go...

[Coach]

Well, we've made it back to LA after one of the crazier travel weeks of all time. Last week, after the shows down south, we flew from Memphis to NYC Sunday night and got to our hotel at about 1 am. We had a 5am wake up call for the CBS morning show, which in all honesty was one of the more comical mornings I've ever been a part of in this business, and I'll just leave it at that. Keep up the "good" work CBS!
Tuesday was Regis and Kelly, then on to a flight to LAX and we finished up the week doing Ellen, and Jimmy Kimmel, before flying to Dallas, then Denver, and then last night back to LA, where we do the Carson Daly show later this afternoon.
In all honesty, all of this travel has really made it difficult to eat anywhere that doesn't involve room service, and it shows how desperate you can get when you find yourself looking forward to $5 "jetpacks" that include bad salami, and strange little "cheese" spreads. We get our first day off on Wednesday in Minneapolis, so I'm looking forward to searching out some good food there.
More soon....

[George]

if it's Wednesday it must be...
Coach, here's a little tip to give you heads up in the morning. Go get your newspaper outside your hotel room door and look to see the date and what city you are in.
Minn has the best breakfast I've had in the US, keeps me fueled for the day, especially when all's available is the cheeze wiz.
How's the green room spreads been?

[Coach]

Hey George! Greenroom spreads have been ok, Kimmel had the best by far. We have our first day off here today, but for some reason we are staying a bit out of town, but I have to say, the hotel restaurant here is surprisingly good, very good actually, and last night when we got in, we got some amazing Indian food. I usually have a tough time in this town when it comes to food, but I'm getting lucky this time.
I just can't tell you how amazing it is to get this day off. I actually got up and ran a 10k this morning, and my body seems to be coming back to life a bit. Gavin's record debuted at number 7 on the charts, so things are moving along. Onward!

[George]

& UPWARD!
I'm sure the indian food has also helped in refreshing your body. Found some great Indian in the UK and it did wonders after a couple weeks of Brit food...
Where does the wind take you after LA?

[Coach]

We do a show tonight in Minneapolis, then a show at Meadowlands arena, then Boston, then we are off to Europe. The Europe tour starts in London. Should be an interesting few weeks. I hope to have decent internet over in Europe, so I'll be trying to write as much as possible.