Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Joe D'Urso performs in The Listening Room
before a European tour

By DIANA COSTELLO
THE JOURNAL NEWS

Joe D'Urso performs in The Listening Room. Elizabeth Orozco/The Journal News

Joe D'Urso admits he has always put musicians on too high a pedestal.

But he's not apologizing.

"I've never seen any other art form be able to move people, as many people," he said. "I really believe it had something to do with the revolution during the late '60s and I think it's going to have something to do with the next one, wherever that goes."

The singer-songwriter spoke recently about the power of music while giving an exclusive performance in The Listening Room, the online concert series produced by LoHud.com.

He also spoke about his journey from a young man who knew how to play only a few simple guitar chords to an international performer about to embark on a European tour.

"Every musician in the world, I don't care if you're U2 or some local kid starting off down at the open-mic night, you're going to have bad nights," said D'Urso, 43, who was raised in Tappan and tours with the band Joe D'Urso & Stone Caravan.

"But when you have great ones, it makes up for a lot of the bad ones, and that's why you keep doing it."

Sitting earlier this month with only an acoustic guitar and a microphone, D'Urso performed three tunes from his latest album, "Cause ..."

Before launching into the album's title track, D'Urso said he wrote it for anyone who gets up and tries to do something in life. He dedicated the song to Harry Chapin, the late singer-songwriter who was devoted to social activism, especially world hunger.

"Everyone has a cause," D'Urso sang for an intimate audience. "I think the world's a good cause."
One cause D'Urso has been devoted to over the years is raising money for Parkinson's disease research.

Throughout November, he will be traveling across Europe with the Light of Day concert series to raise awareness and money. The tour is scheduled to touch down in seven countries for 10 shows.

The Light of Day concerts have been staged each November since 2000, attracting unannounced headliner Bruce Springsteen on several occasions and raising more than $750,000.

Bob Benjamin, D'Urso's band manager, started the series after being diagnosed with Parkinson's in 1995.

"I had been involved in other things over the years... (but) this one certainly hit a little closer to home," D'Urso said. "I'm really proud of it and I hope it goes well."

The Listening Room performance also includes one of D'Urso's more directly political songs, "When the Rain Finally Stops."

"Seems no one's keeping score," he sang. "Can't sit here while the boys die. Not enough people asking why."

He lamented that more anti-war songs aren't making it onto the mainstream airways, but added that that's the beauty of the Internet - there's no censorship.

"They're being written; they're not being played," he said. "I think the longer we as Americans keep putting our heads a little bit in the sand, we start getting into some dangerous territory."

Hear or download The Listening Room at http://www.LoHud.com/listeningroom.