City Parks Foundation Gala Honors Andrew Tisch

With the 2014 People and Parks Award

Dinner Under the Stars Raises Over $1 Million with a Musical Tribute

 to The Beatles in Central Park

Tuesday, June 3, 2014

  Andrew Tisch will be honored with the annual People and Parks Award on Tuesday, June 3^rd, during a candlelit dinner at SummerStage in Central Park which will raise over $1 million to fund free programs in parks throughout the five boroughs.

The People & Parks Award  is given annually to a New Yorker who shares City Park Foundation's (CPF) commitment to enriching New York City’s parks. Past winners include former Mayor Michael Bloomberg, The Durst Family, Bruce Ratner, David Moore and Jean Troubh. This year’s event is co-chaired by David Barse, CEO of Third Avenue Management, David Moore, CEO of Moore Holdings, and Brett Yormark, CEO of the Brooklyn Nets and the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inductee Philip Bailey, lead singer of the legendary group Earth, Wind & Fire will headline and legendary guitarist G.E. Smith will lead the house band with a stellar line up of notable performers including Grammy Award winner Paula Cole, all singing their favorite Beatles hits.

More than 600 guests will be in attendance. Confirmed attendees include Tony Award winning producers Bonnie Comley &  Stewart F. Lane, former New York State Senator Roy M. Goodman, fashion designer Nicole Miller, Andrew & Ann Tisch, Thomas & Alice Tisch, Brett Yormark & Elaina Scotto, journalist and newscaster Paula Zahn & Paul Fribourg.

For event information, including ticket sales, please visit: www.CityParksFoundation.org/GALA or contact Shahna Sherwood at
 212-360-8170, or by email at SSherwood@CityParksFoundation.org

A cocktail party for table purchasers will begin at 6:00 PM.  Tables of ten will be provided with a full dinner starting at 7:00 PM. Concert will begin at 8:00PM. SummerStage is located at Rumsey Playfield (72nd Street, mid-park).

Artists

Philip Bailey

G.E. Smith

 The Bacon Brothers • Jon Batiste • David Broza • Paula Cole

Marshall Crenshaw • Southside Johnny • Willie Nile

 Patty Smyth • Teddy Thompson

Produced by Taylor Barton-Smith

About SummerStage

Produced by City Parks Foundation, SummerStage is New York’s largest free performing arts festival, bringing over 100 performances to eighteen parks throughout the five boroughs.  Every year we reach more than 300,000 New Yorkers and since its inception in 1986, more than six million people have enjoyed SummerStage. 

About City Parks Foundation

City Parks Foundation (CPF) is the only independent, nonprofit organization to offer park programs throughout the five boroughs of New York City. CPF works in over 750 parks citywide, presenting a broad range of free arts, sports, and education programs, and empowering citizens to support their parks on a local level. Programs and community building initiatives reach more than 600,000 people each year, contributing to the revitalization of neighborhoods throughout New York City.

About Andrew Tisch

Andrew H. Tisch is Co-Chairman of the Board and Chairman of the Executive Committee of Loews Corporation (L: NYSE). Prior to that, he served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Lorillard, Inc. from 1990 to 1995 and as President of the Bulova Watch Company and Bulova Corporation from 1979 to 1990. Mr. Tisch holds a B.S. degree from Cornell University (1971) and a M.B.A. from Harvard University (1977). He serves on the Boards of Directors of CNA Financial Corporation (NYSE:CNA); Boardwalk Pipelines LLC, (NYSE:BWP); Diamond Offshore Drilling, Inc. (NYSE:DO) and K12, Inc. (NYSE:LRN). He devotes a great deal of his time to many different local and national organizations including the Wildlife Conservation Society, the New York City Police Foundation and The City Parks Foundation where he is Chairman Emeritus. He focuses his time and effort in education through leadership committees at Harvard Business School (Dean’s Board of Advisors), Cornell University (Vice-Chairman of the Board of Trustees), NYU/Tisch School of the Arts (Co-Chair Dean’s Council), and the Young Women’s Leadership Foundation (Co-Founder). He is involved in Jewish communal affairs through the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (Trustee/Executive Committee), the Jewish Leadership forum (Founding Chairman), and the Jewish Business Leadership Forum (Founder). He participates in many educational organizations including the Economic Club of New York (Immediate Past Chairman), The Brookings Institution (Trustee) and the Council on Foreign Relations. Mr. Tisch is married to journalist and educator Ann Rubenstein and lives in New York.

About Taylor Barton

TAYLOR BARTON is thrilled to present this year's TRIBUTE to the BEATLES.  With her husband at the helm, G.E. SMITH and an ALL STAR LINE UP will deliver a rocking evening of beloved BEATLES hits. Taylor brings over 20 years of public relations, music and event production to her role as producer. Throughout her career, Taylor has worked with a variety of actors, artists and organizations in the corporate, non-profit and entertainment arena providing them with promotional and marketing strategy, positioning, messaging and naming as well as successfully executing integrated campaigns involving events, advertising, PR, direct, and interactive. She has produced and launched more than 50 events worldwide.  

Artist Information

For a musical figure with an illustrious past and a busy present, Philip Bailey has somehow remained firmly focused on the future. Millions of music lovers around the world discovered Bailey through his wildly successful work as a core member, writer, musician and lead vocalist along with Maurice White in the legendary group, Earth, Wind & Fire, a Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee. From his childhood in Denver through decades productively creating, recording and performing a wide range of music both as a shining star with Earth, Wind & Fire and as a successful solo artist in multiple genres, Philip Bailey has consistently gone to all sorts of interesting musical places. That forward-thinking approach has been at the heart of Bailey’s solo career that began with 1982′s Continuation, and the 1984 platinum follow-up Chinese Wall, produced by Phil Collins and featuring their global smash duet “Easy Lover.” Bailey has continued to use his solo career to explore, releasing four gospel albums between 1984 and 1991, including the Grammy-winning Triumph.

Artist Website: http://philipbailey.com/

G.E. Smith has played with the broadest possible spectrum of artists, from Red Buttons to Allen Ginsberg,  Desmond Child to Hall and Oates, from Bob Dylan to Roger Waters; and all points in between. He held a ten year tenure as bandleader at Saturday Night Live where he won an Emmy Award. He is the iconic 'go-to' Musical Director, bandleader for major musical events. He likens himself to “Doctors Without Borders."  He plays anywhere and goes where the need is greatest.  “I’ve had an incredible ride in the world of Rock N’ Roll and American music,” says Smith, looking back over his career.  G.E. Smith is one of the most brilliant guitarist’s out there.

Artist Website: http://gesmithmusic.wordpress.com/

Long before Kevin Bacon launched his prolific stage and screen career, and before Michael Bacon became known as a go-to composer for film and television, they were just two brothers growing up playing music together.  Nearly 20 years ago, they decided to make it official and formed The Bacon Brothers. Since then, the six-piece-band has toured regularly and produced seven CDs as well as a live DVD.  The Bacon Brothers have appeared as special musical guests on A Prairie Home Companion, Craig Ferguson, Live with Kelly and Michael, VH1's Big Morning Buzz, and performed "Guilty of the Crime" with The Bellamy Brothers at the Grand Ole Opry in 2009. Their music, an infectious mix of Rock, Country, Folk, and a little Philly Soul, has fans dancing in their seats and singing along at every show. 

Artist Website: http://baconbros.com/

Jon Batiste was born in New Orleans into a family whose deep musical heritage is part of the inspiration for the HBO series Treme, in which he has appeared. Over the last decade he has forged his own artistic path by indelibly fusing himself within the fabric of New York City culture. After attending the prestigious New Orleans Center for Creative Arts Batiste moved to New York and graduated from the Juilliard School earning a master’s degree in Jazz and classical piano. He has collaborated with the likes of Prince, Cassandra Wilson, Lauryn Hill, Wynton Marsalis, Jimmy Buffet, Eve, Lenny Kravitz, ?uestlove, and Asher Roth. He has also recorded extensively, most recently putting out the EP MY NY with Stay Human in 2011, a set that was recorded live in the Manhattan subway system. Social Music is the new album by Batiste and his irrepressible musical collective, Stay Human. Stay Human has evolved over the past eight years, running the spectrum from a jazz trio to a quintet to a big band with horns.

Artist Website: http://jonbatiste.com/

Israeli superstar David Broza has been considered one of the most dynamic and vibrant performers in the singer/songwriter world. His charismatic and energetic performances are a fusion of the three different countries in which he was raised: Israel, Spain, and England, filling concert halls with his famous guitar playing, ranging from flamenco flavored rhythmic and percussion techniques, to whirlwind finger picking, to a signature rock and roll sound. Broza unites the three worlds by utilizing his ability to take on the troubadour tradition, featuring lyrics of the worlds' greatest poets. Beginning in 1977, Broza has been working to bring the message of peace to the masses by joining peace movements, and singing what has become the anthem of the Peace process, his hit song, "Yihye Tov." In 2010, Broza released the album "Night Dawn: the unpublished poetry of Townes Van Zandt and in 2011 the album, "Third Language"(Safa Shlishit) was released. Both received worldwide critical acclaim. His latest is 2014's "East Jerusalem West Jerusalem."

Artist Website: http://www.davidbroza.net/en/about/

Grammy winner and 7 time Grammy nominee Paula Cole has released six solo albums spanning an eighteen year career.  She has sold approximately three million albums and has performed with icons in many genres of music from Peter Gabriel to Dolly Parton. Cole’s emotionally deep and thrilling performances are a trademark.  Poetic and fiercely touching, intelligent writing makes Cole stand apart.  Her compositions have been covered by Herbie Hancock, Annie Lennox, Katherine McPhee to name a few.  From a small town in Massachusetts Paula Cole was raised in a musical family with whom she and her daughter remain close.  As the first woman in history to solely produce and receive the best Producer Grammy nomination for her work, “This Fire”, Cole has broken boundaries with a searcher’s spirit. From her top ten hits of the 1990’s to her more recent critically acclaimed albums, Paula Cole continues to write, produce, record and perform heartfelt, meaningful, lasting music that defies categorization.

Artist Website: http://paulacole.com/

Born near Detroit, Michigan, Marshall Crenshaw began playing guitar at age ten and he received his first break playing John Lennon in the off-Broadway company of Beatlemania. In 1987, he played Buddy Holly in the Richie Valens biopic La Bamba. While living in NYC, he recorded the single “Something’s Gonna Happen”, which led to a deal with Warner Bros.  His debut album, Marshall Crenshaw was acclaimed as a pop masterpiece upon its release in 1982 and established him as a first-rate songwriter, singer and guitarist. The record spawned the Top 40 single “Someday, Someway,” and other classics such as “(You’re My) Favorite Waste of Time,” “Whenever You’re On My Mind” and “Cynical Girl.” The great songs continued with the Life’s Too Short album (“Fantastic Planet of Love”), three albums for Razor & Tie and the 2009 release Jaggedland (“Someone Told Me,” “Passing Through,” “Never Coming Down”). Over a span of 30 years, Crenshaw has released 13 albums, all of which have received the highest marks from critics and have earned him a fiercely loyal fan base. Since 2011, he has hosted his own radio show, The Bottomless Pit, on New York’s WFUV, Saturday nights at 10 p.m. ET.

Artist Website: http://marshallcrenshaw.com/

Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes first achieved prominence in the mid-1970s, emerging from the same New Jersey Shore music scene as his now legendary contemporary and friend Bruce Springsteen.  Southside’s first three albums, I Don’t Want To Go Home, This Time It’s for Real, and Hearts of Stone, were produced by band co-founder Steven Van Zandt (E Street Band, The Sopranos), and largely featured songs written by Van Zandt and/or Springsteen. The Van Zandt-written “I Don’t Want To Go Home” became Southside’s signature song, an evocative mixture of horn-based melodic riffs and sentimental lyrics. In 1982 Rolling Stone Magazine voted Hearts of Stone among the top 100 albums of the 1970s and 1980s. With their classic blend of hard-core R&B and street-level rock, molten grooves, soulful guitar licks and blistering horn section, Johnny and his Jukes continue to put their unique stamp on the Jersey Shore sound, while recalling the glory years of Otis Redding and similar Stax Records titans

Artist Website: http://www.southsidejohnny.com/
 

Born into a large Irish Catholic family in Buffalo, N.Y., Willie Nile began writing songs in his early teens and became a popular fixture in the New York City's folk clubs, while drawing inspiration from the emerging downtown punk scene. In 1980 and 1981, Nile recorded Willie Nile and Golden Down. Those albums won a sizable audience and generated reams of press raves and marked the start of an exciting 35-year career. The well-received Streets of New York, from 2006, ushered in the most productive and prolific period of Nile’s musical life. The CD Live From the Turning Point and the DVD Live From the Streets of New York followed in 2007 and 2008, respectively, as did another widely celebrated new studio album, House of a Thousand Guitars, and 2011’s The Innocent Ones, which won some of the most enthusiastic notices Nile’s ever received: The BBC called it “stunning . . . THE rock ’n’ roll album of the year.” Anyone who’s paid attention to his recent output knows that Willie Nile is currently in the midst of a creative renaissance that’s produced some of the most compelling music of his career. The tradition continues with his latest album, American Ride.ess, an assiduous commitment to his Gibson ES-335, an ear for melody, and charisma contagious enough to be considered chemical weaponry. A mod-punk savant in an age where punk (like practically everything intangible we’ve ever expressed interest in) has been replaced by product. With his latest, "Living with the Living," Ted Leo delivers that existentialist ethos to a new crop of rude boys.

For their fifth full-length release (and first with Touch and Go Records), Ted Leo and the Pharmacists met up with Brendan Canty (Fugazi) at Long View Farms to iron out a new set of anthems that arrive with a confident and outspoken immediacy. With "Living with the Living," Ted & Co. wipe clean the slate that once held names like Weller, Strummer and Bragg and indulge some of their farthest-reaching musical ambitions.

Artist Website: http://www.willienile.com/

Patty Smyth, both with her hit band Scandal and as a solo artist, has always been, at heart, a rock and roll chick, and that’s no truer today for the mother of six, now back on the road and raring to play for fans new and old. The group burst onto the scene in 1982 with a self-titled debut that turned out to be the best-selling EP in Columbia Records history, featuring the hit single, “Goodbye to You,” a song Smyth co-wrote with Smith. Aside from “Goodbye to You,” a #1 MTV video, Scandal included the hits “Love’s Got a Line on You” and “Win Some, Lose Some.” The group’s first full-length album, The Warrior, released in 1984, climbed into the Top 20 on the sales chart, eventually earning RIAA-certified platinum status, with more than a million in sales. For all her ‘80s achievements, Smyth’s most impressive successes came in the ‘90s. Her 1992 solo album turned out to be a career peak. “Sometimes Love Just Ain’t Enough,” a song Patty wrote and featuring a performance by Don Henley, became Smyth’s biggest hit ever.

Artist Website: http://www.pattysmythandscandal.com/

Teddy Thompson is a native Englishman who has adopted New York City as his home. Famously the son of singer-songwriters Richard and Linda Thompson, he immigrated to the states more than a decade ago, barely out of his teens, to embark on a career of his own. From his self-titled debut in 2000 to 2011’s Bella, Thompson has been teasing the listener with immediately addictive melodies, then pulls the rug out from under them with unsparingly confessional or darkly amusing lyrics.

Artist Website: http://www.teddythompson.com/

**Artists and line up subject to change**

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