Meet Dana Rossi, creator and host of The Soundtrack Series, a live event in New York City that celebrates music in our everyday lives – from hilarious to heartbreaking stories and memories we forever tie to certain songs, to the debates we have over music’s most famous arguments. Her “wouldn’t it be awesome to put together a show where people came and shared the stories they connect with specific songs?” idea she got one day while listening to Devo’s “Jocko Homo” while walking home from the gym came to light when Michael Jackson died.
In an interview with BrooklynBased.com, Rossi explains: “People on Facebook were talking about him nonstop–quoting lyrics, yes, but also telling mini stories from their lives that they connected with Michael and his music. Buying the album Bad in the middle of the summer, and having to listen to it holed up in the one room in the house that had air conditioning. Learning the “Thriller” dance with friends and being the only one who consistently zombie shimmied the wrong way. I thought, holy crap, this is the thing, this is that connecting music with memories thing. Everyone does this. And then boom! Soundtrack Series.”
The first show was in February of 2010 at Waltz Astoria Cafe, then moved to Le Poisson Rouge in New York’s West Village in September of 2010, where the show currently runs the fourth Thursday of every month. The Soundtrack Series has been featured on NY1, The New York Times, BUST, “Above & Beyond” in The New Yorker, a Critic’s Pick in Time Out New York, a Gothamlist Event of the Week, and included among the “Best Events in NYC” by CBS News New York.
I sat down for a one-on-one with Dana Rossi at Le Poisson Rouge last year as I was invited to produce a video on The Soundtrack Series (you can watch that video HERE). The theme of that evening’s show was “Virgin Territory” and Rossi told a tale about being a 20 year old virgin with a crush on a Metallica-loving skinhead while working at a Pizzeria Uno in Philadelphia. The story is as hilarious as it is unexpectedly heart-warming. So scroll back up and check it out (WARNING: it does contain some “colorful” language) and then get over to Le Poisson Rouge as The Soundtrack Series takes on The 80’s on Thursday, August 1st. Show starts at 7pm and tickets are only $8 at the door and $5 in advance. That’s right, $5. If you’ve already thrown away $12 dollars on lame summer films like “The Lone Ranger” and/or “After Earth”, you’ll thank me for this one…
Enjoy.
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Oh, and check out Kevin Allison (of MTV’s “The State”) take on his boyhood crush on Elliott of “E.T.”, Marvin Gaye’s “Sexual Healing” and being gay in New York City HERE.
