Snazzy Productions & The Ugly Mug Present
Roy Zimmerman
Saturday Mar 23, 7pm doors at 6:30, $35/30
Roy Zimmerman’s signature blend of heart and hilarity has never been more necessary. In a career spanning more than thirty years, Roy’s songs have been heard on HBO and Showtime, and his videos have garnered hundreds of millions of views. Roy co-writes these songs with his wife Melanie Harby. Their song parody “Vote Him Away (The Liar Tweets Tonight)” has had over 140 million views online. Together, they have produced eleven albums of tuneful satire. The latest release is THIS MACHINE: THE BEST OF ROY ZIMMERMAN, a double album featuring 25 songs from Roy’s 25 years as a solo artist.
Joni Mitchell says, “Roy’s lyrics move beyond poetry and achieve perfection.” The Los Angeles Times says, “Zimmerman displays a lacerating wit and keen awareness of society’s foibles that bring to mind a latter-day Tom Lehrer.” Tom Lehrer says, “I congratulate Roy Zimmerman on reintroducing literacy to comedy songs.” Roy has shared stages with a vast variety of musical and comedic luminaries – Robin Williams, Black Francis, Ellen DeGeneres, Arlo Guthrie, Bill Maher, Holly Near, John Oliver, The Roches, George Carlin. Roy founded and wrote all the material for the comedy folk quartet The Foremen. The Foremen brought to the Nineties what Folk Era groups like The Limeliters and The Kingston Trio brought to the early Sixties: twangling instruments, knife-edged four-part harmonies and biting, hilarious satire.
The Foremen recorded two albums for Warner/Reprise Records. They toured extensively, playing the nation’s major folk venues, a lot of fancy Progressive benefits, Pete Seeger’s Clearwater Festival (under an overpass in the rain) and CBGB. Melanie is three-time West Coast bluegrass guitar champion. She was an original Broadway cast member of Quilters, and performed the show at regional theaters across the country. Melanie was Joni Mitchell’s guitar tech and her research assistant on the Hits and Misses project. She was also research assistant for the Fox Movie Channel’s Legacy series with Tom Rothman, reconstructing how the deals and casting decisions were made for many classic 20th Century Fox films. Melanie co-directed a documentary of the life of Anita O’Day, The Jezebel of Jazz, and Roy and Melanie co-wrote Anita’s last song with her, “No Man of My Own.”
Roy and Melanie have written hundreds of children’s songs for Disney, Warner Bros. Looney Tunes, and McGraw and Hill. Melanie’s children’s picture book All Aboard for Dreamland is published by Simon and Schuster. By far, Roy and Melanie’s best collaborations are their sons Joe and Sam. Roy and Melanie have toured every inch of this country. Their Satire Delivery Service brings laughter and encouragement to the “Blue Dots” – the most progressive people in some of the least progressive places in the nation. “I get accused of preaching to the converted,” says Roy, “but that’s not how I think of it. I think of it as entertaining the troops.”
Roy Zimmerman
Saturday March 23rd – 7PM
The Ugly Mug – Soquel
Contact the Snazzy Ticket Hotline (831) 479-9421 or SnazzyProductions for reservations or more information.