{"id":739,"date":"2013-09-30T15:21:45","date_gmt":"2013-09-30T15:21:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/skyemediaonline.com\/wordpress\/?p=739"},"modified":"2013-10-11T15:24:34","modified_gmt":"2013-10-11T15:24:34","slug":"stevie-wonders-innervisions-revisited-aaron-the-spell-covers-the-album-live-on-the-40th-anniversary-with-shows-in-philadelphia-nyc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/skyemediaonline.com\/wordpress\/stevie-wonders-innervisions-revisited-aaron-the-spell-covers-the-album-live-on-the-40th-anniversary-with-shows-in-philadelphia-nyc\/","title":{"rendered":"Stevie Wonder&#8217;s &#8220;Innervisions&#8221; revisited:  Aaron &#038; The Spell covers the album live on the 40th anniversary with shows in Philadelphia &#038; NYC"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>September 30, 2013<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p><strong>Stevie Wonder&#8217;s <em>Innervisions<\/em> Revisited:<\/strong><\/p>\n<div><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/div>\n<p><strong>Aaron &amp; The Spell covers the album live on the 40th anniversary at shows in Philadelphia and New York City<\/strong><\/p>\n<div><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/div>\n<p>This year, in honor of the 40th anniversary of Stevie Wonder\u2019s <em>Innervisions<\/em>, Philadelphia-based music outfit Aaron &amp; The Spell will cover the entire record from front to back in a live setting at shows in Philadelphia and New York City. \u00a0The show in Philadelphia, an XPN Welcomes event, will take place at World Caf\u00e9 Live (upstairs) on Wednesday, November 20, 2013, with proceeds from ticket sales benefitting Pathways to Housing PA (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.pathwaystohousingpa.org\">www.pathwaystohousingpa.org<\/a>).\u00a0 The show in New York City will take place at the Cutting Room on Thursday, November 21, 2013, with a portion of the proceeds from ticket sales going to Pathways to Housing NY (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.pathwaystohousingny.org\">www.pathwaystohousingny.org<\/a>).\u00a0 Both shows feature Jeffrey Gaines as a special guest.<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>The idea for the shows was initially inspired by a Facebook comment made by Robert Drake, on-air host and producer for WXPN, in which he said, \u201cThe #XPNfest has just started and I already have a new favorite band!! \u00a0Philly&#8217;s own Aaron &amp; The Spell&#8230; it&#8217;s like listening to vintage 1970s Stevie Wonder.\u201d After reading that comment, it struck lead singer and songwriter Aaron Brown that it would be great fun to actually cover a Stevie Wonder record. After looking into it further, Aaron realized that it was the 40th\u00a0 anniversary for one of his favorite albums, <em>Innervisions<\/em>, and the rest was easy after that. He enlisted some great friends to help play and promote the shows.<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>To make the performance even more special, the shows, held during National Hunger and Homeless Awareness Week (November 16-24), will be a benefit concerts with ticket proceeds for the Philadelphia show going to a non-profit organization called Pathways to Housing PA, which offers hope and an array of innovative services to chronically homeless individuals battling severe mental illness in Philadelphia. Says Brown, \u201cIt is only fitting to tie <em>Innervisions<\/em> to giving back to the community, because if you really listen to the record, Stevie\u2019s concern for people and the community are what make that record so meaningful for me and so many others.\u201d \u00a0Brown plans to donate a portion of the proceeds from the New York City show to Pathways to Housing NY.<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>By the start of the 1970s, Stevie Wonder had hit his groove as one of the most gifted entertainers on the planet. After releasing gems <em>Music of My Mind<\/em> and <em>Talking Book<\/em> in 1972, he was on the verge of producing the most epic album in his catalog. On August 3, 1973, <em>Innervisions<\/em> was released and it became his third consecutive successful album within a two-year span. The record would spawn three singles, including the hits \u201cLiving for the City,\u201d \u201cHigher Ground,\u201d and \u201cDon\u2019t You Worry \u2019Bout a Thing.\u201d <em>Innervisions<\/em> became the first R&amp;B album to be named Album of the Year at the Grammy Awards (where he also won two others, including Best R&amp;B song for \u201cLiving for the City\u201d). The album has been hailed as one of the top 25 greatest albums of all time by <em>Rolling Stone<\/em> magazine.<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>Tickets for the Philadelphia show are expected to go quickly; fans are encouraged to go to <a href=\"http:\/\/tickets.worldcafelive.com\/\">http:\/\/tickets.worldcafelive.com\/<\/a> now to purchase tickets to the event. Tickets for the New York City show will be available starting tomorrow at <a href=\"http:\/\/thecuttingroomnyc.com\/\">http:\/\/thecuttingroomnyc.com\/<\/a>.\u00a0 To learn more about National Hunger and Homeless Awareness Week go to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.pathwaystohousingpa.org\">www.pathwaystohousingpa.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>Philadelphia, PA-based Aaron &amp; The Spell released its album, <em>Sing<\/em><em>,<\/em> on September 10, 2013, and Brown is already busy writing for the next album, which is slated to be recorded in the spring of 2014.\u00a0 Brown\u2019s bold sensitivity as a vocalist and a songwriter has earned him favorable comparisons to Amos Lee, Otis Redding, Sam Cooke, and Ben Harper. \u00a0<em>Sing<\/em> has been garnering acclaim, with songs like \u201cDon\u2019t Cry,\u201d which has been played regularly on WXPN, and \u201cA Beating Heart,\u201d which recently won the Independent Music Award in the Adult Contemporary Song category. \u00a0Brown has also been nominated for a <em>Tri State Indie<\/em> Music Award, named \u201cArtist to Watch\u201d in 2013 by <em>Ticket Magazine\/Montgomery Media<\/em>, and listed as one of the \u201c10 Artists You Should Have Known In 2012\u201d on <em>NPR Music<\/em>.<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aaronandthespell.com\" target=\"_blank\">www.aaronandthespell.com<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AaronandTheSpell\">www.facebook.com\/AaronandTheSpell<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.twitter.com\/AaronTheSpell\">www.twitter.com\/AaronTheSpell<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE September 30, 2013 &nbsp; Stevie Wonder&#8217;s Innervisions Revisited: \u00a0 Aaron &amp; The Spell covers the album live on the 40th anniversary at shows in Philadelphia and New York City \u00a0 This year, in honor of the 40th anniversary of Stevie Wonder\u2019s Innervisions, Philadelphia-based music outfit Aaron &amp; The Spell will cover the &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"http:\/\/skyemediaonline.com\/wordpress\/stevie-wonders-innervisions-revisited-aaron-the-spell-covers-the-album-live-on-the-40th-anniversary-with-shows-in-philadelphia-nyc\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Stevie Wonder&#8217;s &#8220;Innervisions&#8221; revisited:  Aaron &#038; The Spell covers the album live on the 40th anniversary with shows in Philadelphia &#038; NYC&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-739","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-press-releases"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/skyemediaonline.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/739","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/skyemediaonline.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/skyemediaonline.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/skyemediaonline.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/skyemediaonline.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=739"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/skyemediaonline.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/739\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":743,"href":"http:\/\/skyemediaonline.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/739\/revisions\/743"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/skyemediaonline.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=739"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/skyemediaonline.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=739"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/skyemediaonline.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=739"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}