Jesse Hartman
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Jesse Hartman is a musician, filmmaker and actor, living in New York's East Village.
As a teenager, Hartman played guitar/keyboards on a punk-rock-Spinal-Tap-style comeback tour of Japan with the notorious Richard Hell & the Voidoids. He then went on to form Sammy with Luke Wood (Hartman co-wrote, sang, played guitar/keyboards), releasing "Debut Album" (1994), "Kings of the Inland Empire" (1995) and "Tales of Great Neck Glory" (1996).
He then went on to form rock/electro group Laptop in 1997, releasing an E.P. (End Credits) in 1997 followed by the single Gimme The Nite in 1998. End Credits was well received by the British underground music press (notably NME magazine), and garnered airtime on BBC Radio 1's Evening Session. The song was rendered infamous by the fact that it used samples of Hartman's ex-girlfriend's answering machine.
Hartman was then picked up by major label Island Records and released 2 singles (Nothing to Declare and I'm So Happy You Failed, both in 1999), before leaving the label due to mounting pressures for him to release his album. He eventually joined Trust Me Records to release the full-length "Opening Credits" in 2000, "The Old Me vs. The New You" in 2001, and "Don't Try This At Home" in 2003. He is currently working on his fourth album "Positive".
As a filmmaker, Hartman has written and directed Happy Hour (1993, Best Short Film Award Berlin Intl. Film Festival), made documentaries for MSNBC's Edgewise (1997, opening night selection of Rotterdam Intl. Film Festival), co-produced Kelly Reichardt's indie hit feature River Of Grass, and has co-directed music videos for Helmet, Christmas, and his own bands. As an actor, Hartman has been in Larry Fessenden's vampire movie Habit, his brother Phil Hartman's Eerie and No Picnic and as the protagonist Severin in Joel Schlemowitz's Venus In Furs. He is now also a consultant and filmmaker for the musician's resource, Musician.com. Hartman's first feature film "Camp" is, as yet, awaiting release. There was also rumoured to be a film adaptation of the album Don't Try This At Home (as mentioned on the film's web site).
