OUR PEOPLE

Our People

Meet the people essential to and representative of LiveIt!LIVE.

Ellen Kaye

Ellen is the former CEO of Moscow 57 and a third generation restaurateur whose parents owned The Russian Tea Room from 1947-1996. She was National Events Director at Smith & Wollensky Restaurant Group and ran both events and marketing campaigns for all regional locations. Ellen's singing career took off when she was booked at the original Monkey Bar, where she played every Friday and Saturday night for two years. She has performed in New York City's most prestigious rooms, including Town Hall, with the New York Pops at Carnegie Hall, at noted jazz club The Iridium, and at the Metropolitan Room.

Ethan Fein

Ethan has been a professional guitarist since 1969 and has performed on Broadway, with numerous dance orchestras, and in countless concert. For an entire eighteen years, he performed with hands headed by Lester Lanin, Peter Duchin, Steven Scott, Vince Girodano, and the Nighthawks, as well as in many weddings and bat mitzvahs. Ethan was a main guitarist for CATS and was its orchestra house contractor for 10 years. He has been Ellen’s musical director for the past six years, and he has played at M57 every night.

Seth Goldman

Seth created Moscow 57 with Ellen and Ethan and has worked extensively in live entertainment both in the US and UK. He opened his own artist management company called Goldman Media Group, representing musicians, actors, and writers from New York, the UK, Switzerland, and France. Seth founded the record label Coney Island Records and produced award-winning film Cathedral Canyon. He has also worked in the restaurant and catering business throughout the NYC Tri-State area.

Joel LeFevre

Joel was a contract administrator and coordinator of communication and data for the American Federation of Musicians' Symphonic Services Division from 2010 to 2013. He was Director of Organizing and Communications, Secretary Treasurer, and Benefit Plan Administrator for local union in the International Brotherhood of Teamsters for a cumulative 15 years. He is currently the Technology Coordinator and Treasurer for Liveit!LIVE.

Mimi Jones

Mimi is a bassist, vocalist, producer, label owner and filmmaker born and raised in the Bronx. She graduated from the Manhattan School of Music Conservatory and leads her own record label, Hot Tone Music. She has toured extensively in seven continents and is recognized as a U.S. Jazz Ambassador. She has played with Kenny Barron, Frank Ocean, Dianne Reeves, Tia Fuller, Ingrid Jensen, Marc Cary, Toshi Reagon, Rachel Z, Terri, Lyne Carrington’s Grammy Award winning Mosaic Project, and more. She is part of the LiveIt!LIVE advisory board.

Angela Starks

Angela graduated from Bethune Cookman College and earned a Masters’ degree in voice at the University of Miami. She has performed in Boris Gudenov, Aida, La Boheme, and The Magic Flute for the Miami Opera Guild and also performed solo for Temple Beth AM and St. Thomas Episcopal Church.After moving to New York, she performed at Lincoln Center with the Brooklyn Opera Society, the Cathedral of St. John the Divine with the Harlem Opera Society, the AMAS Repertory Company, Ashford and Simpson’s TwentyTwenty, 55 Grove Street, and The Duplex among others. She has recorded numerous radio and television commercials.

Kevin Nathaniel

A visionary musician who, with voice and ancient African instruments, channels sound as a universal healing force. Together, breathing rhythms to the beat of our synchronized hearts, Kevin Nathaniel resonates songs of unity and the “big picture” of love in the grooviest ways possible! A long-time devotee of mbira, kalimba, polyphonic circle singing, drum, dance, meditation, and yoga; a world-traveled music healer sharing the musical medicine of the ancient, the now, and the beyond, Kevin Nathaniel brings a fresh, deep experience of the beauty of sound.

Kevin Nathaniel’s music is an invitation for all to come together, to share in song, laughter, positivity, movement, prayer, and breath.

Jay Schaffner

Jay was a supervisor of the recording department at Local 802 AFM and from 2003-2010 he was a member of Local 802's Elective Board. He has worked with musicians, producers and recording employers of all types as well as developed and negotiated contracts for recording sessions and continued use of the recorded product, in fields such as television, cable, film, and the radio. He has 20 years of experience arranging cultural exchanges and people-to-people friendship tours such as peace tours down the Mississippi and Dnieper Rivers. Jay is a member of the New York State Committee of the Working Families Party and a moderator of the Portside website since 2000.