Steel Notes Magazine March 2014 Issue #2

Steel Notes Magazine 1

Front Cover Design by: Keith BoisvertBack Cover Designe by: Michele RhoadesMagazine Design By : Gary Preis

Editor-in-Chief/PublisherAlexxis Steeleemail : [email protected]

Staff WritersMichael HendrickStormy BozThomas RichmondLori KapeTom MartiniGallo LocknezStewart BrodianHQDeceit BBStrange Tony AngeloA. JudeTim Caso

PhotographersGary PreisLarry DellSheri BayneBob Klein

Social MediaFacebook TwitterGoogle+YouTubeVimeo

Steel Notes Magazine is a monthly magazine featuring what is happening in the art, music and enertainment industry.

Copyright is reserved. Reposting is whole or in part on other sities and publication without permission is prohibited. All right to photos belong to their respective owners.

Launch Party of the Magazine on April11,2014 in Allentown,PAMore to come in the next issue.

© Copyright Steel Notes Magazine 2014

ContentsFeatures5 LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

6 BLUE COUPE

8 THE LOCAL SPOTLIGHT

10 FEATURED MODEL OF THE MONTH

12 DILANA SMITH- “BEAUTIFUL MONSTER

14 INTERVIEW WITH KITTY SUMMERALL

23 NIBBLING AROUND THE EDGES

33 WICKED FAIR IX: THROUGH THE HEDGE

34 MACKENZIE PHILLIPS

36 LVMA15 HONORS LOCAL TALENT

40 WHITE RABBIT

FOR AD SPACE CONTACT:[email protected] Steele610-871-1886

Reviews

Columns

Movies/TVLet’s Talk Star Trek 24

BookGangsters: A Solution To 35A Drug Problem In A Community

Nine Inch Nails- Hesitation Marks 27

CD

ConcertExclusive Interview 30With The Wombats

Page

17 UNDER THE RADAR

18 HIP HOP TODAY

19 BRODIAN’S BANTER

20 EXTRAORDINARY

35 MY ART OF GLASS


LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

MARCH 2014

Hello, and welcome to the second issue of Steel Notes Magazine!In this issue we feature national recording artists -Blue Coupe- Joe & Albert Bouchard- founding members ofBlue Oyster Cult & Dennis Dunaway, original bassist for the Alice Cooper Group.

Rockstar Supernova’s Dilana Smith brings her Beautiful Monster

Local spotlight artist- Tom Martini the Guitar Wizard and inven-tor

A look inside the world of actress/model Kitty Summerall

Lehigh Valley Music Awards 15th year honoring local talent

March Model Of The Month- Ashley Webster

The History of St. Patrick’s Day and more!

Happy Reading!Alexxis Steele

6 Steel Notes Magazine

BLUE COUPEby Alexxis Steele

The three iconic rock stars in Blue Coupe are the angry orphans of Blue Öyster Cult and the Alice Cooper group, and they’re out to prove something to the world with show-stopping performances and a wall shaking sound that keeps their legion of fans calling for more.

Blue Coupe’s multi-talented entertainers include Rock and Roll Hall of Famer, Dennis Dunaway bassist of the legendary Alice Coo-per group, along side multi-instrumentalist, Joe Bouchard who founded Blue Öyster Cult with his brother Albert Bouchard master of the drums. These revolutionary originals were the heartbeat of several of the best known songs in the history of rock. And note for note, their full-throttle expertise hits you over the head and grabs you by the heart in Blue Coupe.

With the original Alice Cooper group, Den-nis co-wrote smash hits including “I’m 18,” “School’s Out,” and “Under My Wheels” while Albert and Joe were co-writers and arrangers of many of Blue Öyster Cult’s biggest hits includ-ing “Cities on Flame with Rock and Roll,” “Hot Rails to Hell,” and “Astronomy” (covered by Metallica). Joe, Albert and Dennis have sold over 15 million albums and have been awarded over 30 gold and platinum records worldwide.

In 1973 Blue Öyster Cult opened shows for the Alice Cooper group on a record-breaking tour of outdoor festivals and sold-out arenas that made the cover of Forbes magazine for the highest grossing tour of the year. As Alice Coo-per became world famous with hits like “No More Mr. Nice Guy” and “Elected”, Blue Öyster Cult continued with their own sold-out tours with hits like “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper” and “Burnin’ For You.” BÖC also pioneered their own groundbreaking stage show with rock’s most elaborate lazer light show with pryotech-nical explosions and a ginormous Godzilla.


These three legendary performers bring their talent, to The Steel Notes Magazine Spring Breakout, Red Carpet Launch Par-ty, on Friday April 11th at The Palace Cen-ter-623 Hanover Ave, Allentown Pa. Get your VIP celebrity meet and greet tickets for the show. All Tickets are available and on sale now through Eventbrite at:http://www.eventbrite.com/e/steel-notes-magazine-spring-breakout-party-tick-ets-8306361551

Check out the radio interview Alexxis did with Joe Bouchard, on our website:www.steelnotesmagazine.com. This is one show you won’t want to miss!

But Blue Coupe have found continuing glory with their highly acclaimed album, Tornado On The Tracks, which has multiple Grammy considerations in 2011 and 2012, includ-ing “Angel’s Well” featuring Robby Krieger legendary guitarist for The Doors. And Blue Coupe continue to tour North America and Europe with such illustrious shows as the Hal-loween Parade in New York City where they were seen by more than a million people.

Blue Coupe have wrapped up their second al-bum, “Million Miles More” , available though CD Baby , featuring, special guest stars Tish and Snooky from Manic Panic, Ross the Boss from Manowar and the Dictators, Buck Dhar-ma from Blue Öyster Cult and Goldy McJohn from Steppenwolf ,and Alice Cooper, who was featured on their track “Hallow’s Grave. The album was recorded at the Carriage House Studios in Stamford CT and was mixed in LA by Jack Douglas (Aerosmith, John Lennon, Cheap Trick, Alice Cooper, BOC, etc.) and Warren Huart (Aerosmith, The Fray, James Blunt, etc.

need help ? musical prayers ?counseling ? a micro loan ?contact ian brucethe high play conductor at www.facebook.com/The Church of Divine MusicThe PA Creative Hall of Fame is coming...


by Alexxis Steele

The Local Spotlight

Tom Martini- Guitar Wizard

Tom had been playing in local cover bands when one day he decided to throw all the covers away and do origi-nal music for fun and the fun music turned into a career of different paths. Tom created a musical project called Tom Martini's Distorted Voices which has morphed into two separate paths. One solo and one band both powerful and unique. Tom wrote and recorded two instrumentals that would again al-ter his life and musical career because one of the instrumental titled Distort-ed Voices started to take off within the guitar community and online on a site called Garageband.com which allowed listeners to rate a track they heard without knowing who created it until after they rated and voted on it. Tom's song climbed to #1 topping many of the charts. Ultimately winning the top awards for Best Guitar, Most Original Track, and Track of the Day many times over. Tom now realized he had something to keep building upon and build he did. Tom was found by the editor of guitar Player Magazine in 2007 who wrote a very attention-get-ting article in which Tom was exposed to a worldwide audience and new fan base. His other instrumental Visions was courted by NFL Europa and used on its internet broadcasts of the 2007 season and became the theme music for the Superbowl between the NY Giants and The New England Patriots. Tom is a huge Giants fan so this was an honor to be included.

Tom has many credits over recent years that have helped the world learn about who he is. Tom has licensed mu-sic to MTV, NFL Europa, and many charities that deal with Pediatric Can-cer, US Veterans, and Soup Kitchens in the Lehigh Valley. His efforts didn't go unnoticed as music equipment compa-nies came calling and Tom has built an impressive list of solid endorsements

Jim Lentz Photography 2013*

Sometimes that one artist comes along and no one notices. Sometimes they make so much noise that it’s hard to ig-nore them! Tom Martini is being heard very loud and very clear. As a sought out artist endorser, instructor, and per-former, Tom has solidified his place in the industry through hard work and ef-fort. His tenacity has plowed the way to where he is today. Today he has arrived at a time when music is starving for that one artist to rise above the rest, that one performer who bleeds for the stage and that one person who can make a dif-ference in other’s lives.......that person, that musician, and that guitarist is Tom Martini

Albert Heefner Exit Hibernation Media 2013

Born in NJ he started his music career on the drums and became a very popular and powerful drummer in the tri state region of NJ, NY, and Pa playing in many local club bands through-out the region.. Tom picked up the guitar one day just to see what it was like and never looked back. He took

lessons in Port Jervis, NY from a few teachers but it wasn’t until he met local guitar instructor Lenny Hayden. Through the years he and Lenny became close friends and Tom’s path in music starting developing. Starting with blues and classic rock style lessons, Tom progressed into many rock bands that guitarists start to learn but eventually Tom found Dream Theater after seeing a video on MTV which would change the way Tom approached music. Tom’s attention switched into a world of progressive hard rock styles of guitar that others shy away from. Learn-ing many different techniques from the guitarists of the day such as Richie Kotzen, Paul Gilbert, Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, and John Petrucci helped develop a style that carries Tom to this day.


with the biggest companies in the music industry such as: Ibanez Guitars, Morley Pedals, Trad Amps, Zoom , Rat Pedals, Dunlop, Steve Clayton INC, Gear Hugger Stands, Lava Cables, Pedaltrain Pedal Boards, and Sonic Fusion Pedals.

Today Tom is focusing on bringing his brand of guitar playing to the world of rock. His band Distorted Voices writes a collection of commercial hard rock music that is also gaining rapid attention. Tom has defined who he is by not following others and staying true to who he is in every way. Tom created and promotes an anti bully-ing awareness project called "A Voice Of One" that he hopes will change the way everyone deals with bullying in the US and the world. Sometimes it takes a person with a positive outlook in life to change it all and so far Tom is traveling a very powerful, positive, and fast road to success. In 2013, Tom signed on with Steel Records, an Allentown, Pa based record label , who is currently working on securing a nationwide guitar clinic with Sam Ash Music.

Tom's latest endeavor is one that has recently gained a lot of media attention, when he became part of a group of inventors creating a revolutionary "transformer" popcorn bag. A whacky inventor named Andy, who along with his brother Ziggy, hold the patent, but did not know how to design, and were introduced to Tom by Erik Kroll of EA Kroll Productions, and J.T. Carter, of the national Oldies group " The Crests"(16 candles fame). Through a press released initiated by Erik Kroll, he was contacted by Discovery Channel Cana-da, who sent a film crew to Stroudsburg to do a one hour documentary for the show The Daily Planet, Invent This. A week later came an article in the Pocono Record Newspaper, and subsequently, they were contacted by WBRE Tv station out of Wilkes Barre PA, which is a NBC affiliate, to do a segment on them.

Andy and his brother did not know how to design the product, but with the help of Tom's architectural back-ground, and knowledge of Origami paper-folding, he was able to produce a 3 D design, which will blow up into shapes such as a car, heart, football, or star. Tom has stated that these will be a fun novelty which are good to give as gifts, for sleepover's, watching football, or to sit back and enjoy with your family. Tom goes on to say that this product is being pushed as a great way to encourage kids to have a non-sugar, healthier snack to eat. At this time plans are being worked on for further promotion of this product, and will could be hitting store shelves in as little as three months.Keep on the lookout for this new product soon, as things "blow up" for the very talented Tom Martini. We wish him much success!


Featured Model of the MonthMarch 2014

By Alexxis Steele

Ashley Webster is an up and coming model born in New Jersey raised in the "Poconos" of Pennsyl-vania. From a young age she was told she should model but never realized her dreams until a few years ago. She is a perfect example of beauty and brains having acquired 90 credits towards her bachelor degree in chemical biotechnology from East Stroudsburg University. Ashley has been featured in music videos, advertisements and print/magazines. Ashley is the first Steel Catwalk model, who will also be seen sporting fash-ions by the legend-ary punk cloth-ing fashion designer, Natasha

Ashley Webster Adonzio from NYC . The event is The Steel Notes Magazine launch party , at The Palace Center in Allentown, Pa, on Friday April 11th . Ashley is ready now to take her career to the next level!

Steel Notes Magazine 11 Photos By Gary Preis For Steel Notes Magazine


Dilana Smith- “Beautiful Monsterby Alexxis Steele

Born in Johannesburg, South Africa, the girl known as Dilana Smith left school at age 16 to pursue a career in music. She soon found her-self one of Holland’s most coveted live acts and her 2000 album Wonderfool scored 5 singles, 4 videos and a Tour throughout the region.

In 2006, she appeared on the CBS show “Rock Star Supernova” and the rest is history.She finished as the runner up and her power-ful vocals and commanding stage presence amassed legions of new fans from around the world. Dilana has performed with rock legends Tommy Lee and Mick Mars (Mötley Crue), Dave Navarro (Jane’s Addiction, Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Panic Channel) and Gilby Clark (Guns N’ Roses).

In 2007, she opened for Aerosmith and Beth Hart, and launched two solo tours spanning North America and Western Europe that consistently earned stellar reviews. Following the release of seven singles, Dilana spent much of 2008 in the studio. In November 2009, she just unleashed Inside Out, a compilation of 12 original songs, her first full-length album.Dilana has toured the world extensively and performed in Afghanistan for the troops in 2009/2010.

Dilana was a part of the Go Army Concert Se-ries Tour in August 2011, opening for Lynyrd Skynyrd and the Doobie Brothers as well as touring Holland, South Africa, and the USA.Her latest album, “Beautiful Monster” was released in Spring 2013 and toured the US in Summer 2013.

DILANA WEBSITE: http://www.dilanarocks.com“Roxanne – Rock Star Supernova performance” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pim08ZtdUNo“Gold Dust Woman” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rb8NBiXLMnM“Beautiful Monster” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vCBuB3YI-I

PHOTO CREDIT GOES TO: NICHOLE RAE


Interview with Kitty Summerallby Alexxis Steele

Actress, model, vocalist

Q: what was it like, being a small town girl from Biloxi Mississippi moving to the hustle and bustle of NYC, and being schooled all over the world?

A: Traveling was natural to me, since my parents took me all over the place, and then, after be-coming an unruly teen, I began taking off on my own as a runaway. Plus, my dad was great about making sure I wasn’t controlled so much that I would rebel completely and just disappear, so early on he’d let me go on jaunts by myself or with friends. I loved the dream of being in NYC even as a child, and knew I would spend time there someday. A boyfriend took me there first as a runaway, and I have been entranced by the city ever since.

Q: You state that music has always been your first love - Who were your early influences, and what genre do you gravitate towards most?

A: I love so many styles and artists that it would take a book to list them all! Vocally, since I’m a singer, the influences were mainly crooners like Jim Morrison, Al Green and Marvin Gaye and crooner-blues artists like Robert Plant and Ozzie Osbourne, but I adored the old blues and jazz singers like Bessie Smith and Billie Holiday, Peggy Lee, Julie London and Astrid Gilberto.

Q: Richard Hell, with whom you were sing-ing back-ups on recordings like “Don’t Die” by Richard Hell and the Voidoids as the Neon Boys, asked you to read for the part of Marcie in Susan Seidelman’s “Smithereens”, explain-ing that Susan had already read over 250 girls for the part, you accepted, read, and were hired on the spot to play the wife of his char-acter. How did that make you feel, winning the part over so many other girls?

A: It wasn’t a big deal to me. I wasn’t going out for acting parts, although people kept finding me and asking me to act, and I was mainly con-cerned that acting would interfere with my image for music. As with doing music back-ups and other gigs, getting money in order to get stu-dio time for my own songs was my main prior-ity. It was only when I was on the set with Susan Seidelman and her excellent team and becoming aware of her vibe that I realized I loved film acting too. I’d done stage acting and musicals but I found I prefer film. Since I’d always been a huge fan of independent films and especially Eu-ropean ones, it was thrilling to go to be honored at the Cannes Film Festival.


After your acting was so well-received, and “Smith-ereens” was chosen as the very first Independent Film to be honored at the Main Competition of the Cannes Film Festival as well as in many other world film festivals, you became known first as an actress.

Q:Do you think you would have ever got into act-ing, if it were not from Richard’s prompting?

A: People kept pursuing me for film parts, and I sup-pose it was inevitable a role would come along that I felt that it might be fun to do and one that didn’t in-terfere with my music identity. The fact that Richard felt like it wouldn’t clash with our lives as a musi-cians made it cool to expand into acting.

You also starred in David Johansen’s ( New York Dolls) ‘ film produced by Rolling Stones manager, Giogio Gomelsky, “Thau In Love”, also starring star-producer, Marty Thau, and you sang the theme song. Playing a bassist in an all-girl band, many of the New York punk scene’s star bassists turned up at Tramp’s blues club the day you were going to need coaching in order to appear to play the bass for the film, and the result was that your playing ap-peared to be so real that several notable New York bassists thought you were really playing on-screen!

Q:Did playing the part in that movie awaken a desire for you to learn to play an instrument?

A: Sort of, but since I’m a vocalist, I didn’t feel strongly about wanting to play and instrument on stage. I play any instrument by ear anyway, but it was fun acting like a bassist on-screen.

You have recorded with Billy Squier’s guitarist, the great Jeff Golub, the legendary rhythm guitar-ist from Al Green’s band, Teenie Hodges, with Ole Beich, first bassist of Guns and Roses, and with the awesome bassist and music producer, Paul Ill. Your music has also been produced by the legendary drum-mer, Hunt Sales of Iggy Pop and the Stooges and of David Bowie’s bands.

Q: How does it feel to be working alongside such great musicians in the industry?

A: It’s the utmost to me, being in the studio with musicians who are really gifted! It’s amazingly fun and things just flow so easily that it’s magi-cal! No matter what style, a really great musician can ride along with it. It’s the most wonderful thing - being in the studio with really talented players.

You also record and perform your own origi-nal music in styles ranging from trancy groove and smooth jazz to hard rock blues punk tunes, as well as composing for films.

Q: Do you feel that being diverse in your music styles offers you a lot more opportunity, rather than staying with one genre?

A: There is an idea in music that artists are sup-posed to find one style and to stay with it, so I’ve always been counselled to stick to one groove - one style, but I’m not made that way. I love all kinds of music. I keep discovering new styles and creating new songs. I love to do it all!

Q: What was it like to be on the cover of the iconic High Times Magazine?


A: Wow! I was scared that everyone in the world would think I was endorsing what the magazine does! But in modeling, you can’t choose where your photos will end up. It’s weird how many people think a model or actress has a choice in where their promo or photos are placed, but I do like the cover shot.

You were chosen to be in the Avant-Garde Model-ing Agency, La Rocka, started by Neke Carson, the noted artist and the protegé of Andy Warhol, whose involvement in the new agency sparked a lot of in-terest globally. The only “New Wave, Punk” model-ing agency, another of it’s notables was the actress-producer, Anne Carlisle of the award-winning film, “Liquid Sky”, and Benjamin Liu, longtime editor of Andy Warhol’s Interview Magazine and the last Personal Assistant to Andy Warhol. You also mod-eled in print for fashion and beauty ads and did some runway for Kenzo, Betsey Johnson and others.

Q: Having the opportunity to work alongside such greats, what advice would you give to young girls who want to break into the modeling indus-try?

A: Funny! I’ve never thought of giving advice, and I don’t feel qualified since I’ve never aspired to be a model. It just happened that I got drafted into it by scouts and agents who came after me with of-fers. And again, I liked the ones that didn’t seem to interfere with my music image or career.

Q: Kitty, you are such a talented creative person! in addition to music and acting, you also write articles, stories, books, plays, screenplays and poetry. Your artwork work has been shown in various galleries and is a part of some prestigious collections. Is there one thing you enjoy do-ing more than the other?

A: Thank you for the compliment! Music is para-mount to me, but I have always enjoyed acting, too. There are some projects that I have been offered lately that seem promising. It’s fun to act, I think, and it’s great to be asked to do films and music.

Q :Is there anything that you have not yet done that you would like to accomplish?

A: I would really love to use my native southern accent in a film role. I’ll continue doing music forever, of course, and to re-cord with other musicians I admire. And I’d love to contribute to saving wildlife and to creating compassion for all animals.Q: Where can people find your work?A: At http://www.KittySummerall.com there are links to my music and to my other creations.


Under the Radarby Lori Kapes

A band like Sunsets North isn’t exactly an anomaly. Electronic sounds paired with acoustic guitar and steady drum beats have been on the mainstream radio for the better part of a decade now. What sets singer, songwriter and guitarist Warren Caracciolo and drummer Colin Kocher a part from the rest of the Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania music scene is their passion.

Caracciolo is the mastermind behind Sunsets North. Over ten years ago, when he was still in high school, you could’ve found him playing talent shows, local venues and putting out demos with his dif-ferent bands. He still plays venues, this time as far away as Texas and he still puts out demos, this time on iTunes instead of as hand-outs at talent shows. The similarities end there, because Caracciolo has been pushing Sunsets North to new horizons since 2006.

The band has gone through many evolutions since their first album, “Return to Sender”, was released in 2007. Band members have come and gone but the overall sound continues to progress with each new album. The band’s sophomore effort, “Forever’s End”, saw them embracing the electronic sound more and more. In 2009 the band got the chance to play a few songs live on air for Philadelphia ra-dio station Radio104.5. A year later their third album, “So far, so good” pushed them to new heights. The band went for a more layered sound and accompanied that with two music videos to help reach a wider audience. Sunsets North was no stranger to the music video format, but by 2010 they became more polished along with the music. In 2011 the band released their EP “All Rained Out” and then spent the next 2 years putting the pedal to the kick drum to get their sound out there.

In 2012 Colin Kocher joined the band and has been side by side with Caracciolo as the drummer and co-lyricist. Since then the band has played the annual Red Robin Summer Bash in Allentown, Pa, played the Southern Cross Festival in Texas and continues to play venues in the Lehigh Valley area of Pennsylvania. Just recently they had a chance to return to the Radio104.5 studios to perform two songs live on air to support their latest record “Turn on. Tune in. Drop Out.”, just released in January of this year. Currently Caracciolo and Kocher are hard at work creating a DVD that will feature new music videos, a video biography and a documentary.

Sunsets North isn’t exactly a musical anomaly, but their continued passion for music differentiates them from the sameness of their local music scene and they will only continue to reach new heights. The sun is always rising for Sunsets North.

Sunsets NorthColin Kocher (background - drummer, lyricist) and War-ren Caracciolo (foreground - singer,guitarist,lyricist)


by Gallo Locknez

Independent May Be The Way To Go

It seems like there are more and more aspiring artists popping up. If you don’t make music chances are you know someone that does music. That’s a good thing unless the music they create sounds like nails scratching a chalk board. There are so many different talents in different cities nowadays but there are only a few major labels. That sounds like alotof artist may get signed and shelved. Or does it?

We live in a very digital age. Some artists are making a living off of getting heard through the internet. Artists are using different avenues to be heard and seen online. There are a lot of different music websites for artists to get their music heard through. The artist can upload their music and share it through social media and blogs. It’s a great way to test your music and see if people truly like it. But how do they bring the people to the websites?

Well one thing that won’t change is the advantage to live shows. Showcases, Open mic and even full length shows help artists to gain more fans. Merchandise and telling the crowd where they can hear more music helps them gain more of a following. If the audience likes your music, they will follow. It is important to be CLEAR where the people can find the artists music. Once they gain a decent following online they can cap-ture footage from the shows and post it on video websites. As they get a lot of views they begin to get noticed!

Artists such as Justin Bieber and others were discovered online and signed. However, some artists get offered deals but refuse to take the deal. Instead they choose to stick with what has been working. If its not broken why fix it? Right? Right. This has worked very well for artists such as Tech n9ne, Hopsin, Snow tha Product and others. This way they keep more of the income for them and their team working hard to keep the brand growing.

As the brand grows, companies begin to reach out and offer sponsorships, endorsements and other opportu-nities. More doors begin to open and the artist still has freedom to do what they want or their fans want them to do. Most signed artists complain about not having freedom or not making enough money because too many hands in the cookie jar.

On the other hand, independent is a lot of work. It really is starting from the bottom and working your way to the top. However, with a good team, a team that is focused and each person knows their role, it is more than possible for the brand to grow successfully. All have to be willing to put in 100% effort and hard work to succeed.

So I say to all of you artists out there reaching to achieve your dreams. Consider the independent route. It may be for you. I mean I know it is unheard of for an independent artist to win major accolades. Oh wait, Is it anymore? Macklemore is still an independent artist and he just won a few Grammys! The game has changed! Independent may be the best way for artists willing to put in the hard work!

Hip Hop Today


BRODIAN’S BANTERby Stewart Brodian

What happened to the scene?There’s not quite as many places to play or, that have an open mic in the valley these days - as opposed to fifteen years ago.

Some would blame it on the economy, some would blame it on 9-11, some would say be-cause you’re no longer allowed to smoke in clubs anymore.

There’s another reason: The I-phone!“Instant gratification” someone recently said to me.Instead of going out to see a band, all the club going age has to do is, log on to some site on their i-phone and instantly see entertainment.

There’s something missing in that - human interaction.Where’s that ‘crowd feeling’?There’s an emotion you feel when you cheer or laugh and you realize, you’ve done this at the same time as a whole room full of people

Even more so for me, as a musician, when I’m onstage playing a song and people in the crowd start singing along (especially,when it’s one of my own compositions!).

Get out of your basement or couch or whatever.Go experience life!


The Macabre Faire Film Festival, review and interview with LC Macabre

EXTRAORDINARYby H.Q. Deceit and B.B.Strange

With a new year upon us, the search for all things Extraordinary is about to get serious, and we thought what better way to start the New Year off than with a visit to the MacabreFaire Film Festival in Long Island New York. We are no strangers to the Macabre Faire Events, as our performance group Mutated Soulz FX, has been going there ever since its inception in April 2012. We were ready to enjoy a weekend of films we may never have heard about, and get to spend time with our Macabre family. What is the Macabre Film Faire you ask? Other than being a film festival show-casing Indie films and underground films from up and coming directors in the genre of horror, it’s a one of a kind experience, filled with special celebrity guests, vending booths of all varieties, and a gathering of like-minded individuals looking to enjoy life.

We spoke to our dear friend, and co-creator of the Macabre Faire, LC Macabre setting our surprise plans with her. After a pleasant conversation , we packed our bags and began the journey to Long island New York. It was an interesting drive up there filled with laughs, conversations, and things I cannot repeat here, but this was our pregame for a weekend we wouldn’t dare take for granted. As soon as we got to our hotel room, we made sure to put on our makeup right away and head to the Faire so we would not miss out on the fun and action taking place. As we entered the hotel off the cold Long island streets, you filter through the hall, with warm welcomes from all areas. When we hit the staircase leading to the main vending area, there were vendors like Horror-Show Jacks custom teeth, Steam-punk works, and Macabre Eyes. As we settled in and said our hello to all our friends and fellow convention goers , we decided to have a sit down with LC Maca-bre, and ask her a few questions about the inception and history of the Macabre Faire. We also asked her about any tips she might have for anyone trying to start-up an event like this of their own.

Extraordinary: Hello LC and thank you for taking the time to sit down with us. I guess the first thing to ask is what first inspired you and Adam Ginsberg to create the Macabre Faire Film Festival?

LC Macabre: Thank you for offering me the opportunity to speak out about this to an audience that may not have ever experienced or even know about the Macabre Faire Film Festival. After doing the first Macabre Faire Event called “The Twisted Forest” back in April 2012, folks asked for more and soon. I didn’t want to do another event like the April one and I really missed doing screenwriting after leaving LA back in about 2001 (Give or take). We were speaking to Patrick Devaney at a convention shortly after this event and we were discuss-ing how independent films need more “stages” where they can showcase their work. It really was like a light bulb went on in my head and it occurred to me that a film festival would work as the “other” event so soon after the April event. And so, we did the film festival in June 2012. Yep, we only had about 2 months to put it all together but it worked. That was the begin-ning of what now is.

Extraordinary: What celebrities can attend-ees expect to see and what kind of panels and workshops would be there?

LC Macabre: As for celebrities, folks can expect to see at one of our film festivals... The truth of the matter is that for our festival the Independent Filmmakers, first and foremost, are the celebrities. What better situation for any aspiring filmmaker or actor etc. than to attend an event where the majority of the filmmak-


ers from the Official Selections are present? This is a “networking haven” to say the least. Of course, there will be that “surprise” guest that many may recognize from a popular film but again... That we’d like to keep as a surprise As for workshops and panels... We want to keep things relative to the spirit of the industry. From distribution, to script to screen, to learning how to die like a pro in a film and more. Keeping it fun but educational. I like to call our festival an amusement park for the industry. It’s important to provide options, variety, different perspective as no 2 filmmakers are the same. Just like a snowflake, they each have their own DNA that makes them who they are. Or should I say... makes their “style” what it is. Keeping that “amusement park” atmosphere allows for a fun, friendly, celebra-tory environment. We’re not interested in egos. And frankly, egos wouldn’t be interested in us because we don’t make time for that.

Extraordinary: Seeing that we have attended your events, we know what the macabre experi-ence is about. But to someone who has never had the pleasure, how would you describe the macabre experience

LC Macabre: The MFFF experience is memo-rable. Who can forget feeling accepted, respected and appreciated? Everyone gets a chance to feel like a celebrity in their own right. A family always keeps their doors open for more family. The way we see it, our mission is one in the same... Build awareness to the Indie Genre Film Industry while having a fun time. With us, it doesn’t matter if you show up alone, with a group, or for the first time. Either way, you are not allowed to be a wall flower or hold up walls. There are too many friends waiting to watch films and participate in educational workshops with to be bored or feel like an outsider. And of course, there’s also the entertainment piece of the program for dancing, laughing and mingling some more. An overall blast!

Extraordinary: Great. I guess the last thing to ask is where do you see the Macabre Faire Film Festival in a few years?

LC Macabre: I will say that we will be ven-turing into a new venue that will be Bigger and Better. Allowing us to grow, provide attendees with more space to relax and enjoy. Not to mention, more workshops, clinics, panels and many more surprises that we’ll reveal as the time nears.

After our interview with LC, we decided to take in a few films. The first film we took in was “Cold Dead Hand” which was a unique film from Yellow Ape productions, about a woman who has moved into a new house that was inhabited by the possessed severed hand of a murderer. After that our group split up to see several different films ranging from the horrific to the campy and everything in between. One film that was being showcased as part of a tour across the country was the Cannes award-winning film “Ceramic Tango”, a ten minute film that was filmed entirely in a bathroom about a man having to come to terms with and face his demons. Another film we would like to mention was the strange musical drama “Little Goat” which won the award for best short film at the Macabre Faire Film Festival, and fully deserved the award. It’s very hard to describe this film. A man goes around transforming goat girls into beautiful girls to sell at auction, to please his abusive wife. Everything else is just an intriguing even though at times, disturbing film with a mes-sage at the end.

With the nighttime upon us, we decided to sit in on a panel with horror movie composer Allen Howarth who has worked with the likes of John Carpenter, and other film makers composing the music and sound effects for man different movies throughout his career. He was there in Support of the director of the film “Brutal” Michael Patrick Steven, who had Howarth do the music for the film. Also in attendance was Eileen Dietz from the classic horror film “The Exorcist.” She was signing autographs and talking about her acting career which includes such films as Rob Zombie’s


“Halloween 2”, “Constantine”, and “The Freeway Killer”. As the films and panels wound down, the next thing on the agenda was a roast of rapper and fellow Macabreite, Wyzae Crankfield, which featured appearances by Darius Zucker, Horror Show Jack, and a character who will only be referred to as Isaac. There were plenty of laughs and enjoyment provided by the cast of characters, and then it was time for the subject of their roast, Wyzae to provide the crowd with a vicious verbal assault of his vampire zombie rap style. The night was start-ing to get late so there was only one thing left to do. DANCE THE NIGHT AWAY! A DJ was brought out to keep the restless souls awake with the music of the night, and keep the party going! All nights have to end though, and this one was unfortunately no exception so we retired for the evening to rest up for tomorrow’s activities.

On Sunday, the final event of the Macabre Faire Film Festival, everyone was back in their normal human at-tire, and mingling and remembering the night before hand. It’s an amazing family like atmosphere between the attendees, and many new friendships were formed at this event. Also today was the day of the judging for the winners of the Macabre Faire Film Festival. The awards were divided into the three different categories the included “Short Film”, “Feature Film”, and “Poster”. The winner for best short was “Little Goat” with the feature film winner being “Nightmare Box” and best movie Pie poster was given too “Zombie Casserole”.

With the weekend winding down and coming to an end, we said our good byes and headed back to our home state. We all were in agreement that this weekend will forever stay in our minds as a wonderful time that is going to be hard to top. We give the Macabre Faire Film Festival on a scale of Ordinary to Extraordinary, Five out of Five Stars, making MFFF= EXTRAORDINARY! The films were interesting. The vendors were unique. And those in attendance were all extraordinary themselves. The feeling we felt as we said our goodbyes, was that of leaving a family member behind in a distant state. We cannot wait till the next event that we will be sure to attend. All of us at Extraordinary recommend that everyone attends any event that involves LC Maca-bre and Adam Ginsberg along with their faithful family of Macabreites, We guarantee you will have an Ex-traordinary TIME!!!!


Nibbling Around the Edges

A skinny guy doing curls; another guy wrestling with the cables; and another one grunting on the leg extension machine. What do all these have in common? They, like most of the things people do in the gym, are a waste of time. Yes, dear reader, working small muscles with small weights - or, as I like to call it: Nibbling Around the Edges - will only serve to frustrate you and will never build a strong, fit body. “Just hold on a second!” you may be thinking, “I just read in Muscle-Head Magazine that Mr. Olympia does all that stuff!”

I’m going to circle back to your comment and get to your solution in a minute, but, before I go any further, this article begs the question of just who am I and why should you listen to me? Well, I thought you’d never ask! For starters, I’ve been lifting weights in various formats for over forty years. While that in-and-of itself doesn’t neces-sarily mean that I know what I’m talking about, the quality and depth of my experience just may.

I was an Olympic-style weightlifter for a number of years in my fearless youth and was lucky enough to train with several athletes who made the U.S. Olympic Team at various times. I’m proud to say that one of them was my training partner! My team flew by one simple training rule: technique first, strength second, bodyweight third. This meant that your first priority was to learn the proper lifting technique; once that was under control, you could turn your attention to increasing your overall strength; after that, you could worry about what weight class you were going to compete in. For our purposes, we’re going to focus on the first two, and this article will focus on the second one. Got that?

So, just how do you get big and strong? The answer, like many things in life, is easy to see but much harder to implement. You‘re probably thinking: “C’mon, Tim, do you know it or don’t you?“ Dear reader, the solution to those tiny arms and skinny legs is volume, which basically means lots of sets of the right exercises combined with lots of weight. Ever see a skinny weight lifter? When your workouts consist of literally tons of weight (measured by the number of reps times the weight used), you’ll be well on your way to getting the strength and size you de-sire. Your “tool box” will be a barbell, squat rack, a solid bench and some other equipment.

Ok, great! We’re getting somewhere! But what are the “right exercises?” Simply put: these are exercises that work multiple, large muscle groups at the same time. These are also known as “compound exercises.” You’ve heard of them all: bench press, squat, leg press, pull ups, dead lift, military press as well as many others. Good old-fash-ioned grunt work!

So now that you know what exercises to do, exactly how do you do them (remember Principle #1: Technique first?)? And, then, how do you incorporate them into a cohesive routine? I can’t give you everything the first go ‘round, now can I? Stay tuned for my next edition…!

by Tim Caso


Let’s talk Star TrekBy Kris KanasMy last article targeted the work of JJ Abram and how it did not fit into Roddenberry’s Universe of StarTrek. This article is going to look at Star Trek – The phenomena. Star Trek was never intended to beanything more than a source of income for Gene Roddenberry.

In order to sell the show, he had to pitch it as a west-ern in outer space, more akin to Wagon Train to theStars (sounds a bit like Battlestar Galactica). NBC finally bought the show and forwarded the money toRoddenberry to develop the show. Desilu studios began to put the show together. What Rodenberryreturned was beyond anything NBC expected.

Early designs of the Enterprise had it looking very much like our Space Shuttles. Roddenberry thoughtit was too conventional and wanted more. The lower, cigar-shaped engineering hull is what remains ofthe Space Shuttle contribution to the Enterprise’s design. Let’s keep in mind that these designs werebeing developed… twenty years before the Space Shuttle ever flew.

Sick bay was developed next, following Roddenber-ry’s “make it real” designs. They all went overboardwith sick bay. The Star Trek team was threatened with a lawsuit because of divulging trade secrets in the design of the sick bay scanners. A company in the USA was developing exactly what Star Trek put on the screen.

The US Navy looked at the design of the bridge and noted it was almost perfect in that the command ofthe ship sat in the center with all aspects of ships op-erations available to him with a simple turn of thehead. Motorola, Apple, and other companies saw the early Star Trek clipboard as an inspiration to develop the Ipad and the Android. The Enterprise computers were vast storehouses of information

Movie/TV Reviewsavailable anywhere in the ship. Can you spell – network, touch screen, user id, pass-words….Multiple direction elevators…. Yeah, we got them. Cell Phones with GPS – Com-municators – Flip top…..Social stuff…. Anti bigotry message, elimination of disease, hun-ger and strife.

The Hope that we will be intelligent enough not to blow ourselves up and make it into the 24th science fiction work has us recovering from some terrible holocaust that we destroy ourselves. I personally would like to think we make it even though I won’t at my age. I want my grand children tohave a future.

That future is portrayed by Star Trek. If you think that Star Trek is simply a bunch of-spaceships, people with elaborate make up and ray guns… then you’ve never watched the show and embraced it. All this was in the pre-mier episode. NBC rejected it. They wanted a monster century. Every other “future” Rod-denberry set out to design another Star Trek. This time, it had a monster.

They recast most of the crew except for Mr. Spock. NBC wanted Spock out. Roddenberry wanted him in. So became the first of many arguments Roddenberry would have. They wanted the woman first office out and Spock out. Roddenberry married the woman first officer (Majel Barrett) , gave her characters characteristics to Spock and employed Majel as the computer voice on the Enterprise. Sexy eh?

The monster was … a human turned into a god. Roddenberry didn’t believe in doing things half way. If was going to offend you, it would be effective. No doubt, the bible belt stirred a bit and raised a discerning eye at this story line.


Movie/TV ReviewsWhile this new second pilot was being screened by NBC, Roddenberry was at a comic book con with the original pilot “The Cage” and screening it. As the movie started, Roddenberry saw somebody standing in the middle of the theater, talking and making noise. Roddenberry yelled at this man. Af-terwards, Issac Asimov came up to Roddenberry and apologized for being rude. Thus started a new friendship that would last until they died. Also, as the Cage faded from the screen, the Comic Con was silent.

Suddenly,the room erupted – the first Trekkers had been born. Star Trek Lives! NBC bought the series and Roddenberry returned to Desilu to be-gin filming. Following are some episodes from the original series I decided to pick on.The City on the Edge of Forever – Doctor McCoy is accidentally injected with a drug which sends him screaming through the ship. He beams down to a planet that is radiating extremely powerful temporal energy waves. Kirk and Spock beam down to get McCoy and learn the waves of energy are coming from a tremendously powerful artifact called the Guard-ian of Forever. He controls “time”. Kirk and Spock decide to go back in time to stop the accident that injured McCoy. Before they can do anything, Mc-Coy jumps into the machine, traveling back in tim, and destroying earth’s future.

This story has many sub-meanings including the old paradox question, what happens to me if I travel back in time and kill my great-grandfather before he has my grandfather? Or, perhaps even more accurately, what happens if I were to travel back in time and change something important Stop the assignation of Kennedy, the crusifiction ofChrist, the birth of Hitler or maybe more intrigu-ing, helping Hitler take over the world.

In the case of the latter, McCoy inadvertently helps Hitler take over the world, by allowing a woman (of peace) to live. When Kirk returns to the time McCoy landed in, he discovers what McCoy does and must stop it. The woman is Kirk’s love interest. The story is tragic from beginning to end, but good writing carries the watcher through the emotions and the conflict. It’s asample of growth through adversity.

When Kirk sees the moment where Edith Keeler will die and Spock yells, “No Jim!” it all comes together at that point. We feel Kirk’s anguish and his pain as he watches his love die. Such is the case with many of the best episodes. Roddenber-ry’s universe talks about non-interference, about higher moral values (sure Roddenberry WAS human and he did make errors – but come on, don’t we all?). The issue isn’t that Star Trekwas trying to program us with their moral code (they weren’t).

Star Trek challenged us through many stories to review our own moral codes, ethics and preju-dice. We didn’t always agree with Roddenberry’s opinions, but we accepted them as part of the Star Trek Universe. The main issue is Star Trek examined the human adventure. We will talk about that next.

Roddenberry explored obsessions frequently in the episodes “Doomsday Machine”, “Obses-sion”, “Let this be your last battlefield”.In The “Doomsday Machine” an alien race builds a spaceship capable of smashing entire solar systems to rubble,hands are lost except Captain Decker. Decker blames himself for the loss of his crew and commits suicide trying to destroy the machine. Decker is played brilliantly by William Windom.


Movie/TV Reviews

In Obsession, Captain Kirk becomes obsessed to destroy a cloud creature which killed half of his crewmany years ago. Because Kirk is the star of the show, he has to resolve his obsession. Kirk survives butthe creature dies. In Let that be your last battle field, two people, colored differently but from the same race represent a war that has been going on for millions of years only to have it totally destroy the planet and their people.

This episode looks at racism, obsessive behavior, prejudice, the futility of war and other issues.Roddenberry used Star Trek to talk about society’s problems without talking about society. He daredto go “where no TV producer has gone before”. He showed the first interracial kiss. He had a charactersay “Hell”. He openly discussed slavery, bigotry, obsessive behavior, and more.

The series became movies and more spinoffs, each exploring the human condition. Some episodeswere funny and they made it. Some were terrible and we just enjoyed them. Some were rotten and weturned the channel.Star Trek isn’t a show. It’s a world of hope, of thought, of acceptance and to be ac-cepted.More next month…. Live long and prosper


CD Reviews

A. Jude

Nine Inch Nails Hesitation Marks

Full disclosure. I grew up with NIN. They al-ways fit into my Bowie/Cure/Depeche aesthetic. “Closer” is on my top 5 “desert island” discs compilation, and as such shares the list with some of the very best in music full stop.Wagner is on that list, Beatles are on the list.... You get the picture.

The upshot of this great and abiding respect, love, obsession (whatever you want to call it) is that I always hold Trent to a much higher standard than I would otherwise apply to other artists.This is a mixed blessing..... When you have an album that defined the genre and beggared all competition such as “The Downward Spiral” (Purple Rain/Revolver/Songs of Faith and De-votion) the best you can hope for is a favourable comparison to your own oeuvre......

“Hesitation Marks” lies in that position. And Trent knows it. He even opens the album with “Copy Of A” which seems to knowingly refer to his own predicament. He is not going to win in a pissing match against himself.Now, the cause in hand: I have to review this

piece of work on its own terms, and it’s a really good record; a strong 8, lying somewhere between Year Zero on the upside and With Teeth on the downside.

It is a mixture of grimy electro industrial funk that owes as much to Prince: (Satellite) as to Aphex Twin/Black Dog Recordings/Gary Numan: (I Would For You) although this time, it seems that his emphasis has returned to a more pristine elec-tronic sound as befits this recent electronic orien-tated Oscar winner.... This is certainly ok by me, but I feel that it might be a slight disappointment to those who enjoy the dirtier/rockier elements of previous albums.In a perfect world, songs like “Everything” would be judged on their own merits, but a You Tube meme apes his almost joyful verse with mocking and exuberant dance footage. Actually the song has much more depth and intelligence exploding to instrumental edge and violence in the chorus, framing a much more positive message than we have heard from Trent in the past.

Personally I think the key to this new phase is that Trent has mellowed a little in age and married life. The “How To Destroy Angels” project was his gift to his new wife, and now back to the grind within the “Nails” carapace.It could be seen to be a way to finance a new home/boat/car collection, but still a joy for me at least to welcome him back to the NIN formula. Growth can only be subtle when you have built yourself such a definitive paradigm, but I LOVE the dark space that Trent identifies for us, and every new album explores the bits between the bits that were ill-defined before. This album does not fail.

8 ½ out of 10......

reviewed by A. Jude 25th Feb 2014


Book Reviews

On a recent winter day in Fairfield, WA, sight-seeing visitors wandered the village. The kind waft of January’s jet stream pushed the tem-peratures to near sixty degrees in the kitschy little town where the ferry from Alaska docks and boards. Happy people bustle in and out of shops. Some dot the lawn on the square of the village green, sunning, talking, walking dogs, sniffing in the day.

Some make way to the formidable façade of circa-1890s masonry masterpiece. Inside, flights of weathered wooden steps lead to fiction, clas-sics, some non-fiction and the obligatory coffee shop on the second floor. (During the seventies, when the Barnes & Noble on Fifth Avenue in NYC was the only location, they never sold cof-fee but they were one of the best known book-stores in the world.) Children’s books and more non-fiction waited up on floor tree but ‘Poetry’ lay shelved on the first floor. We missed it due to a crowd of people there.

Down the steps again, and we found the ‘Po-etry.’ The shelves lined the walls going into the main room where, in the center of the hard-wood floor, a dozen rows of folding chairsSeated a bunch of well dressed people who had paid to sit there. We had stumbled across a ‘Publish It Yourself ’ class led by a successful local author who nobody ever heard of outside the class.

by Michael Hendrick

Gangsters: A Solution To A Drug Problem In A Community

We wondered if the class had a dress code, since everybody looked so neat, buttoned up, well-pressed and prim. The topic of this instruction covered a variety of self-publish-ing platforms, the in and outs of using them and ended with the conclusion that, overall, the wisest move was to have them published right there at the bookstore!How convenient! Not for the writers, for the bookstore. What a racket.

Not expecting to learn more, we stepped back into the sunny streets to explore. The beat of a bongo drumming drifted down from a few blocks away and we followed the sound.

On a bench on the corner, Larry Jamerson is pounding the skin in rhythm to the words to one of his songs, ‘The Oppressor.”

Passersby politely avoid him, crossing the street to avoid eye contact. He is a black man in a town with a 0.3% African-American population. The 2010 Census put the popu-lation of Fairfield at 612 people before he got there to join the other 1.83 people. He seemed large, all bundled up in layers with a heavy blue jacket and watch cap. On the bench beside him, lined up in rows were five books and three or four CDs. All were writ-ten, played, sung or spoken by Jamerson.

This was unique, given the number of tweakers begging on corners all over the state. Here was somebody selling work, their own work…books, no less. We told him that he looked out-of-place and he said, “Yeah, they drove me out of Seattle, so I came here.”While we spoke, many people called his first name or waved at him Not only does he make his way honestly, he knows the value of location – important in selling anything.

Larry Jamerson


Book Reviews“There is a bank right there with an TM,” he pointed to it. We said we would come back when we had cash. It would be hard not to buy one now, so coming back with cash we looked at them and one stuck out must singularly.

‘Gangsters: A Solution To A Drug Problem In A Community.’While the other books had his poems and songs and seemed more introspective, Gangsters, 1995 by Larry Jamerson, ISBN 0-964-6346-0-0, sports a rough drawing of a gangsters with a typical ‘moll,’ wearing a short skirt and holding a tommy gun below her ample breasts. How could we pick another?

Opening with thanks to the boxing coach who taught him to keep fighting, Jamerson presents ‘a solution’ in chapters reminiscent of the godfather. From one to six, there are: The War, The Peace, The Family, The Jail, The Final War and The Meeting. He throws a poem at the reader, Black Gangster, which presents us with the beginning of the street wisdom.

‘Black Gangster, he is all alone.He has got to be tough and extra strong.’

The poems details what a gangster needs to do to set himself up and be safe and successful. How to pick soldiers, counselors, bodyguards and the importance of family recur as themes but not as often as The Oppressor. Nobody is in con-trol. Everybody is a slave to their own greed and benevolence. Jamerson, 58, spent years on the periphery of gang life in St. Louis and Southern California before heading up the coast. The text is rich in slang and terms you may never of heard before, some of which are wild! Cats are soldiers, new to us, and an outlaw whore is one without a player. A toss-up is a woman who trades sex for cocaine. There is a short glossary but some of the best terms are omitted.

Jamerson takes a giant step in breaking from traditional form by interspersing page long po-ems between blocks of text in the chapters. This break from form takes an artist. Anybody can fill in the blanks and write a book by rote. They can even pay to do it at the bookstore around the corner. Jamerson used his smarts to get a local community college to print it for him as a student project, which is a pretty ingenious way to get around the whole process.

This may not be for everybody’s taste. It is crude, violent, frank and honest. In the course of one page a gangster can go from single to married to dead in thirty-six lines to a page. Jamerson may rail against the life he describes and blame The Oppressor but you can feel that he relishes the telling, the feeling of having been there. You can feel his need to impart the spirit of the evil he sees in the control of society by hard drugs. He knows the pusher is a slave, too.

The message underlying the whole book is one we have heard so many times – “Drugs are bad, okay?”This is a book that would appeal to any fan of William S. Burroughs or Quentin Tarantino. Those guys would soften you up for something like this.The book is available on Amazon.com for only $5.50. It is seventy pages and worth every penny of it. Buy it and enjoy some raw writing, some-thing actually different for a change!


Concert ReviewsExclusive Interview With The WombatsAt Coachella And Next Los Angles,CA. Album

By Cathy Hue and A. Jud

It can be argued that Coachella has provided one of the last squalls of guitar rock against the rapid ascendance of EDM (Electronic Dance Music) in the American Music scene. Despite a general lack of familiarity with some of the headlining bands this year Coachella continues to grow and consistently sell out despite controversial and ar-guably tasteful choices of bands. How do Coachella organizers choose their bands, and what do musicians think of Coachella? In an exclusive Coachella interview with Liverpool-based band “The Wombats,” they admitted that they had no idea how they got on the lineup this year but considered “sexual deeds” may have taken place. Next album to record at Hollywood’s Barefoot Studios with Producer Eric Valentine.

[excerpts from the interview]

Q: IS COACHELLA A BIG DEAL FOR YOU, HOW DID YOU GET THE GIG?

MURPH: We’ve heard about it a lot, it’s one of the more popular, or the best festival in the U.S. and it’s very talked about so it seems quite a –TORD: One of the ones we’ve always wanted to play.MURPH: And the lineup is great, it’s a great thing to be a part of.DAN: You get – coverage in the U.K and all the magazines and stuff, everyone talks about the bands that played, what it was like and I think lots of people, I know lots of people that have been here from the U.K. so it’s great to finally play here.MURPH: And I don’t know how we got the gig I think it was our manager Simon, flew over to southern Califor-nia and performed kind of sexual deeds for- (everyone laughs).

Q: IS THIS ON THE RECORD?DAN: Yeah yeah, it’s very deep throat.(Everyone laughs)DAN: He’ll do anything for his boys.

Q: DO YOU PUT ANY PRESSURE ON YOURSELF WHEN YOU PLAY A SHOW LIKE COACHEL-LA?DAN: I think every show we do we try to play our best. Do the best show we can. It doesn’t matter what gig it is really.TORD: ..…Every show is equally important.MURPH: It’s not like making sure you’re playing your raging, — solo guitar in perfect harmony or whatever. We’ve done big shows over in Europe and in the U.K. once a week and vividly remember that they’ve been amazing so any after that we’re trying to get as good as.

Exclusive Interview With The WombatsAt Coachella And Next Los Angles,CA. Album


Concert ReviewsQ: HOW DOES COACHELLA COMPARE TO THE EUROPEAN FESTIVALS?MURPH: It’s a lot less gritty. Coachella is very clean.DAN: If you’re at Glastonbury or like hurricane-like festivals in Germany, you’d be out there with mud up to your ankles and people would already be absolutely s*it-faced like staggering around singing. Cuz everyone could drink everywhere whereas here everything seems more controlled. It’s not a bad think at all because obviously people just take in the music in a different way.MURPH: … Here it feels like a music or art festival and in the U.K., it’s a kind of festival slash 50-per-cent massive bender, 50-percent music. That’s the impression I get.TORD: Then again, it’s a bit smaller than Glastonbury…MURPH: It’s just a different experience. Obviously the crowd is still up for a good time.

Q: WE HEARD YOU WILL BE RECORDING YOUR NEXT ALBUM IN LOS ANGELES, IS THAT TRUE? WHERE WILL YOU RECORD?MURPH: Probably, yeah.MURPH: The Producer, Eric Valentine, his studio’s on Vine.DAN: Barefoot Recording.MURPH: He really wants to do the record and he’s a really talented guy so it would be stupid not to do it.DAN: He did a couple of songs on the last album and he’s just so dedicated and enthusiastic, and we just got along really well with him; and there are worse places than L.A. to be I guess for a couple of months recording.CATHY: The sun may not be good for your creative process.DAN: We don’t see the summer in the studio, we’re kind of like of vampires.JULIAN: The Vombats.MURPH: Vombats there you go. 13 hour days and not much sun, that’s great.DAN: He’s one of the top Producers to work with basically.

Q: WHAT MADE YOU CHOOSE L.A. TO RECORD?MURPH: The producer we ended up working with, about almost all of the Producers that we’ve ended up working with are based out there anyway.DAN: If you suddenly want to play any instrument you can think of basically, you can find it in L.A. It’s one of those cities that caters for musicians and studios, and you can get all the —, all the vintage stuff you want.And it’s just nice to get out of Liverpool. We spend all of our time recording, writing and stuff, and it’s nice just to go away and be out here. We don’t have all our friends and family and you don’t go home to the same bed, it’s like it feels like you’re going away to do a project and you’re not going to leave until it’s finished.

Q: HOW DID YOU GET YOUR BAND NAME?DAN: There’s no real reason, we just needed something to put on a poster. There’s bands I’m sure, in-stead of trawling through a dictionary or putting letters of our names together, we just came up with the worst name we could think of.MURPH: We wanted to change it… But it’s too late now.


Concert ReviewsQ: WHAT WOULD YOU SAY THE TURNING POINT FOR YOU WAS?DAN: Probably when we named ourselves the Wombats.MURPH: There’s different turning points in different parts of the world. Over here [on stateside] it feels like we are approaching a turning point hopefully if all goes well I think, don’t know.DAN: It’s slowly growing.MURPH: It takes time over here.

[attached pics] THE WOMBATS: (L)Dan, (M) Matthew or Murph, ®Tord(left) Daniel (Dan) Haggis (drums, percussion, keyboard and backing vocals),(middle) Matthew Murphy (lead vocals, guitar, keyboard)(right) Tord Øverland-Knudsen.

www.thesingularitymusic.comhttp://www.kcet.org/search/?search=cathy+hue

www.ourstoryproductions.com

www.cathyhue.com


A common thread shared by both the vendors and their clientele was a mystical texture of witchery and mechanical abstraction. It was certainly a thoughtful balance of past and present pleasures.

The music performances were devastatingly insatiable. In one auditorium a two-person band swirled through a mix of folk tunes while a delightfully driving punk rock pulse pounded the walls across the hall. Visiting Wicked Faire is amazing. The striking Faire effects, sounds, and personas are in constant rhythm in a fabricated world where time seems to stand still.

By Tony Angelo

Wicked Fair IX: Through the Hedge

This annual event had something for everyone from exotic fashions to cutting edge musical per-formances to nostalgic burlesque stage entertainment. The wall-to-wall vendors put on an amazing display of creatively designed products for all to see, purchase, or simply enjoy.


Mackenzie Phillips

High On Arrival. Just those three words stop you in your tracks. What is this about? Who is this about? The answer in this case is Macken-zie Phillips She is an actress and a singer best known for her roles in “American Graffiti” and (my personal favorite) the TV sitcom “One Day at a Time” where she played the rebel-lious teenager “Julie Cooper” opposite Val-erie Bertinelli and Bonnie Franklin. She was BORN famous as her father was the late John Phillips of the folk rock band “The Mama’s and The Papa’s”. Based on the success of “Ameri-can Graffiti “ Mackenzie was offered the role on “One Day At A Time” in 1975. Reportedly Mackenzie was earning close to $50,000.00 PER Episode.

Several years in (around 1979/1980) things started to come apart at the seams as she was arrested for cocaine possession. She was fired from the series in 1980, she did a brief stint in rehab, and returned to the show in 1981. In 1983 the producer of the show requested she take a drug test, she refused, and left the show. Many of Mackenzie’s problems started early as she states her 1st exposure to Cocaine was at age 11, doing drugs with her father. She goes on to reveal that at age 19, the night before her wedding, she woke from a blackout having sex with her own father.

She ended the relationship when she became pregnant and was not sure if the father of her baby was her husband or her own father. (Growing up in the same house as her father gave her the opportunity to “mingle” with some of Music’s and Hollywood’s biggest stars. Paul McCartney, Gram Parsons, Mick Jagger, Warren Beatty and Jack Nicholson to name a few). In 2008, more problems arose as she was arrested again for Heroin and Cocaine posses-sion. The case was dismissed after she com-pleted a stint in a drug diversion program. In 2010 she appeared on “Celebrity Rehab” with Country Artist Mindy McCready, who would later commit suicide. Phillips won an Honor-ary Best Actress award on March 20, 2011 at the gala of the Female Eye Film Festival in To-ronto, Canada for her performance as Sharon in the 2010 independent film Peach Plum Pear.

In October 2013 , I had the opportunity to meet Mackenzie. We spoke at great lengths about her struggles with addiction, and the fight to stay sober. Ironically, life sometimes imitates art, and in this case, like the title of the show she is best known for, Mackenzie is literally living one day at a time. We also spoke of my struggles with fighting Cancer since 2008. Many similari-ties within both our struggles. Many days of not caring if tomorrow came or not. Many dark days. Thankfully both Mackenzie and I have seen the light at the end of the tunnel. Thank God it’s not a freight train. Bob Klein

by Bob Kleinphoto Bob Klein


MY ART OF GLASS

ART

Fast forward, now I have a web page on Facebook that’s growing fast with popularity and orders.

Please check out my Facebook page and give me a “Like” at: https://www.facebook.com/larasartofglass

My goal is to give you a one of a kind work of art with that special personal touch, displayed in beau-tiful packaging.

Fast forward, now I have a web page on Face-book that’s growing fast with popularity and orders.

Please check out my Facebook page and give me a “Like” at: https://www.facebook.com/larasartofglass

I lovingly hand paint unique, customized designs on any style glass for every occasion upon the customer’s request. The sky’s the limit; milestone birthdays, graduations, and an-niversaries to showers, weddings, and seasonal themes.

As the consumer, you will play a major role in what is created by consulting with me on the product and what you wish it to depict, to give it that personal touch.Pricing is based on artwork and the level of detail, time spent, and personalization. In that price I include the glass of choice and my beau-tiful packaging, so that your gift is ready to be received.

Many of us enjoy and appreciate another person’s interpretation of the world that surrounds them, or that comes from within them. Some enjoy be-ing part of that creative aspect.

Art of Glass was created through the love and passion to create something unique and beautiful on anything from delicate glass to hard, durable surfaces.You, the consumer, will play a big role in what is created by consulting with me on the product and what you wish it to depict. From your heart and soul, and straight through mine.It’ll be a one of a kind.

I asked this talented designer to describe herself, what she does, and how she got started

My Art of Glass was created through my life long love and passion for art.

I started painting at a very young age, but didn’t hone in on my talent until Spring of 2013. Glass painting was an idea introduced to me by my mother in law who believed I was wasting my talent by not sharing it. She asked me to paint a set of glasses back in May as part of a gift idea she had. Reluctant at first, I took a stab at it and that’s when “My Art of Glass” concept was born.

My Art Of Glass” is the unique artis-tic creations on glass and customized murals.


LVMA15 HONORS LOCAL TALENTby Alexxis Steele

The Greater Lehigh Valley Music Association brings forth another year of honoring local talent, with the LVMA15 Music Awards, on Sunday March 9th. Doors open at 3pm, with a 4pm start at The Musik-fest Cafe, Bethlehem, PA. Service Electric Cable Tv will be on hand to film the event for broadcast, dur-ing the two and a half hour star-studded show. This will be definitely be one show you will not want to miss for 2014!

I spoke with Executive Director, Gloria Domina, about what new plans she has in store for this year’s event. This is the first year of the partnership between Artsquest, and the GLVMA’s, after three years of calling The Musikfest Cafe their home, and the fifth year that ArtsQuest Vice President of Performing


Arts Patrick Brogan, is acting as their stage manager.

LVMA15 offers many new changes and editions, over previous years. The opening ceremony, is slated to be a moment of epic proportion, not to be missed, with a dedication to the men and women of the military, and veterans. Singing the national anthem is, Juanita-Renay Shockley, 2012 Freddy Award winner for her role in Dieruff High School’s presentation of “Hairspray”.

Scott Marshall will be performing a song he wrote for the military, titled “Letters and Prayers”, a touching song about family and friends reaching out to loved ones deployed overseas.

The youth honoree award, will be presented to twelve -year-old violist Nicholas Marzigliano, by former U.S. heavyweight boxing champion Larry Holmes. Nicholas, who was diagnosed with Autism when he was only nineteen months old , will also be paying tribute to the military, with a video performance. This will be the first time that a youth honoree has performed.

This was the first year that it was decided that there would be no performance requests at the event. Instead, the recipients of the twenty year veteran awards, and the lifetime achievement awards, will be gracing the stage.

Also new this year is the introduction of four co-hosts, two in the beginning, and two at the end. Grouped in pairs are WFMZ TV’s- Jaciel Cordoba, and Community supporter- Hassana Birdsong, and in the second half- Dina Hall, President of Godfrey Daniels, and Amaryllis Santiago, Grammy and NARAS artist.

Special guests at the event will include: Former American Idol finalists: Tyler Grady, Jordan White, and Tim Marchetto, who will be presenting the youth award, and performing as a trio.

Vini Lopez, 2014 Rock N Roll Hall of Fame Inductee, founding member of the “E” Street Band will be pre-senting this year, as will J.T. Carter, of the group “The Crests,” 16 candles fame , who is is the 2014 PA House of Representatives Honoree.

Some of the evening’s highlights:

This year seven of the board of governors locally, and the national board of trustees from Los Angeles will be presents and performances for this year are as follows: ( Information provided from the LVMA website)There are one hundred signed limited edition posters, of which the honorees will get copies of, and the re-mainder will be on sale. For the first time ever there is finally a local Hip Hop artist that will be the recipient of a twenty year veterans award, King Magnetic. Ricky Levy and the Limits will be receiving a fifty year Life-time Achievment Award, as well as “Chicago” Carl Snyder. The honorees will be performing in special collab


bands for the course of the evening, for the audiences enjoyment. Among the performances (band/group affiliations in parenthesis) already confirmed for the 2014 awards ceremony are:

Hip-HopKing Magnetic (Army of the Pharaohs) – Veteran Award Honoree AcousticGeoff Houser (Eighteenth Hour) – Veteran Award HonoreeDavid Zullo (Eighteenth Hour) – Veteran Award HonoreeMichael Fritz (Dina and the Backbeat, Ashley and Mr. Fritz) – Veteran Award HonoreeChelsea Lyn Meyers (Power Chords) Board of Directors Honoree

BluesDana Gaynor (Dana Gaynor Band and James Supra Blues Band) – Veteran Award HonoreeBrian Berlanda (Friar’s Point and blues supporter) – Veteran HonoreeJoe Mac (Charlie Brown’s Notorious Groove, Buddy Guy – Veteran Award HonoreeCarl Snyder - Lifetime Achievement Honoree

Jazz FusionBryan Harmony (M80, Spitshine, Jolly Roger) – Veteran Award HonoreeBrian Bortz (Fusion Jazz Trio) – Veteran Award HonoreeAndrew Kanas - Board of Directors Honoree

RockLarry Werner (Social Call, Spitshine, Jolly Roger) – Veteran Award HonoreeDennis Biedler (Poker Face) – Veteran Award HonoreeDon Plowman (Craig Thatcher and The Lesson Center) – Veteran Award HonoreeMike Stanley (Royal Jam) – Veteran Award Honoree

Honorary PerformanceRick Levy and The Limits - Lifetime Achievement Honoree


White Rabbit film Synopsis:The trouble all started with a young Carl Jarvis. Forget the six-minute mile.. On a good day Jarvis could do it under five. Which begs us to ask the question, “If you’re so damn good then why hasn’t anyone heard of you?” Well, if you ask some of the girls they will admit to liking this “track and field enthusiast” (we won’t call him a star yet). Jarvis wants nothing more than fame and success. But the ultimate test of aspiration slithers to the darkest

Dreamcatcher MultimediaFilm Synopsis

White Rabbit


NEXT MONTHEssra Mohawk Celebrates the 50 year re-issue of Primordial LoversLegendary Punk Clothing Fashion Designer Natasha Adonzio Horror Rock Act- Demon Boy Danger Danger’s frontman Ted Poley Spike Tv’s Savage Family Diggers host,and Former Pro Wrestler Ric Savage

PLUS MUCH MUCH MORE!!!

Steel Notes Magazine March 2014 Issue #2

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Transcript of Steel Notes Magazine March 2014 Issue #2