JANUARY 5-18, 2015P. 2

Editor’s Note

So I spent the majority of 2014 raising my daughter, meeting tons of cool people and going on, um, ‘interesting’ dates. I did manage to find a special someone and get engaged so I suppose it was all worth it.

It’s been a pretty hectic year and I got to work with some really tal-ented writers who’ve helped add content over the past year but we’re still growing and expanding

our reach so there’s some excite-ment to look forward to. And this June will mark our second anniver-sary so perhaps there’s a need for some celebration? I’ll get back to you on that.

And between all that I still man-aged to watch a few good movies and pick up some great albums. I’ve included a list of some of my favs from 2014 even though some of my most anticipated flicks have

yet to make their way to wide release (‘Inherent Vice’ I’m looking at you) I’ll possibly include them at the end of this year.

I hope everyone had an awesome and safe holiday season and here’s to this one being ever better yet.

Cheers.

– Paul GonzalesEditor

What a year...

KATY REXKaty Rex is a freelance comics analysis writer at Comics Bulletin, Talking Comics, and Bloody Disgusting. She hosts a podcast about indepen-dent comics and music at endoftheuniver-secomics.com. She also writes scholarly articles about comics for various academic journals. She has a background in pop culture and lit-erature, and is particularly interested in modern independently published comics. She’s extreme-ly interested in the role that comics play in our

society, whether they are interpreted as modern mythology or social reflection. In her free time, she likes to cook, read about pale-ontology, and make scary noises at her cats. She currently resides in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Twitter: @eotucomics • Email: katy@endoftheuniversecomics.com

contributorsPAUL GONZALES

Paul does things and then writes about them. That’s pretty much it. Now, sometimes, he gets to do really fun

stuff and still manage to have a job when he returns to his office. Maybe they’re just not on to me yet?

editor Paul Gonzales email Paul@stxscene.com

phone (361) 343-5207website stxscene.com

twitter @stxscenefacebook facebook.com/stxscene

Published bi-weekly by Beeville Publishing Co.

Ryan AdamsRyan AdamsYou know, I felt really bad for

never really listening to a Ryan Adams record until now, but damn, what a great album. It sounds as though Tom Petty and Bruce Springsteen decid-ed to mix their genes and cre-ate some hybrid mutant mel-low rock monster.Favorite track: Kim

Jenny LewisThe VoyagerI’ve been a fan of Jenny

Lewis for a really time and this is her most adult sounding record to date. She’s given up the lovelorn heartbroken tracks and croons about growing old and what that means when you feel like you’re staring at the end of the tunnel.Favorite track: She’s Not Me

Tokyo Police ClubForcefieldThis album starting off as my least

favorite at the beginning of the year. It’s so different and the layers of music that have become so familiar from their other records was missing. It took some time to get used to the new TPC but by year’s end I couldn’t turn it off.Favorite track: Toy Guns

RecordsMovies

P. 3

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There hasn’t been controversy like this over a film in a really long time.

Actually, there may have never been any-thing like this in all of film’s history.

By now the majority of American citizens have heard of “The Interview” either from the movie’s trailers or the fact that two weeks before its nationwide release it was on the news constantly for North Korea’s threats on the U.S. if they release the film, which depicts their supreme leader as a manchild suffering from extreme narcissism.

For “The Interview”, the road to movie the-aters was paved with ter-rorist threats, both physi-cal and cyber, that even-tually led to the our very own president to weigh in on the subject.

Here’s the rundown of the craziness that led to the film being pulled from theaters, but subse-quently released anyway in independent cinemas and online.

“The Interview” was set to be released on Oct. 10, 2014. It was a com-edy written and direct-ed by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, who first worked together on 2013’s

“This is the End.” Rogen stars once again with real life buddy James Franco, and the plot revolves around Franco’s David Skylark who gets the

chance to interview North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un. Rogen is Skylark’s show’s producer, and they decide it’s going to be a huge ratings hit.

Then the CIA shows up and decides it would be a good idea if the two could assassinate Jong-un while they’re there, leading to all sorts of hijinks and laugh-out-loud humor.

But it was also the source of all the contro-versy.

On June 20, an unof-ficial spokesperson for North Korea said, “The Interview shows the des-peration of the U.S. gov-ernment and American society. A film about the assassination of a for-eign leader mirrors what the U.S. has done in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria

and Ukraine.”Then on June 25, the

Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), the state-run news agency of North Korea, reported that the Korean government promised “stern” and “merciless” retaliation if the film was released, stating that “making and releasing a film that por-trays an attack on our top-level leadership is the most blatant act of ter-rorism and war and will absolutely not be toler-ated.”

But most casual view-ers thought it nothing more than a publicity stunt and went on with their lives.

On July 11, the KCNA wrote President Obama and asked to have the film pulled from theaters. The request was shrugged aside.

Sony Pictures (the stu-dio that produced the film) finally decided that it would re-edit the film to reduce its insensitiv-ity to North Korea, but the publicity was going so well that they moved the release date to the prime Christmas Day spot.

But something was also brewing underneath. The

film

DON’TMESS WITHAMERICA

Rogen and Franco’s new flick ‘The Interview’ nearly sent us to war, but in the end, it just proved that they hate us because they ain’t us.

by Paul Gonzales

– Kim Jong-il, father of current leader Kim Jong-un, reportedly spent £700,000 on Hennessy per year. That’s roughly $1.2 million. The average annual income in North Korea is estimated to be between $1,000 and $2,000.

– Marijuana is legal and is not even classified as a drug in North Korea.

– North Korean archaeologists announced to the world in 2012 that they “discovered” the lair of the Unicorn ridden by legendary King

Tongmyung 2000 years ago.

– North Koreans may only choose from 28 approved haircuts.

– In the last 60 years, over 23,000 North Koreans have defected to South Korea. Only two South Koreans have gone to the North.

– North Korea has its own operating system called Red Star OS.

– In 2013, North Korea’s president killed his own uncle by throwing him naked into a cage with 120 starving dogs.

getting to know North Koreacontinued on pg. 4

here seems to be a growing trend in comics these days with publishing

houses mining cult films from the ’80s and ’90s and expanding their legacies.

The newest comic book follow-up is a sequel to David Cronenberg’s 1986 awesome horror/sci-fi flick “The Fly” from IDW Studios. And, while there was a film continuation, “The Fly II”, in 1989, there is no mention if it will factor in to the new five issue miniseries.

The comic sequel will launch in March and be written by Brandon Seifert (“Hellraiser,” “Witch Doctor”) and will feature painted inte-rior and cover art by menton3 (“Silent Hill,” “Monocyte”).

“To be totally honest, ‘The Fly’ is one of the most disturbing things I’ve ever seen!” said series writer Seifert. “It was really resonant for its time. And in the last 20 years or so, with all the advances in Genetically Modified Organisms, the film has taken on a lot of meaning it didn’t originally have. It’s really exciting to explore those elements in this minise-ries — and great to have an amazing, super-dis-tinctive artist like men-ton3 on the visuals!”

The press release describes the miniseries as follows:

Years ago, a scientist had a horrific accident

when he tried to use his newly invented teleporta-tion device and became a human/fly hybrid. Now his almost-human son continues to search for a cure for the mutat-ed genes. But a break-through turns into a breakout, and anyone exposed risks turning into a monster as well…

“Equal parts gory

allegory and tragic love story, ‘The Fly’ was per-haps David Cronenberg’s crowning achievement,” editor Denton J. Tipton said about the film.

“That’s a lot to live up to, but I believe Brandon and Menton are equal to the task. The script is sharp and poignant, and the art is visceral and haunting. No one is safe!”

The five-issue minise-ries launches in March and boasts two variant covers by Jason Edmiston and Lukas Ketner.

Find your nearest comic book retailer at www.comicshoplocator.com.

JANUARY 5-18, 2015P. 4

film

powers that be thought that the film could stir a sort of revolution in North and South Korea, so the Fighters for a Free North Korea organized balloon airdrops of the film throughout both countries.

Pretty strange for a Seth Rogen comedy.

But then things took a turn for the worse when, on Nov. 24, Sony Pictures had their com-puter networks hacked by a group claiming to be called “Guardians of Peace.” They leaked com-pany emails, employees personal information and even recent Sony films. The emails showed how coarse and money hungry the studio heads were along with some embarrassing remarks about actors and direc-tors and their films.

But the big blow came on Dec. 16 when the hack-ers issued this warning on movie-goers: “We will clearly show it to you at the very time and places The Interview be shown, including the premiere, how bitter fate those who seek fun in terror should be doomed to. Soon all the world will see what an awful movie Sony Pictures Entertainment has made. The world will be full of fear. Remember the 11th of September 2001. We recommend you to keep yourself dis-tant from the places at that time. (If your house is nearby, you’d better leave.)

“Whatever comes in the coming days is called by the greed of Sony Pictures Entertainment. All the world will denounce the Sony.”

After that, Rogen and Franco canceled all their

public appearances along with the film’s New York premiere. Soon all major North American theater chains followed suit and stated that they will not show the film.

Sony then decided to shelf the film indefinite-ly.

The $44 million dollar budgeted film was going to cost the studio over an estimated $100 million after all the marketing costs and overseas book-ings were pulled.

But that wasn’t the end of it.

In a press conference, U.S. President Barack Obama stated that he thought Sony had “made a mistake. We cannot have a society in which some dictator in some place can start imposing censorship in the United States. I wish they’d spo-ken to me first. I would have told them: do not get into the pattern in which you are intimi-dated.”

Americans began to revolt and call out Sony Pictures and began orga-nizing other screenings of films that made fun of the tiny country.

Then, on Dec. 23, Texas-based theater chain Alamo Drafthouse founder Tim League announced via Twitter that the film would play on Christmas Day in their theaters.

Soon, other small inde-pendent theater chains would join in, and all together, more than 300 screens played the film. And on top of that, Sony Pictures announced that they would release it online through their own website and other streaming platforms Christmas Eve.

The film grossed $2.9

million total over the holiday weekend and a whopping $15 million in digital downloads and became the company’s highest grossing online release to date.

It just goes to show that no one can bully Americans, even if it is just a raunchy R-rated comedy featuring Rogen and Franco.

But after all is said and done, is the movie even any good and worth all the hubbub?

It’s exactly the movie you would expect from the duo. It’s a hilarious, toilet humor filled vul-gar comedy that some can say does portray North Korea in a unflat-tering, realistic light, albeit a little more ridic-ulous. Hopefully, more ridiculous. The stories about North Korea and its leader that are true are hard to fathom.

Overall, the movie is just a movie, and the only thing North Korea did, though they claim they are not responsible for any of the threats, is make everyone want to see the film. Even grand-parents stood in long lines to see what the fuss was all about.

It was great publicity for the film brought on by a country that has no business threaten-ing anybody, much less America. And, hopefully, everyone walks away from this learning a les-son about art and our God-given right to free-dom of speech.

You can stream or buy “The Interview” at www.seetheinterview.com, iTunes, YouTube, Google Play and on XBox. Also look for it to expand in theaters in the coming weeks.

Interview cont.comic books

THE BUZZ ‘The Fly: Outbreak’ is a five issue

miniseries that begins

in March from IDW

Publishing. The first issue

will feature two variant

covers (below) by Jason

Edmiston and Lukas Ketner.

P. 5

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comic books

his comic is the best of Daniel Clewes, John Waters, and Highlights maga-

zine. It combines camp and kitsch with a f***-you attitude, the real kind of f***-you attitude, not the kind you could buy at the Hot Topic in the mall in 2002. It is, at its core, what a locally created comic should be. Created by J. Kelly and John G., out of Cleveland, Ohio, the stories are a lovechild of Strangers in Paradise and “Creature from the Black Lagoon”, plopped unceremoniously into the biggest busiest city of that, er, sophisticated

and metropolitan state (heh heh).

The writing is the easy conversational dialogue that we’ve come to be familiar with in works like Love & Rockets, and as campy and cheesy as the plot can get, the real-istic characters and their natural-feeling conversa-tions keep the book as a whole grounded enough to keep the reader engaged. Because of the ease in which one can sink com-fortably into the page with barely a bloop as one is absorbed, the predict-able horror tropes aren’t even remotely jarring or boring. ‘Camp’ is a trend

in comics, and maybe it always has been (does that still make it a trend?), but there’s a huge differ-ence between a campy story and some bulls*** a t t e n t i o n -grabber in a feather boa and fedora w i n k i n g obnoxiously at the audi-ence. This comic? Not bulls***.

The art, in full-color glossy (a lux-urious print-ing option in the world of indie comics, but extreme-

ly well executed in this case), straddles the real-istic and the grotesque. It nods, at points, to the gritty spattered aesthetic so popular in the 90’s, the bright mod look of the 60’s and 70’s, and the cheesy B movie horror thing. The images seem thicker, more textured, than the more traditional inks. Each panel is drawn with care, no lazy half-finished faces or hands/feet hidden behind set pieces, and the charac-ters are consistently both easily distinguishable and easy to read, expres-sion-wise. The character design, in fact, matches perfectly with the charac-ters as they are written: realistic, mundane, but somehow appealing.

This is a fantasti-cally fun-to-read comic, and the cherry on top? I don’t know, I guess this banana split has 2 cher-ries. The first is the let-ters column. Written by the Commodore, a sort of mascot, muse, and “Tales From The Crypt”-style host, the letters column gives absolutely no sh*** about the fans who write in. In fact, in the second issue, the Commodore printed AND THEN REFUSED TO ANSWER several letters that were not properly addressed to him in the opening. The writer who did remember to write to the Commodore had her question gener-ally dismissed, since he did not appreciate her writing “in an attempt to trick me into writing your term papers for you, Ms. Wooley.”

The second cherry—or, I don’t know, let’s call this one a lychee berry. For variety. The lychee berry next to the letters column cherry is, bizarrely, the ads. It’s unclear wheth-er the ads are designed

entirely from start to fin-ish by John G. and J. Kelly, but they’re cer-tainly part of the book. They’re cartoon-styled, occasionally with panels, and always with a sense of humor that makes it perfectly clear that the business would not have ad space with the Shiner Comics Group if they didn’t deserve it.

Genuinely, the record store and restaurant ads have made me want to move to Cleveland,

or (when I’m rich and famous) at least buy a vacation home there. And in particular the adver-tisements for the local comic shop, Comics Are A Go, are self-aware and hilarious, poking fun at us, the nerds, while cel-ebrating the painful elit-ism, insecurities, and immaturities that we have learned to mostly hate and/or embrace as a subculture. At $5 a pop, The Lake Erie Monster is a traditionally more-high-

ly-priced indie comic, but as a thick and quarterly release crammed full of content, I’d say it’s well worth it.

Now that the major nar-rative arch of the first five issues is complete, The Lake Erie Monster will continue to be an ongo-ing collecting short horror stories. According to cre-ator John G., issue #6 will be available starting this March. Check them out at www.thelakeeriemonster.com for more details.

CULT CLASSIC MONSTER The Lake Erie Monster was created by J. Kelly and John G. out of Cleveland and showcases their love for John Waters and Daniel Clewes, not to men-tion classic movie monsters like The Creature from the Black Lagoon.

A MONSTER WITH ISSUES Now that the five issue story arc has finished, The Lake Erie Monster will continue on as an ongoing horror anthology series of sorts beginning with issue #6 which will be released in March 2015.

JANUARY 5-18, 2015P. 6

cover story

ina Diaz has dark, deep eyes. At nearly 27 years old,

you can see that they are world weary and those of a woman twice her age. And as we talk, I can’t help but just stare into them and travel to the places and things she’s seen over the 14 years as lead singer for the punk rock band Girl in a Coma.

Now she’s heading out on her own with a new solo project and a record to be released in the com-ing months. Her voice is quiet but eager. Her words are precise and excited when she speaks about her new songs and new, sober life and what the future holds for her-self and her new band.

“I tried coke for the first time at age 16,” Diaz remembered. “Was on and off it. First drink at 13. Was on and off that.

“But when I last relapsed it was meth that hooked me. Tricky drug

that one is. Once in a while turns into every-day.

“I was doing it four months straight, lost weight really fast. Everyone was worried, ’til the time came and I finally asked for help.”

It was during the end of 2012 when Diaz turned to drugs and alcohol to get her through the day. She had wrestled a few times before with those same demons, but this time they weren’t easily

tamed.“Being an addict, you

automatically feel like a victim all the time,” Diaz said. “And I always have that mentality; I think everyone has that men-tality when they feel like the world’s against them.

“But it’s also a selfish way of thinking. I was just holding in so much, and I felt like I couldn’t communicate that well, and I think part of that relapse was something inside of me that just wanted to change.”

Diaz took to writing new songs. This time around she wrote every-thing from the bass and drums to the keyboard parts and guitars—some-thing she had never done with Girl in a Coma.

“I tried showing them one of the songs and showing them what to play, and it just felt weird. It felt like I was telling them what to do. And that’s not our band is like.”

Girl in a Coma lead singer Nina Diaz has battled drugs and alcohol for years but now she’s recovering with a new batch of battered tunes and a solo career waiting to explode with the release of her new album.

story & photos by Paul Gonzales

P. 7

cover story

Fans of Girl in a Coma have been up in arms about the band splitting up to do their own solo projects, but never fear. Nina Diaz explains that the girls aren’t breaking up and how this could actually be very cathar-tic for the band.

“Girl in a Coma isn’t breaking up,” Diaz explained. “That’s what a lot of fans are afraid of.

“We have our own personal things with each other. Of course spending so many years together it’s going to take it’s toll in different ways. I feel that this is the

most responsible thing for us to do to continue to make music.

“So for the rest of this year it’s definitely going to be about my solo stuff and the girls doing Fea, who are going to release a full length album them-selves soon.

“So probably not until 2016 will Girl in a Coma really have the mental and physical energy to put out something. And of course this year I want to hopefully jam with the girls and have things happen organically like it used to.

“And after I do a

couple of tours when the album comes out, we’ll get in to the room together and start work-ing on some songs.

“We have two songs actually, one called “Invisible” and one that is called “Here is Now” that are new for Girl in a Coma that we wrote before I started working on my solo stuff.

“So it’s going to pick back up. I feel like it’s going to be stronger that it would’ve been if we just continued on. It’ll be a new form of apprecia-tion we’ll have for each other.”

Gone Girl?

Diaz decided she need-ed to sober up (she’s going on two years) and figure out what she was going to do with all these new songs.

“I had a talk with the girls, and I told them I need to do this. I think I need to go solo. And I need to see where this takes me.”

Jenn Alva and Nina’s sister Phanie Diaz, who made up the roster of Girl in a Coma, decided to take the time off by focusing on their Chicana punk rock band, Fea, which also features Aaron Lee

Magana (Michael J. and the Foxes) and Letty Martinez (Angela and the X’s).

“I think it’s just my time,” Diaz said with a small, sincere grin. “It’s either I needed to change, or I would just stay the same, and I would suf-focate, in a way, with my thoughts.

“It’s not because the girls couldn’t play this

music; it’s just that I didn’t want to make them play something that they didn’t really feel. This is what I’m feeling. The majority of my songs are about recovery and addic-tion. I feel like I really need to spread the mes-sage about it. It’s my way of talking to people that are my age and younger that are dealing with this issue, and I just happen to sing about it.

“I feel like it was my path, and I chose to walk it.”

Her solo album, titled The Beat Is Dead, was recorded with musician friends of Diaz last year. Her current band, whom she calls her “boys,” is still relatively new to playing Diaz’s music, but they work so well together that at the end of January they’ll record

a track with the band that will also be featured on the new album.

And Diaz going solo presents a whole new set of problems she’s facing for the first time. The last four Girl in a Coma records were released through Joan Jett’s Blackheart Records label, which Fea is now signed to. Girl in a Coma decided not to stay with

the label, and now with a new record Diaz is trying to figure out what to do with it.

“I think if you sign to someone in a dream world they give you money to do this or that.

“It just doesn’t happen anymore.

“So it’s going to take a lot of work to put this out right and not just releas-ing it and saying, ‘Oh, I got that out of my sys-tem.’ I want it to reach everybody. I want it to reach as many ears as possible, and that takes time.”

And she’s also learn-ing the pratfalls of going it alone and hitting the road to promote herself and her music, which isn’t always a bad thing.

“I’m having to do more business stuff which Phanie would always take care of. I’ve always been the one going, ‘What? Where are we? What am I doing?’

“It’s like now I’m grow-ing up in the scene, how I should’ve, but I did it to myself where I decided to go down that hole for a long time. I’m rebuild-ing all those things that I should’ve learned then.

“And now I’m learning it all, and I’m learning it all on my own. I mean, of course, I have my guys with me now, and they’re a great support system, but inevitably it’s like I was just riding in the van with them here, and it’s like ‘They’re doing this for you. All of this is for you.’ And it’s not in a selfish, egotistical way. It’s more like, here it is. Don’t chicken out. Don’t abuse it. Just be happy that it’s happening.”

continued on pg. 10

JANUARY 5-18, 2015P. 8

local music

Jimmy Willden released his new EP Melodies of the Aftermath

Thursday, Dec. 18, at the House of Rock to a raucous crowd. Local art-ists Steven James and Lady Katherine were there to lend their sup-port and open the show for Willden.

“The release party was amazing,” Willden said of the night’s show. “It was so heartwarming to see all of these people in the same place, supporting new, original music in Corpus Christi.

“Steven James and Lady Katherine killed it, and the crowd was just perfect.”

Having known Willden for some time now, it was great to see him relaxed and performing perfectly with his band live for the first time.

“Some of my favorite moments from the show was having the full band on stage with me, bring-ing these songs we’ve been working on for months to life in front of an audience,” Willden recalled.

“The special appearance by Clarissa Serna to sing a duet with me also stands out, and for me, looking out into the audience and see-ing old friends, new friends and brand new faces who’ve never seen us before finding out what we’re all about brings this whole journey full circle.”

Willden will be perform-ing in the Corpus Christi area throughout the next couple of months as he pre-pares for his Melodies of the Aftermath tour which kicks off in March.

You can catch him live on Jan. 29 at Cassidy’s Irish Pub, 601 N. Water St. in Corpus Christi.

The A

fter

ma

th

JIMMY JAMS Local Corpus Christi singer Clarissa Serna, who competed on NBC’s “The Voice”, joined Willden on stage for a duet during his EP release show at the House of Rock.

SUPPORT GROUP Steven James

(left) and Lady Katherine

(below) showed their local

support for Jimmy Willden

Thursday, Dec. 18 for the

release of his EP Melodies of the Aftermath.

Willden can next be seen at Cassidy’s Irish

Pub, 601 N. Water St. in

Corpus Christi.

P. 9

ustin indie rockers Ume are looking for artists to design

their album cover for their forthcoming EP Too Big World. And get this, if your album cover is chosen, it will not only be their official record cover, but you’ll walk away with $500!

The EP is looking to be released early this year, and the deadline for the contest is Jan. 13.

Ume are a crazy ener-getic group that hail from Austin. Lead singer/guitarist Lauren Larson leaps all over the stage, wildly swinging her gui-tar, all the while never missing a beat and mys-teriously appears right in front of the mic when it’s

her time to sing.I caught them at

Brewster Street Ice House a while ago when they opened for their good friends The Toadies. Their performance was explosive, and I’ve been a fan ever since.

Their latest full length album “Monuments” was released in June 2014 and got the attention of music fans all over the world and publications such as Rolling Stone, Nylon and the Village Voice.

The band has shared the stage with Black Sabbath, Soundgarden, The Smashing Pumpkins, Warpaint, …And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead, Franz Ferdinand and Wu-Tang among many others.

I think it’s pretty rad that they’re looking to their fans to design their eagerly awaited new EP as it could possibly be seen by hundreds of thou-sands of music fans on

billboards and in the top music magazines.

For more info check them out at facebook.com/umemusic or the contest page at creativeallies.com and search ‘Ume.’

Some of the things you need to include are:

• Required text: “Ume”

• Optional text: “Too Big World”

• All submissions must be original art/illustrations.

• The winning designer should be able to submit a layered file (.psd, .eps, .ai) of the winning design.

Some of the things you should avoid:

• Respect copyright. DO NOT submit copyrighted work.

• DO NOT use stock images or clip art.

• You MUST be

able to prove ownership of any photographic elements (even in a modified state).

• Avoid the obvious (world, Austin, Texas).

• DO NOT use live or promotional photos of the band in your design.

• Please do not include the word ‘EP’ anywhere on your design. If you want to provide the title of this release, include just ‘Too Big World’.

• Please do not include the band’s logo on your design.

music

GRAPHIC CONTENT You can also head over to creativeallies.com and check out designs that others have entered in to the contest. The deadline for submissions is Jan. 13.

Here’s a few tips from creativeallies.com to get your artistic gears turning

photo by Sandy Carson

JANUARY 5-18, 2015P. 10

Are you a writer?STXscene Magazine is always

looking for contributors who enjoy watching movies, going to live

shows or just like writing about cool and interesting stuff that happens

around the Coastal Bend.We also accept photography

submissions as well.

Send any examples and/or resumé to

Paul@stxscene.com

The album The Beat Is Dead is a line from one of the 13, possibly 14, tracks titled “Queen Beats King.” Diaz men-tioned that, while it is a little on the dark side, it does get in touch with her dance side as well, tossing out Bjork and Ace of Bass as influenc-es.

“It has this kind of dark Tim Burton kind of vibe but with some bright colors here and there. It’s a duality between good and evil. And I feel, again being an addict and alcoholic, that’s what you battle with the most.”

With a small tour of Texas during the month in preparation of the forthcoming album and a video shoot in a few weeks for the first single, Diaz is a busy girl at the moment. She has high hopes for her first solo

album and by the looks of it is willing to put in the work.

“I want to play Coachella. I want to play at least one late night TV show. I just want to get as many ears as possible and have them come out to the shows and have fun

“I always loved the ’90s. I’m always jeal-ous of the girls because they were teenagers in the ’90s and they were able to go and mosh, and everything was Docs, and it was crazy, and it was fun, and people really loved being at the shows. And I want to bring that back in a way.

“I want people to have fun and not be afraid to let loose and talk about those things they feel they can’t talk about. I hope with my lyrics they hear a song and think, ‘Finally, I’m going to tell my mom this,’ or ‘I’m going to tell that guy this.’ ‘Finally, I’m going

to tell myself this, and I’m going to get help,’ or ‘I’m going to enjoy myself.’

“That’s what I hope for this album.”

It will be interesting to see how far Diaz has come by year’s end and what she’s learned and how much she’s grown, not just as a musician but as a person. She seems calm and collected and doesn’t mind talk-ing about her addiction-riddled past.

But one worries how the road will wear on her as she embarks on an extensive tour to pro-mote her album and how she plans on staying sober on the long trek.

“It’s actually easy to stay sober on the road—always moving helps. If I ever get frustrated, I go to meetings and work with my sponsor.

“A lot of prayers and letting go and letting God.”

cover story

Diaz cont.

comics

P. 11

AFU� Y GIRL– –

a Paul Gonzales movie

search A FU� Y GIRL at ROCKETHUB.COM to help fund the movie

www.facebook.com/AFUNNYGIRLfilm

HELP PRODUCE A FEATURE FILM

Wed. Jan. 7• CC Downtown

Farmers’ Market at La Retama Park: The Corpus Christi Downtown Farmers’ Market is open every Wed. from 5-7 p.m. and it all kicks off Jan. 7. Come shop South Texas’ freshest local produce, grab dinner from a new food truck every week and enjoy some live music, this week featur-ing Dorothy Peña. The event is free and open to the public. Schatzell St. & N. Mesquite St. in Corpus Christi.

Sat. Jan. 10• Aaron Watson at

Schroeder Hall: Texas Music Chart topper Aaron Watson returns to Schroeder Hall and is sure to pack the place. The doors open at 8 p.m. and it’s just $20 to get in and dance, dance, dance. 12516 FM Rd. 622 in Goliad.

• Rock’s Xtreme Fight Night at American Bank Center: Men and women, professional and amateur MMA fight-ers battle it out all night long. A portion of the pro-ceeds goes to the Ronald McDonald House. It all begins at 7 p.m. 1901 N. Shoreline Blvd. in Corpus Christi.

• Underground 361 at El Paisano Ballroom: Underground 361 and the Elite Acapella Division present a pretty big rap battle show featuring per-formances by Dirty Music, D-Checc, Supernova E and more. The battles include The Wrekka vs. O-Travio, WarZone vs. Prince Troy, Lessthanthe3 vs. Young V and more. The even is just $10 and begins at 8 p.m. 300 W. Hefferman in Beeville.

Mon. Jan. 19• American

Aquarium at The House of Rock: North Carolina’s very own Americana/roots rock and roll band make their way to Texas. The doors open at 8 p.m. and it’s just $7 to get in. 511 Starr St. in Corpus Christi.

Tues. Jan. 20• Millionaires at

The House of Rock: These hip-hop gurls will be thumping their party anthems during the day starting at 4 p.m. but it’s still looking like a blast. It’s just $12 to get in and get down. 511 Starr St. in Corpus Christi.

Thurs. Jan. 22• The Independent

Thieves Cd Release Party at The House of Rock: Corpus Christi’s very own Independent Thieves will be releasing their album ‘Letter from the End of the World’ Thurs. They will be joined by Lady Katherine and Mathias Isassi and the show kicks off at 9 p.m. and is free to the public. 511 Starr St. in Corpus Christi.

Sat. Jan. 24• Stoney LaRue

at Schroeder Hall: Stoney finally returns to Schroeder Hall as he currently has a chart hit with “Golden Shackles.” The doors open at 8 p.m. and it’s just $15 at the door. 12516 FM Rd. 622 in Goliad.

• Piñata Protest at The House of Rock: Black TarPoon, Rock Bottom String Band and The Knockouts will be opening up for Piñat Protest. It’s also Oatmeal Reed from Black TarPoon’s Bday so make sure you stop by and wish him well. Doors open at 8 p.m. and it’s just $10 to jam all night long. 511 Starr St. in Corpus Christi.

Sat. Jan. 31• Two Tons of Steel

at The House of Rock:

Ty Dietz will be opening the show as Two Tons of Steel returns to Corpus. The doors open at 9 p.m. and it’s just $8 for a night full of great songs and awesome musicians. 511 Starr St. in Corpus Christi.

• 23rd Annual Kid Fish at Lake Corpus Christi: Bring your kids ages 5-12 out to the park and fish for Rainbow Trout for Free. Fishing poles will be provided and they can take them home, too! There will be games

and a hot dog lunch. It all begins at 9 a.m. 23194 Park Rd. 25 in Mathis.

Thurs. Feb. 5• Sean McConnell

at Brewster Street Ice House: Texas Throwdown Thursdays return with Sean McConnell. Doors open at 8 p.m. and the music starts at 9 p.m. It’s just $15 at the door. 1724 N. Tancahua St. in Corpus Christi.

Need your awesome event listed? Drop us a line at Paul@stxs-cene.com or send us a Facebook event invite at facebook.com/stxscene.

JANUARY 5-18, 2015P. 12