November 21 to November 27, 2013
www.coachellavalleyweekly.com
Laramie eve
By eric the red
M
any people claim to have played music for most of their lives. Laramie Eve, bassist for Blasting Echo, is one of the few people who can back this up with factual information. The La Quinta native is the personification of dedication and perseverance. She started playing piano at a very young age, quickly moved on to guitar and then bass shortly after. I sat down with her and got the lowdown on how she got into music, her career and accumulated achievements, and her activity in building public awareness about endometriosis. I started my interview by learning about Laramie’s past, and what made her decide to pursue a career in music. “When I was growing up as a kid, my parents collected antiques, and we had this antique piano in my house. There was a bench seat that had all these old school piano books. I used to sit there and read these books that I could hardly even read and sit there and play on the piano, and I was just like, ‘Oh, this is awesome.’ Just being able to make your own sounds and stuff. I’ve just always had music,” she stated. Laramie went on to explain how her musical talents evolved from there, moving on to the guitar at the age of 10, and progressing from there to the bass at 12. After that, her music career truly began, playing her first gig on her 13th birthday. Over the years, Laramie has amassed an impressive collection of achievements. I asked her to elaborate on what she felt was her biggest. “With Jekkel, we put out quite a few albums. I think we put out 3 albums before we were even out of high school. With Blasting Echo, just recently we recorded our 16 track CD, and we did it all ourselves,” Ms. Eve stated. She went on to describe the experience, saying, “We didn’t have any help and that’s really cool when it’s just that group of people, you don’t have anybody else’s inputs or anybody else saying anything. We did all the recording at the IPAC, so we got to set up on one of the little movie theater stages, because Linda Lemke, the keyboardist, teaches music there. So we got to use that for a month or so. We recorded all the drums and most of the bass, but then we went back to my
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house and did all the other guitars and all the vocals. I’ve actually had to have a couple surgeries, and I had one in the middle of it, but it was a good thing because I came back and I wasn’t able to do anything. So I would just sit there in the studio room and I did all the drum editing for Blasting Echo. I did all the grunt work, on the computer where you’re fixing everything.” We continued the dialog by talking about how she was active in our community, working to bring awareness to the women’s health issue, endometriosis. Laramie explained, “I have Endometriosis, and that’s something that needs a lot more focus out here in the desert. People hardly even know about it and it’s something that a lot of women have that goes undiagnosed for years. They didn’t know I had it for years, and they had to do an exploratory surgery to even find out that I had it.” Endometriosis is an often painful disorder in which tissue that normally lines the inside of the uterus, the endometrium, grows outside the uterus. Laramie went on to say, “It affects so many people, and so many people don’t know. I’m trying to get something going with that. There’s a rally in March for Endometriosis. It’s on March 14th, and they’re doing it all over the world, and in every capital in the U.S. It’s to help raise awareness and get people to get the word out there. You’re in so much pain, it affects you all the time, and it gets misdiagnosed. I was told I had so many other things before I found out what it was and I was given all these other drugs and it all made me worse. So that is something that I, especially this year, will really be trying to get something going.”
www.coachellavalleyweekly.com
November 21 to November 27, 2013
nicky vallee
B
by Lola Rossi-Meza
orn and raised in Woodbury, New Jersey, with one younger brother, Nicky Vallee, loved music ever since she was a child. “Music has always been near and dear to my heart. I played piano and started playing guitar when I was thirteen,” said Vallee. “My brother is also a musician.” She attended Villanova University and majored in Communication Arts. After college, she worked as a newscaster and Anchor for ten years. Her last job in TV was working for CBS-2 from 2005 until 2007. While living in the Desert, she answered an ad on MySpace. They were looking for a girl singer who could be part of a Fleetwood Mac Trio. “This was a great opportunity for me. I stared performing there in Idyllwild and met a lot of great people who encouraged me to make a career out of it. So, I started working at a few venues here in the Valley and it has snowballed from there.” Singing and playing guitar has always been her passion. “This past summer, I went back East and performed at the Jersey Shore with my brother, Joe, who plays drums. It was a very nice experience. Him on drums and me on guitar, a sister and brother act. We played at The Crab Trap, Yesterday Bar and Grill and Harry’s Oyster Bar at Bally’s. We do everything from The Eagles, Fleetwood Mac, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Tom Petty and Billy Joel, you know, all the good stuff. It was really great to be there for four months to perform for my family and friends.” Vallee performs most of this repertoire with guitarist Will Bonnar. They have returned to the bluEmber every Wednesday from 6 until 10 p.m. and also perform at venues in Idyllwild. This very talented and creative woman has her own wine label called Gypsy Red, which has sold out for this year. “The Merlot Zin blend vintage was well received. I am waiting to taste the new blend for a release in early 2014 for the second vintage. I am already getting calls requesting it.” The wine was on the menu at Fleming’s Steakhouse, Babe’s Bar-B-Que & Brewhouse, both at The River in Rancho Mirage; Dish Creative Cuisine in Cathedral City; and the Cork and Fork Restaurant in La Quinta. “It was nice to perform in a venue that carried my wine. I can’t explain it, but it is a good feeling to
have people enjoy my wine while enjoying my performance.” A very creative marketing concept that has not been done, until now. She currently works at O’Bayley Communications. “It gives me an opportunity to work closely with many nonprofit organizations here in the Coachella Valley. I enjoy promoting the things they are doing. It is a great balance for me. I take one day at a time and don’t let my busy schedule overwhelm me. I have a great sense of humor and don’t take myself too seriously. I have been very blessed and I am very grateful.”
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