NKD Mag - Issue #68 (February 2017)

ISSUE #68 - FEBRUARY 2017

by Catherine Powell

JACK FALAHEE

FEB. musicians:

social stars:

04 THE HEYDAZE

18 LESLIE MOSIER

friendship over music - always

how she built a brand for doug the pug

06 RUNAWAY JUNE

actors:

country’s newest brand of girl power

20 CARLY PEARCE every little thing is about to change

36 JLINE finding himself in being different

double threats: 10 DANTE BROWN balancing music and lethal weapon

12 KATELYN TARVER on developing as an artist

24 TOMMY DORFMAN

on 13 reasons why and representation

26 JACK FALAHEE understanding his privilege

galleries: 40 8123 FEST celebrating 10 years of the maine

publisher: CATHERINE POWELL

editors: CATHERINE POWELL

writers: SAMANTHA BAMBINO ELIZABETH FORREST AUTUMN HAILE MEGAN MARUSAK CATHERINE POWELL HANNAH SCHWARTZ RILEY STENEHJEM LIZ ZAVOYSKIY

photography: CATHERINE POWELL

design: CATHERINE POWELL

the heydaze Words by LIZ ZAVOYSKIY Photos by CATHERINE POWELL

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Like all great beginnings, The Heydaze found their birth in a dorm room when Jesse Fink and Andrew Spelman bonded over a shared interest in music.

“Andrew and I met in college when he was a sophomore and I was a freshman. We started playing guitar together and it slowly morphed into a more serious musical relationship,” says lead singer, Jesse.

Two years later, the two met Alexander Glantz, who was a freshman at the University of Pennsylvania. At that point, the duo was taking the band rather seriously. Pending some conversation about joining the band

and months of practice, Alexander became the third member of the group. A year down the line, Andrew graduated from school and Jesse and Alexander dropped out. Shortly after, the trio met Tyler Matte through a friend of a friend who joined as their drummer.

Rather ironically, none of the members of the band neither went to school for music, nor anticipated a career as full-time musicians.

“None of us went to school for music. But I think we all had in the back of our heads that we’d love to do this as a career for a living if we could. And at a certain point it just made sense to do it full time.” The last step to the puzzle was the perfect name.

“The name ‘Heydaze’ stems from a tradition from our college called Hey Day. We decided to put a little spin on it because the music evokes some nostalgia about one’s hey days. And because we thought we were going to get sued [for copyright infringement],” Andrew says. And in the years since the band’s conception, the name isn’t the only thing that’s changed. Stylistically, the band’s sound is sharper, more definitive in genre, and lyrically more unique. “I think we really found what kind of music we want to be making. And maybe at the beginning we weren’t too sure. But we’re falling into making music that is a genre that we grew up loving and still love. So it’s a sound that I think all of us are finally happy with,” Jesse says.

“Hurt Like Hell”, their first single on Island Records is the perfect exemplification of that. Upon scanning the commentary under their YouTube lyric video, the usual slew of typical internet negativity is almost entirely absent, replaced instead by comments from fans saying they’re finally onto something great early, and they can’t wait until the band blows up. “Hurt Like Hell” quickly escalates from a simple lust laden song to something much more reminiscent of early nineties punk rock mixed with the bounciness of pop. The chorus reads “If I stop for a minute / If I sink back in it / It’ll hurt like hell”. The lyrics are simple, to the point, yet pack quite a strong and memorable punch.

And although “Hurt Like Hell” is a testament to where the band has come from, it’s also a strong statement to where they’ve yet to go. As I sit with the foursome before their mini tour with Milky Chance, it’s unavoidable to be fascinated by the success they’ve reached in such a relatively short amount of time. “Being on the road has got to be the best part of being a musician,” Jesse says,

“New city every day, even when you’re so fucking tired. You step on stage and nothing else matters. That’s got to be the best part.”

On the topic of touring with Milky Chance, the band credits much of the relationship to the help of Island Records. “The good people at Island Records are to thank.

A lot of things just show up in our calendar and then we go there,” says Andrew with a flicker of a smile. Jesse chimes in with a more strategic answer, “Radio stations were pushing our singles and their singles and it kind of just got set up. We’ve been digging their music for a long time so it’s cool to finally play together.” As the first date of tour approaches, the band confesses their strategy involves copious amounts of practice and a few of pre-show shots to pound out any nervous jitters.

Their relationship with Island Records is one the band truly values. “It was the second or third meeting we had with them, and it just felt so comfortable. We were in the boss’ office and we should’ve probably been freaking out, but it felt totally normal and was so nice and welcoming,” Jesse says, “It just feels like a family - we’ve had the opportunity to get to know everyone.”

On their songwriting process, the effort is entirely collaborative. All four members of the group are writers of the music - a trait they say has surprised many of the people they’ve worked with in the past. “Every song we’re into, is something that we’re all proud of,” Jesse says, “We all have different influences and that comes out in a really cool way when we’re in the studio writing.” Those influences range from prog-rock to Warped Tour era bands to Kings of Leon and back to more classic rock like The Strokes, all of which play a part in the band’s process, both stylistically and lyrically.

When asked if they have any words of wisdom for others thinking of launching into a music career - the answer we receive summarizes the relationship between the band in a better way than we ever could. “We were talking to someone recently who was thinking of starting a band, and they told us that they didn’t really like who they were thinking of forming the band with. And the number one piece of advice is don’t do it,” Andrew says, “We are best friends and we hate each other sometimes because we’re together so much. So if we didn’t like each other, we’d be miserable. Make sure these are people you’re compatible with musically and personality wise.” NKD NKDMAG.COM

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runaway june

Words by RILEY STENEHJEM Photos by CATHERINE POWELL

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Country music trio Runaway June has been taking Nashville by storm with their Dixie Chicks-esque three part harmonies and powerful, inspiring anthems. The group is made up of guitarist Naomi Cooke, mandolin-picker Hannah Mulholland, and guitarist Jennifer Wayne.

The three met in Nashville, and quickly fell into their sound.

Jennifer, who grew up in California as a tennis player, moved to Nashville after college. “I had always wanted to sing, and my dad kind of thought, well, that’s not a real job, so he said once you go to college, you can do whatever you want,” she

and I would play my guitar on the street corner for tips,” she says. “I would make, like, 200 or 300 dollars – sometimes in a couple hours – and I was about 9-and-one-half. I knew then, holy crap, I can make money and play my guitar! So I did.” She started gigging as a teenager and moved to Nashville at age 20. About two years ago, she got her first songwriting cut on Travis Barr’s single ‘Better in Boots,’ and soon after met Jennifer and Hannah.

The three started off as a band in a writer’s room. “When we were writing we just all started singing without even really talking about

you write,” she explains. “We weren’t playing out, we weren’t gigging or anything. We were writing sometimes five times a week, twice a day, and when you’re writing that much material it really gives you a better vision of what you like, and what you sound like, and where you’re going to go.”

The girls tend to write songs that are personal. “We write what we know or what we’ve been through,” Jennifer says. “We’re also songwriters, so we can write songs at aren’t personal to us, but I think in our music, that’s pretty much it.”

Sometimes, in this process, writing

“We Weren’t playing out, We Weren’t gigging or anything. We Were Writing sometimes five times a Week, tWice a day, and When you’re Writing that much material it really gives you a better vision of What you like, and What you sound like, and Where you’re going to go.” says. After graduation, she moved to Nashville, and started finding her way into the music scene. “That was 11 years ago, and I love it. Now Nashville’s my home,” she remarks.

Hannah, another California native, grew up loving and playing music.

A songwriter since age 6, she brings in the low harmonies to the trio’s songs.

Naomi, the fifth of 11 children, has loved singing since her earliest years. A friend taught her some chords when she was 9, and for her next birthday, her parents bought a community guitar. “My family, we traveled around for a little while,

it, and we were like, oh, this is something! It works,” Jennifer says.

“I sing high harmony, and Naomi has a great lead voice, and Hannah naturally hears lows and sings lows.

It happened just naturally. We really felt like we had something special.”

Not only did the trio find a natural three-part harmony, but focusing on writing for a large chunk of time in their early days helped them better pinpoint their sound. For Naomi, this time was crucial. “The biggest part of an artist finding their sound, in my opinion, is writing their own music, and figuring out what you make, what comes out of you when

sessions become more like therapy sessions. “There’s been times when it’s just been us three girls, and we don’t know what we’re going to write, but we haven’t seen each other for a few days and we’ll get together and we’ll just start talking,” Naomi explains. “Someone might bring up a story from their childhood or a story about one of their friends.

I think the biggest key is to just stay open-minded and just try to stay in that artistic mind. Anything can be a song and a story. You just don’t know.” Out of these cathartic sessions, moments can evolve into songs.

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Once the song has been initially sketched out, the trio aims to simply make it the best it can be. “Good songs get attention,” Naomi remarks. “That really was our biggest focus – just getting the best songs together and making our favorite songs as good as we possibly could.”

It seems that they’re doing something right in that field, as their first single, ‘Lipstick,’ has been rapidly making its way up the charts. “It’s been amazing,” Jennifer says. “I think the coolest moment I’ve had with the song was when these high school girls – an acapella group – sang ‘Lipstick’ in front of their school. I watched the thing and I was just blown away. I started crying. It was so cool that these young girls were standing up on stage singing a positive song and knowing what they’re worth.” Naomi agrees.

“The surreal moments are when perfect strangers are covering a song that we wrote over two years ago now in some room on Music Row on a rainy day. It is really powerful and moving, and always an honor,”

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she says.

The music video for ‘Lipstick’ was recently released, and features The Bachelor’s Luke Pell. The shoot was the first experience creating a music video for Hannah, Naomi, and Jennifer. “It was a lot, and we had Luke Pell to shoot with, so that was really hard, he’s hard to look at,” Jennifer jokes. The entire video was filmed in one day, making a marathon shooting day for Luke and the girls under the lead of director Peter Zavadil. “He had so much energy, and he made it so fun and made us feel smart. We were really involved in the creative process, and he asked our opinions, and applied it to places,” Naomi says. “For a first video shoot for a baby act, it was incredible.”

Runaway June was selected by Carrie Underwood to play alongside her at the CMA’s this past November. “If you would have told us a year ago we were going to be singing with Carrie Underwood at the CMA’s, I would have thought you were crazy,” Jennifer says. “She

was so supportive. Before the show we all had in-ears and she said, ‘You girls are beautiful, strong, and talented. Let’s go show the world how great you are,’ and made it about us when it was her performance.”

Naomi agrees, adding, “It was a dream that was over in just a flash.”

The band was also chosen as one of CMT’s Next Women in Country. “I would love to thank Leslie Fram and CMT [for that]. We’re so excited,” Naomi says.

Looking ahead, the girls have a few tour dates with Willie Nelson to kick off the year, and plan to continue pushing their single and booking more gigs. As a self-described baby act, Runaway June has taken a running jump onto the country music charts. “I’m ambitious as hell.

We eventually would love to be on the world stage and hopefully earn a Grammy with one of our records,” Jennifer remarks. Overall, though, they hope to make long-lasting music. Jennifer hopes, “Generations to come, that people are still singing our songs.” NKD

dante brown 10

Words by AUTUMN HALLE Photos by CATHERINE POWELL

When it comes to fulfilling prophecies, Dante Brown is well on his way. Born in Chicago, Illinois as one in a set of triplets, he was the only baby to survive. Shortly after birth, his grandmother had a vision, that Dante would go on to inspire millions of people across the globe.

It was clear from an early age that Dante had that special spark. Whether it was trips to the mall or glimpses of him in a stroller, passersby were convinced that the young, charismatic boy with the big afro was a star. One particularly special trip to the mall, a stranger convinced his mother that he should start modeling. Within months of sending out headshots Dante found himself booking commercials and modeling shoots, his winning smile and budding personality an instant draw. But it was his comedic and dancing talents that had opportunities pouring in, eventually getting him featured on The Today Show and Oprah.

It didn’t take long before Dante began dabbling in music, forming the rap group, The Brown Brothers with his younger brother Dusan. The two performed throughout their hometown of Chicago, garnering attention from heavyweights in the industry. After one memorable audition with Howard Meltzer, a casting director for the Disney Channel, they ended up connecting with a Los Angeles-based manager, and making a major move out to California.

The Brown brothers took full advantage of their new opportunities, with Dante hitting the audition circuit hard between his classes. “For the six months in L.A. I was just auditioning and learning and going to school. That’s all I was doing,” Dante says. Soon enough, he had captured Hollywood’s attention by being cast in his first major film, Won’t Back Down, in which he played Viola Davis’ son.

“I think what I learned from that set, that I still use today, is that it’s all about hard work and the time you put into your craft. If you’re putting in the work,

big, spectacular things are going to happen,” he says. Dante took his chance to work alongside seasoned actors in stride, emulating that hardworking behavior in his own work ethic long after he left the set.

There was a point not long after arriving in Los Angeles when things started falling into place. “After I booked a pilot called Mockingbird Lane, which was supposed to be a spin-off of a 1960’s series called The Munsters, I just sort of went ham, booking show after show,” Dante says. Those shows included some major television series like NCIS, Law & Order, and Southland — to name a few.

And then, the spectacular happened.

Dante was cast on FOX’s Lethal Weapon, a popular television series based off the films of the same name, where he plays the intelligent, if not slightly rebellious, Roger Murtaugh Jr. “Roger is a straight laced kid. He’s smart and he just wants to be his own person,” Dantes says, “He’s looking to get out into the world because he’s been so straight laced he feel like he hasn’t really lived.”

The role was a departure for Dante, who has frequently found himself playing the bad boy, but to him, that’s what made playing Roger so exciting. “This was my first time playing an intelligent character. Most times I’m playing an edgy role, like my characters on Shameless and Law & Order,” Dante says, “I’ve always played that smart mouthed kid that constantly got in trouble, but this time I’m playing someone intelligent looking to toe the line.” However, Roger and Dante share some similarities. “I had to figure out what type of intelligence I shared with this kid and find some connections,” he says, “Like how his parents are like my parents in a way, they’re strict. Really, we’re the same person. I’m more of the smart mouth than I am the super intelligent, super nerdy kid that wants to rebel, but it’s fun to see Roger develop his rebellious side a little more.”

It helps, of course, to be working with

a cast that functions more as a family.

“It’s an amazing vibe on set. They’re a lot of fun to be around, especially when we start cracking jokes and having fun and acting like a family. Which is really what we are,” he says.

Between playing Roger and working towards college, it’s hard to imagine Dante has time in his busy schedule for anything else. But music remains one of the artistic avenues he’s most passionate about, enough so, that he spends all his spare time working on it. “I have to get this done or I’ll never get it done,” he says, “So I’m writing and recording whenever I can. If I get home from set or finish my homework early, I’m recording.”

The hard work is paying off, Dante is set to release a Lethal Weapon exclusive track on iTunes this year, and it doesn’t stop there. “I’ll have an EP and mixtape dropping later this year,” he says. No surprise here, his music is all his own, with very little influence from outside producers or writers. “As far as music goes, I’m engineering, writing, and producing it. So, I’m doing it all really, which is exciting,” he says.

At the moment, however, acting remains his primary focus. He has dreams of someday working alongside his biggest influences and inspirations. “I want to work with Denzel Washington, Quentin Tarantino, Marlon Wayans, and of course, Samuel L. Jackson,” he shares.

As for that perfect role? “I don’t really know at this point because there are so many roles I’d like to play, but I would love to do Empire,” he says.

With so many big aspirations, and a prophecy that he’s already well on his way to fulfilling, his hopes for the future make sense. “My goal is just to create as much as possible this year, so that my fans, or people that might become my fans, have the opportunity to enjoy what I have to offer. I just want to reach as many people as possible,” he says.

So will the prophecy come true? All signs point to yes. NKD NKDMAG.COM

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katelyn tarver Words by HANNAH SCHWARTZ Photos by CATHERINE POWELL

Breaking out in both music and television is a major feat.

Katelyn Tarver has proved that she can be a successful singer and actor at the age of only 27 – and Katelyn has no plans to slow down any time soon.

The past four years of Katelyn Tarver’s life have been hectic. “I can barely remember what I did two days ago,” she recalls. What she can remember is that she has been writing new music and playing live shows. “It’s kind of, I think, taken a while to find a place where I feel happy with it and growing as a writer, and an artist, and a person,” she says when talking about her new music.

As most artists do as they age and mature, Katelyn is changing her sound. She is ready for her new music to be released to her fans. “It’s been challenging in a good way. I think I just really wanted to focus on writing music that kind of felt representative to where I was at, and what I was going through and pushing myself to get better at being a writer and figuring out what I wanted to say, which can take a while,” she says as she explains why it takes time to release new music. Writing new music is not an easy task and it takes a lot of time and effort.

“You’re kind of in this weird tornado of all this time of trying to figure out where you fit and what you are doing and I think that is just amplified when you’re trying to write about it in a way that feels honest because some days you do it and some days it doesn’t work and it kind of throws you back to the beginning,” she says as she remembers writing her newest EP. Katelyn last toured with the bands The Cab and Parachute in 2012, but she has not released a new EP in a while. “A lot of it comes down to boring ‘behindthe-scenes’ contract deals. You kind of get caught in a limbo of contractual obligations. It sort of limits you from releasing stuff,” Katelyn says. Katelyn wants to assure her fans that her new EP

includes old songs that she has not released, as well as new songs.

“You want to stay as current as possible,” she explains.

Instant gratification is very important to younger generations, and Katelyn likes to take time with writing and releasing new music. Katelyn is aware of instant gratification and encourages her fans to be patient with her. “When you’re in that kind of limbo you want to put the songs out. But you try to do the right thing to make them go as far as possible and make them the best that they can be,” she explains. She loves and appreciates having fans who have stayed with her from the beginning of her career. “[For them] to stick through the ups and downs of music [being released and not being released]. It means a lot that I still have some diehards hanging on that have been with me since I was 18,” she says.

Katelyn has changed her sound since she released her last EP. She has matured as a person and a musician. She has also been inspired by new music and musicians. She also been exposed to more experiences and adventures in life. “Getting a little older, you naturally gravitate to more mature things and want to push the envelope and find different sounds to use and get different influences and experience different things to write about,” she explains.

Musicians such as Kacey Musgraves and Ellie Goulding have inspired Katelyn. She enjoys Kacey because she writes very different music. “I am very inspired by her style of writing and the way she is honest and puts things in such a real way while still being a good writer,” she says. Katelyn has always been a fan of Ellie Goulding, but after seeing her perform at a small venue in London, she was blown away. “She’s pop but I feel like she’s always maintained a little cool indie thing. I really liked her latest album,” she explains.

Katelyn is changing her live shows to accommodate her chang-

ing sounds and new music. She is scaling things back and making her show more track-heavy. “I’m just starting to play these songs live, so I’m interested to learn how to [perform them]. I feel like you can only really tell once you’re on the stage and figuring out what works,” she explains. Even though she has toured in the past, she still gets a little nervous on stage, as many musicians and performers do. “I still ramble a lot on stage and over-explain the songs probably, but I don’t know if that is ever going to change. It’s kind of my nervous tick,” she says with a laugh.

Katelyn likes to keep herself familiar with new music and artists.

She keeps up with Top 40 radio and new playlists on Spotify and SoundCloud. “[There is] almost an overload on cool new music, especially young female pop, which is always exciting,” Katelyn says.

A good percent of Katelyn’s fans come from her role of Jo Taylor on the Nickelodeon series Big Time Rush, and she could not have better things to say about the experience. “[It was] the most fun show you could be a part of. It was silly, the crew was great, and the guys were great,” she remembers.

However, after acting on Big Time Rush, she decided to take a break from acting for a couple of years to focus on her music career. “It’s kind of hard to balance both. Once you get going in one, it is hard to maintain the other,” she explains.

While she has been prioritizing music, she is still interested in acting. “I think it is exciting because you just see so many more artists doing music and acting and doing both well,” she says.

She looks up to Childish Gambino (Donald Glover) because he sings, raps, writes television shows, writes music, acts, and produces.

“He’s the most inspiring person to me because he just does what he wants and he is good at all of it,” she gushes. She has come to realize how similar acting and singing are and how they seem to overlap each NKDMAG.COM

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other.

Katelyn will be joining a star-studded cast in Freeform’s upcoming drama Famous in Love.

She plays an actress named Georgina, who comes back from performing in theater in New York City and causes trouble with Alexis, played by Niki Koss. The show is based on a book of the same name written by Rebecca Serle and developed into a television show

by Rebecca and I.Marlene King, Pretty Little Liars’ showrunner.

Katelyn is also starring in a new web series called Twentyfiveish, which is about a group of friends who lost touch after high school.

Now approaching age 25, they are all at different points in their lives and plan to meet up for a long weekend to catch up on all they have missed. The writers for the web series have previously written for Pretty Little Liars. “It’s about that stage of life, which I felt like I related to,” she explains. She is on the auditioning circuit in Los Angeles looking for new projects.

“It’s a battle like anything else,” she says as she explains the process of auditioning for a show.

Katelyn is very excited and optimistic about her future plans and projects. She is currently working on booking a full tour for the upcoming year. “I’m excited to be able to share this music and give people a glimpse of where I am at now,” she says. “My main focus is to keep promoting the new music and keep writing. Who knows, let’s see what the future holds.” NKD

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e i l s e l sier mo s by Word

ME

RUSAK GAN MA

s Photo

HERIN

by C AT

E POWE

LL

Making a career out of posting photos of your pet on Instagram might sound like a bit of a stretch, but Leslie Mosier will prove that assumption wrong.

You might not know just who she is, but chances are you know who Doug the Pug is. And not only is Leslie the mastermind behind the dogs viral Instagram posts and Facebook videos, but she’s also Doug’s mom.

Doug is a Nashville native and a viral star with over 5 million Facebook likes, hundreds of thousands of Twitter followers, and 2 million dedicated fans on Instagram. And with Leslie acting as Doug’s manager, she’s found a way to make a career out of most peoples’ favorite pastime; taking cute pictures of her puppy.

But Leslie’s life wasn’t always dressing up her dog and snapping Instagram shots of him. “My dad was in the Navy so we moved around a lot. I was born in Alaska, then lived in Hawaii for almost seven years, and Iceland for almost four years, and then Virginia, and I decided to go to Belmont University in Nashville,” she says. Nashville is now home to Leslie and Doug, and although she spends most of her time filming videos and dressing her dog up in outrageous costumes, her first passion was the music industry. “I worked at Aware Records. I was the assistant manager for Mayday Parade and Mat Kearney and a few other people,” she says.

Eventually, Leslie quit her job with a dream to create her own graphic design company. But coincidentally, only a few weeks after leaving Aware Records, one of her videos went viral. From that day on, Doug was a social media star.

“It kind of happened in a whirlwind,” Leslie says. The Instagram had started out as silly, creative photos of Doug. Photos soon turned to videos, and one day, Leslie woke up to a video having hit 20 million views. “Then we were like ‘okay, well, let’s keep making videos’ and suddenly it was working,” she recalls.

Leslie began making spoofs of shows like Breaking Bad and The Walking Dead and movies like Harry Potter.

Celebrities began contacting Leslie to meet Doug, the duo was flown out to music festivals, and brands were reaching out to partner up with the dog. Before Leslie knew it, Doug was her full time job.

But even with all the growing social media attention, it wasn’t until Doug and Leslie’s first trip to New York City that she really realized just what sort of a brand she had created. “The last day we decided to do a meet up. I posted on his Instagram ‘Come to Central Park, you know, at 5-o’clock and come meet Doug.’ And we got there and there was, like, over 100 people there, which at the time was insane, you know. It was very surreal. And now we have meet and greets in London, 700 people were there and chasing after the cab after we left,” she says.

Since Doug’s fame blew up, the pair has been getting endless offers from brands, companies and industry professionals that all want to find different ways to deliver Doug to his fans. And not only are Doug and Leslie taking part in these business endeavors, but their projects have been doing pretty well. “Within the first few months is when we got the calendar deal and we put that together pretty quickly, and the calendar ended up being one of the top calendars on Amazon and it won a worldwide award for the top calendar of the year,” Leslie says. Not long after came the book deal. “It just got New York Times Best Seller which is really, really crazy,” she says.

Leslie has a few dreams for her and Doug in the upcoming year that she’s starting to make a reality.

One of her biggest goals has always been to make a television show for Doug. She had gotten offers before, but none of them felt right, until a former Disney producer approached her with the idea for an animated series. “He did Mulan, The Lion King, Beauty and the Beast. He’s a very legit OG Disney dude,” she shares.

So far, Leslie isn’t allowed to give out too many secrets about the series.

“It’s very early stages but it’s going to be kind of a take on Doug’s life.

It’s basically going to be everything

that’s happening right now, but in an animated form,” she says.

In addition, Leslie is starting a foundation to help kids with cancer.

She already receives messages from families with sick children who say that Doug’s posts are one of the only things that can cheer them up.

She and Doug do their best to visit children’s hospitals when they get the chance, but Leslie wants to do more.

“My hope is to partner with St. Jude’s to make it a really big thing to where we can bring celebrities out to visit the hospitals with Doug and make it a very big thing to where it can go viral on the internet, have videos and the celebrity can be posting about it and make money to help the kids with cancer,” Leslie says.

It might seem like all the opportunities with Doug came from nothing more than a cell phone and an Instagram account, but Leslie knows that her music industry knowledge was a big advantage in her journey.

“I still remember sitting in my old office and I was looking at our artists Facebooks and Twitters and I was like ‘All of these artists have a Facebook, too, and they have a Twitter. I need to have Doug on everything if I ever want this to be anything’,” she recalls. The Facebook and Twitter accounts were slow moving at first, but as soon as she made that one viral video, she knew that social media would be the key to Doug’s growth.

Leslie also knows how to communicate with music industry professionals, whether it be finding the best merchandise company to work with or teaming up with a musical artist to create promotional content together. “I know the right people to get in touch with,” she says.

Now that Doug is moving up in the world of entertainment, people are wondering if he’ll make the big move to New York City or Los Angeles. But Leslie doesn’t see that happening. “Doug is famous in Nashville for being a Nashvillian,” she says. A beach house in Los Angeles sounds appealing to her, but that dream is still a bit far away. For now, they’re happy where they are. “Nashville’s definitely home,” Leslie says. NKD NKDMAG.COM

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carly pearce Words & Photos by CATHERINE POWELL Location: FLIPSIDE

It only takes one song to change everything, and after eight years, Carly Pearce wrote hers.

Her story begins in Northern Kentucky, where she grew up singing bluegrass and country. When she was 11, she joined her first bluegrass band, which served as her first realization that this is what she wanted to do. Following her freshman year of high school, Carly confessed to her parents that she wanted to quit school and focus on music, and her parents told her she had until the end of the summer to find a reputable homeschool program. She found one around the same time she auditioned for Dollywood, Dolly Parton’s amusement park, and ended up booking the job.

Carly and her mom moved to Pigeon Forge, Tennesse so Carly could do six shows a day, five days a week at Dollywood. “That was where I learned to sing sick and do a lot of shows, and understand what it meant to work with a lot of people that are older than me,” Carly says.

After two years in Pigeon Forge, she NKDMAG.COM

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moved to Nashville at 18. “I’ve had a lot of ups and a lot of fails,” she says of the past few years.

After a developmental deal fell through, Carly felt extremely defeated. “It was a really dark time for me.

I really struggled. A lot of people in town told me to move home,” she says. But she believed in herself and kept pushing through, and decided to fight for herself and her voice. “I feel like I’ve always known, even if it was a tiny sign, that I was walking in the right direction,” Carly says.

Carly began singing back-up for Lucy Hale (of Pretty Little Liars fame) solely because she put herself out there. She was in Lucy’s music video for “Lie a Little Better” in 2014 as a back-up singer, and went up to the tour manager after the shoot to let him know she was available if they ever needed someone on tour.

Turns out they did, and they called up Carly for the job. “Saying yes to opportunities made me fall back in love with music,” she says. Being a part of a band that she loved and felt valued in made her feel like she had purpose.

Going into the tour, Carly didn’t tell Lucy or anyone on her team that she was an artist. The day after the first rehearsal, Lucy came up to Carly and asked “Why are you singing back-up for me?” “I didn’t know her well yet, I was like, ‘uh…’” Carly recalls, laughing. Turns out Lucy had done some YouTube stalking the night before and found videos of Carly singing. She has since become one of Carly’s biggest champions – both in real life and social media.

Soon after her first tour with Lucy, SiriusXM began playing her song “Blame The Whiskey” and have since become some of her biggest advocates. “They’re great about really getting in with artists from the ground up, that they believe in and sticking with them,” she says, “They believed in the whole process.” The team at Sirius has given Carly an open door to send them new music whenever she wants, and have played her songs when no one else was.

Her latest single “Every Little

Thing” was picked up by SiriusXM to be a part of their Highway Find program, and now the song has been sitting at No. 1 on their countdown for two weeks straight. “I didn’t think that was going to be the song,” she admits. She wrote the song to help herself get over someone, and thought it would be a good album track eventually. “It’s all of the things that society and the music industry tells you to not do,” she says, “It’s a ballad, it’s a heartbreak song, and it has like, no production really.” The lack of production was intentional, as Carly wanted the song to sounds as intentionally bare as the lyrics are. The success of the songs has reminded her that country audiences want to hear real stories, and that is exactly what “Every Little Thing” is.

The response to the song has been overwhelming for Carly. While the song is about a heartbreak and a lot of people identify with it that way, she has also received messages from people who have lost someone and feel their grief in the song. “I didn’t even think of it that way, so it’s been kind of crazy,” she says.

This past summer, Carly was named one of CMT’s Next Women In Country – which is part of CMT’s ongoing initiative to give women a larger voice in country music. “I grew up watching CMT, so it’s like a dream to be able to represent CMT,” Carly says, “I just think it’s awesome to have all the female artists come together. It’s such a great group of girls.” Being able to witness the growth of females in country has been a pleasure for Carly, as when she first got to Nashville there were no females on the radio. “I feel like Maddie & Tae were the first to get the attention to come back to females, with ‘Girl In a Country Song’,” Carly says, “I think the tides had to turn, but also, real women and real artists are coming out now that really have something to say and have their lane.”

Carly finds it particularly exciting that so many of the girls finding success right now are also writing all their own songs. As an artist and a songwriter, it makes her feel confi-

dent that her songs are going to get their shot and have a life outside of the room she wrote them in. “A lot of the female songwriters around town that I write with – and even the males – I’ve seen them get a little more excited to be writing with a female artist,” she says, “It’s just been nice to finally feel like there’s room and excitement and purpose behind songwriting from a female perspective.”

At the end of 2016, all the years of struggling and saying “yes” to opportunities has finally paid off for Carly as she signed a recording contract with Big Machine. Scott Borchetta, the label’s president, has been a champion for Carly since he first heard “Every Little Thing”.

He wasn’t looking at numbers or sales – he just knew it was a damn good song. “I feel like I finally have a team that respects me as an artist and understands my vision,” she says. She’s currently working with famed songwriter/producer busbee, who most recently producer Maren Morris’ debut album, Hero. The two are working on a full-length, but Carly isn’t writing off the idea of an EP coming out sooner than later as a teaser for the LP. Carly feels like Big Machine truly is the right home for her. Over the years she has been passed on by every other label in town, but for some reason never met Scott until late last year. The team at Big Machine respected her accomplishments and didn’t want to rebrand her by any means. “It was hands down, a very easy decision for me,” she says.

Looking forward at the rest of 2017, Carly is excited to put out music and videos, and get out on tour.

After years of working hard and fighting for her music, Carly isn’t going to stop doing either of those things just because things are taking off for her. “It’s taken me a second to really believe that’s it my time,” she says, “But honestly, I think I’ve worked so hard and done so many things to really treat this as much as a business as it is music, that I think it’s only setting the bar higher for me.” NKD NKDMAG.COM

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tommy dor fman Words by ELIZABETH FORREST Photos by CATHERINE POWELL

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Before he fell in love with acting, Tommy Dorfman began his performing career as a dancer. “I basically danced from the time I was 7 until I graduated,” Tommy remembers.

“I fell in love with the performance aspect of dance, but at some point in high school I realized I didn’t enjoy the rehearsals or the actual physical activity of dancing as much.”

From there, he began to do musical theater, went to a film camp where he fell in love with on-camera work and booked his first role on the upcoming Netflix series 13 Reasons Why a year after graduating from Fordham.

Based on the book series by Jay Asher, 13

Reasons Why follows the main character, Clay, as he works to figure out the 13 reasons why his classmate Hannah Baker killed herself.

Though the show is based on a standalone book, Tommy promises that there’s much more to the show than readers are expecting.

“It’s going to be exciting for people who have read it to see the characters expanded in the show that might not have been as big in the book,” he says. “We get a really good sense of who these people are and where they come from as well, so it’s not just about Clay and Hannah. It’s about this whole high school, how they deal with suicide and how they deal with high school issues that other shows don’t really get into as much.” Because Netflix has fewer restrictions than cable networks, the show was able to stay true to its story.

Tommy was unfamiliar with the book going into the audition process, but during callbacks he made a point to read it. He fell in love with all of the characters, but it quickly became clear that he was auditioning for Ryan.

A poet and an outcast, Ryan’s mission is to get through high school and get to Harvard, leaving his small town in California behind.

Although Tommy found many of the show’s characters relatable, he felt a special connection to Ryan. “I was an outcast in school too, as I think a lot of actors tend to be, and I didn’t really feel like I fit in,” Tommy says.

Ryan appears in the show early on and is described as “outspoken.” One topic that Ryan is outspoken about and fights for in the show is gay rights. Tommy considers it an honor and privilege to play gay roles, so he was drawn to Ryan for that reason. “At this point, especially moving into 2017, it’s important to have public figures and people on screen that are different and don’t really fit in the norm,” Tommy says.

“It hits close to home to play a character outspoken about his sexuality and comfortable in his own skin. I think it’s going to be really nice for people watching the show, especially high schoolers, to see themselves represented.” The people who cast the show also did a great job of choosing a racially diverse group of actors, so Tommy promises that anyone that watches the show is sure to find someone like them.

Along with diverse representation, there is a tremendous range of experience between the actors. Amy Hargreaves has been working for years, so she actually took on the role of a mentor to the newer actors like Tommy. He feels that he learned a lot from his costars just by being on set with them regularly, but he also insists that it wasn’t an uncomfortable juxtaposition. “I’m not sure if it’s like that with

every job, but for our show, once you’re on set and working together, you’re equal. Whoever is more experienced doesn’t really matter because we’re all working for this greater cause,” he says.

With the heavy nature of the show’s theme and topics, the cast had resources available to them throughout filming. At times it was difficult for the cast to be able to separate the characters from the circumstance and to make sure the story didn’t take too much out of the the actors emotionally. “In my own experience, if I took everything on all on myself, it would be impossible to make it through a show like this,” Tommy admits. In addition to the resources, it helped that the cast got along so well, both during work and outside of it. “I think because we trust each other so much, because we love each other so much as individuals, it made the work easier and less tormenting,” he says.

It had always been a dream for Tommy to be able to travel for work and see new places, so it was exciting to begin filming the show in San Rafael. The area wasn’t new to Tommy because he’d had a long-term college relationship with someone from San Francisco, but coming back to California was a great and new experience. “It was kind of tainted with this weird first love break up, so it was nice to come back and reclaim the Bay Area, make it my own and have my own experiences there that weren’t filtered through that relationship,” he says.

Tommy is hopeful for a second season, even though there is only one book to go off of. The show comes out in March, but if it’s renewed, the cast could be back together filming in San Rafael this summer. The show leaves it so that there’s more to be said and more to experience, so there’s potential for multiple seasons. “The show is built to binge.

It’s a mystery,” Tommy says. “You want to see what happens next and you’re going to want to keep watching.”

Moving forward, Tommy hopes to work on another TV show at some point and to work on his first feature. On a more personal level, he hopes to use his position as a public figure in a positive way. “I’d like to continue to be a person on a public platform who is gay and comfortable being gay and comfortable playing gay roles. Hopefully we’ll get to a point where we don’t need straight actors to play gay leads. We can have a gay actor play that role,” he says. “For me, that’s sort of the market I want to get into and I want to be a trailblazer in that way.” NKD NKDMAG.COM

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JACK FALAHEE Words & Photos by CATHERINE POWELL Styling by AUDREY BRIANNE Assisted by COURTNEY FRANZESE Grooming by EMILY DAWN

LOOK 1: Shirt by G-STAR RAW; Jeans by CULT OF INDIVIDUALITY LOOK 2: Hoodie by CALIFORNIA COWBOY; Blazer by JACOB HALSTON; Jeans by G-STAR RAW; Boots by ZARA LOOK 3: Shirt by G-STAR; Pants by BRACKEN LOOK 4: Sweater by JACOB HOLSTON; Pants by TED BAKER LONDON; Boots by SKECHERS LOOK 5: Shirt & Pants by BRACKEN

Considering Jack Falahee has spent the last three years as the fan-favorite and heart-stealer on ABC’s How To Get Away With Murder, it’s hard to believe that only five years ago he was still feeling unsure about his future as an actor.

Jack grew up in Ann Arbor, Michigan as the third of four children, and felt he needed to be a bit loud to ensure he was heard. Throughout his childhood he sang in church choirs, but never considered a career in the arts to be an obtainable goal – especially growing up the son of a doctor.

His older siblings became doctors and lawyers, and Jack credits their accomplishments as a big reason his parents let him pursue acting seriously.

“There was a defining moment for me in high school when a friend of mine passed away suddenly in a car accident,” Jack says. They were in choir together, and his friend was planning on doing the school’s production of Singing In The Rain that year, whereas Jack was playing water polo. Jack was struggling to cope with the loss, and his grief counselor suggested he audition for Singing In The Rain as a way to work through his grief. Jack agreed, and quickly got swept up in the production. “It was the first time I felt the grief and the emotional weariness – especially at that age, losing someone suddenly… it rocks your entire world – and I felt that sort of dissipate when I was in rehearsals and I was pretending to be someone else,” Jack recalls.

Shortly after his first production, his school’s theatre program was cut for budget reasons. So, with the help of his mom, he duel-enrolled at Pioneer High School across town so he could participate in their program. “I weaseled my way in,” Jack jokes. Known for their Grammy-winning theatre company, Pioneer became the first high school to do a stage production of Disney’s High School Musical – in which Jack starred in Corbin Bleu’s role as Chad. “I used to work out at the same gym as Corbin, and was like ‘Don’t bring it up…’” Jack laughs, “But of course I brought it up and he was really nice about it.”

Following High School Musical, he starred as The Tin Man in the school’s production of The Wizard of Oz. 28

Pioneer’s productions were often put together by students at The University of Michigan (which has the best theatre program in the country) at the recommendation of one of the students, Jack began auditioning at various college theatre programs. “I didn’t know what the fuck I was doing,” he admits. He began vigorously preparing his audition material – which included enrolling in a beginner’s ballet class with a bunch of 5-year-old girls. “I couldn’t nail anything,” he says. He was all set to attend Boston College, strictly for academics, when his waitlist spot at the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University was lifted and he made the last minute decision to attend.

“Being in New York for the formative years of college, were for me, the greatest learning experience,” Jack reflects. As much as he loved having Manhattan as his campus, he quickly realized that he was not going to make it in musical theatre – which he was there to study. But he stayed in the program for a few years before switching majors. “I think it was good because so much of an acting career is being uncomfortable,” he says of his first years at NYU, “Being in an environment where I felt like I had to constantly compete with my classmates just to keep my head above the water level was probably productive and beneficial.”

He made the move to Amsterdam to study abroad in an experimental theatre program. “It was an important time for me. I was in Amsterdam, I fell in love for the first time, I was trying new things,” Jack says. Up until that experience, he was still fairly unsure if he was going to have a career in the arts. His time in Amsterdam solidified his own personal understanding that he would be doing art in some form or another for the rest of his life.

Upon returning to New York, he began taking more traditional acting classes with an end goal of doing plays or hopefully, film and television. He spent a year doing exclusively Shakespeare, and began to feel more confident about the possibility of booking some stage work. It wasn’t until he sat down with his friend Ali Storker (known for her role on Broadway’s

Spring Awakening) that he really felt he could make it as an actor. While getting lunch together one day, Ali asked Jack what his next steps would be. He was a senior at NYU at the time and it was the first time someone had really pressed him about his future. “I didn’t want to confront the reality of my situation as an unemployed actor when I did graduate,” Jack says. Ali offered to introduce Jack to a casting director at ABC, Marci Phillips, so Jack audited one of her classes and felt things begin to change. “People are like, ‘Oh what do you attribute to your success in such a fickle business?’ And, I mean, firstly beyond anything is privilege. I come from an extremely privileged position both financially and emotionally, having a family that can support me in both ways,” Jack says, “And then, still privilege, of having the opportunity to go to an institution like NYU where I met people like Ali who are angels on earth, and I think that’s where luck comes in.”

After meeting Marci, Jack was introduced to his manager and agent, which got the ball rolling on his career. He began working consistently – though not enough to pay the bills, he admits – on independent movies, while still waiting tables and bartending.

He compares his post-college years doing independent films and other small projects as a grad school of sorts, because he learned so much from just being on set. “It was some of the most fun I’ve had as an actor,” Jack says, “We were gorilla shooting on the streets of New York without permits, running down subways. It was very romantic.”

As hard as he tried, Jack was unable to penetrate the theatre world of New York. He would very rarely get auditions for stage productions, and never get callbacks if he did. He had been in New York for almost seven years and was a bit worn out from it, and decided to make the move to Los Angeles to pursue more screen work, as he found he was starting to have success in that realm.

When Jack first moved to California, he started driving for Lyft – which he describes as the craziest job he’s ever had, aside from his gig teaching children to figure skate at The Stan-

dard Hotel in New York. He eventually booked an eight-episode stint on ABC Family’s short-lived drama Twisted, which served as his first recurring role on television. And then during his first official pilot season, Jack booked How To Get Away With Murder.

“The way that I booked the show is absurd,” Jack admits. His friend Max Fowler, whom he met on the set of Rage in Alabama, was crashing on his couch for pilot season and the two were going out for a lot of the same roles. Max initially got the audition for How To Get Away With Murder and suggested Jack audition too because he thought he was better for the role. “Which speaks to how good of a person Max is,” Jack says. While Max was getting callbacks and meeting with executive producer Shonda Rhimes and creator Peter Nowalk, Jack was fighting just to get an audition. “I auditioned and I felt like they weren’t feeling it,” Jack admits. By luck, after struggling to find an actor to play Connor Walsh (originally named Patrick Donoghue), Peter was going through discarded tapes and stumbled upon Jack’s audition. “Can you imagine if he, I don’t know, watched Netflix that night instead?” Jack laughs.

Before How To Get Away With Murder started airing, Jack never considered the possibility of fame or recognition. “Now that I’m on something that’s widely consumed it’s so bizarre for me,” Jack admits, “Which has been a really… It’s taken a lot of adjusting to. I’m still surprised when someone on the street stops me.” As a consumer of television, he understands that the lines get blurry when you watch a show every week in the comfort of your own home, and then follow an actor on social media and start to feel like you know them, even though you’ve never met them before.

“You have a completely fabricated idea of them based on like, a role that they play. That to me is like, really bananas because I don’t think that happens with film as much,” Jack says, “The consistency of watching a show every week for years… That’s the thing.”

Over the last three years since the show has been airing, Jack has noticed that fans associate him with Connor

in a very real way. “It’s a privilege to play a character that people like and one that is being used to bring visibility to the LGBTQ community, but I never even considered the possibility that there would be a social element to my career,” Jack admits, “I’ve tried my best to navigate that, and I’ve certainly failed along the way and will fail in the future.” When auditioning for Connor, Jack didn’t think about the responsibilities attached to the role. “I do think it’s important work – the social awareness and talking about these issues and the lack of LGBTQ characters on television,” he says, “I’m more than happy to do it, but I do feel like often, I fuck up and there are a lot of people watching.”

While he has learned to take criticism over his acting job very well, he admits that he doesn’t necessarily know how to be an ally to the LGBTQ community, because there is a lot more room for error on his part. “That’s been a really interesting part of the job, but at times challenging, because I do want to do it well,” he says, “I think there does need to be more visibility, especially with the [at interview time] incoming administration in our government.

I think it’s a scary time for a lot of people.”

The mid-season finale of How To Get Away With Murder saw the untimely death of Wes Gibbons (Alfred Enoch) and the arrest of Annalist Keating (Viola Davis). The back-half of the season will follow the remaining characters’ dealing with their grief and guilt – Connor included. “We find out pretty quickly that Connor is harboring a secret about that night,” Jack admits, “We see that secret sort of grow and take hold of him, and it creates a lot of tension between him and the other students.” At this point in the story, no one trusts anyone, and a lot of fingers will be pointed in the quest to solve Wes’ murder. “We’re at a point where we don’t know if we can trust Annalise, or each other,” Jack says, “You see all of us in a room together but none of us want to be in the room.”

While Alfred is still appearing in flashback scenes for the remainder of the season, his presence on set has been significantly diminished and his cast mates feel the wait of his absence

rather heavily. “We’ve all become so incredibly close in a way that I don’t really hear about casts getting,” Jack says, “It was really stressful just shooting this season and not knowing who was going to be under the sheet.” Like the audience, the cast found out weekto-week which characters were “safe” from elimination after it was revealed in the Season Three premiere that someone would be dying. “Alfie, bless him, handled it with such professionalism and grace,” Jack says, “I don’t know if I would have handled it as well.”

The relationship between Annalise and Wes is by far one of the most interesting dynamics on the show, and viewers will see Annalise projecting Wes onto the remaining four members of “The Keating Five” – Connor, Michaela Pratt (Aja Naomi King), Asher Millstone (Matt McGorry) and Laurel Castillo (Karla Souza). “She tries to fill in that empty space with each of us and it works and doesn’t work to varying degrees,” Jack says.

The fan-favorite relationship, however, is the one between Connor and his sometimes boyfriend, Oliver Hampton (Conrad Ricamora). Going into this on-screen relationship, Jack had no idea how well fans would react to this couple, partly because he doesn’t watch a lot of television himself and was not aware of the term “shipping” until he became one-half of a “ship”. “It’s my straight privilege of not realizing the deficit of positive, gay, LGBTQ relationships on television.

I never thought of that for a second for my life,” Jack says, “Especially an interracial one and especially one that’s dealing with an HIV diagnosis.” He believes the writers have done a great job of addressing a lot of the issues that Connor and Oliver have gone through without hitting viewers over the head with them. He thinks it’s important that Oliver’s HIV diagnosis never defined him, because for so many people struggling with it, it doesn’t. “It raises awareness, but doesn’t only make it about raising awareness, which is a delicate line,” Jack says. He receives a lot of fan mail from people sharing their coming out stories or what the “Coliver” relationship has meant to them, and he keeps a lot of the letters NKDMAG.COM

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hanging up in his trailer as a reminder of the importance of his work. “I’m rooting for Coliver to be – what’s the term they use? – end game,” Jack says.

He’s aware of the “Bury Your Gays” trend that exists on television right now, and truly wants both Connor and Oliver to make it out of the series alive. However, if it makes sense in the narrative for one of the two characters to die, he does believe that the writers should “air on the side of the creative forces” and do what is necessary to progress the story.

Looking forward past How To Get Away With Murder, Jack is unsure about what types of roles he wants to experience. “It’s a conversation I have very frequently with fellow actors of mine: What role would I not take and for what reason?” Jack says, “Would I play a pedophile or would I play a racist? And it’s hard to answer.” He knows he has to make these decisions on a project-to-project basis, but it is still something he thinks about.

“There’s obviously validity in telling complicated stories,” he says. He knows for certain that he doesn’t want to play one-dimensional characters going forward, because he thinks that is where things begin to get blurry. Being apart of How To Get Away With Murder and surrounded by intelligent peers has made Jack more aware of the choices he makes in his career and with the roles he’s taking. Coming back to privilege, Jack’s has only grown since taking on the role of Connor Walsh. Three years ago he was unemployed and eager to take any job offered to him, and now, if the show ended tomorrow, he would have the freedom and stability to be pickier about his next project.

He’s hyper-aware of this luxury, and wants to continue to use his position as an actor to tell important stories and transform into layered characters. Jack has officially wrapped filming Season Three of How To Get Away With Murder, and a fourth season is almost certain given the show’s ratings. But in the meantime, Jack is eager to book a film and take some time to himself.

“My cast mates have all been doing really amazing things on hiatus,” he says, “I feel like they’re keeping me on my toes.” NKD 34

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j l i n e Words by SAMANTHA BAMBINO Photos by CATHERINE POWELL

Success rarely happens overnight. It takes dedication, perseverance, and above all, the ability to believe in yourself and your purpose. Jline is the epitome of someone who never gave up on his dreams.

Though he is now confident and poised on stage, the dancer, singer, and mentor didn’t have the easiest childhood. Born and raised in a small, wooded town in upstate New York, Jline was surrounded by peers that he didn’t connect with.

“Middle school and high school, not so easy. I didn’t have a lot of friends and bullying started around then,” Jline reflects. “And so I kind of just went inward, became shy, became kind of a recluse and didn’t know where I belonged.”

Things started to turn around when he escaped his hometown and moved to The Bronx for college. This newfound independence allowed him to realize his passion for writing music. Jline knew that turning his talent into a career was a huge undertaking, but couldn’t think of anything in the world he’d rather do.

During his junior year, Jline discovered his college, Fordham Univeristy, had a Manhattan campus, and took a class there on a whim.

After spending time getting slowly acclimated, he eventually moved to Manhattan permanently.

The city opened up a whole new world, allowing Jline to expand his

entertainment education. Though he studied Communications and some theater, his true love was dancing and singing. Unfortunately, there wasn’t a curriculum for that. While his classmates focused on acting, he spent his free time enhancing his talents.

Jline saved money to take vocal lessons, improve his dance technique at the Broadway Dance Center, and gain confidence as a live performer. Classes and auditions soon became his daily life until he noticed his heart wasn’t in it.

“I realized I don’t fit into anyone’s box, even when it comes to casting and I just need to do my own thing,” Jline says. “Stop trying to get people to see you a certain way and do your own thing. And that’s when good things happen.”

After auditioning for any gig he could find and getting signed and dropped by two agents, Jline narrowed his focus on where he wanted his career to go.

“I thought, you’ve always wanted to be a recording artist, you write music. Why are you waiting?

Why do you want to be someone’s backup dancer when you know you want to be in front anyway?,” Jline says. “Stop doing what you kind of want to do and do what you really want to do. Stop being afraid to do it yourself.”

Getting a break in the industry can be daunting, especially when you aren’t moving forward. Jline

constantly surrounded himself with inspiration, whether it was a book opened up to a motivational passage or the picture of a favorite musical artist above his bed.

“It was up to me to lift myself up and figure out ways to do that rather than sit in bed,” Jline says.

“You get out of that bed and you do something today.”

For a while, Jline was his own mentor and advocate. In the entertainment business, he explains how no one wants to confide in each other and admit when they’re struggling. Instead, people put up a happy persona on social media to avoid being viewed as a failure.

Jline’s first attempts at building his own career weren’t exactly brag-worthy for social media. He desperately needed a producer, and started working with some shady people who took his money without helping him.

His luck changed when he met producer Electropoint, who truly believed in what Jline had to offer and helped him regain confidence.

To this day, the artist has a producer and publicist, but no manager or label. Jline takes extreme pride in his work because anything that happens, whether it’s booking a show or writing music, is because he fought to make it happen.

“The only advice I ever give people is be willing to do all of it on your own,” Jline says. “If you don’t want to do it, you don’t want NKDMAG.COM

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it hard enough.”

Jline started releasing original music four years ago, and his pop song, “Ready, Set Go” became an instant hit with an unprecedented 100,000 views on YouTube. His most recent release, Episode1, is the first of a two-part EP series that tells the story of loss, heartbreak and redemption. Instead of over-analyzing what songs should be on a record, Jline focuses on the sequencing and sense of hope he wants listeners to come away with.

“Even though I go through really intense emotions throughout the album, at the end of the album you know that you can’t run away from who you are,” Jline says of his EP. “You’re not going to run away from it, and you are going to be okay.”

Jline wanted to get his message of beating the odds to kids in similar situations, so he created the Jline Dance Crew anti-bullying tour. Starting small with local gigs, the crew has now performed 1,000 shows in schools all over the country.

While the assembly contains dancing and entertainment, it’s ultimately about spreading the message of helping your peers instead of bringing them down, and believing in your dreams.

His inspiring story has impacted many young lives, since they are able to see someone who was bullied that came out successful.

“Kids will come up to me or they’ll email me and say, ‘You are me. I have felt so desperate this whole year but I didn’t see the light.

You showed me the light, thank you so much. I feel like I can go on’,” Jline says.

There is no break in sight for Jline as we continue into 2017. Fans can expect more music, videos, and hopefully some festival appearances.

“All I want is up,” Jline says. “I want to just keep reaching higher than I was a year ago, two years ago. And as long as I feel like I’ve accomplished things I didn’t in the past, I’ll be happy.” NKD NKDMAG.COM

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8123 FEST Words & Photos by CATHERINE POWELL

To celebrate 10 years as a band, The Maine teamed up with their management company, 8123, to put on the inaugural 8123 Fest in Phoenix, Arizona last weekend. To kick off the festivities, The Maine released their new single “Bad Behavior� and announced their new album Lovely Little Lonely will arrive April 7th. The band closed down the main stage on Saturday night at the Crescent Ballroom, taking fans on an epic journey through their decade-long discography.

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Earlier in the day, both Brighten and A Rocket To The Moon reunited for the first time since 2013. After just recently receiving Gold record status with their 2009 single “Like We Used To”, ARTTM had a lot to celebrate. Fans were especially eager to sing along to their favorites from On Your Side (2009), and were equally excited to rediscover Brighten’s discography.

A Rocket To The Moon’s frontman Nick Santino’s newest project Beach Weather also made an appearance at the festival, and performed songs off their newest EP, Chit Chat. The only non-8123 band to take the main stage was Phoenix-bred The Summer Set, who were welcomed home with open arms by the sold out crowd. Other notable appearances include The Technicolors, This Century and Justin Reece.

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