Steel Notes Magazine Spring 2017

Steel Notes Magazine ERIC TIER'S CHILDRENS BENEFITS JOSIE AROUND TOWN KRISTIN CHENOWETH www.steelnotesmagazine.com

Spring 2017

Mike JB Sky

Making His Moves In The music Industry

Spotlight

on-Musician/Model

Peaschee

Press Release

Part 2 Interview with

"Dr. Dreary"

Original Alice Cooper Group Bassist- Dennis Dunaway

Kristin Chenowith @The Sands Event Center

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Spring 2017 Issue

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

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INSIDE Spring 2017

FEATURED

STEEL NOTES MAGAZINE STAFF LISTING

4 Mike JB Sky Interview 10 Dennis Dunaway "Dr. Dreary"

ADMINISTRATIVE

Interview, Part 2

Alexxis Steele-

26 Marlowe B West Takez Manhattan presentz

Publisher/Editor-InChief

The Tribute 2 The Rew & Who Show or The Coronation of The Miss New York City Underground 32 DBC Sztabnik Interview by Marlowe B West 39 Interview with Comedy New Father Figure

Guido ColacciAssistant Editor

Mick ReynoldsProofreader/Copy Editor

Film and Music Reviews

43 47 50 53 54

The Witness (2016) ReviewBy Jerry Saravia Solitaire (2008) ReviewBy Jerry Saravia Faith No More review Depeche Mode review Josie Around Town

62 68 70 72 74 78 80 85

Model and MUSICIAN spotlight PEASCHEE Eric Tier's Children's Benefit PHOTOGRAPHERS Lisa Koza'S Trip To Ireland Drama Live And Uncensored- Bonnie Benji Alan Ottenstein LVMA18 Bill Des Jardins Bob Klein Kristin Chenowith Sands Photos Brian Azar Journey to India Chapter 7 CALCUTTA Brian Limage Save The Hippies Brian Matus

Jeffrey HeldDesign/Layout/Cover

Josie Janci

VP of Business Development

Articles

International Corner

90 Luca Cerardi Interview with Chris Poland 94 Scotland The Cruel Intentions By Colin &

Suzy 98 Michèl Kroneis Interview - Reptiles and Metal 102 Big Wreck Review & Interview with Ian Thornley And More!

104 Dead Daisies Press Release 108 Miss Motorsports contest Greater 110 112 114 116

Philadelphia Expo Center at Oaks Last Gentleman Smuggler Bev Kurtz Rock Your Way Jewelry Yvonne Sotomayor Poetry The Wonder of a Dream Master

Brian Smith Dave Hummell Derek Mitch Gary Preis Larry Dell Renee Jahnke Ron Shirey Sheri Bayne Travis Eisenhard

VIDEOGRAPHERS Lisa Koza Larry Dell

STAFF WRITERS Alexxis Steele Alessia Bastianelli Bob Klein Constance Steele Crystal Chanel Ciccone DC Ryder Dana Saravia Daniel Diefenderfer Drama D Dylan McIntyre Foxxy Roxxy Guido Colacchi Inès Honig JR Muffley JennyCat Jerry Saravia Johnny Gibbs Jr Peterson Karma Moonbeam Kelly Mitch Luca Cerardi Marlowe B. West Matt Roman Mick Reynolds Mike Dorn Monique Grimme Nikki Palomino Noah J Gambino Patrick Campbell Rex Maurice Oppenheimer Rick Dessi Scott Aber Scott Saxon Sheri Bayne Stewart Brodian Stormy Boz Tanya Green The Grouch The Gypsy Poet Todd Sobczak Tony Angelo Traci Dunton Shaw Victor Colicchio Yvonne Sotomayor

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n a i d a n th Ca

i w w ie v r e t In

e k i M

What happens when you combine the good looks of Keith Urban, vocal prowess of 80’s Hair Metal God’s like Def Leppard plus 90’s alt rock bands, with thick guitars, melodic crazy guitar solos and tight pocket progressive drums all rolled into one band?

What you get is one awesome band!

Hold onto your seats, girls, because you are going to love Mike JB Sky!

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Alexxis: How old were you when you first got interested in music?

Mike: I was very interested in music at a young age. In grade 2, I was asked to do an airband performance for summer camp. They dressed me up like Gene Simmons from Kiss. We were performing " I Was Made For Loving You". Looking into the crowd and hearing the loud music, I was immediately hooked to the stage.

Alexxis: Do you come from a musical family?

Mike: I come from a very musical family, on my mom's side. My mother still performs as a singer to this day, and I couldn't be prouder!

Alexxis: Who were your earliest musical influences?

Mike: Earliest musical influences, were the Beatles, Ozzy Osbourne, The Who, Kiss, Slaughter, and Motley Crue.

r e t i r w

g n o s inger

y k le S e e t B S J lexxis

ns

By A

Get ready to witness the next big superstar ready to take on the musical world!!

Mike JB Sky was recently signed by Radar Love Records, owned by 5 time Juno award winner, Grammy nominated producer, Michael Hanson, founder and original drummer for Glass Tiger.

Mike graciously put time aside from his busy schedule to speak with me about his new band and what he is doing.

Alexxis: Hello Mike! You are from Montreal, Canada, the place where a lot of good music has come from, Is that where you were born and raised?

Mike: I actually was raised in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, but I also lived in Montreal and Calgary.

Alexxis What was your first instrument,and are you selftaught or did you take lessons? Do you play other instruments as well?

Mike: My 1st instrument out of school was the drums. I am a self taught musician, and play multiple instruments with guitar being my favorite by far!!

Alexxis: When did you get your start performing professionally?

Mike:I started performing professionally at the age of 17.

Alexxis: You had the privilege of playing onstage with many top musicians from around the country , including the late great Jeff Healey.. How did you land that gig, and tell me about your time playing with him.

Mike: I met Jeff through a female acquaintance. Jeff had invited me to come back and play at his bar Healey's in Toronto. I wasn't familiar with his music being a total rock musician at the time. So Jeff challenged me to improvise with him live on stage. He did his best to showcase me and introduce me to some amazing people.

Alexxis: When did you switch instruments and start playing guitar? What influenced your decision to switch?

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Mike: I was a drummer in high school, and always wanted to learn the guitar.

I watched the guitarist in my high school band very closely at all times. I had many creative ideas, lyrics that I wanted to create myself. What made me switch from the drums? I was in the studio recording with my original act when the band took a break, I had picked up the guitar and started to sing, not realizing that the engineer and producer could hear me. He pulled me aside and told me that I should become a front man. He said I had strong lungs and a very unique voice. At that time, I did not have the confidence to switch. Worked really hard for a couple years, the rest is history. I am truly glad that I made the switch. Life began for me in a new way!

Alexxis: what brand of equipment and gear do you like using when you perform?

Mike:I have had a variety of guitars. I prefer to play Charvel and Epiphones.

Marshall Amps or Line 6 or Black Star. I also use an effect unit with a variety of pedals as well.

Alexxis: When did you start your first all original act Black Dawn?

Mike: My first original band, we

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had started playing headliner shows from the get go at the age of 20.

Alexxis: Who is in your current band lineup?

Mike: Lead Vocals/Lead and Rhythm guitar - Mike JB Sky AKA Mike James-Bobrowsky Bass guitar - Keith Gale Lead and Rhythm guitar- Anton Zedd. AKA Ricky Szolnoky Drums - Jason Hutchings I started the project Mike JB Sky in 2015 Alexxis; Who does the songwriting for the band? Is it a full band collaboration or do you handle all of it?

Mike: At this point I have been doing all the songwriting in my career thus far. I have recently switched two band members that are extremely talented and educated musicians. So I look forward in collaborating with them, staying true to the sound and energy of Mike JB Sky. Alexxis: What is the name of your new cd?

How many tracks?

What is the theme behind the cd?

Mike:. My new cd is called Girls Night Out. It s a five song EP. The theme behind the cd is influenced by Sex, women, fast cars and enjoying life to the fullest at all costs!

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Alexxis: Do you have any videos to go along with your music?

Mike: Our first big budget video is called “Against The Grain�.

Alexxis: Do you plan on touring in support of this cd?

Mike: Yes, we plan on hitting Europe this year if all goes well, and hope to be a touring arena band for many years to come Alexxis: What are your long range plans for the future?

Mike: We would like to write for major motion pictures, tv series or Netflix, and our goal is to release a full album every 2 yrs.

Alexxis: Where can fans find you and purchase your music?

Mike: Our cd is available through ITunes, Spotify, HMV Digital. My sincerest thanks to all the fans, without the fans there wouldn' t be a Mike JB Sky. Rock On!!

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Against The Grain� https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9Wp6FmCvGs

Follow Mike on Twitter! @mikejbsky http://www.radarloverecords.com

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INTERVIEW WITH ALICE COOPER BASSIST DENNIS DUNAWAY

By Alexxis Steele

Rays of light emanating from his mirrored bass.

Sinister bass lines underscoring grandiose rock anthems. These are the elements Dennis Dunaway brings to the stage. It's a presence he's refined during the years of his legendary rock career, and that was recognized when he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2011.

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Alexxis: Ok! We’re back with Part 2 speaking with Dennis Dunaway, speaking about his latest book ‘Snakes! Guillotines! Electric Chairs!: My Adventures in The Alice Cooper Group.’

Where we left off was talking about ‘The Billion Dollar Babies’ album and how you were in Brazil with that big concert with 158,000. So Dennis, at this point, how were you feeling about what was going on?

Dennis: Well, at that point the band was a little bit disillusioned because during ‘The Billion Dollar Babies’ tour things had changed in respect to new people being brought into the organization. All of the people that knew the band when it was operating as a unit knew that and treated us accordingly. But new people were being brought into the picture like body guards for Alice,

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and things like that, that treated us like we were the backup guys and we weren’t being included in things. In fact, they would even screen our calls when we would call Alice’s room and stuff like that so there were resentments building because of it. It wasn't so much that we weren't invited to the after party after the gig, it was more just the fact that we were being treated differently by these new people that didn’t realize what the real background of the band was.

Alexxis: Ok so, it’s because the band had garnered so much success with the ‘Billion Dollar Babies’ album that the tour was kind of the pivoting mark of where this came together?

Dennis: Well that’s where it started and half way through the ‘The Billion Dollar Babies’ tour, it started to sink in that Alice was

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surrounded by an entourage of people where everything revolves around Alice and we were sort of excluded. So not entirely, I mean I don't want to paint a bleak picture, I’m just saying this was the bleak side of what was a great experience because we continued to all be friends. There was a lot of joking and a lot of comradery even with Glen by the time we got to Brazil but drugs and alcohol was affecting the way that he played and it was very difficult for us to have our best friend not able to come in the studio and play like we knew he could play. Even though things aren't always completely black or white, people tend to say “Well Glen couldn't play” so we would turn him off on the monitors or he wouldn't be in the PA when we would play live. Well that wasn't true every night there was an occasional night where Glen would be too drunk to play and there were nights when Alice would crawl around the stage. I talked about Cindy having a drink with Alice backstage in the middle of “The Billion Dollar Babies’ tour, but she reminded me that she would have her drink, only one drink, before the show started. She was saying that this little makeshift dressing room that was underneath Neal Smith’s drums up on the big stage is where Alice would be, and he would do a costume change and kind of catch his breath and Cindy said there was more than one occasion where she would be holding his hair out of his face while he was throwing up. So you know at that point he and Glen were both functional drunks.

Alexxis: Right, I remember Alice carrying bottles of alcohol on stage with him all the time back then.

Dennis: It would start first thing in the morning, they would water down these drinks but they had to be careful because if they watered it down too much security would detect it and just grab the bottles. There was a whole cult thing going on with that and there were nights when Alice was only able to crawl around the stage and he would forget the lyrics and stuff, but of course with the Alice character the audience just loved it. [ Laughter ] He could get away with it but they would come down heavy on Glen when he would have an off night so Glen was very resentful over that. You know everybody's yelling at me for playing a bad

note and Alice can’t remember the lyrics and they're tripping over each other to get him another drink. So there was unfairness like that going on and by the time we got to Brazil that had set in as obvious. Glen was kind of the guy that ok, he’s going to go on stage, but when we went in the studio Glen wasn't even invited anymore. We would spend half a day, and sometimes he would be fine and sometimes he would be playing like he could play. Other times it would take half a day of him trying to get it together and then it would be very difficult for everyone to confront him and tell him he wasn't cutting it and to go home. You know that was a big deal and it affected Glen deeply.

Alexxis: Glen ended up getting pancreatitis right?

Dennis: Yeah that was something. Glen had ongoing health issues throughout his life. The other one was pneumonia which he had bouts with I think the time, that’s what took his life in the end. I think that was the 11th time.

Alexxis: Wow! I did not know it was that many times that he had pneumonia.

Dennis: I’m getting ahead of the story here but to get back to South America, we went to a party there and anyway, this was in ‘74 and you were either outrageously wealthy or outrageously poor, there was no in between.

Alexxis: Really? That could be a problem...

Dennis: We went to a party, it was up on a hill, and beautiful!

There were orchids up in the trees, natural and jungle kind of thing but beautiful, beautiful homes overlooking this valley that was as far as you could see just houses. There were houses that looked like people dug a hole in the dirt and put up aluminum

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Steel Notes Magazine with three sides for the walls and slanted roof and a ditch down the middle was the bathroom for everybody. It was for as far as you could see this neighborhood and it was just unbelievable how many people lived like that. Here you have this guy on a hill with everything he wants overlooking that and I’m thinking Wow! How could your conscience allow that?

Alexxis: I know, they must have turned a blind eye to it...

Dennis: The party had giant silver trays of cocaine it was very Scarface I guess, and that wasn't good enough for Glen. He was ready to go. So we were at the Copacabana in Rio, we played there as well on the same tour and one night Glen was just crawling up the stairwell and we had an old friend that showed up, this girl Leslie who was a flight attendant for a Learjet and we would see her all over wherever the band went. All of a sudden she just showed up and it happened so often that she just happened to be in the same town so often that it was no surprise, hardly a surprise that she showed up in Rio when we were there. We said, “Hey Glen, Leslie’s here!” But Glen wasn't coherent he was crawling up the stairs. So that kind of stuff, excessive behavior was definitely happening with Glen and Alice where Michael and Neal and I may have been looser in the early days going on stage when we weren't in our sharpest frame of mind. At one point when we got a hit single, the three of us decided to buckle down, Ok we’ll have a drink after the show and we’ll party after the show but the show we’re going to play tight. So that’s what was going on and there was little bit of resentment towards the three of us who were trying to play as tight as we could and trying to put on a great show every night where this looseness had moved into the picture. There were nights when we felt we were definitely carrying the weight and you know the thing is the Alice character was so powerful that we could withstand that kind of thing, we could have an off night. When people listen back to recordings, you know bootleg cassettes or whatever from those days and they hear oh well, Dennis played a bad note here and there well they're comparing it to bands that just stood there and concentrated on playing you know?

Alexxis: Yeah, sure...

Dennis: With us, a bad note meant somebody threw a beer can at

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you or Alice was poking your hair with a sword or something. [ Laughter ] We had all kinds of things going on onstage and it was dangerous!

Glen got hit in the knee with a hammer once and had to go to the hospital, Neal got a dart in his back and it was stuck in his back.

Alexxis: Wow! That does sound dangerous!

Dennis: And M80s and we threw stuff at the audience especially around Toledo and Saginaw, Michigan they threw stuff back. [ Laughter ] Alexxis: [ Laughter ] Dennis: Yeah but we threw soft stuff like balloons and feathers, they threw you know hammers and stuff!

Alexxis: Wow! They would never get away with that nowadays! [ Laughter ] Dennis: It still is scary because this Military Government, these guys with the machine guns that spoke Portuguese were with us wherever we went. Well we were just going to go to the sound check for this gigantic thing in Sao Paulo and they put us in these armored vehicles and the street was solid people and these guys just started driving right through the crowd and we’re like “No, we don't need to get there, its ok take it easy!”

And they’d just laugh you know?

Alexxis: But they were running over people?

Dennis: They were running over people! So now there are these two vehicles, half the band is in one Alice and Neal and I are in one and Michael and Glen were in the other. They decide they’re going to race and this freeway is 8 lanes wide. It’s unbelievable! [ Laughter ] And these two guys were going as fast as they could, racing each other laughing and stuff and we’re like whoa! This is scary! Even though the freeway had 8 lanes wide, it had these little hairpin exits like from what you would have from a dirt road practically, and they both raced to the exit and it was side by side.

These two cars were trying to make it through a one lane hairpin turn and the one car went outside of the lane and the end of the exit just went right into a street of a neighborhood of cars and people’s cars parked along the street and one of the cars just went over and smashed into a car and kept going!

Alexxis: Oh man! I would have been scared!

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Dennis: Just for sound check!

Dennis: There’s a photograph of somebody in the crowd who had a gun and so it was kind of this ultimate kind of a thing, because the stage was very high. So we felt some safety there, but these guys with the machine guns were standing onstage and we didn’t know what to think of them but I know the crowd and the room was filling up and we couldn’t believe how many people were coming in. They had parked these armored vehicles outside the entrances to try to slow down the crowd coming in but people were climbing right over the vehicles and everything and so at one point the crowd started pushing forward so heavily that we were worried the stage might come down. And so one of the guys with the machine guns got on the microphone, I don't know what he said, he said it in Portuguese, but when he said it this whole giant room of people like a big wave, they all just sat down. So whatever he said he scared them.

Alexxis: That must have been something!

Dennis: Anyway we came out and they got all riled up again and we had no idea that that was our final show together. We had no idea until probably a year after the group broke up. The rest of the world knew about it before we did, you know Michael, Neal, Glen, and I. But when we got back to America, our equipment never came back; I lost my favorite amp a Sunn Coliseum Bass amp. It sounded so wonderful and by then the Sunn company amplifiers weren't the same anymore. The new one didn’t sound like the old one. But anyway, the Copacabana which is where we were staying kicked us out because the roadies got too rowdy in the room and trashed their hotel room. They kicked us out so Cindy and I went to this other hotel for a few days and we loved Brazil but man with all of that Military Government going on at the time and these crazy guys that were in charge of taking us to the gig and back When we got back to America, I really felt like kissing the ground.

Alexxis: I bet! [ Laughter ] I think I would have too! So was that actually the last leg of the tour, the last show for the tour for that album?

Dennis: Yeah.

Alexxis: You said you didn’t know that was going to be the last

Steel Notes Magazine show so, were there other shows lined up in America after that when you came back or not?

Dennis: Well the thing is by the time we got to that point everything the band did or had been was done by popular vote. The 5 guys in the band would vote and the majority would win and we would all move forward without anyone having bad feelings about it. Michael wanted to do a solo album, he wanted to take a break because we definitely were writing albums while we were still touring, so we were doing 2 albums a year 2 state shows a year and we were running on empty. Michael also felt a little bit like he could write songs like Paul McCartney and we would take it and turn it into something sinister you know? [ Laughter ] He’s like “Wait a minute, I’ve got these songs that are love songs and I’ve got enough of them for an album so I would like to just record them without you guys since you don’t want to do them Like Glen Buxton always said ‘we don’t do sappy girl songs,’” [ Laughter ] Alexxis: [ Laughter ] Dennis: He wanted to take a break and I was against it. Alice and I were against it but Neal had started hanging out with Michael and Neal decided well the way things look like its going; it looks like we’re going to be shoved out of the picture, so if Michael does an album then I want to do an album.

Glen’s vote almost didn’t count anymore because he didn’t really show up to meetings. When he was there he usually expressed his opinion with snide remarks, which was really funny that way but it didn’t go well towards counting his vote legitimately. I didn’t want to take a break, they wanted to take a year break and I didn’t want to. I thought wow; we’re on the verge of doing the biggest tour we’ve ever done. Our next album our next stage show is going to be funded by this new contract we’re going to sign. But because Alice and Glen’s health had declined to such, they were getting worse so I thought a break would give them a chance to get it back together and I voted that we should take a break. We did, and the meeting was we’re going to take a break, Michael is going to do an album, Neal is going to do an album and at the end of the year we’re going to write our next Alice Cooper album and record it a year from now. So that’s what we thought we were doing. How we ended up was, Michael did his album, I helped Neal do his album and Neal cut his album short and he didn’t even finish it because we ended up starting to work on ‘Billion Dollar Babies’ Album, and there ended up being a band called ‘Billion Dollar Babies’. We had this futuristic

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Steel Notes Magazine concept of the battle axe and Alice was going to oversee this fight to the death in a boxing ring that would come out from underneath Neal’s drum riser. These hydraulic posts would lock into place with red velvet ropes and two gladiators would have guitars with two axe blades on them and there was a red gladiator and a green gladiator that had these shiny uniforms with helmets and they would fight it out and one would fall to the floor and the other would put his boot on his chest and Alice would go thumbs up or thumbs down to the crowd like Nero in Rome. Then this battle axe guitar made out of Plexiglas and jagged steel blade would rise up with a spotlight on it in front of Neal’s drum kit and then the gladiator, Alice would take it out and stab it into the fallen gladiator. Everybody would freeze and this big bang of smoke would come out and slowly move back underneath Neal’s drum riser and all this colored confetti would come down. Alice was supposed to, as we saw it, come out with a white tuxedo and pop champagne and then we would go into a song called ‘The Winter.’

So this was all being built and the concept and everything and that would be the next Alice Cooper show but all of a sudden it was nearly impossible to get a hold of Alice.

Alexxis: Wow that was some concept! So you never actually saw it come to fruition?

Dennis: Yeah, we did 4 shows with it and got a great write up but unfortunately our record company bailed on us, our manager bailed on us and the lead singer bailed on us. So we ended up taking a massive financial hit and it was also emotionally devastating. This was all I cared about The Alice Cooper Group and our shows.

Alexxis: Well it must have been especially disturbing to you because in a way this was kind of like your brain child from when you were a teenager you know? That was kind of like your baby, you created along with Alice and you and a lot of the ideas from originated from you!

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Dennis: Well, that’s true, but by then it was like everybody’s investment in it was very significant and it wasn’t like I stood out above the rest in that way.

Dennis: One reason we didn’t see it coming was because we were still friends. You know, Alice and I met when we were 16 years old and Neal and Glen, we were family were spent a lot of years of all of us in a station wagon, in a hotel room, and a show.

Alexxis: Absolutely. You spent a lot of time together.

Dennis: Yeah everything, we lived together in the same house right. [ Laughter ] How many marriages with 2 people last that long?

Alexxis: Exactly!

Dennis: We were 5 people and more because we had other people, our roadies from the beginning like Mike Allen, we called ‘Amp Boy.’ Charlie Carnell he did our lighting since the beginning all the way back to the VIP when we were in High School. So I don’t know if it was denial or my part or I was just naive but I just I thought it was impossible that Alice would leave the band.

Alexxis: I guess you did not think that it would ever happen.

Dennis: I thought it was impossible, I didn’t believe it and it was a tail spin and not only that we were reading about how we were replaced because we refused to do theatrics meanwhile we’re building this giant stage for The Battle Axe

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Show. The thing was massive! So we’re like why are they saying that? Every interview was like; well we had to be replaced. I went into a dark tail spin and I got disillusioned with my friends Shep and Alice and with the fans who didn’t seem to really question anything to find out what really happened, and I decided I’m just going to build a studio in my basement and I’m going to write songs and I’m not going to go out and play. If I went out to a club to hear a band I would find the darkest corner and hide out and wouldn’t want to be called up to sit in. I decided ok, the record business has not been my friend lately and so why should I be bitter about something that I love which is music, so I’m going to get back to loving music and I’m going to make that and all the rest of the stuff can go to hell or whatever [ Laughter ] and I’m going to go in my basement and write songs and I wrote like 200 songs.

would be famous if Alice had come together like we all agreed.

Not that the ‘Welcome To My Nightmare’ tour wasn’t a good one, I thought that was the best one Alice has done solo even though I do think that it’s obvious that Alice is a master performer and nobody ever pays to see Alice solo and walks out not getting their money’s worth you know? I’m a fan of Alice as a solo artist and all of that.

Alexxis: Right

Alexxis: Wow, well at least you were able to channel it.

Dennis: Glen Buxton would come over and we would jam and I would get together with Neal and so there was a lot of that. We were having fun again you know but— Alexxis: So is that how the Billion Dollar Babies the band came about?

Dennis: Well that’s because we had so much of our own money invested into this giant stage and everything and we had written songs that we thought were good, so at that point it was really just us laundering to recoup that investment. How could we go out with this giant stage? When we would try to get bookings people would say “Well how can I advertise that The Billion Dollar Babies are playing when everybody thinks you are on tour?” The ‘Welcome to My Nightmare’ tour didn't advertise that it was new guys in the band you know?

The advertisements had our music and you know people bought their tickets expecting to see the original band but that’s not what they saw when they got there. So you know people say “How can I hire you when people think you’re already out on tour and also how can you headline if Alice isn’t there and people expect that?

Nobody in the world is going to want to have you as an opening band with this gigantic stage.” [ Laughter ] Alexxis: I see that was a major problem.

Dennis: We were between a rock and a hard place and it’s too bad because we did 4 shows of The Battle Axe show and it was great and it was so much fun and it would've been really good, and it

Dennis: The Battle Axe show would have been a really good vehicle for the band with the concept of the original group, in my opinion, we got popular by always having unexpected things happen. Each show that we did, we tried to have something new you know? It seemed like once we got to this point of success and bookings, so many bookings that we didn’t have time to build a new stage or come up with a new investment in a new concept, and all of a sudden with the attitude we were told we have to give people what they expect. That went against everything that we believed. So ‘The Battle Axe Show’ would have been unexpected.

‘Welcome to My Nightmare’ was pretty unexpected but then after that all of a sudden look at how many things the original group came up with that nobody had ever done before. You know, the executions and the snake and the balloons and throwing things in the audience and all of that. I still see bands doing those ideas.

Alexxis: Oh yes they still do that.

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Dennis: So now it’s like, well what are you going to see the hanging or the guillotine? [ Laughter ] Alexxis: Choices, choices!

Dennis: It’s still the same! It’s like there’s more ways to execute somebody if you have to keep executing someone. [ Laughter ] Alexxis: [Laughter ] Right.

Dennis: I just thought all of a sudden it turned into the sort of people when they go, they get what they expect and there’s nothing wrong with that except it went totally against what we wanted to do. We wanted to because we had a million ideas all the way back when we were just starting out. We just didn't have the money to do it. So now when we finally were about to sign a new contract and had the money to do these ideas, now all of a sudden the rug was pulled from under us. So it was a very difficult time and I put it all behind me, I had some dark years where thank God I had Cindy and she would come in the room where I’m sitting in a rocking chair sort of pouting. And she would be like “Is this what you’re going to do? Is this what you’re going to do with the rest of your life?”

Alexxis: That is a shame; it must have been really rough for you...

Dennis: She was right you know? The good thing about it Cindy and I had decided too when we were out on the road for all those years that we were going to have a family someday but we’re going to first wait until we're done doing all this traveling because when we have a family we want to be there with our kids and all that. So that worked out perfectly because we had two wonderful daughters and I was home to raise them you know, and my artistic inclinations shifted from me getting things out and painting a picture to me getting out everything that my kids needed to paint a picture. If they were doing a water color and needed clean water I would run down to the kitchen and get some clean water for them. [ Laughter ] Alexxis: Those were precious times for you.

Dennis: I got a video camera and oh boy, we have a million hours of them putting on shows and I was home! So that was really the blessing.

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Alexxis: So you were lucky that way because a lot of artists obviously if they’re touring and and having kids they miss out on all that and those years of their kids growing up you know?

Dennis: It’s tough you know and some people are more cut out for that obviously like entertainers like Bob Hope and you know Phyllis Diller, people that spend their whole lives in it, they are entertainers and that are what they are on this earth for, and Alice falls into that category. Me, it was more like the creating an artistic statement and creating a way to present it to people was the whole thing and getting out there and being on the road so long that you would wake up and not know what town you were in and not even care what town you were in and having The Holiday Inn Menu memorized, that wasn’t my thing you know? [ Laughter ] Alexxis: [ Laughter ] I can imagine!

Dennis: You know, Alice manages to do it well because of course his wife Cheryl is an amazing dancer and entertainer in her own right and so she’s out with him again. She took a break for a while when their kids were younger and their daughter Calico was in the show so you know they manage as well as they can but Alice is still doing hundreds of shows every year.

Alexxis: Oh yes, absolutely, ok so then at this point you raised your kids, and your oldest daughter’s name is Renee right?

Dennis: Yes Dennis: Yes she's a self-motivated person and a go getter and she decided she wanted to be a singer but when the record industry was starting to belly up she was hip to that and she decided to go Corporate and said “Well it’s very unlikely I’ll make any money in music so I’ll go this other direction.” And then she gave up a successful corporate job to volunteer for a special unit of the ASPCA helping animals that were busted from hoarder cases or dog fighting rings so she’s gone back to something else that she loves.

Our daughters grew up with Saint Bernard’s, Cindy and I had four of them.

Alexxis: That’s awesome!

Dennis: The first one lived with The Alice Cooper Group in Pontiac, Michigan and then it also lived at the mansion in Greenwich.

So after that we got another one then we got another one then we got another one, not all at the same time. One at a time, but our daughters grew up with Saint Bernard’s and have that love of ani-

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mals and Chelsea is also a great singer, but she’s not as interested in promoting herself and getting out in front of people even though she has been doing Comedy Improv! in New York City. So she is an entertainer that gets on stage in front of people fairly often.

Alexxis: —she’s a makeup artist and jewelry designer too?

Dennis: Well she kind of does whatever she feels like doing at the time.

Alexxis: [ Laughter ] Dennis: Because if you give our daughters an art project say, the first thing Renee wants to know is what is the medium what are the rules? What are the guidelines? Chelsea is like; don’t tell me anything, I’ll do it! [ Laugher ] Alexxis: [ Laughter ] That’s kids for you!

Dennis: You know one doesn’t like rules and the other one does but they end up kind of at the same place. They both have very artistic trends and Cindy and I are very accommodating, our house looks a lot like Cindy and Neal’s mother’s house. All the musicians would go and hang out at their house because you could talk about anything in front of June, their mom, and hang out and have fun and stay late if you want. You couldn’t get away with everything because she was a Sunday School Teacher and she would correct you and it’s funny because Ron Wood was over at their house once in Phoenix, in the early days Dennis: And he’s hanging out and he ashed his cigarette, there was a big potted plant in the living room, and he ashed his cigarette in there and June saw him and scolded him and all of a sudden Ronnie turned into a little kid. He was like “Oh I’m sorry, I guess I’m just too used to being in hotel rooms.” And she said, “Well you don’t do that in hotel rooms either.”

Alexxis: I guess she told him!

Dennis: But it wasn’t like hanging out at someone else’s parent’s house because there was this good vibe there and Cindy and I always had that. I’d have amplifiers set up in our dining room and if their kids came over that were musicians they would grab the guitar, grab the bass play and play! So when they did drama at High School, we would have the drama club parties, and our house would have all cool lighting. So it leaned toward whoever is creative can feel comfortable in our house you know? Cindy’s the same as her mom you know, don’t touch the liquor closet you’re not old enough and that kind of a thing.

Alexxis: Right!

Dennis: That’s the wonderful thing about our life, Cindy and I love creative people and we know so many of them now. We’re a commute from New York City and we know people there so everything that’s cool going on we know about it. We hear about it and we can hop on the train and go and have a good time and we’ve gone out where you would rather sit at home and watch television or whatever but we’ll go and jump on the train and go even in blizzards, we’ve gone in.

Alexxis: Really? How long does it take you to get there by train?

Dennis: An hour to an hour and a half depending if it’s Upper Manhattan or Lower.

Alexxis: That’s great!

Dennis: Yeah. In fact I’m going in tonight because Albert Bouchard and I worked with Jack Douglas the Producer. You know he did John Lennon and Aerosmith he did Alice Cooper and the ‘Blue Oyster Cult’ Live Album. So tonight the school that started the year, Jack Douglas graduated from the school the very first year it was in existence, and now they’re getting a new space and their naming it after Jack Douglas. He will be there and Albert and I will get up and speak to the young up and coming Producers and tell them what we remember of being with Jack so you know its stuff like that. We probably go in like once or twice a week at best and sometimes we don’t go in for a couple of weeks and I think it’s great because when you live right in a big city it tends to get a little jaded because there’s always so many things going on.

Alexxis: It seems that way when you live in it and have access on a daily basis.

Dennis: Cindy and I only hear about the special things that are

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Steel Notes Magazine going on, we go in and it kind of recharges our creative batteries and we come home and not have as many distractions and put it to good use.

Alexxis: Absolutely it does! Now going back to the later years, we’re talking about in 2011 you received The Revolver Golden God Award and the band was also inducted to The Rock and Rock Hall of Fame, which is a great thing.

Dennis: Yes, absolutely. I mean we got a call or an email from Shep and he wanted to have a conference call so it was Neal, Alice, Michael, Shep and I on the phone and he said “well you’ve been nominated”. We were like oh? We were gun shy about this because it seemed like it was 14 years that we weren’t nominated after we were eligible and there were those years it seemed every once in a while they would say you’re going to be nominated and then we wouldn’t be. So [ Laughter ] we were kind of like oh yeah, right. But this time it turned out to be true, we were nominated and you know after that phone call Neal and I were like wow I wonder if they’re nominating Alice as a solo entertainer or the group? And we thought well it could go either way.

Anyway it turned out it was the group was nominated and then Alice had invited us to The Christmas Pudding Show that he does with The Solid Rock Foundation in Phoenix, Arizona every Christmas.

Alexxis: That was awesome!

Dennis: So we were out there and we were rehearsing Alice, Michael, Neal and I. Steve Hunter was sitting in on guitar and Alice’s roadie comes in right in the middle of the song and says, “Stop playing.” [ Laughter ] He said “You guys are in The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.!” And so Neal slammed his drum stick down on the drumhead and it went flying into the air. [ Laughter ] Alexxis: I guess Neal was in disbelief it was really happening!

Dennis: They said, “Ok well you’re going to have to stop rehearsing because we got a million interviews for all of you from all across the country.”

Alexxis: Wow. Dennis: So they got the phone set up in all these different conference rooms and I would go in and talk to Detroit, then Michael would come in and talk to that guy while I’m over here talking to the guy from Seattle and stuff like that. [ Laughter ] Alexxis: Oh it must’ve been crazy.

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Dennis: Yeah, it was exciting. And that night when we came out on stage,where we were, this curtain was still closed and it was dark and we were all ready to play and could hear Bob Ezrin talking to the crowd, which was at the Dodge Theater with about 8,000 people and Bob gave this very heartwarming introduction announcing to the crowd that probably hadn’t heard this that we were inducted in The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Oh man! What a great reception! That curtain opened and I felt like I was on top of the world.

Alexxis: I bet that must have been an amazing moment!

Dennis: So now we have to decide what songs we have to do for the rock and roll, you know everybody in the world my communications was I was couldn't do anything because I had a million emails and a million messages, my phone was ringing off the hook it was crazy! [ Laughter ] And I’m not even Alice you know?

Alexxis: It must have been a very busy time!

Dennis: Everybody in the world is telling us what songs we should play and all that, so we had some rehearsals with Bob Ezrin and the band in Yonkers, New York and we decided what songs we wanted to play and some other people had different ideas of what songs we should play. We wanted to play ‘Under My Wheels, Shep was there, Bob Ezrin was there and some various people and Neal and I said “You know what, let’s play both versions of the set. We’ll play the version with ‘Under My Wheels’ we’ll play whatever the other song they wanted us to do and then we’ll just compare them. Well Neal and I kicked ass on ‘Under My Wheels’ and they said “Ok we’re doing that!”

Dennis: But anyway it didn’t really matter what songs you did, you walked out at the ceremony. Before that Shep was thinking about what everyone should wear and I said, “I think we all should wear white tuxedos with blood splattered all over them.”

And Shep said “No, no, no, we can’t do that.” Well Alice ended up doing a white shirt with the blood.

Alexxis: Yes, I remember seeing that picture, he had the boa around his neck and you were standing up at the podium, right, and that was a big snake!

Dennis: That wasn’t the regular snake that was an albino boa I believe or maybe a python. But so now we’re standing on stage, we’re about ready to start playing. They wanted us to accept our awards

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and then play and Alice said, “No we should play first.” And he was right. But we’re standing with our backs to the audience with the darkened stage and above us is this screen where they were showing this screen of this video that they put together to show why the Alice Cooper Group was inducted.

Alexxis: Nice...

Dennis: It’s like the best of the Alice Cooper Group video footage I guess all spliced together. But man, I looked up and here’s Glen Buxton playing and oh man it was so moving. And I looked over at Alice, he was standing right next time and we were facing Neal and I said, “Can you believe it?” and he said “Nope, not at all.” And then we started, Neal counts down the first song we start playing, we turn around walk out to the audience and who’s there, Springsteen, Michael Douglas, Michael J. Fox everybody in the world you know all the honchos from the music industry.

Oh man, talk about it, and then it’s in the Grand Ballroom at the Waldorf Astoria so everybody’s played there!

Alexxis: Oh yeah, It must have been a very surreal moment. I’m sure it was emotional and touching when you saw Glen on the screen. He was with the band in spirit, looking down in approval.

Dennis: You know, you name it! All of these amazing musicians that have been on that stage and so that was it and we ended up in the bar in the wee hours and they were trying to kick us out.

Let’s see it was me, Glen Buxton’s sister Janice, and some friends of ours and I can't remember if Neal was there or not. We were having Manhattans and Glen’s sister was saying did you know this, oh, Alice’s guy Toby Mannis brought Glen’s statue and my statue and our awards and gave one to Janice, gave Glen’s award to Janice and she’s complaining that this really sucks you know, we should have been allowed to come out on stage. Glen’s brother Ken and Janice wanted to come out on stage and accept.

Alexxis: Right, yeah that would have been nice. They should have allowed them to accept it for him.

Dennis: Well, you know The Hall of Fame decided differently but she's going “This really sucks; I get his award in the bar.” And I said “Are you kidding? This is perfect! Glen would love this! He

got his Award in the bar!”

Alexxis: Yea really!

Dennis: Glen was always close to all of us whenever we’d play any of those songs. He’s always in our hearts and forever will be.

He was one of the most one of a kind, funniest person I’ve ever known.

Alexxis: Yes, he was funny and a great guy!

Dennis: Yeah, you know. It didn’t take long to find that out, did it?

Alexxis: No, he was always very personable and had a great sense of humor!

Dennis: Yeah, it didn’t take long and you would quickly learn what you might avoid saying because if you said it, you were setting yourself up to be in storm. [ Laughter ]

Glen’s sarcastic fire Alexxis: Oh yes! [ Laughter ]

Dennis: He was so funny but if you didn't know him like we did all the way from high school, and somebody would walk in a room that didn’t know the whole group and the whole group was in one room, we would be whittling each other to bits. It would sound brutal and sound like we hated each other, but it was really just humor, long years of this kind of humor, where you put the other guy down and if somebody walked out of the room oh man, they were the target until they got back.

Alexxis: Oh yes for sure!

Dennis: But it was all in fun, it was all equal, and nobody was made more fun of than the next guy. Everybody was brutally criticized the whole time they were out of the room. When they would come back Glen would go, “SH! He’s back.” [ Laughter ] Alexxis: So since then you started working with Joe and Albert Bouchard from ‘Blue Oyster Cult’ and you have a trio called ‘Blue Coupe’. You were also working with the ‘Fifth Avenue Vampires’ so are you still doing that?

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Steel Notes Magazine Dennis: No, with the ‘Fifth Avenue Vampires’, two things happened on that. Number one because like I mentioned before all of a sudden because The Alice Cooper Group were inducted into The Hall of Fame, I couldn’t get anything done. Alice had made an announcement in several interviews that we were going to be going out and playing some major cities, the original group.

So now I thought, ok I’ve got ‘Blue Coupe’ I’ve got ‘Fifth Avenue Vampires’ and now I’ve got this Alice Cooper thing which everybody knows is going to take priority with me. I couldn’t continue going into the studio with the ‘Fifth Avenue Vampires’, and we were starting to record a new album which I wrote some songs for, and we even laid down some basic tracks but now I’ve got to go out to LA and do this Revolver thing and do the Jägermeister three dimensional show that was recorded in LA. Too many things were getting in the way and I didn’t want to stop progress of the group. Meanwhile, Richie Scarlet had gotten a call from Ace Frehley, he’s still out touring with Ace.

Spring 2017

ever. There are always the musicians that we’ve known from some point in our career that are going to come down to the gig and we tell them bring your guitar or whatever and sit in with us. So we have a lot of that and we’re very popular in France, they keep inviting us back every year and Canada we go up there a lot too so without working too hard on bookings and we book ourselves.

We kind of wait for offers to come our way and then we say yes or no.

Alexxis: Right.

Dennis: We will be at the Fairfield Theater Company in Fairfield, Connecticut at The Warehouse which is a really nice venue on April 13th and Tish & Snooky will be singing background and our guitar player will sit in with us Nick, who I think is a wonderful guitar player.

He adds the second guitar part so that Joe and he can work off of each other.

Alexxis: That’s too bad, but sometimes I guess you have to prioritize.

Dennis: So we told Joe Von T, the Singer, who originated the ‘Fifth Avenue Vampires,’ well keep going you’re doing what you want to do and of course you can play the songs that we recorded and stuff but you’re going to have to get other musicians. So he did and he’s still going out and doing these big theatrical production shows on a local level budget you know and so he’s continued without us and ‘Blue Coupe’ Joe and Albert are always so busy, they’re very prolific they’re both music teachers even though Joe just retired.

Dennis: Traditionally the bands have been together like 6 or 7 years now and we do weekend gigs during the year because of Joe and Albert’s teaching and then we would get really heavy and do a lot of gigs you know, in June July and August but now that they’re not committed to school anymore we will be picking up more, we will be freer to do more gigs.

Alexxis: Oh did he? Joe just retired?

Alexxis: Right.

Dennis: Albert is about to retire too but all that means is they’re going to have more time to do you their other projects. These guys are unbelievable, really. Albert just finished a Christmas Album, Joe’s got a new solo album and working on another one and they’re always doing all kinds of things. So it wasn't like they were sitting around twiddling their thumbs.

Dennis: Albert teaches at a school in Upper New York and Michelle Obama came to his school to congratulate him on this program that he did, teaching kids how to eat healthy.

Alexxis: They are very busy!

Dennis: Because also at the same time, ‘Blue Oyster Cult’ had invited them to do some shows and sit in with them, so that worked out well too. But ‘Blue Coupe’ is a fun group, we’ve got backup singers Tish & Snooky, who have the hair dye company ‘Manic Panic’ you know, that’s known worldwide.

Alexxis: Yes that is very popular hair colors they have!

Dennis: They sing at probably about half of our live gigs that we have, wherever we go whether it’s in Europe or Canada or what-

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Alexxis: Very nice!

Alexxis: Wow! That’s great!

Dennis: Every Monday or Tuesday or something like that, Albert will go to Whole Foods and buy peanut butter and apples and stuff and the kids would come to music class and they wouldn't do music at all, they would just eat healthy.

Alexxis: Wow Dennis: He would invite us to The White House and he has a selfie of him there because he went there for Exceptional Teacher’s Day. Alexxis: Oh, very cool.

Dennis: Joe has given lessons to Mia Farrow, you know he sits

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down with Mia Farrow with her guitar for the first time and says “So, have you ever taken any lessons before?” And she says, “Only from George Harrison” [ Laughter ] Alexxis: Oh really! [ Laughter ] Yeah, that’s not too bad there right? Getting to take lessons from George Harrison!

Dennis: Right. [ Laughter ] Alexxis: Now currently I guess the words been out that you, Michael and Neal are all writing again with Alice and working on a new CD? Dennis: Well yeah, you know since my book came out ‘Snakes!

Guillotine! Electric Chairs!: My Adventures in The Alice Cooper Group’ a year and a half ago and I've been doing book tours and all kinds of things have been happening and it’s been really unbelievably fun doing shows at book stores and having the band play and doing various things. Well, I did this thing in Dallas, Texas at Good Records Store and the guy is a big Alice Cooper fan and he repainted the store to be the colors of the book cover which the book cover has pink panties on it. He painted all of this on a two-story record store, he painted all of the trim pink and he built a stage with a pink AstroTurf floor on it. I did a book event there and we got Neal and Michael to come out and he had built electric chairs for all of us.

15 minutes. I saw a thing on Facebook of kids out in their lawn chairs in the really cold weather with all of their coats on waiting all night so they could get there first and get their copy. Anyway, he filmed the seven songs, well the response for that release was so positive that we decided that we’re going to write some more songs and do some more things together. So Neal, Michael and Alice got together and knocked out some demos about five songs in Phoenix, Arizona a while back and Alice called me and said, “Well let’s write some songs what do you got?” So I wrote like 15 songs and they picked their favorites and we will be recording those and some of the songs will be for Alice’s solo album. We will be featured on it as well as his usual all-star lineup of other musicians but it will be in the spirit of ‘The Killer’ Album and we’re having a lot of fun with it.

Alexxis: Of course everybody is going to want to know does that mean there is going to be a reunion playing those new songs?

Dennis: I don’t know. The thing is like when we did The Christmas Pudding Show or when we were inducted into The Hall of Fame it seems like I’m always the last to know. [ Laughter ] Alexxis: [ Laughter ]

Alexxis: Wow. That sounds very cool!

Dennis: There was an electric chair that was a replica of our original one for a local DJ to ask us questions, so we did a Q&A in front of people and then we signed books and we signed records and stuff and then he says “We’re going to play some songs” and we went over to the stage and we played ‘Caught in a Dream’ where it was just Neal, Michael and I and then this guy, Chris Penn is his name, had cut a door in the back behind the stage so Alice could come in the back way and surprise everybody.

So we started playing the Intro to ‘Be My Lover’ and then Alice walked out and everybody went crazy, of course.

Alexxis: Oh, I bet!

Dennis: We just released a single with this amazing packaging it was ‘I’m 18’ and ‘Isn’t My Body Live’ from that show and the performance was recorded really well and Bob Ezrin mixed it and the thing came out on Black Friday, which is Record Store Day across the country, it sold out, most stores sold out in the first

Dennis: Everybody always would get a million emails all at once and would say “Oh! You’re going to be at The Christmas Pudding” And I’m like “Oh really? I didn’t know that” [ Laughter ] Alexxis: Always the last one to know!

Dennis: “Oh yeah, we’re going to have you out here.” Well I wish you would tell me before you tell the world. [ Laughter ]

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Steel Notes Magazine Alexxis: [ Laughter ] Yeah, really! Oh another thing I wanted to ask you is when I saw you last time with Michael at Chiller you had outfits from the shows and bass guitars on display in all the cases. Now do you have them on display somewhere else?

Dennis: I’m working on doing some displays because the 50th Anniversary of certain landmarks, you know when we became Alice Cooper and different releases is coming up, so I’m talking to different Museums about having them call it ‘Dr. Dreary Snakes Museum of Alice Cooper Artifacts’ But it’s got everything as you saw it. It’s even got my track shoes and leather sweater.

Alexxis: Right, and didn’t you have some guitars or bass’ there too?

Dennis: Yeah, guitars and bass’ even though some of them are in the Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix, Arizona those Museums and The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has my green bass that we talked about earlier, the Gibson bass, the frog bass. By the way Cindy’s the one that named it the frog bass because she used to say when I smiled I looked like a frog. [ Laughter ] Alexxis: Really? hahahah Dennis: [ Laughter ] And that’s also the story of the very first night Bob Ezrin showed up at the Pontiac Firm to start working with us on the ‘Love It To Death’ Album. He had come in from the airport and we had so many people coming through that house it was like we didn’t quite realize he was new to arrive and I had dressed up like a frog with this big green frog mask, which you probably saw in The Snakes Museum, I still have that.

Alexxis: Oh yes I remember it.

Dennis: I was only going to say ribbit until Cindy kissed me and then I would turn into her Prince, you know.

Alexxis: Awwww.

Dennis: I was trying to make a boring night more interesting. So Bob Ezrin showed up and the living room is kind of dark and all he sees is me, a big giant frog. And he says “Oh, hello Mr. Frog” and I go “Ribbit” [ Laughter ] Alexxis: [ Laughter ] Dennis: So frogs and the color green are kind of in my DNA I guess. Now moving forward you know how working on music with Alice is, he's a natural. You know that movie Amadeus? The guys complaining that he has spent his whole life passionately caring about writing great symphonies and here this young guy Mozart, this kind of viral character just naturally writes stuff that is what better than his. [ Laughter ] Alexxis: Yes I am familiar with it.

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Dennis: So well not to that extent but Alice is like that. I mean I would be working and working and working and Michael would be working and everybody’s diligently trying to come up with great songs and putting things together and Alice would watch tv and then he would walk in and spurt out a couple ideas that were just as good as ours! [ Laughter ] So it’s fun to work with Alice because he's very musical. I mean when you watch him onstage whenever there’s a cue, he cues it. He knows the music inside and out. So it’s fun to work with him because it’s not like ok we’ll write the songs and then the singer can write some lyrics and then sing along with us, he’s right in there. He's the guiding part of it and with Bob Ezrin’s involvement, which Bob is working on this.

There is a concise approach. You know, it starts out with winging it and the thing I like about it is it’s still a lot of humor going on.

We’ve always had that you know, it’s not that we don’t take things seriously but having the humor, ongoing humor, helps keep things from getting tense in the studio. You know, it can get tense when recording a track with everybody and you don’t want to mess up and the clock’s ticking away and you know you have limited time and the dollars are ticking away and sometimes it can get very tense especially if you’re working when you’ve had a late night or two. So yeah, we’ve always had humor to kind of keep everything from getting tense and it’s still like that. So if we’re in the studio and Neal has an idea, we’ll try it. If I have an idea, we’ll try it you know. So Bob Ezrin is still very open to that and it kind of picks up right where we left off even though the missing ingredient is Glen Buxton.

Alexxis: Yes Glen’s involvement is missed.

Dennis: That rebellious attitude was a big part of The Alice Cooper Group even though his name isn’t on a lot of songs as a songwriter he had a lot to do with the attitude. I mean that attitude showed in everything that we did you know that was the essence of the group. So like I say he’s still in our hearts so he’s still there.

Alexxis: I’m sure he is always there in spirit and always will be!

Thank you Dennis for taking us with you on your journey in the Alice Cooper Group!

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Ladies and Gentlemen and Children of All Ages ... My name is Marlowe B West ... I am your Ring Leader ... During the last three years as Star Reporter for Steel Notes Magazine I have frequently mentioned The Rew & Who Show ... For those who may be unfamiliar, The Rew & Who Show was the underground cable TV brainstorm of Rew Starr who set out and took it upon herself to fulfill the famous dangling underground legacy attributed to Andy Warhol ... who is quoted as saying "In the future everybody will be world famous for 15 minutes."

Rew would never put it in these words but as I had the specific distinction of securing the unfathomable position of the "Who" ... on a once-a-monthly basis ... for almost as long as I have been writing for this awesome magazine ... As a peculiar matter of fact it was originally through Steel Notes Magazine that all this had come about ... Alexxis Steele, owner and CEO of Steel Notes Magazine had been looking for a regular spot on a TV show and I told her about this girl who asked me to be a guest on her show and one thing led to another and there it all rock and rolled into place ... However; after eight long years of Rew's parallel dreams of becoming an actress began to take precedence over her completely uncompensated dedication to her Rew & Who Show ... she landed

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a part in a play ... All of her long time friends, colleagues and fans ... of every race, breed, sex and creed ... including yours truly ... were verry disappointed ... but ob-la-dee ob-la-da ... that's just the way the cookie crumbled.

But they all lived happily ever after ... and here's the magical tale about The Tribute to the Rew & Who Show ... otherwise referred to as The Coronation of The Queen of the New York City Underground ... On January 5th I got a message from Ray Galindo telling me that he, Kipp Elbaum and Sid Moskowitz were organizing a tribute concert for Rew ... and they selected me to be the Master of Ceremonies at The Delancey on February 15th ... Thrilled beyond belief it all came to pass ... I shant go into it much further for I have prepared a special, more personal and deeper, description for you by compiling quotes from a multitude of beautiful people who actually participated is this unique and warm event ... I asked them each two questions ... 1) Tell us your Rew story ... and 2) Tell us about the Tribute: Rew Starr: I have never in my entire life ever felt so much appreciation and love doing what I luv so much in celebrating everyone's passion

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Being crowned by total surprise as Miss Underground NYC was the most flabbergasting moment in my life!!!! If I could crazy glue the crown to my head I would cause I feel so honored and grateful and so happy that ReWandWhO really brought joy to people I can't predict the future but I truly believe something I don't know yet will come from all this that night felt like my sweet sixteen bat mitzvah wedding 'this is your life ' all rolled into one!! I never felt anything like this before and I'm forever glitterized ThaNku everyone so much from the bottom top side to side of my heart forever xXx Ray Galindo: Rew Starr is one of the most self-less and warm-hearted people that I have ever known. Rew gave me the opportunity to learn to feel comfortable with what I do. With her encouragement, I combated stage-fright and won! Her inspiring persona has kept me in creative mode for the last four years. I have met wonderful people through my association with her. I am honored to have been asked to help organize this wonderful tribute concert for her. She deserves it! I wish her success in everything that she pursues. I love Rew Starr! Long Live Rew Starr, The Queen of the New York City Underground!

Steel Notes Magazine Michael Cincotta: The Rew show to me was a great way to see many of my friends chatting away about crazy stuff. I never attended due to work but watched many shows on the net. Rew was such a great host and I know how excited Alice was when she got to be on the show and the many times she repped as an audience member. The tribute was a hoot with so many in attendance. All kicked ass and I was so happy to see Rew take it all in and we could see that she felt the love.

Alice Espinosa-Cincotta: The Rew & who show was the perfect internet show where all kinds of artists were given their Warholian 15 minutes to showcase their talents and be interviewed by the adorable hostess, Rew Starr. This entertaining show introduced or highlighted mostly local artists. Quite often they came back to the show and labeled repeat offenders. Magically, I was a one time guest and loved the 15 minutes I was given. I will miss being a repeat offender audience member. However, I am so glad that I found this show and experience the merriment from those Wednesday afternoons.

At the recent Rew & Who Tribute show, I attended as an audience member . The Rew & Who Tribute show at The Delancey presented an entertaining evening with the "repeat offenders" previously guests of the Rew & Who show. The tribute followed the traditional fifteen minute format while all talents and friends gathered to honor the much loved internet show hostess, Rew Starr. That night the Queen of whimsical local talents was crowned in sparkly glittery fashion and honored by all.

Kipp Elbaum: I have total respect for Rew & Who, what Rew did for the downtown scene was selfless and wonderful, losing the show is a loss to the documentation of an amazing downtown scene. It was a pleasure and an honor, to have helped arrange such a Michelle Fury Feuer: wonderful tribute to such The Rew and Who show...It felt a great talent as Rew Starr. like there was something really Seeing such a spectacular important about this show. The PHOTOS BY JOHAN VIPPER group of performers come first time I appeared on the Rew together should give creand Who show, making my way dence to the fact the New York scene remains vibrant and alive!! back onto music, onto the scene, I remember ... coming in from the daylight outside. I don't know why that comes to mind, it just Sid Moskowitz: does. And every time I appeared on the show, the acts were good, 1. It was an opportunity to show her, in a very real way, how really good. There'd be an eclectic mix, with a pop, yet kind of a much the music community valued and respected her efforts and culty feel. And I always met talented people. A lot of those people cintributions to the Scene. 2. It was an honor to participate and a became my friends. I'd always try and appear during vacations pleasure to see Rew on top of the world! from work. I already miss that.. I was, and am proud to be part

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https://youtu.be/T3UBBaKMnvU https://youtu.be/LMCoCp21CH8 https://youtu.be/B0RKeoOucGk https://youtu.be/7JN9CA7dJKg

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PHOTOS BY JOHAN VIPPER

Steel Notes Magazine of it. But man, I must admit....I always got a little nervous thinking about which skeleton to reveal...

Ingrid Rudefors Vipper: I was not at the evening at Delancy but I have been on her show and I adore her ... so what do I say? well.. here we go.... "Rew is the 20th century version of all of us who lived thru Andy's 15 minute of fame and who still deserve another round of that. Rew made it happened" Dennis Doyle: 1. Deep in the NYC underground music scene, I felt discovered and appreciated when I was invited to appear on Rew Starr’s Rew & Who Show! Her embrace of my music and songs helped me articulate who I am as a singer/songwriter. Plus, as a “repeat offender,” I was thrilled to be asked back again to unleash my new band Density on the Show and beyond--skeletons and all! 2. The Rew & Who Tribute was a total outpour of rockin’ love for the Queen of the Underground, Rew Starr!

Her support for artists, musicians, poets, and more is super cool! Many Thanks Rew! Val Kinzler: Rew and I go back. I was introduced to her by Joey Zeto. He booked us dbl bill at Continental.

Then my producer Larry Russell called to tell me Rew & Kelly Britton were seeking a rocker Mom for a band. Rew & I &

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Steel Notes Magazine Kelly & Andrea played as The Dirty Mothers. Briefly. Jesse was an infant. Rew & Who show happened after Rew had me on her Benefit at R Bar for her Bro. Dickie. Cuz she knew I lost my bro too.

Both shared birthdays 2/15. First Rew & Who show Jesse wore my blk leather too hat &,Alan Merrill was the "who." As we exited our apt to Ottos... I Love R& Roll was on the radio. Cosmic! Rew embraces all genres of talent from all walks of life. Truly gracious and giving. Tribute was cool cuz I knew I could do NO WRONG! EXTREMELY REWarding experience although chaotic. ???

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community unconditionally, like Andy Warhol's dream of everyone getting their 15 minutes brought to life. (2) It was an honor to participate in the tribute and fitting that Mick Oakleaf and Walter Steding joined me at the spur of the moment. It was great seeing so many people come out. I like the fact that we are honoring the living, since we have always memorialized those who have passed.

Why wait?

Mitchell Zerring: Rew&Who was the heartbeat of the Street for me. I watched new talent, veterans of entertainment ands friends in the crowd. A City like ours needs people like ReW who bring the "Scene" close up & make it possible to get a feel of what is really going on in town and around it.

Peace&love mz

Didi Champagne: 1) Everyone was born with an energy and I believe each of us is apart of the universe that provides us with the stars , the moon and the sun. These features enhance our dreams with unconditional Mick Oakleaf: love. I do not 1.)The Rew & regret being Who show is an born and with engaging, enterREW and Who taining, record I am able to be of the artists myself and with and history of that said, I will the local music stay real until scene, hosted by my very end ! 2) Rew for many The REW and years at Otto's.

Who tribute We are all so was like a medblessed to be a itation -WILD part of that!! 2.

OR STEADY bc It was a great PHOTOS BY JOHAN VIPPER everyone there honor to be a showed there interpretation of Music,Art and Popart of the event playing drums with Puma Perl, etry which is , by far the only universal language that exists. PLUS Rock and Roll Johnny Bod (with Sid Moscowitz and Anne Husit is so good for the SOUL ! AMEN ! sick), Val Kinzler, Michelle Fury, Density, and The Offenderz!! I enjoyed the whole evening staying until the very end!! Thank you Dave U. Hall: Rew for all you have done, and thank you Marlowe, Ray, Kipp, The ReW and WhO show gave people who were compassionate David, all the very talented performers, and all who attended!! about their art the opportunity to come on the show and let it be known. Whatever anyone did, the ReW and WhO show always David Tanner: made it feel right. A very inspiring place to showcase your talent.

The outpouring of love and respect for Rew could melt an igloo.

The ReW and WhO Tribute show was a testament to the wonderGlad to surround myself with NYC rockers. ful work that ReW did for her guests all these years. It was a Big Thank You from the people who were part of it.

Alan Rand: 1) The Rew & Who show provided exposure for so many NYC Puma Perl: musicians, artists, writers- essentially the whole Arts community (1) I was Rew's guest in 4 locations that I can remember - Harlem, of NYC. No other show has come close to having so much of the Otto's, Tu Casa, and Brooklyn. From the first time I met Rew community on it. I was privileged to be a Who about 3 times and Starr, at the Bowery Poetry Club, about 10 years ago, she was been a guest once. 2) Something my Cuz really deserved. She means so unwavering in her support. Every time I've had a book released, much to NYC Rock'n'Roll. She's arranged so many benefits over she has made a point of inviting me on. She has reached out to the the years for NYC non-profits that help people including over a decade of shows for God's Love We Deliver. I was so happy to see

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how moved was by the Tribute show. Alan

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PHOTOS BY JOHAN VIPPER

Henry Seiz: Hi Marlowe!!!!! To me, being on Rew's Show was a cross between going to her house (because she made you at home) and a carnival with an attraction around every corner!! The tribute was totally just like Rew --- welcoming and you never were sure what would happen next!!

Cyndi Dawson: Cool! The Rew and Who? show was not just a chance to talk about my band and read some of my poetry. It was a bonding of witchy women and warlocky men with mystical talents and wicked senses of humor. Rew made us all part of her covenant. And sometimes we released a skeleton from our closet of newts. The Tribute was a chance to cast back some memorable magic and imbibe in the glimmer and glitter of her Rew-Esque kingdom. In other words, Everything about being around Rew and her show is otherworldly - a domain of kingdoms and magic and wizardry and wicked glamour and glitz. ______________________________________ ___________ ReW STaRR crowned MISS NEW YORK CITY UNDERGROUND Dateline New York City Wednesday February 15, 2017 The Delancey 168 Delancey St. New York, NY During the celebrations and performances dedicated to ReW STaRR's underground Internet TV Show and celebration of the Producer of the ReW & WhO? Show from above, ReW's beloved brother, Dickey, ReW STaRR was officially crowned Miss New York City Underground.

To honor ReW STaRR and her immense dedication to bringing music, art and culture to the masses, Marlowe B. West OFFICIALLY crowned ReW STaRR Miss New York City Underground for time eternal!

No one more deserving could be chosen to be Miss New York City Underground!

CONGRATULATIONS ReW STaRR!!!!

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Donald Szta

Don Bla

Interview by M

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abnik

ack Cat

Marlowe B West

Ladies and Gentlemen and Children of All Ages ... My name is Marlowe B West and I am your Ring Leader ... Back in October, for my special 'Marloween' column, I appropriately brought you a wild and robust interview featuring the sensational Black Cats NYC ... Today I am singling out their amazing guitarist ... Donald Sztabnik, whom I refer to as DBC ... Don Black Cat ... who also happens to be an incredible photographer.

MBW: Okay now, DBC ... I may be repeating a few of my questions today ... however ... some of my loyal readers and fans may not have caught our exclusive Black Cats story ... So let us begin with little Donnie ... dreaming of becoming a rock star ... Please pardon the assumption if I am offending you ... I am only trying to imagine where our story begins ... Please ... would you be so kind as to bring us back into your memory of such a day ???

DBC: Thank you Marlowe for your great support of the Black Cats NYC !!! I always loved top 40 a.m. radio as a wee Donnie Black Cat having an older sister watching American bandstand and dancing with the refrigerator door handle, learning all the latest dance moves ... but I clearly remember the exact moment hearing the Beatles for the first time on a little radio in a gas station and being stopped in my tracks !!! ... everything changed ... I heard those voices, those guitars, those songs ... my musical world exploded!

MBW: ... and now let us jump all the way ahead ... Please fill us in on where all your dreams and endeavors have led you guys ... and girls ... Where do you stand today in your modus operando ???

DBC: The Black Cats NYC is the realization of our vision of rock 'n' roll. Andrew and I have played together for a long time going way back to The Dragons, my band back in the CBGB's and Max's Kansas City days. To me our songs are the foundation of the Black Cats NYC ... We play basic New York City original rock 'n' roll - plain and simple, and you can dance to it ! ... always a plus ... and with our current Black Cats NYC lineup up including Jason Reddish on drums and Deanna Lair and Julie M Smith on backing vocals we are rocking all over the place!

Steel Notes Magazine MBW: I would like to give you a free stand right now ... to go off on anything, any subject or subjects (related or not) that you might be holding inside and longing to let everyone know about ???

DBC: Right now there is a palpable resurgence of great music right here in New York City ... so many varied bands, song writers, and poets expressing their vision, their feelings, their heartbreak, their happiness while plugged into a Fender amp. Guitars, bass and drums remain the language that we speak and it is exuberant!!!

I am a fan as much as I am a musician. The Black Cats NYC love being part of this creative group of colleagues and loyal fans.

MBW: Can we step aside, now ... out of your rock and roll spotlight ... and get into your photography ... You and your work appear to be very free and casual ... although you do seem to have a few certain distinct characteristics in most of your photographs ... Do you agree ... and what would you say they might be ???

DBC: Yes photography!!!! I have always seen the intrinsic connection between photos and the rock 'n' roll bands we love. Remember in Hard Days Night the 35mm camera clicking away and George making all the faces ? ... Remember Blow Up and the power of a single photo and Yardbirds playing in the film !! I am sure I am not the only one to stare at every picture on the back of our favorite album cover as if it was speaking to me and me alone ... I always liked Andy Warhol with his Polaroid camera snapping 'free and casual ' shots of the people in his life. I like to 'shoot what I see' ... I love to catch the singular expression of the moment captured on the faces of all the people we know and now can know a little more intimately. I love faces. Faces reveal so much with the eyes - always the eyes, ... and the smiles - always the smiles ... I often use Lurid colors like Technicolor in the movies ... an illusion of how we wish life to be! ... and I love black-and-white ... the details revealed are all the color anyone can imagine.

MBW: How did you get into being such an on the spot photographer ... and tell us your photography story ???

DBC: I do look for the 'on the spot ' moment. Being a performer with the Black Cats NYC makes me keenly aware of the nuances in my subjects. I try very hard to capture the single moment that tells what has already happened before and what will happen after the camera clicks!!! ... and I look for the reality in the fantasy I am shooting, or the fantasy in the reality. I enjoy the immediacy of the iPhone which is what I use for all my current photos ... (all my real cameras are back in a closet for now) The sharing component is important to me in that what used to take days, weeks and months to see in print now is enjoyed immediately. I also feel that any contribution to this vibrant New York City music scene

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Steel Notes Magazine is good because ,as we know, it can evaporate very quickly.

MBW:

What are your highest aspirations in each of these highly glamourous fields ???

DBC: My aspirations are firmly focused with the Black Cats NYC. The music Andrew and I write and play is everything. We try to make every moment the best moment, every song our best song, every performance our best performance. Doing this creates its own path forward!! To me, taking photos of this crazy, fun, sexy, rocking scene adds amplitude to the music of the Black Cats NYC and to all the other great Bands and fans in this city and I really like giving exposure to all the people who come out to support the bands, clubs, and each other!!! It is wonderful to say the least.

MBW: I understand The Black Cats NYC are currently in the process of filming an exciting and greatly anticipated new video ... Are you at liberty to tell us anything about that at this early stage ???

DBC: Yes, Marlowe. The Black Cats NYC are hard at work on our new video with the indefatigable and creative Alan Rand at the helm !!

We are keeping everything a bit under wraps and look forward to the ' big reveal ' in the future. What I can say is that it is fun being in the Black Cats NYC video. All rock 'n' roll ... all the time!!

MBW: What is your favorite thing to do ???

DBC: Like Oprah, I have favorite things too!! At the top of my list is ... wait for it ... writing songs and playing guitar in the Black Cats NYC. It is an abundance of good fortune to have a pure rock 'n' roll band like ours to express the Sturm and Drang of every day life ... and dance to it!!!! Yes, I do love my dogs, driving around in my old pick up truck, taking pics of all the great people everywhere I look, hunting down old guitars and amps, eating at Veselka after rehearsal or show but ... playing with Andrew and my songs on stage with the Black Cats NYC turned up Loud and Dirty is a great thrill that does not get old!

MBW: If you were telling a stranger about The Black Cats performance ... how would you describe it ???

DBC: It is a compression of basic, original songs presented in the Classic New York

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City style - vibrant, elemental, respectful of where we have been, inviting - 'Come Along For the Ride' - and danceable! ... and did I mention that we sound good turned up to 'eleven'?

MBW: ... and now ... my favorite question ... If I could grant you three wishes what would they be ???

DBC: Three Wishes???? It used to be for many 'Sex, Drugs and Rock and Roll' Now it just might be 'health, happiness and The Black Cats NYC Rock and Roll' plus Perogis at Veselka late night!!!

Thank you Marlowe, I have one request and one request only for you ... 'Please keep being Marlowe B West ... we all appreciate you!!!'

Donald / The Black Cats NYC

****** MBW: Thank you kindly, DBC ... You are fabulous ... Marlowe B West Takez Manhattan and the rest of us hellions from the Lower East Side would like to thank The Black Cats NYC and welcome everybody everywhere to join in on all the fun and excitement ...

You can always count on them for rocking the hell outta the place ... We are looking forward to seeing The Black Cats NYC upcoming video ... I understand the magical Alice Espinosa-Cincotta is assisting the creative genius of Alan Rand ... EXPLOSIVE!

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http://www.attractionsmodels.com/

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An Interview with Comedy's New Father Figure

Roy Wood, Jr. By: Scott Saxon Hailing from Birmingham, AL. Roy started his comedy career in 1999 at the age of 19 while attending Florida A&M University. Roy’s comedy crosses all races and cultural lines which has allowed Roy to work with an array of comedians ranging from D.L. Hughley, Ron White, Monique, Tommy Davidson, Bill Engvall, and Sheryl Underwood. This same versatility also gives him the ability to perform in clubs as well as numerous colleges and universities across the country.

Roy is now known for his contributions of writing and acting on Comedy Central's longtime hit staple "The Daily Show" where he helps break new ground nightly.

In 2002, Roy earned a slot as one of ten national finalists in Comedy Central’s Laugh Riots competition in Los Angeles. In March 2003, Roy was selected for Star Search on CBS where he advanced to the semi-finals. He has also appeared on It’s Showtime at the Apollo, Live in Hollywood and the 2005 season of Comedy Central’s Premium Blend and BET’s Comic View.

Here are a few questions Roy was kind enough to answer for Steel Notes.

Roy has previously recorded two nationally released prank call CD’s 2003's My Momma Made Me Wear This and 2005's Confessions of a High School Bench Warmer. His third release entitled I’ll Slap You to Sleep! is a collection of new prank phone calls and recorded stand up that was released in stores December 4th. Roy’s prank calls are heard on over 35 broadcast stations across the country and 10 internet stations.

Last year Roy appeared on the Bob and Tom Radio Show: The Comedy Tour a one hour special which aired on Comedy Central in September.

Roy made his network television debut on Late Night with David Letterman.

In February 2008, Roy appeared on HBO’s Def Comedy Jam.

His new special "Father Figure" is a new comedic standard bearer.

His work is mostly clean, but his make no mistakes, Roy's observations are razor sharp and biting.

Scott: Hi, Roy...At what age did Stand Up become interesting to you? Were you always the 'Funny' one?

Roy: It caught my eye in the early 90's with the signing on of Comedy Central. I was always curious about stand-up. Sinbad, Chris Rock, & Redd Foxx were staples of my parents. It wasn’t until college that I got over stage fright and decided to get on stage.

Scott: Who were your influences, both large scale and locally?

Roy: I get my work ethic from my parents. In a larger sense I always enjoyed the comedy of Chris Rock, Doug Stanhope, & George Carlin.

Scott: What can you say about your CD's..The Prank Call CD's..My Mama Made Me Wear This, Confessions of a Bench Warmer, and then the amazing "I'll Slap You To Sleep", and your newest...."Father Figure"?

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Roy: I think those CDs all have special places in my heart because they all represent different time periords in my life. Early on I only did prank calls because I could sell the CDs after my shows. It was about survival, those first two albums represent survival.

jokes. The promoter brings me on stage and I had to do THIRTY minutes because the other acts were running late. It was the most awkward thing EVER!!! a 20 year old kind entertaining a room full of 50+ yr old black people.

Father Figure represents a culmination of almost two decades of learning. It’s my graduation paper. My comedy Thesis statement.

Scott: What are your new goals? You have been very successful so far in a few fields...what can your fans expect to see you conquer next?

Scott:Is there anything you wish you could go back and change?

Roy: I’m just intent on being a better correspondent on the Daily Show.

If I can do a few sketches here and there then that’s cool but ultimately.

Roy: No, nothing I'd wish to change.

Scott : You are extremely popular on The Daily Show... behind the scenes as a Writer, and in front of the camera as a Performer.

Which do you enjoy more?

Would you accept the chance to host your own show?

Roy: Behind the scenes, I’m not writing anything alone. It’s all a collaborative process. The entire show is a big ass collaboration and this is the first time I’ve been a part of that so it’s been exciting to experience this. In a sitcom, they write the scripts weeks before you see them, and in stand-up its you alone , but at the daily show it’s a group project every day.

Going on a creative journey with someone and discovering all the funny twists and turns in a story is amazing.

Scott : Do you feel pressure to be 'On' in front of your friends and family?

Roy: Never. If anything I’m low key, off stage. My friends and family are cool but generally people meeting me for the first time think I’m goig to be on. I take pride in lowering their expectations. LOL. Scott: Can you share an experience where you could not reach an audience or just bombed?

How do you deal with it?

Roy: I feel like there were a few times in my life where I’ve done rooms that just SUUUUCCCKKKK. One time early on when I was less than a year into comedy I had a TOTAL of 10 minutes of

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Scott: Do you have any hobbies or interests that might surprise your fans?

Roy: Puzzles. I really dig Jigsaw puzzles. They’re peaceful and relaxing.

Scott: If comedy had not worked out, what would have been your ideal job?

Roy: Sports Broadcaster . Stuart Scott was one of my idols growing up.

He’s one of the reason I majored in Journalism. He cracked jokes about sports, we did that everyday at the cafeteria. So I wanted to do that.

Also Firefighting was cool to me.

Scott: What advice would you give people starting out in Stand Up, about Bombing, Finding their voice, etc. ?

Roy: Record yourself as often as you can. There is no bad set. You have to video yourself as much as we hate to watch it. We must do it. Its how we get better.

Scott: Are you a Vinyl guy, or just CD? Roy: Just CDs and such. Not big on vinyl. I do collect them but I don’t play them.

Scott: Thanks, Roy!!!

Check out Roy's Web Page for dates, info, and merch! www.roywoodjr.com

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Bearing wit A Review of

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tness to the scream: f The Witness (2016)

By Jerry Saravia, Pseudo Film Critic

38 witnesses in an apartment complex claimed they saw and/or heard a woman screaming in agony after just suffering the first of two stabbings in the street below. Nobody did anything, nobody called police. This became a moral lesson for an adage that is now spoken and distributed ubiquitously: If you see something, say something. In the case of Kitty Genovese, a young 28-year-old woman who was brutally stabbed outside of her apartment in Kew Gardens, NY back in 1964, if you hear something, say something. In the entrancingly disturbing, emotionally draining and very moving documentary, “The Witness,” people did in fact hear her screeching screams of help yet, allegedly, nobody saw her. What is most revealing is that witnesses did in fact call the police and someone did help her during her last remaining moments she had left. This is the first of many disclosed truths that were ignored at the time.

Kitty Genovese, a famous picture that was in actuality a mug shot

Told from the point-of-view of Kitty’s youngest brother, Bill Genovese (a Vietnam veteran),“The Witness” is a full-throttle attempt to find out the truth, the whole concealed truth of Kitty’s murder. Bill Genovese takes on the obsessive and difficult task of finding the truth to a 50-year-old murder. He is a double amputee riding around in his wheelchair, sometimes at the crime scene and often visiting those who bore witness to the crime during the aftermath (many other witnesses have long passed). It is the work of a top-notch sleuth -- he even goes so far as to interview “60 Minutes” own Mike Wallace (who did a piece on it back in the day), Abe Rosenthal, former New York Times editor (who helped to craft the alleged myth of witnesses’

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anomie), Gabe Pressman, an NBC reporter who said the Times, the paper of record, would not be challenged by news organization, and of course the surviving witnesses. One witness, Sophia Farrar, a close friend of Kitty’s, was there to comfort the dying Kitty in the hallway of the apartment building. We also learn from a witness who knew Kitty as a young boy that the blood handprints on the walls were not Kitty’s but his mother Sophia’s, the one who was trying to comfort Kitty. New York Times would not hear of it, claiming it was Kitty’s and photographs of the handprints were taken.

Most fascinating is the coverage of Kitty’s life as a celebrated barmaid who was loved by many, a free spirit who loved life. Kitty was romantically involved with Mary Ann Zielonko and they were roommates in the Kew Gardens apartment they shared. Kitty is also shown in various photographs and home movies as an exuberant, spirited woman who longed to spread love around. In a touchingly tactile way, “The Witness” depicts an angelic presence who was compassionate and possibly empathetic. This makes her murder that much more disturbing -- a life taken away without any justification. The murderer, Winston Moseley (who died in prison in 2016), stabbed her repeatedly without any real provocation (allegedly, Kitty used a racial slur against him), disappeared and then promptly came back to stab her again. It was a vicious crime

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that should never have happened. This is what drives Bill Genovese’s search for the full truth.

Could something have been done to help Kitty sooner? Were the police contacted promptly?

We learn the New York Times’ writer Martin Gansburg may have embellished the truth about the witnesses, and certainly misrepresented the facts which were dependent on the information supplied by police commissioner Michael Murphy (the opening paragraph of the original Times article states that witnesses viewed the murder in its entirety when, in fact, nobody saw the murder in its entirety since the killer walked away and then came back around to poor Kitty.

Case in point, here is how the article’s paragraph read: “For more than half an hour, 38 respectable, law-abiding citizens in Queens watched a killer stalk and stab a woman in three separate attacks in Kew Gardens.”) Apathy, however, was not part of the equation on that dreadful night. Bill finds that his older sister’s screams were heard by many in the apartment building yet (despite a couple of crucial witnesses) nobody saw the crime, and calls were made to the police though it is never established how many people actually called in. One certifiable fact is that 38 or more witnesses definitely heard the commotion and some looked out their windows, one even shouted at the killer to stay away from her. Still, when Bill hires an actress to relive Kitty’s last moments by delivering the high-pitched screams that can’t possibly be mistaken for anything other than the agony of a wounded, dying animal, you wonder how anyone could think differently and not respond. It is a scene of undeniable power, making us feel more empathetic for Kitty than ever before.

Bill Genovese, Kitty’s younger brother, at work finding the truth

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Director James Solomon has assembled a riveting documentary that serves as revisionist history, righting the wrongs of perceived anomie in NYC. Of course, if the New York Times article had been rewritten differently with more clarified accounts from witnesses, then Kitty’s name would not mean as much as it does today more than 50 years later. When Bill Genovese goes so far as to interview Moseley’s son, he still doesn’t get real satisfaction considering Moseley was unsure about meeting Bill whom he assumed was Mafia-related, hence his last name! The conclusive irony is that Bill arrives at something much more fulfilling -- the Genovese family has finally embraced and celebrated Kitty rather than trying to forget her namesake via a headline-making murder. It is how she lived that spreads joy -- her name has been restored to the loving family member she always was. That is Bill’s satisfaction, and ours.

For more reviews by Jerry Saravia, check out his blog at http://jerrysaravia.blogspot.com/ ###

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Steel Notes Magazine March 2017 Film Review The Golden Future: Review of Solitaire (2008)

By Jerry Saravia (Pseudo Film Critic)

I was not too sure what I was in store for during the opening moments of “Solitaire.” Three hooligans from Providence, Rhode Island are sitting outside a video store at night, drinking milk and smoking cigarettes; snazzy little jazz beats are heard in the soundtrack. Could it be the latest from Jim Jarmusch in an exploration of indifferent young folks who have nothing better to do on a Saturday night? This is not an objection as I happen to be a huge admirer of Jim Jarmusch, especially his miraculous debut “Stranger Than Paradise,” but I sensed a tale of anomie approached on a medium of digital video was something I was not prepared for (and I do not think that I need definitions of steal, take and thief displayed on the screen, more on that later).

Still, to my stunning surprise, “Solitaire” is a tight, solid, romantic and sometimes very funny drama of young thieves stealing autographed copies of “Titanic.” There is more to it than these thieves than meets the eye.

Nick Jandl is Riche, a reluctant thief and video store clerk who keeps getting mixed up with a motley crew of thieves. The most memorable of the bunch is Blondy (Alex Fraioli), a smartass street hooligan who is willing to do anything for a buck. They all work for Morris (Short Sleeve Samspon), going on nightly excursions to video stores and stealing fifty “Titanic” VHS copies.

Morris, a snapping bulldog personality, also owns some sort of junk shop and often wears funny, decorative hats – he is almost a parody of the Big Boss-type in so many of these pictures.

Sometimes Morris tries to act tougher than he really is. The kids are somewhat terrified of him, though. Incidentally, there is one scene where Morris keeps repeating what he wants Blondy to

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do during one robbery, simple instructions anybody could follow. It doesn’t register with smartalecky Blondy and the humor between him and Morris keeps building.

Morris and the thieves gather around in Solitaire (2008)

More appealing and fresh is the introduction of another thief, Ruby (Juliana Fraioli), who is stopped by Nick after successfully stealing a VHS copy of “Bonnie and Clyde” (she also steals breadsticks from a restaurant since it is a “necessity not a want”). Their romance is sweet, tender and sincere, something I did not expect either. In a way, it proves that “Solitaire” is more of a coming-of-age story with young seemingly tough kids who are trying to find themselves. Nick lacks any real communication with his mother whereas Ruby sees a therapist every once in a while.

Between the seemingly criminal elements of the story (drugs eventually figures into the action), lots of rhapsodic discussion on “Titanic” and references to Monica Lewinsky (remember this is set in 1998) and a tender love story at its center, “Solitaire” is hardly a trivial picture and deserves a bigger audience. It is sensitively directed by Victor Franko with special attention paid to the characters, sometimes in long, unbroken shots. Major kudos to the late Marilyn Chambers as a suspicious cop who might know who is responsible for the string of video store robberies -she is damn convincing and every moment with her keeps you glued to the screen. The blackand-white cinematography and jazz beats add to the atmosphere; color and a techno electronic score might have ruined it. There is a possibility that some of this is meant as a slight homage to Tarantino and Kevin Smith (hence, the titles with definitions of simple words, not to mention the comic-book panels during the opening credits). Still, director Victor Franko finds his own

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personal groove, searching for the anomie of kids who can improve their lives if they just focused on making something of themselves. It is a coming-of-age drama masquerading as a softer crime story with love for those in the inner circle taking center stage. “Solitaire� is definitely ripe for discovery.

Full film available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJq6o1bi5OY&list=LL08bbCTt53alf8onTUDwpLw&index =9 ###

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Faith No More Sol Invictus: A Review By: Scott Saxon 50

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Faith No More.

Mike Patton.

Energized rock.

Sol Invictus.

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From a music fan's point of view, was there any real need for Faith No More to get back together after nearly 20 years away?

The band's cast of eclectic rock 'n' roll innovators had a good run, yielding six albums, several of which qualify as classics.

Faith No More's primary members moved on and branched out, too, and seemed perfectly fine with it. Keyboardist Roddy Bottum co-founded the affable indie-pop band Imperial Teen, Bassist Billy Gould became CEO of Koolarrow Records and worked as a journeyman musician. Drummer Mike Bordin had a solid gig as drummer in Ozzy Osbourne's band. Guitarist Jim Martin was — and still is, by all accounts — happily growing giant pumpkins in the Bay Area.

Singer Mike Patton, meanwhile, has metamorphosed from that strange guy in Faith No More and Mr. Bungle into an experimental-music renaissance man. He's collaborated with John Zorn; formed such wildly dissimilar outfits as Fantômas, Peeping Tom and Tomahawk; composed film scores; recorded solo albums; and created Ipecac Records, one of the coolest American labels of the last two decades.

Faith No More's 2009 reunion was a delight for many, but its members — who included Jon Hudson, reprising his late-'90s role as guitarist — were inevitably smart enough not to overstay their welcome. Without new material, it's easy to become a perennial cabaret act, and performing "Epic" and "We Care A Lot" at casinos and state fairs wouldn't benefit a band of mavericks and risk-takers. If they were to make new music, the challenge would be to bring the same ambition and fire that fueled 1989's breakthrough The Real Thing, 1992's daring Angel Dustand 1997's swan song Album Of The Year.

What makes Sol Invictus, Faith No More's first album in 18 years, so extraordinary is not only how comfortably it fits into the band's discography, but also how economical it is. So many veteran bands overcompensate on record, but Sol Invictus clocks in at a sharp 39 minutes. It's lean and to the point, taking listeners deep into Faith No More's twisted world, and it doesn't let up.

Its playfulness and aggression intermingle to the point where it's hard to tell the two approaches apart.

For all the strengths of the album's first two singles, the gleefully profane "Motherfucker" and the dramatic "Superhero," Sol Invictus' rewards are even richer the more you delve into the deeper cuts. "Sunny Side Up" returns to the easy-listening feel of Faith No More's 1992's cover of The Commodores' "Easy," but instead of straight-faced homage, Patton and Bottum crank up the darkness tenfold; in the process, the song is transformed into a bleak character sketch, with Hudson's funk guitar adding dry humor.

The angst of "Separation Anxiety" will have many thinking of "Midlife Crisis" — arguably Faith No More's greatest composition — but it creeps along in even more deranged fashion, with Hudson and Gould repeating a hypnotic riff pattern as Patton, the Mel Blanc of rock music,

snarls menacingly.

Faith No More's heavy-metal roots are on full display in the roaring "Cone Of Shame," while "Rise Of The Fall" contrasts a Kurt Weill-esque arrangement (and an earworm of a melodica hook) with Bordin's thunderous, martial beats. "Black Friday" is the strangest departure on Sol Invictus, as it alternates between upbeat acoustic guitar and explosions of fury and distortion that echo the Pixies. On the other hand, "Matador" bursts with cinematic grandeur; the entire band rises to the occasion, from Patton's powerhouse performance to Bordin's tribal thuds. It's a wonderful climax to an album that, honestly, has no business being as memorable and exhilarating as it is.

Highly recommended. 4 of 5 Stars.

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Check out DRAMA on page 72

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' t i r i p ode, 'S

M e h c e Dep

New

It’s not like Depeche Mode hasn’t been political before. Back when the British band was winning over teenage hearts in Reagan’s America and Thatcher’s England, their early ’80s pronouncements about “the grabbing hands grab all they can” and “people are people” crystallized rebellious thinking into well-crafted, irresistible pop songs.

But now, decades later, Dave Gahan, Martin Gore and Andy Fletcher are far more direct in their cultural objections on a new album, “Spirit,” and in a way that’s often more lecturing than universally uplifting.

ott w by Sc ie v e r A , or 2017 Album F

Saxon

fully formed. “Who’s making your decisions? You or your religion?” taunts Gahan in the first single, “Where’s the Revolution.”

Sure, it’s a bit more tongue-in-cheek than the thunderous rhetoric would suggest, with a chorus of “Come on, people, you’re letting me down.” It still comes across as heavy-handed, though, as does “The Worst Crime,” which opens with “There’s a lynching in the square, you will have to join us."

Rating: 3 1/2 Star of 5 Worthy Purchase for Fans

There are moments of greatness here, starting with the intense “So Much Love,” built on frustration and a musical backdrop that sounds like the beefier cousin of “A Question of Time,” and “Poison Heart,” where Gahan seemingly channels Amy Winehouse.

The groovy “You Move,” which opens with a synth riff that feels reminiscent of Prince, shows how Depeche Mode is an unexpected influence on trap music, while the stark ballads “Cover Me” and “Eternal” have an icy beauty.

But global politics informed “Spirit” and the responses don’t seem

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During the month of February, Alexxis Steele was ill for a short time. During that time I got to fill in for her during Steel Notes Magazine’s live shows at The Mixx! In that time I interviewed two guests. Ruffian, a hard hitting thrash, rock, cover band from the Lehihg Valley and Joe Janci, an Americana genre musician who is a singer/songwriter that plays guitar and loves to hit the open mic nights in his hometown of Phillipsburg, NJ. Both interviews are linked here for your ease in viewing.

Keep your eyes open for our NEW AND IMPROVED live interview shows that you will be able to see in the next issue – we have a better location, better partners, and better guests. OH, and I get my own show. Yay me! Ruffian & Joe Janci

Josie's Hit

Deprived Another Day Dawns SYMETRIA Black Fate

Always listening, JOSiE Joanne Janci Comments, opinions, suggestions: josie.janci@steelnotesmagazine.com facebook.com/joanne.janci

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfdFZNaJDao

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Deprived headlined the “Winter Carnage” event at Jabberjaws Saturday night and they played with a vengeance. Their set was a mixture of sounds that reminded me at times of Nirvana’s “Bleach” album-i.e. their song “Abrasion” which was one of my personal favorites. I need to say right here that I think of them more “David Grohl” than “Kurt Cobain” as the music they create comes from an exceptionally skilled right brain of thought. Other times during their hour plus set I heard influences of bands like Social Distortion, i.e. in their song Brainwashed. Regardless of the influence, they have the advanced sound of a grunge/punk band, with quiet middle 8’s , verses you want to learn the words for, and choruses that are tri-tempo (yeah, I made that up, it means three times faster tempo…get it?)

With guitar vocalist Mike leading the crew with his charismatic great stops by Chad, and the well placed crash by Don, I think I’m going to download Set List more than e Banshe just the you tube me Ti The Last videos! You can get their music on Abrasion ReverbNation. Or, better yet, go Mislead ) ht lig e to their facebook page and check th ed (sh ss Darkne ty cie out their schedule-the live show is So by t ou Kicked a treat! (I’ll give you a little hint, l Al it Sick of April 15 – Jabberjaws) It g sin I’m Lo in ith W in The Pa Contact the band on facebook Disorganized Chaos https://www.facebook.com/deIt ke Ta ’t I Won privedmusic Spiral and see videos of their songs all ed sh Brainwa across you tube Lifeless Fix Final

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rived e Event ts: Dep inter Carnag n e s e r Josie P bberjaws, W r Ja Venue: uary 11, 2017 nk rock kicke u n p a J a : e h t wit Da : : Grunge embers Genre: Band M Guitar als and r – Voc Bass guitar e ff a h c its – e Mike S arinkov rums (yep h M d a h D C – is h n t o a row Peters ht) Donald ith 2 bands in ig n w played

awns r Day D e h t o n :A ounge resents Josie P ammerhead L H Venue: uary 4, 2017 an : Date: J ock and Roll embers R Band M ocalist Genre: V eehan – ar an McG Ritter – Guit e S a t o r Dak m Tyler rum e han – D Bassist e e G c Nick M lle Dubois – ager an Danie han - M McGee Sound man r e n e G itter – Scott R

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5p_ATGhbdM I went to see Another Day Dawns on a recommendation from a local musician that I knew wouldn’t steer me wrong. Even though the best shows come on referral; in no way was I prepared for the performance I saw.

When the band came out they hit the stage in the style great musical artists always seem to do – with effortless confidence and instant – solid – sound. Their first set covered everything from Stone Temple Pilots to Sublime with some Radiohead and Raconteurs thrown in; (just to show off, I think) Their second set was exclusively original songs, and that’s when I became totally impressed- their music is good! At the show they gave me their CD, “Confessions of a Lunatic, which is actually in rotation in my car stereo right now. More than once; since I got the disk, a passenger in my car asked who the band was and where they could get their music. Just last week I was driving to a club in Bethlehem, with the volume up and the car windows cracked. I was happily surprised to see a group of college kids walking down the street, who suddenly broke into the chorus of “Rage” as I drove by.

Another Day Dawns’ third set was a crowd-pleasing, photo taking, sweaty dance floor of fist pumping, head banging joy. There was nothing missing from this show=the sound was superb, the band was tight, the front man was sexy, and the musicians each got a chance to showcase their talents.

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Steel Notes Magazine There is much to say about this band-and in the interest of having my ADD riddled readers complete my Another Day Dawns article, I’m going to share with you a top ten list!

TOP TEN REASONS THAT ANOTHHER DAY DAWNS WILL BE HEADLINING A FESTIVAL SHOW WITHIN FIVE YEARS 10. The band works well together and are experienced musicians having started Another Day Dawns over six years ago 9. They consider the details Their entrances and “jams” are choreographed. You will see various times during their gig when all the members band their heads at the same time while performing-not a coincidence! Their website is professionally done and up to date, they have people at their shows to sell their swag, and they have sharpies for autographs.

8. They absolutely have the stage presence of a national recording artists. The opened for heavy hitters like Sami Hagar , Trapt and Tesla in the past. They have already played large venues like Penns Peak and are doing so again this year when they open for Fuel. If they were intimidated by the big names in the past, they aren’t any more.

7. Their latest single, “Love She’s After” , was produced by David Ivory and released in January. Just in case clarification is required-ye, I am referring to THE David Ivory who produced Halestorm and The Roots.

6. That same single was mastered by Ted Jensen – he did some work on another disk you may recognize; Hotel California by The Eagles.

5. They aren’t afraid to grow and take chances - they put themselves out there. This year they auditioned for a chance at being the opening act for Bon’Jovi’s 2017 tour. I guess we will learn the results soon!

4.Each member brings something relevant, excessive and unique

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to the stage. Here’s my thoughts on the members. *Dakota McGeehan, the lead singer is hot – and one hell of a vocalist. He has all the essential elements of rock and roll front man (think Roger Daltry’s good looks and, Mick Jagger’s swagger and Steven Tyler’s stage presence) He has long blond hair that looks awesome flying through the air when he’s jamming’, and the way he can strut and dance while singing on stage engages the crowd and gets them on their feet. Dakota has a strong, distinctive singing voice with a grungy growl that I am particularly partial too. I don’t know if he was born to front a rock and roll band, but he’s definitely grown into one *Nick McGeehan, the bands drummer, never stops. And by that I mean, never stops playing, never stops smiling, never stops watching, never stops…anything. He just never stops. He keeps the beat skillfully and the often complex combinations of crash and boom keep the drums interesting to even the least particular ear. I heard it said recently, that there is a rumor that Nick has three arms…tribute to his percussion performance. His gift of rhythm is what you hear, his joy of playing is what you “feel” .

Tyler Ritter, aptly known as “the shredder” is one of those guitar players that look like the strings are surgically attached to his fingers. Every note, chord, change up and lead is executed with precision and ease. His solos have the power to make me stop everything and just watch him OWN that guitar. And Tyler is accommodating enough to step stage front so the crowd can see as well as hear his musical prowess. *. Danielle Dubois is the newest and youngest member of the band. She is the bass player, and she’s a chick. Of course it’s smart and sexy to have a chick in a rock band. Now, if that chick happens to be musically skilled, rhythmically solid brunette who can hold her own with the boys; well, then my friends, you have a winning combination. If you have ready anything else I have written, then you know I am partial to the bass. Because of that partiality; I am most critical of the bass player (and the sound

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guy…but that’s irrelevant) My conclusion is that Danielle successfully keeps the tempo of the songs on the mark, and the kick ass bass lines written into just about every song they do highlights her skills. Flourishes with this genre of music and is a perfect fit for a grungy, rock and roll band 3.It’s a family gig. Don’t ever underestimate the value of support. Tyler Ritter’s dad does the Dasound, and Nick’s dad , Gener, is the manager and booking agent. Danielle’s mom, Sana not only happens to be the musician (lead singer from Lehigh Valley local band 5 Ton Jack) that suggested I go to go see the band play (consequently allowing all of you readers to get to know the band) but she’s in the crowd every gig, making sure the dance floor is occupied and everyone is having the fullest experience possible.

2.They know the right people – I think I’ll credit their families for setting them up for success-but connections make all the difference in this business. Having a neighbor in the band Mother, certainly doesn’t hurt. It has to be nice to talk industry-speak to your neighbor, over an iced cold beer, after cutting your grass on a spring evening. (yeah, that scenario was my utilization of poetic license… but so what, you get the point)

Your next step, savvy reader, is to -go to their next show, buy up all their swag, get it autographed and sell it on Ebay in a few years to finance your kid’s college education You’ll see more by me on this band next issue…we are going to follow their journey to greatness so that I can say “. fuck the haters and fuck pretenders, …. and fuck the critics and fuck the cynics…”

--Another Day Dawns “Fight” You can get their new single. “Love She’s After” on I tunes https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/ love-shes-after-single/id1195262579 And Spotify https://open.spotify.com/artist/3iiWib88qMEYbSvpREAf8k Check out their website for photo’s videos etc. and, of course their Facebook page https://www. facebook.com/AnotherDayDawns/ for up to the minute news and updates!

Josie Janci, March 2017

1. Their music is good! The musical composition is great and execution is spot on. The rest of this list doesn’t matter without this one. The band is good. They are damn good. Without exaggeration, they are the best rock band in the area. I can feel the same success on the way as I felt when I saw a little band out of Lancaster years ago. That band calls themselves “Live”. And since history tends to repeat itself, let’s assume my instincts are correct.

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nt RIA age Eve YMET ents: S , Winter Carn s e r P Josie rjaws : Jabbe Venue uary 11/2017 an Date: J etal M on, NJ e r Gen : wn: Flemingt taso ntonas o T ince Sa – Vocals Home V : s r e emb itar Band M ust: Gu Kevin C rera: Bass n Car s Sebastia Smith: Drum o d n a Fern Blair

When I first approached the stage to meet the band; Vince and Kevin were chilling by the amps waiting for the show to start. Blair and Fernando were on the other side of the stage having a quiet conversation with each other… just a bunch of guys hanging out with their buds, at a club, relaxed and happy. A few seconds into the conversation they let me know that they were playing all original songs tonight, so my interest was piqued. They told me that thanks to a fellow metal rocker made good, Tim McMurtrie, (guitar player for M.O.D.) , and producer for his own label, Tripsquad Records, they were going to be recording in the studio by end of February. Because these guys are as refined as they are talented-they invited me to come to the studio while they were there. OK CAN YOU IMAGINE MY EXCITEMENT, I GET TO GO TO A STUDIO AND HEAR A BAND LAYING TRACKS, TALK TO THE PRODUCER AND INTERVIWE EVERYONE!!!! What fucking luck for this humble local music reviewer. Yeah, I took them up on that-more on that later, for now, to the show!

They have obvious influences from bands like Iron Maiden and Judas Priest but all of their songs are written by the Symetria members. They have more than lyrics and chords…they have a vision on their band facebook page they have this written “The battle is within all of us, good vs. evil, right vs. wrong, when you learn control, the battle ends, you have achieved a perfect balance, in Symetria” Sounds like a good place to chill!

The songs were heavy and tight; you can see the guys are comfortable with each other as they glance for ques on tempos which result in flawless execution. Vince’s vocals were powerful and direct and Kevin’s guitar playing has a voice of it’s own. I can’t wait to continue to share their journey with you. My interview session at the studio in New Jersey will be available to view on You Tube -BUT you’re gonna have to watch Steel Notes Magazine’s Facebook Page if you want to know when it’s released. More excitement coming in next months’ issue!!!

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN SYMETRIA IS COMING

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Set List: Wakening, Flying High, Stomp Symetria Time All the Same Too Late, Venial Sin.

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Josie Pre sen Venue: Ja ts: Black Fate bber Jaw s, Bar & Carnage Grill, Win ter Date: Jan uary 11, 2017 Genre: M etal Band Me Mike Fate mbers: : Vo Dave Wa rmkessel calist : Guitar Cor Donald P y Solt: Guitar eters Dena Do on: Drums : Bass Gu itar

I met Black Fate in the back room while they were getting ready for the show. I recall talking to Dave (while he was getting changed for the gig) and he told me that the band has been together since about 86-87 when Mike Fate founded it-however, the players have changed along the way. Regardless of the previous players, this group worked together like a welloiled machine. They are influenced by such artists as Voltbeat and Judas Priest and do both thrash and metal songs.

Their heavy look and sound doesn’t’ mean they are void of heart. Mike talked a bit about their community awareness.

The band supports Toys for Tots, Childhood Dreams, and

Set List I Bleed Black Shadows The Devil’s Bleeding Crown Disciples Winds Trooper Chosen One Hellion Soul Reaver Metal Church In The End

Dena teaches kids how to play instruments for Lehigh Valley Girls Rock. Mike said that as they get older the members decided to make more responsible decisions.

Onto the show! Black Fate started their hour long set with “I bleed black” a crowd favorite that set the tone for the evening.

As the moved through their set they did a few covers like “The Devils Bleeding Crown” by Voltbeat which was well done, but nothing woke the crowd

up like the adrenaline pumped original song “Disciples of the Dark” You can hear it on bandcamp - www. blackfate.bandcamp. com , but there is nothing like watching them do this song live.

The phenomenal bass line, stellar guitar riff and cardio-challenging drums were as entertaining as the animated front man.

Their encore “In The End” had the crowd singing along. This amazing shot of Meryl Parker and Jeff Forrer of “Shepherds of Serpents” really says it all!

Find the band on facebook : https://www.facebook.com/ BLACKFATE666/ they have their schedule listed and some hot pictures also!!

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Simple Healthy Sweet

“The Doctor of the future will no longer treat the human frame with drugs, but rather will cure and prevent disease with Nutrition.” - Thomas Edison Contact: Kimberly Bell KDB1433@gmail.com

Do you want to live as long and happy as you can? Do you want to have the ability to wake up with more energy and maintain it throughout the day? Be more useful with your time to exercise. Eat healthier. Sleep better. Be happier. Do you want to worry less of medical bills or the risk of developing illnesses or diseases?

Change brings opportunity.

My passion is to educate you on how important it is to take care of yourself, practice self-love and grow gracefully into the beautiful human being you are meant to be in order to Þnd your signiÞcant purpose here on Earth. We all have one.

My hope is to help others reach their goals by providing my unconditional support and teach you how to live a more fulÞlling, purposeful and happy life. Ready for a change in your life? Contact me today!

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“PEASCHEE” Peaschee is an aspiring model , artist and musician.

When she gets involved with anything she puts her whole heart and soul into it!

Peaschee is the most fun loving gal, but don't make her mad or you will taste her saltiness through her sarcasm!

She's not someone to make mad. She's actually very funny with her sarcasm most of the time~ She is and incredible softball player-plays all positions pitcher.catcher etc. and has made MVP four years in a row, plus the All-Star team.

Peaschee has been on the honor roll at school a few times and has just made High Honors and won an art contest for the Healing Arts. She loves to do anime drawings of people she knows. She loves painting in any mediums, making jewelery out of beads, skiing, swimming, being an actor in the Halloween Haunted Woods, reading Harry Potter, vampire books or movies.

Peachee loves horror movies, good love stories and broadway musicals that make her cry!

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https://www.facebook.com/PEASCHEE/

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PhylliciaAnn Rose Beitler AKA Peaschee From: Lehigh Valley Peaschee is a 17 yr old child prodigy vocalist with a 3- ½ octave range. She is also a songwriter/recording artist/flutist/keyboardist/bells and vibes. A year and a half ago she learned how to play guitar and absolutely loves it!

She comes from a very long family line of musicians and artists, including her brothers , Great Grandpop and mother,who is her manager, and former keyboardist of the band Rukkus Peaschee started vocal instruction at age 3, and is currently a student at The Lesson Center, studying acoustic, electric bass guitar and vocals under Mike Stanley, owner of Royal Jam Music. She also studies songwriting under Top 5 Hit songwriter, award winning producer & owner of Big Daddy Songs- Jim Carolan.

The genre of her musical taste is multifarious, since you cannot pin her down to one genre.When she gets involved with any project, she puts her heart and soul into it.

Musical Influences: there are many genres and bands that she listens to , she's always looking for new and different styles to broaden her horizons., such as: Paramore ,Avril Lavigne,Halestorm, Carrie Underwood, Michael Jackson, David Bowie, Falling in Reverse, Black Veil Brides, Pierce the Veil, Sleeping with Sirens, Chris Tomlin, Jars of Clay, Petra, Taylor Swift, Bing Crosby, My Chemical Romance, Metallica, Nirvana, Stevie Nicks, Allanah Myles,Skillet, Matt Redman, Jeremy Camp, NewsBoys and many many more.

Genres: Classic Rock, Alternative ,Screamo , Opera, Punk, Pop, Country, Contemporary Christian Rock, Heavy Metal, Worship, Blues, Folk, Anime to name a few.

She has performed at events such as Musikfest, The Great Pocono Talent Show, and Tony Orlando’s Great American Christmas show, to name a few.

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Peaschee's UpComing Shows: Miss Pennsylvania Teen Pageant August 13th, 2017

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Eric Tier's Children's Benefit Hello my name is Al Guertin, I am one of the sponsors who was in attendance at the “Toys for Tots”, “Wigs for Kids” and “St. Jude’s Rockin My Hair Off ” benefit hosted by Eric Tier. I have been coming to support these promotions for a few years now, and I find them to be the most well thought out, and planned events of this nature. The event was a complete success, but largely due to the tireless work of Eric and the many people that helped out. There were people volunteering to help sell tickets, people volunteering their time to stand outside in cold weather and to cook for this event.

There were amazing bands that volunteered their night to perform for this event, along with the efforts of Eric Tier to organize this event and keep it rolling in a seamless night of activities, The bands played their hearts out and left nothing on the stage as early ones finished their sets.

The toy collection bins were full within the first few hours of the events kickoff and the Christmas spirit was out in force that night as people opened their hearts and wallets to make the night a success.

The actual Video of Hair Cutting from the Rockin My Hair Off for Cancer & Toys for Tots Benefit Concert JR's Fastlane https://www.facebook.com/119945648199681/videos/565590173635224/

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As the events only no business sponsor, I was thrilled to see where my contribution went every year as the event keeps getting a little bigger and a little better. There were auctions and raffles of items that showed immense charity. Items ranging from pool tables to guitars autographed from Styx to gift certificates and baskets donated from many of the local tattoo shops and many other businesses. From start to finish the event was like a well oiled machine, but that however was not the case behind the scenes.

Shortly before the night of the event there was a frantic post asking for a guitarist that could fill in on one of the bands due that was not able to make the show for an unexpected reason that almost caused the band to have to withdraw from performing at the event. Luckily someone was able to fill in. There were a few other things that popped up that could have affected the night but not many people knew of these things beforehand because Eric handled them quickly. I have known Eric since college and I can say this about him, Eric has the biggest and kindest heart out of any person I have met in the past 15 years. His integrity is beyond reproach. I don’t know how to convey with any more conviction how impressed and happy to be a part of this annual event I am other than to say that for as long as Eric choses to host it,I will continue to attend it and support it with as much as I can.

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Lisa Koza'S Trip To Ireland

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BONNIE BENJI Shaquasia Moneé (born May 6), better known by her stage name Bonnie Benji is a multi-talented rapper, singer, songwriter, dancer, and actress.

This american hip-hop recording artist was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York City where she graduated from the Brooklyn High School for Music and Theater in 2010.

Bonnie is the second child and eldest daughter of 12 siblings. She started writing during her freshman year of high school in 2006 and later started recording early 2010. She managed her time in the studio but was also focused on earning her high school diploma.

Struggling financially at a young age, her number one priority became to position herself to succeed in life and provide for family. Late in 2011, Bonnie attended Berkeley College, at a time when her music career was beginning to soar. She worked hard to make sure neither her studies nor her career endeavors lacked attention.

Bonnie released the mixtape “Breakin All The Rules” September 2012. Her raw, original, rap lyrics caught the attention of hip hop fans from all backgrounds and walks of life. In April 2014, she released her debut EP “Highlights”, which featured production from industry producers Fresh Beatz and Smoova.

Also on the project were features by G Unit artist Uncle Murda.

Two singles “Prada” and “XLs” were released off the EP accompanied by eye popping music videos and visuals. Her career has proven to thrive towards success amongst and beyond the underground scene.

At age 21, she teamed with EMPIRE distributions, a business decision that has proven wise and beneficial. Building strong relationships with her fans and industry insiders, Bonnie has been afforded the opportunity to perform at over 100 venues nationwide and reach fans around the country thus contributing to her 50,000+ social networking following and over 500,000 listeners.

‘Ratchet Goods’is set to be released later this year. Bonnie recently released her debut single “Somebody” featuring Fred The Godson. Her highly anticipated release features compelling production from Sonaro and Smoova.

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On March 5th, 2017 the Lehigh Valley Music Awards held their 18th Annual event at Musikfest Café at ArtsQuest Center in Bethlehem.

Featured performances by Serene Greene, Lou Franco, Nyke Van Wyk & Genevieve Gillespie, Another Day Dawns, Another Day Dawns, Jordyn Kenzie, Chelsea Lyn Meyers & Scott Marshall, The Large Fowerheads, Hector Rosado, Desire & Tommy Zito and Dan DeChellis w/M.I.M.E., Scott Marshall was the top winner taking home 12 awards. The best all-around performer on both fan and industry ballots. The fan's choice honor and awards for best album (for "Faith Hope Music and Love"), best singer-songwriter for both fan and industry ballots, best male artist, best male vocalist, and best song (for "Hope on the Cross," with Doug Lapp). His band Scott Marshall & the Hillbilly Souls was named both the best country act and the best fusion bluegrass act, while Scott Marshall & Marshall's Highway won best Americana act.

Other multiple-award-winners were Jordyn Kenzie and Dave Fry who took home three awards. Jordyn Kenzie for Outstanding Female Artist, Outstanding Youth Band/Soloist Not Associated with a School and Outstanding Youth/Teenage Performer. Dave Fry for Outstanding Folk Band/Soloist, Outstanding College/ Community Radio Personality and Outstanding Child Audience Music Performer.

50 Year Lifetime Achievement awards to Pam Purvis and Fredrick Douglas.

20 Year Veterans Tony DiLeo, George Hrab, Phil Pilorz, Victor “Baby J” Rodriguez & Tanya “STAR” Suarez and Christine Bainbridge.

Board of Director’s Recognition Jake Kaligis, Andrew Chervak, Rob Stoneback Special RecognitionLinda Norris-Fiegel & Gary Fiegel LV Idol & Pocono Idol

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The full list of winners is Acoustic Guitarist: Craig Thatcher Album: “Why Wait,” Erin Kelly All Around Performer (Fan ballot): Scott Marshall All Around Performer: Scott Marshall Americana Band/Soloist: Scott Marshall and Marshall's Highway Band/Duo: The Large Flowerheads Bass Guitarist: Scott Siska Bluegrass Band/Soloist: Big Valley Blue Grass Blues Band/Soloist: James Supra Blues Band Child Audience Music Performer: Dave Fry Child Performer: Jacqui Armbruster Children's Band: No Pressure Choral/Classical Group/Ensemble: Moravian Improvised Music Ensemble Classical/Opera Soloist: Lane Conklin Club DJ: JJ Sands College/Community Radio Personality: Dave Fry College/Community Radio Station: WLVR Commercial Radio Personality: Bearman and Keith, 95.1 WZZO Commercial Radio Station: 99.9 The Hawk Contemporary Christian Band/Soloist: The Holmes Family Country Band/Soloist: Scott Marshall and Marshall's Highway Drummer/Percussionist: Kevin Soffera Electric Guitarist: Craig Thatcher Female Artist: Sarah Ayers Female Vocalist (tie): Bev Conklin Female Vocalist (tie): Chelsea Lyn Meyer Folk Band/Soloist: Dave Fry Fusion Bluegrass Band/Soloist: Serene Green Gospel Group/Soloist: The Holmes Family Harmonicist: James Supra Jam Band/Soloist: Dana Gaynor Jazz Band/Soloist: Fusion Jazz Trio Karaoke Venue: The Tally Ho Keyboardist: June Thomas Loud Rock Band/Soloist: Cherry Bombs Male Artist: Scott Marshall Male Vocalist: Scott Marshall Metal Band/Soloist: Sinister Realm

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Music Photographer: Brian Limage Music Producer: Andrew Chervak Music Reviewer: Michael McKenna Music Store: Dave Phillips Music Store Music Supporter (Individual): Phil Stahl Music Supporter (Organization): Godfrey Daniel's Music Website: TheLargeFlowerheads.com New Band/Soloist: Doubting Thoma$Ö Open Jam Venue/Host: Grumpy's BBQ Open Mic Venue/Host: The Wooden Match Performance Venue: Sands Bethlehem Event Center Pianist: June Thomas Polka Band/Soloist: Alex Meixner Punk Band/Soloist: Damn Dirty Apes Recording Studio: Midnight Studios Rhythm & Blues Band/Soloist: Charlie Brown's Notorious Groove Rock Band/Soloist: Social Call School Marching Band: Liberty High School Singer/Songwriter (fan ballot): Scott Marshall Singer/Songwriter: Scott Marshall Song: “Shine,” Scott Marshall Sound Technician: Phil Forcelli Spiritual Urban Artist/Band: The Holmes Family Spoken Word Group/Soloist: Wendy Smale String Instrumentalist: Nyke Van Wyk Urban/Hip-Hop Band/Soloist: EZ Video Producer: Lisa Koza Video: “Never Gonna Be”: Erin Kelly Volunteer of 2015: Chelsea Lyn Meyer Wind/Brass Instrumentalist: Pete Fluck World Music Band/Soloist: Trouble City All-Stars Youth Band Associated with a School: Bank Street Band Youth Band Not Associated with a School: A.D.D.

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Kristin Chenowith Sands Event Center pictorial Photos by Bob Klein

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Journey to India Chapter 7: CALCUTTA

Rex Maurice Oppenheimer Full of adrenaline after the miraculous recovery of all my money, visas and passport, which had been stolen a couple of hours before I had gotten on the train in Bombay, I was settling in for the two day train ride to Calcutta.

I was as usual in second-class sleeper, smoking hash mixed with tobacco, as India flashed past my window. The myriad manners, castes and faces of my fellow travelers provided a mix of language, dress and countenance that calmed the rolling carriage as it rocked along like India’s beating heart.

Excited to be on the move again, heading toward the legendary city of Calcutta, I was also a bit sad knowing that my visa would soon be expiring and I’d have to leave India for six months before I could reenter.

With all its difficulties, dirt and squalor, India had been a salve for my soul. There were times on these dusty roads, or cramped in the back of some public transport, or strolling through the vibrant streets, that I felt as though I was living a dream.

Life as a traveler suited me. I was independent enough that I could enjoy traveling alone, yet personable enough that I had no problem meeting and forming relationships with people I met, and chameleon enough to survive among both bankers and bank robbers with equal aplomb.

I wasn’t alone. There were many others like me. The hippie trail across Asia was full of vagabonds held captive by the same illusions.

There were also plenty of characters with illustrious pasts gone dim, or shady pasts well concealed. From smugglers to terrorists, mercenaries to embezzlers, drug dealers to disgraced diplomats, the Asian backstreets offered a route of escape, and it offered me the perfect blend of fantasy and reality.

I was a child of the Sixties imbued with a reckless pursuit of freedom and pleasure, yet crippled by the delusion of escaping the very real demands of history, human nature and discipline. Among the dusty roads and primitive structures, the third-world economy and exotic, gypsy-like ways of dressing, I felt free. Dancing a hedonistic waltz along the razor’s edge of pleasure and pain.

Calcutta was for me a turning point: I had to leave India, and I got married for the first time.

A beautiful Indian woman I’d met on the train from Bombay had recommended a hotel in Calcutta called The Modern Lodge, and that’s where I headed. The streets had gotten narrow, full of people dressed in lungis and dhotis, a rickshaw or two passing by, boys selling the leaf-wrapped mixture of betel nut and spices, called pan, from improvised roadside stalls, as I turned the corner and approached the Modern Lodge. There was a woman, a Westerner, with very light skin and long, dark hair, just coming out.

The touts outside had said that the Modern Lodge was full, but they always said stuff like that so they could lead you to where they could get a commission. But the man in the hotel responded to my inquiry with that Indian sideways head nod, “no rooms,” he said.

As I exited the hotel I saw the woman talking to the touts in an Indian language I didn’t understand.

“What language are you speaking?” I asked her.

“Bengali,” she said, adding, “They say there are rooms at the Evergreen, but they’re 60 rupees.”

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“That’s a lot,” I said. I was used to paying less than 10 rupees a night. Then I said, “We could share it.”

“Well, I don’t know. What do you think…we could, I guess.” She thought out loud.

“Why don’t we go and look at it,” I said. “We could take it for the night and then look for something cheaper.”

“Okay,” she replied, “but you have to promise not to molest me.”

“I’ll promise not to molest you,” I smiled, “but you don’t have to promise not to molest me.”

Her name was Penelope, and she was Australian. She had been living in Calcutta for some time. An archeologist, originally on her way to Afghanistan, she had been side tracked by the Russian invasion of that country, and had settled in Calcutta, studying Hindustani classical singing, with the august guru Bimmel Da. She was sharing an apartment in Calcutta with Jon, another Australian, who had been living in India for about 10 years.

Jon was a musician and some other Australian musician friends, a couple with a child, had been in India giving concerts. They were booked to fly to Bangkok in about in about a week, on the same flight I was leaving on.

Since they had a child, Penelope had offered to give up her room in the apartment and get a hotel room. That’s how she happened to be at the Modern Lodge.

We were together for those seven days and fell in love. As I mentioned before, my six-month visa was expiring, and I had to leave for six months before I could get another visa to return. We made vague plans for her to come over to Thailand and meet me, but she was rather anchored in Calcutta and we had no real plan. There was a total eclipse of the sun on the day I left for Thailand, which the Indians considered very auspicious.

I arrived in Bangkok with no visa and a tola, 10 grams, of hash shoved down my pants. I hadn’t known I needed a visa, and the customs men took me into a small room where they interviewed me. I was given a short, about three-week, temporary visa. At least they let me in the country. Now my plan was to head down to Malaysia where I could get a new visa for reentry into Thailand.

A song I’d written that was the title cut on Juice Newton’s first album for Capitol Records, been accruing some royalties, and I’d asked my mother to send them to me. I had to go to the American Embassy to collect the funds and while there the consul I spoke with filled me with horror stories about Muslim separatists, who hijacked the busses from Bangkok, stole everything and often killed many if not all of the passengers.

I took that bus ride several times over ensuing months and years and never had a problem, but I didn’t know that then, and considering the official source I took the warning fairly seriously. I also wanted to get back to India, which I missed, and the woman I thought I had fallen in love with.

I was staying at the Atlanta Hotel in Bangkok, where I met its owner and founder Dr. Max Henn. Dr. Henn was an amazing man. He had been in the Luftwaffe in the 1930s when Hermann Goring had told him that since he was Jewish he better get out of Germany.

Thus began a trek that included helping the Maharaja of Bikaner establish an air force, sojourns in Tibet, and finally coming to Bangkok in the 1940s, where he eventually built the Atlanta Hotel. Quite a prize when first opened, its later incarnations included being an R & R haunt for American GIs during the Vietnam War, and then, by the time I got there, a hippie/traveler hotel, with rooms for a few dollars a night.

Dr. Henn also ran the Western Union Travel Bureau out of the hotel, and over the coming years I was able to get some fantastic tickets through him. Twice I bought tickets for a few hundred dollars that went from Singapore to Jakarta, Indonesia to Noumea, New Caledonia, to Sydney, Australia, to Papeete, Tahiti to Los Angeles. The ticket was good for a year, I could stay as long as I wanted at any of the destinations along the way, and it was on UTA, which was then the Pacific wing of Air France.

I didn’t get involved in the Bangkok life very much on this trip. But I did spend one night at the infamous Grace Hotel, which was full of Westerners and Thai whores. I wasn’t looking for a prostitute, but it was there I met Supranee. Although a prostitute, she never charged me, but rather would come to my room, often bringing some fruit and flowers, and always wonderfully powerful Thai sticks.

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Supranee and I mostly communicated through sign language, since a dealer had cut out her tongue, and she couldn’t speak. We had a sweet, fleeting relationship.

I had become so used to the pace and peacefulness of life in India, that Bangkok seemed far too fast and modern. Besides, I wanted to get back to Penelope and see what that life had in store for me.

It may seem crazy, but since bribery was so common in India, and I had paid off those cops on the train in Allahabad, I thought I’d go to the Embassy and try to bribe the Ambassador. So I got on a bus and headed for the Indian Embassy.

I wasn’t able to see the Ambassador, but I did have an interview with the First Consul. I remember sitting in front of his big desk and telling him my story, and a story it was. I said I was a student studying Indian culture, and that I was so disappointed to have my exploration and discoveries interrupted. But more than that, I poured my heart out to him, saying that I was engaged to be married to a woman I’d met in Calcutta, and now this bureaucratic red tape was forcing me to leave my love behind.

Indians are romantics, and as amazing as it may seem the Consul looked at me and said, in his clipped Indian English, “Let me see your passport.” As he thumbed through it he called out loudly, saying something in Hindi. Then fixing me in an officious look, he said, “I will give you visa.” With that, he wrote in my passport as a man brought him a stamp and inkpad, which he pressed into the pages before handing it back to me with a smile.

I arrived at the Calcutta airport on February 29th. Penelope had said to come to Bondel Road, Ballygunge Phari, that was all I had in the way of an address. I had been to the apartment, but had no memory of where it was or how to get there.

After retrieving my Tibetan backpack and shooing away all the would-be porters, I went to bargain for a taxi. I felt much better haggling for a set price, rather than being taken god knows where for god knows how long through the streets of Calcutta.

I shared the cab with another passenger, an Indian gentleman, and after dropping him off we finally arrived at my destination. It was just a rather large square, or plaza, surrounded by several stores, restaurants and other buildings and with various roadways emanating outwards.

Looking out of the taxi window I was lost, and I had my doubts as to whether the driver had brought me to Ballygunge Phari or was just dropping me off somewhere in the middle of Calcutta. Just then the brown, smiling face of a teenage Indian boy appeared at the window. “Are you looking for Penelope?” he asked.

“Yes,” I smiled back, thankful for what seemed another small Indian miracle. In a country of nearly a billion people, I had had encounters that were hard to explain, such as when I met Peter in Dharamsala, which I described in Chapter 2. I had met him by chance when he was sitting in a restaurant in McLeod Ganj at the same table as a few Italian and French hippies, whom I’d joined to smoke hash and drink tea. He and I had left to go drink Chhaang, a thick, bitter and potent Tibetan rice beer. We were just two guys that had just met in India; we didn’t know each other, except for the bit of information we’d shared while drinking. He was English, but was born in India.

Well educated; he had taught in the university, and he had known and traveled with Ram Das, during the latter’s first sojourn of discovery in India. I told him I wrote poetry. Later,when we were walking through the narrow streets, he asked to hear some of my poetry. As I was reciting some from memory, he turned to me and asked, “are you Greg’s friend?” It was Greg’s letter I’d received back in Phoenix a year ago that that had started my mysterious journey to India.

The smiling boy turned out to be Balaji, who worked as a part-time cook for Jon and Penelope.

It was good to be back in India, and living there, in an apartment, was a new and different experience than staying in hotels. So was living with Penelope and no longer being on my own. We had talked about marrying our lives together that first week we’d spent together, and now decided to actually get married. We applied for a marriage license, which meant visiting the Indian authorities, which told us we had to post banns of marriage. Posting banns is a rather ancient procedure, in which you post the intention of the two people to get married so that anyone who has a reason to stop the marriage can come forward. We were actually supposed to post signs in Calcutta and Delhi, and we were required to do it for 90 days, before the license would become valid. We also visited the American and Australian consulates as well.

My feelings about getting married wavered over the next few months, during which we took trips to Shantiniketan and Manali. Jon and Penelope shared a rented house in Shantiniketan, which is Tagore’s hometown. Pen and I went there to get away from Calcutta for

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awhile. The setting is indeed like a Tagore poem, with flowers, paddies, red earth, green trees, bright stars. It was a primitive and peaceful interlude.

Pre-monsoon Calcutta was becoming very hot and humid. Mark Twain once said about Calcutta that the weather can make a brass doorknob feel mushy, and that didn’t seem like an exaggeration. We decided to go to Manali in the Himalayas.

We took a train to Jalunder in the Punjab, and from there got a bus to Ropar. The bus broke down, and we all had to wait several hours for another bus to come along. When it did arrive there was no room inside, and we all had to sit on top of the bus for the rest of the trip into Ropar. There we waited for five hours for our bus to Manali. Finally, after a rocking, rolling, muscle-tearing, bone-breaking ride all night long, we reached Manali early in the morning, and it felt like the most beautiful place on earth.

A gorgeous green valley surrounded by snow-capped Himalayan peaks, it is filled with enchanted forests, full of burbling brooks and glades, rivers and waterfalls, a zillion kinds of trees, from pine and spruce to cherry and apple. The forest often felt like a spacious cathedral of peace and beauty. There were small paddies of wheat, eagles, crows and cuckoos, and hillsides graced by stone villages and temples. All this and the best charrras in India is grown and rubbed in Manali.

Despite my vacillating feelings, we did get married, and it happened, as so many things did in my life, impulsively. We were back in Calcutta, and Penelope had gone around the corner to the doi (Yogurt) shop to buy some doi. They also made and sold a sweet that I liked called limbu sondesh. While she was gone I said to myself, “If she gets some sondesh, we’ll get married.

She came back with yogurt and sondesh, and the next day we went to see the marriage registrar, Sri A.K. Bose and make arrangements.

The wedding took place a few days later on the fifth of June. We had three witnesses, a Sikh, a Jain and a Tantric Swami, all friends of ours. It was Thursday, a dry day in Calcutta, which meant no alcohol, so we celebrated by going to Flurry’s for tea and almond rings.

The weather in Calcutta had improved by the time we returned. The city, famous for so many reasons, was an unforgettable experience.

I lived there for somewhere between seven months and a year, and I’ll always cherish the privilege of having experienced this amazing city.

Just wandering the streets I could see women patting dung into patties and sticking them to walls and trees to dry. Later they will use them as fuel for their cooking fires. People taking baths in puddles and at broken water mains. Bejeweled ladies in fine silk saris strolling behind wealthy, well-dressed gentlemen with elegant mustaches. Bearers pulling overloaded carts, and women balancing huge pots, trays, urns on their heads as they weave between cars, busses, taxis, rickshaws, bicycles, buffalo, holy cows and holy men.

Calcutta both bombards and bathes me with consciousness-expanding images and experiences. The city inspired the Nobel Prize-winning poetry of Rabindranath Tagore, the starkly beautiful films of Satyajit Ray and the spiritual music of Ravi Shankar, yet for millions of people around the world it conjures up nothing but images of the black hole, poverty, deformity and death.

For more than three centuries, everyone from rajahs to refugees has continued to pour into the paradoxical city. Calcutta is turbulent and tranquil, a spiritual haven to many, a den of iniquity to others. Many cherish it as a center of intellectual and artistic thought and expression, while for the endless stream of impoverished job seekers that flood into Calcutta from nearby states and countries, including Bihar, Assam, Nepal and Bhutan, it is a sea of hope.

In the midst of grand old buildings such as the Gothic-style Calcutta High Court built in 1872, the Indian Museum established in 1878, and the marble memorial to Queen Victoria for which George V laid the foundation in 1906, a row of women and children crouch on the ground like baboons searching each other’s hair for insects. A barefoot man trots down the street pulling healthy, well-dressed children, with deep, kohl-darkened eyes, in a hand-pulled rickshaw. Harijan children, naked, or dressed in threadbare cotton, are running, playing, begging, as men in dhotis sit on the sidewalk and get a shave from the loin-clothed barber squatting before them.

Individuals are roaming, watching, constantly picking up bits of discarded food, or whatever can be salvaged, sold, or made into something. Women squat on the ground and cut scavenged, shriveled vegetables on old, rusty blades. Then cook over burning dung patties, coarse shawls pulled around their faces to shield them from the smoke, as they stir their family’s meager meal.

The images, both beautiful and grotesque, dance before the eyes, tug at the heart and wrench at the gut. An intensity of motion and color, dreamlike, yet stark in its reality, is the city’s constant song.

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It’s like traveling back in time, to when people first congregated in cities. They had tools but not machines. I go to get a key cut and a man files it by hand. Using only his eye to measure, he squints and holds up the original key for comparison. Of course India has machines. India has computers and atomic power. But in Calcutta the modern is so diluted by the ancient, and the familiar by the strange, it can feel like another planet.

Indians and Westerners tend to regard things differently. I remember riding on a bus between Varanasi and Patna, and we ran out of gas. Pulling to the side of the road, the driver asked us all to disembark and wait for another bus. A passenger from New York, the only other foreigner onboard, asked what the problem was. The driver simply said, “Petrol finished, Baba.”

The New Yorker was incredulous, “You mean we’re out of gas?” The driver again wagged his head and simply said, “Petrol finished.”

The American just couldn’t understand. “How long have you had this job?” he demanded. “I have driven the Varanasi - Patna route for fifteen years.” the driver smiled proudly. “And how often do you do it?” queried the Yank. “Two times every week,” responded the driver, his white teeth gleaming in his nut-brown face.

“What?” Screamed the highly agitated passenger. “You drive this twice a week for fifteen years and you don’t know how much gas you need?” Now the Indian didn’t understand. He stood among the passengers in their saris, dhotis and lungis. Some with hands, feet or faces painted in henna, sandalwood or khol. He then looked at the American tourist, who seemed to him to have just descended from another world. With pitiful compassion and bemused incomprehension, the driver raised his upturned palms, “It is only time,” he said.

Although India has been independent for a long time, British influence is apparent in a variety of ways. English dishes, including baked beans on toast, are menu staples at teashops, such as Flurry’s in Calcutta. At Christmastime, Kathleen’s Bakery turns out some of the best mincemeat pies the British Empire has ever known.

Scores of imposing buildings and homes add to both the nobility and peculiarity of Calcutta’s atmosphere. Many create a sort of Mad Max environment of a devastated but once grand civilization inhabited now by modern primitives. The grass and plants are reclaiming walkways and verandahs, and the untouchables and street people, squatting in the corners, under the trees, beside the stoop, now seem rooted in these estates.

This strange ambiance permeates life in Calcutta. I recall when the son of a Maharaja and his wife, a well-known novelist, who has had titles on the New York Times Best seller lists, invited Penelope and I out to the Bengal Club, a remnant of the Raj. The table was laid out with fine china, crystal and silver, yet my ex-wife noticed what she thought might be a rat scurrying about in the corner. She informed the novelist, who maintained her dignity as she called, “Bearer!” After the white-jacketed waiter left, three barefoot young men wearing lungis came out of the kitchen and busily shooed the creature from the room. The novelist turned to us and smiled calmly, “I believe it was a muskrat,” she said.

While Calcutta is a city of gargantuan proportions it remains at heart a village. I remember once when my ex-wife and I had returned to Calcutta after an absence of nearly five years. Our first night back we went to dinner at a restaurant we used to frequent around the corner on Gariahat Road. A waiter smiled at us and addressed Penleope, “Oh, you have been out of station long time, memsahib,” he said.

While many may find Calcutta a cauldron of corruption, Mother Teresa, an Albanian Catholic in a Hindu land, said it was where she found God. It is a city that, like other large metropolises, can be bizarre and beautiful, frightening and friendly, majestic and modest, yet in its entirety and at its core, Calcutta is unique. There is no other place on earth like it. Not just in comparison to its imposing physicality and its multitudes, but in its bloodline, whose evolutionary path is woven from all aspects of the human heart into holy cloth.

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Italy

Luca Cerardi Interview with

Chris Poland This month I present another interview with one of the guitarist who changed the way to play heavy metal and one of the ones who let me push to play rock in my life: Chris Poland. I had also the pleasure to have him in my Not Over Yet project and it was awesome to talk about himself, is way to play, his love for music and the way he could and can play between fusion and metal, his days with Megadeth, his friendship with Nick Menza and his long running project Ohm.

What I was thinking then was that by constantly doing those exercises, I would have eventually been able to play the instrument for real. Of course, playing is one thing and writing a song is a totally different thing. I didn’t actually write one until I was a teenager.

What do you feel when you play the guitar?

I focus on what the songs are giving me in that moment and I try to affect the crowd as a consequence of that. As Satriani also said, it’s about trying to convey feelings and the interpretation of the song to all the people in front of me.

When did you realize that you wanted to play the guitar? And when did you realize that you could actually be a professional guitarist?

I was young when I realized I wanted to be a guitarist, before I was even in a band. I remember getting my favorite records at the time (like Led Zeppelin) and I was trying to hit those notes.

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The turning points were many in my career.

However, I think the most important one was when I left Megadeth. Right after that I actually started to play the guitar all the time. With Megadeth, we were in our 20s, we did not have a lot of songs to play, and even the records we made did not sound professional, given the equipment at the time. Who knows how everything would have sounded, had the equipment been different. So all along, with

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them, I did not have the feeling that I was playing the guitar for real. I definitely achieved that later.

What was your backup plan, had your dream to become a professional musician not gone through?

I would have built guitars, or worked in the guitar world in any other capacity. Before I started playing with Megadeth I worked for BC Rich with Gaar Samuelson and his brother. We gained experience in various departments of the business. I guess that, without guitars at an early age, I would have ended up following the doctor path. It’s when I started playing the guitar that my life turned around.

Jimmy Page from Led Zeppelin, Jeff Back, Hendrix, Weather Report… but if I have to choose one, I’d say Jeff Back.

You started your career playing metal with Megadeth and turned into a jazz fusion guitarist. How was the transition between these two different musical genres?

When Gaar joined Megadeth, I saw the band in San Pedro, CA. I thought they needed a back guitar so I tried to get in and be part of the band.

Before then, Gaar and I had a fusion band and, believe it or not, our style was very similar to Megadeth’s music at the time. They just had a heavier sound, but in terms of melodies and rhythm we were pretty much in line.

What kind of music is most appealing to you nowadays?

I listen to all kinds of music. I like to discover new bands and records, but I also love old music. With my daughter, for instance, I listen to artists that would never be on my radar otherwise, and it’s fun. Also, sometimes I happen to listen to old music, and I find out some aspects of it that I did not previously notice. It’s a continuous discovery process.

Do you remember your first gig?

Yes, I was in 7 grade, and my real first bar gig was when I was in 8th grade. We won the battle of the bands, that was really exciting. I was very happy about my accomplishments at the time, it felt like I was having confirmation that my musical choices were right. I remember that we played Allman brothers songs, as well as Hendrix and Santana. We felt pretty good. th

Have you always had the support of your family over the course of the years?

Yes, always! My mom had me listen to old blues songs, records you might even have trouble finding right now. My brother is a musician as well, he plays drums.

Who inspired you the most along your career?

What drives your need to create music? Special moments, a particular inspiration? How does your composition process work?

When I feel that I need to play the guitar it means that something is happening. It means that in that exact moment I need to have a piece of equipment that helps me express what is happening. I can say I usually wait for inspiration to come. I constantly think that the best song can arrive any second, and it might just take five minutes to have it done. As Keith Richards said, you need to grab the music when it exits your body. Record it right there. You need to catch it before it flows away. That’s why I always have some kind of recording tool with me, especially to record rhythm ideas and accents.

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Live or studio?

I like both. The studio experience is great because everything you have in mind can be done exactly the way you want it to be. The live audience, however, brings you to a whole different level.

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expressing what I feel. Now we are working on a new record with a new drummer, Tim McKinley.

On the production side we will partner with Maynard, who worked for Ray Charles when he was alive, so what a great experience in front of us.

I grew up listening to Megadeth’s early albums, and one thing I have always loved about them is the drumming of Nick Menza. How would you like to remember him as a musician and man?

Oh man, I was thinking about him just this morning. He was such a great man. We became friends pretty quickly at the time. He was so cool and an incredibly talented musician. I could play whatever I wanted, and he never had troubles putting a perfect unconventional tempo under my riffs. I could be playing play 7/8 and he was in immediately. No need to tell him what I was doing, he was such a talented drummer. I really think he made the difference with Megadeth back in the day, he definitely brought them to the next level. What he put on the table for OHM has always been huge too. It truly was a pleasure and honor to meet him and be his friend. I love that guy. I guess everything happens for a reason.

Mustaine and Ellefson. How can you define your current relationship with them and throughout your years with Megadeth?

I just met Dave Ellefson, it’s NAMM show season.

He came to my studio and had a nice chat. As for Megadeth, what I remember the most was touring, I really had a lot of fun. We had a good life, we had a great time. I am proud about what I have done with them and glad that I had the chance to be involved in that project.

OHM is your long-term project. What does this band mean to you and what’s the plan for the future?

I’m enjoying it a lot because I’m playing what I really like. I’m not thinking about money or anything else, whatever happens happens. The most important thing for me is the freedom of

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What do you think is the status of the music business these days, and do you feel like a lot has changed since your early days?

I think a lot of people now can do whatever they want because the recording process has become so much more accessible. You don’t really need a studio to produce a record. With a few pieces of equipment you can do it on your own, and this has been a big change from the past. Moreover, when it comes to learning music and how to play an instrument, you can just click on YouTube.

Search for your favorite guitarist and look how he does what he does. You can discover many sounds and techniques, and find out what is right for you. In my early years, all of this was a big mystery. We didn’t have any idea on how to do basically anything. So yeah, things really changed from the eighties. You can even become a star in two days now though YouTube and social media.

So you are saying social media play a good role for musicians nowadays?

Yes, but at the same time this new business model does not help songwriters/composers from a financial point of view. Nowadays people can find free music everywhere and very few people still pay for songs and albums. This is the tough side of being a musician today. You have to

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invest in yourself, in buying the equipment and so much more, with no real expectation to get any money back. So what happens is that you can definitely have easy access to the public. But you cannot really expect to make money, and do it for a living.

To all the musicians around the world: your suggestion to becoming a musician and successfully entering the music business?

People should first understand if they love music or if they want to try to make money and become famous. I believe a real musician follows his passion and play because they love it. Following the money instead is pretty risky, as it might cause a lot of copying of ideas and incentivize bad behavior (like in the eighties). It’s a choice. My suggestion is, do what you love.

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The Cruel Intentions Rockfiend Publications Scotland with Colin and Suzy

The Cruel Intentions Interview At Rockmantic Carlisle 10th February 2017

Lizzy - So when I heard that I thought ooh, add "the" and "s" on the end and we have a band name.

Rockfiend - Is this the original line up?

Mats - I called Lizzy and told him the band is going to be called "The Cruel Intentions", he did not know about Nasty Idols, he had never heard of them.

Lizzy - Everyone apart from the drummer, the original drummer Eiliv left and we saw Robin on Facebook, his other band had posted a video of him playing drums.

Mats - I saw him on my news feed somehow, and I thought this guy is great. I said to Lizzy look at this guy, I love the way he's playing! Lizzy - I was blown away.

Mats - My favorite band, I loved them for years and years, it's like a homage to them. The bass player didn't take it so well. He thought I was just stealing.

Lizzy - Stealing his idea.

Mats - I said contact him. Rockfiend - You do have a really good style. Mats - I was kidding with Lizzy, "get this guy in the band!"

Mats - He's been harassing the subject on Facebook, but that's because he's old and done, and we are not.

Lizzy - All of us live in Oslo Norway, except for him, he lives in southern parts of Sweden. He has to travel to rehearse, but it works out, he's a good fucking drummer.

Rockfiend - You are ready to take their position?

Rockfiend - It's worth doing it?

Lizzy, Mats - Yeah Lizzy - I don't know if he's happy in the band or not haha, if he's happy to play with us, so far so good.

Rockfiend - Where did the name "The Cruel Intentions" come from?

Lizzy - We really didn't have an idea for a name, so we were throwing some ideas around and Mats is a really big fan of...what's that band called again?

Mats - "Nasty Idols" from Sweden, and they have an album called "Cruel Intention".

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Mats - I took his position, I was blonde as well as playing bass, I was better suited, haha.

Lizzy - It's a good name like he said a cool homage to a band he loves.

Mats - But he didn't get it.

Rockfiend - Yeah with a capital F! Where did you guys meet?

Lizzy - This is a story, em....I lived in the US for a long time, didn't play music for about five years after I quit Vains of Jenna, and I moved all around that country. I went to Nashville, moved to Phoenix; I was married, got a divorce. Then I decided to move back to LA, in the first week back in LA I met a Swedish girl and fell madly in love, and decided to move back to Scandinavia, took

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a chance and moved back. She had friends in Norway because she had lived there before and one of them was Mats. So she had to go to some photo shoot , so I was stuck with this guy. He was cleaning his apartment, I had to sit there.

Rockfiend - No choice but to get on.

Mats - Yeah you ended up with me alone.

Lizzy - I was tired talking, I was like can you put some music on. I love this song, never heard anybody else listen to this, it was "Hardline - Hot Cherie" something like that.

or a miss, and you sounded really really good.

Mats - Thank you very much.

Lizzy - As long as we are on the same page and everybody wants the same thing, I think it's gonna work out, yeah that's the way it works. If somebody is out of sync and you don't feel the same something is going to feel off, it's going to look weird. So I'm lucky to have met these guys.

Rockfiend - Do you have an album recorded?

Lizzy - Not a full album no. Our idea was......it started as a bit of fun and it started to take off a bit, and we were like let's put out a single here a single there. We've tried to make a video for every song. I really never wanted to make an album, lately we realized we have to put out an album.

Mats - Yeah it was "Hot Cherie", we bonded over "Hot Cherie".

Rockfiend - Superb song. Lizzy - So we started drinking.

Mats - We were slightly drunk as well.

Rockfiend - There is a fan base out there.

Lizzy - Yeah, so we are talking to a few labels, been to a few meetings about it but I'm not sure I want a record deal. It depends on what they can do for us. These days you can do a lot on your own. Mats - We can do so much for ourselves.

Lizzy - And we thought let's start a band, so we did, and we needed a guitar player and Kristian came along.

Kristian - Mats and I had played in a band previously together, we knew each other well.

Lizzy - Just before the band got started we did an acoustic show together with their old band. Their singer and me on vocals as well, like an acoustic gig. It felt so good. So let's try this out, so we started the band. It seems to be working out still. We haven't killed each other yet.

Rockfiend - Not yet, is that on the cards?

Mats - No we are best friends and we are having a good time.

Rockfiend - You certainly looked tight last night when you were playing as a band, you some sounded so so good.

Mats - This guy (Robin) lives in Sweden, and we rehearsed three times together. The band has clicked together. We don't rehearse like every other day or two times a week, we meet two days before.

Lizzy - I wish we could. Mats – Yeah I wish we could, and then we could be even better.

Rockfiend - Bannermans is a difficult gig, the sound can be a hit

Rockfiend - The money you make for yourselves, instead of a record company taking it away.

way.

Lizzy - That's what we have been doing, but if somebody can step up and help us out of course we might choose to go down that

Mats - There has to be a real interest from a label, someone passionate about it, burning for the music as we do because we do everything ourselves, mainly I do a lot of stuff. I really want to do it, I love it, and I want the label to be the same as we are.

Lizzy - So far it’s been working out the way we've been doing it, but an album will be released somehow, some way.

Mats - We have to do it, we have been writing, we wrote two new songs last night. We get really good reception from the people hearing it first time live. People like grooving to it; we have so many good songs.

Kristian - People have been asking for an album on our Facebook page, constantly asking for one, so we feel you know we have to give into the demand .

Mats - If we release a single, the day after.....when's the next single?......when's the next single?, when's the album coming?, you Steel Notes Magazine www.steelnotesmagazine.com

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have to be there all the time.

ously it's just the two dates.

Lizzy - I always have to be the exact opposite to what people want, so when people tell me make an album I'm like...no I'm not going to make an album, haha we'll see.

Lizzy - We basically did but try to break even, sometimes we hardly make anything after.

Rockfiend - You'll do it when you're ready.

Lizzy - Yeah. Kristian - When the time is right.

Mats - We try to make ends meet.

Lizzy - As long as we don't lose too much money.

Mats - If there's a gig worth doing we try to maybe get one before and one day after. Raz White booked us here and he said do you want to do Bannermans, and you can have some cash for that and then you can come here. So of course we are here, so why not. That's what I try to do when I go to tours, make ends meet, we don't necessarily do it for the money because there ain't no money in it.

Mats - The songs are there, we have good material.

Lizzy - The thing is the songs we write always get better and better, I don't want to stress it out.

Mats - We can't rush it, we rewrite songs so many times.

Lizzy - It's pointless just stressing out an album, putting out three good songs and seven half assed, I don't want to do that.

Mats - We could've done an album from the start writing half assed songs. We want an album that's going to be an appetite for destruction.

Rockfiend - The thing is you have still got to live and make money....once the big time comes in.

Mats - If it comes it comes.

Lizzy - It's going to be an album I really care about.

Lizzy - It was a lot easier when I was in my twenties, I had nothing to worry about back then, but now I'm a bit older you gotta work to make money as well, that's something to take into consideration.

Mats - Yeah, we all care about.

Mats - It's still a privilege to do this.

Lizzy - I really don't care about what other people think, if they like it it's fucking awesome! But this time around doing things, I'm doing it for me and not for somebody else. And people seem to like what we are doing, it's a great fucking bonus!

Lizzy - Yeah, it's a great privilege, we are lucky bastards! Mats - To travel and to play for people that like the music and travel to see us, and that's amazing.

Rockfiend - It's going to be up there and stay up there.

Rockfiend - The record business you know....the music business has gone, there's nobody interested, all it is making money and passing it on to the next thing, when you've got passionate bands like yourselves that want to make it for music for fans and for themselves, do it! Why not!

Lizzy - And that's why, I think this band is fun to be in, it was started for fun you know.

Mats - We've had a lot of fun since we started.

Lizzy - You always want more that's the problem, it's a dangerous fucking business.

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Rockfiend - It was just two dates, the Edinburgh show and this one? Lizzy - Yeah, It's always fun to just try it out.

Rockfiend - Do you have any plans to come back to the UK? Lizzy - We would love to, hopefully when it gets a little bit warmer.

Rockfiend - Anything we can do to promote or help in any way we will do.

Lizzy - Ah great thinking, thank you.

Mats - Much appreciated.

Rockfiend - I've just recently moved up near Aberdeen, which is

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away from Edinburgh/Glasgow area to get married to her majesty there, so gigs are coming back up to Aberdeen as well. There's three decent places in Scotland that we can boost and promote popularity.

Mats - I will probably do the same thing I did at Bannermans, put my Go Pro on bass amp to record for ourselves.

Lizzy - We definitely want to go back to Scotland, Bannermans was great, and I want to go back there.

Rockfiend - If you want us to record some footage, we can record that for you no problem.

Rockfiend - We definitely want you back, you are playing what people wanted, you are sounding great, the live show, it does tell you things.

Lizzy - Yeah, because it's always good to have from a different angle.

Lizzy - We try to get as much footage as we can.

Rockfiend - Do you have a video for "Stare at the Sun"?

Mats - its better from the front, my angle is kind and of awkward, it's just me and maybe Lizzy.

Lizzy - No we don't, it was the only one we don't have a video for.

Mats - We had planned to do a video but couldn't make it.

Lizzy - And tomorrow I know where the camera is, and it will be only me...haha I didn't even realize he was filming.

Lizzy - I don't know what happened though with that, the plan was to make a video for every song released.

Rockfiend - I never saw anything at all until I saw it on Instagram today, I thought when did you do that? I never saw anything at all.

Mats - We were going to make a video for this one but the guy who did "Borderline Crazy" he wanted to do something more spectacular, he had lots of ideas but it was above budget.

Mats - I just pressed play seconds before we started our first song.

Lizzy - And his girlfriend got pregnant.

Mats - We were stressed out as well, so I think we just released that one.

Lizzy - But from now on though we are going to try and make a video for everyone, it’s fun.

Mats - We are recording our next video in March.

Lizzy - Nobody told me about this, next time I would like to know.

Mats - Haha Lizzy - It's fun to listen back to what you have done, even though I hate seeing myself or listening to myself, you can learn a lot from it.

Rockfiend - Take the good and the bad.

Lizzy - And you can always get better at what you do.

Rockfiend - You are playing an hour tomorrow night 11pm until 12 midnight, is it the same set?

Rockfiend - Ah right what's that going to be for?

Lizzy – Pretty much yeah, it's gonna be the same set.

Lizzy - Our new song which is called " Sick Adrenaline".

Rockfiend - Do you have any big plans for 2017?

Mats - The drums are recorded.

Lizzy - We would like to do as much as possible, we try to get as many bigger shows as possible. Whatever comes our way, if it's affordable for us to do it we will do it.

Lizzy - The drums are done.

Mats - Drums and now we are just waiting for Erik Mårtensson of "Eclipse" he's going to mix the song. We've always gone with Chris Laney, he's mixed everything we've done but now he's on tour with "Pretty Maids". So now we are going to give it a try with Erik, he's a great guy and a great musician and mixer.

Mats - We are going to continue working our asses off.....more shows.

Rockfiend - I saw that you posted a little snippet from Bannermans last night on your instagram page, do you have any plans to record anything tomorrow night?

Colin These guys are going to be awesome!

Rockfiend - Thank you very from Rockfiend Publications Scotland.

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èl h c i M is e n o Kr w e i v r Inte

s e l i t Rep l a t e M d an Interview by Inès Honig

most people feel a affinity with someone having the same pets.

But what happens when you become more familiar with someone and tell about love for reptile? On the other side, nearly everybody loves music and it is wellknown that music has a inpact on our mind and the genres are as varied as the living beings.

Which reactions do we know about committing ourselfs to metal?

One thing is certain, to meet someone who appreciate the same thnigs is always something really special.

Music is one of my greatest passions. Another one for me is the love to reptiles. I grew up with them and as I've been working for years in my parent's reptile shop I also met a lot of metalheads who are fascinated by those animals. I love all sorts of music and I love all living beings but I wanted to write about that love for metal and reptile because I've seen in a lot of metalheads sharring this fascination.It is wellknow that Alice Cooper and also Felix of „Crematory“ are hudge fans of them too.So I thought it could be interesting to ask two musicians to comment some of my thoughts about this really special theme which is unknown for most people.

Most poeple have a deep attachment to dogs an cats and they would agree that those pets are members of the family. This thoughtSteel is mostly a signMagazine for a sensitive nature loving person and Notes

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Now let me introduce you to my friend Michèl Kroneis a german bassist who has been playing in bands since he was 16 years old. From 1988 to 1992 he played in a crossover band. Between 1992 and 1994 he helped out a band with gothic influences and from 1994 until today he's playing in the band „Sunblaze“ which is taking a break for the moment but a new album is planed. He started keeping snakes in 1988 and is a successfull breeder of tree pythons, publishes regularly articles in trade magazines and a famous pet TV show visited his breed premises.

I also had a chat with Dave Stadler, living in France and guitarist of the band „Original Sin“ which has recently recorded the first demo. As he was 12 years old as his stepfather let him listen to AC/DC, from that moment he knew he wanted to rock like them.

He used to play for“ Human Dust“, „Heaven's Underground“, „Angel's Curse“, „Double Deuce und Atmosfear“. He had a lot of tarantula and started with snakes two years ago.

First of all I wanted to know where the fascination for reptiles

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came from?

Michèl: I became passionate by espacially tree Pythons at the end of the 90's and bevor that I had a penchant for the genus Lampropeltis.The near-natural idyll in my snake room is like a refuge for me . My job as supervisor in a workshop for the handicapped is mentally demanding. After work I often withdraw in my breeding rooms and enjoy the silence and stillness of my pythons. I appreciate the sight of their colours and the grace of their bodies. No designer could create such a perfect interplay of colours like it does the nature.

My targeted breed has the objective to counteract the overexploitation and when as a result just one of them could stay at the rainforest then I would come one step closer to my goal.

Dave: What I love about snakes is that they always seem to be peacefull and convinced of their strengh. To observe them makes me feel relaxed. Tarantulas are terrifiying creatures with wonderfull colours and they don't need much space so it is an easy interior decoration. For me the human race still is insignificant and small to mother nature. Yes we discovered fire but we are lost when the weather is stormy. Reptiles have adapted themeselfs to their environement so they envolved themselfs and what we always use to do is changing the nature so we can survive.

Herpetology is the branch of zoology concerned with the study of amphibians and reptiles and a domain that has been a long time male-dominated. As that is also the case for metal I asked Dave if he thinks that the strenght he talked about could be in someway similar to represent the rude and masculin side of metal. I think both scenes are espacially respecting women.

Steel Notes Magazine Dave: There is in way a commonness by contemplating the strengh of the nature yes. Some poeple also think it would be some way of life in it but I disagree with it. More and more women join the metal scene as well as the terraristic. You cannot speak about rock without speaking about women. Everybody knows the phrase „sex, drugs and rock'n roll“. I think behind most songs there is a women. For example „ Angie“, „Satisfaction“, „The Jack“,“ Suspicious Mind“, „Still Loving You“. I think women have always been a source of inspiration even if they could be really annoying to.

Both artists agreed with the fact that metal and herpetology represent a subculture far away from mainstream and this could probably be something fascinating for those poeple who don't know that much about these things. So I asked them to describe in which way metal is fascinating to them.

Dave: The energie, and to share it with the audience! To give everything in a riff and to see how your music let the poeple go crazy when you play it. I love every music as long as it contains guitare, Iron Maiden, Metallica, Judas Priest, Saxon even The Beatles, les Stones, Elvis, Chuck Berry, Hendrix and many more.

Michèl: My way of metal is the oppositional tension between ecstasy and absolute tranquillity and idyll. Fast playfull parts followed by calm passages. I grew up with metal. I cannot help playing metal when I get a bass in my hands.

This description reminded me of the adrenaline you sometimes get taking care of exotic animals so I wanted him to tell me more Steel Notes Magazine about it. www.steelnotesmagazine.com

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Steel Notes Magazine Michèl: I always get adrenaline during the brood when I can see that I did everything right. It is the same when you listen to the musik you wrote by yourself and it gives you goose bumps. So it's the same kind of inner peace you get.

We talked about subculutre , similar feelings and thoughts and I wanted the guys to tell me if they also have been confronted to prejudice and stereotypes.

Dave: You just have to take a look at the Hellfest festival. The inhabitans of the village still thinking it is a big event for satanist.

Maybe it is the fault of Black Sabbath (he laughs). People think you are not confident and you chose to play music of the devil getting tatoos because of being depressive.

The same for loving snakes. It is something strange and unnatural. I grew up in a very conservative village but I learned to let them talk. The worst thing is that most of them are fans by more alcoholics and drug addicted people as it would be in the case for metal.

Michèl:“ Only freaks do that“ would be the prejudice of both domains. No normal person would do that. In the 90's it became popular to have tattoos on both sides. Boa and Python owners were always full of ink. Many popular musicans did it too and had at least one exotic animal for the right image without any know-how.

At that point I wanted Michèl to describe how both scene have developped as he has a good overview of them for about 30 years.

Michél: I started in a crossover band and used to play weekly in clubs. Meeting always more new people, you were invited to play at festivals. You had to play to become known. To get a recording contract you had to make a name to yourself by playing.

Nowaday you become famous on youtube and then you start you play. So every thing is inverted, such a crazy world.

Same thing for herpetology. There were only a few breeders and books to get information so you had to get to meet them. I joined the DGHT (German community for herpetology and terraristic) and so I get all informations. Everything happened behind the scenes in a small circle. With internet and television it becames more presentable.

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Another interesting aspect for me ist the language. At some point very technical and scientifical but also direct and honest.

So I asked my friends to describe it.

Dave: We speak a lot about equipement just like little boys dreaming about things they will probably never be able to buy.We speek about work and what happen in our lives.

We laugh a lot ,make a lot of jokes and talk a lot about sex. (he laughs) Michèl : The conversations are in fact direct. I think there are as much envious persons in the reptile scene as in the music. So every one is searching for the most success and to play with the coolest band member and in herpetology it is the knowledge, to know the most latine names and to breed the most . Money is in everyones heads and nobody forgets about it. You can only enjoy it when you are free from coommercial thoughts. I don't have to be famous anymore, today I'm happy to play for my wife and my son as much as at conzert with 1000 people. In the world of reptile I just want to share my knowledge and offsprings to minimize the overexploitation in Indonesia.

I also enjoy the success of my readers because I love tree pythons and so I'm glad for every single baby hatching.

There you see how internet has turned so much upside down. This kind of handmade music in reference to these animals are things that you cannot create digitally, and I think thats what I like the most about it. People like me love nature an want to protect it. If I reach one of the critics with my article than I am satisfied.

This issue is so extensive that I could go on endlessly, and maybe in the end we would find out that there are more than a few similarities. I think we should not forget why there are people who feel attracted to each other. It's because this is the way we can get mutually stronger and can stick togheter.

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Big Wreck Review & Interview with Ian Thornley

by Rick Dessi, Photos: Joe Pacheco Who: Big Wreck What: Grace Street Tour When: March 8, 2017 Where: Théâtre Corona – Montreal, Quebec that, the tour has been great, the shows have been mostly sold out, and the crowds have been incredible, the crowds have been really, really receptive to the new stuff and then of course launch into some of the old favorites, they’ve just been great.

For those of you who have never heard of Canadian rockers Big Wreck, you’re in for a real treat. I’ve been waiting a while to catch them live and needless to say they did not disappoint. Big Wreck are currently on tour supporting their latest release Grace Street which was released in February 2017. I became of fan of their previous release entitled Ghosts and was immediately hooked. If you’re like me and get a high on intense mesmerizing vocal melodies, mixed with a solid rock, heavy, prog foundation, then you should definitely check them out. Ian Thornley is truly one of today’s top dynamic rock vocalist/songwriter and an incredible guitar player.

The set was a great mix of new material from Grace Street and some favorite throwbacks. I described the show as a blissful journey through musical warmth, sadness, happiness, melancholy and an overall powerful performance.

I got to sit down with Ian to discuss the latest album Grace Street and some other fun stuff.

Ian Thornley questions: Hey Ian, I’d like to thank you for taking the time, really appreciate it.

Rick - Let’s talk a little about the new album “Grace Street”?

How’s the new record doing and tour coming along?

Ian - Well, the record debuted at number 1, that’s a first for us, so I guess that means it’s doing ok. The tour has been great, I mean other than I’ve already been sick once on this tour and I feel like I’m getting sick again. It doesn’t make any sense, it never happen to me before. You don’t tour Canada in the winter, you can’t dodge a bullet forever and it’s going to hit somebody. It’s just hitting the guy that has to sing all the high notes. But other than

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Rick - Excellent, I’m really digging the new album.

What seems to be the crowd favorite on this tour? Any song in particular?

Ian – No, It’s hard to say, because we’re on in-ear monitor, we have microphones in the house so we can hear the crowd, but generally the house is off so when we’re listening between songs with the in-ear monitors we don't hear the crowd, sometimes you do, sometimes you don't. But I don't know, I think "Speedy Recovery" has been a lot of fun, "You don't Even Know" seems to be really going over, all of them really. "Tomorrow Down" we play that one and I don't know sometimes I feel like there's a little too much mass going on, it's hard to tap your foot to that one you know, so sometimes and ain't that might sail over peoples head a little bit, but having said that, some towns they explode when they hear "Tomorrow Down" so I don't really know, It's hard for me to gage, I think you'd have to be in the audience and judge for yourself. I'm like, if we did a good of the song I'm like ya we killed that. But who knows maybe the audience probably fell asleep. It's hard to gage with the in-ear monitors, like back in the day when we just on wedges you can hear the entire room, and it actually feels more like a rock show that way, but in-ear monitors I think help with

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your voice and maintaining the longevity certainly over a tour and not blowing it out because you're trying to hear yourself.

Rick - What was the writing process like for “Grace Street”? Is there a specific procedure in which you like to follow or do you simply go with the flow? I read that you used a number of different recording techniques such as wine glasses tuned with a turkey baster?

Ian - Ya you tune a wine glass with a turkey baster just putting water in and taking water out and getting it to pitch right. You add more water and I think and the pitch goes down, or maybe it's up I can't even remember now, but ya we just add a take away water until we had basically a G-Major scale and then I just sort of would play with wine glasses, I've never done that before, but I mean that has nothing to do with the writing, that was just an overdub. As far as the writing goes, like you say I just go with the flow and it happens any which way. It sort of always happening it's kind if an ongoing thing. I'm always writing and documenting ideas, sort of like a musical sketch pad if you will, some of them are more done then others and some of them are just a little tid bit of an idea, a little seed and then depending on how done they are I'll just sort of revisit them and decide when it comes time to put a record together which ones are going to make the record. Sometimes they're pieces of older things that I never thought quite worked and sometimes they're brand new. It comes from all different places, you know lyrically I tend to draw on whatever is going on in my life, whatever is sort of closest to the surface. I very rarely do both at the same time.

Rick - How do you find creative inspiration when writing new material?

Ian - Well that's the whole thing, I find writing new material creatively, I don't know it's hard you need to sometimes trick yourself into being inspired.

Sometime it can be something as simple as re-tuning your guitar to a different tuning. I mean there's a few different ways and techniques, always have a guitar in your hands, always working always searching and then see if you find one thing that sort of tickles your creativity, that little spark and you have to follow your gut, you owe it to yourself to dig deeper and find out what it is, and then you just document that, you can record it on your iPhone or whatever. Even if it's not a complete song that when you go back and revisit it your like ohhh yes ok I remember this feeling that this thing gave me and now I want to flush it out and

push it further.

Rick - What made you pick up a guitar for the very first time and what made you develop a need to master it?

Ian - My father bought me a guitar, I think when I was 16, on my 16th birthday or something and it sat in a closet, I learned a couple of chords and then put it away, maybe my 15th birthdate because I think started playing when I was around 16, but it just sort of sat in the closet. I had a friend who was a wonderful guitar player and we were hanging out. He started playing and showing me stuff.

At that time I was starting to get into Led Zeppelin and he was like oh well that goes like this, I think that was it.

Once you realize you can recreate the sound that you hear on a record by these couple simple moves, it was like ohh ok. I think that bit me.

Rick - What was the 1st song you ever learned to play?

Ian - That is a tough one man. I think "Going to the country"

by Bruce Cockburn. I was more of a finger picking guy. Coming from piano I kept dropping the pick in the sound hole. I already had some dexterity in my right hand from playing piano. I went down that route.

Rick - Aside from your incredible vocal abilities, your guitar playing is phenomenal… so tasty with so much feel and emotion. I’m so happy that bands like Big Wreck are still using lengthy guitar solos with smart song writing skills, with the occasional prog odd time signature in which I love and keeps it interesting. Unfortunately in today’s world a lot of new music IMO sounds fabricated and seem to follow a specific formula making everything sound stale and recycled. I mean who can we say is the next Led Zeppelin or the next Beatles or Metallica? Do you get that same perception and how do you try to differentiate yourself from the rest?

Ian - I gave up trying to figure that out a long time ago. Honestly I just concentrate on what I do. I'd say in maybe the last 6-7 years that's sort of been my moto, just going back to what inspires me, and what do I want to hear from a record, what are my favorite

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Then again I would think to some degree most musicians are doing that, you are what you eat.

Rick - Who are your biggest influences?

Ian - Well all the ones I just mentioned, I would have to say Genesis, Pink Floyd, The Who, Dire Straits, Led Zeppelin, The Police are big for me, the list goes on. I have a long list of influences. Anything can move me, anything can inspire me it doesn't matter the style of music. Good is good and bad is bad. I never listen to Country, but I love Hank Williams, I love Bruce Springsteen as much as I love Eric Johnson or Steve Morse of the Dixie Dregs. I love ABBA, you know good is good.

Rick - Do you listen to new music nowadays?

Ian - Not really no... I hear the computer programs not the people. We made an effort to put a record where you can hear the human beings making the noises.

Rick - You're right everything sounds mechanical nowadays. I believe we’ve lost that organic feel of simply making the music breath.

Ian- Yes like a human being. No everything goes on the grid and you get everything chopped up, that's not music, music is supposed to breath it's supposed to go up and down and in and out, side to side and that's the kind of record we wanted to make. All the basic tracks for I'd say 95% of the songs on the record were all done live off the floor. David, Chucky and myself just banged it until we got it right and that was the take, there you go. Well you got this verse and you got this chorus and you just chop it and put it together...no! That happens too much in Rock n' Roll these days and that to me is not Rock n' Roll, that's a computer game.

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Rick - As a young band starting out today, what would you say is the most important thing they need to focus on?

Ian - Practice...practice and continually refine ways to inspire yourself. The more inspired you are the more you’re going to practice, the more you practice the better you're going to get. The easier it will be for things to come. If it's a songwriter you want to be than work at song writing, you got to practice and the way you do that is you write. If it's a player that you want to be, a session player or a wicked guitar player than what do you do, you play you practice.

You have to have that deep routed passion for it to want to get that good, and I don't mean good enough. There has to be a part of you that wants to be like your heroes or better. You may never achieve that but I think it's worth it to try.

Rick - What should someone experiencing a “Big Wreck” show for the 1st time expect?

Ian - I don't know...hopefully a great Rock n' Roll show you know.

Ups and downs. I tend to sort of wear my heart on my sleeve a bit when things are going right, when the shows are really cookin' and things are really happening and sounding great and feeling great and the crowd is great, I tend to get pretty emotional, all of us do, I think I speak for all of us. It's a very raw emotional thing and I kind of hope that the audience feels that to. There's no guarantees but hopefully you'd like to come to the show for the first time and hopefully experience something.

Rick - If you could bring back any artist from the dead, to compose and/or perform with, which would you choose?

Ian - Ouff...I don't know...If I can bring them back I wouldn't want to compose or perform with them I would just want to listen to them, and listen to where they'd go. I would want to hear where Hendrix would be 10 years after he passed away and where was he headed musically and creatively. John Lennon where was he headed, I mean the list goes on. Jaco Pastorius could have he gotten his act together and gotten back into it. Where would a guy like that gone. The list goes, I'd love to jam with John Bonham I wonder what hat would feel like, but I couldn't pick one, it's too hard.

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Rick - How do you mentally prepare yourself before a show? Do you have a regular warm up or exercise routine?

Ian - Oh yeah! Usually it starts an hour and a half to 2 hours before the show. I mean takes a while now at my age just to get my fingers moving and certainly to get my throat stretched and comfy, clear out the vocal chords and stretch the muscles and all that stuff sort of helps me get into the mindset. If your sort of stretching and then you’re taking the tempos up and taking the pitch up with your voice and doing that kind of thing.

Then if you feel like taking a little breather and go check on the boys how you guys doing blah blah blah, everyone is telling jokes and in a good mood and then you come back to what you were doing and make it a little bit quicker and sing a little bit higher. If you have the time to do so. It sucks when you don't cause it's kind of like oh man...if you're going for some of these notes and you're like I don't know if it's going to be there or if I've got a lay a quick run coming in a solo, I'm like I don't know if my fingers are going to choke up.

Rick - I know, it all happens to us playing live, I guess it’s part of the game and learn to deal with it.

Ian it was a pleasure talking to you. I’d like to thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule for this interview, greatly appreciate it.

Looking forward to the show Wednesday night here in Montreal. Have a great show, and wish you much continued success, Cheers!

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

THE DEAD DAISIES ANNOUNCE ‘LIVE & LOUDER’ 2017 WORLD TOUR & LIVE ALBUM High Octane, rip-roaring hard rockers THE DEAD DAISIES have announced a massive World Tour in celebration of the release of ‘LIVE & LOUDER’, the band’s highly-anticipated live outing, out on May 19th 2017 via Spitfire Music / SPV. In addition to prestigious high profile UK & EU Festival appearances throughout all of June, THE DEAD DAISIES are set to enthral Japanese fans with their highly-coveted return to the land of the Rising Sun in July after which they’ll travel to South America to make their long-awaited debut. It’s then back to Poland to play “Woodstock”, one of Europe’s biggest Festivals. August & September will see the band embark on their first ever North American Headline Tour where demand has been steadily building after 2016’s smash success of “Make Some Noise” and their summer tour with the mighty KISS The tour will take the band to many new markets and revisit some old stomping grounds. Lead Guitarist Doug Aldrich adds: "The Dead Daisies update: Getting my guitars ready for the 2017 “LIVE & LOUDER”-Tour! We’re gonna be doing a quick blast this summer…come and hang with us when you hear about the band coming through! See ya soon for a good dose of the Daisies!"

The “Live & Louder”-World Tour 2017 will visit the following countries: Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Denmark, Sweden, United Kingdom, Holland, France, Belgium, Hungary, Czech Republic, Japan, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Mexico, Poland, Canada and the USA. ”LIVE & LOUDER”, will be available in multiple deluxe formats & perfectly captures the awesome vibe of their supreme, sweat drenched, roof-raising live sets, recorded on a heady high at the end of an unbelievable 2016. The result, once again mixed by Anthony Focx (Aerosmith, Bad Company), is an absolute stunner!

Lead singer John Corabi: “We’re extremely excited and proud of ‘LIVE & LOUDER’! A lot of the fans have been writing to us and saying how much they LOVED our records but were even more blown away by the band live. The album shows the world how truly loud and supportive The Dead Daisies fans are! Turn It Up!!!!”

Rock & Roll is indeed alive and well!!!

LINE-UP: Doug Aldrich (Whitesnake, Dio) – Guitars John Corabi (Mötley Crüe, The Scream) – Vocals David Lowy (Red Phoenix, Mink) – Guitars Steel Notes Magazine Marco Mendoza (Thin Lizzy, Whitesnake) – Bass www.steelnotesmagazine.com Brian Tichy (Ozzy Osbourne, Foreigner) – Drums

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THE DEAD DAISIES: "MAKE SOME NOISE - LIVE & LOUDER" (official video) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0CTt7ocThI

LIVE & LOUDER WORLD TOUR 2017: EUROPE Fri 2 Jun Rock Hard Festival | Gelsenkirchen, Germany Sat 3 Jun Rock In Vienna | Vienna, Austria Sun 4 Jun Substage | Karlsruhe, Germany Tue 6 Jun Dynamo | Zürich, Switzerland Thu 8 Jun Amager Bio | Copenhagen, Denmark Fri 9 Jun Sweden Rock Festival | Solvesborg, Sweden Sun 11 Jun Download Festival | Donnington, United Kingdom Mon 12 Jun Liquid Room | Edinburgh, United Kingdom Wed 14 Jun Boerderij | Zoetermeer, Netherlands Fri 16 Jun Le Forum | Vaureal, France Sat 17 Jun Hellfest | Clisson, France Sun 18 Jun Graspop Metal Meeting | Dessel, Belgium Tue 20 Jun Hirsch | Nürnberg, Germany Wed 21 Jun Hellraiser | Leipzig, Germany Fri 23 Jun Harley Days Festival | Hamburg, Germany Sun 25 Jun Bluesiana | Velden, Austria Mon 26 Jun Bluesiana | Velden, Austria Tue 27 Jun Rockhouse | Salzburg, Austria Wed 28 Jun A38 | Budapest, Hungary Thu 29 Jun Lucerna Music Bar | Prague, Czech Republic Sat 1 Jul Freigericht Rockt Festival | Freigericht, Germany Thu 3 Aug Woodstock Poland | Kostrzyn, Poland JAPAN Wed 5 Jul Shibuya Club Quattro | Tokyo, Japan Thu 6 Jul Umeda Club Quattro | Osaka, Japan SOUTH AMERICA Wed 12 Jul Opera de Arame | Curitiba, Brazil (special guest to Richie Kotzen) Thu 13 Jul Carioca Club | Sao Paulo, Brazil (special guest to Richie Kotzen) Sat 15 Jul Vorterix | Buenos Aires, Argentina Sun 16 Jul Teatro Vorterix | Rosario, Argentina More South American Dates to be announced!

NORTH AMERICA Full North American Tour toSteel be announced!

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Ms. Motorsport Pageant Photos by Gary Preis For 31 years, Ms. Motorsports has been an essential part of the auto racing community, representing Area Auto Racing News as an ‘ambassador of speed’ at race tracks all over the country. From Super DIRT Week to the Knoxville Nationals to NASCAR Sprint Cup events, Ms. Motorsports embodies everything necessary to promote the sport of auto racing.

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COMING 2017-2018: The non-fiction drug crime book "The Last Gentleman Smuggler"

by Steven M. Kalish and Nikki Palomino What better way than to celebrate moving into 2017 like those who celebrated going into 1967....

COMING 2017-2018 the non-fiction crime book "The Last Gentleman Smuggler" by Steven M. Kalish and Nikki Palomino ...."You've had the Cocaine Cowboys, George Jung, Barry Seal, the Hippie Mafia and the Biggest Pot Dealer in New York City’s History, now you've got Skip, the fulcrum between Panama, Colombia, the US War On Drugs, Rock 'n Roll and Beautiful Women."

Ary stars in a rogue constellation bound with poor economics and drugs. We entered the two-car wide entrance to the red light district on the outskirts of town without notice. Texas license plates were as common as the hookers spilling out of segmented bars, single occupancy rooms, or into the camps along the unpaved road of Boys Town. The four-block box was surrounded by a wall. No barbed wire but broken glass lined the concrete top, and one couldn’t tell whether the wall had been built to keep people in or out. The Mexican government approved of prostitution, although pimping, procuring and pandering were not. Transvestites received one corner, the rest of the gravel littered with beer cans belonged to the girls usually with family working the bars.

We were in La Zona for pot. “Might as well have a few beers and check out the bars,” Don said as we entered the cantina playing Norteno or Ranchero music blasting from a speaker hidden by the crowd of whores and sloppy men.

We walked in confident and serious about why we were there. A young curvy woman who looked no older than me approached, the life burned from her eyes with each trick or maybe that was her way of making me feel guilty enough to pay extra for a room. The bartenders would get a cut from the room rental fees and their take at the bar. No one cared. Lawlessness meant profit and someone with a connection.

The key to our success was dependent on our mindset. We always had the ability to manipulate our attitude, body language, and overall posturing. We automatically controlled the thoughts of the cops we encountered. I never broke out in a sweat even though the heat smothered us among bodies smelling of sweat and sex. The bartender with a soiled rag wiped a glass as he chewed on a small cigar. The smart move was to position ourselves at the bar as a couple of harmless hippies in Trick Town for cheap drinks and sex. Gut instinct drove us as much as the dry wind drove the beer cans down the dusty road through the center of Boys Town.

Exclusive excerpt from the pages of the 2017-2018 non-fiction crime book "The Last Gentleman Smuggler" by Steven M. Kalish and Nikki Palomino... http://www.punkglobe.com/thelastgentlemansmuggler0317.php https://www.facebook.com/DAZEDGrungeRockerAuthor/ https://www.facebook.com/groups/1100845919933061/ https://www.facebook.com/groups/889183727860495/ http://www.punkglobe.com/thelastgentlemansmuggler0317.php https://www.facebook.com/groups/dazedraioshow/

Willy deVille - Across the borderline https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3AC8XONKoGQ

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Rock Your Way Jewelry By: Bev Charlotte Kurtz

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You can purchase Bev’s awesome rock jewelry at: https://www.etsy.com/shop/rockyourwayjewelry Steel Notes Magazine www.steelnotesmagazine.com

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FATHER DISFIGURED Unkind thoughts now said Wishes never dreamt This untrained world is floating on In the cloudy fog from above I do not have clarity at will I merely flow through words and exist From day to emergencies on end I slip away to the calamity I’d avoid Giving direction to the motionless I was eating the crap they fed me Until his seizure struck us all You unruly bitch!

Run into the darkness I know you don’t wanna see it I’m barely hanging on with you The new normal-a fucking joke Within weeks a new person emerged A cocoon cast with ropes and chains Battling from the mind We etch a small path And hope that you will follow But I see your Incan instinct To stubbornly curse the world Will not let us be helpful And your every need will die

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PADRE DESFIGURADO Pensamientos no amables ahora dichos Deseos nunca soñados Este mundo inexperto sigue flotando En la niebla nublado desde arriba No tengo claridad a mi antojo Simplemente fluyo a través de las palabras y existo De día a las emergencias al final Me escapo hacea la calamidad que evitaría Dando dirección a los inmóviles Estaba comiendo la mierda que me alimentaron Hasta que su ataque nos golpeó a todos ¡Perra desgraciada!

Corre hacea la oscuridad Sé que no quieres verlo Estoy contigo con la justas La nueva normal-una jodida broma En cuestión de semanas surgió una nueva persona Un capullo fundido con cuerdas y cadenas Luchando desde la mente Grabamos un pequeño camino Y espero que sigas Pero veo tu instinto incaico Maldeciendo obstinadamente al mundo No nos dejará ser útiles Y todas tus necesidades morirán

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FAMILIAL STROKE The unnerving distress The call I awaited but didn’t want The words I knew were coming but I didn’t want to hear I didn’t want to acknowledge I didn’t want to move I didn’t want to know or be a grownup I cannot be the only one I had to be the one and only I had to hear those words I had to know that all would be chaotic I knew I had to know what was new I had to figure out and not fall I had to be on point with no fail I didn’t have a chance to cry I didn’t have a chance to sit I didn’t have company or faith I had support but walked alone I shook with blind vague facts But there was no turning back There was no net to catch me Decisions on deathly meds were mine There was no other way I cringe at the mistake it could have been And lay sleepless at his slow progress With hope I wring my hands and plead The gods and dreams and ghosts around To keep your fighting spirit whole And let you breathe another day in life

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DERRAME FAMILIAL La desconcertante angustia La llamada que esperaba pero no quería Las palabras que sabía que venian pero no quería oír No quería reconocer No quería moverme Yo no quería saber o ser adulta No puedo ser la unica Tenía que ser solamente yo Tuve que escuchar esas palabras Tenía que saber que todo sería caótico Sabía que tenía que saber lo que era nuevo Tuve que averiguar y no caer Tuve que estar en el punto sin fallar No tuve la oportunidad de llorar No tuve la oportunidad de sentarme No tenía ni compañía ni fe Tenía apoyo pero caminaba sola Temblaba con hechos ciegos y impresisas Pero no había vuelta atrás No había red para cogerme Decisiones sobre medicamentos mortales eran mías No había otra manera Me encoge el error que pudo haber sido Y me quedó sin dormir en tu lento progreso Con esperanza, retorco mis manos y ruego Los dioses y sueños y fantasmas alrededor Para mantener tu espíritu de lucha entero Y dejarte respirar otro día en vida

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er t s a mM

The

a e r D of a

rAber e d n Wo cott

by S

Thomas Baker Knight Jr, who dropped his first name for his professional moniker, Baker Knight, had recorded – and more successfully penned – many melodies throughout his career. His ditties – including “Lonesome Town” and “The Wonder of You” - were recorded by a plethora of major Rock N Roll Era personalities such as Rick Nelson, Jerry Lee Lewis and Elvis Presley.

During the 1970s, Baker's new-found flair for writing country songs proved very successful not only for himself, but also for recording artists like Hank Williams Jr. and Mickey Gilley, among many more. But in 1969, Baker Knight got to present to the world, his greatest Melody.

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Melody Tuesday Lynn Knight is the birth name of actress/singer Tuesday Knight, who is best known to horror fans as Kristen Parker in the popular sequel “A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master.” But way before Tuesday's hauntingly melodic song “Nightmare” scored The Dream Master's opening credits, she was already enjoying work as a serious performer.

Tuesday's TV credits include guest roles on Fame; The Facts of Life; Matlock; Law & Order; and The X Files, as well as recurring roles on General Hospital and 2000 Malibu Road.

In the early 1980s, Tuesday lent much talent to the back up vocals on Quiet Riot's hugely successful

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album Metal Health, which led to her being signed to Vanity Records in 1984. CBS bought out Tuesday's recording contract in 1987, and she released her own self-titled debut album on Parc/CBS Records that same year. The album contained a cover version of the Prince tune “Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad?” “Out of Control”, the only single to be released from Tuesday's self-titled album, received decent exposure in dance clubs.

It has been remixed several times with different single releases.

Tuesday promoted the album by making a series of mall appearances, as well as performing at such venues as Madame Wong's West and The Palace.

Thirteen years later, in 2000, Tuesday released her second album, “Here It Comes”, which had more of a commercial success than her self titled debut.

In between releasing her albums and acting in such feature films as Mistress; Calendar Girl; The Babysitter (1995); and 2016's How to Be Single, Tuesday performed some highly memorable songs for film and television. Her recording of the song “Ivory Tower” was featured on the 1990 soundtrack to Mad About You. A 1996 episode of The Profiler titled “I'll Be Watching You” was scored with Tuesday's rendition of The Police's iconic classic “Every Breath You Take.”

In 2001, Tuesday lent her vocal styling to the song “If It Takes All Night” for the movie “The Theory of the Leisure Class.”

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Tuesday has also enjoyed stints as a keyboardist and backing vocalist for the David Bowie Tribute Band Space Oddity, and most recently retired from performing as the lead singer in a Deborah Harry, Blondie tribute band named Rapture: The Blondie Tribute.

“Faith”, an 18-track album featuring a collection of songs Tuesday recorded over the previous 25 years, was released in 2012.

Tuesday currently has all of her classic material available for download at most major download stores. But to Tuesday's devoted fans, her most successful song, even to this day, is Nightmare.

Tuesday was so excited to have gotten the role of Kristen in The Dream Master, that she wanted to lend her musical talents to the film as well. She wrote and recorded the song Nightmare (whose full length version runs just over 2 minutes, and is used during the film in its entirety) fairly quickly, gave it to the producer, and really thought no more about it during filming.

When Tuesday sat down with the rest of the cast and crew to watch the final cut of Nightmare 4 for the first time, she almost fell out of her seat when she heard the opening notes of her song start to play at the tail end of the New Line Cinema logo.

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Tuesday released a special edition EP on both digital download and CD, featuring various remixes of Nightmare, as well as some other songs close to her heart. A planned vinyl release of the EP proved to not be economically feasible, much to the dismay of both Tuesday and her followers. But a limited edition 45 of the song was pressed, and was a top seller among Tuesday's fans.

Tuesday has admitted to being quite insecure and rather shy. For the beach scene of Nightmare 4, she refused to come out of her trailer in the skimpy bikini that director Renny Harlin wanted her to wear. The bathing suit she appears in on screen, is due to her insistence on being tastefully covered up.

Tuesday's brief nudity in 1995's The Babysitter proves that she has attempted to overcome her insecurities. At least while in character. In candid professional interviews, Tuesday's shyness definitely comes through. And after seeing the way some “journalists” have treated her during the process, one cannot really blame her.

During a 2009 interview for Fox News, Tuesday quipped that the reason she often yells “No” where most female horror victims would scream, is because she really can't scream.

The news anchor wasted no time in putting Tuesday on the spot, making her demonstrate her lackluster scream just before the interview concluded.

Like her professional success, Tuesday's personal life is one of great triumph. She is a breast cancer survivor, and has helped with many charity functions. Including the Bling Your Bra auction held every October in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, which I am the annual DJ for. At our past two auctions, Tuesday submitted an autographed bra to raise money for breast cancer. Her 2016 entry was also signed by fellow Elm Street kids Danny Hassel and Lisa Wilcox, as well as Mr Freddy Krueger himself, Robert Englund.

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Animals are another pet cause of Tuesday's. She is an avid advocate against animal abuse and cruelty, and shares her home with two beautiful fur babies.

Fellow “Dream Master” Lisa Wilcox who plays Alice in Nightmare 4, teamed up with Tuesday in 2000 to found the footwear jewelry company ToeBrights, which was a pretty successful venture.

Tuesday currently has her own line of Victorian, Gothic and Egyptian-styled jewelry called “Tuesday's Hip Vintage.” Her recent creations have been worn

by Britney Spears and Madonna, among many other top celebrities. Fellow designer Stella McCartney has been quoted saying, “When you wear a piece of Tuesday's jewelry , you are convinced that she made it just for you.”

Tuesday married her husband Paul Gregory, after about a oneyear courtship. In addition to supporting Tuesday in her career and causes, Paul is also highly supportive of his Cleveland Indians. A former pro wrestler, Paul currently works a stunt double in movies and television. Paul is also slated to work as a credited actor in some upcoming projects.

Tuesday is currently working on some new music, which she is keeping very hush hush. My offer to give her some advanced press was so far declined, as she is not ready to let anybody hear what she is working on yet. That makes it even more enticing, and will undoubtedly result in her project becoming hugely successful.

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On a personal note, I would like to conclude this article by saying that I have the magnificent privilege of being a personal friend of both Tuesday and Paul.

I researched all of the information printed here, and sent it to Tuesday for approval before submitting it for publication. Both Tuesday and Paul share many qualities with me that make us destined to have become

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friends. And I consider myself very lucky to know them.

For even more information on Tuesday, including upcoming convention appearances, visit https://www.tuesdayknight.com.

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