Steel Notes Magazine 4th Anniversary Edition February 2018

STEEL NOTES MAGAZINE STAFF LISTING

ADMINISTRATIVE

Alexxis Steele

Publisher/Editor-In-Chief

Josie Janci

VP Of business development

Keith Boisvert Graphics/Layout/Cover

PHOTOGRAPHERS

Bob Klein

Sheri Bayne

Ron Shirey

Jr Muffley

Jacqueline McGuire

John Millington

Gary Preis

Mike Dorn

Brian Limage

Larry Dell

Rhonda Jean VanBuskirk

Dave Hummell

John Warner

STAFF WRITERS

Marlowe B West

Jerry Saravia

Dana Saravia

Scott Saxon

Josie Janci

Alex Shaffner

Luca Cerardi

Monique Grimme

Stewart Brodian

Scott Aber

Nikki Palomino

Rick Dessi

Ines Honig

Jennycat

Rex Maurice Oppenheimer

Todd Sobczak

VIDEOGRAPHERS

Lisa Koza

Larry Dell

Meet~‘Arachnafaria’ by Anne Stokes which figurine alone was 9 in tall, 5 in long, 3 in deep. She is totally hand painted and her beauty boggles the mind! Marie knew she would be perfect for one of her NEW 22/12” wing tipped pine crosses by Steve Isaacs! She started with a black opal back with a red web pattern front finishing with a high gloss seal. The paint job alone took two days which was so worth the patience. Marie built her cliff of cherry red and black ice with chunks of black fire glass and red and black faceted crystals which was her true challenge. Brass spider webs were added here and there to preserve the beauty of the paint. She is remarkable…and very LARGE!! $475

Meet~ ‘Enchanted Forest’ an adorable piece by Mini-World and you pixie lovers will get lost in the detail of this whimsical beauty. Marie started with a hunter green back with a green, yellow and orange front covered in abalone and used tons of metal cherries along with several vintage pieces with birds, dragonflies, suns, and rhinestone flowers. She placed him in a pool of multi colored sea glass with branches, clay toadstools, flowers ,plus leafs and built his cliff of green and gold ice along with a glass pathway and green sea glass. He took 3 days to complete and even these pics don’t come close to the beauty and fun of this adorable piece. He is hand cut from solid redwood by Steve Isaacs and 19”/7”. Comes with an easel stand! $600

Meet ‘Crescendo’ Marie’s forth violin featuring a ½ Size solid wood Violin with a matte finish. She covered the front with gorgeous gold glittered and white opal abalone, plus added brass, gold, rhinestone, pearled vines, dragonflies and vintage pieces throughout. Marie was going for retro glamour with a vintage look right out of ‘The Great Gatsby’! Pyramid ribbing was added around the entire violin with the final piece, a deer head with brass antlers. A hook was added for wall hanging and this amazing piece will actually be delivered in her violin case along with the bow and easel stand. She is incredible!!!! $900

Meet ‘Hatchling’, he is really an incredible AZURITE piece by ‘Pacific’ giftware. Marie started with a black back with a black, blue, orange and red front covered in gothic rhinestone pieces, dragons and steampunk gears throughout. She found an amazing silver alligator which was aged and distressed for the dark feel she was looking for and couldn’t be happier with the result.… A gothic steampunk alligator vs. dragon laden crazy large guitar which is hand cut by Steve Isaacs. Flippin’ SICK!!! Comes with a stand. 24”/8” $725

Strings

Meet~‘Strings’, an absolutely magnificent ½ size white maple violin! Marie started with white abalone and covered her in Swarovski Crystal, light Aurora Borealis, silver, rhinestone, notes, clefts, handmade clay flowers, pearls, and piano keys with mini violins throughout. She surrounded the piece in black and silver ribbing, and is her very 1st ‘stringed’ violin!!! She will be delivered in a case with her bow and also comes with a chrome stand. Pics will never come close to this beauty!

$1050

Interview with Loverboy guitarist Paul Dean

By Alexxis Steele photos by Sheri Bayne

Alexxis: Hello everybody.

This is Alexxis Steele from Music 101. I have with me today, the great Paul Dean of Loverboy… How are you Paul?

Paul: The great Paul Dean, I love that.. Thank you.

Alexxis: You're quite welcome. I've been checking out some of your history. Paul: Uh oh..

Alexxis: You started out playing a washtub bass when you were 12 years old? That's interesting.

Paul: That's true. You have been digging pretty deep.. let me tell you how that works, you get a washtub. I don't think they make them anymore.. you would use them on Halloween for Apple dunking or carrying your potatoes back from the field,or whatever you did with it. You put a hole in It & then you take a rope, I used a water ski rope, I was raised on a lake with water skis, tie a knot in it & then thread the rope through, the other end was on a broom handle, so the broom handle is connected & sits on the rim of the washtub… so when you pull on the handle, the string gets tighter so you can go higher just by pulling or loosening it. So that was my first play into rock n roll I guess.

Alexxis: So, how did you get started with the washtub bass? Did someone in your family show you how to play or are you from a musical family, what's the story there?

Paul: I do come from a musical family, my grandfather I guess he was a bit of a celebrity apparently, we're talking third of the century, last century. My parents were born in 1908, before they even had recorded music, he would sit around with a circle of friends. He would sit around & play on the piano all the new music that came out,but I don’t know how they got it. Maybe sheet music they could buy. Then my mother she wasn't a real performer, had a really great ear & a really good singing voice. She would play the piano all the time, then my sister picked up on it & started playing piano & play along. I didn't really start with my washtub, I actually started on a ukulele, so it was my first actual instrument with more than one string. And yeah, so we did that & I got a guitar, started that & got serious about it.

Alexxis: So, you played the acoustic guitar before the electric, you were playing badminton & smashed your acoustic guitar before you got your electric?

Paul: No, I had my electric. At least I had my electric so it was a seamless transition, but because I wasn't going to play it anymore, cause I was a goofy 14 year old kid, I used my guitar one day to play badminton. I probably hit it or instead of hitting my head on a rock I used it or something, I don't know what happened, but yeah, I smashed my first guitar.. I did a pre- Jimi Hendrix move on my acoustic guitar. This would've been in the, I don't know, 1960 or something like that.

Alexxis: Aah I see!

Paul: Way before Hendrix & Pete Townsend of course,I actually smashed or broke a guitar on stage once, I don't know what possessed me to do that, it was my main guitar, we were in this crazy thing of smashing out instruments, the drummer would knock over all his drums, the organ player would crash his organ & the reverb would go crashing through It, smashing my guitar.. It was just one of those crazy nights they have in rock n roll sometimes.

Alexxis: Absolutely. So how old were you when you were in your first band?

Paul: I was 15. I guess & I was playing bass, that was the gig they came down & saw me playing, my first gig, not my first paying gig. Every Saturday night we would have a bonfire at the resort I was raised in, I would string a 100 foot extension cord from my back porch to the edge of the water & we would build a big huge bonfire & people would come around & we would sing folk songs, because that was popular in those days. I would play guitar & we'd just sing along. I guess the guys heard about this guitar player, the guys in the band that hired me, they heard about this guitar player & called me up out of the blue & said,’ we understand you're a decent player, would you like to join our band? I said yeah absolutely, Mom can I? I mean there was no problem & so, but I found out I was going to be the bass player. That’s cool too, I like playing bass, so we had an accordion player, a guitar player, a drummer & me on bass. Then we would do a couple tunes & I also play sax, so I had 3 gigs on my first job; bass player, & played guitar on 2 songs, & I played Sax on 1 song, so that was kinda fun. To be in that band it was funny. I was making 10 bucks a night.. I thought ‘this is pretty good. Then we had this gig on New Year's Eve night, I know the boss made at least $200 That night for the show, I asked maybe I could get a raise? Maybe $12 instead of $10. He said nope, sorry you're making $10 bucks. So, I quit, that was it for that band.

Alexxis: Well geez, I don't blame you, only $10 dollars. I don't think I’d want to do a gig for $10 dollars either. Paul: Well, you know, when you're 15 & love to play, just like I do now.. I mean, money isn't a big deal for me, I just love to play. I get to play guitar now, but i get to play bass on most of my recordings; it's a fun instrument, I really like playing the bass but I think my best thing is guitar.

Alexxis: Right, that's your main baby is guitar. So, your guitar choice is it still the Fender Stratocaster & Gibson Les Paul?

Paul: That's Right, I haven't changed. I've been rocking those two guitars since as long as I remember. I had a Gretsch when the Beatles were out because George Harrison had a Gretsch, so you know how that works & then

I heard a guy play with Wilson Pickett who played a Telecaster through a Standel amp & I've never heard a guitar sound so amazing. It was the first I ever heard a distorted guitar & this was before Hendrix or anything else. This guy was a real pioneer & I couldn't believe It, so the next day I went out & bought a Telecaster, figured out I actually got a hold of an organ player, had the same kind of sound coming out of his rig. I asked ‘how did you do that sound?’ He said, I don't know, I don't think I want to tell ya. I said, come on man, I'm not going to be competing with you, I'm a guitar player, not an organ player. He said ok, here's what you do… so I coughed all his electronic wizardry & I launched into that sound, you know the distorted, bluesy; same sound I have now basically.

Alexxis: Very cool. So now, you met Mike Reno back in ‘78 at the Calgary Refinery Nightclub?

Paul: That's right. The story, I was playing bass actually, I had maybe 2 or 3 gigs playing bass in a power trio. We were doing basically AC/DC covers & stuff like that & the guitar player used to play with Mike , & Mike had just left his band Moxy from Toronto. He came back to Calgary where I was living. He came back to visit Craig the guitar player in the band I was in & I heard Mike singing & said ‘oh man, this man has an amazing voice’, so i talked to him after. You know, i was, they were in another room jammin, hangin out & I heard Mike singing, so we got together the next day, he said yeah, let's try it out & see where it goes. We wrote a couple tunes, we wrote “ Always On My Mind” & “ Meltdown”, which shows up on a couple albums & yeah we hit it off right away. Yeah, he was working construction, it was in the middle of winter in Calgary, so you can imagine those days it was -30 below for weeks at a stretch, it was brutally cold before global warming. So anyways, he was working outdoors, I'm not sure if he was hauling cement in the wheelbarrow or hauling lumber up to the fifth floor on the rafts, he was doing something like that. He was just trying to make a living & he just left his band so he came down after work so we whipped up a couple tunes & just sort of stayed together for four years almost.

Alexxis: Very cool. So, I guess it was like a year later when you actually formed Loverboy in ‘79? Paul: Actually, we formed Loverboy, the way I see it Mike & I formed Loverboy when we first met. We didn't actually come up with this crazy idea Loverboy, but yeah, we just automatically hit it off & started writing songs. I had a record deal in place that I was committed to with my previous band Streetheart, but it wasn't a great deal, they didn't promote it or anything or get it on the street or I didn't feel it anyway. So, we were obligated, we had to send them demos & had them ok it, so Mike & I wrote the worse demos you ever heard, probably sang it out of tune & out of time.. horrible. The cheesiest tunes we could think of just to fulfill my obligation, so we sent it to them.. thankfully they passed on it. They said,’ Sorry guys, we have to pass, we said, that's ok no problem. So at least we were free & negotiate whatever we could in the future. It took a couple years to get the song’s & the rest of the band together, to shop a deal around. We were actually playing live, we've been playing about 2 or 3 months before we actually got a deal, even then it was only a Canadian deal.

Alexxis: Right, I was going to say that you were turned down by the US labels Right? Initially.

Paul: We were you know, the very first thing we did in the States, Mike & I went down there with our manager Lou Blair at the time & the three of us went to LA to shop, because we had an appointment with Capitol Records, but I can't remember if it was the day before or the day after, on that same trip, we went to this outdoor gig at the Colosseum in LA & Van Halen was playing, Cheap Trick, Eddie Money, & all these really cool bands, still great great great bands, we wanted to see where we were at because we want to know are we doing the right thing here? Are we even close? Not that there was anything we could do about It, but that's who we are but we went ‘ you know what, I think we will fit in this slot & we're on the right track. Thankfully, what gonna do, say let’s go write a Van Halen tune, no, but we felt, you know we could be on a stage right now & we could be playing these songs and we could get over with this crowd. Then we went to Capitol Records & played them the demos we had maybe 6 or 7 songs on a ghetto blaster, we didn't go in like we were singing live you know we just had maybe guitar, metadome for drums & 2 vocals because we established that right off the bat like the Everly Brothers two part harmony thing & John Lennon, Paul McCartney two part harmony thing, we kinda had our own style so we took it to the guy (I can't remember his name) doesn't matter & he said, “you guys don't have any attitude so there's no room for you here on the label.” We went,” What are you talking about, you can't hear the attitude in these tunes?” It was hard to miss on “ Turn Me Loose” & everything, but anyways, no problem, we got a deal in Canada. We played a gig in Vancouver, the A&R guy in charge of signing bands came out & saw us, he really liked it so a little while later after we had some success on our first album in Canada, I think we already gone Platinum, then the word got out to the guys at Columbia Records in N.Y. Paul Atkinson came up, I think he was the bass player or guitar player for the Zombies. No longer with us unfortunately, but he came up & saw us & liked us right away & signed us. We were on our way, we had deals in Canada & the US, I guess the rest of the world, just because Columbia was a world wide label. So we were golden.

Alexxis: So they just kinda took off running from there.pretty much?

Paul: Kinda. We still had alot to prove & still do as far as I'm concerned. We go out on stage every night & bring everything we got, there's no cruising allowed.

Alexxis: That's right, and you definitely do. And I spoke with Mike Reno last year & we were discussing many things & I said, because I'm a singer myself & we were doing your music when it came out in the 80s, but the funny thing is I'm still doing your music now. Actually, in my band I'm doing “Turn Me Loose” & “Working for the Weekend”.

Paul: I thank you for that. Hey I get a dime for every time you play it on stage.

Alexxis: Well, there ya go.Everytime we play it live, you make money off of me, how about that (giggles). That's a sad state of affairs, that's a whole other show Right?

Paul: Are you the singer?

Alexxis: Yes, I'm the lead vocalist. Actually Mike & I were supposed to do a duet, since I sing Ann Wilson songs. He said we have to get you up & do “ Almost Paradise” as a duet, but I know once again you're on tour with Night Ranger, so it's not like your own show, so your time is limited, & he said, “ He didn't even get to his favorite song “ When It's Over” last time, so are you guys going to be playing it this time?

Paul: I would imagine, we have 75 minutes, pretty much a whole 90 minute set, so we will be cutting a couple small solos out, so trim it down to a 75. But yeah, I think we will be playing all of those.We played in Pucana last weekend. Mike's girlfriend Cathy, she's a great singer, so we did “Almost Paradise “.

Alexxis: Oh that's cool, I never heard her.

Paul: I mean we got the perfect slot, it's not like we can't take out a ballad & slide that one in.

Alexxis: So you actually won a Juno award.

Paul: Yes we did, that was pretty cool, in ‘82 we had a couple in 3 years, we won 1 Juno in ‘82, but we won 6 Junos- that hadn't been matched before.. May I say so humbly. We were pretty stoked, but that's a pretty awesome thing to do. It was funny, we were at #5 & we were getting ready to do some press in the other room, the producer came by & said ‘ guys, you might want to set down again. Just don't go anywhere, give us another 5 minutes.’ We said oh ok I get It, that was totally unexpected but thank you very much.

Alexxis: So, you're the main composer for most of your work?

Paul: I am. I guess I'm 60% overall if you want to cut it down by so long, you know, generally. Mike & I, you know a lot of times I will write a song, get a song pretty much done & then Mike will come along and say ‘why don't we change Waiting for the Weekend to Working for the Weekend & I'll go oh yeah, that's cool. Sometimes I'll say, hey Matt if we have a line duh to duh to duh & then the fourth line is blah blah blah, what do you think the third line should be? Then he comes up with a line, then ok cool. Then he has credit for Working for the Weekend for 1 line. It's just how we work. Alot of bands just split it up, like no matter who is in the room gets equal cuts, I don't know. Whoever contributes gets the payback, you know.

Alexxis: Absolutely. So, in ‘89 you had your first solo debut album called Hardcore? Paul: I did, yes.

Alexxis: You did that with Bryan Adams, & Paul Stanley? Was that the one?

Paul: Bryan Adams, they were involved strictly as songwriters. Paul Stanley, Desmond Child & Bruce Kulick, they wrote “Sword & Stone” apparently & Bryan Adams & Jim Balance wrote “Draw The Line”. The deal with “Sword & Stone”, I was in Jersey writing with Jon & Richie from Bon Jovi and we had just written most of the line share of Notorious, we wrote it out & then added a couple more guys in on it. We wrote the genesis of the tune & I think I was there for 4 days & the second day Desmond Child joined us & struggled with a couple things but never had any complete songs, but at the session Desmond gave me “Sword & Stone”, this is cool, I love this tune… this is a great song. I took it back & pitched it to Mike.I sounded like the record guy, I said I got this tune, what do you think? Do you want to use this song as a Loverboy thing or not? He said, it's not really my thing, its a little to metal, don't know what he was thinking. May not use metal actually, but it didn't hit him lyrically or strategically, I said that's cool & the same thing with “Draw The Line”. I pitched it to Mike & said I think this is a pretty cool tune, so what do you think? He said, well it's not really my thing, I don't really hear it. Maybe it was the lyrics or maybe he knew Nugent already put it out. See, I didn't know that when Bryan gave me the song. But then again, Bryan might've pitched it to Nugent on the same week or something for all I knew. Because I think I was sitting on the song for a year or something & kept going back to it like, this is a really cool song & then in the meantime Ted Nugent put it out & I didn't know. Not that it matters, do you know how many covers that have been made on “Yesterday” by the Beatles? So to me, a good song is a good song, so I put it on my album & when I was mixing the album with Bob Rock in Little Mount Studios in Vancouver, Bon Jovi was recording I believe, Bad Medicine next door. It's In the same building just across the hall kind of thing. With its own double doors, security & everything. But I knew Jon from before from writing & I had a tune, I asked if he would come

& play harmonica, he said yeah buddy.. So we found a distorted amp & an old mic that people used for recording harmonica & he played his but off, I thought it was great. He did a really good job. I have a feeling he sang some of the backgrounds in the song “Under The Gun” too. I don't know, but that's kinda the story between those two tunes.

Alexxis: Ok, very cool, that’s a good collaboration of musicians for that you know.

Paul: Yeah yeah, I mean it's always great to work with other musicians, Matt Fernett is playing on that, Spider is playing on one song, Bryan McCloud is playing drums on all other songs & I’m playing bass on a couple tunes, I think I'm playing bass on most of the songs actually now that I think about it. It's been awhile but you're probably wondering why we're even talking about this album, but I've been working on some new stuff. I'm thinking I would really like to put this new album im working on, on Spotify. I don't know, I don't even know if Hardcore is on there & sure enough it wasn't on there, it wasn't on Apple music or Google play, so I phoned up my manager & said I don't think people can stream this tune, you can download it but can't stream it. Why don't we see if Columbia would be cool with doing that, actually they're Sony now, they said absolutely, so two weeks later it was up & streaming, then they took it a step further & found the two videos I did. They found “Sword & Stone” & “Draw The Line”, I guess they were on the old betamax tapes you know, that we used back in the 80s, so they're going to record them to digital & put them on video or something you know. So, I wasn't expecting that.. So it's really cool.

Alexxis: Ok, so you mentioned the Beatles before, a lot of musicians were influenced by the Beatles, were you? Paul: Unbelievably so. My favorite thing about the Beatles is their white album. It's like there’s 30 songs on there & every song is different, so many formats(if you call it a format). So many styles of songs it's just unbelievable. They started out, I mean we're pretty much the same age maybe a little older, but I remember when they come out with “I Want to Hold Your Hand”, I couldn't believe the rhythm part on that it was just a great Rock and feel that over and over again. I used to sing when I saw her standing there in a recorder at school and people would say hey man you got that going pretty good (chuckles). This is my favorite Beatles story though I was I used to play disc jockey for dances we used to call and saw cops talk about dated but anyway that's what we called it back in the 60s. So I'm running the machine with the two speakers out and it's after lunch and all the kids started coming into the gym guy standing on one side girls on the other. The guys get up his nerve and walk over just like out of the movie, just like you wouldn't imagine it. I was playing Beach Boys and who knew who knows what else. I put on a Beatles and all the girls in the gym scream I'm not kidding you is like you could feel the tension and the fever building up and then they would do this big note and yeah yeah yeah and the chicks would just scream, I couldn't believe it.

Alexxis: They went wild…

Paul: Yeah it's like the Beatles were there and they're screaming to a freaking record. In unison like there's 50 girls screaming I went this is so unbelievable I just couldn't believe that sadly I never got to see them, they got to play in Vancouver at least once but I didn't have the cash. I lived 500 to 600 miles from there so I just couldn't get in there to see them a little sad. I never saw the Beatles ,Zeppelin and I never saw Elvis, I couldn't have cuz they played Vancouver but I just couldn't get it together to see any of them.

Alexxis: That's too bad.

Paul: Not that bad. I'm not complaining, I did get to see the Rolling Stones a bunch of times and pretty much everyone else.

Alexxis: okay, very cool. So getting back to more current times, I guess it was 2014 is when you put out ‘Unfinished Business’, and I know the story behind that from when I was talking to Mike Reno last time. I didn't know it was your idea about the Facebook contest, to where the fans got to choose the title of the CD.

Paul: That's right, I figured why not. I mean it's not like we couldn't have come up with something, I just figured it's kind of like a fun thing to do. We had a video making contest as well, for one of the crazy names and Unfinished Business came up and we went on before and explained what it was all about, we've got a bunch of songs

that have been sitting in the vault for about 40 years, some of them almost ready to go sitting in the vault some of them needed to be recent and some needed to be rearranged, it's really great because you can come back, even the next day but if you come back 10 years later it becomes obvious sometimes you say this is obviously what's wrong why this didn't work out, cut out the section put it over here blah blah blah and we came in and finish the album. Mike came in and finished a bunch of stuff and changed the lyrics, took a piece from another tune, took a bunch of stuff that people said what, I thought you just sang it live? No, it doesn't actually work like that. It's like section, like putting a puzzle together with all these little pieces and sometimes you can take a piece from another puzzle then all of the sudden it makes more sense. So back to the contest, I came up with Unfinished Business because that's exactly what it is or was. For the past 40 years it was unfinished business, and then we finished it. I didn't want to call it ‘Finished Business’, because I thought Unfinished Business was coolest not just me but everybody in the band.

Alexxis: Well, it did make sense. Paul : Well, it made perfect sense to call it that, I can't remember the dude's name but he probably got to come back stage hang out with us and got a bunch of Merch and swag bag you know.

Alexxis : I'm sure.

Paul: I think the t-shirt is the most important thing. But to me it is bragging rights, you know. If I did something like that for Night Ranger, if I was a fan, and I am a fan, and if they had a contest and I didn't know them and I submitted something in one... I'd be like hey world look at this!. It's a pretty cool thing to do. But yeah it's a way to keep our fans talking to us engaged, and it was just a fun thing to do.

Alexxis: Absolutely, what about this new contest about the video?

Paul: Well, we released the tune put it out on Spotify and I believe we put it on our website and people could listen to it and download it. We just said the person who makes the best video will win this guitar and we showed a picture of the guitar that the band has signed, if we are in your area comeback stage bring your family and we will party you know. So it turned out the winner just lived outside of Houston we were playing a private show in San Antonio and we told him what we were doing, so he came out and brought his wife and daughter and basically just stood backstage. We got together with them before and took a bunch of pictures and gave him the guitar and gave him a few shirts, hats, drumsticks and whatever we got. So then we got the inside scoop on that and hung out with them. He went home happy and we went on to our next gig. It was for the song what's in it off that same bunch of tapes that Unfinished Business came from and I went back afterwards after Unfinished Business was completed & released and wondered if there were any more gems lying in there. I got through it and I heard “Stop The Rain”, I know the vocals were complete and everything it didn't have any guitar on it it had keyboard, bass, and a little bit of drums. I said you know what?, I think this is Doug's tune, so I made a quick mix and sent it to Doug and said is this your tune,and he said yeah that's my song. I said okay great! is it cool we finish it and put it out there? He said go for it!, so we did. We put it up and we had a few entries and we thought that the guy with the space aliens I thought was hilarious when I saw it, and I thought it was really cool, how was it going to end? Will Loverboy get eaten by a five-headed monster, I don't know what will happen. I'm a big science fiction fan, so it was a no-brainer for me this guy's got a great sense of humor and is really cool, so everybody agreed management and the band both thought it was cool.

Alexxis: so now, I see pictures of you and I Heart Radio 80s party with Billy Idol ,Boy George, Dave Bozzio from Missing Persons and a bunch of other 80s artists. It looked like it was a lot of fun. Paul: Yeah it was we played three songs.

Alexxis: Where was that at?

Paul: It was at the Forum at the refurbished LA forum. I think it was one of the first shows they had since the redesign. It was great, I mean Billy Idol, Steve Stephens, are you kidding me what a great guitar player. I'm his biggest fan, he's a great guitar player alive and on record and I had a really cool time one time they came through Vancouver, before I met them and our monitor guy who runs our monitors was running their monitors Billy Idol's monitors, so he arranged for me to meet Steve so I came up on stage being his biggest fan like a little kid

you know. I asked hey men, can I play a rig, can I play your guitar? I just want to know what it sounds like. He said yeah man here you go! I always like to do that to see what other guitars players go for and the gear they use and the sound that comes out of their rigs. I just have a great appreciation for that. My first love is guitar playing and working on my ceiling and working on my tunes, that's what I do. I'm a real guitar sound freak, let's put it this way, I like my guitar sound. I'm really happy with it, for a musician if you're struggling with your sound if it's not speaking for you it's not your voice, it's really hard to get into it or feel it. When it's all dialed in and what it sounds in your head coming out it kind of plays itself, instead of struggling with it because I had a couple shows that I didn't want to take my main guitar, because I didn't know what the security was going to be like and I was a little worried about Customs taking it and not releasing it or whatever. So I left it and took my second guitar and I said what have I done you know. It's so important to me to get my voice, like a lot of guys don't care but me, cuz I talk to a lot of guys who talk to a little solid state box that they plug into it right directly into the PA system. It's kind of technical stuff.

Alexxis: I was going to ask you what kind of amplification do you use for your guitar?

Paul: Well you know what I'm talking about cause you're in a band.

Alexxis: Oh yes, of course, our guitar player has a small one just like you're talking about that goes into the PA. Paul: Yep yep, no, I use a 50-watt marshall 900 that I had modified slightly. We carry that wherever we go, we stick it in the belly of the plane along with that I carry two guitars and I use a TC electronic G system for my effects, that's all I use for my effects. For the Wawa, boost, Echo, Reverb, chorus, dividers, flange, it's an amazing system.

Alexxis:

Is that a TC Helicon?

Paul: No, it's a TC Electronics and is ecology system. It's a big bullet proof system, it takes anything so that's what I use. One of the key things to my chain is I use a Sennheiser wireless and one thing I like about it, it has a gain controller so you can find tune your gain and make it really distorted or really clean and once you get the app, it can only go so saturated and so distorted that the GC N900 even though you turn it up 20, that's serious if they go up to 20. Obviously they've seen Spinal Tap , so that's the real key component to my Sennheiser Wireless.

Alexxis: Oh, very cool. I associate Sennheiser with microphones mostly.

Paul: That's right, they make decent microphones and the band will all use Sennheiser in ears as well. They make studio quality headphones. You know the Sennheiser microphone, they make a couple really good ones I'm not a really big fan necessarily of their mics but the headphones, and ear systems and their guitar transmitters, they're the best as far as I'm concerned. Hell I've tried them all.

Alexxis: Oh wow, that's good to know. Paul: Free endorsements for Sennheiser.

Alexxis: Right, I know. Free endorsements, you should be getting paid for that haha

Paul: Just happy to help.

Alexxis: I saw something about 80s in the sand, is that a show coming up like a cruise or something?

Paul: Oh, we just did that actually last week.

Alexxis: Oh, you just did that okay.

Paul: it was in the Dominican Republic in Punta Cana. It was three days of I don't know about probably four or five bands a day and I believe they're had four of the original MTV DJs from there, who work for Sirius. It was a cool transition for them cause like everyone went with Sirius so they we're all there and we were hanging out with them backstage and talking to Alan Hunter before, he was heading back to Chicago. But Night Ranger played on that too as well.

Alexxis: So, who was there?

Paul: I saw Howard Jones, he played the night before. He sounded amazing... Great live show.

Alexxis: Yeah? , Howard Jones, cool!

Paul: It was just him and his keyboard and another keyboard player who plays left-handed bass and a lady drummer who was fantastic. So it was great.

Alexxis: It’s funny because his name just came up recently, talking about 80s music and how it was in the time when there were so many types of music in the same time period, you know, like New Wave.Howard Jones would be considered New Wave and all the other artists like Dale Bozzio ,Boy George, Loverboy and all the glam metal, all the different kinds of music, so you know that was a big time in music I think.

Paul: It was big time and it was a big fun time too. Before It was a lot easier. Not as many rules or laws, it was a really fun time. We got kind of sobered up when grunge hit, I know musically we really sobered up and then that kind of run its course and now it's back to being amazing music out now. It's great you know we're playing with Weezer, they're playing December 2nd and we're playing on the 3rd in Fort Lauderdale. I can't wait to see those guys, I'm hoping we can get in town early enough to where I can go see them, I've never seen them. Jerry our sound man / road manager said he saw them once and says they're the ultimate party band. It's kind of what we subscribe it to and Night Ranger, too as well, we are kind of like party bands. I'm hoping I get to see them there songs sure I love the music, so good.

Alexxis: Oh absolutely, that's so cool and now we get to the present time and this coming Saturday the 25th you'll be at the State Theater in Easton and we'll be there actually I'll be there with my magazine, that's my other half. Paul: It is a tricky thing being on the road, you know. It's pretty basic what we like, I know it sounds ridiculous but if we can get something like that in the dressing room before we go on, you never know, will be doing two in a row so we're going to be driving from our previous show to see you guys and sometimes you have to make a choice am I going to eat ,sleep, soundcheck ,have a shower ,can't do them all, pick two. Most of the time as the eating the gets put on the back burner, so it's serious trivia there. I'm sure people are going okay that's really interesting. But that's just how it works for us sometimes.

Alexxis: Absolutely.

Paul: It gives us that energy. I know for Matt and Mike, they have a really hard gig. Me I just wiggle my fingers and do backup from one of the most amazing singers in the world and to get to play with the probably the best drummer in the world. But those two guys work really hard, I mean Mike, if you watch him sing, he's putting it all out. He's not faking he's pushing out all this worth. And so is Matt, we probably won't be doing it this tour, but most nights he does a 10-minute solo, as does Spider on the bass too. I can't believe the energy he has for an old fart, it's pretty incredible what he does.

Alexxis: This is what you're calling the ‘Working For The Weekend tour?

Paul: Sure, why not, ‘Working On The Weekend’.

Alexxis: Working On The Weekend it is!

Paul: Yep, yep, yep. Maybe that's what somebody is calling it.. Haha

Alexxis: Ok awesome!, I want to thank you Paul for taking the time out of your busy schedule to speak with me.

Paul:No problem Alexxis I will see you on the weekend!

Alexxis: Sounds good. Thank you and take care!

Avrom (When

God was Wrong)

by: Rex Maurice Oppenheimer

Avrom squinted into the sun’s rays as he awoke. He turned to Suzanne lying beside him and gently kissed her shoulder. Smiling in her sleep, she lifted her leg and wrapped it over his.

He touched her, smoothing his hand down her side and along her thigh. Sighing, she nuzzled in, holding him, warming like a lioness in the sun. Their love and desire shimmering like heat rising on the savannah. When their skin touched, Avrom knew he was right where he was supposed to be

Suddenly he sat up. “Oh my god, the kids!” Wide-eyed, he stared at the clock, “I forgot the kids were here.”

Avrom and Suzanne had been married a year. The children were from his previous marriage. He had custody of them two days a week and every other weekend. Suzanne loved them, but getting used to an instant family hadn’t been easy.

“It’s late,” explained Avrom, as he slid from Suzanne’s arms, “Rachel’s lunch, their breakfast, I’ve got to get them to school.” Suzanne held on, for a minute, teasing, and yet, a little miffed. She felt cheated. So did he.

Trying to hurry, Avrom pulled on his underwear before wrapping himself in a robe. The underwear beneath the robe was for modesty’s sake in front of the children. In the past, Avrom would walk around stark naked, but Suzanne insisted that he not only wear a robe when the kids were there but underwear, too. She had told him that to only wear the robe, which would swing open when he moved, was covert abuse.

He’d thought that was bullshit. Psychobabble. When he first met Suzanne, her bookcase contained nothing but self-help books and myriad volumes on various approaches to spiritual awareness. Avrom detested psychology, “that’s where all the psychos come from,” he used to say, and before he’d met Suzanne, and before he’d crawled back into recovery from the substances that were destroying him, reading books about spiritual awareness meant you didn’t get it.

He had always figured he knew what was in all those books anyway, and that none of it did any good, unless of course you could really believe it, but then being a Seventh Day Adventist or a Moonie, or an orthodox Jew could work, too — if you really believed it.

Avrom hadn’t believed in gurus, religions or spiritual paths. For if they worked, he thought, they would produce a golden people walking among us. But there were none. Only tarnished idols with Swiss bank accounts.

Although Avrom still didn’t believe in gurus, and continued to think that of lot of psychology was misguided, misused and mistaken, he now knew that there was much that he didn’t understand. Suzanne could communicate concepts in a way that made sense, and, although his first reaction was often to reject her insights, the same way he rejected the flat-screen revelations on Oprah, he had learned that if he was going to find anything even resembling contentment in this life he was going to have to change.

Rachel was in the bathroom, experimenting with various tubes and bottles of cosmetics, curling irons and straightening gels. She was as insecure as she was beautiful, because she was 13 years old, and because the modern world had given everyone so much, including a million new forms of fear, and had taken away so much, like the security of family continuity, believing in something and having a sense of meaning.

Growing up was probably always hard, but it seemed to Avrom that it must have been easier when people’s lives were smaller. When their geography consisted of a village and their future path was already full of the footprints of their family that had gone before them.

That there were no guarantees in life was a joke, “all you can count on is death and taxes,” people would say. Avrom understood that nothing in life could provide surety, no matter how well one lived, or what one achieved, whether it was fame, wealth, or even love. Catastrophes seemed to orbit the globe like some cosmic cloud, and at any moment a piece of horror could come burning through the atmosphere like a meteor, to strike one’s life with cancer, car crashes, murder, disaster.

Once, his friend, Alan, had asked, “What do you believe in?” Avrom didn’t know what to answer. There seemed a point at which everything seemed suspect, untrustworthy or at least unsure. He thought he believed in love, but doubted its power. How many concentration camp victims had had their babies torn from love’s hands and smashed like a melon against a wall?

Avrom knew that if there were a God, such horrors weren’t God’s fault. God gave everyone free will. People committed those wrongs. But why would there be the whole drama of a creator, a God, and its creations, if there weren’t a purpose? Most religions and spiritual paths allude to a progression, whether it’s through reincarnation, transcendence, or following commandments, which advances the soul. But toward what and for what purpose?

Why create a life that is just a test track? Where God is just a bureaucrat or a pedant, turning his back on babies that are being tossed in the air and caught on bayonets in Nanking, while saying to himself, “Gee, I wish these people would get it and follow my commandments,” (or whatever it is God wants).

Avrom just couldn’t believe in a God anything like any of the Gods in any of the religions. God cannot be a super-powered being of any kind; God just couldn’t have a mind, or a conscience.

Walking into the kitchen, Avrom began to make coffee and start on the lunches before he had to wake up Simon. His son was in fifth grade, just turning 11, and Avrom loved him with a deep and passionate love that filled his very being. He’d catch sight of the little boy’s sneakers, the soft hair on his small arms, or the concern in his immature face, and his heart would grieve for his son’s uncertain future in what could be a wicked world, yet also smile with sweet pleasure at his very presence filled with promise.

Avrom poured the French roast coffee beans into the grinder, pressed the button and listened to it buzz. He thought of when an insect dances, twists and flexes in a mating ritual, and a simple gesture, a stretch of the wings, a display of color and design in a tiny, bug-sized

corner of the world, is part of a huge scheme for the propagation of a species.

“What do I know?” thought Avrom.

He walked into Simon’s room, switched on the light and pulled open the blinds, “Good morning, Simon. Time to wake up.” No movement. Waking Simon was a task. He never woke easily. He relished the comfort of the bed. The little boy stretched and yawned but didn’t rise. He turned back into the sheets, pulling up the blanket.

“Simon,” Avrom almost yelled. “Get up!”

Nothing.

“If you don’t get out of bed, I’m going to smear honey all over you and bring in a pack of wild coyotes,” Avrom said, with mock sternness.

Simon bit at the joke. He jumped up, a look of alarm on his face. Not scared of the coyotes, but amused by Dad’s inventive discipline. He smiled. They did this every morning that Dad woke him up.

Avrom smiled, too. He was thankful for the coyotes’ assistance. Avrom would feel so frustrated when Simon wouldn’t obey him, even over relatively small things. It was partly because the kid would commit the same offenses again and again. It was the old parent’s refrain, “If I’ve said this once I’ve said it a thousand times,” but on a deeper level, not knowing what to do or how to be sure he was doing the best thing, frightened Avrom.

It was hard for him to discipline or punish Simon. He’d shout threats that he didn’t mean or wouldn’t carry out, which he knew just made the matter worse. Simon was a little boy; he needed guidance, but Avrom had no role model of how to be a father. Sure, he could see how it should be done. There were examples. But he lacked the emotional imprint that comes from experiencing a father’s guiding hand in his own life. Lack of discipline had been his dilemma and his downfall.

As he made Rachel’s turkey sandwich and put some chips in a baggie, Avrom gazed at the window, beyond which the blossoms were blurs of color. Looking at the

transparent glass separating the clean, dry, warm living space from the outdoors, he thought about a civilization that could turn sand into glass, transmit information through midair, create weapons of mass destruction and waste billions of dollars on meaningless fads and fashions, while being unable to solve so many basic problems. Focusing on the flowers, he thought about the simple mystery underlying it all.

After his constant struggle to make sense of the concept of God, what an irony it was that Avrom’s new life, in which he was at least willing to be sober and responsible, depended upon a belief in what could be referred to as a higher power.

Despite his beliefs and doubts, and because of the gift of desperation, Avrom had begun to pray. He was honest when he said that intellectually he didn’t believe in God, that his mind could imagine a million arguments against the existence of a God that cares or intervenes on his behalf. “Why care for my future, or me?” thought Avrom, “and not care for some child somewhere being raped? And to think that God would have a mission for my life, what is that but ego?”

Despite all those doubts and disbeliefs, and because of his recovery from drugs and alcohol, Avrom had begun to pray. It didn’t matter whether there was a God or not, nor whether his prayers were heard by anything. He did it as a ritual, a discipline, which is something that had been sorely lacking in his life. It was part of the actions he took, whether they made sense or not, which kept him sober. The fact that his life was so much better overruled the need for debate, or to even make sense.

Not long ago, while he and Suzanne were praying before going to bed in their Paris hotel room, offering words to a God he couldn’t define or didn’t particularly believe existed, it dawned on him that if he didn’t believe, he was alone.

He wasn’t alone in the sense of loneliness; he had Suzanne in his life. She was his wife, lover and best friend, a compatriot and a confidant. But all his life he had always had the burden of deciding, of knowing what to do, how to live. It rested on his shoulders, alone. He had been trying to figure everything out,

think of the missing key that would open the door and set him free, and he had been unable to make it work.

Ironically he had turned his back on all the paths others seemed to follow to make sense of their lives. He’d dropped out of school, found the ability to cope through drugs and alcohol and kept making wrong choices, even when he knew better. He had been miserable. His life had been a shambles. A refuse pile of spoiled opportunities and burned bridges. Junk.

Oh there had been adventures. He’d vagabonded around the world, rescued time and again by beautiful women and good fortune. But beneath it all he was empty, insecure and lost.

But now he prayed and he wasn’t alone anymore. Prayed not because he wanted to, or believed he was petitioning a king on a throne, but because he had to. He found he could ask for the strength to walk through his fears and deal with the results. It wasn’t belief so much as action.

He and Suzanne were so different and yet so similar. Searching, she had been willing to follow almost any guru that caught her fancy, looking for a divinely inspired guiding hand. While Avrom had been hunkered down in dope-filled darkness, dreams of grandeur dancing like sugar plums, expecting the hand of Divinity to crash through the roof and elevate him to greatness.

Avrom was cynical and Suzanne was mystical, both had lived in expectation, rather than in the present, and both were separated from themselves and the world. Now Avrom realized that cynicism blocked his spiritual development, and Suzanne knew that the gurus hadn’t helped her; they’d led her astray. The gurus had catered to her self-centeredness, even while preaching humility and self-sacrifice. Their spiel was all about losing the ego but people’s egos and their needs were what drew them to the gurus. Avrom and Suzanne had met in a place strange to them both — reality.

He was happy. Dreams had not come true, but the surprises had turned out even better. Accepting his limitations, not as restrictions, but as the design of his

life, becoming honest and really who he was, had set him free to live unfettered by expectation, able to find joy in the grandeur of an ordinary day.

Checking his watch as they left the house, he beseeched Simon, as he had a million times before, “Don’t slam the door. Have some consideration for Suzanne; she’s still asleep. You know how hard she works.”

Late again. He’d have to rush. It took an hour out of his day to drive them to school. First they’d drop off Rachel, then drive about 20 minutes in the opposite direction to get Simon to his school. As soon as they sat in the car Rachel turned on the radio and started scanning stations for music.

Avrom had never envisioned himself as a father, making his kids’ lunches and taking them to school. His own father had been a washout. He was a flawed, if sometimes interesting, human being; he definitely wasn’t a father, to Avrom or anyone. Avrom doubted if his father had ever really loved him. He wasn’t there for him in the simple, everyday ways a boy needs a father in his life. Not for philosophical insight, or great wisdom, but just being there to play catch with, to be a male presence in the house, to discipline him and teach him the responsibilities of being a man. Being a man wasn’t easy for Avrom, neither was being a dad.

After he dropped off the kids, Avrom switched the radio to “Morning Edition” on National Public Radio. Then he reached up and pulled the switch that opened the moonroof, letting the soft blue and yellow Los Angeles morning into the car. He felt the warmth of the sun and the coolness of the air, ignoring the invisible pollutants that plagued this gorgeous part of the planet.

The traffic was heavy. Avrom concentrated on the stream of cars on the road and drifted in thought at the same time, all these lives, fantasies and fates.

The voice shocked him.

“I AM THE LORD, THY GOD!”

Avrom almost slammed on the brakes and stepped on the gas at the same time. His head jerked to the left,

right, behind him. What was that? It was so loud, not from the radio.

“AVROM,” came the voice again.

My god, thought Avrom, I’m going nuts. I’m hearing voices. Why? Why now? He was freaking out. He tried to stay calm, hoping it would go away, like a chest pain he thought was a heart attack but turned out to be gas.

Suzanne had told him that she used to hear voices during her psychic phase, but then she had been delusional, seeing spirits filling her room. His daughter, Rachel, used to say she heard voices when she was very little, but they’d gone away.

He always thought that when people heard voices it was all in their heads, just their own thoughts attacking them. But he’d heard this from outside. And it was loud. It boomed so that it seemed as though every car on the road should have heard it. It was loud in volume, but the timbre of the voice was soft, yet scary. Ominous.

“PULL OVER AVROM,” said the voice, “I DON’T WANT YOU TO GET IN AN ACCIDENT.”

Avrom pulled to the side of the road. He was gripping the wheel so tightly he thought he could feel it flex, as if it were about to snap. He was shaking, “Wh-wh-who are you, what are you?” he asked.

“I am God.” The voice was a little less strident now, “The God you don’t really believe in. The one who is too simple for your sophisticated conception of existence.”

“Wha-a-a-a-t?” Stuttered Avrom, “Bu-bu-but, why are you here?”

Avrom thought he could feel God smile, as he heard the voice say, “That’s a rather silly question. I am everywhere,” said God. “If you mean why are you now cognizant of my presence, it is because I have come to command you, Avrom. I have come to make a pact with you so that you may lead the world to righteousness.”

“No.” Protested Avrom. “This isn’t real. I must be nuts. Totally crazy. I’m losing my mind.”

“No,” said God. “This is real.”

“But why me?” asked the astounded Avrom.

“Another funny question, particularly coming from you, Avrom. Haven’t you always felt that you were great but undiscovered? That you couldn’t manifest your desires. You walked like a stranger in the world, and you didn’t understand, so you thought that you understood too much. You couldn’t believe, so you couldn’t participate. You wasted your life.”

“But I’ve changed,” Avrom protested.

“And I have not.” The voice intoned. “I have just been waiting. Now, I am giving you what you always wanted — confirmation of the mystery of the universe, proof that I exist, and a mission to perform on my behalf.”

The red lights flashing in his rearview mirror startled Avrom. He felt like he’d just woken from a dream. He heard banging on the window.

“Roll down the window,” said the cop with the no-nonsense look staring out from his white motorcycle helmet.

Avrom’s eyes went to the cop’s bulky jacket and the heavy gun strapped to his waist. “Yes Officer, what is it?” he asked.

“This is a no-stopping zone,” came hurriedly out of the cop’s mouth. “Is something wrong?”

Avrom had been shaking all the way home. What if he’d told the cop that he’d pulled over because God had told him to? Would God have bailed him out? What should he tell Suzanne, Avrom wondered, as he opened the front door.

Suzanne was getting ready for work.

“God spoke to me,” blurted Avrom.

“That’s great,” she said, sorting through her purse.

He persisted, “No, I mean God really spoke to me. I heard him. I can describe his voice. It wasn’t the deep, echoing sound of a movie God; it was loud but calm. Like an emphatic whisper, scary.”

“You mean, like the Godfather?” asked Suzanne, looking up and smiling.

“I’m serious!” thundered an angry Avrom, storming off into the kitchen. He grabbed a bottle of water. Twisting off the cap, he threw back his head and downed the whole 16.9 fluid ounces. In days past it would have been a beer. But now he chug-a-lugs water when he’s angry or scared.

He knew he wasn’t crazy, but he also knew this was insane. God was talking to him. Weeks went by without God speaking to him again. Avrom began to think that he had been nuts. That it was just some episode of emotional imbalance. Still, sometimes, like after dropping the kids off at school, he would try to make himself ready, but God didn’t speak. Every day, Avrom woke up thinking about God. Every day he expected to hear that voice, but nothing happened.

Avrom started reading books about spiritual matters. He read the Bible. He pored over Suzanne’s collection, and he got volumes from the library. He’d discovered so many opinions and ideas. Most of them still seemed like people trying to make absurd stories plausible. Stories that were totally unsupported in modern life, for which there was no evidence, and which all logic and experience seemed to debunk. Yet intelligent people defended the stories. They created myriad explanations, allegories and metaphors to support their belief in them.

He read one scholar that thought Abraham, his namesake, had been the central figure in Judaism, not only because he was the beginning, but because he was the one who had trusted God with absolute faith, unlike Adam who had forsaken God for Eve.

Avrom began to have grandiose thoughts. Every day he talked about his acquaintance with God to Suzanne. Perhaps God’s will for him was to usher in a new era on earth. Maybe Avrom’s faith was true enough for God to trust him with this mission.

“Don’t say this in public,” she’d say, with a smile. But she had started to worry. Was Avrom just emotionally unstable because of pressures in his life, or had he gone completely crazy?

It got worse, and Suzanne had insisted that Avrom seek outside help. He wouldn’t. He knew that nobody would believe him. Avrom needed proof to show the world. That’s when God told him the numbers for the lottery. One morning, as he awakened, a vision of a lottery ticket formed in Avrom’s mind, on it he saw 13, 15, 23, 24, 25, 32. He heard God say, “Play these numbers.”

Avrom told Suzanne. She looked at him with that look. It made him feel empty; she was fed up. But what could he do? “Okay,” she said. She was angry now, “Go buy the ticket, but if it doesn’t win, Avrom, you’ve got to get help. What am I saying, ‘if it doesn’t win’? Maybe we both need help!”

He drove down to the Pavilions on Sepulveda, but, ‘temporarily out of order,’ was lit up on the machine, traveling across the screen like a movie title on a marquee. So, he went to a little liquor store, took the card and filled in the numbers that God had given him.

Avrom didn’t buy lottery tickets very often. He’d won $54 once and $5 a few times over the years. But in his whole life, he probably hadn’t bought more than 15 tickets. When he did play the lotto, he’d wait until the morning to find out what the winning numbers were, either hunting for them in the newspaper or looking them up on the Internet.

But that night he and Suzanne had watched it on TV. One after another, the numbers came up. The jackpot was $84 million. There was one winning ticket, and it was theirs. Suzanne just stared at him. Her anger was gone.

It still didn’t seem real, even after they’d claimed the prize and returned home. Avrom wanted to run out and buy a Ferrari, just to prove to himself that it was true. They were all still in a state of shock trying to comprehend how their lives were going to change, talking about things they wanted to buy, places to go. Simon planned to buy every video game ever made, and Rachel was thinking about clothes and cars. She still couldn’t drive for more than two years, but that didn’t matter.

Avrom had taken the L.A. Times into the toilet with him. He didn’t usually read in there, but he thought he’d start looking for houses, castles for God’s sake, whatever he wanted. He was still sitting there in his reverie, when he heard, “Avrom.”

He looked up, “Oh, God, this is wonderful, incredible. I’ve always had to struggle, I’ve never had any money, but now...”

“I have something I want you to do,” said God.

“Sure,” said Avrom. “What?”

“On the next Shabbat, I want you to wash Simon and wrap him in white cotton. Then take him to Joshua Tree. There I want you to offer me what is mine.”

“What?” asked Avrom. “Are you asking what I think you’re asking?” There was no response. “Are you asking me to kill my son?”

“Yes.” Came the godfather-like voice.

Avrom jumped up. “No! No! No! No!” he screamed, “no fucking way!” Avrom’s throat went dry. His heart ached as if his chest were being crushed; he began to shake with rage, “Take the money, the goddamn money — hell, I don’t care, but I will not kill Simon!”

God tries to reassure Avrom. He tells Avrom that the boy will be better off; he will be with God in eternity. Avrom must trust him, look how powerful God has been in Avrom’s life. Isn’t it selfishness for Avrom to want to keep the boy for himself? That is pointless any-

way, “I God can take the boy. I can take you, or anything you have, anytime I want to. You are powerless,” says the Lord.

Avrom is resolute but silent, and God continues, “Look who I am! I will once again intervene directly in human affairs; I will make my presence dramatically and plainly known. Do as I command and you can lead humanity to fulfillment!”

Suzanne was in the garden, watering. She dropped the hose and ran to Avrom when she saw him. He looked terrible, distraught. “What happened?” She asked.

Avrom told her what God had asked.

“You are insane!” She screamed. “Avrom, I’m calling the police!” But looking into his eyes, which were full of tears, her anger subsided. She realized it was fear causing her rage. She reached out and took him in her arms, holding him tight and sobbing. She knew Avrom wasn’t crazy.

Later, inside, they sat on the couch and talked. “You told him no, she said, “So that’s it.”

“But this is God,” said Avrom. “I mean, I’m not gong to kill Simon, no matter what, but this is God asking me to do this. Why?”

“Shit, Avrom,” said Suzanne, “who cares? You can’t kill your son.”

“But why was Abraham willing?” asked Avrom. “I’ve been reading the Bible. Abraham argued with God about other things. He protested when God wanted to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. But he didn’t say a word when God asked him to kill Isaac. He just obeyed.” Avrom looked into Suzanne’s eyes, “was that the right thing to do?” asked Avrom.

“I don’t know, ” said Suzanne, reaching out and taking a book from the shelf. “ I think it’s in here. Yeah. Listen to what Immanuel Kant said he would tell God.” She started reading, “Look that I ought not to kill my son is certain beyond the shadow of a doubt. That You, as You appear to be our God, I am not convinced and will never be convinced even if Your voice resounded from

heaven.”

“But God’s voice did resound from heaven,” said Avrom. “It’s one thing to speculate and philosophize about what you would say, but it’s another when God actually talks to you. When the mysteries of the universe, the question of whether God exists or not, all become moot points. When God tells you that the future of humankind is in your hands.”

Avrom got up and paced the room. Now Suzanne was emphatic, “People say no to God all the time. They say no to the commandments, kill and steal and covet their neighbors’ wives. They say no so they can indulge selfish impulses and desires. It happens every day.”

“But this is different. I want to give God a reason,” Avrom replied.

“Why is that important?” asked Suzanne.

“Because God is wrong,” said Avrom.

Distraught, he walked to the window. Sunlight filled his eyes as his shadow spread across the carpet.

Suzanne tilted her head to one side, and said, “Some scholars have said that when God asked Abraham to kill Isaac, it wasn’t a test of love but a demonstration of a moral principle, that the binding of Isaac represented a major break of Judaism with pagan culture. It showed that human sacrifice was wrong and not what God wants.”

Avrom responded, “If that’s true, why didn’t God just issue a commandment, like He gave Moses on Sinai, not to do it?”

“You know that questioning God won’t get you anywhere,” said Suzanne.

“Why do we have the ability to reason if God is going to be unreasonable?” he asked.

Suzanne’s eyes narrowed; she sucked in her lips, then said, “I read that some rabbis say that the story shows what it means to be a religious person: to obey God

above all else absolutely.”

“That’s obvious,” countered Avrom,

Suzanne was trying to think, but the strain pulled at her face; her mouth was tense and her eyes overflowed with sadness. “We have to be suspect of what we think are messages from God. We can think we hear the voice of God commanding us to hijack airplanes full of innocent people and crash them into the World Trade Center.” Suzanne took a deep breath. “The most compelling argument, I think, is the rabbis who say it’s all about ethics, that the angel who commanded Abraham to stop was really Abraham’s own God-given voice of conscience. That is why a lesser power, an angel, could override the supposed commandment of God.”

“I get so sick of the fucking metaphors!” said Avrom, “If it was Abraham’s conscience why does an angel have to voice it? Because it was god given?”

Avrom didn’t believe that God would want to, or have to, talk in metaphor, riddle and allegory. If we are talking about the salvation of the world here, the purpose of life and the concepts of right and wrong, why play games? Avrom got up and went to the door, “I’m going for a walk,” he said.

Outside, Avrom looked up at the blue sky. White clouds piled up in myriad shapes and moved slowly across the heavens. “You have infinite wisdom, but are you perplexed that I don’t just trust you? You created me, but can you understand me?”

Avrom watched a bee buzzing around the garden. “I can’t understand the universe. I know there are heavens within heavens where time and space curve and warp and wend a path of purpose beyond my grasp.”

The bee descended rapidly, directly into a welcoming rose. “I look at the blink of a star that exploded nine million light years ago, yet whose light is just now reaching my eyes. I know that even more distant stars have died billions of years ago, but for me they have not yet been born, because their light has not yet traversed that vastness. And I know that those stars and I contain many of the same elements. I marvel at

the atomic similarity of blood and chlorophyll. And sometimes, I just sense the whole of being in a single breath, as if the Buddha just struck me on the head and I became one with all.”

Avrom picked up a handful of earth, “But even though you are here promising that there is another world, my life is finite. I will die. My consciousness will end. And all of this, for me, will stop.” The dirt falls from his hand and disintegrates into dust. “I am human. I cannot be more. My love is only human love, the love of the heart.”

God remained silent; Avrom continued, “I once thought of making a bumper sticker that said, ‘God is Irony;’ sarcasm may be profane, but irony always seemed holy to me — a Devine smile. Ironic, isn’t it, that people think of themselves as children of God, and yet you don’t understand a parent’s love. You just don’t get it.”

Still, God does not speak.

“Thousands of years ago, you asked Abraham to do the same thing, and I don’t know why. What are you trying to prove? You’re obviously greater than I, whether you are God or the Devil, and you can have your way with many things; you can kill me, but you can’t make me do your will. I have to make that choice.”

Avrom waited for God’s response, but there was only silence. “Why now go back on your own proscription against sacrifice? What’s up with that?” smirked Avrom. He was unafraid as he spoke to God.

The look on Avrom’s face was a new look, not defiant; it was confident but not haughty. Anybody looking at him would have thought that he felt good. He looked happy. “It can’t be to test my faith, because it is not a test of that. It is a measure of my fear and self-centeredness. You aren’t asking me to choose between my son and you, you are asking me to choose between him and me.”

“You disappoint me, Avrom,” said God.

“The feeling’s mutual,” blurted Avrom, “but that’s

beside the point. It’s not important what I think. What matters is what I do. It’s like the Jews during the Inquisition who gave their own lives rather than to renounce their faith. If I’m willing to pay with my own life, then I am free.”

Returning to the house, Avrom went into his office and shut the door. The voice of God followed him, “You are not only a disappointment to me, Avrom, you are letting down all of humanity.”

“We disagree,” said Avrom, “I cannot transcend being human, no matter how well I understand the world beyond the limits of humanity. I cannot be an angel. I must be a man. No matter what my philosophical or theological understanding, no matter that you have proved your existence to me; no matter what I could say to Simon, at my very core, deep in the marrow of mine and Simon’s beings is only the experience we share; the love we feel for each other. You should know that. And no! Absolutely and finally, No! I will not kill my son!”

Avrom turned to leave the room. A sudden tightness clamped his chest. His breath grew short. In the first second of panic, a force hit him obliterating all light, sound, thought, existence. It was as though a fast-moving freight train had suddenly struck him. His body lay motionless. The light vibrated with gentle echoes, shimmering in the quiet.

When Simon came into the room, the train was long gone. He saw his father lying there. It seemed strange. Was he joking? He couldn’t be asleep. “C’mon, Dad. Get up,” said Simon. Avrom didn’t move. Simon pushed him and was shocked by the limp weight of Avrom’s body. Scared, Simon fell to his knees. “Dad, get up! Please!” he pushed him again and again. He knew about heart attacks, he knew about horror. He had heard of so much terror in his young life. It was the way of the modern world.

Tears were flowing down his face and he was sobbing, rocking back and forth with both hands against his father’s body, he kept pushing and pushing. Avrom’s body jostled back and forth, like dead weight.

Simon screamed, but the sound caught in his throat. He couldn’t. He did not want to make it real. He knew someday his father would die. But not now, please, God, not now! He felt his whole life becoming barren; a vast emptiness covered with a permanent, dark stain. He stopped pushing Avrom’s limp form and sat back on his heels just staring at his father’s motionless face. Simon felt all of Avrom’s sweetness. His heart smiled as his tears fell. He reached out and said, “Don’t make me bring in the coyotes, Dad,” and touched Avrom gently with the tips of his little fingers.

His father opened an eye. Avrom saw Simon’s tears and watched fear turning to joy in his son’s face. Avrom burst into laughter as Simon hugged him, squeezing with all his might.

Excerpt from Stewart Brodian’s new E Book

“Here’s The Future You Asked For”

Why weren't The Spice Girls billed as an interracial group? Because they were a novelty of an all-girl vocal group - the female equivalent of The Back Street Boys/NSYNC or New Kids On The Block.

When you're a novelty, you can get away with certain things that a mainstream act cannot.

On my cable TV show, I've played plenty of interracial actssome of them rap - but, I'm not on any major networks. If I were, I'd probably have restrictions.

It's funny,...

In 1967, The Jimi Hendrix Experience was an interracial group. But, eventually, the powers that be slowly influenced his management and one by one the white members of his group were

replaced with black members. How could this be?

This was rock and roll. It was something new. Yes, the music was new but, the industry was still being run by the same people who had been running the industry for the previous 40 years!

Previously, the big bands weren't integrated. Bands were either all black or all white. Benny Goodman didn't see the point to that + he was the first one to have integration in a band. Naturally, he caught some flack for that.

Lehigh Valley Music Awards #19

By Alexxis

Steele

I can’t believe that 19 years have gone by since the first Lehigh Valley Music Awards ceremony! In 2001 I was asked to become the Executive Director of the organization by a comrade in the industry.

I had just spent 3 years working with Ian Bruce at local record label BIE Records in Allentown, Pa, and had known him since the 80’s in the days of The Airport Music Hall and Club Pascal where my bands had performed.

The idea was to give back credit to all of the hardworking musicians in the area, by nominating them for various awards and a ceremony to honor their accomplishments. I continued my position for 5 years until 2006 when I stepped down to my successor- Gloria Domina. Gloria took the annual event to much greater heights that I had wished to see them attain, and the event got bigger every year.

The venues where the ceremonies were previously held moved from places like The Scottish Rite Cathedral, and the Symphony Hall, both in Allentown. In 2009 at the Symphony Hall there was a horse drawn carriage for guests to arrive, and I myself, got an award for over 20 years of musical service to The Lehigh Valley.

Since then, the organization has moved the ceremony to Musikfest Café in Bethlehem Pa

which is on the grounds of the now defunct Bethlehem Steel. The area in which it resides is the Artsquest Complex which is also home to many other entertainment areas such as Steel Stacks, The Levitt Pavilion, PBT 39 TV and The Sands Steel Stage. It is also around the corner from The Sands Event Center concert venue, and The Sands Casino.

This year’s nominees have several in the youth category that are very strong contenders like

singer/songwriters Julia Sommer, and Kayla Avitabile. It is good to see girls that can really rock out with guitars and awesome vocals!

It is evident that there is so much talent in the Lehigh Valley, and new acts emerge every year. On the band flip side we have fan favorites like Mike Roi & The Secret People, Cris Moser and the boys of Victim, plus veterans The Dana Gaynor Band, and Scott Marshall & Marshall’s Highway, to name a few. There is always somewhere to go to see live music on any given night, and there is a plethora of cover bands for their fans to choose from as well. Of course we can’t forget to mention that our show Monday Music Madness at the Mixx, otherwise known as M-4 was also nominated, as well as Josie Janci, my sidekick, and I, for music reviewer.

Congratulations and good luck to all of the nominees! We look forward to seeing everyone there!

The 19th Annual Lehigh Valley Music Awards is on Sunday, March 4th at 4:00 PM, with doors opening at 3:00PM. Tickets are available now at www.steelstacks.org for $20 plus ($5 taxes and fees).

Musical Artist Spotlight

Leah Marie Fuls

Photos by Brian Limage

Leah Marie Fuls, may be one of the Lehigh Valley Music Scene’s best kept secret. Fuls, a local singer/songwriter and guitarist plays a mix of Rock, Country, Folk and Pop. It has been said by her peers, that “her voice is a pleasant, throwback-cross between early Jewel and post 10,000 Maniacs Nathalie Merchant.” A fan hailing all the way from Arizona quoted: “Watch this girl, she’s going to put P’burg on the map Big Time!”

Fuls’ 2017 debut EP You’re Never Gone, landed her a nomination for Song of the Year in the Modern Country Category for the 2017 Josie Music Awards, the largest Independent Artist Music Awards Show, worldwide; which was hosted in Nashville, TN in September 2017. Her original song You're Never Gone, a song about how our departed loved ones never leave us, garnered her six nominations and her first recognition and inclusion in the 2017 LVMA’s, as well as, nine nominations for the upcoming 2018 LVMA’s.

Leah has been performing live on the scene for about three years, and can be seen and heard collaborating with many other local musicians of various genres. She is also a huge contributor to many charities and events, donating her time and talent over the years for various causes and fundraisers. Her music appeals to all audiences young and old. Her eclectic taste and love of music allows Fuls to authentically entertain and connect to her audiences. Her powerful voice can give a familiar cover song a unique spin and her originals thus far have been accentuated by her meaningful lyrics.

Fuls released her newest single “Collision” in December 2017. This single was launched at an event held at Stoke in Easton PA; a venue where you can hear her play quite often. This song about a relationship destined to fail, reveals a new sound for Fuls that trades her acoustic guitar for pulsing beats mixed to perfection. This song showcases Fuls’ talent in a different light—one similar to the recent changes undertaken by Taylor Swift, whom has been a huge influence on her since the inception of her musical career. Leah has aspirations of also becoming the hometown girl turned musical icon, likened to Swift’s direction. Another huge influence for her is Fleetwood Mac because of their ability to create timeless music.

Fuls has been broadcast locally and afar on various radio stations and has performed at venues from here to Nashville, TN. You can hear Fuls showcased on The Balcony Show, which is hosted by her Producer, Andrew Chervak of Midnight Studios, Easton, PA.

Leah mentions that her future plans are to continue to song write, perform, and grow as an artist. Her growth and passion will lend to her desire to to expand in talent and recognition and noting that experience has been a great teacher and influence on her embracing her versatility and drive to succeed no matter the obstacles musicians can face. What lends to the enjoyment of Fuls’ career thus far has been appreciating the journey, and in doing so, provides her a catalyst of perseverance and time necessary to reach the destination destined for Fuls.

You can hear Leah perform locally in the Lehigh Valley and surrounding areas. Her music is also available on iTunes, Spotify, and Amazon. Fuls, who fully appreciates and supports peers locally, reiterates how important it is to support local artists; which lends a huge support to all aspects and all participants in the local music industry. For more on Leah Marie Fuls:

www.leahfuls.com

Facebook - Leah Marie Fuls

Instagram - Leah Marie Fuls

Twitter - Leah Fuls

YouTube - Leah Fuls

TRANS-SIBERIAN ORCHESTRA

PICTORIAL

PPL CENTER

PHOTOS BY MIKE DORN

The Scorpions Santander Arena, Reading PA

Written By: Alexxis Steele

Pictures By: John Warner

The 80’s were the best in time for Rock and Roll, and that goes for Heavy metal as well. There is no shortage of love for that genre of music in Pennsylvania, as evident seeing German heavy metal rockers The Scorpions hit the stage at the Santander Arena in Reading, Pa back in September of 2017. This was the band’s first show heading off their US tour.

This was my first time seeing the band, and they certainly did not disappoint! The band reached a whopping 50 years together, which is impressive for an act to have stayed together for that amount of time.

Klaus Meine showed that at age 69, you are never too old to rock n roll! Klaus is still in great shape to do just that, and along with him is his fellow 69 year old guitarist Rudof Schenker. The Scorpions produced some of the most memorable rock tunes of the 80’s, that are still being played on the radio, and performed by many cover bands.

Their 12 song set consisted of a combination of their classic hits from the 80’s, some newer material, and music dating back to the 70’s. The Scorpions are known for their melodic rock with a driving groove and hooks you never forget.

Some of the highlights from the evening’s performance were some of my favorite Scorpions tunes.

Head bopping, driving “ The Zoo” later followed by acoustic versions of “Send Me An Angel”, and their biggest U.S. hit, “Wind Of Change”.

There was a bit of surprise to see Motorhead’s drummer Mikkey Dee, who joined The Scorpion’s a year ago. Mikkey payed homage to Motorhead’s Lemmy Kilmister by doing their song “Overkill”, and performed a kick ass drum solo. Closing out the set, before the encore tunes was another fan favorite song, “Big City Nights”, followed by ballad, “Still Loving You”. The grand finale was my alltime favorite Scorpion’s tune, “Rock You Like A Hurricane”, which made me long for the 80’s again!

SCORPIONS SET LIST SANTANDER ARENA SEPT 14, 2017

1. Going Out With a Bang

2. Make It Real

3. The Zoo

4. Coast to Coast

5. Top of the Bill / Steamrock Fever / Speedy's Coming / Catch Your Train

6. We Built This House

7. Delicate Dance

8. Always Somewhere / Eye of the Storm / Send Me an Angel (acoustic)

9. Wind of Change

10. Rock 'n' Roll Band

11. Overkill (Motörhead cover)

12. Drum Solo

13. Blackout

14. Big City Nights

15. Encore:

16. Coming Home

17. Still Loving You

18. Rock You Like a Hurricane

Ladies and Gentlemen and Children of all ages ... My name is Marlowe B West and I am your Ring Leader ... I have been Star Reporter here at Steel Notes Magazine since it's inception four years ago ... We are happy and proud to be celebrating our steady rise to worldwide fame with notable recognition as your most credible and reliable source of what's currently hot and happening in the world of music, entertainment and style ... From upon my platform, as Marlowe B West Takez Manhattan, I have been known to bring outstanding New York City personalities, talents and events to my many loyal readers and fans.

I am honoured and privileged to be bringing you the man of the hour, Mr. Walter G. Steding ... Walter was born in Harmony, Pennsylvania and is an American musician and visual artist ... Walter made his debut in New

York City during the late '70's playing as a one man band predominantly as an opening act at CBGB's for bands such as Blondie and The Ramones ... During the '80's Walter worked as painting assistant for Andy Warhol who eventually became his producer.

A violinist, Walter first played with the Electric Symphony where he developed his own electronic instruments - namely a synthesizer triggered by a biofeedback device that coordinated his music with light up goggles ... He later performed as a soloist at art galleries as well as clubs such as CBGB's and Max's Kansas City ... Walter has worked as a recording artist and performer with Blondie, Jim Carroll, David Byrne, Chic, Robert Fripp and Panther Burns ... He was dubbed "Doc Steding" the orchestra leader on Glenn O'Brien's T.V. Party and subsequently, in 1980, he formed his own band Walter Steding and the Dragon People and released records on Red Star and Animal Records.

Walter G Steding met Andy Warhol at a discotheque on lower Broadway called Infinity ... After having spo-

ken with Warhol about his music, Andy invited him to perform at the Factory and he henceforth became friends and painting assistant to Warhol ... Andy Warhol later acted as producer for Steding's musical exploits ... even producing a music video for his single "Secret Spy" from his 1982 release, Dancing in Heaven.

Walter G. Steding currently lives and works in New York City ... He is a successful painter and has written, directed, scored and acted in films and plays including Not Quite Love, Time Capsules, Polyester, Union City and "Downtown '81" ... He is currently a member of the rock band, Crazy Mary ... is finishing out a fun filled and exciting The Art of Walter Steding - 4 week Show / Jan 4 thru Feb 1 at Art on A Gallery and I am thrilled to add Walter has just made a special guest appearance at Sidewalk NYC playing violin with Marlowe B West Takez Manhattan & The Brooklyn Hornz.

Videos:

https://youtu.be/caW9foQW7YM

https://youtu.be/sMB3QBjaYt0

https://youtu.be/rrXgkuwNW1w

https://youtu.be/tdkvUjoaOoo

Ladies and Gentlemen and Children of all ages ... As you well may know, my name is Marlowe B West and I am your Ring Leader ... If you have already checked out the Walter G. Steding article (which I also wrote and included in this issue of Steel Notes Magazine) then you have heard about Art On A Gallery ... the brilliant gem of a spot I found hiding in a tiny nook on the Lower East Side of Manhattan.

Upon my further investigating the Art On A Gallery scene down there I came to find that this super hip chick, Wendy Scripps, runs the joint ... Wendy is the owner of Wendigo Productions, LLC ... She incorporates a beautiful crew of ultra freaky downtown weirdos ... Rik Rocket is the Creative Director/Curator ... Raffaele Mary is General Manager ... JK does the Weekend Gallery/Sales Coordinator ... Reiko Lauper does Website/Graphic Design ... Stephen Sanchez is Street Team Coordinator/Sales Coordinator and Oscar Oscar is Sales/Promotions ... New York City Underground has not been able to toot it's artistic horn this loudly since the trez-chic & wacky Warhol days ... I love it to death.

I'd met the way awzum Wendy on numerous occasions hanging at the Bowery Electric bar and we became Facebook friends ... At the bar we were discussing The Pretty Things show (with bassist Sam Hariss) which turns out Wendy was representing and promoting ... She had just sent them out on tour to LA ... Focusing in on Wendy had just begun to get more and more interesting ... The girl is madly involved in so much fun rock and rolling partying ... but, FOREMOST, however ... I am adamantly passionate & 100% in conjunction with this current massive spread of something that has been completely unheard of the world over and that is the resurgence of love, appreciation and consideration ... Half of whatever these incredible weirdos scrape together for these wonderfully outrageous Wendigo shows go to benefit sadly neglected charitable movements such as research of Alzheimer's and Children's Diabetes ... When in town ... if you don't make sure to drop by to check out what's happening down there ... you can consider your trip into Manhattan a half ass attempt to be cool ... Bravo ... Best wishes and highest regards to Wendigo & Art On A Gallery ... Oceans of continued love and success to you all ... I highly commend your generosity and zest for living.

Videos:

https://youtu.be/g5Kyc7vark8 NYC Rocks - Wendigo https://youtu.be/urK8fjNPZog NYC - Wendigo pt 2

https://youtu.be/Xl3e1rYYUu8 Art On A Gallery

Venice 29.01.2017

Do you feel like an impostor?

Achieving at least part of their own goals or their professional role s, if not even professional success, makes some people uncomfortable. Instead of rejoicing and congratulating themselves on their own abilities and their tenacity and commitment, they feel a subtle and unpleasant sensation: being in some way “ out of place, ” and above all, not really deserving the approval they have obtained. T his feeling always comes with a correlation of beliefs like “If I have succeeded everybody can do it,” “ Sooner or later they will realize that I am not as good as they think, that in reality, so far , I have cheated them all , ” or “My success? Simple luck, nothing more.”

Italy

Have you ever had this feeling? Have you ever had th ese kind of thoughts? If your answer is yes, I want to reassure you that you ’re not alone and, more importantly, that you ’re not an impostor at all.

According to Pauline Clance, who described this mental condition for the first time in ’70 , up to 70% of successful people have experienced this phenomenon It is called impostor syndrome , which is the mental condition of one who has obtained wide and repeated academic and /or professional acknowledgments o f his own worth but who feels unworthy or undeserving and continues to feel this way, despite all objective evidence to the contrary. People may feel that luck rather than ability is the basis of their success , and they are afraid that soon er or later, someone will discover their secret: They are an impostor! In addition, people suffering from this syndrome do not overcome their sense of inadequacy by achieving new positive results, gaining further recognition in their career, or acquiring new knowledge. Instead, the sensation of being inadequate or an imposter can also grow. W omen seem to experience impostor syndrome more frequently and acutely than men, probably because of pre -existing sexist stereotypes that call women’s professional competence into question.

According to Valerie Young, an expert of impostor syndrome, women are more likely to explain setbacks and failures as resulting from their lack of ability, while men are more prone to blame outside factors. However , it seems that many people are at risk in today’ s hyper -competitive and economically uncertain world.

Despite consistent and impressive evidence to the contrary, why do those who experience imposter syndrome persist in believing that they are not bright and that they have fooled anyone who thinks otherwise? One important root of the problem that contributes to the maintenance of impostor -like feelings over time probably lies in social expectations. As children , we might not have been praised enough because our school or sporting successes were always “half of our duty.” Those who are more inclined to introspection and critical (and self-critical) thinking are more likely not to live up to expectations or the perception of others. Also, some, for education -based reasons or simply due to personal style , find embarrassing to strut . Some have the awareness founded, healthy, and realistic of being able to make mistakes, and others compare themselves to people who, at least in appearance, are completely certain of being right These people have a strong sense of duty and feel that t hey must always meet expectations and even overcome them. However , they can have other reasons For example, they may belong to an ethnic or religious minority, come from a poor economic or cultural family, or perhaps they are one of the few women who do a traditionally male job.

In a t wist of fate, there are truly incompetent people who do not realize their own limitations and errors or the actual abilities of others and who constantly overestimate their performance. This phenomenon is in many ways the mirror of i mpostor syndrome. It is known as the Dunning -Kruger effect and causes a cognitive bias that leads these people to overestimate their abilities, misjudging themselves as experts in their field s. In correlation with this theory, incompetent people often prove to be extremely supposing!

After all, “A fool thinks himself to be wise, but a wise man knows himself to be a fool ” (William Shakespeare).

Luca Cerardi Interview with Anders Lundemark (konkhra)

This month I like to release an interview with former member of Danish thrash band Konkhra: Mr. Anders Lundemark. I had the pleasure to listen to their album “Weed out a week” in early 90es when Chris Kontos from Machine Head joined this band with James Murphy. The album was so great that a couples of years later I asked Anders to sing in “Revenge” with my long time band Merendine in Stockohlm, Sweden back in 2002 and he did it in that then will be our first full length album “Walk Across fire”. So after years I tried to pick him up again, but this time to talk with him about Konkhr, the past and future projects. Enjoy!

So many years since we last talked! How is it going?

Pretty good, thank you, yes time flies...

Konkhra is the band you have played with in the past 30 years. The 90s were a particularly great time for the band. “Weed out the weak” came out, then Konkhra went through some changes, but you guys still played together, and finally

the last album was released in 2009. Then long pause… until now. Can you give us an idea of the experience you had with this band? Great memories as well as issues?

Yea, I had to deal with some health issues. I had an apoplexia which I needed to recover from. However, this new album has been ready for some time now, there are songs which were finished years ago, as well as some newer tunes, that we finished last year. The band went back to its roots, the lineup is all the old timers now, even Martin is on the bass, which marks a return since

he left in 1992, Kim and Johnny from the "spit or swallow" album, Johnny was on the debut as well. On top of that, I cowrote some of the songs with Michael from the " Nothing is Sacred" album, he is still involved to some degree,and I think we will be doing things together in the future as well. The live lineup, though, is all the classic guys right now.

Now you have an agreement with Hammerheart records which will be re -releasing your early works as well as the new album. Can you expand on this? Also, can you give us any more information on the composition process for this new album, release dates and future plans?

Yea, we are committed to reissuing the first three albums this year, as well as putting out the new one "Alpha and the Omega", as it stands now, first reissue will be "Weed out the weak", then either "Spit" of "SAD", then the new album, the rest of the catalogue will be reissued along 2018. The new album is finished, all that is left to do is the layout, videos etc. I think it will be out in 2018. We also have a lot of new video clips coming out: "Basic Facts of Life", "SAD", "Hooked" is already up on our youtube channel, and "Crown of the Empire" is coming out with new footage of both Chris and James doing their parts in the song,- its themed around the lyrical content and will feature some Knights Templar stuff,- what we got so far looks really good. "The Lions are Hungry" is another video in the works, looking great, with footage from our tour in 2003. There are also videos coming for the new album, which songs are yet to be determined. On top of that we will get some touring going asap.

What does playing guitar / singing mean to you?

Well it means a lot, I mean, it’s been my job in the band for a long time. After l had the apoplexia my left arm was like spaghetti, maybe 10% functional, and like with many things in life, it’s when you lose something you can really appreciate what it’s worth for some reason, and the determination to get back what l lost was very high. I went to rehabilitation training with a physiotherapist, and during these 3 months l regained the function of my arm. Now l can play everything again, and it feels amazing. It also made me determined to get the band back on track, so we have a lot of things lined up already, which is a lot of fun.

When did you realize that you could actually be a professional musician or at least play guitar in your life?

Well, it came to me easy, and I’ve always had an ability to learn stuff pretty fast, so it was just a natural progression I guess.

Outside of music, what do you like to do?

I have a recording studio, a company that rents out studios for 100s of bands, like Volbeat, Saturnus and pretty every band in Copenhagen both established and up and coming. We cater to about 230-300 bands on 3 different locations in Copenhagen, and that is something I work with every day. In my free time I spend time with my girlfriend, my step daughter and my family. I like going out to eat, watching movies, going on vacations. Who doesn’t, I guess, haha.

Do you remember your first gig?

Yes we played a gathering at my school, there were about 1000 students at my high school dance when we started, I think there were about 100 left in the hall after 1 song hahaha.

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

Oh, yes, I have a great family and they have been supportive in every way they could, so I’m blessed with that.

Who inspired you the most along your career?

In the beginning it was the typical bands, Metallica, Slayer, Celtic Frost, Death was in there early as well, it developed over the years to include a much more diverse taste, I got inspired by classical music later, even some pop artists.

Is there any turning point or a person that changed your life in music?

Metallica got me going, that is for sure. I think they were the band that made me want to play music, them and Slayer.

How did you change as a person from day one to today?

In a million ways. And thanks for that, I was probably a little hotheaded when I was younger, today I’m more relaxed about the whole thing, and more able to take things as they come. When I was 20 my whole identity was the band, and I don’t think that’s healthy in the long run.

You always played “metal”. What is it that drives your passion for this kind of music?

It was the most powerful music to me. And to some degree it still is.

You have played with Konkhra for so long. What does thi s band mean to you?

A lot. It’s part of my life and it’s been like that for so long. I can’t imagine life without it.

What kind of music is most appealing to you nowadays?

I don’t listen to music that much anymore. There is a rock station here, that I listen to in the car. Sometimes I discover a band that makes me curious, so I go and check out their whole catalogue, and watch their videos etc. Sometimes I make myself familiar with a band that we have as customers, Forever Still for example, they are renting at my company and recently signed to Nuclear Blast so I had to check them out, very cool stuff, with a female singer. When I’m travelling I listen to familiar stuff to relax.

Live or studio?

I like both a lot. But when we are out live I want to go back and record new stuff. When I’m in the studio I can’t wait to get to play it live. Never satisfied, haha.

One of the best memories on the road or in your musical career that you like to remember?

Meeting Devin at Strappings show, and him striking up a conversation about the new Daemon album, getting good critique from a guy who is obviously a genius was amazing. Meeting the Testament guys on several occasions, fucking great guys. I met Mr. Hetfield in a parking lot in front of the studio in 1999, but I couldn’t find anything to say. You know, being the tenth millionth guy telling him how important his work was to me felt...wrong. So it was just "good morning" or something haha.

How’s the music business going now, in your opinion? Do you think things have changed since your early days?

Oh, it has changed in so many ways, the most obvious being social media and the internet. A lot of stuff gets attention for the wrong reasons, but over time the quality will remain. You just have to adjust the way you approach your listeners a bit.

Social media and technology. A lot changed from the day the rock music started. What do you think about them. Improvement for musicians or a problem?

I think it’s both, it’s an improvement as far as availability, but it’s a challenge too, because you have to keep a high level of quality to keep people interested.

To all musicians around the world: what is your advice?

Go for it, carve out a way to find your personal style. Keep doing it, but keep acute awareness to other things in life as well. The days of instant stardom are probably over, and spreading out your capabilities to other things will keep you alive and sane. Don’t get tempted by some reality show bullshit, because you’re going to end up a laughing stock and a 1 minute wonder at best. That shit is there for all the wrong reasons, and by now it should be obvious to everybody that it’s detrimental to a serious career in so many ways.

How do you see yourself 10 years from now? Dreams, hopes, projects?

Yeah, I think we are still going to be doing our thing, at our level, and hopefully we’ll get some good shows and meet some cool people along the way.

Thank you very much Luca, it was great talking to you again!

KANE’D Show Me Your Skeleton

By Colin Campbell Rockfiend Publications, Scotland

So here we are in January 2018, new year and also time for the world to hear the new Kane'd album.

Almost 3 years since the release of "Rise" I know the band have been keen to get this album out for their constantly growing fanbase.

With many tours both headlining and supporting some of rock's elite as well as several appearances at HRH AOR in their homeland of Wales, over the last few years it's clear that they have grown in stature as well as confidence.

As I listen to this release It's clear to me that this is more about musical evolution over revolution, they have an identity which is established now and why mess with a winning formula?

In summary “Rise” was a great album with more hooks than a "Hellraiser" movie, in this release the 7 piece band have delivered more catchy songs which grow with each listen, from moody and dark to upbeat and punchy. Of the 11 tracks here it's hard to find any weak link, Stacey, Stephanie and Chez sing their asses off and the playing from Harry, Jack, Josh and George complements perfectly backed up with a nice crisp production.

We’re not going to go down the route of a song by song description as I've said enough to make it a justified listen from front to back.

Current favourites are "Show Me Your Skeleton", "I Won't Bite" (Awesome solo from Harry), "I Do What I Want" with it's great hook riddled chorus, "Reckless" with all it's 80's swagger, "Hey Hello" well balanced and melodic, "Never Surrender" with it's traditional approach and upbeat choruses.

This brings us to the album closer and also the nearest thing we get to a ballad on the release "I'll Bring You Home", we all love the likes of "Covered In Roses" and "Wasted" live, but in this new track I think the band have a new anthem, well written and one the band could use in any acoustic set as well as ramped up and electrified. So there you go, I'm sure this will satisfy both the current fanbase as well as anyone discovering the band for the first time.

With headline tour dates and festival slots already confirmed 2018 looks like being their most productive year. I look forward to seeing them out on the road and if you get the opportunity you should too.

PICTORIAL BY COLIN CAMPBELL ROCKFIEND PUBLICATIONS SCOTLAND

PART 1:HIM FAREWELL TOUR MANCHESTER

PICTORIAL BY COLIN CAMPBELL ROCKFIEND PUBLICATIONS SCOTLAND

PART 2:HIM FAREWELL TOUR GASGOW SCOTLAND

CHILLER THEATRE EXPO OCTOBER 2017

October 27-29, 2017

Chiller Theatre expo started out in 1990 with the “Horrorthon” and quickly became the #1 Toy, model, and film expo that progressed over the years as one of the most anticipated conventions. The convention runs for 3 days on a Friday evening from 6 pm until 11 pm, Saturday from 10 am to 7 pm, and Sunday from 11 am to 4 pm. The convention is held at the Hilton in Parsippany, NJ.

Coming out once in the spring at the end of April, and once in the fall at the end of October, it brings thousands of people to see their favorite tv, movie stars, and musicians. Though the beloved Zacherley, is no longer with us, his spirit is kept alive as the convention goes on in his memory.

Photos by Michael Dorn

Our staff attends both seasonal events with much excited anticipation. Every show, we make new friends, and see our old friends. This past October we joined our friends Diana and Bobby Steele of “The Undead”. Bobby was a former guitarist for The Misfits, and recently came out with a new album on orange vinyl called “Having an Undead Summer”. Bobby held a skate board decorated with the band’s name, and Diana said the band will be doing a tour that will take them from their New Jersey location, out west to California.

It is always a pleasure to see our friend- Cherie Currie lead vocalist for the all- female rock band “The Runaways”, who happens to be the twin sister of my good friend and artist- Marie Currie!

This time around, I had most of the surviving members of the original Alice Cooper group together. My buddy Bassist Dennis Dunaway had just been featured for two consecutive issues in Steel Notes Magazine, fresh off his

interviews with me about his tell all book“Snakes, Planes, Guillotines”, My adventures in the Alice Cooper Group. Dennis also had “Dr. Dreary’s” Snakes! Museum Of Rare Alice Cooper Artifacts. Drummer Neal Smith, showed us his matching book and cd for his rock opera, “Killsmith & The Greenfire Empire, which is currently being played on Steel waves Radio. Guitarist Michael Bruce has an upcoming book , which we will be speaking with him about very soon.

New to Chiller Theatre Expo for the first time is Alison Arngrim, aka “Nellie Oleson” from “Little House On The Prairie.” Alison was a riot, talking about her book called “Bitch”, and her struggles. She was accompanied by her

sock monkey , and her husband, who happens to be a musician. Her husband is in a band called Catahoula, and his band’s music is in rotation on our station, Steel Waves Radio.

Some other new friends we made this time around were Lester and Willie from The Flip Wilson Show & Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In, Charlene Tilton from Dallas tv show, and drummer Vinnie Appice. Unfortunately, since we were there the first night on Friday, we did not get to see some of the new guests, like Tony Danza and others that were only there for one day on Saturday, plus the musical guests that performed Saturday evening.

We are looking forward to the next event, keeping our eyes out for the spring guest list for April, and hope to see everyone there!

Musical Guests

Dennis Dunaway

Michael Bruce

Neal Smith

Cherie Currie

Vinny Appice

Gene Cornish

Alan Robert

Drew Stone

Bobby Steele

Dead Elvi

The Accelerators

Pat Horgan & Thunder Rd

The Rip Chords

The Test Band

Tv Show Reunions

Mary Hartman Reunion

Louise Lasser

Greg Mullavey

Leave It To Beaver

Jerry Mathers

Tony Dow

Land of the Lost

Wesley Eure

Kathy Coleman

Phillip Paley

Land of the Giants

Deanna Lund

Gary Conway

Stefan Arngrim

Dream Warriors

Heather Langenkamp

Jennifer Rubin

Rodney Eastman

Ira Heiden

Penelope Sudlow

The Burning

Brian Matthews

Larry Joshua

Leah Ayres

Shelley Bruce

Bonnie Deroski

Lou David

Charles In Charge

Nicole Eggert

Jennifer Runyon

Willie Aames

Alexander Polinsky

Little House Reunion

Alison Arngrim

Lindsay Greenbush

Dean Butler Creepshow 2

Mike Gornick

Rick Catizone

Don Harvey

Daniel Beer

Domenick Sportelli

General Guest List

Andrew Anderson

Steve Blickenstaff

Erin Blunt

Marcus Boas

Bradley Bolke

Danny Bonaduce

Todd Bridges

King Kong Bundy

Cara Buono

Gabrielle Carteris

Maxwell Caulfield

Gary Cavagnaro

Dennis Christopher

Carl Craig

Tony Danza

Deana Demko

Michael Des Barres

Bob Eggleton

Paul Ehlers

Eric 'Butterbean' Esch

Roy Wayne Farris

Ric Frane

Robert Fuller

Rick Goldschmidt

Gilbert Gottfried

Lance Guest

Linda Haynes

Pete Jacelone

Tim Jacobus

Kahagas

Brent Katz

Allan Kayser

Leon I. Kennedy

Kenny Kramer

Ruby LaRocca

Danny Lloyd

Melissa Manchester

Randy Mantooth

Kelli Maroney

Thom Mathews

Kari Michaelsen

Linda Miller

May Pang

Vincent Pastore

Lou D. Phillips

Howard Platt

Marianne Plumridge

David Pollock

Brook Power

Victoria Price

Clayton Prince

Geri Reischl

Ed Repka

Daniel Roebuck

Terri Runnels

Catherine Stewart

Larry Storch

Nathaniel Taylor

Keith Thibodeaux

Larry Thomas

Scott Thomson

Charlene Tilton

Mark Torgl

Michael Tough

Verne Troyer

Willie Tyler & Lester

Greg Valentine

Michael Villella

Nikolai Volkoff

Danielle Von Zerneck

Dustin Warburton

Johnny Whitworth

Barry Williams

Hal Williams

Edward Young

Chuck Zito

Michael Nesmith

Kevin O'Brien

Gene Okerlund

Kadrolsha Ona

I am late in assessing the latest "Star Wars" movie and, after seeing it and reading the positive critical consensus versus the myriad younglings on youtube and various bloggers who have unabashed hate for it, I have come to the conclusion that the latter’s hate is a case of arrested development. That is right, more than one average millennial commenter (and some closer to my age) have voiced disapproval on two less than argumentative grounds. One was that after thirty plus years since “Return of the Jedi,” the Luke Skywalker of “The Last Jedi,” a bearded hermit

Jerry Saravia (January 2018)

Film article

The fans are ruining Star Wars, not Disney

SPOILER ALERT! SPOILERS APLENTY!

living in isolation unsure of helping the Resistance, is not the evolution they expected of their childhood hero, accent on childhood. But the bigger fault seems to be that this new trilogy is not befitting of their childhood memories. “It ruined my childhood!” is the consistent mantra on their mantel.

All this talk and criticism of the new Star Wars movies not fitting into certain fans’ fancy of their collected memories of their childhood is puerile and helps nobody. It all started in May 1999 with the most hated “Star Wars” flick of all time, “Star Wars: Episode I: The Phantom Menace.” It was a case of nitpicking in ways I had not heard of before that prequel’s reception though I have seen plenty of it since. The overall feeling of that bloated, ostensibly mediocre and messy prequel (which still had its moments of oomph) and the CGI-creation of that talking amphibious creature, Jar Jar Binks, (some consider it an abomination) was that it was an affront to their childhood and their precious memories of Luke, Han and Leia’s superior space-opera adventures with everyone’s favorite nemesis, Darth Vader. The nitpicking began with their assessment of the opening scroll mentioning trade routes and political mumbo-jumbo (most of which have not found their way into the new trilogy). The lightsaber fights were still dazzling, the transformation from Anakin Skywalker into Darth Vader was stunning but the prequels could never measure up to anyone’s expectations, not when many fans waxed on that after 16 years they would utter inanities like, “this is the best you could come up with, Mr. Lucas?” I suppose fans had their own theories on what Anakin Skywalker went through, from his transition as an overbearing tot to a n angry twentysomething where the Dark Side was strong with him. Maybe they hated that he built C3PO (talk about irony when Lord Vader was searching for Threepio and R2D2 in “A New Hope”) or maybe it felt too computerized and lacking much emotion (that is true with “Phantom Menace”).

Well, after the prequel trilogy ended in 2005 with “Revenge of the Sith,” Lucas pretty much gave up, realizing that fans could never be happy no matter what he did. When it was announced that he sold Lucasfilm to Disney who in turn was interested in reigniting the franchise, fans screamed bloody murder. Mickey Mouse was dominating the saga? “The Force Awakens” turned out better than expected but fans again screamed bloody murder. The filmmakers killed Han Solo, how dare they? That was the moment that some hated what was being churned out by the likes of J.J Abrams and Rian Johnson, the director of “The Last Jedi.” Luke has now joined Yoda and Obi-Wan Kenobi as a force ghost and this was also seen as an affront. My collective mem ory of that 1983 screening of “Return of the Jedi” when Yoda threw in the towel did not include any sighs from the audience – it seems they understood the 900- year-old Yoda would eventually pass on. Of course, Yoda had only been introduced in “The Empire Strikes Back” and there were no Star Wars films before 1977’s “Star Wars” and no Clone Wars until long after the “Sith” movie. These movies were new then, new to everyone’s experience. Aside from the sci -fi serials like “Flash Gordon” and “Buck Rogers,” there was nothing to base it on.

Why does Star Wars cause such a ruckus and such negativity with my peers and younger folk? I am not sure, and I do not see how Lucas and his forebears have “raped their childhood,” one of

the most despicable phrases of this new cinema century. These new movies are terrific entertainments and fulfill my expectations of keeping it real with the Force and the Skywalker Saga. I do love the new characters, including the fiery spit of spunk known as Rey (Daisy Ridley) where the Force is strong with her. I enjoy the flippant attitude of John Boyega’s Finn, the former Stormtrooper, and the flyboy shenanigans of Oscar Issac’s Poe. But it is the depiction of Luke Skywalker that infuriates many - it clashes with their own theories on the development of his and other characters. They call Luke a coward and he barely uses a lightsaber, and oh my goodness, Disney is ruining their childhood. They may ask, “Hey is that the best you guys you could come up with after two years since ‘The Force Awakens’”? Yes, apparently, and boy is it better than ever.

STEVEN KALISH’S STORY-THE LAST GENTLEMAN SMUGGLER

BY NIKKI PALOMINO AND STEVEN KALISH

Steven Kalish's story is the kind that can never occur again. Timing for a group of white boys from Braeburn Valley along Braes Bayou in Houston, Texas in the 70's launched millions of dollars into the hands of high school buddies. They believed their cause was noble, their lust for power not unlike the previous generations. Steven, the mastermind behind the successful smuggling operation, learned from those who had already perfected their craft in ways Steven could expand. Believing success was measured by the size of his wallet, Steven kept his potential enemies (Mexicans in Oaxaca, Miami Cuban Cartel, Medellin kingpins Oachoa Brothers and Escobar, Panama's Dictator Manuel Noriega and BCCI banking system) close to him. The hardest part of his rise to the top of a tribe not his own would become the power-grabbing madmen in the U.S. Government. He and his buddies would learn that smuggling an innocuous plant soon became littered with blow and gold. That's when the naive hippie belief system of youth turned deadly.

"You can't be a scientist and believe in UFO’s and a Divine being, You can't be American and believe Kennedy's assassination was a government conspiracy or Vietnam and the US War On Drugs were motivated by greed, You can't be right if everyone else finds comfort in being wrong, Ditching the blinders is a bitch even for the last gentleman smuggler, America the Beautiful is my home too."

http://articles.latimes.com/keyword/steven-m-kalish

http://www.punkglobe.com/thelastgentlemansmuggler1017.php

http://www.punkglobe.com/nikkipalominosdazedbookad1017.php

http://www.punkglobe.com/nikkipalominosdazedfilmad1017.php

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1100845919933061/ https://www.facebook.com/DAZEDGrungeRockerAuthor/ https://www.facebook.com/Dazed-The-Film-898991600172454/ https://www.dazedthestory.com

https://www.facebook.com/dazed.novel.series/?fref=tshttps://www.facebook.com/groups/506370846059672/ https://www.facebook.com/groups/dazedraioshow/

The True Story of the largest smuggling operation in U.S. History "The Last Gentleman Smuggler" by Steven M. Kalish and Nikki Palomino

THE DEAD DAISIES SET TO BURN IT DOWN IN 2018

THE DEAD DAISIES announce new Album “BURN IT DOWN” via Spitfire Music / SPV on April 6th, 2018

2018 WORLD TOUR will Bring the Heat to a Town near you!!

Deen Castronovo (Bad English, Journey) joins The Dead Daisies

“BURN IT DOWN” is a muscular tour-de-force, a tornado of pounding drums, pulverizing bass, screaming guitars and in-your-face raw vocals. Evoking the best of 70s Rock, with moments of Birmingham’s finest, blended with the early works of Boston’s best, “Burn It Down” will do just that: Burn down everything in its path until there is nothing left standing.

Recorded in Nashville with Marti Frederiksen at the helm, the band finished their 4th studio album “Burn It Down” in December, with Anthony Focx once again handling the mix and mastering legend Howie Weinberg adding his magic.

John Corabi about the new record:

“I’m extremely excited about our new record “BURN IT DOWN”! It was a pleasure to once again work with Marti Frederiksen and the band on what I believe is the next great step in The Dead Daisies journey. This is a balls-out old school rock record!!! Enjoy it, and see you all on our massive 2018 world tour!!!! Peace, Crabby”

Doug Aldrich puts it quite simply, yet to the point: “The new Daisies album will melt your face! It is raw and in-your-face with a whole new sound!”

With the band eager to get on the road and in true Daisies’ fashion, the band announced the first of many BURN IT DOWN TOUR dates slated for 2018 right before Christmas with fans turning out in droves at the on-sale date. Many more dates are to be announced including the band’s highly anticipated return to Japan, North America, Mexico and South America!

With Deen joining the bands line-up to record the new Album, The Dead Daisies are: Doug Aldrich (Whitesnake, Dio), John Corabi (Mötley Crüe, The Scream), Marco Mendoza (Whitesnake, Thin Lizzy), Deen Castronovo (Bad English, Journey) and David Lowy (Red Phoenix, Mink).

One thing is for certain: within a short amount of time, The Dead Daisies have made a massive impression on the rock scene and managed to garner the one thing that every band desires but only so few ever have: HARD CORE FANS! They love the Daisies and the Daisies love them back!

Rock is indeed alive and well!!!

THE DEAD DAISIES BURN IT DOWN WORLD TOUR UK & EUROPE

UK (with special guests THE TREATMENT* & THE AMORETTES)

APRIL

Sunday 8th Garage Glasgow, UK

Monday 9th Robin 2 Bilston, UK

Tuesday 10th Koko London, UK *

Thursday 12th Academy 2 Manchester, UK

Friday 13th Rock City Nottingham, UK *

Saturday 14th Academy Bristol, UK *

EUROPE (with special guests THE NEW ROSES)

APRIL

Monday 16th 013 Tilburg, NET

Tuesday 17th Biebob Vosselaar, BEL

Wednesday 18th Markthalle Hamburg, GER

Friday 20th Sticky Fingers Gothenburg, SWE

Saturday 21st Parkteateret Oslo, NOR

Sunday 22nd Klubben Stockholm, SWE

Tuesday 24th Pumpehuset Copenhagen, DEN

Wednesday 25th Rosenhof Osnabrueck, GER

Thursday 26th Backstage Werk Munich, GER

Friday 27th Barba Negra Track Budapest, HUN

Sunday 29th Simm City Vienna, AUS

MAY

Tuesday 1st Thanks Jimi Festival Wroclaw, POL

Thursday 3rd Kesselhaus Berlin, GER

Friday 4th Schlachthof Wiesbaden, GER

Saturday 5th Live Music Hall Cologne, GER

Sunday 6th Le Trabendo Paris, FRA

Tuesday 8th Z7 Pratteln, SWI

Wednesday 9th Live Club Trezzo (Milan), ITA

Friday 11th Zentral Pamplona, SPA

Saturday 12th Mon Madrid, SPA

THE DEAD DAISIES -- BURN IT DOWN

TRACKLISTING

Resurrected Rise Up Burn It Down Judgement Day What Goes Around Bitch Set Me Free Dead And Gone Can’t Take It With You Leave Me Alone

THE DEAD DAISIES -- BURN IT DOWN

w ill be released in the follow ing formats:

• DigiPak CD with 12-page booklet and poster

• Gatefold Colored Vinyl with printed inner sleeves, 4-page poster booklet and Audio CD in paper sleeve

• Picture Disk Vinyl in Gatefold Sleeve

• Digital Download & Streaming