Rachael Sage Music
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Barbara Dennerlein Adventures
Have a good glass
of wine, or a soda or cup of tea and settle in as we explore once again
the life of Barbara Dennerlein. Our conversation
began with her concert in the Church of St Martin in Dundelange in May,
when she played the pipe organ. It was a collaboration with saxophonist
Laurent Pierre. She says, “Besides
the Hammond organ I play a lot of pipe organ and that is a very big
challenge. It is not like playing a Hammond organ, which is more or less
the same instrument (no matter which one you play), but pipe organs are
extremely different. This was a very big church with a long delay. It
was a big pipe organ with a lot of pipes, registers and sounds. The
acoustics were challenging in a way, because of the delay (in the
sound). It was a challenge for both of us to play together because it is
unbelievable, but just a few meters make a total difference. When He is
(standing) at the wrong place then he is not together with what I am
playing. The pipe organs are not as direct as a Hammond organ when you
press a key, and you immediately hear
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Raised On TV - Band
The album opens
with “Just Wanted To Tell You,” from whose lines the album takes its
title, a song that will have you dancing from the first few beats. The
brothers Rogers and Greenwood are joined on electric bass by Blaine
Billingsley. “(The song) is
about my wife. The lyrics, particularly the chorus is a love letter to
my wife. It is a sentiment that is good to get across and to say. It is
not strictly on one narrow path the whole time. I wrote the verses,
while we were on the road. I think we were pulled over at a coffee shop
or something and we were taking a minute. I had the chorus about my
wife, and I liked that. I wanted to say that, and it was truthful. The
verses I was still trying to figure out and the words just came. The
verses have a story behind them, but the chorus is about my wife,” says
Keaton Rogers, providing us with some insight about the song. Historically bands
from California, going back to the 1950s, has had a distinct flavor and
we talked about that, before digging deeper into the sound of Raised On
TV, “I would say it still does (have a distinct California sound), maybe
not as much as it once did, if you go back to the Beach Boys and Surf
Rock and The Ventures or the Laurel Canyon scene in the seventies. I
think those times were more distinctly Californian, but I think if you
fast forward to the ‘90s and the early 2000s there was a lot of Punk
music and Rock Punk that was coming out of California. Green Day was one
of the bigger bands. They had a California Punk sound that still kind of
carries on. I would say there is still a California sound, but it can be
hard to put your finger on it sometimes. It is definitely a thing, and
it is definitely real,” he says.
He then muses if Raised On TV’s music has a California flavor,
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Electronic Firefly
Electronic Firefly
website
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Rachael Sage Interview
Rachael Sage
describes her U.K. tour as “a dream situation. It really was. I always
admired the artist Lulu and her long, diverse and dynamic career and to
be her support while playing so many beautiful theaters was just a
treat. I was the support act for her whole farewell tour. Everything was fantastic. She has such a loyal
and enthusiastic audience. She took us through this incredible journey
through the decades. It was her version of the Eras tour (editor’s
note: For anyone who has been living off-planet that is a Taylor Swift
reference). She had wonderful projections and artists with whom she
collaborated. She went from David Bowie to Elton John. It was all over
the map. It was the kind of revue you might expect from Bette Midler or
Cher. There were songs from her early career and then all the way up to
more recent albums. It was really fun and it kind of felt like it should
end up being a Broadway show or something. It is sad that it was her
farewell tour. She was on fire until the very end and I can’t even
imagine that she is not going to tour anymore. (She sang) “To Sir
With Love,” and at the end everybody was on their feet. It was very,
very poignant.
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Actress Corinna Seiter
Ms. Seiter who we
will simply refer to by her first name for the rest of this interview,
because for such an affable woman, this seems more appropriate, provides
us with some insight concerning the new short film she is working on. “It has been quite
a while since I wrote my last project. I have always enjoyed writing and
I wanted to do something that is close to my heart. I think it is
something that all of us go for at certain stages in our lives. It (the
film) is about isolation, and it has a bit to do with the whole pandemic
situation. That is not going to show in the project really. It takes
place in a dystopian world that we really do not know that much about.
It is about a character who lives in that world and who is trying to
find their way between what is real and what isn’t. This (individual) is
trying to figure life out in a way, and they are trying to be mentally
well. It also has a big part about mental health as well. I wanted to do
something simpler than the technical side of it and not very
complicated. Something easy to do visually. I want something more visual
without a lot of dialogue in it. It will be more like sensations and
images. There will be a short dialogue at the end. It has more to do
about the inner dialogue that goes on in our heads when we are alone and
everything that comes with it. It has a connection as well to the
digital world; I want to say that we are trapped in
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Ciara Grace - New Album
Ciara Grace’s
music is earthy, edgy with some of the vocals and music being staccato
in nature. The themes we want to say mostly dealt with relationships,
but that would not be true, because the songs were all about
relationships! Even though they were written between her high school
years and the summer immediately prior to entering college, whether you
are sixteen years old, twenty years old or forty-two years old, there is
something here for everybody to sink their teeth into, both musically
and lyrically. Yes, we are hearing the expression of feelings from what
was then a teenage songwriter, and from a female perspective, but we
think we are correct in saying that many women out there are going to
listen and say, ‘I knew a guy just like that!” or ‘I remember that guy
who treated me poorly,” and “I can’t believe I fell for that guy.’ Now,
just so we do not give you the wrong impression, while some of these
lyrics do bear the signs of feeling jaded or angry at the time, it is
important to note that these are not angry songs, at least in our view.
There are enough images and metaphors that keep this from becoming a
dark brooding album and you can sink your teeth
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Electronic Firefly From Spain
Silvia explains
what happened next, “That was not when I met Charlie (Perez-Íñigo now
her husband). I needed an electric cello for the project and another
person recommended that I call him. It was a difficult
time in my life and Charlie became my friend and he helped me in many
aspects of my life. At the time I was living in a small village called
Villarejo (located in La Rioja, Spain) and he started to visit me often. He also
recommended me for a show called “Music Has No Limits,” and that is when
we started to work together. We toured with them, and we started our
relationship. We have been together ever since. It was after we left
“Music Has No Limits,” that we started Electronic Firefly.” In 2023 their
daughter was born and for two performing musicians that has brought its
own challenges, but more on that later. The two world
class musicians have also expanded their music careers and in addition
to performing sometimes as a duo and other times for solo gigs, they now
also are DJs. Charlie takes us
down the DJ pathway, and how it began, “We like playing our instruments
with electronic music, |
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Fiona Joy Hawkins - New Music
Our conversation on this day, however, takes us far from those concert
venues and to the Arctic and how she has combined her music with nature
and video.
Acknowledging that her trip to the Arctic was a life changing event, she
says, “Absolutely,
it was probably the best time I ever had, and it was such an eyeopener
with the beauty there. I want to do it again, but there are so many
other things I want to do. It really made me aware of the problems there
and aware of the power of music and the power of suggestion. I was on a
boat that was full of writers, biologists, photographers and politically
involved and motivated people. We had really
famous political people and I can’t even say who. When I met all of
these people I said, all I could really do is my music. There is nothing
more that I feel I can do to help these situations. They said to me, in
some ways you can do more than many of us.
I was like, really?
Are you joking? For the last night they played my
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JM Stevens Interview
“You find some like minded souls and you start
playing cover songs. It felt like something positive to be doing there.
It was so much fun at the time. We played school dances and stuff like
that. We played little town festivals and things. My first band was
called Aces High he recalls. That however was not his first tasted of budding
stardom, “I think it was the second grade talent show when I did “Eye of
the Tiger.” I even have a picture of that (see the photo). It was in the
local paper. The guitar is bigger than I am. I was obsessed with that
song. I remember the music teacher was playing with me on piano and a
buddy was playing bass. He had a Fender Jazz bass that he borrowed from
his dad. We were freaking out in the whole month leading up
to it. That is how I feel right now getting ready to go on this tour. It
isn’t much different (laughs lightly).” On this evening, from Austin, Texas, where he now
makes his home, he talks about his new album, Nowhere To Land.
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Maia Sharp and Reckless Thoughts
From her home in Nashville (yes, she did indeed move from California a
few years ago), she talks about when the seeds for Reckless Thoughts
were first planted.
“The first song that I knew was going to be the beginning of a new album
project was “Kind.” I wrote that with Mindy Smith and Dean Fields in
2019. When we were finished with that one, I knew I needed to start
thinking about another project, even though Mercy Rising (the
previous album) wasn’t even out yet. I knew that one was already
finished. I knew that “Kind,” wasn’t going to be on Mercy Rising.
It already set the wheels in motion and I thought I guess I am going to
be making another record.
“Too Far Now,” was the next one. Those two songs are so different from
each other that they really presented a challenge. How am I going to
write or look through
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Kori Linae Carothers
From her home in California, Kori Linae Carothers sat down with us to
talk about her life, her music and might we dare say a very interesting
date years ago, that resulted in her marriage to her husband.
“We moved to Texas when I was 15 and that was really hard. I didn’t do
change at that age. What was really interesting about that move was
nobody cared where I came from. There was not this popularity contest
that I had in Minnesota. We moved from Minneapolis to a very tiny
farming community southwest of Minneapolis and it was one of the hardest
moves that I ever had. People would tease me, because my hearing was
crappy, and it just was not a good time for me. That is when I started
writing music,” Kori Linae Carothers explains, continuing she says, “I
was thirteen and fourteen when things really started to come to my head.
Then
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Actor Ruben Yuste
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Kerri Powers Love Is Why
Chuckling she
says, “Not too many people can find me. It is more private, which is
really nice. We have been here twenty-two or twenty-three years now. I
am originally from East Taunton, Massachusetts.” Ah that is the
accent that everyone once in a while visits this conversation.
So, tell us about
your European tour in support of your album, Love Is Why. “I must say I am really on a high from that. It usually goes very well, and I certainly didn’t expect to play to sold out venues. I went as a soloist this time and usually I play with a good guitarist from over there. I won’t say I was apprehensive, but you never know what to expect. The audiences over there were quite receptive and I couldn’t have asked for a better run of dates. The one thing I like about (being in Europe) to tour is you have very appreciative audiences. They are down to earth good people. Every time I am there I learn more about what is going on and the culture. I just like the fact that we are learning every day if we are open
The
one thing I like about (being in Europe) to tour is you have very
appreciative audiences. They are down to earth good people. Every time I
am there I learn more about what is going on and the culture. I just
like the fact that we are learning every day if we are open to it. When
you are in that mindset it is very inspiring as well.
I have been working on a book of poetry since I came home. I am also a
painter. I feel super blessed that I can get out of “Dodge” now and then
and get the opportunity to explore what I would not normally have the
opportunity to do had it not been for the music,” she says.
As for whether or not her audiences were able to plug into her American
lyrics, she says, “If you are writing the songs correctly. As a
songwriter and an artist, it is more about the emotion and the universal
feeling. As cliché as it sounds there is no language barrier when it
comes to the language of the soul or the heart.
I just get out there and do what comes naturally and organically
to me.
When I first started going over there my concern was will people
understand? It can be a little intimidating when you are in a big room,
you don’t know the audience and you don’t know what to expect. If you
are honest then you just do what you are meant to do. When you put it
out there in a vulnerable way, I think there is a connection,” Kerri
Powers explains.
The album takes
its name from the song “Love Is Why,” and Kerri Powers explains, “I have
a humble, little studio on the property
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Adrian Sutherland Interview
Adrian Sutherland
recorded two songs for this album in his native language, Cree and
others, while in English, share from his life experiences and his
heritage of which he is proud.
The album opens
with the beautiful song “Notawe,” (No Taw ee), and it is one of the two
Cree songs on Precious Diamonds. Adrian Sutherland
talks about the song “Notawe.” “It is a song I wrote in my Cree
language, which is the language that we speak where I live. It is the
first full Cree song that I have written, which is kind of odd, because
I am fluent in Cree. With the place I
am at in my life it felt really important to me to write about the loss
of someone’s father. “Notawe,” in my language means my father. I know a
lot of people when they get to middle age start to lose people around
them that they love. That is where this song came from. It is an
emotional song for me. It is a heavy song. I lost my father many, many
years ago. We grieve in different ways. Many of us get to spend most of
our lives with our parents, but for me it is a different perspective,
because I lost my father when I was a boy. The song was from two
different perspectives. You can feel the
emotion and it was a different song to create. I had difficulty singing
in the (Cree) language too, because the songs come out sounding a little
harsher than in English. It was a bit hard to find the pocket to deliver
these songs in the emotional way that I wanted to deliver them. As for the
instrumentation, it is pretty simple, and I played the
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Actress, Singer Carmen Prados
Actress Carmen Prados originally from Córdoba,
Andalusia Spain and who has also called London, Paris, Barcelona and
Madrid home, is that very person and she was gracious enough to take
time from a busy schedule that often sees her performing twice per day
and at least once per week in the sometimes salty, but mostly endearing
role of Vivian.
How does she do it? Carmen Prados explains, “I have done two shows as
Scarlett and two as Vivian, one as Vivian and one as Scarlett. I have
done all the possibilities. It is challenging, but I really love it. Two
shows of Scarlett are tougher on the body and two shows of Vivian are
tougher on the voice. Doing both, I love it because it is super
challenging, and you have to be really focused. It is really hard and for me it is crucial to take
naps, because I wake up early in the mornings. I am a Spanish person and
I take my siesta very seriously, so that is my solution to being tired.
Getting ready for the show I warm up my voice and body, like an athlete
and this is my instrument.” Riveting Riffs Magazine would like to tell you that
we went to Pretty Woman el Musical specifically to watch Carmen
Prados perform, but that would be less than truthful. We had fallen in
love with this cast and the production, and to be honest we went to see
one of the principals Rubén
Yuste perform, as we had interviewed him earlier in the year. As fate
would have it, neither Cristina Llorente, nor Ruben Yuste were
performing that night. It
did not take long before we were captivated by the Vivian before us,
Carmen Prados. Who is this young woman, who brings amazing energy, a
natural knack for humor and a beautiful singing voice to this character?
By the intermission, this writer said under my breath, I want to
interview her.
Carmen Prados tells us about her journey, “I was born and raised in Córdoba
in the south of Spain. It is in
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Ni Una Mas (Raising Voices) - Series
Yes, the writer of this review / OPED is a man, but
a man who has been in relationships with and had extended family members
and friends who were at some point in their lives as children, teenagers
and adults were victims of sexual predators. Some again became victims
in their report to police or when their cases went to court, others
developed PTSD, borderline personality disorders and other psychological
impairments and / or attempted suicide. The powerful Ni Una Mas series
addresses all of that and more. The
courage of Alma, to be a female voice that speaks up and against a
sexual predator is not a fantasy, it is what we sometimes see lived out
in society and in the midst of tragedy, they become our heroes. Does
Alma always have her act together? Not always and in fact we might
question at times if she makes more bad choices than good ones but think
back to your high school years and if you were the person that you
turned out to be. There are some poignant moments when Sara Rivero’s
character Mercedes despite her attraction to one of the characters,
makes the right choices. This
series addresses whether it is simply easier for bureaucrats to try to
sweep things under the carpet, to hide messy situations and to try to
blame the victims or will they do the right thing? This
series may make you feel uncomfortable with the language at times, with
the discussion of sex at times or
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