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Woman On The Moon
She explains, “It is part of my natural cycle. I release a record and
then I take a little bit of time to promote and play shows and regroup.
I then start writing again. I never write for a record, I just write.
Once I have thirty or forty songs, I start looking at them and choose
what to record. I had a few songs that I wrote early in 2021 or maybe
the end of 2020. I write often, but not every day, there are people who
are way better than me at that. I write fairly consistently, probably
every week. If you think about the fact there are fifty-two weeks in a
year and I write every week, by the end of the year I have forty to
fifty songs. Probably half of them nobody should ever hear and half of
them are decent.
This one was different than my previous records, because I didn’t record
it all at once and normally, I do. I (usually) sit down with all of my
songs and decide which ones I want to record. I then go ahead and book
my session and record everything in three days. This time I did it
differently. In June of last year, I approached Gabe and I said, hey I
have a few songs. Can we record them, because I think I want to release
some singles? I wasn’t planning on a record. (She starts to laugh) We
started recording and then one thing led to another. I ended up with
twelve songs in the summer. Then in the fall I got back from Italy and I
was making plans to release a record, but I wasn’t sure about some of
the songs and I went back to Gabe and I said I have two other songs I
want to record to replace the other two that I wasn’t sure about.
It wasn’t like a process that I was going to the studio to make a
record. It was (more like) let’s record a few songs.
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Carla Olson - Triple Threat
The seeds for Americana Railroad, the album, began to take
root in the early 1990s with Carla Olson, Gene Clark and Saul Davis,
Carla’s manager and husband.
Carla Olson says, “It was a nice idea to be a vehicle for a couple of
Gene’s songs, one of which is “I Remember the Railroad,” and not many
people know about it unless you are a big Gene Clark fan. Also, his
songs, “Train Leaves Here This Morning,” and “Kansas City Southern.”
Gene was a railroad guy. I remember buying a package of shirt patches
that they used to sell in train stations and train shops and I bought
four or five of the Rock Island Line. I gave a couple of them to Gene
when we were first hanging around together in the eighties. He said this
is so cool I am going to sew them on my jean jacket as soon as I can. He
was a huge reason why we tried to cobble this together. The other song
was The Long Ryders’ song that Stephen McCarthy wrote called “Here Comes
That Train Again.”
Those were the songs that started the ball rolling.”
We wondered what attracted Carla Olson to create a concept album around
the theme trains.
She explains, “I am a child of the fifties who walked home with her
buddies, while listening to The Beatles, the Stones
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Misley - Fashion for Women
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Madeleine Davis - One of a Kind!
Madeleine Davis had a lengthy career with Boney M (By the Rivers of Babylon, Rasputin) and a small sample of her work in the studio and / or live performances includes artists such as Precious Wilson, Hoyt Axton, Peggy March, Terence Trent D'Arby, Rick Astley, Klaus Doldinger, La Bionda and Amanda Lear. She was in demand by producers such as, Ralph Siegel, Tony Monn, Michael Kunze, Sylvester Levay, Giorgio Moroder and Frank Farian. She sang in church as a young child, acted on stage as a teenager (there is a motorcycle story we will get to in a minute) and she was a soloist with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, while still in university.
“My father was a lot older than my mother. He was fifty-nine when I was
born and he was seventy-five when I was eighteen.
I
grew up with a father who was in World War I. He had so much information
for me when I went to school. When he was a paperboy the Titanic sank,
so he knew the information from the newspapers of that time. He told
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The Bablers from Finland
Talking to us from his home in Finland, the affable protagonist of this
conversation explains when and how the band’s name was birthed, “When
young people are choosing the name for a band it is not always logical
and it can be quite chaotic. In many cases later on many bands regret
(the name they chose). In
this case we don’t. It came from the word babble or bubbling. It is
active. Then we took one “b” out of the word and it looked right. We
ended up using it and we never looked back since. I think one of the
most important things with a band’s name is it has to stick in your
mind. Many of the crazy names stick there.
We (Janne Haavisto) were located in the same area and we were friends.
Many of us went to the same school. The drummer Janne Haavisto’s older
brother and my older brother were great mates. Janne’s brother’s band
rehearsed in the basement of our house. I come from a family with five
children and we lived in quite a big house. They also had great parties
(he laughs). I was there as a little boy in my pajamas listening to how
they played the old Blues stuff and Irish Folk music. Janne and I just
became friends.
I started to write songs from the time I was ten or eleven
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Kincső
Nóra
Pethő
Obviously, only the Gaia part is taken from the Greek goddess, as
Kincső
Nóra
Pethő
explains, “I
am like a computer program from the future who becomes a real person by
the end of this 70-minute show. It was called Heroes of the Future
and it was part of Planet Budapest 2021. There were about fifty
actors and actresses working on this project, which was intended to
raise the interest of kids for protecting the environment. For one week
(in early December) the program ran from morning until evening. It was a
wonderful experience to see how enthusiastic the kids were! I felt great
about contributing to such a good goal!”
Continuing
she says, “We
talk to the children about how in the year 2100 there is not enough air,
and the environment has been destroyed. (The message is) they have to be
conscious of what they are doing in the present in 2021.
When we had some rehearsal groups and I could see a small guy, who was
ten years old and he wore glasses. I was sitting in a box and at first,
they could only hear my voice. They could not see me. I could see the
boy talking to the other kids. We wanted it to be
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Beatrix Löw-Beer
Artists such as
Beatrix Löw-Beer
are the reason why people are discovering the saxophone for the first
time. When you watch her concert performances or videos to promotional
videos everything from her movement to her attitude and her costumes
exhibits an exuberance for performing music. One is never left with the
impression that you are watching someone playing an instrument, because
her saxophone becomes an extension of her persona.
Take us back to where this all began.
“I grew up in Augsburg, which is one hour from Munich, which is the
capital of Bavaria. It is in the south of Germany, very close to
Austria. Augsburg is the third largest
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Rain Perry - A White Album
She says, “It is definitely a concept album. It
is somewhat of a sequel to my album Cinderblock Bookshelves, and
it was a memoir in music about me growing up as a hippie kid raised by
my dad. This record, A White Album, is me looking back at my same
life and my same family, but through the lens of race. It is called A
White Album, because it is me telling my story. I think most larger
topics are best addressed through people and it is my way of wading into
a fraught conversation and to talk about some issues that we seem to be
having a hard time talking about right now.” Although the
common thread is raising awareness of societal issues, the songs on the
album do not come across as preachy or even protestation, but instead
seem to be asking the question, why are we still here after all these
years, far removed from the civil rights movement of the 1960s and yet
in many ways the needle seems to have barely moved. “Thank you, that
is what I was shooting for. I think the best way to empathize is getting
to know somebody and to see the way they are trying to solve the
problems we are all trying to solve, how to be happy, to be fulfilled,
and to be successful in life. I don’t think anybody really changes by
being lectured.
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Bureau Of Magical Things
There is more than one instance of the suspension of disbelief, the
first being that this group of high school students who belong to a
secret magical order are, well the actors are all even at the time of
filming of university age or slightly older. Hey, they are not the first
television series to go there and they will not be the last. Tom
McSweeney and David Newman did a wonderful job of casting for the
series. I suppose if pressed we could say that Kimie Tsukakoshi as Kyra
is the star of season two as the plot for the most part revolves around
her character, but her co-stars shine too, with the brother and sister
team in real life and in the show, Elizabeth and Julian Cullen, as
Imogen and Darra respectively. Lilly is played by Mia Milnes, Jamie
Carter as Peter, and Rainbow Wedell as Ruksy. Their teacher in the
school of magic is Professor Maxwell portrayed by Christopher Sommers.
Oh, let’s not forget ladder. What you say? Watch the show and you will
understand.
This season we find the group of magical friends looking for three keys
and a hidden temple and at every turn in both the present and the past
evildoers are after them. That |
Sylvia's New Album
The opening song for the album “Avalon,” transports the listener to
Camelot and the days of King Arthur. Sylvia and Verlon Thompson wrote
“Avalon,” a beautifully orchestrated song with lush vocals by Sylvia.
For any child, any teenager, any adult whoever wished you could close
your eyes and open them to find yourself in a magical place, Sylvia
invites you to take her hand to travel to a place where the walls are
made of freedom and every tear becomes a shining star.
Normally, we would not credit so many musicians, but they earned their
due on “Avalon,” guitars, both electric and acoustic by John Mock, as
well as mandolin and percussion. Matt McGee played bass, Skip Cleavinger
played the Uilleann pipes, oboe by Somerlie Pasquale, Emily Bowland on
clarinet, trumpet (Jeff Bailey), French horn (Jennifer Kummer), violins
by Conni Ellisor and Mary Kathryn Van Osdale, viola (Betsy Lamb) and
cellist Nicholas Gold.
About
the musicians,
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Stranger Things Season Four
Matt and Ross Duffer wrote some great scripts for season four and
further diversified both the cast and the locations. The result is we
have five parallel stories within one greater story, but all of them
linked. Will (Noah Schnapp) Jonathan Byers (Charlie Heaton) and Mike
Wheeler (Finn Wolfhard) are traveling all over the United States for
various reasons, with their newfound friend the eccentric Argyle played
by Eduardo Franco. If you
want to know why they are traveling you will have to watch the series.
Back at home in Hawkins, Nancy Wheeler (Natalia Dyer), Steve Harrington
(Joe Keery), Dustin Henderson (Gaten Matarazzo), Lucas Sinclair (Caleb
McLaughlin), Robin (Maya Hawke) and Max Mayfield (Sadie Sink) are
fighting monsters once again from the Upside-Down world. The chemistry
within this group of actors makes the show worth watching and they are
joined this season by new character Eddie Munson played by Joseph Quinn.
There is a little bit of everything within this group, romance,
adventure, they are on the run, new friendships form and old
relationships…. well, you will just have to watch the series,
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Misley - Designed and Made in Spain |
Julia Helbich - Actress / Host
Acting represents just one of the many facets of Julia Helbich’s career
and education, including, her television hosting in which she has
established a noteworthy career, as an interviewer of top athletes, both
American and European, she also has an MBA Global Management, an MBA in
Business Administration, two bachelor’s degrees, one in political
science and the other in the arts.
For now, her primary focus is on acting and continuing to interview
others.
“It is a tough decision to go to a new road in your career, but that is
what you have to do. You have to go a few more steps, to see where it
(takes you) because if you don’t you will stay in the same place,” she
says
Finding herself attracted to the arts is not an accident with Julia
Helbich.
“It
is definitely in the family. Let’s start with my parents. My dad,
Wolfgang Helbich was a
very famous conductor and my mom Ortrun Helbich sang in my father’s choir. That is how
they met! Later on, my mom managed my dad, because he traveled all over
the world conducting. He was an amazing conductor and musician. He was a
typical musician and conductor who worked late at night. He also
composed his own music.
At his funeral there were over 2,000 people from all over the world. He
was so appreciated. It was very touching.
My dad was not such a good businessman and that is why my mom took over
at one point. We had five kids though, so my mom still had to be a mom.
She gave piano lessons and she opened up a music school. With five kids
she studied culture and music management and got her master’s degree. My
dad and my mom were an amazing team,” she recalls.
Continuing to talk about her early artistic endeavors, Julia Helbich
says, “I started off with singing, I played the violin. I then started
with theater.
I guess I always had it in me (to become an actress), but I was afraid
and I didn’t know where to start. I didn’t want to do just an acting
school. I also wanted to have the assurance that I was safe. I had that
from my parents. I grew up in an artist’s family and my parents were
always focused on us getting a great education.
I started off very quickly with great roles in Germany (appearing) in
pretty big series and movies. That gave me the (confidence) that I do
have talent.
One of those series is called Tatort and it is one of the biggest
series in Germany. Everybody knows it. It is a little bit like
Criminal Minds. I played in that (three times) and it was one of my
first roles. One time I had a role when I played a bad agent and I liked
that.
Other television and film appearances include, Lügen und andere
Wahrheiten and she played a young mother in Haltet die Welt an.
She has three films in various stages of production, Islamaphobia
in post-production, Torquemada’s Curse and I Will…anything
that moves, which is in pre-production. Julia Helbich played
Henrietta in die Expats and
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Ana Muñozo - Costume Designer
Ana Muñozo studied fashion design and in fact
spent four years at the beginning of her career in the industry and
established a fashion brand with some colleagues.
“On white fabric
we hand painted the prints ourselves and we made a color chart for every
season. We designed
accessories such as ties, fans, umbrellas, scarves and dresses.
Actually, the original idea were nightshirts, I remember when I showed
them to a client, she told me that she saw them as dresses and I said,
"as long as you sell it, I don't care if they wear it to dinner or to
dream." We did everything ourselves, the boxes, the labels, they were
exclusive and on the label the client could see the number of the
series. (There might be) a series of fifteen and you bought number four,
therefore you knew that there were only fifteen of that model. We did
fashion shows in different places like the international "fashion cafe"
and we also participated in some collective exhibitions. I also worked
at different times as a stylist for several publications,” she says.
Ana Muñozo grew up with her parents and one older sister in a rural area
outside of Barcelona, before they moved into the city.
Her ties to both the fashion world and theater run several generations
deep, “My mom was an excellent tailor. I grew up surrounded by buttons,
fabrics and sewing.
My great-great grandfather and his siblings acted in his village since
the theater companies did not go there. His brothers were the actors,
and he was the promoter. This was the connection my family has with art
and fashion,” Ana Muñozo explains.
She continues, recalling, “I spent most of my time drawing. I was
drawing all day and then I decided to draw clothes for my dolls. My
mother made dresses for my dolls, but she wanted to know what I had
drawn. My mother made the dresses that she wanted, but I said mom! (you
can hear the childlike inflection in her voice as she recalls)! She
sewed what she wanted. They were beautiful but different than my
(drawings).”
During her teenage years, “If I said to my mother for example, I want a
jacket for this weekend, my mother would make it for me in a day. It was
incredible.
I was influenced by the fashion of the moment, but I never wanted to
have to wear my designs. This is weird. I think this is weird. I think
in that moment I didn’t know what I
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Laura Blossom - Madrid's Finest
Laura Blossom is what many would consider to be a late bloomer when it
comes to acting.
“I started acting when I was twenty years old. My uncle, Balbino Lacosta,
is an actor in Madrid and I often went to the theater to see him. He was
the only (person in the arts) in my family. My grandmother and my mother
played piano, but as a hobby,” says Laura Blossom.
She explains another factor that led to her pursuing a career in the
arts, “There was an acting course at the university where I was studying
art history and I thought why not and I loved the course.”
Laura Blossom grew up in Zaragoza, the capital of the autonomous region
of Aragon located in northeast Spain. The city is located between Madrid
and Barcelona.
“It is a big city, but not as big as Madrid. There are theaters there,
but I had to move to Madrid, because in Zaragoza you can’t live from art
and from acting, because there aren’t enough opportunities,” she
explains.
She says, “I started to sing when I was five years old and at the same
time my parents paid for me to take piano lessons. I loved that. I then
took a music course and it was the best experience of my life. I was in
music courses for eleven years.
When I was ten years old, I started studying ballet in a school near my
home. I studied for twelve years and then I broke my leg when I was
practicing. Two or three years later I was watching musical theater
dancing and I thought it was so beautiful, so I decided to learn.
I was eleven years old when I first performed for an audience. For the
music course I was in we played a concert and we sang. It was really fun
and I liked that. It was in the principal auditorium. There were a lot
of people,
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Photo: Christian Bremen, Model: Jacqueline Bloch
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Sayonara Sorrow - Ben Brown
He says, “The song, “What Will Happen to All
that Beauty,” was inspired by novelist and activist James Baldwin. James
Baldwin was a writer and activist in the sixties and seventies. I was
reading some of his writings a few years ago and the line “What Will
Happen to All that Beauty?” is a direct quote from one of his essays
called The Fire Next Time. At the end of his essay, he talks
about what will happen to the beauty that is blackness. He equates
beauty with blackness. He says what will happen to the beauty of
blackness, in the United States if we don’t reconcile the racial
injustices. He said this in 1968. When I read that line it sounded
profound and like a great title. Shortly thereafter I heard music in my
head that seemed to fit the mood and the tone, so it went from there. I
made a YouTube video with a quote from James Baldwin and some stock
footage of 1960s civil rights activism.”
Ben Brown takes the lead vocals on the song,
“What Will Happen to All that Beauty,” while producer Mick Flowers lays down the drumbeats, Jeff Brown
plays bass and Tim Cappello’s (Tina Turner, The Lost Boys) vehement
saxophone graces this song and others on this fabulous album. Ben Brown
also plays guitars and keyboards.
As for the former song we mentioned, Ben Brown says, “The song “That’s
How the West Was Lost,” is from The Savage Poor album The
Grown Ups.
Social Justice and Social Justice commentary has been an issue and
concern in my writing and was in the writing of my brother Jeff Brown
years. In The Savage Poor I would argue that the writing takes a
slightly more ironic tone. In the solo work of Sayonara Sorrow it
is a bit more direct and a bit more personal. Social commentary and
social justice was fodder for the work that we did for a number of
years.
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