boiMAG.com "Screamin' Rachael Exclusive Interview"

Unedited Interview with Chicago TRAX Records Exec. & Recording Artist Screamin' Rachael

by Mike Macharello

Screamin’ Rachael, a hot mess or a true survivor? A villain or hero?

Hello Mike, it’s great to finally be interviewed by a magazine that will give me an uncensored platform. First of all I’d like to address your provocative introduction.

I guess you could say I’m all of the above. Let’s face it, aren’t most of your fabulously fun friends a hot mess some of the time? If they weren’t they would be boring, and then we wouldn’t have fun stories to spill the tea about! Some of you might know about my previous wild NYC club kid days. Think about James St. James, ernie Glam, rue Paul and even the the idol amanda lepore, well we were all around together during those hedonistic years. We made a living being hot messes because we made the PARTY! After all if you weren’t a hot mess Michael Musto most likely wouldn’t write about you, in his Village Voice column. That was back in the OG days before social media. Of course there was Michael alig, but let’s not talk about him right now. Well if this is not ancient history to you, start by looking up “Party Monster”, but I’d rather not go down that road at this time.

There was Chicago’s true Club Kid Jo Jo Baby, a shinning example of love and acceptance. His loss was devastating to me and the many people of all communities that he touched. His love wasn’t about gay or straight, black or white, Muslim, Jew or Christian. He truly showed LOVE to all people. I'm so glad that Clive Barker made a great documentary about his life and he mentions that he tattooed Timeless on his wrist, because that is what I told him he was.

Am I a villain? Well there are those that think of me as some rich bitch living in an ivory tower, social climbing on the backs of minions. Sometimes I wish that were true, well, I mean the part about being RICH! Then again I have a somewhat innocent look about me, after all, I do think of myself as tinker Belle, lol. I love to have fun and sprinkle fairy dust, but mess with me and I will change into your worst nightmare. Here comes Maleficent! Some people who follow my story know about the Space Place, an underground 80’s rehearsal performance spot that I managed with the Harrington brothers. I still get letters and accolades about changing the lives of teens. Those people call me a hero. I also have dedicated many years to mentoring youth on the board of www. youthcommunicationchicago.org I stand up for people who don’t quite fit in, and need love and guidance, I can relate as I am still one of them… The true SURVIVOR part I’ll address a little later.

Screamin' Rachael

Photo by Brian Sorg

I have had a life with many ups and downs, and because of low self esteem I suffered a lot of abuse, but I want to say a couple of words about my early years. My mother was a lesbian, well mostly lesbian or I wouldn’t be here. I was bullied by kids because my mom never wore nice clothes, or makeup and had short hair. I had no idea of what gay or straight was. But what I can say is her friends came into my life, especially gay lovers Parker and Palmer, were some of the kindest people I ever knew. They gave me books about things that I was interested in, and they gave me lots of things while I was growing up. I will never forget those very special gifts. My mom was a free spirit, not prejudice against any races, or religion. I didn’t know any other way to be. I thank God cancel culture did not exist back then or maybe it was just on the down low, but I love all people until they hurt or deceive me.

I’m optimistic maybe to a fault, but that’s how I live my life. So since childhood the gay community has been the most supportive part of my life. They may have made fun of my hot mess days, but they have also stood by me and always supported my music, which is the one thing that has kept me going.

If you have read the May issue of rolling Stone Magazine, you might have read a lot about me. Before that issue all others just printed slander, from the Guardian, Pitchfork, News Week and many others. I just kept trying to even say a word about the accusations, with not even a call or a returned email. No one would listen except the Editor of Page 6. Many New Yorkers think about that column as pure gossip, but people still have a fascination about reading it. I want to thank Oliver Coleman for giving a fair view about what happened at TRAX records.

There was an attorney who called me a liar, a fraud and a forger. People think I’m thick skinned, but I had a breakdown and literally wanted to die. So Oli listened to me, and came to Chicago and did thorough research. I wouldn’t call the story complimentary, but it was fair and balanced. Lots of people finally learned the truth, and heard some of what I had to say. So I could hold my head up again. I’ve got to thank NYC film director eric rivas for putting a bug in his ear so that the story was published. I also love acting and have been in five of his films including Vamp Bikers. I'm most excited about the new one that we are working on now called enter requiem. You can view them on Amazon, Tubi and other streaming video apps. We have a great ensemble cast, kind of like what John Waters did. This includes apache ramos from The Warriors, angel Salazar from Scarface, and Michael Musto who is a terrific actor. His comic timing and expressive face fill the screen. He’s a real scene stealer!

Now, boiMAGazine is giving me a platform to proverbially let it all hang out. To tell it like it really is. Fuck cancel culture, and all

the people who hold themselves up as the politically correct crowd. They are the genuine frauds, who hide behind what they judge others to be, and use that power for their own gain.

The undertone of all these magazine stories paint a picture that none of them dare print. Besides being sexist, they paint me as a racist! There, I said it. It’s farthest from the truth! People that know me, know my best friend the designer Michael White is black, but I’m not trying to use the old proverbial cliché about some of my best friends. I’m going to say that I’m a woman in a male dominated business who dared to dream. And literally lost everything to save the classic TRAX catalogue, and keep it in America, specifically in Chicago. I believed that a woman could be a recording artist, and still run a label, after all there are people like Master P., Jay Z, and Luther Campbell, who are not female, but they're recording artists’ who run their own label.

One of the artists talked about how white owned music labels typically rip off black artists in Rolling Stone Magazine. All I have to say about that is, I wish all you haters had signed to Suge Knights “Death Row Records”. Some of the people even went to my friend Sinbad of Wicked Entertainment and literally said “ We aren’t going to let that white woman run things.” He always protected me and had my back. These are things the other magazines did not dare to print! Marshall Jefferson told me that people hated me a thousand times more than Marie Antoinette. Well she was just a scape goat too. Move over fellas it's time that WOMEN and LGBTQ+ people have power too. I’m sorry that sickens you to see that happening!

When asked about why a certain person who orchestrated a hate campaign against me and waited for 35+ years to complain about his record deal, his answer was “you don’t sue your uncle”, meaning Larry Sherman. The one they signed the contracts with, Sherman, but then 2 weeks after his death all haters circled around me like buzzards waiting to pick the bones off an injured animal.

So my questions are, why didn’t they go after the huge companies who didn’t pay them? Why did they keep bringing record after record to Larry Sherman? Why did they wait until after 17 years of litigation, and after the Pro-bono work that Lawyers for the Creative Arts did? They stood on the sidelines, pulled the race card and marginalized me for being a woman. I was the one who fought for their music, but that didn’t matter. No publication printed certain quotes made by those who supported me, because the words could be offensive, and worst of all, truth isn’t POLITICALLY CORRECT, nor is that what sells magazines. I may be small in stature, but I’m strong and Screamin’ Out Proudly! Not money, blackmail or bullies can silence me. I could have been paid a lot to simply go away. One of the opposing lawyers said they would make me a rich woman if I did that, to go away with money. I SAID NO!

Sadly, if they weren't so busy bulling and trying to destroy me with their lawsuit and lies, I could have really used their help. They had lots of power and money. However, crazy as it may sound, that was not what I was looking for. I have all the great talents, I’ve been signing since 2007, thanks to one of the most creative people my multitalented friend Jorge Cruz, who selflessly supported me with the creative work he did at the label. After the huge entity that I’m currently bound not to mention of who actually took over the old music catalog that everyone's fighting about, he gave me a chance to be creative, so we persevered.

I think my songs tell my story best, and thanks to him ‘The Queen of House album he created takes you on that journey. People thought TRAX was gone, dead and closed, but slowly over the course of a decade, we opened their eyes to new music and wonderful artists. His recent compilation STAR TRAX, shows off what we have continued to do for all these years. You see, the people who want to take over know nothing about the historic video and photo archives that I have. They also made it clear that they did not approve of our A&R policy, because we don’t go after and signup artists that have millions of followers on TikTok.

Q: How did you and Larry Sherman first get together?

A: Jay B. Ross was my Manager at the time. He saw me perform at a talent show and that was the start of it! He was shopping me around in NYC for a record deal without any luck. We kept being told what is this Crap, it’s not even a song? Or this sounds pretty good come back when the track is finished. My friend Michael White who is a designer went to meet JB with me at his office to talk about my image and he sketched up an outfit for me, to show Ross. We got to talking and Jay said he wanted us to meet someone important. So off we went to this big warehouse in the Bridgeport area of Chicago, Precision Vinyl Pressing Plant. It was big and there was no sign outside. when we got inside it was filthy oh my God! Michael and I looked at each other and it was like OH NO! Then Larry came out to greet us, he looked like a wreck and frankly really needed a shower. Well Michael and I were all about style and we were not impressed! He had these boxes of crummy looking records, containers of melted vinyl, a huge boiler and big vinyl presses. So I had been working on some music and JB said let’s do a deal with Larry.

At the time the records labels Precision Records, were yellow With brown print that looked really ugly and I did not want to be on a label that looked or was named that. We all went out to a diner to talk about business. I said that name has to got to go! And I hate those colors… Sherman said look Rachael I don’t give a crap if you call it Drippy Dick Records. So I said look we aren’t really doing songs I mean Its not verse chorus etc… Let’s call it Tracks Records. And a couple days later Larry said come down to the plant and You and Michael can help me do the layout. It’s your idea. Sometimes life creates happy accidents and Larry couldn’t spell.

It came out TRAX and that looked so much cooler! I loved it! And The name needed to fit nicely around the record so it got tilted. Michael knew we could really work with that logo so to this day he still makes me cool custom TRAX Records designs to wear. Larry said the name and logo would be mine. In the beginning the look was black with white letters. Later he started using mostly red ink with white letters. I've had the Trademark for 17 years and though Larry broke his word to me a lot of times. This was one time he kept it!

Q: I know you like big teddy bear type of guys, which Larry was, some people say you were a gold digger, and were after the Trax catalogue, so tell me about your marriage and relationship with Larry Sherman?

A: Well, if I was a gold digger I surely was in the wrong place. Larry had gone through a bankruptcy and when I came back to Trax after meeting him again in Cannes 1996 at Midem. I told Larry I’d come back as a recording artist if he would make me the President. When I got there, things were beyond bad. The electricity and the phones were turned off. There was a generator running the electric. After I made my first record at the beginning, I never got paid, not even an advance, though Larry told me that Vince Lawrence was supposed to pay me, and he must have just kept the money. I left a very fun wild life in New York, and if I had any common sense, I would have turned right around and moved back. But I believed in the music. You see, in New York everyone was playing Trax and I assumed things would be great. Boy was I wrong, but somehow I was inspired by Sylvia Robinson of Sugarhill Records and I believed in myself.

Larry and I had a lot in common, being in the recording studio together also both of us were Disney freaks. There was a fun side of Larry, and the best part of our marriage was my Stepdaughter Tessa. Things were financially bad so we sold things on eBay to make ends meet. Finally we got up and running and I even met a Billionaire who made a deal for the French territory, and then we had an office in Paris! So sometimes we had all the best, and other times, even though we lived at Lakepoint Tower, the electricity got shut off for about a day and a half, so we had to run an extension chord out from the hallway, so we could watch TV. I’d Have to write a book to tell you all of the crazy things that happened. All the ups and downs lead to bad business deals and then Larry lost his mind. He had untreated high blood pressure and he turned violent and scary.

We lost the entire label to a joint venture deal gone bad, so if it wasn’t for the probono work of lawyers For the Creative arts, all the classic music would be owned by a huge conglomerate in the U.K. I’m not free to name them, but there are lots of sources on the internet with that public information. Finally even though I had low self esteem, the violence with Larry was so bad, I couldn't take it and I eventually divorced him. At the time we owned nothing and just like all the other artists, I was not being paid anything! After 17 plus years of litigation on January 1st 2022 we finally got back control of the label again. Larry Sherman died before that and had never recovered financially. Thank God I met my big bear of a husband Mark, who looks like he just stepped out of the Sopranos, or I would have never made it through. He’s a great husband and loves Tessa, like one of his own.

PART TWO WILL CONTINUE IN THE NEXT ISSUE ALONG WITH AN EXCLUSIVE ANNOUNCEMENT

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