Music News aka Houston Music News aka Texas Music News

NOVEMBER 2022

Hi Folks, Hello Music News readers. I hope everybody had a great October. If you look carefully at the cover of this issue, you can see that we have now started our 41st year of production last month. That’s right, as of the last issue, we have brought you four solid decades of Music News. It’s certainly been a wild ride. We would have never guessed that we would have lasted so long, but we did. We’ve undergone a few changes along the way. We started out in print and utilized that form for 38 years until the pandemic hit. Now we are totally online. When we first went online in 1993, I never thought that it was the wave of the future, but it certainly is. Everything is online right now and unfortunately free print magazines seem to be falling by the wayside. We are certainly happy that we were among the first to utilize this new technology and we implore all of you to continue reading Music News at http://www.houstonmusicnews.net. Thanks everybody for you’re support and here’s to another 40 years of Music News aka Houston Music News. Remember, you can download Music News into your computer or tablet to read any time you decide to.

Now, on to the new issue. In this issue, as usual, we have some great stories and information to pass on to you. Check out stories in this month’s issue on Judas Priest, Arc Angels, Joe Satriani, Blue Oyster Cult, Rina Sawayama, Meltdown TX, Chaka Khan, Valient Thorr, King’ X and another installment of the original story, THE BIKER along with a lot more! Also in this issue are a ton of great pictures of bands performing around the Houston area. I’m sure you’re going to be familiar with a lot of these bands. If you have pictures of local bands performing, please email them to us. I would really appreciate it and I know the bands do as well. Keep it up... We would like to see more pictures from you.

We’d also like to invite you to check out our Spanish music section. Not only does it support the Spanish music community, it does so in Spanish. It would appear that Music News has now become the only bilingual music publication in Houston. Check out great stories in it this month on Isabel Pantoja, Amada Miguel and Ana Victoria Verdaguer. We hope you like them.

I sincerely hope that everybody reading this new publication finds something here that they like and I would like to encourage you to let your friends and colleagues know about us. Just look for us every month at http://www.houstonmusicnews.net. I would also like to encourage you to email us for a free subscription to Rock And Blues International as well. Just email us at musicnew@airmail.net and in the subject line simply put “Sign Me Up” and we’ll email you a copy each month when it is published. For your convenience, Music News is also now downloadable. You can download the issue into your computer or storage device and save it and read it at your convenience without having to get logged on to the internet every time. Try it now and save every issue. It will make things a lot easier for you.

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Judas Priest Bring Their their ‘50 Heavy Metal Years’ Anniversary Tour to Houston’s 713 Music Hall

Legendary English heavy metal band Judas Priest will be brining their ‘50 Heavy Metal Years’ Anniversary Tour to Houston’s 713 Music Hall. They will be bringing along American heavy metal counterparts Queensryche as their opening act. Their November 29th date at the 713 Music Hall will be the last scheduled date on the tour for this year.

These past two years have been eventful for the group with the recent announcement that they will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on November 5 alongside Duran Duran, Dolly Parton, Eminem, Lionel Richie and more. Former guitarist K.K. Downing has even confirmed that he will be attending their induction ceremony.

Unfortunately, current guitarist Richie Faulkner had a life threatening aorta rupture onstage during the band’s Louder Than Life 2021 set. Fortunately, a mere 10 weeks after his open heart surgery, he went on Instagram live and shredded his guitar, proving that he is alive and well.

Recently Rob Halford reported to ABC Audio that Judas Priest was in the process of “tracking” the follow-up to their 2018 album, “Firepower”.

You can never have enough songs when you’re making an album,” he said. “Songs that you didn’t even know you had bits and pieces and fragments of, suddenly they become an incredibly important part of your record.”

In regards to the new musical direction that Judas Priest is taking with the new album, Rob said, “The music that we’re making now is representative of where PRIEST is at this probably sixth decade of our existence when it comes out… It sounds great. I’m really pleased. I’m really, really happy that… we’re not dropping the ball. Not that we ever have. But it’s good, because there are some elements in there that we’ve never… kind of discovered before.”

Tor thye new album, Rob also said thet the band wil be reuniting with the production team of Andy Sneap,

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longtime collaborator Tom Allom and engineer Mike Exeter (BLACK SABBATH).

The evolution of Judas Priest has changed quite dramatically since the band formed in 1969. The only original member from this lineup is bassist Ian Hill. Rob joined up with priest in 1973 and Glenn Tipton joined in 1974. One of the other founding members, K.K. Downing left the band in 2011 and his spot was filoled by Richie Faulkner. Glenn Tipton left the band eight years ago after being diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease and his spot was filled by Andy Sneap.

This past March, in an interview on the “Metal From The Inside” podcast Richie Faulkner said that the recording of the new album has had a slowdown as well. “It’s been slowed down a lot because of, obviously, the pandemic,” said Faulkner. “We wanted to get together, like we did on ‘Firepower’, and record it together, but, obviously, the lockdowns and everything like that slowed that process [down]. Some of us live in the U.S., some of us live in the U.K., so getting together proved to be a bit difficult over the last couple of years. Now everything is kind of opening up, it’s a bit easier, but now we’re on the road, so we’ve got a touring cycle [to get through]. So, if we can, we might be able to do it in between the touring cycles.”

As for a release date, Faulokner had this to say, “We don’t have a release date. It’s not finished. We’ve got the songs, but we’ve gotta record it. We’ve got drums down. I don’t know if that’s even been said yet. So we’re gonna try and build it up as we move through this touring cycle. But as Rob always says, it’ll be finished when it’s finished. At this point in their career, there’s no point in rushing anything, especially when we’ve waited this long through the pandemic to start doing it. It’ll be done when it’s done. But there will be another Priest record. We’ve got some great songs.”

When it comes to the direction that

the band is taking on the new album, Faulkner also said, “It’s different to ‘Firepower’, but it’s definitely… You can hear where it’s coming from. It’s not even ‘Firepower 2’… It’s hard to say anything these days without people getting… If I say it’s like a continuation of ‘Firepower’, people think it’s ‘Firepower 2’. It’s got its own character, it’s got its own legs, and we’re looking forward to releasing it on to the world when it’s done.”

Rob Halford was asked by Remy Maxwell of Audacy Check if he agreed with Richie Faulkner that the band’s new album will be more “progressive” than “Firepower”. Halford replied, “Yeah, the metal is there. But here’s the thing: we’ve tried our best not to replicate anything that we’ve done. From ‘Rocka Rolla’ all the way through to ‘Firepower’, each record has had a distinctive character. And it’s tough because fans go, ‘We want another ‘Painkiller’,’ ‘We want another ‘British Steel’.’ And [it’s, like], ‘Dude, we’ve already done that. Fans know that we’re a band that is always full of adventure and trying new stuff,” he continued. “And so, yeah, this has got probably some more progressive elements that we’ve never really delved into before. And that’s exciting, because,

again, it gives us and our fans another opportunity to see a different side of PRIEST. But it’s still metal. There’s just more of it. There are more notes than there were before.”

Singer Rob Halford also recently divulged more information about Judas Priest’s new album, which he said should arrive by 2024 at the latest and will serve as a follow-up to 2018’s Firepower. “It’s not Firepower Number Two, that’s all I can say,” he told Metal Crypt. “If you look at Judas Priest from Rocka Rolla to Firepower, everything in between has got its character and its identity. That’s what we’re working on with this one. I think adventurous is a word we’ve never used before in trying to explain the content. It’s adventurous.

“And now people are going, ‘What does he mean by that? Is it going to sound like Dolly Parton?’” Halford continued. “You’ll have to wait and see. It’s great, man. It’s good. It’s solid. It’s a very, very good, strong follow-up, as they call it, to the last one.”

Faulkner also told Canada’s The Metal Voice that “Whenever you start a

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record, you never know how it’s gonna turn out. So you might start with an idea of what it’s gonna be, and as it kind of rolls on, it comes out something different. So you don’t quite know. And also it’s really hard to sum up your own music, I find, without sounding really pretentious. But I think this one — it’s not ‘Firepower 2’, I don’t think. It’s its own thing, it’s its own animal. If anything, I would say it’s a bit more progressive in places, and in places it’s got a bit more of that ‘Killing Machine’ swagger.”

Faulkner added: “I know everyone says, ‘Oh, is it the next ‘Painkiller’?’ or ‘Is it the next…?’ whatever… I don’t know if they’d ever done it, but I know we’ve never done it when I’ve been in the band; we’ve never tried to recreate an album. It’s always we try to create an album that stands on its own legs. So I think it’s definitely a little bit more progressive than ‘Firepower’ and, as I said, in places it’s got a little bit of that ‘Killing Machine’ angry swagger attitude going on. But again, as I said, we’re waiting to see what it turns out like, ‘cause it could turn out completely different.”

Judas Priest formed in West Bromwich in 1969. The band has sold over 50 million copies of their albums to date. They have been frequently ranked as one of the greatest metal bands of all time. Despite an innovative and pioneering body of work in the latter half of the 1970s, the band struggled with indifferent record production, repeated changes of drummers, and lack of major commercial success or attention until 1980, when they adopted a more simplified sound on the album British Steel, which helped shoot them to rock superstar status.

inaugural inductees into the VH1 Rock Honors in 2006, receiving a Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance in 2010, and their songs featured in video games such as Guitar Hero and the Rock Band series.

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The band’s best-selling album is 1982’s Screaming for Vengeance with their most commercially successful lineup, featuring Halford, Tipton, Hill, guitarist K. K. Downing, and drummer Dave Holland. Hill is the only member of the band to appear on every album.

Their influence, while mainly Halford’s operatic vocal style and the twin guitar sound of Downing and Tipton, has been adopted by many bands. Their image of leather, spikes, and other taboo articles of clothing were widely influential during the glam metal era of the 1980s. The Guardian referred to British Steel as the record that defines heavy metal. Despite a decline in exposure during the mid 1990s, the band has once again seen a resurgence, including worldwide tours, being

K. K. Downing and bassist Ian Hill had known each other since early childhood, as they lived near one another and attended the same nursery and school in West Bromwich. They became close friends in their early teens, when they shared similar musical interests (Jimi Hendrix, The Who, Cream, The Yardbirds) and learned to play instruments. The band was founded in 1969 in Birmingham, England, United Kingdom, after a local ensemble named Judas Priest (after Bob Dylan’s song “The Ballad of Frankie Lee and Judas Priest” from the John Wesley Harding album) split up. The band’s singer, Al Atkins, approached Downing and Hill, who were playing as a power trio with drummer John Ellis, and asked if he could become their singer. With Atkins now in the band, Downing suggested they change their name to Judas Priest as he had been a fan of the original band.

Later, in 1972, Rob Halford and drummer John Hinch joined to replace Atkins and Partridge, respectively. A second guitarist, Glenn Tipton, was also

Photo credit: Gil Lesage

Judas Priest

added to the line-up in 1974 as compensation for their record company’s (Gull Records) suggestion to add a horn section to the first album, Rocka Rolla.

Downing and Tipton’s harmonised guitar lines were not particularly common at the time, but became a trademark for the group and would inspire other bands such as Metallica, Iron Maiden and Megadeth to do the same. It is now a standard feature of many heavy metal bands and appears in many of metal’s sub-genres.

The band featuring Halford, Downing, Tipton and Hill would go on to record 14 albums from 1974 through to 1990. Their second album, Sad Wings of Destiny (released in 1976), is considered one of the most influential metal albums along with Black Sabbath’s selftitled début.

Priest went through a considerable number of drummers between their formation and 1980 when Dave Holland joined and stayed until 1988’s Ram It Down, and this is arguably the inspiration for Spinal Tap’s misfortune with drummers. Racer X drummer Scott Travis joined the band to record 1990’s Painkiller album and has been with the band ever since.

1980 saw Priest release perhaps their most famous album, British Steel, which featured a more focused and sleek approach to metal than previous efforts. This, coupled with catchy, fist-pumping riffs and memorable vocal melodies ensured the band a string of consecutive platinum selling albums. Fans were slightly disillusioned with 1986’s Turbo, which featured electronic drums and synthesised guitars, but the band were still selling out arenas worldwide.

Halford left the group in 1993, going in a new direction with his new, short-lived metal band, Fight and, later, 2wo. He began a successful solo career with his own self-titled band in 1999.

With Halford gone, the future looked bleak for the band, but after numerous searches for a suitable replacement, they found something special in tribute band front man Tim “Ripper” Owens. This story forms the basic plot of the movie “Rock Star,” which was originally to be completely about Judas Priest and the Ripper, titled “Metal God,” but the script was altered after the failure to reach an agreement with the band. Judas Priest recorded 4 albums with Owens (2 studio, 2 live records) which were greeted with mixed reactions from fans.

In 2003, the Judas Priest’s 1990 line-up was restored when Rob Halford returned to the group after rekindling the relationship during work on Judas Priest’s 4-CD career retrospective “Metalogy.” In 2004 the band played Ozzfest and released a CD of new studio material entitled Angel of Retribution and an accompanying live DVD in 2005, enjoying a successful world tour that year.

After reunion, extensive tour and new studio album,

the band released a follow-up album in June 2008, entitled Nostradamus. Unusually for Priest, this album was a double CD and was their first conceptual album; based upon the life and predictions of Nostradamus, which instilled a mixed reaction among fans.

In 2011, KK Downing announced his retirement. The band itself stated that their next world tour, Epitaph, would be their last. Downing’s replacement is the former guitarist for Steve Harris’s daughter, Lauren Harris. The new guitarist was born in 1980 when Judas Priest was on the British Steel tour. His name is Richie Faulkner.

In July 2014, Judas Priest released ‘Redeemer of Souls’. This was the first Judas Priest studio album not to feature KK Downing, and instead feature Richie Faulkner. The album was received with much success, and Ian Hill named it Priest’s best album yet. Later in 2014, Judas Priest embarked on their Redeemer of Souls world tour.

In March 2017, the band followed up with “Firepower” which was again a success and received positively by critics and fans alike.

In February 2018, Glenn Tipton announced that he had Parkinson’s disease and retired from touring with the band, though he is still considered a member of Judas Priest.

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Richie Faulkner

Ian Hill

The Arc Angels Perform At The Heights Theater November 16th

by Bill Meredith

Formed shortly after the death of Texas guitar hero Stevie Ray Vaughan, the Arc Angels may have been too good a story to be true. The quartet paired Vaughan’s outstanding rhythm section of bassist Tommy Shannon and drummer Chris Layton with lead-singing guitarists and Texas Vaughan protégés Charlie Sexton and Doyle Bramhall II. Taking their name from the initials of the Austin Rehearsal Complex where they originally started jamming, the group released its self-titled debut album in 1992, with the thought that it would be the first of many. Arc Angels came closer than any other album at the time to carrying on Vaughan’s incredible torch of blues, rock, and post-Jimi Hendrix guitar pyrotechnics. Tracks like “Living in a Dream,” “Good Time,” “Spanish Moon,” and the Vaughan dedication “Sent by Angels,” all bore the late guitar legend’s influence, but without mimicry. For Shannon (who’d also worked previously with another Texas guitarslinger in Johnny Winter) and Layton, the album was a catharsis after losing their friend

and bandmate; for Sexton and Bramhall II it proved that two lead-singing lead guitarists could suppress their egos enough to function together. Trading vocal lines during verses recalled another Texas band, ZZ Top; former Faces keyboardist Ian McLagan added tasty work on piano and Hammond organ, and the Arc Angels seemed poised for the blues/rock summit as they toured in support of their debut until late 1993. But the perhaps inevitable competition between the throaty voiced Bramhall II and smooth-singing Sexton would eventually surface, and even more so during extending guitar solos of oneupmanship. Worse — especially for Shannon and Layton, who had seen Vaughan nearly kill himself before getting straight — was the increasing frequency of Bramhall II’s substance abuse. By October of 1993, this ascending band decided to concentrate its efforts elsewhere, and separately. The exception was Shannon and Layton, who’d created such a stylistic rhythmic impact with Vaughan and worked so perfectly together that they were essentially a package deal. The

two recorded through the 1990s on Vaughan tribute projects and with another group that showed the late master’s influence, Storyville, while Bramhall II went through treatment and Sexton continued on a solo career that had begun when he was a teenager in the mid-’80s. By 1998, a clean and sober Bramhall II started a band called the Mighty Zor, with Shannon and Layton as his rhythm section. When Sexton showed up for a few gigs to jam with the trio, a series of unofficial Arc Angels reunion gigs — mostly in Texas — was born. Whether a second CD will ever be recorded, or if the Arc Angels will remain one of those one-album comets like Hendrix’s Band of Gypsys, remains to be seen. Shannon and Layton continue to get hired together in the new millennium, while both Bramhall II and Sexton release solo CDs and likewise get work as session men with major artists (former Pink Floyd leader Roger Waters and Bob Dylan, respectively). Regardless of whether it’s followed up or not, Arc Angels provides lasting proof that the spirit of Vaughan lives on.

Joe Satriani Brings His “Earth Tour” USA Tour To The House Of Blues November 18

Joe Satriani is the world’s most commercially successful solo guitar performer, with six gold and platinum discs to his credit (including one more gold award for the debut album by his band Chickenfoot), and sales in excess of 10 million copies. Satriani’s 19th studio album, The Elephants of Mars, crackles with an exciting new energy, briskly traveling through stylistic roads that feel freshly updated, viewed through new eyes. Forced time away from the road due to the pandemic, allowed for time to deliver an album length journey that never dulls.

Since September 18, 1970 (the day his idol Jimi Hendrix passed away), Satriani has dedicated himself to the artistry of the instrument. While still a teenager in his hometown of Westbury, New York, he taught guitar to another budding six-string hopeful, Steve Vai. A few years later, Satriani moved to San Francisco and played guitar in a popular new wave band, The Squares, and briefly joined The Greg Kihn Band before the release of “Not Of This Earth”.

Satriani’s reputation was already growing in guitar circles – along with Vai, some of his other students were Metallica’s Kirk Hammett and Testament’s Alex Skolnick – but in 1987, he broke through to the masses with his second studio full-length, “Surfing With The Alien”, a massive seller (it hit No. 29 on the Billboard 200) that included the radio hits “Satch Boogie” and the title track. The success of that album caught the attention of Mick Jagger, who asked Satriani to be his lead guitarist on his first-ever solo tour, in 1988.

As a live performer, Satriani has toured the world with each new release (his last concert tour for 2013’s “Unstoppable Momentum” saw the guitarist touch down in 32 countries). In 1993, he joined Deep Purple as a temporary replacement for Ritchie

Blackmore during a Japanese tour. In 1996, Satriani founded the multi-guitarist traveling experience called G3, which has seen him share stages with Vai, Eric Johnson, Yngwie Malmsteen, Robert Fripp, among others. And starting in 2009, Satriani traversed the globe again as a member of Chickenfoot. The allstar band (which also includes singer Sammy Hagar, former Van Halen bassist Michael Anthony and Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith) has issued two albums, their debut and 2011’s follow-up, “Chickenfoot III”.

Satriani’s solo discography includes a host of classics, including 1989’s “Flying In A Blue Dream”, “The Extremist” from 1992, “Is There Love In Space?” (2004) and 2010’s “Black Swans And Wormhole Wizards”. His 15 Grammy nominations have been for songs such as “Always With Me, Always With You,” “The Crush Of Love,” and “Summer Song,” as well as full albums like “Surfing With The Alien”, “The Extremist” and “Super Colossal”.

Satriani has appeared in motion pictures such as Christopher Guest’s 2006 release, “For Your Consideration”, and the 2011 Brad Pitt starrer, “Moneyball”. Through the years, he has designed and endorsed guitars, amplifiers and effects pedals for Ibanez, Marshall and Vox. His JS Series of guitars through Ibanez has been one of the company’s most popular and consistent sellers.

oe Satriani’s version of carpe diem seems to be continuously in play, a mantra ready to shift into position no matter what the exact circumstances might be.

The Elephants of Mars, the virtuoso guitarist’s 19th studio album and his first for earMUSIC, sprang to life as an unexpected worldwide pandemic enveloped the globe. Like so many others, the San Francisco

musician had a busy year planned.

Shapeshifting, his then-current album, was set for release in April of 2020. The usual Satriani cycle of album, tour, album, tour, meant that he was gearing up to circle the planet in support of the highly anticipated record. Instead, he had a new date added to the tour schedule. Home.

Initially, he had the idea that they would wait it out in regards to the pandemic, staying occupied by recording “two loose albums” as they lay in wait for the day that they could get back to the road and promote Shapeshifting. One would be an instrumental and one would be structured around vocal material.

Both would showcase and introduce his new band so that when they did finally get to tour, fans would be aware, “This is what they can do.” He planned to just give the new music away at no cost. As the pandemic period lengthened, he realized that it made more sense to change focus and work on making the next proper instrumental album instead.

From the outset, Satriani set goals for himself. “I’ve done a lot of records that have swung back and forth stylistically,” he admits. The guitarist had an aim to create a “new standard” when it came to crafting an instrumental guitar record. There are a lot of different ways to do that, he allows, mentioning jazz, fusion and rock records, in addition to “the current crop of young, brilliant players,” who are playing “all kinds of stuff.” Recognizing all of this, he notes, “I am a product of my generation, and I am the end result of all these influences.”

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classic rock” tone of the past few albums he’s put out, replacing that with “a new platform of his own design. “Okay, I know what everybody else is doing. But I want to be in this new area,” he explains. “I do want to show people that the instrumental guitar album can contain far more complexity of creative elements than I think people are using right now.”

The band for The Elephants of Mars marries players from Satriani’s universe both past and present. Legendary drummer Kenny Aronoff (John Fogerty, Smashing Pumpkins) is back for his second consecutive tour of duty with the guitarist following his initial debut on Shapeshifting. Bassist Bryan Beller slips inside the liner notes for the first time since 2015’s Shockwave Supernova.

Longtime associate Eric Caudieux has been in the Satch orbit since 1998’s Crystal Planet and also produced the album, collaborating on the mixes with Greg Koller (Bruce Springsteen, Beyonce). Rai Thistlethwayte is the newest addition, beaming in from overseas where he was splitting his time between Australia and Tasmania.

While he has worked separately in the past with band members, Satriani often favored the approach of getting everyone in a room and following the spirit of the collaborations that developed. They would take a decidedly different path with The Elephants of Mars. The lockdown dictated an intriguing new direction that was joined by similarly exciting results.

Album opener “Sahara” immediately demonstrates that Satriani and his band are pushing deep into previously uncharted territory, quickly building out a cinematic soundscape that both musically and rhythmically feels as if one is surrounded by desertlike desolation.

Originally envisioned as a vocal piece, “Sahara Love Is the Answer,” it was Caudieux who urged Satriani to consider taking a second look at the track, to convert it into an instrumental. The guitarist decided to humor his collaborator and take a shot at it. He found it to be a “bonus” that he had a full set of lyrics, a helpful compass as to what the song was supposed to be about.

Sending musical ideas back and forth with Caudieux, what emerged was a song which has become one of their favorites of the album sessions and one that took pole position at the head of the record.

“It was all about a person who was completely lost, feeling totally isolated. He’s walking the streets of an area like Gotham, in New York City. And there’s nobody around,”

Satriani says, spooling out the initial storyline. “It’s almost like a desert, except it’s a decaying urban landscape. And then he meets this spirit, and then it gets crazy. We were able to keep some of the melodies that were part of the vocal melodies and it just turned into something that wound up being one of our favorite songs, and we wound up putting it first on the album because we related to it so much.”

Satriani’s ongoing work on musical cues related to his Crystal Planet comic book series gave birth to the title track of The Elephants of Mars. He recalls that his original demo version had a Nine Inch Nails-like beat built around synthesizers and a guitar section he had cut years ago. He was intrigued by one piece which had a sound that to his ears, “sounded like electronic elephants with the air coming through the trunks and everything.”

Pulling in that same guitar part as inspiration, originally recorded on an iPhone, Satriani recorded a fresh take of the guitar line and began to manipulate other parts of the song. “I wrote a section where I could just do a totally open guitar solo and I came up with the idea of using the symmetrical scale,” he recalls. “Just because I thought it was so much fun and it’s so weird, it would fit the meaning of the song.”

Constructing a middle section and end

solo, now it was time to set the elephants free. “The idea was now we really have to turn up those elephants because it really sets up the song,” Satriani begins. “But how do we get that weird synthesizer patch to match Kenny and Bryan and Joe just going crazy? Finally, Rai comes in and he does a Deep Purple, Jon Lord organ kind of thing throughout the whole song.”

It was a big vision to pull together and in the end, Satriani says, “We were literally working on sections and crossing our fingers that it was going to work.” Happily, they were able to reach the perfect storm. “‘The Elephants of Mars’ sounds in the beginning finally made sense,” he concludes. “It took a lot of experience and technical work to get all those sound and sonic elements together to work with the rock band and make it sound like you’re on Mars and the elephants are charging and they’re gigantic.”

Aronoff and Caudieux were both in the Los Angeles area and were able to work together directly with the producer recording Aronoff’s parts at the drummer’s own Uncommon Studios. With each isolated in separate areas of the studio, Caudieux coaxed out an exciting variety of performances from the drum legend. “I got some of the craziest things from those sessions,” Satriani reflects. The marimba parts on “Night Scene” were a

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first for both the guitarist and the drummer.

The musical pattern had begun as a guitar part. It was Caudieux who heard how much it sounded like a marimba and wondered if they could get Aronoff to play it on an actual marimba instead. “Kenny was like, ‘I am doing this because I studied this instrument since I was in college and I’ve never been able to get on an album doing it,” Satriani recalls with a chuckle. “So, we just thought, ‘Well, that’s the best reason ever, let’s just do it.’”

Similarly, the creative gates were wide open for all of the musicians to take liberties on the songs for The Elephants of Mars and share a side of themselves they hadn’t previously been able to. “The songs are so out there, they’re such an odd collection of stuff, from, you know, “Faceless” to “Pumpin’,” he explains. “They’re so different that everyone was able to take the song as a separate entity and say, ‘I always wanted to do this in a song, I hope the album receives it.’ Eric and I were really keen on making sure that everybody felt that — that each song was an opportunity for them to apply themselves to the song as a singular entity.”

Working as a rhythm section for the first time, Beller and Aronoff would easily find their collective mojo. The bassist had seen the drummer play with Satriani on the Experience Hendrix tour and even though the skinsman is “one of the most recorded drummers ever,” as the guitarist terms it, the pair would still have plenty to explore together. “Kenny is so deep, he’s always laying a new thing on people,” Joe says. “You give him the opportunity and he says, ‘Here’s a new version of Kenny.’”

Highlighting the fusion vibe of “Pumpin’” and the similarly jazzy feel of “Night Scene,” Satriani calls Beller’s bass playing “unbelievable,” noting how the songs rise to the next level, thanks to the pairing of the bassist and Aronoff. The demo for “Night Scene” was an automated thing,” he shares. “I said to them, ‘Look, I don’t know if this is humanly possible to play those parts like that, so you change them if you need to change them.’ But wow, I mean, they made them sound so much better and even more menacing, and fat and groovy and everything. There’s nothing like fingers on strings, you know?”

While the pandemic found the musicians relying on numerous methods of communication since they weren’t in the same room — including text messages back and forth with idea fragments, occasionally, it was the things that weren’t said which delivered surprising results.

Thistlethwayte was traveling when he

received the initial tracks for “Sailing the Seas of Ganymede” to add his keyboard part. “In that particular song, Rai decided to do a solo in the wrong spot. But it was like once we heard it, everybody was just like, so blown away,” Satriani says with an incredulous tone. “We said, ‘No, Rai owns that spot. We’re not even gonna say that’s the wrong spot.’ Like you got it.”

“He did that a couple of times, and I’m not sure if he did it because we didn’t tell him where the right spot was, or because he just thought ‘I think this is better,’ but we never argued with whatever he did,” Satriani continues. “I mean his solos are really, really remarkable. I mean, just crazy good. They really raised the game on the album when it came to those bursts of crazy expression.”

The futuristic tone of “Through a Mother’s Day Darkly” is another moment that takes up partial residence in the worlds of Crystal Planet. Satriani had written an initial sketch on Mother’s Day, pulling out a seven string guitar that hadn’t seen the light of day from its case in a number of years. He liked the “dirty, punky seven string guitar performance,” but wasn’t sure where to go from there.

Again, it would be Caudieux who heard something in the idea that the guitarist sent around. “Let me play with it,” he told Satriani. He posed the idea of adding orchestral elements, but it would be a struggle that played out over a period of months figuring out how to keep the “raw one pass guitar performance” that they both saw as a key part of the song.

The dramatic voiceover Satriani’s Crystal Planet partner Ned Evett contributed to bring the song home adds an unexpected sci-fi twist to The Elephants of Mars. “Through a Mother’s Day Darkly” takes listeners on a gripping journey that fits surprisingly well in the album sequence.

Ultimately, The Elephants of Mars stands as one of the most intriguing and interesting albums of Satriani’s career. With each new recording adventure that he

embarks on, there’s always a carefully considered grouping of players, song ideas that have been vigorously vetted and studio environments and producers to be selected. In the end this time, Satriani and his bandmates would take the roads less traveled.

“One of the strange effects of the pandemic and recording an album remotely at home, and being away from everybody, was that we all had time,” Satriani says, reflecting on the many experiences he had previously, especially in the early days of his career, working against the clock. “We pretty much just kept working on the album without any hiccups.”

The results were “fortuitous by default,” he realizes now. “Normally we would have spent two months all huddled together in a room screaming at each other getting a record done. Instead, it was done through video conferencing and over the phone and text messages. You know, play faster, play slower, less notes, more notes. How about this idea?”

“The music just got so much better. I think especially with Eric. I granted him this sort of license to take something that I’d given him and turn it upside down,” Satriani continues. “That’s something that he wouldn’t be able to do if we were in a studio filled with a band with the time clock ticking away. It would have been ‘Oh, well, you know, in another life we could have done this.’ Instead, we did all those things. We did the craziest ideas. And we entertained every notion we had about turning something backwards, upside down, seeing what could happen.”

Now, it’s the listener that gets to take the wheel for the next leg of the trip, an epic 67 minute trek. “How do I want my closest fan to feel when they hear this music,” Satriani asks, midway through the conversation. He laughs as he delivers the next thought. “That’s what you’re trying to communicate and everything else is out of your control anyway. You can’t decide what people are going to like or not like, so you just follow your heart.”

Since 1972, Blue Öyster Cult has been traveling the world bringing their unique take on rock music with them.

The band was founded in the late ’60s with members Eric Bloom (vocals, stun guitar), Donald “Buck Dharma” Roeser (lead guitar, vocals), Allen Lanier (keyboards, guitar), and rhythm section brothers Joe Bouchard (bass, vocals) and Albert Bouchard (drums, vocals).

With relentless touring, Blue Öyster Cult grew their fanbase, and scored their biggest hits with “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper” and “Burnin’ For You,” both quintessential rock songs that remain popular to this day.

Now nearing their fifth decade, Blue Öyster Cult is still “On Tour Forever,” playing shows to sold-out crowds in the United States and abroad.

Blue Öyster Cult is Eric Bloom (guitar,vocals), Donald “Buck Dharma” Roeser (guitar, vocals), Richie Castellano (multi-instrumentalist), Danny Miranda (bass), and Jules Radino (drums).

“This ain’t the summer of love,” snarled Blue Oyster Cult singer Eric Bloom, resplendent in studs and black leather, back in 1976 on the band’s platinum-plus best seller, Agents of Fortune, and the sentiment is perhaps even more revealing today.

Blue Oyster Cult’s new album, “Cult Classic” on Herald Records, distributed by Caroline, includes stateof-the-art digital re-recordings of the band’s greatest hits, featuring the version on “Don’t Fear The Reaper” heard in Stephen King’s TV mini-series, “The Stand”, and a new take on “Godzilla,” which will serve as the theme music for a TNT “Godzilla-thon” movie special. In addition, the group has re-cut “Burning For You,” “Cities On Flame With Rock & Roll,” “Flaming Telepaths,” the aforementioned “This Ain’t The Summer Of Love” and a brand-new studio recording of the classic live guitar jam, “Buck’s Boogie,” among others.

“It was fun to go back and rerecord these songs with the arrangements

Blue Öyster Cult Perform At Dosey Doe November 30

that have evolved over time and in a lot more hi-fi manner than we could previously,” says Bloom.

Long before Pearl Jam, Soundgarden and Stone Temple Pilots ruled the heavy metal airwaves, this Long Island-based band — which today includes, in addition to Bloom, legendary guitarist Donald “Buck Dharma” Roeser, original keyboardist/guitarist Allen Lanier , bassist Jon Rogers and drummer Chuck Burgi made tightly wound, whip cracking arena-rock, its dark, S&M imagery a forerunner of today’s would be hip nihilist blank X generationism. The missing link between the Velvet Underground, KISS and the nascent punk-rock movement of the late ‘70’s, Blue Oyster Cult evolved out of the Stalk-Forrest Group which first came together as the psychedelic Soft White Underbelly on the campus of Stony Brook University on Long Island, NY. Supposedly, the band’s producer Sandy Pearlman got the idea for the name while reading a recipe for Blue Point oysters. The band’s noirish imagery was symbolized by their logo, the ancient symbol of Cronos, the Titan god who swallowed his son, the Grim Reaper.

Produced by Pearlman along with Columbia A&R exec Murray Krugman, Blue Oyster Cult’s self-titled ’72 debut on Columbia, with Its literary lyrics by such seminal writers as R. Meltzer and Patti Smith, was a prescient forerunner of such disparate larger-than-life arenarockers as Metallica, Megadeth and Guns N’ Roses.

“I don’t know about influences,” sniffs Bloom, “But Axl Rose came to see us in L.A. a few years ago and said he always used to see us as a kid.”

Even before they added an elaborate laser light show, includlng a duster that appeared to emerge directly from Bloom’s fiber-optic wrist bracelet, the group’s live performances helped them develop the kind of grass-roots following which led to the platinum-plus Agents of Fortune In 1976, one of the first heavy metal records to achieve that sales plateau. Almost 20 years later, the band is still out there playing before arena-sized crowds.

“People get tired of the mechanization’s of today’s computerized music,” says Buck Dharma, one of the true pioneers of heavy metal guitar. “They’re going back to real musicians playing real instruments. And we certainly have the capability of reaching a whole new audience.”

“The enthusiasm is still there, because this is the best job I’ve ever had,” adds Bloom. “We enjoy playing and writing and every facet of the lifestyle.”

“When I look at some of these other bands and see what they have for hits, I consider myself very fortunate I get to play these songs every night,” says Buck about the group’s legacy. “How would you like to have to play ‘Achy Breaky Heart’ every night? That would be torture.”

It’s Time For The Annual Meltdown TX Musical Celebration

Alright Folks, it’s time for the Annual Meltdown, TX. This year it will be taking place in two great locations, The Moon in La Porte, and Green Oaks Tavern in Humble. Here’s a great chance to see some of your favorite performs all together for one of the finest displays in musical talent that you’ve ever seen. Friday and Saturday, November 11th and 12 the Meltdown will be at The Moon in LaPorte. Sunday, November 13th, The Meltdown moves over to Green Oaks Tavern in Humble. This is on music event that you don’t dare miss. Check out the ad on the preceding page to find out the complete schedule of those performing. In the meantime, here’s a brief rundown on some of the great musicians that will be performing at the Annual Meltdown, TX.

David Schwope is one of the few Bay Area music icons still performing today. His 12 string guitar renditions of your favorite tunes keeps him in high demand.

CW Ayon is a legendary New Mexico fixture with around 10 cds out. His authentic guitar style is directly taken from some of the best and his interaction with fans is 2nd to none.

The HipWaders are a Houston based band that plays a variety of styles. Band is made up of Dennis “Applehead” Clapp on guitar, Art Elder on bass, Mike Armstrong on drums and Clint Boyd on sax/harmonic/accordion. Dennis is primary vocalist although all members sing some. The HipWaders have backed up many local performers in the past (Bert Wills, Mike Barfield, Gal Holiday, Bad Bob Rohan, Johnny Falstaff, Adam Burchfield, Benny Brasket, Erik Dongil, and others.

Joe Borrego is a Texas norteno/ conjunto legend on accordion. Joe has been inducted into the the Texas Norteno Music Hall of Fame. Joe also plays the guitar, bass and bajo and sings some of the old classics in both Spanish and English. Joe loves to perform at the MELTDOWN and his shows are always unique.

David Hargraves & Donny McCorquodale were members of the Bay Area band “Cold Feet” many years ago. There musical bond is apparent in their

unique guitar interaction on their live shows.

Bert Wills is one of the most all-around great performers from the Texas Gulf Coast. For over 50 years Bert has brought both live and original recorded music to heights few can ever hope to attain. Whether with band or solo, blues, country or Americana, Bert can deliver. Always the artist most ask about at the MELTDOWN.

Benny Brasket is one of the most all around great musicians to come out of Texas. Whether on drums, bass, or guitar, Benny has an authentic “sting”. In addition, Benny can sing better than most anyone. Benny Brasket and Friends will do variety of both covers and some of Benny’s great tunes..

Erik Dongil is a young performer out of Spain. Erik has been doing some great showcase gigs around Texas over the last few years. We sort of think of him as a mix of Chris Isaac and Jerry Lee Lewis. He can play a mean boogie woogie piano and puts on a great show.

Mighty Orq Trio is always one of the highlights of the MELTDOWN. They will close out the Saturday night and probably include some of the tunes which have been recently recorded for their new (unreleased) CD. Orq is one of the VERY few guys who is truly a great guitarist AND great vocalist. In addition to his unsurpassed solo work, his band not only kicks ass, they stomp it!

Beth Lee & Jorge Castillo will be doing the Pavilion shows in between the big stage (on the hour) shows. Beth is truly one of the hardest working people in show business and I have always been impressed by her diligence in booking shows all the time, everywhere. Her band shows with Chris Duarte are legendary and her duo with the guitar maestro Jorge Castillo will be a perfect fit for the MELTDOWN crowd.

Whitt-Ness is a 5 piece band

fronted by the illustrious Don Whitt. They play amazing renditions of your favorite tunes. They will keep the Pavilion jumping and they also drink a lot of Tuaca, so you don’t want to miss their multiple sets.

DOSE is a New Orleans duo with Scott Sanders on guitar and vocals and Clint Boyd on saxophone, clarinet, harmonica and trumpet. They do a good variety of Southern music that encompasses gospel, country, blues and old R&B.

Dav-DOSE is a duo now based in Central Texas. David Hargraves is a master guitarist and vocalist who has had a strong solo presence for quite a while in the Gulf Coast area. Dave is also one of the guitarists, along with John Inmon, with the esteemed Freddie Krch BAND NAME? (sp?) (from the Lost Gonzo Band). Clint Boyd performs with Dave on saxophone and harmonicas.

Mike Barfield fronted the Rounders and the Hollisters in Houston before taking the plunge and relocating to Austin many years ago). Mike is now one of the most in demand live performers at the legendary Continental Club and C-Boys in Austin. Nobody puts on a show like Barfield and that is why he has been the MELTDOWN.

Chaka Khan Performs At The Arena Theatre November 11th.

The Legendary Chaka Khan will be making a very special appearance this month at The Arena Theatre on November 11th.

Chaka Khan is one of the world’s most gifted and celebrated musicians, with a rich musical legacy, the 10-time GRAMMY® Award-winner is looking forward to a celebration of a lifetime. A songwriter, actor, author, philanthropist, entrepreneur and activist, Chaka Khan has influenced generations of recording artists. She has the rare ability to sing in seven music genres, including R&B, pop, rock, gospel, country, world music and classical. Affectionately known around the world as Chaka, she is revered by millions of fans as well as her peers for her timeless, classic and unmatched signature music style and ability. The late, great Miles Davis often said, “She [Chaka] sings like my horn.” And the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin says, “[Chaka] is a one- of- a -kind, premier vocalist.”

Throughout her legendary career, Chaka has released 22 albums and racked up ten #1 Billboard magazine charted songs, seven RIAA certified gold singles and ten RIAA certified gold and platinum albums. Chaka’s recorded music has produced over 2,000 catalog song placements. “I am honored and blessed to celebrate 40 years in music and entertainment,” says Chaka. “I am so humbled by the love, support and gracious spirit of my fans worldwide and the continuous support my peers have shown over the years. Throughout my 40-year career, I have been through the fire a few times over and I’m still here as a living testament to God’s love and grace. Next year, I will be celebrating 40 years in the business and 60 years on earth, which equals one hundred percent Chaka.”

Early on, she caught the attention of music icon Stevie Wonder, who penned her first smash hit with Rufus, “Tell Me Something Good.” The single from the

group’s 1974 platinum-selling album, Rags to Rufus, earned Chaka her first GRAMMY® Award. With Chaka as the group’s dynamic center, Rufus became one of the most popular acts around selling out shows throughout the country and dominating the airwaves with hit after hit with songs such as “You Got the Love,” which Chaka co-wrote, “Once You Get Started,” “Sweet Thing,” “Everlasting Love,” “Do You Love What You Feel?” and “Ain’t Nobody,” Chaka’s second GRAMMY Award-winning song with Rufus. Rufus and Chaka Khan racked up five RIAA certified gold and platinum albums during their time together.

It was inevitable that a singer with Chaka’s star power would eventually venture out on her own. In 1978, Chaka blazed onto the music scene as a solo artist with the release of the smash hit “I’m Every Woman” written by Ashford &

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Simpson. Paired with the late producer extraordinaire, Arif Mardin (Aretha Franklin, Bette Midler), her catalog grew even more impressive with hits such as “Clouds,” “Papillon,” and “What ‘Cha Gonna Do For Me?” It was during this time that Chaka began pursuing her love of jazz. She and Arif brilliantly re-worked the classic song “Night in Tunisia” with the song’s originator, Dizzy Gillespie, on trumpet. Chaka also recorded an album of jazz standards titled Echoes of an Era, which featured such luminaries as Chick Corea, Stanley Clarke, and Lenny White. Her crowning achievement in jazz was the GRAMMY® Award-winning tune, “Be Bop Medley.” The song’s album, titled Chaka Khan, also won a GRAMMY® for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance.

However, the song that made Chaka Khan a household name and propelled her to superstardom the world over was “I Feel For You,” written and first performed by Prince. This chart-topping, GRAMMY® Award-winning song also made music history. Released in 1984, it was the first R&B song to feature a rap, which was performed by Grandmaster Melle Mel. Chaka also topped the charts with “This Is My Night” and the instant classic, “Through The Fire.” Now in top demand, Chaka lent her voice and producer skills to two of the biggest hits of 1986, Steve Winwood’s “Higher Love” and Robert Palmer’s “Addicted to Love.” Both were GRAMMY®-winning songs.

l1In 1995, she made her musical

theater debut on London’s West End, where she starred in Mama I Want to Sing. In 2002 she traveled to Las Vegas, where she starred in Signed, Sealed Delivered, a critically-acclaimed musical based on the music of Stevie Wonder. Her Broadway debut came in 2008 when she took over the role of Sofia in Oprah Winfrey’s musical The Color Purple.

l2Chaka’s emotive vocals can also be heard on a number of soundtracks, including Clockers, Set It Off, To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar, Miami Vice, White Knights, Moscow on the Hudson, Disappearing Acts, Waiting to Exhale and Standing In The Shadows Of Motown, as well as Tyler Perry hits Madea’s Family Reunion and Meet The Browns.

l3During her career, she has collaborated with a long list of artists in diverse genres. Collaborators have included Miles Davis, Quincy Jones, Dizzy Gillespie, Stevie Wonder, Prince, Steve Winwood, Mary J. Blige, George Benson, Larry Graham, the London Symphony Orchestra and countless others. Chaka has received a steady stream of accolades for both her artistry and philanthropy. In June 2012, she was inducted into the Hollywood Bowl Hall of Fame, joining previously inducted music greats such as Frank Sinatra, Liza Minnelli, Stevie Wonder, Garth Brooks, Bonnie Raitt, George Harrison, B.B. King, Carlos Santana, Donna Summer and Kathleen Battle. In 2011, she was honored for her legendary career with a star on the Hollywood Walk

of Fame. During the same year, Chaka was honored with the United Negro College Fund’s An Evening of Stars Tribute. The program, which was televised on cable networks and broadcast stations in more than 40 cities nationwide, featured tribute performances by Stevie Wonder, Fantasia, Ledisi, El Debarge, Faith Evans, Angie Stone, Ginuwine, Chaka’s brother, Mark Stevens, and her daughter, Indira Khan, among others. In recent years, Chaka also received the Soul Train Legend Award (2009), the BET Lifetime Achievement Award (2006), the GRAMMY® Honors Award from the NARAS Chicago Chapter (2006) and the World Music Award Lifetime Achievement Award (2003). In 2004, Chaka received an Honorary Doctorate of Music from Berklee College of Music. Chaka’s autobiography, Through the Fire, was published by Rodale Books in 2003 and is currently being adapted into a screenplay.

l4Despite her busy schedule, Chaka has always made time to support and uplift her community. She has a deep commitment to women and children at risk, which led her to establish the Chaka Khan Foundation in 1999. Initially, the foundation focused primarily on public awareness campaigns around the diagnosis, intervention, and available family resources and the search for a cure for autism. Her efforts were particularly aimed at communities of color and other underserved communities, where awareness about this disorder is low. Her work in this area was inspired by her nephew who has autism and who Chaka describes as “gifted and beautiful and so full of life.” She later expanded the mission of the foundation to focus more broadly on women and children at risk. In July 2012, Chaka received the McDonald Corporation’s 365Black Award, honoring her for her leadership of the Chaka Khan Foundation.

l5Chaka also is an entrepreneur. In 2004, her line of gourmet chocolates, Chakalates, was sold in 20 Neiman Marcus stores around the country. Plans are underway to re-launch her signature brand of chocolates nationally and internationally. She currently is introducing Khana Sutra, a fragrance line for men, women and the home. The line also includes candles, and room and linen sprays. With a new svelte look, a new album, and a great enthusiasm for her new and expanding activities in music, philanthropy and entrepreneurial ventures, the 10-time GRAMMY® Award-winner is looking forward to a celebration of a lifetime.

Rina Sawayama Performs At White Oak Music Hall November 15th In Support

RINA SAWAYAMA SHARES NEW SINGLE “PHANTOM” • LISTEN HERE AT rinasawayama.ffm.to/holdthegirl PRE-ORDER/SAVE Hold The Girl At rinasawayama.ffm.to/holdthegirl

To continue building anticipation for her forthcoming sophomore album Hold The Girl due September 16th via Dirty Hit, British-Japanese pop sensation Rina Sawayama shares the new single “Phantom.” The emotive power ballad provides an additional taste of the myriad of influences Rina touches on in Hold The Girl and comes alongside a visualizer of Rina pouring her heart out through the lyrics. “Phantom” also

arrives on the heels of Rina gracing the covers of V Magazine, The Guardian Film & Music, Music Week, and Who What Wear, where she discusses her rising pop stardom.

Rina shares about the meaning behind “Phantom”, “I realized as an adult that I have spent my whole life pleasing other people and not realizing it – constantly pushing my boundaries and

not realizing the difference between what I wanted to do and what other people wanted from me. Through the lyrics in the verse I’m trying to tell this story and then in the choruses I’m morning the loss of my real self.”

Rina recently announced her North American headline tour set for this

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Credit:

photo credit Charlotte Rutherford

Saturday, November 5, 9:00 pm – 1:00 am Aspens Bar & Grill 817 Clear Lake Rd - Kemah, TX 77565

Friday, November 11, 9:30 pm - 1:30 Pennison’s Sports Pub Sugar Land 2446 Settler’s Way - Sugar Land, TX 77479

Sunday, November 13, 1:00 pm – 5:00 pm Drifter’s Icehouse 29293 FM 149 - Richard’s, TX 77873

Friday, November 18, 9:00 pm – 1:00 am

The Abbey Pub 2002 N Fry Rd - Houston, TX 77084

Friday, November 25, 9:00 pm – 1:00 am Texas Thunder Stubby’s Bar & Grill 29460 FM 1488 - Waller,TX 77484

Sunday, November 27, 3:00 pm – 7:00 pm The Hawg Stop Bar & Grill 11335 Sheldon Rd - Houston, TX 77044

Friday, December 2, 8:00 pm – 12:00 am Scotty’s Saloon 114 Agnes Rd - Richmond ,TX 77469

Saturday, December 3, 8:00 pm – 12:00 am Nashville Hot Chicken Shack 3825 I-10 S - Beaumont, TX 77705

Saturday, December 10, 8:00 pm – 11:00 pm 3 Doors Down 102 20th St - Galveston, TX 77550

Friday, December 16, 9:00 pm – 1:00 am Texas Thunder Stubby’s Bar&Grill 29460 FM 1488 - Waller,TX 77484

Saturday, December 19, 9:00 pm – 1:00 am Jack’s Bar 11720 S Wilcrest - Houston, TX 77099

Saturday, December 24, 9:00 pm – 1:00 am Aspens Bar & Grill 817 Clear Lake Rd - Kemah, TX 77565

Rina Sawayama

November. The 13-date run will see Rina playing iconic venues like the Great Hall at Avant Gardner in New York City, Roadrunner in Boston, The Eastern in Atlanta, and the Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles. Rina’s North American tour will follow her UK and Ireland dates this October, where multiple dates are already or nearly sold out, like her O2 Brixton Academy date, marking a legendary moment in the pop star’s career. Rina will also be playing a limited capacity intimate show with Banquet Records, Kingston on September 14th ahead of her album release that Friday. Tickets are on sale now HERE.

Hold The Girl showcases Rina’s talent for bending huge chart influences and blockbuster melodies to her will with precision-tuned songwriting and powerful vocals. The 13-tracks of Hold The Girl will feature the previously released singles “This Hell,” which debuted with a performance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, along with “Catch Me In The Air” and the title track “Hold The Girl”, which came with an Ali Kurr directed video and portrays Rina stuck in a time loop within the bounds of a 19th-century farmhouse until she finally breaks free.

Hold The Girl follows Rina’s critically acclaimed debut SAWAYAMA and will see Rina once again juxtapose intimate storytelling with arena-sized songs creating another ambitious and original album to excite fans and critics alike. Written and recorded over the last ??year and a half, Rina teamed up with long-term collaborators Clarence Clarity and Lauren Aquilina as well as enlisting help from the likes of the legendary Paul Epworth (Adele, Florence & the Machine), Stuart Price (Dua Lipa, The Killers, Madonna) and Marcus Andersson (Demi Lovato, Ashnikko) for their magic touch. The product of Rina and these collective minds coming together is an album that melds influences from across the pop spectrum and is a bold and honest statement of Rina’s personal evolution; coming to terms with her own past and the jubilation of turning to the future.

In 2020, Rina’s debut album SAWAYAMA became one of the most critically acclaimed albums that year landing on over 50 album of the year lists, including the New York Times (#2), The Guardian (#3) and Rolling Stone (#6). The last 18 months have seen Rina Sawayama achieve a magnitude of milestones including changing the Mercury Prize and BRITs

eligibility rules which meant Non-British artists could apply if they have been a permanent resident in the UK for more than 5 years. In 2021 Elton John joined forces with the pop star to release a special rendition of “Chosen Family,” a powerful and emotional ode to her LGBTQ+ family. Elsewhere Rina injected new life into Lady Gaga’s instant club classic “Free Woman.” 2023 will see Rina in her film acting debut as she stars in John Wick 4 alongside Keanu Reeves.

Valient Thorr Perform At Warehouse Live November 17th

According to frontman Valient Himself, hard-rocking metal outfit Valient Thorr were birthed on the planet Venus several millennia ago, hopscotching across the space-time continuum before finally arriving on Earth in 1957. Upon crashing in North Carolina, their time-travel machine was stolen by Walt Disney, and so the group (guitarists Eidan Thorr and Odinn Thorr, bassist Dr. Professor Nitewolf Strangees, and drummer Lucian Thorr) remains here to rock while seeking the means to return home.

Valient Thorr is an American southern rock/heavy metal band from

Greenville, North Carolina. The name of the band is based on the urban legend of Valiant Thor, an Alien which came from Venus to Earth, Valiant Thor. Valient explained, “That’ll be the background for the band! We’re from space ...

Valient Thorr began playing together in 2000. Their first show was on Easter of 2001. They released two demos, “Raw” and “We Come From The Morning Star”. Following the demos, Valient Thorr selfreleased their first album on July 1, 2003 (only pressing 1000 copies which were sold at shows), Stranded on Earth, which had the same

musical setup as present, but one of the guitarist, Jin Thorr, used a keyboard, ‘ic. They packed hometown shows all over North Carolina and at their local favorite venue Kings Barcade. They did their first major tour of the United States and Canada shortly afterward, doing 47 shows in 52 days.

After replacing original drummer Donn Thorr with current drummer Lucian Thorr and ditching the keyboard entirely live and on release, they were soon signed to Volcom Entertainment, where their full-

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Valient

Thorr

length album Total Universe Man was released on June 7, 2005. At that point, upon completion of several master’s degrees, the group members gave up their regular jobs and set out on the road. They performed on the Volcom stage on the Warped Tour 2005, for the entire tour, except for a few shows where they played the main stage. They continued touring, taking only six days off for Thanksgiving and ten for Christmas. Along the way, they lost their original rhythm guitarist, Jjinn Thorr, and replaced him with Bjorn Thorr to finish off the end of the year. They played in Hawaii with Andrew WK and then began 2006 by going on tour with Hot Rod Circuit and Piebald. After his departure, Eiden Thorr took Jjinn’s old position at shows, moving from Stage Right (the position he held since the band’s inception) to Stage Left.

In February 2006, they stopped briefly in Costa Mesa, California to write the follow-up to Total Universe Man.

After Bjorn Thorr’s brief stint, guitarist Odinn Thorr was asked to join the band. On July 11, 2006, they released their follow-up album, Legend of the World. They toured the entire Warped Tour again for the summer of 2006 playing the Volcom Stage, with the exception of a few main stage slots, including the hometown stop in Raleigh, where they closed out the night after NOFX and AFI on one of the two mainstages to a packed crowd. They continued to tour throughout 2006, including a tour with Joan Jett and the Black Hearts, Eagles of Death Metal, and ending the year touring with Gogol Bordello. Valient Thorr played 272 shows in 2006. Taking no time off for Thanksgiving in 2006, and only 2 days for Christmas, they drove back to California to play New

Year’s Eve at the Viper Room in Hollywood. In January 2007 Odinn Thorr was replaced by Voiden Thorr (guitarist for Texas metal duo Golden Axe). Valient Thorr continued to tour right through 2007, beginning with a four-month tour with Fu Manchu. They did two months in the US, and then traveled overseas for the first time, playing Europe, the UK, and Scandinavia. They returned home, and co-headlined the very first Volcom Tour with labelmates the Riverboat Gamblers. They ended the year by returning to Germany to tour with Motörhead for three weeks, and then returned home without a day off to do three weeks with the Sword. Valient Thorr wrote the follow-up to “Legend of the World” in Costa Mesa, which was produced by Jack Endino and recorded by him in Seattle. It was named “Immortalizer”, and was Valient Thorr’s fourth album in five years. It was released on June 17, 2008.

The song “Fall of Pangea” is an unlockable song in the video game Guitar Hero II. “Heatseeker” was featured in Rob Dyrdek’s Fantasy Factory and is used as a song track in the racing video game Need for Speed: Carbon. The song “Man Behind the Curtain” appeared in Skate.

In late May 2008, Valient Himself donated his kidney to his diabetic father. Three weeks after recovering from the surgery Valient Himself and the band returned to Europe and played their biggest shows, including the Download Festival in Donington and Graspop in June 2008. They continued to tour Europe that summer and returned home to tour with Early Man, Monotonix, and Skeletonwitch and then again in the fall with Motorhead, the Misfits, Year Long Disaster, and ASG on the Volcom Tour 2008.

On November 11, 2008, Valient Thorr released In Heat, a featurelength documentary about the last five years on the road. They also played ECFU Turbojugend Fest in

Atlanta on Halloween 2008, The Fest in Gainesville, Florida in November, and toured Hawaii in December. On January 30, 2009, they did a set for a local charity playing as Funkadelic in Raleigh, North Carolina. On February 5 they played in East River Park with Anthrax for Red Bull’s Snowscraper Event. On March 7, they played the Harvest of Hope Fest in St. Augustine, Florida, and toured the US out to SXSW 2009. In June 2009, they went back to Europe, touring with Mastodon in the UK and Paris and headlining all over western Europe. At this time, guitarist Voiden Thorr left the group being replaced by Sadat Thorr (James Yopp), former guitarist/founding member of another North Carolina-based rock band Thunderlip. In the fall, Thorr toured the US again with Early Man and Red Fang. In November and December, they went back to Europe again to play in Scandinavia and eastern Europe.

In January 2010, Valient Thorr announced they would record their fifth album with Jack Endino. In February 2010, they began recording and it was announced that Valient Thorr would be supporting Mastodon on their US headlining tour throughout March and into April. September 2010, they released “Stranger” and continued with a slew of headlining tours to promote the record.

In early 2011, Valient Thorr and Clutch were announced as the supporting acts for Motörhead’s 2011 North American tour in support of The Wörld Is Yours.

In January 2013 they entered the studio with producer Kyle Spense of Harvey milk to record their sixth record “Our Own Masters”. It was released in June of that year receiving very high critical acclaim.

Their most current album is the rollicking Old Salt, which featured the punk-inflected single “Mirakuru.”

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Trio featuring

Coming to the Houston area from Ottawa Canada, is the soul rockin’ rhythm and blues, HOROJO Trio! They are on an album release tour of America promoting their new album Set The Record that was released on April 1, 2022 on Stony Plain Records.They will be playing at Katie’s Bar in Bacliff on Friday November 11 and on Saturday November 12 they will be at Big Easy in Houston.

2020 International Blues Challenge Winner (representing the Ottawa Blues Society), Horojo Trio consists of guitarist JW-Jones of the JW-Jones Blues Band, teamed up with drummer Jamie Holmes and keyboardist Jeff Rogers. Even before their first gig, they had already been called an Ottawa “super group”, and while they admit the band name (derived from the first two letters of each of the members’ last names) is unusual, the future certainly looks bright for the exceptional Horojo Trio. Their debut album, Set The Record was released via Stony Plain Records in April.

HOROJO Trio (pronunciation: HORO-JO, as in HO - Think Santa Claus; RO“Row Your Boat”; and JO - “Joe”) - already an award-winning soul-rocking rhythm and blues group before releasing any music, are now ready to Set The Record with the release of their debut album — available April 1st, 2022 via Stony Plain Records.

With each member individually accomplished musicians, HOROJO Trio are drummer Jamie Holmes, singer/keyboardist Jeff Rogers, and guitarist JW Jones who has as a solo artist reached Top 10 on the Billboard Blues Charts, received multiple JUNO and Maple Blues Award nominations.

The result of a chance jam session that was so inspired it left both the audience and trio wanting more, they’ve since won ‘Best Band’ at the 2020 International Blues Challenge, and performed at several top blues festivals and venues — as well as a recent nomination for ‘Music Group of the Year’ at the 2022 Ottawa Awards.

The Ottawa Citizen says Rogers’ voice “practically bowls you over with intensity as sweet, rich, and gooey as molasses in a heatwave,” while Nick Krewen (Globe & Mail, Grammy.com, Billboard) calls JUNO nominee and IBC winner of “Best Guitar” JW-Jones “a frequent resident of Billboard’s Top 10 Blues charts and a roots radio favorite.” Holmes has toured throughout North America and Europe, and recorded in Nashville with GRAMMY-winning producer Tom Hambridge.

Set The Record was released April 1st, 2022 via Stony Plain Records.

Open 6 Days A Week Tuesday thru Sunday

Wednesday, November 2 - Blues Jam with Bob Emmons

Thursday, November 3 - Static Blues

Friday, November 4 - Sparky Parker

Saturday, November 5 - Scott McGill

Sunday, November 6 - Katie’s Blues Jam featuring guest host Paul Ramirez

Wednesday, November 9 - Blues Jam with Bob Emmons

Thursday, November 10 - Gino V

Friday, November 11 - J.W. Jones

Saturday, November 12 - PeeWee Bowen

Sunday, November 13 - Katie’s Blues Jam featuring guest host Mark May

Wednesday, November 16 - Blues Jam with Bob Emmons

Thursday, November 17 - Kent Burnside

Friday, November 18 - Mike Zito

Saturday, November 19 - Mark May

Sunday, November 20 - Katie’s Blues Jam featuring guest host Jeremiah Johnson

Wednesday, November 23 - Blues Jam with Bob Emmons

Thursday, November 24 - Closed For Thanksgiving

Friday, November 25 - Lightning Rob

Saturday, November 26 - Zach Tate

Sunday, November 27 - Katie’s Blues Jam featuring guest host Chris Castaneda

Wednesday, November 30 - Blues Jam with Bob Emmons

(L to R) - Dr. Janice McLean DeLoatch (WSHOF) - gospel recording artist Doe -vocalist/sax player Evelyn RubioDennis L. Forbes Sebrof-Forbes Cultural Center will forever celebrate Ms. Rubio within the Women Songwriters Hall of Fame”. Evelyn Rubio the sexy, sassy, sax player and vocalist from Houston Texas recently performed the opening number at the 2022 Women Songwriters Hall Of Fame (WSHOF) awards ceremony. This year the international annual awards ceremony for women songwriters honored Gloria Estefan, Indigo Girls, Loretta Lynn, Siedah Garrett, Jody Watley, Marilyn Bergman, Junko Yagami, Rose Marie McCoy, and Doe. Held on the George Washington University campus on the main stage of the Jack Morton Auditorium the event was live streamed internationally. Currently Ms. Rubio is performing as the lead vocalist in Fever Production’s Candlelight Tribute to Selena in Houston Texas at the Astorian Ballroom. https://www.evelynrubio.com

Evelyn Rubio Celebrated Women Songwriters Hall Of Fame Museum

Two Items Now On Permanent Display

The Women Songwriters Hall Of Fame (WSHOF) continues to grow having recently added a new museum for music lovers visiting the greater Washington DC area with residency on the second floor of the Sebrof-Forbes Cultural Center. Most recently (WSHOF) added another new display at the exhibit this time commemorating the rise of the aspiring vocalist and sax player from Mexico City Ms. Evelyn Rubio. Honored to be included along with the other prominent inductees Evelyn presented Dr. Janice McLean DeLoatch (CEO) with the first saxophone she performed with professionally along with a photograph depicting her debut on stage in Mexico years ago. Dr. DeLoatch commented, “Thank you so much to Evelyn for the historic saxophone and informative photograph. These items are certainly a welcomed addition that

King’s X Perform At Warehouse Live November 26

by Greg Prato

King’s X is a widely respected hard rock group with an expansive sound rooted in heavy metal, funk, soul, gospel, and the British Invasion. Emerging in 1985 and comprised of bassist/vocalist Doug Pinnick, guitarist Ty Tabor, and drummer Jerry Gaskill, the band’s knotty blend of Beatlesque harmonies, metallic riffing, thoughtprovoking lyrics, and art-rock detours helped set the table for the progressive and alternative metal scenes that followed. The group flirted with mainstream success in the late ’80s and early ’90s on genredefining efforts like Gretchen Goes to Nebraska and Dogman. In 2022, after a 14-year gap between studio albums, King’s X released their 13th long-player, Three Sides of One.

Pinnick first met Gaskill when the duo was touring with the Chris-

tian rock outfit Petra, and soon after, met up-and-coming guitarist Tabor. The trio joined forces in 1980 with the Top 40 cover band the Edge and played the Missouri bar scene. By 1983, the band had changed its name to Sneak Preview and was now completely focusing on original compositions — resulting in an obscure and very hard to find selftitled debut album released around this time.

Sneak Preview were offered a recording contract in 1985 if they relocated to Houston, TX, which they did, but the deal failed to materialize. Undeterred, the trio continued on and perfected its sound and songwriting further, catching a break when ZZ Top video producer Sam Taylor took the group under his wing, helping it secure a recording contract with New York’s Megaforce label in 1987, and suggesting that the band change its name to King’s X (the name of a

local outfit that Taylor was an admirer of back in his high-school days).

In 1988, King’s X released their debut album, Out of the Silent Planet. Despite praise among critics, the public didn’t know exactly what to make of the group’s original and multiple genre-encompassing style. But with the band’s sophomore release, 1989’s classic Gretchen Goes to Nebraska, a buzz began to develop around King’s X in the heavy metal community, as members of Anthrax and Living Colour praised them in the press, and MTV granted a few airings of their anthemic track “Over My Head.” The stage was set for the group’s big breakthrough, and things appeared to be going according to plan when the band’s third release, Faith Hope Love, surfaced in late 1990.

King’s X

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The album just missed the U.S. Top 30 and nearly reached gold certification, due to landing a lengthy spot opening on AC/DC’s sold-out arena tour in both the States and Europe, while the Beatlesque “It’s Love” received major air time on MTV. What should have been an exciting time for the group quickly turned sour, however, as the bandmembers began to experience trouble with manager Taylor. King’s X’s self-titled release from 1992 (and first to appear on Atlantic Records without the Megaforce imprint) proved not to be as focused as their prior efforts, resulting in the album disappearing quickly from sight after release (and their ensuing tour halted), as they ended their relationship with Taylor.

But it appeared as though the change had refueled the group’s musical desire once again, as evidenced by the Brendan O’Brienproduced stellar 1994 release, Dogman, which performed respectfully on the charts. This success resulted in the band opening shows for Pearl Jam and a show-stopping performance on the opening night of the mammoth Woodstock ’94 Festival. Atlantic Records began putting pressure on the trio to deliver a breakthrough hit but when Ear Candy failed to live up to expectations, King’s X left the label (Atlantic would issue one more release from the band a year later, The Best Of, which featured 13 fan favorites, as well as three unreleased compositions and a live track).

In 1998 the group signed to the Metal Blade label and both Pinnick and Tabor issued their first solo albums (Tabor with Moonflower Lane and Pinnick with Massive Grooves, the latter issued under the alias Poundhound), followed by the group’s seventh studio release overall, Tape Head. Now free to issue albums at their own pace, the group released two more albums a year apart — 2000’s Please Come Home...Mr. Bulbous and 2001’s Manic Moonlight. Pinnick continued his solo career in conjunction with King’s X, issuing Poundhound’s second release, Pineappleskunk, the same year (as well as forming a side project with former members of Trouble, dubbed Supershine), while Tabor released two albums with the progressive metal supergroup Platypus — 1998’s When Pus Comes to Shove and 2000’s Ice Cycles. In 2003, they unveiled Black Like Sunday, a collection of re-recorded songs from early in their career that had previously only existed as demos or bootlegs. Their first concert album, Live All Over the Place, arrived in 2004, followed by their 11th studio recording, Ogre Tones, in 2005. The band’s debut outing for Inside Out Music, Ogre Tones reached number 30 on the Billboard Independent Albums chart. 2008’s well-received XV cracked the Billboard 200 and peaked at number 12 on the Independent Albums chart. Pinnick, Tabor, and Gaskill spent the next decade focusing on their myriad solo and side projects, but regrouped as King’s X for 2022’s Three Sides of One, which included the anthemic “Let It Rain” and the hard-driving “Give It Up.”

The Hollywood Spotlight

By Hollywood Steve Rangel

The Scott A. Smith Group “Electrified”

Creating an interesting and satisfying all-instrumental album can be a delicate undertaking, particularly if you’re playing on the progressive rock field. As impressive as these efforts can be from a technical standpoint, all too often they cross the line of self-indulgence and become an exercise in excess, focusing on style rather than substance. The phrase “Just because you can doesn’t mean you should” comes to mind. All of which makes “Electrified”, the outstanding new release by The Scott A. Smith Group, so unique. While there’s enough flexing from these world class players (Scott A. Smith: guitars, strings, synth, Bobby Cayton: bass, Matt

Kanzler: drums) to satisfy hard core progressive rock fans, the emphasis here is on the songs themselves. The seven tracks on this immaculately produced CD are rich with groove, driving and memorable riffs, and dare I say, melody. This is perhaps most evident on the gorgeous “Love and Light”, a song I haven’t been able to stop listening to. While the obligatory Queensryche

and Dream Theater influences are present and accounted for, I would more compare the sound of The Scott A. Smith group to that of Eric Johnson, specifically on “Primal Friction”. However, the material is truly diverse. The band’s video single “Dieseltooth” (you can find this video on YouTube) is more reminiscent of George Lynch’s “Mr. Scary”, in the best possible way. All of the arrangements are sophisticated and flawless, deftly avoiding the aforementioned unnecessary excess. This band has a crystal clear vision, and they deliver precisely what they set out to deliver. As I mentioned, the production on “Electrified” is first rate. Credit to Smith himself, Michael Mikulka, and Will Braun, as well as Lucky Run Studio, Smokey Time Recording Studio, and Stormy Cooper media. The Scott A. Smith Group, in my opinion, have rewritten the blueprint for an enjoyable instrumental album. One listen and I’m betting you would agree.

1006 McGowen 713-650-1006

Leon’s Lounge Is Now Available For Private Parties!

Make Your Reservations Now!!

This November at Leon’s Lounge Tuesday, November 1 - Karaoke Tuesday

Wednesday, November 2 - Randy Soffar Singer/Songwriter Song Swap and Open Mic @ 8:00 pm Thursday, November 3 - Calvin G Friday, November 4 - “TILES” Saturday, November 5 - JAZZ Sunday, November 6 - The Lab with Arlo - Comedy Open Mic Night Monday, November 7 - Sporys and Industry Night Tuesday, November 8- Karaoke Tuesday

Wednesday, November 9 - Randy Soffar Singer/Songwriter Song Swap and Open Mic @ 8:00 pm Thursday, November 10 - Bombs Over Leon’s Comedy Night @ 7 - 10 pm Friday, November 11 - White Oak Bayou Band Saturday, November 12 - “NOISE BAND”

Sunday, November 13 - The Lab with Arlo - Comedy Open Mic Night Monday, November 14 - Sporys and Industry Night Tuesday, November 15 - Karaoke Tuesday

Wednesday, November 16 - Randy Soffar Singer/Songwriter Song Swap and Open Mic @ 8:00 pm Thursday, November 17 - Cliff Gordon Jazz Friday, November 18 - Shotgun Sally Saturday, November 19 - JAZZ

Sunday, November 20 - The Lab with Arlo - Comedy Open Mic Night Monday, November 21 - Sporys and Industry Night Tuesday, November 22 - Karaoke Tuesday

Wednesday, November 23 - Randy Soffar Singer/Songwriter Song Swap and Open Mic @ 8:00 pm Thursday, November 24 - Thanksgiving

Friday, November 25 - Rockin’ Fall Fest with Rearview Mirror and 4 More Bands! Starts at 5pm Saturday, November 26 - JAZZ Sunday, November 27 - The Lab with Arlo - Comedy Open Mic Night Monday, November 28 - Sporys and Industry Night Tuesday, November 29 - Karaoke Tuesday

Wednesday, November 30 - Randy Soffar Singer/Songwriter Song Swap and Open Mic @ 8:00 pm

The Biker, The Blues, And Freedom

In the early ‘70s Janis Joplin once sang the words of Kris Kristofferson’s “Me And Bobby McGee”. She lamented “Freedom’s just another word for nothin’ left to lose and nothin’ ain’t worth nothin’ but it’s free, Feelin’ good was easy Lord, when Bobby sang the blues, Feelin’ good was good enough for me, Good enough for me and my Bobby McGee”. A person cannot help but admire the happiness that someone feels with the presence of another while finding themselves on the road to the future. Circumstances be damned, there is a different definition of kindred spirit that lives between those in sync with each other, their station in life and being free. Hobos on a train, broke people on a bus going across country, parolees standing on the road

outside the main gate of the big house seeing that special someone pulling up. It’s hard to beat that exhilaration when you realize you are not alone. You are just living life in a whole new world of freedom. I feel it, not always having someone with me but meeting families in places like campgrounds having nothing but each other but it’s enough for them. Strippers that climb up on stages doing a job they never dreamed of doing but giving their kid the best they can under current circumstances. Going through something with someone that’s sympatico with you is a blessing and in the song Janis pines “feelin’ good was easy Lord when Bobby sang the blues, feelin’ good was good enough for me, good enough for me and my Bobby McGee.” I had heard about a juke joint that was smokin’ hot on Cullen Street south of Houston Texas and made my way there. (photo on left) An authentic juke whose customers arrived on late Sunday afternoon after church. The entrance vestibule was made of plywood and hung on this plywood were press clippings of many a famous, legitimate blues artist, both male and female. On the other end of the vestibule was a rather dapper looking fellow standing behind a cash register. Everyone called him either Mr. G or Gino. The entrance fee was $5 (cash). You could smell something like chicken soup wafting through the air and so I asked what is that smell and the lady that seated me just said Gino Surprise. When she left the couple next to me told me that “each week Gino cooks up something good but never tells anybody what’s inside the brew until it’s time to serve. It’s always good, just his way.” The place was not eclectic at all as it was made up of middle age to older couples dressed well. Extremely friendly, many of which brought their own bottles of Jack or Gin buying set ups as they needed them. That afternoon the special guest was none other than the international blues superstar Ms. Trudy Lynn. Her Royal Oaks Blues Café at the time was the number one blues album

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on Billboard. To think that I would get to experience a top shelf traditional blues great for five bucks was in itself tough to believe but it was true. Trudy’s band featured blues harp great Steve Krase and when Ms. Lynn belted out “Red Light” Steve’s harp presence was way cool. One song after another, hit after hit the crowd was going wild. It was like being in a Martin Scorsese documentary but there I was in a real life, inside this real deal juke joint south of Houston. I didn’t know to bring my own bottle but a guy sitting in the row in front of me offered my some of his bourbon and I took him up on it. I offered to pay him but he just smiled and shook his head no. When I ordered the set up I ordered one for him too and he smiled again. What was really cool about this setting was its authenticity. The people there were dancing with each other, talking to each other as neighbors, dressed smart, and just being themselves is the best way to describe it. I wouldn’t trade this experience for the world. I was enveloped by a bit of real American lore, the music’s culture, and family heritage, very tough to beat that mixture. Twice, as I listened to Trudy Lynn I found myself getting lost in memories intertwined between her vivid lyrics and the band’s musical accents when appropriate. I left Mr. Gino’s after the sun went down, got out on the freeway and headed east toward Louisiana. Just the other side of the border of Texas on I10 is a city named Lake Charles. Well known for four things; it’s gulf front port, refining, their famous volunteer Cajun Navy and major casinos. Not too many years ago when a major hurricane blew through everything and everybody was affected including the interstate being shut down and their port closed too due to trees. No way to get supplies in or even leave for that matter. Armed with only chain saws and axes this blue collar community did what needed to be done. They got their port reopened, the interstate flowing and more in record time. I’ve not forgotten that and this night I was glad to be in their city. I found a motel with room doors that opened to the parking spaces outside and checked in. Nothing major going on that night and it had been a long day so I grabbed a chair from inside the room and placed by the door on the outside, grabbed a 46 ring Maduro single leaf pressed box cigar, a cutter, and a butane lighter from my bike and proceeded to sit down. It’s humid in Lake Charles as the gulf is close by but not enough to run you indoors at the time of year I was there. So I kicked back fired up and placed air buds in my ears and grabbed a playlist on my phone. “Black Magic Woman” by Santana was first up and there couldn’t have been a better tune for the moment. Deep in the south with its rich lore about voodoo and here I was listening to “Black Magic Woman”. I loved it, it was a good night.

Well as all things go then deputy dawg came driving through the parking lot and of course the brake lights came on

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as he eyed my scooter and me smoking my big cigar while leaning back on the rear legs of the chair I was on. I thought oh man come on go chase some murderers or something but no true to form his car went into park and out came this humongous size football looking deputy. Well here we go… So as I stood up and reached for the wallet in my pocket and the man shouted, “Don’t even think of it!” Maybe it was the exotic look of my bike or maybe it was the large cigar hanging out of my mouth then again maybe it was the movement toward my wallet. No matter he had his hand on the grip of his pistol and I wasn’t going to call his bluff. He asked, “Where you from” and I wanted to say “my mother” but thought better about being a smart ass with this man and said I am coming from Texas. He then asked where I was going and I wanted to say “oh I don’t know just up the road” but of course that wasn’t going to fly so I just said Shreveport. He asked, “what’s that in your ear?” and I replied an air bud for listening to music and not bothering others. He asked, “what are you listening to?” which I thought was a weird question but replied, Santana. He asked, “What song?” I said Black Magic Woman” He said he remembered it and actually smiled a little bit. I thought ok this must be where the twist comes in but it didn’t he just turned and left. Now this is where it really gets interesting. As soon as he left the scene so did four others, three men and one woman. Not all together but over the time it took to smoke my cigar the four of them started their cars and trucks and left. I called it a night and decided if I brought the bike inside I would probably be tried for some kind of major felony and I didn’t want the hassle so I just left it outside. Got up in the morning and took off going north toward Shreveport. Along the route I saw this billboard that advertised the best biscuits and gravy in the U.S. guaranteed. Sounded like a plan to me and off I went. Good looking gal waiting tables with a million dollar smile brought the morning jo over and now I was smiling like a jackass smelling fresh grass. I was a bit embarrassed at myself but she was friendly and her legs went all the way to the floor. Shame on me, shame on me, shame on me but you know how it is with men and sweet waitresses. I automatically replied a ham and cheese omelet as that is what I usually order and then immediately changed my order and said those perfect buns I learned about on the billboard. Now there is a difference between buns and biscuits and as you might imagine she wasn’t going to let that go by and asked do you mean biscuits or do you prefer buns? Smart ass woman but good touché on her part. She knew she had me in a precarious position. I began to snicker and my face felt warm as I said for now the biscuits please. She complied as she walked away and I could see she was definitely smiling too. Harmless exchange but I will remember that scene for the rest of my life. Take in a change of scenery, see a bit of America and meet some of the most interesting people of our era. The news media constantly tells us what is bad but if we get out and about beyond our immediate neighborhood we can still feel the old USA being very much alive. Finally, Remember to vote and also remember to preserve wildlife, so get out and go to a party! Set yourself free, come on set yourself free, you know you want to, you really, really know you want to…..

Isabel Pantoja Performs At Smart Financial Centre November 27

María Isabel Pantoja Martín is a Spanish singer of Andalusian copla and rancheras. She has a discography of 30 albums and has toured extensively in Spain and Latin America with the collaboration of Juan Gabriel. She has been recognized with 18 platinum discs and 8 gold discs in album sales, and 2 platinum discs in DVD sales, according to the Music Producers of Spain (Promusicae). It is usually known by the nickname of the Spanish tonadillera, due to its musical style based on Spanish folklore with a high symphonic orchestration.

Isabel Pantoja was born on in the Spanish city of Seville. Her parents were Juan Pantoja Cortés (1922-July 16, 1974), a fandango lyricist belonging to the trio Los Gaditanos, and Ana María Martín Villegas (b. May 22, 1931), a former dancer in the Pepe Pinto companies and Juana Reina. Her brother Agustín Pantoja was also a singer between the 80s and 90s and her brother

Juan Antonio has acted as her guitarist in many performances. She has another brother named Bernardo, who has not dedicated himself to the artistic world (although he was his driver for a while), but instead his daughter Anabel, who has been her aunt’s personal assistant for a few years and works in tabloid programs for television. Isabel’s paternal grandfather was the cantaor Antonio Pantoja Jiménez, initially nicknamed Pipoño de Jerez and later Chiquetete Padre. Isabel’s maternal grandfather was a well-known greengrocer in the Seville Market, nicknamed The Lettuce.

Isabel Pantoja has also been a regular character in the circles of the pink press and the heart, which has related her to the singer María del Monte, godmother of her daughter María Isabel.

Isabel soon formed her own company and for years she cultivated the copla, a genre in decline at that time and

whose interest in the public she managed to revive. From that time there are songs like “The pájaro verde”, “Garlochí” or “El Señorito”. In 1983 her first pop music album was released: Cambia por ti, composed by Paco Cepero with songs like “En la niebla” or “Nada”, in addition to the one that gave the album its title. Since then, Isabel Pantoja has alternated ballads and romantic songs with the copla; with which it has sold approximately 10 million copies.

On April 30, 1983, Isabel married the bullfighter Francisco Rivera Pérez known as Paquirri in the Basilica del Gran Poder in Seville.

Paquirri’s death on September 26, 1984, gored in the Pozoblanco bullring, had great significance in the country. Isabel became “the widow of Spain”. The pink press catapulted her as her most persecuted character, especially when

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she mourned her in her seclusion.

After a long silence, she reappeared on the record market in 1985 with the album Marinero de Luces, composed by José Luis Perales, which achieved commercial success with a million copies sold in Spain.

In 1988 it was followed by Desde Andalucía, a work by the Mexican author and singer Juan Gabriel. They are songs with a rhythm and style very different from Marinero de Luces. Songs like “Hazme tuya una vez más”, “Cuántos días más” and, especially, “Hazme tuya una vez más”, “Cuántos días más” (with its famous phrase «No te aferres, no te aferres a un imposible») were played in a large number of concerts in Spain and in several countries of America.

In 1989 she released the album Se me enamora el alma; with more modern rhythms and that were also written by Perales. Later would come Corazón herido (1992) and De nadie (1993).

In 1990 she starred in the film Yo soy esa, along with José Coronado and Loles León and directed by Luis Sanz. Sanz was a great connoisseur of the world of entertainment and copla and had decisively influenced the artistic careers of figures such as Rocío Dúrcal, Rocío Jurado and Pastora Soler. All of her songs, great hits of the copla of her predecessors, were collected along with some others in a double album entitled La cancion español that Isabel recorded with the London Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Luis Cobos.

A year later she repeated in the cinema with El día que nací yo, this time directed by Pedro Olea and starring alongside Arturo Fernández and Joaquim de Almeida.

With a very extensive record production, more than 20 published

albums, Isabel Pantoja performed numerous galas in Spain and Latin America. In April 2005, the music duo Pumpin’ Dolls produced an unusual album consisting of dance remixes of the singer’s most famous songs. That same year, Isabel Pantoja also published a CD+DVD entitled Sinfonía de la copla, the live recording of a recital offered at the Palacio de la Música Catalana in Barcelona, culminating with it a concert tour throughout Spain during that same year. Year.

Isabel was chosen, along with her son Kiko Rivera and the presenter Jorge Javier Vázquez, to broadcast the chimes of New Year’s Eve 2011-2012 live from Plaza Puerta del Sol in Madrid, as a result of the recent contractual relationship between the singer and Mediaset Spain. The chimes were the most followed in the history of private channels.

In the fall of 2013, a year before she was imprisoned for tax offences, Isabel Pantoja discreetly recorded a new album of songs (titled Hasta que se apaque el sol) with the collaboration of Juan Gabriel. Shortly before that, in August of that year, she participated in a historic recital of the Mexican idol singing “ Así fue “ in an expressive waste, with a lot of feeling which makes this song classic of hers.

Isabel Pantoja’s latest album with Juan Gabriel has remained unreleased for three years, being released in November 2016, coinciding with Isabel’s reappearance on stage after leaving prison, and months after the death of the Mexican

singer-songwriter on August 28. of 2016.

On Wednesday, February 22, it was presented for the first time in Chile, at the Viña del Mar International Song Festival, where it won la Gaviota de Plata, , la Gaviota de Oro y de manera especial la Gaviota de Platino from the mayor of Vina del Mar, Virginia Reginato. And on March 1 she returned to Peru, after 20 years of absence, where she offered a symphonic concert at the Jockey Club del Peru in the city of Lima before 16,000 people.

On February 1, 2018, she spoke extensively to the media, commenting on the criticism she had received in recent years. In this same month, it became known that his tour in America had been canceled due to visa-related problems.

On September 14, 2018, Isabel Pantoja made a surprise call to her exfriend Chelo García Cortés’s mobile phone to make some statements to the Sálvame program while it was being broadcast live. In a historical intervention that would last approximately one hour and 15 minutes, she spoke about her daughter and her former employee of her household (Dulce Delapiedra), in addition to discussing other issues related to the program’s collaborators. That moment was the most watched of the day on television, reaching 5 million viewers during the call. Likewise, on the 21st she called again to address the same issues.

On April 9, her return to Mediaset

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Isabel Pantoja

España with a long-term contract was announced. Her first job would be to be a contestant on Survivors.

In December of the same year, the singer published on her social networks the cover of what would be her new single with an unrecognizable appearance. She later posted her new single on Instagram as a Christmas present for her fans. The single was composed by the late Juan Gabriel and produced by José Luis Cobos.

On February 14, she launcheed her new single “Enamórate” on all digital platforms and the video clip of it on YouTube with a modernized look whose leaders are Abad peluqueros and Alberto Dugarte and clad in a sequined dress, this video clip is shot in a wonderful theater at the most pure New York style. In addition, she winks at her fans of the LGBT community by surrounding himself with drag queens simulating a wonderful orchestra. With this single she returned to music after 4 years without releasing anything unreleased.

On March 6, she returned to the stage to present her new single “Enamórate,” as well as all the songs that have accompanied her during her musical career. The concert was held at the WiZink Center in Madrid, a concert that will serve as the opening for Isabel Pantoja’s new musical tour: the Enamórate de Ella Tour.

In 2007, Pantoja was involved in the so-called Malaya Case scandal, a name given to an operation against urban corruption in Spain that some leaders of the Marbella City Council and various businessmen and lawyers had committed. Her sentimental partner, Julián Muñoz, former mayor of that town, was one of the main defendants.

On May 2, 2007, Isabel Pantoja was arrested on charges of committing various crimes against public finances and money laundering. Judge Miguel Ángel Torres, instructor of the Malaya Case and head of the investigating court number five in Marbella, decreed freedom on bail of 90,000 euros for the tonadillera after a few hours of arrest at the police station.

The investigation of the singer had a great impact on Spanish society, even in the field of politics, even being commented on by the then spokesman for the PP in Congress Eduardo Zaplana.

On April 16, 2013, she was sentenced to 24 months in prison for money laundering, having to pay a fine of 1,147,000 euros with her assets. In October 2014 it was reported that Pantoja would foreseeably pay the fine imposed by the Malaga Court in order to later be able to request the suspension of her imprisonment. However, after paying only ?100,000, she unsuccessfully applied for her sentence to be suspended and the fine to be paid in several

installments.

Given the refusal of the Prosecutor’s Office, on November 21, 2014, she entered the Alcalá de Guadaíra prison to serve a two-year prison sentence for money laundering.

On December 4, 2015, she obtained the third degree of semi-liberty.

On March 2, 2016, she was granted parole that allowed her not to return to prison and to travel throughout the Spanish territory under the control of prison social services. This allows her to prepare for a comeback on stage, scheduled for the end of 2016, coinciding with the publication of the album of songs Hasta que se apaque el sol that she recorded with the Mexican Juan Gabriel in 2013, before entering prison, and that it remains unpublished ever since.

On October 28, 2016, her sentence for money laundering expired, so she resumed her artistic career.

Pantoja’s comeback album Hasta que se apague el sol, was issued by Universal in November. She was devastated by the death of Juan Gabriel, her longtime friend and collaborator who had written songs for her since 1988’s smash single “Así Fue.” Along with Ana Gabriel, Rocío Dúrcal, Lucian Villa, Estela Núñez, and Gabriel himself, she sang on Juan Gabriel... El Divo y Sus Divas, the posthumous tribute offering that peaked at number three on the Latin Pop albums chart in 2016. She offered her own tribute at the 2017 Festival Festival de Viña in Chile, performing an entire concert of his songs. In 2019 she signed a contract with the Spanish television channel Telecino and appeared as a guest in Gran Hermano Dúo, a contestant in Supervivientes 2019, and a judge in Factor X and Idol Kids. In June, Pantoja served as a contestant on Survivors: Tierra de Nadie; she had to be evacuated from the island due to a medical emergency, but fully recovered.

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Amanda Miguel and Ana Victoria Verdaguer Bring Their “Siempre te Amare Tour 2022” To The Arena Theatre November 18

For their professionalism and for the seriousness with which they have always conducted themselves as artists, Amanda Miguel and Ana Victoria will meet the public by resuming the tour of the United States that had been announced since last year. Diego Verdaguer will not be absent, his work and his spirit are still alive in the voice and soul of the two women he loved most and who today, with the strength that infuses them with how much the singer-songwriter sowed in them, they will honor their memory as he would have liked: singing at the top of their lungs, with the heart and with the blood that unites them, with the essence that impregnated them and is permanent.

“SIEMPRE TE AMARÉ – TOUR 2022” will take place at The Arena Theatre in Houston on November 18.

During these concerts mother and daughter will offer the best of their repertoire, as well as a set where they will sing the greatest hits of their beloved husband and father; it will be a retelling of stories, music, nostalgia, longing and, above all, of a perpetual, indelible affection.

Amanda Miguel and Ana Victoria Verdaguer will be delivering a tribute to everlasting love as part of their Siempre Te Amaré Tour dedicated to the late, great Diego Verdaguer. Having cultivated successful individual careers over the years, Argentina’s royal family of pop balladry have always been stronger together, and this occasion will be no different. Soaring renditions of “El Destino” and “Siempre Juntos” will echo through the theater as mother and daughter serenade the father, husband,

and icon behind such classics as “Volveré,” “Tonta,” and “Quién De Los Dos Será.” Join us for an unparalleled celebration of life as Amanda Miguel and Ana Victoria Verdaguer look back on their glorious family legacy in a night filled with song, love, and tears.

Most popular in Mexico, which she eventually made her residency, Amanda Miguel is an Argentine-born Latin pop singer who rose to fame in the early ’80s in collaboration with her husband, singer/songwriter Diego Verdaguer.

Born June 1, 1956, in Gaiman, Chubut, Argentina, she moved to Buenos Aires at age 16 and studied music at the conservatory. Shortly afterward she met

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Amanda Miguel and Ana Victoria Verdaguer

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Verdaguer and joined his group Mediterráneo, which also included Valeria Lynch prior to her solo career. Blessed with a strong voice and star power, it wasn’t long before Miguel embarked on a solo career of her own with the support of Verdaguer as her songwriting partner and producer.

After making her solo recording debut in 1979 with the single “Papá, Cuando Regreses,” she made her fulllength album debut with El Sonido, Vol. 1 (1981), a commercial blockbuster that spawned the smash hits “Él Me Mintió” and “Mi Buen Corazón.” The success of her debut album warranted not one but two follow-ups, El Sonido, Vol. 2 (1983) and El Sonido, Vol. 3 (1984), and she closed out the decade with El Pecado (1987), later reissued with an abundance of bonus material, including early promotional videos.

Miguel was steadily active throughout the ’90s, during which time she expanded her repertoire to include a range of styles, most notably Mexican regional music. Her albums from this era include El Rostro del Amor (1990), Rompecorazones (1992), Ámame una

Vez Más (1996), and 5 Días (1999). From this point onward, Miguel’s output slowed considerably. Six years passed before she released her next studio album, Piedra de Afilar (2005), a collaboration with Mexican singer/ songwriter Anahí. Around this same time, she collaborated with Verdaguer on the live album Siempre Fuimos Dos (2005). Subsequent albums include Anillo de Compromiso (2008),Dedicado a México (2010) and 80*15 (2015).

Ana Victoria is the daughter of Latin American singer-songwriters Amanda Miguel and Diego Verdaguer. She was born on December 8, 1983, in Los Angeles, California. At the age of 13 she began working as a backup singer for her parents.

In 2007 she released her first album, Ready, co-produced with Rob Meister and released under her parents label DIAM Music distributed by Warner Music Group. It included the songs “Siempre pude ver” (Whenever I can see) and “P.D. Te amo” (PS I Love You) which reached the Mexican top 10 while the video for the first single won the Excellence Award at the Accolade

Awards.

In April 2012 Ana Victoria released her second album, entitled “AV” co-produced by Axel Dupeyron. The eleven songs included a cover of her father’s song “Yo No Lloro por Llorar” (I Don’t Cry for the Sake of Crying) and the singles “Nada” and “Sorry”.

In 2012 she was nominated in the category “Best New Artist” at the Latin Grammy Awards. In 2009 a live DVD and CD Ana Victoria: En Vivo, was released. In early 2013 she performed two duets: “Más vale tarde que nunca” with Christian Chavez , and “Simplemente amor” with Erik Rubin. The covers album Color Amor was released on August 21, 2013. It included her first song in English, a rendition of “I Belong To You” by Lenny Kravitz.

Since then, Ana Victoria has released several singles. They include “Beso de Consolación” (2015), Otoño (2016), and La Reina (2017). Her last major tour was the “Herencia Romántica” Tour in 2016.

Pantoja

Isabel Pantoja se presenta en Smart Financial Centre el 27 de Noviembre

María Isabel Pantoja Martín (Sevilla; 2 de agosto de 1956) es una cantante española de copla y rancheras andaluza. Posee una discografía de 30 álbumes y ha realizado numerosas giras en España y América Latina con la colaboración de Juan Gabriel. Ha sido reconocida con 18 discos de platino y 8 discos de oro en ventas de álbumes, y 2 discos de platino en ventas de DVD, según acreditan los Productores de Música de España (Promusicae). Se la conoce habitualmente con el sobrenombre de la tonadillera española, por su estilo musical basado en el folclore español con una alta orquestación sinfónica.

Isabel Pantoja nació el 2 de agosto de 1956 en la calle Juan Díaz de Solís, número 8, en el barrio de Triana de la ciudad española de Sevilla. Sus padres eran Juan Pantoja Cortés (1922-16 de julio de 1974), letrista de fandangos perteneciente al trío Los Gaditanos, y Ana María Martín Villegas (n. el 22 de mayo de 1931), exbailaora en las

compañías de Pepe Pinto y Juana Reina. Su hermano Agustín Pantoja fue también cantante entre los años 80 y 90 y su hermano Juan Antonio ha ejercido como su guitarrista en muchas actuaciones. Tiene otro hermano llamado Bernardo, quien no se ha dedicado al mundo artístico (aunque fue su chófer durante un tiempo), pero en cambio sí su hija Anabel, que es asistente personal de su tía desde hace algunos años y trabaja en programas de prensa rosa de la televisión. El abuelo paterno de Isabel fue el cantaor Antonio Pantoja Jiménez (f. el 9 de diciembre de 1977), inicialmente apodado Pipoño de Jerez y posteriormente Chiquetete Padre. El abuelo materno de Isabel era un verdulero muy conocido en el Mercado de Sevilla, apodado El lechuga.

Isabel Pantoja además ha sido un personaje habitual de los círculos de la prensa rosa y el corazón, que la ha relacionado con la cantante María del Monte, madrina de su hija María Isabel.

Isabel no tardó en formar compañía propia y durante años cultivó la copla, género en decadencia en aquel momento y cuyo interés en el público consiguió resucitar. De esa época son temas como “El pájaro verde”, “Garlochí” o “El señorito”. En 1983 salió a la luz su primer álbum de música pop: Cambiar por ti, compuesto por Paco Cepero con temas como “En la niebla” o “Nada”, además del que daba título al disco. Desde ese momento, Isabel Pantoja ha alternado baladas y canciones románticas con la copla; con la que ha vendido aproximadamente 10 millones de copias.

El 30 de abril de 1983, Isabel se casó con el torero Francisco Rivera Pérez conocido como Paquirri en la basílica del Gran Poder de Sevilla.

La muerte de Paquirri el 26 de septiembre de 1984, corneado en la plaza de toros de Pozoblanco, tuvo gran

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Isabel Pantoja

trascendencia en el país. Isabel se convirtió en “la viuda de España”. La prensa rosa la catapultó como el personaje más perseguido, especialmente cuando vivía su luto en reclusión.

Tras un prolongado silencio, reapareció en el mercado discográfico en 1985 con el álbum Marinero de luces, compuesto por José Luis Perales, que alcanzó el éxito comercial con un millón de copias vendidas en España.

En 1988 le siguió Desde Andalucía, un trabajo del autor y cantante mexicano Juan Gabriel. Son canciones con un ritmo y estilo muy diferentes de Marinero de luces. Canciones como “Hazme tuya una vez más”, “Cuántos días más” y, en especial, c (con su famosa frase «No te aferres, no te aferres a un imposible») sonaron en un gran número de conciertos en España y en varios países de América.

En 1989 lanzó el disco Se me enamora el alma; con ritmos más modernos y que también fueron escritos por Perales. Posteriormente llegaría Corazón herido (1992) y De nadie (1993).

En 1990 protagonizó la película Yo soy esa, junto a José Coronado y Loles León y dirigida por Luis Sanz. Sanz era un gran conocedor del mundo del espectáculo y de la copla y había influido decisivamente en la carrera artística de figuras como Rocío Dúrcal, Rocío Jurado y Pastora Soler. Todas las canciones, grandes éxitos de la copla de sus antecesoras, fueron recogidas junto a algunas otras en un doble álbum titulado La canción española que Isabel grabó junto a la Orquesta Filarmónica de Londres dirigida por Luis Cobos.

Un año después repitió en el cine con El día que nací yo, dirigida esta vez por Pedro Olea y protagonizada junto a Arturo Fernández y Joaquim de Almeida.

Con una producción discográfica muy amplia, más de 20 discos

publicados, Isabel Pantoja realizó numerosas galas por España y Latinoamérica. En abril de 2005, el dúo de músicos Pumpin’ Dolls produjo un álbum atípico que consistió en remezclas de baile de los temas más famosos de la cantante. Ese mismo año, Isabel Pantoja también publicó un CD+DVD titulado Sinfonía de la copla, la grabación en directo de un recital ofrecido en el Palacio de la Música Catalana de Barcelona, culminando con él una gira de conciertos por toda España durante todo ese mismo año.

Isabel fue la elegida, junto con su hijo Kiko Rivera y con el presentador Jorge Javier Vázquez, para retransmitir en directo desde la plaza Puerta del Sol en Madrid las campanadas de Nochevieja 2011-2012, fruto de la reciente relación contractual entre la cantante y Mediaset España. Las campanadas fueron las más seguidas de la historia de los canales privados.

En otoño de 2013, un año antes de su ingreso en prisión por delitos fiscales, Isabel Pantoja grabó discretamente un nuevo álbum de canciones (titulado Hasta que se apague el sol) con la colaboración de Juan Gabriel. Poco antes, en agosto de ese año, participó en un histórico recital del ídolo mexicano cantando “Así fue” en un derroche expresivo, con mucho sentimiento lo cual hace esta canción clásica de ella.

El último trabajo discográfico de Isabel Pantoja con Juan Gabriel ha permanecido inédito durante tres años, promocionándose en noviembre de 2016, coincidiendo con la reaparición de Isabel en los escenarios tras salir de prisión, y meses después del fallecimiento del

cantautor mexicano ocurrido el 28 de agosto del 2016.

El miércoles 22 de febrero se presentó por primera vez en Chile, en el Festival Internacional de la Canción de Viña del Mar, donde obtuvo la Gaviota de Plata, la Gaviota de Oro y de manera especial la Gaviota de Platino de mano de la alcaldesa de Viña del Mar, Virginia Reginato. Y el 1 de marzo vuelve a Perú, después de 20 años de ausencia, donde ofrece un concierto sinfónico en el Jockey Club del Perú de la ciudad de Lima ante 16 000 personas.

El 1 de febrero de 2018 atendió largamente a los medios de comunicación, opinando sobre las críticas que había recibido en los últimos años. En este mismo mes, se conoció que su gira en América había sido cancelada por problemas relacionados con el visado.

El día 14 de septiembre de 2018, Isabel Pantoja llamó por sorpresa al móvil de su examiga Chelo García Cortés para dar unas declaraciones al programa Sálvame mientras este se emitía en directo. En una intervención histórica que duraría aproximadamente una hora y 15 minutos, habló sobre su hija y su exempleada del hogar (Dulce Delapiedra), además de discutir otros temas relacionados con los colaboradores del programa. Ese momento fue el más visto del día en la televisión, alcanzando los 5 millones de espectadores durante la llamada. Asimismo, el día 21 volvió a llamar para abordar los mismos temas.

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Isabel Pantoja

El 9 de abril se anunció su vuelta a Mediaset España con un contrato de larga duración. Su primer trabajo será ser concursante de Supervivientes.

En diciembre del mismo año la cantante publicó en sus redes sociales la portada del que se sería su nuevo sencillo con un aspecto irreconocible. Más tarde publicó su nuevo sencillo en Instagram como regalo navideño para sus fanes. El sencillo estaba compuesto por el desaparecido Juan Gabriel y producido por José Luis Cobos.

El 14 de febrero lanza su nuevo sencillo Enamórate a todas las plataforma digitales y el videoclip del mismo a YouTube con un modernizado look cuyos responsables son Abad peluqueros y Alberto Dugarte y enfundada en un traje de lentejuelas transcurre este videoclip rodado en un maravilloso teatros al más puro estilo neoyorquino. Además, le hace un guiño a sus fanes del colectivo LGTB rodeándose de transformistas simulando a una maravillosa orquesta. Con este sencillo vuelve a la música tras 4 años sin sacar algo inédito.

El 6 de marzo volvió a los escenarios para presentar su nuevo sencillo Enamórate, así como todas canciones que le han acompañado durante su carrera musical. El concierto se realizó en el WiZink Center de Madrid, concierto que servirá de apertura para la nueva gira musical de Isabel Pantoja: su Gira Enamórate.

En 2007, Pantoja se vio envuelta en el escándalo del llamado Caso Malaya, nombre que recibió una operación contra la corrupción urbanística en España que habían cometido algunos dirigentes del Ayuntamiento de Marbella y diversos empresarios y abogados. Su compañero sentimental, Julián Muñoz, exalcalde de esa localidad, fue uno de los principales imputados.

El 2 de mayo de 2007, Isabel Pantoja fue detenida acusada de cometer varios delitos contra la hacienda pública y de blanqueo de capitales. El juez Miguel Ángel Torres, instructor del Caso Malaya y titular del juzgado de instrucción número cinco de Marbella, decretó libertad bajo fianza de 90 000 euros para la tonadillera tras unas horas de arresto en comisaría.

La investigación a la cantante tuvo una gran repercusión en la sociedad española, incluso en el terreno de la política, llegando a ser comentado por el entonces portavoz del PP en el Congreso Eduardo Zaplana.

El 16 de abril de 2013 fue condenada a 24 meses de prisión por blanqueo de capitales, debiendo afrontar con sus bienes una multa de 1 147 000 euros. En octubre de 2014 se informó de que Pantoja pagaría previsiblemente la multa impuesta por la Audiencia de Málaga para después poder pedir la suspensión de su ingreso en prisión. Sin embargo, tras abonar únicamente 100 000 euros, solicitó sin éxito la

suspensión de su condena y el pago de la multa en varios plazos.

Ante la negativa de la Fiscalía, el 21 de noviembre de 2014 ingresó en la cárcel de Alcalá de Guadaíra para cumplir una pena de dos años de prisión por blanqueo de capitales.

El 4 de diciembre de 2015 obtiene el tercer grado de semilibertad.

El 2 de marzo de 2016 le conceden la libertad condicional que le permite no volver a prisión y viajar por todo el territorio español bajo el control de los servicios sociales penitenciarios. Esto le permite prepararse para una reaparición en los escenarios, prevista para finales de 2016, coincidiendo con la publicación del álbum de canciones Hasta que se apague el sol que grabó con el mexicano Juan Gabriel en 2013, antes de ingresar en prisión, y que permanece inédito desde entonces.

El 28 de octubre de 2016 su condena por blanqueo de capitales expiró, así que retomó su carrera artística.

El álbum de regreso de Pantoja, Hasta que se apague el sol, fue publicado por Universal en noviembre. Estaba devastada por la muerte de Juan Gabriel, su viejo amigo y colaborador que había escrito canciones para ella desde el exitoso sencillo “Así Fue” de 1988. Junto a Ana Gabriel, Rocío Dúrcal, Lucian Villa, Estela Núñez y el propio Gabriel, cantó Juan Gabriel... El Divo y Sus Divas, el tributo póstumo que alcanzó el puesto número tres en la lista de álbumes de pop latino en 2016. Ella ofreció su propio homenaje en el Festival Festival de Viña 2017 en Chile, interpretando un concierto completo de sus canciones. En 2019 firmó un contrato con el canal de televisión español Telecino y apareció como invitada en Gran Hermano Dúo, concursante en Supervivientes 2019 y juez en Factor X e Idol Kids. En junio, Pantoja se desempeñó como concursante de Supervivientes: Tierra de Nadie; tuvo que ser evacuada de la isla por una emergencia médica, pero se recuperó por completo.

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Amanda Miguel y Ana Victoria Verdaguer llevan su “Siempre te Amare Tour 2022” The Arena Theatre el 18 de noviembre

Por su profesionalismo y por la seriedad con la que siempre se han comportado como artistas, Amanda Miguel y Ana Victoria darán la bienvenida al público al retomar la gira por Estados Unidos que tenían anunciada desde el año pasado. Diego Verdaguer no faltará, su obra y su espíritu siguen vivos en la voz y el alma de las dos mujeres que más amó y que hoy, con la fuerza que les infunde cuanto sembró en ellas el cantautor, van a honrar su memoria como a él le hubiera gustado: cantando a todo pulmón, con el corazón y con la sangre que los une, con la esencia que los impregnó y es permanente.

“SIEMPRE TE AMARÉ – TOUR 2022” se llevará a cabo en The Arena Theatre de Houston el 18 de noviembre. Durante estos conciertos madre e hija ofrecerán lo mejor de su repertorio, además de un set donde cantarán los

grandes éxitos de sus amadas esposo y padre; será un recuento de historias, música, nostalgia, añoranza y, sobre todo, de un afecto perpetuo e imborrable.

Amanda Miguel y Ana Victoria Verdaguer rendirán un homenaje al amor eterno como parte de su gira Siempre Te Amaré Tour dedicada al gran Diego Verdaguer. Habiendo cultivado exitosas carreras individuales a lo largo de los años, la familia real de la balada pop de Argentina siempre ha sido más fuerte unida, y esta ocasión no será diferente.

Las altísimas interpretaciones de “El Destino” y “Siempre Juntos” resonarán en el teatro mientras madre e hija dan una serenata al padre, esposo e ícono detrás de clásicos como “Volveré”, “Tonta” y “Quién De Los Dos Será”. Únase a nosotros para una celebración de la vida sin igual mientras Amanda Miguel y Ana Victoria Verdaguer

recuerdan su glorioso legado familiar en una noche llena de canciones, amor y lágrimas.

Más popular en México, donde finalmente hizo su residencia, Amanda Miguel es una cantante de pop latino nacida en Argentina que saltó a la fama a principios de los años 80 en colaboración con su esposo, el cantautor Diego Verdaguer.

Nacida el 1 de junio de 1956 en Gaiman, Chubut, Argentina, se mudó a Buenos Aires a los 16 años y estudió música en el conservatorio. Poco después conoció a Verdaguer y se unió a su grupo Mediterráneo, en el que también estaba Valeria Lynch antes de su carrera en solitario. Bendecida con una voz fuerte y poder de estrella, no pasó

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Amanda Miguel y Ana Victoria Verdaguer

mucho tiempo antes de que Miguel se embarcara en su propia carrera en solitario con el apoyo de Verdaguer como su socio compositor y productor.

Después de hacer su debut discográfico en solitario en 1979 con el sencillo “Papá, Cuando Regreses”, hizo su debut discográfico de larga duración con El Sonido, Vol. 1 (1981), un éxito de taquilla comercial que generó los grandes éxitos “Él Me Mintió” y “Mi Buen Corazón”. El éxito de su álbum debut ameritó no uno sino dos seguimientos, El Sonido, Vol. 2 (1983) y El Sonido, vol. 3 (1984), y cerró la década con El Pecado (1987), luego reeditado con una gran cantidad de material adicional, incluidos los primeros videos promocionales.

Miguel estuvo constantemente activa a lo largo de los años 90, tiempo durante el cual amplió su repertorio para incluir una variedad de estilos, sobre todo la música regional mexicana. Sus álbumes de esta época incluyen El Rostro del Amor (1990), Rompecorazones (1992), Ámame una Vez Más (1996) y 5 Días (1999). A partir de este momento, la producción de

Miguel disminuyó considerablemente. Pasaron seis años antes de que lanzara su siguiente álbum de estudio, Piedra de Afilar (2005), una colaboración con la cantautora mexicana Anahí. Por esta misma época colaboró con Verdaguer en el disco en directo Siempre Fuimos Dos (2005). Los álbumes posteriores incluyen Anillo de Compromiso (2008), Dedicado a México (2010) y 80*15 (2015).

Ana Victoria es hija de los cantautores latinoamericanos Amanda Miguel y Diego Verdaguer. Nació el 8 de diciembre de 1983 en Los Ángeles, California. A los 13 años comenzó a trabajar como corista de sus padres.

En 2007 lanzó su primer álbum, Ready, coproducido con Rob Meister y lanzado bajo el sello de sus padres, DIAM Music, distribuido por Warner Music Group. Incluyó las canciones “Siempre pude ver” (Siempre que puedo ver) y “P.D. Te amo” (PD I Love You) que alcanzó el top 10 mexicano mientras que el video del primer sencillo ganó el Premio a la Excelencia en los Premios Accolade.

En abril de 2012 Ana Victoria

lanzó su segundo álbum, titulado “AV” coproducido por Axel Dupeyron. Las once canciones incluían una versión de la canción de su padre “Yo No Lloro por Llorar” (I Don’t Cry for the Sake of Crying) y los sencillos “Nada” y “Sorry”.

En 2012 fue nominada en la categoría “Mejor Artista Nuevo” en los Premios Grammy Latinos. En 2009 se lanzó un DVD y CD en vivo Ana Victoria: En Vivo. A principios de 2013 realizó dos duetos: “Más vale tarde que nunca” con Christian Chavez y “Simplemente amor” con Erik Rubín. El álbum de versiones Color Amor fue lanzado el 21 de agosto de 2013. Incluía su primera canción en inglés, una interpretación de “I Belong To You” de Lenny Kravitz.

Desde entonces, Ana Victoria ha lanzado varios sencillos. Incluyen “Beso de Consolación” (2015), Otoño (2016) y La Reina (2017). Su última gran gira fue la gira “Herencia Romántica” en 2016.

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RANDOM SHOTS

The Smashing Pumpkins concert held last month at Toyota Center was nothing less than spectacular. The music that is... The lighting was a bit bizarre and for the most part was just mood lighting. In you were photographing the show from the back of the room, it was just a plain nightmare, but nevertheless, the show itself was fantastic and packed full of surprises.

The show started off with the band hitting the stage and performing a song called “Empires” of their new album, Autm. ATUM (pronounced “autumn”) will be unveiled over the course of three acts released 11 weeks apart. Act 1 will arrive on November 15th, with Act 2 following on January 31st and Act 3 coming on April 21st. A box set containing all three acts plus 10 additional bonus tracks will also be released on April 21st.They followed that up with their first Top-40 hit, “Bullet With Butterfly Wings” from their 1995 double album Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. Next came the dark lyrics of the song “Today,” which Billy

The Smashing Pumpkins Perform At Toyota Center Review and Photos

Corgan had wrote after having thoughts of suicide. Fortunately that did not happen, but it did yield another classic for the band. The Pumpkins were definitely on a roll and the audience was going wild. Surprising enough, the band dug down deep in their repertoire to pull out “We Only Come Out At Night.” This was the first time the band had performed this song on a tour since 2008, so it came as a big surprise. Now up was the title song off their 2020 release, Cyr. This song went down wonderfully and the crowd seemed to be simply ecstatic about the starting progression of the show. Surprising enough, the Pumpkins followed this one with a cover song, “Once In A Lifetime” by The Talking Heads. Yes, another surprise but they did a fine job of performing it, making it their own by the end of the song. Up next came “Solara,” “Eye,” and “Ava Adore” before the band got a little laid back and Billy and James Iha broke off into an acoustic version of their song, “Tonight, Tonight.” This song was always a highlight on the Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness album and proved to be a

By Kevin D. Wildman

good choice on this tour as well. “Stand Inside Your Love” followed this song before the band pulled off another surprise with “I Of The Mourning”. This was another surprise as the band had not performed this one in concert either since 2008. Let me tell you, the show just continued to get better and better as it went on. Song choices for this tour couldn’t have been any better. Now the band launched into “Cherub Rock” off their second album, Siamese Dream. Now they’re back with another song off of Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, “Zero”. “Zero” was one of the singles off this album and became one of their best requested songs. This was followed, of course by “1979” off of the same album. Up next was another new song from Autm, “Beguiled.” Judging by the response the audience was giving up whenever they performed a new song of Autm, that album is destined to be a success. Now we’re back again to Siamese Dream with a cool version of “Silverfuck”, another great selection. The last three song of this song were just sheer insanity as they revealed a another new song off the new album, “Neophite.” This song will be officially released on the the 3rd stage of Atum when it is released next year. “Disarm” from Siamese Dreams followed breaking up the ending surprise of their last song of the show, “Harmageddon.” This song has already been released on the stage 1 release of Autm, so the audience was delighted to hear the debut of this song live in a concert setting.

All in all, this was one stupendous concert and Billy Corgan, James Iha, and Jimmy Chamberlin were definitely at the top of their game. Billy sounded better than ever, James Iha’s guitar work was phenomenal, and Jimmy Chamberlin is definitely unmatched on drums. No doubt this tour will go down as one of the best tours The Smashing Pumpkins have ever performed. We can’t wait to see them on tour again next year.... Fingers crossed!

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Ozz Perform At Warehouse Live

It’s been a while, but Ozz finally returned to the stage this night with new guitarist Kelly Fitzsimmons, who did a fantastic job. I’m sure that Todd was looking down on this saying, “Bravo Guys, I’m glad you’re back!”

Photos by Brian Lambert

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Photos by Kevin D. Wildman

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Houston’s Premiere Motley Crue Tribute Band, The Crue, Perform At Warehouse Live (Photos By Brian Lambert)

Blanket Of M Perform At The 19th Hole

Looking Back,”

Well Folks, the sounds of Punk are still alive and well at The 19th Hole. This night they were being performed by Blanket of M from Tyler, Texas. Most of the people at The Hole this night were there for this band. They seem to have a fairly good following. The song list was typical Punk and featured short songs with titles like “I Am Legend,” “This Town,” “Sick,” “Zombie Love,”

In Black,” and “We’re History.”

Photos By Kevin Wildman

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Narcotic Wasteland Perform At The Concert Pub North (Photos By Greg Holleman)

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City Slickers Perform At The 19 Hole

Opening up for Blanket Of M at The 19th Hole was Country Rockers, the City Slickers. These guys were really good, playing a mix of Country along with some great rock tunes. Some of the songs they performed included Jason Aldean’s “She’s Country” and “Crazy Town,” Brantley Gilbert’s “Kick It In The Sticks,” Kid Rock’s “Only God Knows Why,” Nickleback’s “Never Again,” and the Foo Fighters “My Hero.” This band also has some great originals you might want to check out on their website like “Tonkin’” and “Everbody’s Southern.” Great Show by a good band.

Photos By Kevin Wildman

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Rock Cartel Perform At The Concert Pub North

The Concert Pub North was filled with the sounds of Hard Rock and Metal when Rock Cartel took to the stage. Fronted by lead singer Ashley, the band took us on a power-packed ride through the rock jungle. The band did an incredible job entertaining the crowd this night. The dynamics of guitarists Andrew and Em were extraordinary. The rhythm section was great as they keep the band at an even pace as they took us through songs like “You Got Another Thing Coming,” “Boys Of Summer,” “For Whom The Bell Tolls,” “My Own Worst Enemy,” and “Just Like You.” Yeah folks, this was a great evening of entertainment by a great band!

Photos by Kevin Wildman

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Accept Perform At The Concert Pub North Photos By Greg Holleman

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Shining Force Perform At The Acadia Bar & Grill

It’s been quite a while since we’ve seen a good Christian Rock Band, but this night when we walked into the Acadia Bar And Grill, Shining Force filled the bill for us. Here’s a first class band with first class musicians. Lead singer Abel Molano was unbelievable, sounding at times like Ronnie James Dio, Simply Fantastic. With songs like “Resist The Devil,” “Sin No More,” “God Is Calling,” “Holy of Holies,” “Apocolype,” and “Rapture,” Shining Force is spreading the gospel fantastically through Heavy Metal. Be sure to check these guys out. You’ll be glad you did.

Photos by Kevin Wildman

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Big Al & The Heavyweights Perform At Katie’s Bar In Bacliff

Big Al & The Heavyweights put on a fine performance this past month at Katie’s Bar in Bacliff. The band hit the stage full throttle and started cranking out the best in Blues. They performed quite a few of their own songs, such as “Hurricane,” “Real Mother Trucker,” “Love So Fine,” “Guardian Angel,” and the title song off their new album, “Everybody Needs Somebody.” In addition to that they performed some cool songs by BB King, Grand Funk Railroad (“Some Kind Of Wonderful”), Randy Newman’s “You Can Keep Your Hat On.” As an added bonus, they even brought three women up from the audience to join in on the action and perform washboard, tamborine, and cowbell along with the band. It was definitely a fun evening at Katie’s Bar in Bacliff

Photos By Kevin D. Wildman

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Christian Shields Performs At The Wildcatter Saloon Photos by Greg Holleman

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Keeshea Pratt Performs At The Big Easy

Wow! Tonight was just a blast at The Big Easy with the Keeshea Pratt Band on stage. Keeshea and her huge band filled the stage this night, but better than that, she filled the room. The Big Easy was packed. It was hard to even find a place to stand. Keeshea put on a hellluva show performing some great R&B, Blues and some of her great original tunes. There was non-stop dancing and the crowd stayed late into the night. Let me tell you, if you want to get a seat at a Keeshea Pratt show, you’d better get there pretty damn early. Even standing space was at a premium. I walked away from my spot to snap a few pictures, and lost my standing spot. Next time I’m going to get there about the same time the band loads in so I can get a good spot. Without a doubt, Keeshea is one of the finest singers in Houston. I try to catch her show whenever I can. So should you!

Photos By Kevin D. Wildman

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Hardluck Revival Perform At The Shady Acres Saloon

Photos By Greg Holleman

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Eric Demmer Performs At Katies Bar

We dropped by Katies Bar in Bacliff this night to see Eric Demmer perform. For those of you who do not know, this former Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown saxophonist has a new album out, titled So Fine. This night at Katie’s Bar he really put on a great show performing some of the songs from this album including “Let Me Go” and “Get Out Of Town.” Let me tell you, the new songs are really fantastic. We’ve heard the album, and it’s a really great album. You need to get yourself a copy now. In addition to those songs, he also performed a few copy songs such as ZZ Top’s “Tush”, Ted Nugent’s “Stranglehold,”

Freddie King’s “She’s The One,” as well as “Red House,” and “I Don’t Need No Doctor.” Eric and his band always put on a fine show. I couldn’t tell you how many times I’ve seen him perform, but I’ve always left with a smile on my face.

Photos By Kevin D. Wildman

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Darkside Oblivion Perform At Live At Bill’s

Photos By Brian Lambert

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Whitt-Ness Performs At Green Oaks Tavern

Tonight at Green Oaks Tavern we were treated to the sounds of Whitt-ness. This great five-piece band really kept the audience satisfyed with a great diversified set of music. Among the songs performed this night were “Chains” (The Beatles), “Unchain My Heart,” “Pass Me By” (Johnny Rodriguez), “Wave On Wave” (Pat Green), and even a rousing version of “Born To Be Wild” by Steppenwolf. It was really a great night of entertainment. Here’s another great band you really need to check out... or book. WhittNess is `Don Whitt, Ken Fontenot, Rob Austin, Chaz Nadege Cosme, and Shane Davis.

Photos By Kevin D. Wildman

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Sad Allen Perform At Leon’s Lounge In Midtown Photos By Kevin D. Wildman