The Orange Magazine - Vol. 4

THE

ORANGE

â„¢

GIVING YOU THE FRUIT OF THE INDUSTRY Vol. 4

Featured Artist

Steve Arrington

Page 24

Steve Arrington

of SLAVE

design&print

Founder Michael Neely CEO Rasheed J. Neely Aaliyah Neely Editors Aidem Media Group David R. Navarro Jimmy Star Eileen Shapiro Russ Ray

Contributing Writers David R. Navarro Martha Samasoni Misty White Trey Willis Jimmy Star Eileen Shapiro Edmund Barker Graphic Design design&print

Advertising Aidem Media Group B & S Designs Copyrights The Orange Magazine is sole property of AidemMediaGroup/ AMGmusic.Net. Which is owned

by Michael Neely and any articles and pictures are sole property of The Orange Magazine and any likeness. The Orange Magazine has been copyrighting since 2019.

Table of Contents Page 4-7 Claude S of Anything Box Page 9-11 Mawule Page 13-16 John Simpkins of Muchly Suchwise

Page 20-22 Harmony Rose of The Milk Blossoms Page 24-26 Steve Arrington of SLAVE

Page 32-36 Howard Bloom Page 38-39 Andre Jackson Page 40-42 Eric Alper

Page 28-31 Kerry Pastine and The Crime Scene

Page 17-18 Mike “Cee� Carpenter

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Claude S

+ Anything Box

When did you first get into music?

That’s a strange set of circumstances. You could say it was when my mom took me to a radio station in Rosario, Argentina, and I sang on the radio. It was some sort of call-in thing, but they liked my 4-year-old attitude, so they asked her to bring me into the station to sing on the air! It was the first time I was ever in front of a microphone. But it gets weirder from there…

I was given music lessons when I was about nine and hated all of it. Wanted nothing to do with music. What changed my entire life was an accident on a lake in New Jersey, where I basically drowned! Before I was saved, I had ‘an experience’ with death. For whatever reason, the time I spent unconscious did something to me. I was never quite a child in the normal sense, and music and art became a way of exploring this other world I’d been to.

I hear the men with the straitjackets knocking…

Who or What inspired you to pursue a career in music?

The what, as I said, was the drowning. After that, every musical thing I could get my hand on I explored. I loved records too. Because I tended to suffer from migraines as a child, listening to music in the dark was a must, and I enjoyed that inner space. For me, it was The Beatles as my best mates, followed by Pink Floyd as I got older, and eventually I discovered electronic music, which blew my mind. I heard the future, and it came from Computer World by Kraftwerk. But I also had the song bug. So I figured out a way to make that mesh with visual art too.

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As for a career in music, it happened really fast. My dad brought home a reel to reel that he won in a card game, and I immediately took to it.

Recording became something important to me. By then I had my first synths, a mic and a bass, so it was all set up. That, and I figured out early that my paintings sold better when they were on t-shirts than in a gallery, so I had merch early on by accident! Music made more sense from that point on.

A ‘chance’ to hang in the library of my high school for a day due to some strike allowed me to find the book with the perfect (or imperfect) name, and Anything Box was born. I still have that book, and God only knows how much I owe for it! But there are dozens of dots that led me here, and most importantly people I met and played with in every step.

How would you describe the music that you create?

I create emotional electronic music. If there were no titles, I would stick to that description. But because sometimes you can dance to it, I got lumped into Synthpop. I like to think of it as Kraftwerk, The Beatles and Joy division had a wayward baby, one that broke all their rules. That’s me. I’m a DADA / Surrealism fanatic. Logic has no place in art and music. So I make #synthpopsurrealism. There’s a hashtag.

How has your music evolved since you first began playing music?

It evolved through pain and suffering? Kidding, but not really. Like all teens, while growing up I gravitated to like-minded people, and thus Goth, Synthpop, and New Wave were my food. As I grew older, I went back to listen to other music, such as real 1950s Blues, Reggae, and Hip Hop. From there I got into sampling as an art form, so my focus over the years has gone into deeper electronic waters (digital and analog).

Claude S and Dania Morales Also, I got deeper into the machines themselves, and I love electronic music more than I ever did. The evolution, or devolution, occurs at odd life intervals. Life determines this, not my tastes per say.

If you were forced to choose only one, which emotion, more than any other drives you to stay in this tough business? Is it joy, anger, desire, passion or pride and why?

I would choose passion. Because you have to love what you are doing because it does not love you. Music has been devalued to some extent. So if you make music and you want to survive off of it, you best be passionate about why you are doing it, as the road is already paved with land mines. Passion!

Which ingredient do you think makes you special and unique as a performing artist in an industry overflowing with new faces and ideas?

I am somewhat on the spectrum, so my brain works differently. I’ve been told I am innocent without being naive.

That’s one. Another is that I ‘see’ music as art, and this may come from my painting. But most importantly? I love people. I really do. Human connection is more important to me than ever before. Even now as i write this, my biggest laments are not doing more shows before all this Coronavirus madness began. I miss that!

I love to tell stories, engage people, see what makes them feel things. I get my best ideas from these connections.

Anything Box - Pablo Chinito, Dania Morales and Claudio Marcelo Strilio

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What has been your biggest challenge as a musician/singer-songwriter? Have you been able to overcome that challenge? If so, how?

In the past, the biggest challenge was for the ‘industry people’ to understand or promote electronic music. The internet changed that, and I for one do not bemoan the fall of that industry. They were thieves. They still are!

I’ll answer that question better in one year or so, when I actually pull it off. We are in a time where there was the Earth we knew, and a new one that’s sprouting before us. Whether it is temporary or permanent remains to be seen. With shows cancelled, I’m not so sure of anything. But I am also good at adaptation. It’s in our genes to adapt to every situation. My unique brain allows me to shift focus. So I have. I’m taking live streaming (quaranstreams) more seriously now, and I’m going to be the best at it.

A common phrase in the industry is, “you must suffer for your art”. Do you agree with this statement? If so, how have you suffered for your art?

I do not believe that at all, even as I say to you that I have or might suffer. All one has is the work. I tell the younger ones all the time, “Just do the work, create, record, film, paint! The rest follows the passion you have for the work!”

Suffering is when you focus on the likes you get, or the attention. Yes, you need a ‘plan’ and all that, but the truth is far simpler: Create good work and people will come to you. Take care of them, and you will do well.

How do you feel the Internet has impacted the music business?

I consider myself an activist for the freedom the internet gave us as creators! In one sense, it got rid of the gatekeepers, and in another, everyone who owns a computer can also release music and that creates noise. I’ll take the noise rather than the gatekeepers. I don’t mind sifting through the noise, as gems pop up in all forms. I love that aspect of the internet, which is why WE as a PEOPLE must always keep the internet clear of the corporations that want to become the new gatekeepers. Let’s not let that happen!

If you could change anything about the music industry, what would it be?

More transparency in the way the money is divided, especially when it comes to streaming income. I would love to see more boutique services for the artists, where accounting, marketing and placement is more affordable for the independent artist. But one improvement I would recommend to the artist who is reading this is that having your own identity, or website is still important. Don’t rely solely on social media, as it changes or can go away. Let that be a tool, not your brand.

What are the 5 albums that have helped make you the person you are today and why?

That changes every day, but I’l take that challenge. The idea of an album as a ‘concept’ came to me from the best album ever, and that’s Sgt. Peppers. I can always go back and learn a technique from that one, not to mention the beauty in it is unbearable. Next is Kraftwerk’s, Computer World, which is like entering a time machine. Everything that’s in that album predicted this future, both good and otherwise. I love the Beastie Boys’ Hello Nasty album. The diversity of what talent can do is found there. Talk about genre-bending. That album applies a trait I call “self-Made Culture” where YOU decide who you are, not a genre. Radiohead’s Kid A got me back into electronic music, Peace Tour, circa 1990 - New Jersey Homecoming Show

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diversity of what talent can do is found there. Talk about genre-bending.

That album applies a trait I call “self-Made Culture” where YOU decide who you are, not a genre. Radiohead’s Kid A got me back into electronic music, and the songs are beautiful. That’s four? Hmm… It would have to be Joy Division with Closer. That’s a record that never ages for me. I love the mood of that album so much, you know?

So, what did I get from that list? Be diverse, tell good stories, don’t be afraid to experiment with whatever turns you on, and don’t consider commercial success. Be yourself!

Tell us about your current project.

Right now I’m loving the live streaming, which is where I was heading when all this mess started… Anything Box is alive and well. I am working on new songs. I will release them as singles. Because of the pandemic, I am not keen on recording an album right now, as there are no shows.

So it makes more sense to organize live concerts in a streaming format, and do more videos and singles. The last album I recorded was done under ‘Claude’ and is called Distances. I recommend that as a starting point to where Abox is right now.

Pablo, Claude S and Dania - Peace Tour

What’s next for you?

I’m focusing on being there for people during this time. I don’t want to hide away in the studio. Right now, I want to open it up for people to hang out with me. I understand this need we all have to congregate, and my live streams will be a way for new material to come out, but also for keeping each other happier and entertained. I think the world needs that right now! But make no mistake, there will be lots of releases!

How can fans-to-be gain access to your music?

Best place to start is AnythingBox.com of course, but I can also be found on most social sites as @endpop. I have an art page too, which is endpop.redbubble.com. And of course, Anything Box is on Spotify, iTunes and all that as well. I’m International!

Dania, Claude S and Pablo First 8x10 + Band Photo

Peace Tour, circa 1990 - Album Cover

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Mawule

Music is in His Soul.

When did you first get into music?

I was born and raised in Ghana and music was always an integral part of my family. Growing up around the church, the gospel roots served as a stem to my being, so I always found myself singing music frequently. It wasn’t till the age of 13 when I decided to pursue a path in music. Since then opportunities have landed in my lap, one after the other and I have never looked back.

Who or What inspired you to pursue a career in music?

Life circumstances and experiences inspired me to pursue a career in music. I always found myself at a very young age gravitating to music that gave me hope. From that, I found myself writing music to make meaning of my own life as I navigate the realities of the world.

How would you describe the music that you create?

I would describe my music as a reflection of my passion for the human connection and a source of both comfort and empowerment for others. I am inspired by what is real about life, relationships, social justice, diversity, trust, love, doubts, and abuse, which I done in a cloak of deep lyrics and catchy rhythms.

How has your music evolved since you first began playing music?

When I started the business, I wanted to prove that I was an artist/songwriter that could write to any genre.The flavors of different sounds and genres can be noticed with a quick listen to my “Reflections” EP and “Chosen” album . As my understanding of my artistry has developed, I believe I have found my voice and sound in R&B/Souls and the acoustic singer songwriter lanes and I plan on driving down that road in the years to come.

If you were forced to choose only one, which emotion, more than any other drives you to stay in this tough business? Is it joy, anger, desire, passion or pride and why?

Love would be the emotion. I love the music I get to write, the canvases I get to shade with my lyrics, and the beauty within the artistic creative process of music. The love for the work from start to finish and the people that come along for the ride and/or jump on board on the journey makes it all fun.

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Which ingredient do you think makes you special and unique as a performing artist in a genre overflowing with new faces and ideas?

My grind, I’ve been able to get this far not knowing how to read or write music from the theory aspect. Everything has been self-taught from a very young age and I now understand all aspects of the business with my knowledge growing day by day. I see the future and vision. I am determined to paint it.

What has been your biggest challenge as a musician/singer-songwriter? Have you been able to overcome that challenge? If so, how?

Investing in myself. There’s only so much you can do especially when you feel like no one out there is throwing you a bone to nourish you for the next journey ahead. I’ve overcome that by identifying all the resources at my disposal like LinkedIn and leveraging my network there to fill in knowledge gaps to keep my fire burning for success.

A common phrase in the industry is, “you must suffer for your art”. Do you agree with this statement? If so, how have you suffered for your art?

Yes, self-investment can lead one toward a road of many internalizations that can break you down, especially when you don’t see the fruits of your labor. But within that, pivoting upon learning new things along the journey will always lead to the construction of new pathways. So, the process of building a career is a path of suffrage because nothing comes easy, but you must always find ways to take the exits that leads you to new opportunities.

How do you feel the Internet has impacted the music business?

The internet has created many channels for people to get discovered. So, the smart thing for every artist to do is to learn how the algorithms work on all social media platforms and tap into them.

If you could change anything about the music industry, what would it be?

There are lots of great artists and music that go unheard so I would want a system for good talent to be recognized. I would also want better inclusion and recognition of musicians of color within the industry and the academy.

What are the 5 albums that have helped make you the person you are today and why?

To be honest I only have 1 album and that is John Legend - Once Again. That whole entire album was filled with great messages and it’s the only album that matched my vocal ability perfectly and a project I rocked with at every stage of my life.

Photo by Luke Gottlieb

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Tell us about your current project.

Currently, I have a bunch of collaborative EP projects with local musicians and bands including Gydnce, Codakolar, Britney Jane, Eman, Glenn Sawyer, and Sombo Music. So, i’m sitting on a lot of new music and will resume all these projects when things return back to normal after COVID-19.

What’s next for you?

I see my future more on the business side of the industry. I have big plans of running Mawule Music Group as music company dedicated to supporting other artists with their goals and dreams.

How can fans-to-be gain access to your music? www.mawule.com and all social media sites using the handle: @musicmawule Photo Credits: (Top & Bottom Right) Xavier Hadley

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John Simpkins

+ Muchly Suchwise

We caught up with trumpet master, John Simpkins of Muchly Suchwise..

When did you first get into music?

The moment when I truly got into music was when my older brother Dave Simpkins asked me to join his band, Askimbo.

At age 14, I was the youngest in the group. I can’t fully express how cool it was to feel a part of something that was so much bigger than me. For years, our group of 6 did everything together. Initially, it was hard to get gigs. We rehearsed nightly. Eventually, the band got a side gig cleaning a preschool so we could buy a P.A. and start putting on our own shows. This group of musicians became as important to me as my own family. We all still play music, and are a major part of each other’s lives.

To this day, we play in projects together, help one another find work, and help to raise each other’s children. One of the most exciting parts of my current project, “Muchly Suchwise” is that Dave Simpkins is on bass, James Romine on drums, and Candra Rios on Tenor Sax were all members of that original version of Askimbo with me.

Who or What inspired you to pursue a career in music?

At a young age, my mother Judy Gardner definitely instilled a love of art and self expression in me and my brothers. She is an amazing artist and teacher, her studio is called Alchemical Eye Studio. My family as a whole has always been artistic. Some of the greatest memories of my childhood are creating art projects with my mom, or sitting with family members as we paint or craft. I was never a very good painter but the time I got with my grandmother, mom, and brothers was priceless.

What probably got me into music was my dad, saying he didn’t approve. He is a Pentecostal Minister, and him telling me I could not listen to secular music or play it, only made me want it more. I didn’t rebel too hard though, the music I really got into was Ron Miles. He had come to my middle school to perform Photo Credits: Top - Sonia Gonzalez-Ortega, Right - Dave Simpkins

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with a quartet. Not too long after that performance I tracked down a copy of Ron Miles’ album “Women’s Day”, which has been a huge influence on my life and career as a trumpet player. In fact, I finished my High School courses as quick as I could so that Denver North High School would pay for me to attend Metropolitan State University where I studied trumpet with Ron Miles.

How would you describe the music that you create?

The group I enjoy playing with the most right now is called, “Muchly Suchwise.” What we play is best described as Nerd Rock. I like the lighthearted seriousness we bring to our craft with this band. Sometimes, the group feels like being goofy and might write a funky tune about how sexy calligraphy is, or at other times I might write a song about how much I enjoy being a father where I can lay my heart on the line.

How has your music evolved since you first began playing music?

Certainly, in the last few years, I have been better at deciding what I like to play on the trumpet and allowing that to form my voice. As a young trumpet player, the pursuit of gigs can really dictate what you play and what you sound like. In a pursuit to appease everyone and show you can play anything and everything, you spend little time appeasing yourself. While this was good in my formative years, as I have gotten older, had children, I have had to be more selective with my time. Playing the style of trumpet that I want may not resonate with everyone, but I would like to think that the people it does resonate with tend to have a stronger connection to it because it is authentic and passionate.

If you were forced to choose only one, which emotion, more than any other drives you to stay in this tough business? Is it joy, anger, desire, passion or pride and why?

Definitely joy! The music industry can be hard at times, time and experience has taught me what I enjoy about music and how to seek those types of experiences out. I volunteer with my neighborhood school music program, I teach lessons to aspiring musicians and I play with a group of musicians that are lifelong friends. Even when I am not playing, I have a great deal of pride in the work I do repairing band instruments. Playing the trumpet is like a form of meditation for me. As the coronavirus closed everything down and work started to disappear, it has been normal to freak out, but sitting down and playing the trumpet really helps me to clear my mind and be in the moment which is invaluable at times like these.

Which ingredient do you think makes you special and unique as a performing artist in a genre overflowing with new faces and ideas?

I have a lot of pride in the trumpet I play on. It started out as a standard trumpet you could buy off the shelf. It was used, sold to me by my first trumpet teacher Keith Harms, it was all I could afford at the time. It was the perfect horn for what I was doing, and in the years that followed I played it so much that pieces started to wear out. My desire to keep my horn up and running got me introduced to a local music shop where I eventually started working. At first the guys in the shop helped me replace parts, I put on a variety of custom pieces, and over the years I learned how to machine parts, and replace pieces on my own. The trumpet currently has parts from five different manufactures,

Photo Credits: Bottom - Sonia Gonzalez-Ortega

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pieces I have made myself, and pieces former teachers made for me. The trumpet is not the same horn that I started with but neither am I. In so many ways my trumpet carries my life story. My handprints are worn into the metal from the thousands of shows I’ve played and countless hours of lessons and practicing. I couldn’t count all the meaningful friendships I have made learning and playing. I was playing the trumpet the night I met my wife. I sat in with the band the night of my wedding. Played for my daughters in the hospital the nights they were born. There is not another trumpet in the world like mine, and I like to think when the bell rings out it sends a piece of all the joy and pain the two of us have lived together.

What has been your biggest challenge as a musician/ songwriter? Have you been able to overcome that challenge? If so, how?

It took a long time for me to get used to the idea that art needs to be fluid. You get something beautiful or comfortable and you just want to hold onto it forever. But fans or musicians that you play with might get bored and you’re forced to let go, and move on. This made me sad at times in my life, but now I feel I am better at embracing the change and allowing it to push me forward. In the end I am glad I am not doing the same things I was 10 years ago.

A common phrase in the industry is, “you must suffer for your art”. Do you agree with this statement? If so, how have you suffered for your art?

I once had a great trumpet teacher named Gerald Endsley.

In a lesson we started talking about how I could practice the trumpet without actually having to practice the trumpet. I could work on the tonguing required to separate the notes when talking. I could practice breathing in a variety of workouts to keep myself healthy. I could practice focus and task completions in each day’s tedious projects. In return, the trumpet could make me a better communicator, healthier, and more task oriented. He wasn’t suggesting that I don’t have to practice, his big point was that to be a great trumpet player you should try to live your best life. The message in the lesson was amplified by the fact that this lesson was a series of free lessons Gerry gave me as a part of a mentor program for young artists, through which he helped hundreds of kids in. Many artists strive to instill a passion for their art that dictates every aspect of their life. I feel lucky that I was taught such an optimistic approach to this concept, that all the hard work never really felt like suffering.

How do you feel the Internet has impacted the music business?

I have always been a big fan of music being made more available to the masses. While the internet in some ways has made it harder for career musicians to make a good living, it has made music distribution and education more accessible. I am excited to see how this platform will expand music in ways we can’t imagine just like the invention of the printing press or the record player. Having so many more people creating and distributing music is scary when you’re trying to compete against it all. But, it is wonderful and inspiring if you love art for art’s sake.

If you could change anything about the music industry, what would it be?

Since you brought it up earlier, I don’t like the message: that you have to suffer in order to be a serious musician.

Young musicians are told that they should just accept some of the unhealthy aspects of our industry, because one day it will make them a better musician. We work within an environment that often creates drug addiction, promotes depression and suffering in order to create music with depth, and leaves more people struggling to pay their bills or get by than not. I have lost a handful of friends to a combination of drug addiction and suicide. I would rather have my friends back, over the life experience.

Photo Credit: Top Right - Sonia Gonzalez-Ortega

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What are the 5 albums that have helped make you the person you are today and why?

Ron Miles’ “Woman’s Day” - This one is hard to find in the digital realm, but well worth it in my opinion. His most recent album “I am a Man” is equally as good. I just don’t have the years of memories I associate with it...yet!! The first track, Dew on “Women’s Day” is one that I have turned to in times of turmoil or loss for decades. It reminds me to find beauty and stay rooted in who I am despite what the world throws at me.

Fishbone’s “Give a Monkey a Brain” - It was this album in combination with a local band called The Psychedelic Zombies “Evening At the Zoo,” that strongly influenced the first group of musicians that I played with, Askimbo.

Askimbo eventually got to open up for both acts.

Weird Al Yankovic’s “Straight Outta Lynwood” - I recently saw Weird Al at Red Rocks with the Colorado Symphony.

While what he does is goofy, he makes me and a lot of other people crazy happy. I think it is good for all us to be reminded we don’t have to take ourselves and life so seriously all the time.

Shane Endsley’s “2nd Guess” - Shane’s father was a teacher and mentor of mine and I am often inspired by Shane’s cool modern approach to jazz. He is also in the group Kneebody, which is worth checking out as well.

Dr. Dog’s “Shame, Shame” - This is an album me and my current band mates in “Muchly Suchwise“ have bonded over. We found their mixture of different singers and writing styles inspiring and it encouraged us to experiment with the idea of having different narratives and voices throughout our shows and albums.

Tell us about your current project.

My current project is “Muchly Suchwise”, while I still continue to sub and collaborate with other groups, this is where my heart lies. Muchly Suchwise is a unique blend of wit over an eclectic mix of genres and styles. My brother Dave Simpkins, and our long time friend, Jim Disner and I started a songwriting club. The three of us were bouncing ideas off each other for years and collaborating for other projects like our zombie rock opera “Vitaphilia,” and over time we realized how much we enjoyed working together. We sent up the jam flare and our good friends James Romine (drummer), Candra Rios (Tenor Sax), and Dillion Jefferies (guitar) came to answer our call. The only downside to the band, is that it is hard to play the trumpet well when you have a big stupid ass grin on your face all the time.

What’s next for you?

Muchly Suchwise is currently recording an album, we had hoped to release it this summer. The debut will be postponed due to the chaos surrounding Covid-19, but it is coming soon. The other groups that I collaborate with at times are The Ordinary Two, Grown Ass Man Band, That Damn Sasquatch, and Cure For Pain.

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How can fans-to-be gain access to your music? https://suchwise.com/ https://www.facebook.com/muchlysuchwise https://twitter.com/Muchly_Suchwise https://www.instagram.com/muchlysuchwise/ Photo Credit: Top - Dave Simpkins

Mike “Cee” Carpenter

Photo Credit: Travis “Fisheye” Ruiz

Hollywood Producer

When did you first get into music?

Back when I was in the 1st Grade. My teacher played guitar and I was mesmerized so I stayed in from recess to learn how to play. My parents bought me a guitar and I was on my way.

Who or What inspired you to pursue a career in music?

I had been playing in garage bands for quite sometime and that seemed to be the thing to do. I was terrible in sports so that seemed like a natural progression.

How would you describe the music that you create?

It always depends. I grew up listening to all kinds of music, but I would say Urban/Pop/Dance/EDM

How has your music evolved since you first began playing music?

With home studios you now can experiment with different sounds.

I like to dial in stuff and tweak stuff that most people don’t ordinarily do.

I’m sure you have met a lot of celebrities along the way. Would you share 1 or 2 of your favorite stories with us?

I was doing a remix for this group, called The Jamaica Boys (Marcus Miller-Bass Player/Producer) and Lenny White (Drummer Return to Forever), the song was for the House Party “Kid n Play” movie back in the late ‘80s. We were recording at Ocean Way Recording Studio in Hollywood.

While in the studio, I was walking down the hallway and met Bruce Springsteen. Then, my engineer asked if I wanted to go to the next room over and meet Lionel Ritchie. I did and had an amazing talk about the music business. Learned a lot from that session... Go back to my room and Marcus Miller is talking about a

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set list that he’s playing later that night with Miles Davis. And, Stanley Clarke walks in the door and starts talking to us.

Then, Johnny Mathis and Dionne Warwick bust in asking if we ordered pizza. It was a crazy recording session. I knew I was where I needed to be.

If you were forced to choose only one, which emotion, more than any other drives you to stay in this tough business? Is it joy, anger, desire, passion or pride and why?

I guess it would be passion. I love what I do and I couldn’t think of anything else I’d rather be doing.

Which ingredient do you think makes you special and unique as a performing artist in a genre overflowing with new faces and ideas?

My ability to pick up quickly by ear. I play by ear and listen very intensely. And always learning new things.

What has been your biggest challenge as a musician/producer/songwriter? Have you been able to overcome that challenge? If so, how?

Sometimes for me is being relevant. I always question myself from time to time. It can be a blessing and a curse at the same time. #smh A common phrase in the industry is, “you must suffer for your art”. Do you agree with this statement? If so, how have you suffered for your art?

Oh yes, I’ve suffered but it has helped me stay strong and driven in this industry. It actually, keeps me on my toes.

How do you feel the Internet has impacted the music business?

The internet has changed the industry big time. To me it’s kind of dumbed down the music. People want stuff immediately, quickly..... And now there’s no music classes in school. So, a lot of music is not as creative and has less substance anymore. So, the music assembly line is flying at a rapid pace.

If you could change anything about the music industry, what would it be?

Get back to real music with real instruments and songs with substance.

What are the 5 albums that have helped make you the person you are today and why?

1. George Benson - Breezin’ It made me want to play guitar.

2. Stevie Wonder - Songs in the Key of Life It made me appreciate songs and keyboard arrangements.

3. Parliament - Mothership Connection It got me into playing keyboards and synths 4. Earth, Wind & Fire - That’s the Way of the World It got me into vocal arrangements and harmonies.

5. Prince - 1999 It made me want to learn to play different instruments.

Tell us about your current project.

I’m actually putting together a Talkbox project. Playing different styles of music. Very Urban/Pop/Dance. Just doing something from all different styles of music I like.

What’s next for you?

Currently, I do music for Film and TV, and working on a solo project.

Mike Cee “MC the DJ” along with some other in the works projects.

How can fans-to-be gain access to your music?

IG @Mikeceezy FB @therealMikeCee YT @mikeceezy and @therealmcthedj

Pictured to the right with friend and vocal coach, Romeo Johnson.

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Harmony Rose

+ The Milk Blossoms

When did you first get into music?

I’ve always loved to sing, and did so in different choirs growing up. I played in a few bands after high school and one project in particular called Moonlings introduced me to everything. I had to break out of my shell just to rehearse, but I was working with someone who treated me like I was right on his level, and taught me about nuance and experimenting. I didn’t start writing tenaciously until my longtime friend, Michelle Rocqet became a roommate in my house.

Soon after, we started The Milk Blossoms together.

Who or What inspired you to pursue a career in music?

That’s a good question, it’s probably a mix of records I heard, live shows I saw, the sheer, electric interest in the whole process. I love to write songs, I don’t know if the pursuing aspect was always there but more of a recent-within the last five years feeling. I credit any hope for anything I do in my family, friends and choir teachers.

How would you describe the music that you create?

I would say it’s some kind of pop music!

How has your music evolved since you first began playing music?

I used to experiment with what instrument I was playing a song on a lot more than I do now. Now I mostly stick to the ukulele, but I’m open to moving things around again.

I think a certain sound has formed organically between the three of us once we settled in our roles of uke, beatboxing and keys. Coming into oneself more over a span of a decade lends to the evolution of the music too as its grown with us in a way.

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Photo Credits: Top - @ktlangleyphotography, Bottom Right - Jenna Moll Reyes

If you were forced to choose only one, which emotion, more than any other drives you to stay in this tough business? Is it joy, anger, desire, passion or pride and why?

I’d say joy and the root of that joy hasn’t gone away in any facet. Even in the parts that overwhelm me or are too bright to see through.

Which ingredient do you think makes you special and unique as performing artist in a genre overflowing with new faces and ideas?

It may be the particular instrumentation of The Milk Blossoms but more so I hope the audience can feel that we’re operating as a unit with connected thoughts. I think we like to pour over the details until we’re certain the set is comfortable to really move around and release ourselves in.

What has been your biggest challenge as a musician/singer-songwriter? Have you been able to overcome that challenge? If so, how?

Having confidence wasn’t always readily available, only in the funny sense that I have always needed to create something and then show people. But I think in all the time, energy and hours put in to playing, that shyness has drifted somewhere else. Technically speaking, the recording process can be more challenging for me than writing or performing. I don’t think we played to a click for our last record, and while this way makes sense to me, I know there’s a world of opportunity on the side where the song is constructed like a puzzle.

A common phrase in the industry is, “you must suffer for your art”. Do you agree with this statement? If so, how have you suffered for your art?

All I can think about is how the only way to make art is to make it out of the life we live or what we perceive it to be.

Inside and outside the industry, everyone is suffering. I guess I would say that we all suffer, and if you make art out of it, then I think you made a good choice to channel those emotions into something that might relate to another person’s suffering. Or if its not shared, at least it was put into some kind of focus, which is healing.

How do you feel the Internet has impacted the music business?

While its brought music to broader reach with streaming, it has also shown a more authentic voice from the artist. In the past, I think you could only gather your notions about an artist by what they produced, or what you saw live, and with social media, there’s a different kind of closeness that can be absorbed. Sometimes I’m fascinated by it, other times I have to take a break from seeing too far in to the personal lives of the musicians I love, and only want to consume their work.

If you could change anything about the music industry, what would it be?

I want to see more women everywhere; on the bills, as producers, as booking agents, etc.

Photo Credis: Bottom Left - Chris Politzki Bottom Right - Shon Cobbs with Behind The Scene Podcast

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If you could change anything about the music industry, what would it be?

I want to see more women everywhere; on the bills, as producers, as booking agents, etc.

What are the 5 albums that have helped make you the person you are today and why?

That’s a big question! I’ll start with Etta James’ At Last as that was the first record I learned every lyric to and loved singing along with over and over. She’s fearless in every part she delivers and it’s inspiring to hear that much control.

Another would be Ezra Furman & The Harpoons - Mysterious Power. It struck me when it first came out and I wasn’t in a good place with housing or my mental health at the time, and so every song resonated. Furman has put out several searing records since, but this one is the most familiar front to back with these profound deductions that teeter on both urgency and hope. Another one would be the Yeah Yeah Yeah’s- Fever to Tell as I heard it first during high school where everything feels like both rage and playfulness. Karen O! She made me feel I could be something other than a flower, like maybe an entire field. Another is Bright Eyes- I’m Wide Awake and Its Morning, a record that feels like a friend. I probably pushed my own writing to a closer-to-home place because of it. I have about fifty more records to include but I know I can’t, so I’ll say Beyonce’s- Lemonade.This record is a real true gift if someone has broken your heart like that.

Tell us about your current project.

The Milk Blossoms is an experimental pop band comprised of myself, Michelle Rocqet on vocals/beat boxing and Blair Larson on keys. We’re currently writing our third record, and taking this time to participate in live-streams and release music videos that we’ve been working on at home.

How can fans-to-be gain access to your music?

Spotify, Bandcamp, Apple Music, Soundcloud, or at themilkblossoms.com. You can find us on all social media @themilkblossoms. In Denver, you can find us at Twist and Shout Records!

Photo Credit: Top - Chris Politzki

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www.rsvpcigars.com

Steve Arrington

+ Funk Group, SLAVE

What age was you when you got started singing?

Wow, I was never a singer coming up. As a young boy, I for fun I’d mimic instrumental solos like, Jimi Hendrix guitar solos and John Coltrane solos. After high school, I toured with a lounge band for a while as the drummer, but did some singing on things like “Tie A Yellow Ribbon Round The Old Oak Tree” and “Bad Bad Leroy Brown”, but I was a drummer. When Slave hired me to play drums, which I played on all the records, they also asked me if could I sing. I began with some background vocals, then they asked me to do a lead vocal on “Coming Soon”. On the next album, we needed a lead vocal, on what was to become “Just A Touch Of Love”, so we were each taking turns and trying to come up with lyrics. I guess through mimicking instrumental solos and everything, I had developed a style, even though I didn’t realize it. So, when I started to sing, they thought, hey man, what you doing is different. The next thing I knew, I ended up being the lead vocalist and I knew had to start taking singing seriously. I never saw that coming. I guess, I’ve been singing all along from when I was a kid, but never had aspirations to be a singer.

Who are some of your mentors?

Well, as a young head coming up, I have to go with my brothers, Gary and Victor (8 and 7 years older), both loved diverse styles of music and were always bringing home new music. I remember Gary and I would play a game, where he would take 45’s, put them up under a sheet, pick one out without looking, put it on and we’d see who knew the most lyrics of the song that played. Victor had his own band and I played percussion in it. When I graduated from high school, I played and toured with a lounge band, lead by Clifford Murphy, who was a really good band leader and mentor.

Then, I went to California, where I met and started playing with Coke Escovedo, who really took me under his wing and taught me a lot. I lived with Coke and it was through Him, that I started to play with Pete and Sheila Escovedo, who went on to be Sheila E, as well as, Carlos Santana. As a 19-21 year old, Coke Escovedo was very important to my development.

Has anyone in the music industry given you particularly good advice?

Yes, Coke Escovedo told me once, playing the notes is one thing, but you have to understand the language of the notes, the feeling behind the notes and the intention behind the notes, in whatever genre you’re playing.

Do you draw much inspiration from your personal experiences for your songwriting?

There are certain particular incidents that have sparked some songwriting, but mostly, it’s more about a particular mood that I’m currently in or was in, in the past, that I tap into for songwriting. Plus, there is inspiration from things going in the culture, as well.

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Did you feel a creative freedom, as an independent artist, while recording your music?

Yes. I’m influenced by so much music and so many styles of music. As an independent artist, I’m able to tap into more of all those styles for writing and arranging and bring more of what I am to the table.

Although, when doing records with Slave and Stevie Arrington’s Hall of Fame, I had a lot of room to do what I wanted, to tap into what I was learning, and figure out how to tap in to all my gifts and talents, based on where I was at the time and within the framework of the band. Being a solo artist on Atlantic with my albums, Dancing In The Key and Jammin National Anthem, I had more creative freedom, but you’re still within the constraints of a big system.

In 2014, with ‘’Way Out 80-84”, I took the opportunity to look back at my career, at things in the vaults, at things that I liked, but at the time, there wasn’t enough room for on the record, at album cuts or things that just weren’t finished.

Now, as an independent artist, I was able to use what I wanted and to finish things from the vaults that I liked and put them out.

In 1986, you received the NAACP Image Award. What type of award is that?

I was nominated for an award, but Luther actually won the category that year. I was a presenter at that year. The NAACP Image Awards honor outstanding performances in music, film, literature, TV, that they feel have a strong impact upon the culture. I was nominated particularly for “Dancing In The Key Of Life”, while I did not win, I was excited to be nominated alongside Luther, Al Jarreau, and Jeffrey Osborne.

Name some of the songs you sang and wrote?

I’ll just pick a couple from different stages of my career. I’ll say “Just A Touch Of Love” and “Watching You” from the Slave era. I’ll say “Nobody Can Be You But You” and “Weak At The Knees” from Steve Arrington’s Hall of Fame. From the solo Atlantic era, I’ll say “Dancing In The Key Of Life” and “Feel So Real”. Then there is “Holla” and “I’m On Fire” from Pure Thang, when I first reemerged. And in the underground era “I Be Trippin” and “I Be Goin Hard” and from my new record coming out I’m gonna say, “The Joys Of Love” and “Soulful”. But there are so many more in all the different stages of my career.

In addition to touring, have you teaming up with young producers for a new album on Stones Throw Record, and when will it be released?

For my new record with Stones Throw, I’m working with young producers, Mndsgn, Knxwledge, Shibo, Jerry Paper, Rejoicer, Benedek and J-Roc, which should be release around September.

I’ve also been doing collabs with George Clinton, Christian Rich and most recently, Thundercat and DJ Cassidy.

With your career moving forward, how does it feel to be a solo artist I’m in heavy appreciation mode. I’m able to continue to grow and do what I love. I love the freedom of being a solo artist, as well as, love the gathering of creative people, whether that’s part of a band or doing a collab. Of course, being solo, there’s less accommodating other peoples‘ ideas, so I have more creative control over the perspective and the direction I want my music to go, but, I love it all.

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In September 2010, Stones Throw Records how did that come about?

After being off the music scene for nearly 25 years, I put up a vocal loop on my website, called “The Invade Has Arrived” and then put out Pure Thang in October 2009. A couple months later, Dam Funk contacted me through social media and then called me, saying he’d love to do a collab. So, I listened to his music and thought, OK that’s a cool idea. When we spoke again, Peanut Butter Wolf was on the phone, as well, and we planned for a 12 inch single, which turned into a three song EP, which turned into six track and then nine tracks. At that point, it was like, Hey man, do you wanna be a part of the Stones Throw family? I said “Yeah” and signed with Stones Throw.

When did you join the funk group, SLAVE? How long were you the lead singer?

I joined Slave on my 21st birthday and that was a wonderful time. My first lead vocal with Slave, was on The Concept album (1978), a song called “Coming Soon”, in a bridge section. But, it was the next album, the Just A Touch Of Love album (1979) where it really happened. So, I was the primary vocalist of Slave between 79 and 82.

What are some of the most memorable times being with such a legendary group?

Joining the group on my 21st birthday. Doing Soul Train, Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert and all the studio time making the records.

How was it being the lead singer to the legendary group called Slave?

A lot of hard work, that was a lot of fun. It was a tremendous learning experience, as it was, the first time I stepped out from behind the drums. The first time I was the front man. I never saw the whole lead vocal, front man thing coming.

Do you still stay in contact with some of the members?

Yes, we talk quite a bit.

Singing on the hit singles “Just a Touch of Love”, “Watching You” (which has been sampled by Snoop Dogg) and “Wait for Me”. How did you feel about that?

Well, I all about sampling. Younger people have the opportunity to discover your music, as they hear the songs and want to know where the sample came from, plus you get paid. It was cool to hear how Snoop Dogg used the Slave track, “Watching You” and how Ice Cube and NWA, JayZ, and Jermaine Dupri used “Weak At The Knees”. There‘s also, Brand Nubian’s using “Nobody Can Be You But You” and Tribe Called Quest used “Beddie Bye” on the Chase Part 2. I loved it! I’ve always been connected with hip-hop. As a matter fact, when Three Times Dope, did a remake of “Weak At The Knees”, they did it as a rap and I did a feature on it. So yeah, I love how hip-hop has used the music and like I said, it introduces my music to a younger generation.

In 1991, Mr. Arrington at the height of your career you joined the church may I ask why?

Spirituality has always been a part of my life and I’ve been an artist, that did what was in my heart, which is why my music has gone through different phases. So, when, I felt it was time to make my spirituality the primary focus, I retired from secular music and fully engaged myself in my spiritual journey and the church. During that time, I pastored, but I was still playing drums, leading praise and worship at different churches and writing recording music...all of which, I enjoyed. Then, after nearly 25 years, I got this feeling that it was time to return to the secular music scene and spread the love. I have enjoyed all the nuances and turns my career has taken. I always follow my heart and for me that keeps things fresh and electric.

Leslie Arrington Personal Manager / Road Manager SteveArringtonMusic.com 937-206-1960 Leslie.SteveArringtonMusic@gmail.com facebook.com/SteveArringtonMusic youtube.com/SteveArringtonMusic twitter.com/Steve_Arrington Instagram: steve_arrington SKYPE name: leslie.stevearringtonmusic

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Kerry Pastine + The Crime Scene

When did you first get into music? Who or What inspired you to pursue a career in music?

I started singing in front of a crowd in church when I was in my teens, but I was first inspired by music at 5 years of age, while watching old Hollywood movies featuring big bands with a singer. I knew instantly that I’d found my calling and I ran into the kitchen to tell my mom and she said, “Oh honey, they don’t do that anymore”. My blood boiled but still the music became my fixation. During the same time, I’d sneak down to both of my sister’s room and secretly play their records while they were in high school. That’s when I first heard Bowie and Harry Neilsen. After that, I was reaching for available instruments, trying lessons, but if I didn’t have access, I had my voice. I also think that because singing was mine, I could control it without being controlled. No renting music gear, no yelling father, no mean teacher, no religious rules around what I could sing, just me and my voice. I always had that. So I sang for years, but I didn’t actually get into full time performing until my early 30’s and honestly, I was afraid that it was too late. Ha! I guess I showed me.

How would you describe the music that you create?

I think being inspired by movies and film, my ideas always feel very cinematic. Whether it’s a black and white noir film in a dark alley with a dim lamp post, a spaghetti western with howling winds and swinging saloon doors, or an edgy Tarantino film, I can see myself in the picture and in the song. I portray myself as a character with emotional highs and lows, moving through the story. Of course, they’re my tragedies and victories but with style. Sounds are also visual for me. I like a greasy sound with a low rumble because it portrays darker emotion. I like a light and airy bossa nova because it lifts the mood. This is why you hear blues, swing, surf, rock and roll and gogo in my stuff. It’s also reminiscent of the past because that’s the style of music I love.

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How has your music evolved since you first began playing music?

Oh, undoubtedly, in many ways. We crawl, we walk, we run. Being on stage for nearly 30 years will make you so good they can’t

Photo Credits: George L. Blosser

ignore you. The key is to never stop the creative process and keep going on some level. I feel like I’ve got the vocal chords of a long distance runner’s thighs, lol! I’m a better song writer, vocalist and deliverer of the music. I’ve recently picked up the guitar again since the quarantine because I’m not booking. Over the last 15 years Paul and I have evolved together. Paul has his guitar on him all the time and he’s constantly pushing himself. He’s been taking jazz guitar lessons for about 6 years now and it has enriched our sound and taken it to a whole new level which then allows me to write and sing differently.

If you were forced to choose only one, which emotion, more than any other drives you to stay in this tough business? Is it joy, anger, desire, passion or pride and why?

Wow, that’s going for the jugular! Being a Gemini, I may have two or twelve driving emotions, but I would say passion because this well-spring of creativity never stops for me even through all of the obstacles, let downs and pain.

If the industry gets to be too much for me, I pivot to painting or some other type of creativity. It soothes the soul and keeps the channel open revealing more of that passion. I told myself a long time ago that on the other side of fear is everything I want to feel and once I started saying yes to music, all of the other creative passions came up.

Which ingredient do you think makes you special and unique as a performing artist in an industry overflowing with new faces and ideas?

I don’t follow trends and I march to the beat of my own drum. I love fashion and I know what works for me because I put effort into it. I look to what inspires me which takes some digging into the past. Give me a day in the closet of Vivienne Westwood, Grace Jones, Marlene Deitrich and a Hollywood set from the 60s and I’d be in heaven! I’ve tried so many things and looks throughout my career that when I look at young people, I’m bored and uninspired. I have a fight in me, an edge and a look and that combination delivers a blow on stage. I always look like I should be on stage.

What has been your biggest challenge as a musician/ singer-songwriter? Have you been able to overcome that challenge? If so, how?

My biggest challenge is my own expectations of how quickly I should know things. That perfectionism is hard to live with, and yet, I need the challenge. My brain decides instantly what things should look and sound like and then I start cracking the whip on myself. I have to enjoy the process which means I need to step away, do something else and come back to it with more to offer. That always helps.

Right now I’m reading Zen Guitar which allows me to just show up to the Dojo and trust that I’ll learn by being there without judgment and pressure.

A common phrase in the industry is, “you must suffer for your art”. Do you agree with this statement? If so, how have you suffered for your art?

Well, I think what the industry is saying is “you must sacrifice what you need to be a normal functioning, creative, Photo Credits: Top Right + Left - sbwphotography

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happy soul...for your art” which is highly manipulative, based on their greed and need to exploit artists in order to make money off of them. Artists and all creatives are highly sensitive beings who tend to feel all the time which is why people love the arts. Artists channel emotion into beauty and for the artist, this can be exhausting, depleting and time consuming and artists must refuel and renew the mind, body and spirit to continue creating and the industry does not allow for that. I have come off of tour feeling like a meteor that crashed. Exhaustion turns into depression and coming off of a high means coming down hard and it’s taken me weeks to recover. I have written some amazing songs during the dark night of the soul, but that’s no way to live and that lifestyle can kill a person.

How do you feel the Internet has impacted the music business?

The Internet is both empowering and overwhelming for an artist. It has given exposure to millions, giving many their big break, and has truly encouraged other musicians to create and put themselves out there. I love it. I really love You Tube because it helps me connect with the musician on an intimate level and gives me a music video format to connect with my fans. Of course, it also has negatives, mostly that it takes money and time to create content which most musicians do not have. If you want a presence on the internet, you end up having to hire a social media person and a publicist which costs money. For younger musicians, I’m seeing that social media is almost like a second language and they can adapt quickly, but that is still a lot of work on the musician’s part. For me, I’m really loving Instagram and Facebook live. The audio and video quality is there and the content can be watched over and over. I could go on and please feel free to edit this portion of the interview, lol.

If you could change anything about the music industry, what would it be?

Well, you’ve probable gleened some of my opinions about the industry. I mean, after all it is a business, and business can be greedy and ugly. I also feel the industry is exploitive and doesn’t care about the musicians, only the music.

They’ve seemed to have overlooked the fact that there is a person behind that song. I just read a sad article about an artist yesterday in Rolling Stone magazine and the fall out during this pandemic. It’s no different than it’s ever been: work the artist to death or at least until they’re sick or addicted and if they can’t produce money by putting butts in seats, then you fade away. That’s not really different from a lot of other business except that the average musician doesn’t have health insurance, they book their own gigs, buy their own gear, market themselves and their shows and figure out how to pay the bills.

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Photo Credits: Top - @lvsfotographie There’s another aspect of the industry that I would like to change. I have started a coalition that has become 200 strong, called SHE E.O. (She Entertainment Organization). We are an all-womxn coalition of music industry professionals. We are singers, song-writers, instrumentalists, producers, talent-buyers, venue owners, press and hired guns.

We stand in support for each other, for equal rights for femme folx of all varieties, equal pay, and equal play. And we love doing business with each other!! Working together will change how we’re treated in the music industry. We teach people how to treat us by the way we treat ourselves and we have a wonderful network for sharing and support. https://www.facebook.com/groups/1020884634775839/?ref=bookmarks What are the 5 albums that have helped make you the person you are today and why?

Great question and a tough one because I’m a song person and not really an album person. I did love to sit with an album as a kid and read it back and forth. Joni Mitchell’s “Miles of Aisles” was given to me on my 12th birthday by my brother. I played it constantly for years because her lyrics taught me more about life than my own parents ever taught me during my teen years. They weren’t available to me but music was and I was into every type; punk, rock, pop, British invasion, R & B, soul, vintage and current stuff. I loved Pat Benatar - first concert at 18! She was young and gutsy and could sing opera as well as belt it, so her note choices really resonated with me. The Patsy Cline Story was another favorite album. How could a vocalist deliver such pain and heartache with such beauty that you couldn’t stop wanting to be sad? I like quirky and kitschy stuff, so Barney Kessel’s Bossa Nova has been worn out. I have danced to that record for 15 years and I am that on stage. And I’d say lastly, Amy Winehouse’s “Back to Black” hit me like a ton of bricks. She brought Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan and Billy Holiday back to life in the coolest, gritiest way possible.

She gave me permission to stay right where I was and do my music on my terms. RIP Amy. Tell us about your current project.

Our current project has come about from being quarantined during the pandemic. I’ve always wanted to do an EP of covers so this gave me a chance to think about what I would want to cover. Our band loves the television series Peaky Blinders and Mad Men so we came up with the idea of covering a song from our favorite shows, calling the EP “Crime Scene Undercover: The Quarantino Sessions. The first song we covered was Nick Cave’s “Red Right Hand” from Peaky Blinders. The second song is from Mad Men, called “Zou Bisou”, a little French number from 1962 where I spent a couple of weeks learning how to pronounce the French lyrics. Our drummer played the vibraphone and we came up with a killer version. Now we’re doing a home video for that song that is looking super kitschy like an old 60’s movie. Think of the party scene in Breakfast at Tiffany’s. We’re working on number 3, but it’s a secret.

What’s next for you?

I have no idea. We lost about 50 shows, some of our best yet. We were going to share the stage with John Prine, RIP. I’ve let go of what is coming and am staying present and observant. I’m staying creative, playing the guitar and finding ways to stay connected with my band mates who are all healthy. That is more than enough for me.

How can fans-to-be gain access to your music?

Here are most of our links. Our website offers a newsletter sign up which is a nice way to stay close and keep everyone informed.

-- CrimeSceneBand.com -YOUTUBE | FACEBOOK | SOUNDCLOUD | SPOTIFY | INSTAGRAM | BANDCAMP

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Howard Bloom

Einstein, Michael Jackson + Me Like a raging tsunami or a free spirit with a wild heart, author, scientist, former superstar music publicist Howard Bloom is an anomaly in many different realms. Most recently Bloom has released his newest book, “Einstein, Michael Jackson & Me: A Search for Soul in the Power Pits of Rock and Roll.”

Bloom has been called “next in a lineage of seminal thinkers that includes Newton, Darwin, Einstein, and Freud” by Britain’s channel 4 TV. He is often referred to as “the greatest press agent that rock and roll has ever known.” He founded the biggest PR firm in the music industry representing artists including Prince, Bob Marley, Peter Gabriel, Billy Joel, Aerosmith, Queen, Run DMC, ZZ Top, Billy Joel, Billy Idol, Joan Jett, Michael Jackson and over a hundred more, while he pursued something strange. He says he was “on a hunt for the gods inside of you and me.”

We had a remarkable and insightful conversation regarding his book, unveiled on April 15, 2020. You could learn more from Howard Bloom in one brief hour than in your entire career. Speaking like a mad profit or dazzling scientist Bloom’s description of his book, his career and his philosophies evoked deep emotion. Like an array of fireworks exploding in the night sky and shattering the darkness, Bloom is a modern day visionary.....

Your newest book, “Einstein, Michael Jackson and Me: A Search for Soul in the Power Pits of Rock and Roll” has just come out. What have the responses been?

Here are some of the quotes about the book: “It is amazing. The writing is revelatory. Isn’t the out-of-body experience man’s search for enlightenment? Call me Howard, I’d like to have a seven-hour conversation with you.” Freddy DeMann. That was from the manager of Michael Jackson, Madonna, and producer of 22 award winning Broadway plays, including a play that received a Pulitzer.

“The author is Howard Bloom for whom great writer is an understatement. Howard is an outstanding, insanely skilled writer uniquely able to make words come alive creating word pictures that remain imprinted in the mind and the heart. I only wish I could write half as well or one tenth. The book is a page turner even for people who are music non-lovers like me.” -Giulio Prisco. This was the author of “Tales of the Turning Church.”

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“It’s a fantastic tale. The publicist’s eye look at rock ‘n’ roll. This might be the darndest thing about the entertainment industry ever written.” -Carl F. Gauze from the magazine Ink 19

This one is very important: “Before picking up “Einstein, Michael Jackson and Me”, I thought of Michael Jackson as a plastic surgery addict, superstar, pedophile who’s done some awfully catchy songs. By the time I reached the end I was grieving with tears in my eyes. The tragic crucifixion of a wondrous luminous soul.” -Helen Zuman author of “Mating in Captivity.”

Here’s what Bloom himself has to say about the hero’s journey that brought him to a field he knew nothing about, rock and roll. The quest behind what he calls his “Voyage of the Beagle into the Galapagos Islands of popular culture.”

Helen Zuman’s radical re-perception of Michael Jackson t is a goal I’ve needed to achieve ever since I worked with Michael in 1983 and 1984. I’ve wanted to redeem him. I’ve wanted people to accurately see who he was, because he was the closest to a saint or an angel I have ever met on this earth. I am an atheist, but he was a human beyond the bounds of anything that we normally conceive as humanity.

Here’s another reason Michael was crucially important to me. Once upon a time there was a problem. In 1954 all of the physiologists said you could never run a mile faster than four minutes. A guy name Roger Bannister was an Oxford medical student and he and another medical student got together and analyzed every single move that Bannister made and they figured out how to get rid of the energy wasting moves and take advantage of every bit of energy he had. Bannister trained himself, and then he ran a mile in less than four minutes. If you look up the four-minute mile today it will tell you that, in Wikipedia’s words, the four-minute mile is now “the standard of all male professional middle distance runners.” So, what was impossible in 1954 became ordinary today. Michael Jackson had a quality of awe, wonder, surprise and commitment to his kids and fans that went beyond anything you will ever see in your lifetime. If people come to understand it, it will set a new standard, just as Roger Bannister set a new standard and it will expand the perceptual envelope of humanity. I felt the obligation to get across what Michael was and it’s in this book.

Michael was an amazing human being. He was a gift to all of us. He spent 50 years on this earth. For the first 25 years he was becoming Michael Jackson. For the second 25 years of his life he was dangling on a cross in pain And that should never, ever have happened to him. He deserved far, far better than that.

Eileen Shapiro: I have a friend named Rickey Rebel who visited him often and said the same thing you are saying.

I’ve always felt a kind of sadness for him.

One of the sentences in Einstein, Michael Jackson & Me says that If you love Michael Jackson then you understood him better than any of the critics who ever wrote about him, and you may even have understood him better than the people who he put to work around him. I always had this feeling that I was the only one who understood Michael Jackson. My rational brain said “no that can’t possibly be true.” Michael surrounded himself with some very talented people, David Geffen, Quincy Jones, and many others. I spoke last week to the Michael Jackson book club and it was on Zoom and it went all over the world. Michael Jackson fans follow Michael obsessively. They know every single character in his life. They said to me “you are the first one to really understand Michael Jackson, and we thank you for redeeming him.” That’s my fucking job on this planet. To watch out for the human species and all species as much as I possibly can as an individual. So, Michael was a mission that I had to fulfill.

How are you spending your lock-down time?

I’m able to advance my work right now. I’m putting together David Paterson, the former Governor of New York State, with Newt Gingrich. Can you believe that? I run a little team that organized to advance a 2 billion dollar moon program, otherwise known as the “2 Billion Dollar Moon Prize.” On August 31st, as I was having a honeymoon with the love of my life, our two billion dollar moon program hit Time Magazine, Newsweek, CBS, NBC, FOX, Politico, and more. The team involves a 3 star general and Newt Gingrich, and a former congressman named Robert Walker.

All of these people are Republicans. I was wondering how we could get our message to Democrats. I am a Democrat and a liberal. I tried to rouse interest in space in Ron Kim who is in the New York State Assembly and I didn’t get as far as I would have liked. Then David Paterson called me one day when I was out on one of my two daily walks in Prospect Park, walks I use as work time, listening to books on kindle and having phone meetings. David and I had been on a radio talk show together.

He had bowled me over with his knowledge and his insights. When he got me on my cellphone, he explained that he had been hearing me on Coast to Coast, the highest-rated syndicated overnight talk radio show in North America, for years. So David Paterson is a fan of

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mine. Do you believe this, the former Governor is calling you while you’re walking through the greenery of Prospect Park? And he’s a fan? I told David about one of the space programs I’ve worked on for over fifteen years with partners like Buzz Aldrin and the eleventh president of India, and how it could be the Green New Deal. It’s harvesting solar power in space and transmitting it to earth using the kind of harmless microwaves that your cell phone uses. With solar power harvested in space, we could totally end man-made carbon emissions, We could totally end the use of fossil fuels for energy production. And, according to my late partner in this, Dr. APJ Kalam, the eleventh president of India, we could lift 2 billion people out of poverty. David got excited about space solar power. I told him that the only way I could think of following up with it with him was to bring him into our Moon Prize team which includes Newt Gingrich. David got excited about this because like me he wants to make effective things happen. And to do it, he sees the necessity of working across the aisle. So that’s the kind of thing I’m doing in my spare time, along with promoting Einstein, Michael Jackson & Me: a Search for Soul in the Power Pits of Rock & Roll.. Then I have to write my next 2 books. So that’s my life. “Einstein, Michael Jackson and Me” is the story of my rock ‘n’ roll adventures and includes the stories of how I learned in the most powerful way imaginable just who Michael Jackson really was. To show how I got into the business of hunting for the gods inside of superstars, let’s go back to the beginning. When I was 10 years old nobody in my home town—Buffalo, New York--wanted to have anything to do with me. The other kids chased me around the block, they took my hat off my head and threw it back-and-forth to humiliate me, and then in one case they actually beat me up. My parents were not excited about me. When I was born my father had just been drafted and was at the Treasure Island naval base in San Francisco. My mom had to take care of the family store. So for the first three years of my life, I had no parents and no friends. When my dad got back from the navy and my mom no longer had to take care of the store, my parents continued to be obsessed with the stuff that interested them and did not seem to get the least bit of joy out of me. Then when I was ten, a book appeared in my lap that I had never seen before. It said the first two rules of science are these: “The truth at any price including the price of your life”, and gave the example of Galileo. It said Galileo would’ve been willing to go to the state to defend his truth. It took me 30 years to discover that that wasn’t true. Galileo compromised with his old friend the Pope and said everything that he had ever written was wrong in exchange for house arrest.

But I didn’t know that and the wrong story about Galileo, the heroic story, would be extremely important to me. Rule number two of science, according to the book, is “look at things right under your nose as if you’ve never seen them before and then proceed from there.” Look at the things that everybody around you takes for granted and that are invisible to you and bring them into visibility. The book gave the example of Anton van Leeuwenhoek who was considered the Father of Microbiology. He invented the microscope and discovered paramecia and all kinds of tiny microscopic animals. Van Leeuwenhoek became my second hero. These two people couldn’t do what my mother and father and all the kids in school had done.....they couldn’t reject me.

They couldn’t turn their backs on me because they were dead.

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So you chose dead heroes?

They became my pals. Those two rules of science became my absolute laws of life. My religion. When I met Michael Jackson I didn’t expect anything special. But Michael Jackson was those two laws incarnate. It was absolutely astonishing. So, in Einstein, Michael Jackson & Me, those two laws of science play a crucial role. Einstein, Michael Jackson & Me: a Search for Soul in the Power Pits of Rock & Roll. role is the story of a quest, a safari, a scientific expedition.

What am I hunting down? The most seemingly unscientific thing of all: the ecstatic experience. When I was 12 years old, I realized I was an atheist. I didn’t admit to being an atheist until after my bar mitzvah because I didn’t want to lose out on the presents. Then I spent two months writing thank you cards to all the people that had given me gifts. My bar mitzvah was in June and by the time I finished writing all those thank you cards it was August. And guess what comes after August? The Jewish high holidays. My parents were not observant, They only went to temple when there was a wedding or a bar mitzvah. But the high holidays were of profound importance to them. So, they got me into a suit, I don’t know how because I hate suits. They got me into their blue, four-door Fraser automobile. They got me all the way to Richmond Avenue in Buffalo New York which was where the synagogue was. Then I refused to leave the car. So, there I was hanging onto the door frame of the car with my two hands and my parents were literally tugging at my ankles trying to drag me out of the car. And I had a revelation. I’m an atheist, so there are no gods under the earth and there are no gods in the sky, But there are gods in this scene. Where are the Gods? They are in the intense passion of my parents as they try to drag me out of their car. And if they are in my parents, then they are in me.

Look, Galileo’s triumph came from taking a new device with lenses that had been invented to see an enemy army coming up over the horizon. His big move was to take that device designed for horizontal viewing and to aim it in a radically different direction-- towards the sky. Thus turning the military spy glass into a telescope. And Anton van Leeuwenhoek’s breakthrough had come from taking a lens he used to check the weave of the fabric he sold as a draper and turning that lens in a new direction, down. Down to look at pond water and at human sperm. My obligation I realized in that struggle with my parents was to turn the lens inwards and try to find the gods inside. The ecstatic experiences that are possible to humanity. That became my job. Many years later, I would discover the lands where the gods were.

Where?

In Rock and Roll. In popular music. In people like John Mellencamp. Like Prince. Like Bob Marley. Like Joan Jett. Like Billy Idol. It was an amazing voyage for a guy with an analytic mind who was intent on using science to find the gods inside of us, the ecstatic experience, the soul that moves us in ways that we can’t define. Einstein, Michael Jackson & Me is all stories. The way I write, if I want to get a concept across to you, I have to find a story that embodies that concept. By the time you’re finished reading the story you will understand the idea I’m talking about.

You mentioned Chris Blackwell, the founder of Island Records and how he went to England and sold reggae out of the back of his Cooper. From him you were introduced to Bob Marley?

Chris came to me with a problem regarding his biggest client, Bob Marley. He said, “Bob has a problem. He can sell out 120,000-seat soccer stadiums anywhere in the world, anytime he wants, but in New York City, in the United States in general he can sell at most 30,000 tickets. Can you help us expand his audience?” I told him that Bob’s problem was two-fold. First of all, his original publicists had done an incredible job of selling Bob to white college kids. That was his audience in North America. But his natural audience was the African-American community. And here, there was a problem. Bob was an Island black and Island blacks and African-Americans do not get along.

Right.

I felt that I could cross him over to African-Americans, thus expanding his audience.

You worked with Percy Sutton and the leading black magazines?

I suggested that instead of Madison Square Garden Bob Marley play the Beacon Theater which holds 3000 people. We had a big enough audience to sell it out for ten nights. That is a history making event. We had the luxury of selling the Beacon Theater out for 10 nights and leaving people hungry. You always have to leave people hungry if you’re going to build an audience. You always need the word of mouth, you need people will spreading the word among their friends about how they were not able to get a Bob Marley ticket.

Similar to Pearl Jam today.

So that’s what we did. Everybody thought that was brilliant. Well, we were six months into our campaign with Bob Marley with the black community in the United States. I had become the leading black publicist in North America which is a little bit strange when you realize I’m a white boy from Buffalo, NY, and Jewish. I had hired a black publicist to work with me. At that time, I had a tiny little office with two desks. I put her on one desk and I was at the other and I watched everything that she did. I adopted every technique that she

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had. It all boiled down one trick. There were black weekly newspapers in every ma jor city in North America and nobody paid any attention to them in the music industry. So, I paid a lot of attention. We were six months into this and doing well, and then I got a call. “Bob has terminal cancer. He’s in Switzerland right now in a chalet near an alternative doctor. Nobody’s supposed to know he’s in Switzerland. And you have to know something else. Every morning Bob leaves his bedroom on the second-story of the chalet and goes down to breakfast. Around his breakfast plate he has newspapers from all over the world. If none of those newspapers say Bob Marley is dying from cancer. he eats his breakfast, goes out into the sunshine and he and his gang play soccer. But if Bob sees a single headline that says Bob Marley is dying of cancer, Bob doesn’t eat his breakfast, shoves back his chair, leaves the table, goes up to his bedroom and sits there with the light out all day long.”

That made it very obvious what my job was. My job was this: we are all born with a terminal illness. It’s called life. No matter what life you were given, it ends in death. So we have the choice of perceiving every day of our life as living or dying. My job was to make sure that Bob perceived every day as living. So that’s what we did for the next year. Then I got a call saying “Bob doesn’t need you anymore.” I weep even when I tell you this: it meant that Bob had given up. It meant that I was losing Bob. I was never close to Bob. We were not close at all, we didn’t understand each other. Yes, I spent time with him trying to understand him, but we literally didn’t speak the same language. He spoke Jamaican patois which I couldn’t understand. But look how close I became to him. Why? We didn’t talk. I simply tried to make sure he had every hour of living he could possibly get, and that those hours were as rich as they possibly could be. Yet we were so close that I can’t talk about it without crying. Years later Virgin Records signed Ziggy Marley. Virgin never worked with me, for reasons I’ve never figured out. But Rita Marley told Virgin they would have to hire the Marley family’s publicist. And who was that publicist? Me. Even though Rita and I had never even met. Yes, Rita regarded me as the family publicist. Einstein, Michael Jackson & Me: a Search for Soul in the Power Pits of Rock and Roll is filled with stories of this kind.

My job was to look for the gods inside of my clients. What does that mean? When you are a rock star and you sit down at two o’clock in the afternoon in front of a blank computer screen, and you’re supposed to write a lyric.....you know you can’t possibly write a lyric. You have no idea of how you have ever written any lyrics in your life. And on a good day, by 4 o’clock in the afternoon there is a lyric in front of you. Once or twice in your life that lyric is so perfect it feels like it wrote itself through you. My job was to find the soul inside of you, the god inside of you. The selves below the floorboards of the self that wrote those lyrics for you. When you go on stage and it’s a really good night and you see the faces of the audience melting, you see their pupils dilating, you see their eyes widening, focusing on you with all of their attention, you feel the energy of the audience coalescing into one big amoebic blob. That blob of energy reaches a pseudopod out to you, a tunnel, and channels its energy into you as if you were an empty pipe. That energy goes through you and reaches somewhere around your head, where it’s utterly transmogrified and then rushes through you back out to the audience, where it makes faces melt and eyes widen even farther. It’s a continuous feedback loop. And you have an out of body experience. Your normal identity is somewhere on the ceiling watching all of this happening. Watching you as you are danced like a marionette by a force that that is much, much bigger than you are. And when you leave the stage, it takes you an hour to come back to your normal self. My job is to find the gods inside of you that danced you on that stage. Look, music is not about exchanges pieces of plastic, it’s not about an exchange of downloads, it is not about an exchange of money. It is an exchange of human soul. My job is to find the gods inside of you so that you can offer your audience that exchange of soul.

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Andre Jackson

Emerging Hip Hop Artist

When did you first get into music?

When I was born!

What or who inspired you to pursue a career in music?

Hands-down, Stevie Wonder and Ray Charles. What inspired me to do music is, I was tired of hearing the same music over and over again.

How would you describe the music that you create?

I would describe my music soul touching and unique.

How has your music evolved since you first began playing music?

It’s evolved a lot more, I opened up and speak from my heart. When I first started music, I did not know how to just let my soul speak, but the more I got behind a microphone, the more I got comfortable with myself and my message.

If you were forced to choose only one, which emotion, more than any other drives you to stay in this tough business? Is it joy, anger, desire, passion or pride and why?

The emotion to keep going in this business is passion. Why, is that because if you are an artist and you don’t have passion to do music, you’re going to always be in the same box that you start in.

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Which ingredient do you think makes you special and unique as a performing artist in a genre overflowing with new faces and ideas?

What ingredient makes me different as an artist to other artists? I would say i’m something different for the masses to hear and to relate to and I can do all types of music not just hip-hop. I think that makes me different because a lot of artists today can only do certain type of music.

What has been your biggest challenge as a performing artist/singer-songwriter? Have you been able to overcome that challenge? If so, how?

I would say my biggest challenge is getting people to accept my music. I’ve overcome this challenge by blocking out the doubters and just staying focused on my message and my fans who listen. Whoever does not, that’s their loss, they’re missing out on greatness.

A common phrase in the industry is, “you must suffer for your art”. Do you agree with this statement? If so, how have you suffered for your art?

I feel like as an artist, it’s alright to suffer, but it’s also great to advance. What I mean by that, is never forget where you came from, but don’t block your blessings on where you’re going.

How do you feel the Internet has impacted the music business?

The Internet has helped the music industry a lot. For example, I could make a track right now and post it from my phone. I use to not be able to do that.

If you could change anything about the music industry, what would it be?

If I could change anything about the music industry it would be the shady and evil things that happened behind-thescenes.

What are the 5 albums that have helped make you who you are today and why?

The five albums that made me who I am today is Stevie Wonder songs in the key of life, Journey through the secret life of plants by Stevie Wonder, Dream of A Lifetime by Marvin Gaye, Gold by Marvin Gaye and Motown unreleased 1965 by Marvin Gaye. Why those five albums, because they’re all individually unique and soulful. Thanks again for having me be a part of something special, means a lot.

Tell us about your current project?

I’m working on my first EP, the title of it is “From Then to Now”.

How can fans-to-be gain access to your music and follow you? https://soundcloud.com/user-279988698

Photo Credits: Joshua Randy Abeyta and Youth on Record Performing at Youth on Record’s Annual Block Party with Alex Motta (Bottom left photo). @youthonrecord // www.youthonrecord.org

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Eric Alper

Canada’s Leading Voice in Rock N’ Roll Media

Rising above the noise, Eric Alper is one of the leading voices in the media for Canadian music. After being involved with the music industry for the last 25 years, Alper hosts one of the most popular music talk shows on Channel 167 SiriusXM radio. He’s also a major music publicist who has worked with clients such as Bob Geldof, Judy Collins, Randy Bachman, Ringo Starr, Slash, The Wiggles, The Smashing Pumpkins, The Cult, Sinead O’Connor, Bush and countless others. As the Director of Media Relations and Label Relations for eOne Music Canada for 18 years, he has been named the Billboard Magazine, Paste Magazine, and The National Post’s best on social media with over a million followers.

You can hear Eric talk to the most illuminated rock celebrities and legends on @ThatEricAlper on Saturdays 12pm, 4pm and Sunday 6am, Noon, and 7pm EST across North America. It’s one of the most listened to shows on the network and after speaking to Eric, it is was easy to see why.

An avalanche of information with a true recognition for music artists, Eric spoke about his experiences with his clients and those in the music industry. He was candid, genuine and authentic. Aside from his knowledge, he displayed a heartfelt sensitivity and appreciation for those who have been in the music industry and have become icons and legends and still just love to play music.....Eric displayed an innocent yet excited enthusiasm for these artists and for music in general.

How did you first become interested in the music business and what made you stick with it for the past 25 years?

My grandfather has a bar in Toronto called “Grossman’s Tavern”, and it’s still standing. It started back in the late 1940’s and at the time it was one of the first bars in Canada to not just have live music but to mix alcohol with live music. Toronto thought that mixing those two would cause the entire city and country to go to hell. They were right. That to be what happened. I grew up with music in my life and not necessarily from anybody that could play an instrument, but seeing music as a way of being a large part of the community, and having part of the culture. My grandfather and all of his brothers and sisters worked at the bar. So, for them it was the idea that family could stay together and work

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together. It was in Toronto which is known around the world as a multicultural city. Part of that is because of the venues and places like “Grossman’s Tavern.” It’s where Rush used to play before they were big. Amanda Marshall, Rough Trade, a whole bunch of artists that were in the blues and jazz scene used to stop at “Grossman’s Tavern” on the way to their tours. For me, it’s where I got my first taste of music, my love of blues and folk music was at that bar. So, I knew I wanted to be in the music industry, but I also knew that I couldn’t play an instrument whatsoever, and I still can’t. I loved the stories that I would hear and read in Billboard Magazine when I was 12. I got a subscription to it for my birthday. That’s what I wanted. These people were my version of science fiction heroes.

They were people that I would have no chance of ever seeing or meeting. Also, people working behind the scenes, reading about them in Billboard...I had no idea of how anybody could ever enter this world. Of course, I found out I could get involved in music in my own city. Being in Toronto gave me the biggest city in Canada and the fourth biggest music market in North America. So, I went to university and worked at a radio station, started a PR company the day after I graduated and have not done anything in my life except for public relations in the music industry.

You’ve worked with an abundance of superstars. Who in your opinion, is the biggest celebrity you ever worked with?

I’ve worked with Ringo Starr. He was in a band called The Beatles that a couple of people might have heard about. They had a couple of albums and they did OK for themselves. I ended up working five albums for him including a couple of live albums and helped run a couple of worldwide press conferences for The Ringo Starr All-Star Band. So, he was great. Sinead O’Connor was amazing to deal with, although I was really terrified the night before working with her. Jerry Lee Lewis was somebody that I long admired and loved. Actually “Great Balls of Fire” was the first single I ever bought with my own money. Working his “Last Man Standing“ album and the live album that kind of brought him a little bit of a comeback was amazing. A lot of people that I grew up listening to, people like Kurt Smith from “Tears for Fears” and Joan Jett...they are artists that I still look at to this day thinking I can’t believe how many countless hours I’ve listened to them growing up. I feel so privileged to have been able to work with them.

From my own experience doing that, it’s the coolest thing ever.

Yeah. It’s wild. I’ve had it both ways where I was part of a worldwide chain with an artist and helped sell millions of albums around the world. That’s amazing because that stuff really shouldn’t happen.

The amount of people that have to do everything correctly all at the same time or when their time is called upon to make something a success, it’s amazing anything becomes a hit. There are so many things that can go wrong. And forget about the fact people have their own personal taste about music. But the best artists that I love working with are those whose best hits are a little bit behind us because they realize that they don’t really have 150 men around them or the world at their feet or the ability to have a warm can of Coke at their disposal whenever they ask for it. These are people who are still in it because they love the music. They love to still perform. Maybe they’re not playing for 30,000 people in a giant stadium, maybe they’re only playing to 800 people or 100 for the night or over the weekend, but those are the people I love to work with. They have amazing stories, but they’re so blessed to have people like you and I working on their team. Not like it’s an ego thing but I think they are just so thrilled having somebody who still believes in them. It kind of makes it a little bit more of a human experience then maybe being a part of 700 hundred people and you’re just another cog in the wheel.

I completely agree with you.

It’s fun too because as a publicist, you know we get to pitch people who are really cool. I work with at least a dozen

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artists who are fairly unknown. They’re just starting up. Maybe they don’t have 1 million streams on Spotify. Maybe they will get them maybe they won’t, but I will do my darndest to help them. But then there are also people who were maybe on their 10th album and have become legendary. The ability to work with journalists and people in the media and radio hosts, they get so enthused to talk with them. Maybe they never had a chance to talk to them when they were massive. But that level of acknowledgment and enthusiasm that the media has for these people makes me feel great too. Hey, this person is amazing. I get feedback saying that my artist was really great to talk to and you really feel so good. And you agree with them. Isn’t it amazing that these people are still around? We shouldn’t take these people for granted because having a music career is really tough. It’s almost like getting signed is really easy but keeping that record label is tough. The ability to be here 20 years later, I have a 25 year career, kudos to them for doing it.

I can’t even agree with you enough!

There are times as a publicist that you can get to change the perception of how people think about them. We’re not fooling anybody, I don’t want to lie. I don’t want to make the media an adversary or an enemy because they’re not.

But there comes a point in time where after you’ve been around for so long you kind of get a little bit more respect, and you should be deserving that just like anybody else. It’s not when you start to get the lifetime achievement award when you’re 80..... maybe if it starts when you get to this in your 40s and 50s, because that’s a really great time I think because the pressure is off. You as an artist are not expected to go around the world in record speed and I think that they love that.

You’ve already proven yourself.

Yeah. Absolutely.

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