news on various folks, not current clients

If you’re an independent artist with an album, send your CD to Chris Thelen,  WRLR-FM, P.O. Box 98, Round Lake, IL  60073 His e-mail is dailyvault@comcast.net. The station plays unsigned bands.

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Willy Porter’s opened for Jethro Tull here in the States and in Europe a few tours since I’ve worked with him.  He’s planning a tour for later this year; Paulette is his publicist at pm12@comcast.net    

Willy’s song “Valentine” was produced by Tull keyboardist Andrew Giddings.  This will be an exclusive single, not currently scheduled for Willy’s upcoming album.  Willy’s due a club tour early summer with Toad the Wet Sprocket, Glen Phillips and that’ll include dates in Arizona and Philadelphia.    

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I don’t like that Ian Anderson compares Clifford Meth to Beelzebub, although he also sees some Isaac Asimov and C. S. Lewis in his writing.  Clifford’s upcoming book of illustrated fiction stories is called METHo.d.. It was originally called MEAN LITTLE STORIES.

METHo.d. is illustrated fiction in the Byron Preiss WEIRD HEROES tradition. There's art by Steve Lieber, Al Milgrom, Jordan Raskin, Michael Netzer, Paty Cockrum, and Wm. Messner-Loebs. The Introduction is by Peter David, who opens with: "Clifford Meth knows things. Dark, dank, nasty things. Things that most others wouldn't care to admit they know..."  It's available from Aardwolf Publishing (www.aardwolfpublishing.com) signed/numbered.

http://www.cliffordmeth.com/

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Bill Kopecky played bass on Blue Marble’s album, FLYIN’.  The group features the killer twin-lead guitar attack of Jimmy and Johnny Ryan, who won the prestigious Chicago’s Fastest Fingers competition.  The 13 track disc finds them exploring world fusion (Arabic, Indian, Celtic, Americana) in addition to their trademark rock riffage.  The CD is instrumental except for one track, which is a smoking cover version of a Wishbone Ash classic.
Media should contact either the Ryan Brothers (www.ryanetics.com) or William Kopecky (www.williamkopecky.com).  


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Relevant stories from former clients....

Former politician and music writer Maria Armoudian is still involved with public service.  She is the Environmental Commissioner for the City of Los Angeles (boy, do they need her) and she has a new CD, called LIFE IN THE NEW WORLD.   She has a show Feb. 23 at the Tempest in West Hollywood, CA.  Connect her at either  www.armoudian.com or www.cdbaby.com/armoudian.

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I have a source if you’re interested in what peaceful Muslims say about some of the more fanatical Muslims who are rioting worldwide currently because of last September’s Prophet Mohammed cartoon in Denmark.

Artist Jesus Muhammad Ali, the grandson of Nation of Islam founder Elijah Muhammad, says there are different interpretations on whether the images of sacred religious leaders can be reproduced in art by Islamic people.  He also says that artists who are born with talent, should decide what they want to do with their art--whether it’s to slam another ideology or to offer solutions to make the world or at least their own neighborhood a better place.

Jesus, himself, has been scrutinized because he’s created portraits (based on photographs) of Islamic leaders--most notably his grandfather the late Elijah Muhammad, who founded the Nation of Islam in America.  He is also the author of the 2002 book,  THE EVOLUTION OF THE NATION OF ISLAM: THE STORY OF ELIJAH MUHAMMAD on the independent imprint, JMA Masterprints.   I no longer have copies of that book, but have stayed in touch with Jesus because he really is a deep conversationalist--into physics, martial arts, family, history, world cultures.....