Toblins.com

Massimo Martinini asked:


Good Morning, Afternoon and Evening and welcome yet again to another fun packed edition of Hazed & Confused. Since the last article the Indy scene seems to be in full swing, with quite a few events held over the past few weeks and future events being booked.

CZW recently held their tenth anniversary show in The Arena, Philadelphia.

Quick results from the event are as follows:

1. Drew Gulak defeated Little Mondo

2. Sami Callihan defeated Jon Dahmer

3. Adam Cole and Tyler Veritas won the “Old vs. New” Tag Team Gauntlet

- The order of entrants, and order of elimination is as follows:

- The S.A.T. defeated L.J. Cruz and Izzy Kensington

- 2.0 defeated the S.A.T.

- Cole and Veritas defeated 2.0

- Cole and Veritas defeated A.M.I.L.

- Cole and Veritas defeated GNC (Gacy and Colon)

4. Sabian defeated Ego Fantastico

5. Drew Blood defeated Pinkie Sanchez

6. The Best Around and El Sexisto defeated 2 Girls 1 Cup and Lord Everett Devore

7. Devon Moore defeated Ruckus

8. Ryan McBride defeated Carter Gray to retain the Jr. Heavyweight Title

9. The H8 Club defeated Brain Damage and Deranged in a Fans Bring The Weapons Match

After seeing this on DVD, it had to be one of the most brutal matches in CZW’s history.

The H8 Club took advantage early, using, believe it or not, a machete to carve and gouge at the eye of Deranged, rendering him useless, and allowing them to gain a virtual 2-on-1 on Brain Damage.

The H8 Club finished Brain Damage with a huge Superplex off the top through a barbed wire laden door, propped on chairs.

What happened next was to the surprise of everyone in the Arena…

10. Sami Callihan defeated Brain Damage to become the NEW CZW Iron Man Champion

Callihan stormed the ring with Referee Nick Pappagiorgio wrapped up in a blanket over his shoulder, and shoveled the unwilling official into the ring.

With the threat of a chair and further aggression, Pappagiorgio sanctioned an immediate match up, where Callihan picked up the H8 Club’s scraps, added a few more unneeded blows, and pinned an already beaten Brain Damage to win the Iron Man Championship.

11. Drake Younger defeated Eddie Kingston in a No Rope Barbed Wire Match to retain the CZW World Heavyweight Championship

Also, for those who have been following my articles, you will know that I keep mentioning the Chikara run tournament, King Of Trio’s coming up at the end of March, well all 16 teams have now been announced and are as follows:

1. The Masters of a Thousand Holds (Mike Quackenbush, Jorge “Skayde” Rivera & Johnny Saint)

2. The Osirian Portal (Ophidian, Amasis & Escorpion Egipcio)

3. Incoherence (Hallowicked, Delirious & Frightmare)

4. Team PWG (El Generico, Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson)

5. The Future Is Now (Lince Dorado, Helios & Jimmy “Equinox” Olsen)

6. The Death Match Kings (Necro Butcher, Toby Klein & Brain Damage)

7. The F1RST Family (Arik Cannon, Darin Corbin & Ryan Cruz)

8. Da Soul Touchaz (Willie Richardson, Trauma & Marshe Rockett)

9. Team CZW (Beef Wellington, Pinkie Sanchez & Greg Excellent)

10. The Cold Front (Al Snow, Iceberg & Glacier)

11. F.I.S.T. (Gran Akuma, Chuck Taylor & Icarus)

12. The Roughnecks (Brodie Lee, Eddie Kingston & Grizzly Redwood)

13. Team Uppercut (Claudio Castagnoli, Dave Taylor & Bryan Danielson)

14. Team EPIC WAR (Austin Aries, Tony Kozina & Ryan Drago)

15. The UnStable (Vin Gerard, STIGMA & Colin Delaney)

16. Team DDT (Kota Ibushi, KUDO & Michael Nakazawa)

Quite an impressive collection of teams there and pretty hard for me to pick a favorite to win the tournament, with most of the teams having a very good chance at doing so. Though I imagine I’m not the only one hoping to see a “HEAD” Shot in the tournament.

So anyway, I decided to do something different and special from the other articles here at TWG and after some thinking I decided that it would be great to actually interview an Indy wrestler.

So with nothing to lose, I sent an email out to my personal favorite Indy wrestler, Mike Quackenbush, and much to my surprise he agreed to answer a few questions for me and some suggested by other people at TWG.

Due to his work and schedule however, the answers are fairly short but I hope you will agree with me that Quackenbush doing this interview for me is nothing short of awesomeness.

So without further delay, an interview with Quack…

Thank you Mike for joining me on Hazed & Confused, hopefully you’re the first of many exclusive interviews.

Most of my readers will know you mainly from Chikara and some as the current NWA Junior Champion.

I have asked some of the games members to think of questions to ask you, and we have quite a mixed bunch..

We’ll start off with some wrestling based ones and finish off with some random questions…

So without further delay on with the questions…

1) Did you have any major setbacks starting in the business?

–The fact that I wasn’t properly trained when I had my earliest matches was a huge setback. I was never going to be taken seriously or get a chance to work in a real company until I got some legitimate training.

2) What has been your personal favorite match so far?

—I am very fond of my match with Claudio Castagnoli from the 2006 edition of the Ted Petty Invitational.

3) Who have you had the most fun wrestling against and teaming with?

—Claudio brings out the best in me. I enjoy teaming with Jigsaw, or any of my trainees, really.

4) Have you ever been “star-struck” when meeting other wrestlers around the world?

—I was a little bit when I wrestled El Hijo del Santo. He has a magical presence about him.

5) How do you feel on the way CHIKARA is going?

—I think we are doing a great job of altering the accepted status quo in the wrestling business, and we’re doing it very quietly, but effectively.

6) With the upcoming King Of Trios, which team would you like to compete against more?

—I’d very much like to lock horns with the PWG or DDT teams.

7) If WWE offered you a contract, but it meant giving up working at CHIKARA, would you take it?

—I wouldn’t accept a WWE contract no matter what it said or stipulated. Even if Vince McMahon came over and agreed to wash my car and gave me the original Max Moon costume, I wouldn’t sign.

Who are your main “travel buddies” when going to different shows?

—Because most of my non-CHIKARA engagements involve flying rather than driving, I tend to travel by myself. It’s pretty rare that I road trip by car these days.

9) Have you ever gotten “stage fright” before a match, and how did you overcome this?

—I used to get that quite a bit. Just butterflies in the stomach, so to speak. But I probably haven’t experienced that in ten years or so. No one makes me more nervous to wrestle than Jorge Rivera, though. The odds of being able to go hold-for-hold with him are just about zero.

10) Do you ever see hardcore fights coming into CHIKARA?

—Maybe a satire of the cliches of garbage wrestling, but that’s probably about it.

11) How do you feel on Ring Of Honor and their recent TV deal?

—It’s too soon to know how it will affect them. In two or three months, we might better understand what will come of it.

12) Who, out of your current students, could be the next star?

—Any and all of them, really. Each has their own unique potential.

13) If you could have one match against any wrestler, dead or alive, that you haven’t fought before, who would it be?

—I think I get asked this in every interview I’ve ever done, and I like to change up the answer. So let’s say Owen Hart this week.

14) Finally, what advice would you have for anyone looking to get into wrestling?

—Get trained by someone reputable, with good international contacts, unless you want to languish in obscurity for years and years. That’s what happened to me.

And now for some less serious questions asked….

15) Do you fear Chuck Norris?

—Of course.

16) Burger King or McDonald’s?

—McDonald’s. Not even close. BK is for jabrones.

17) Favorite band and/or song?

—I’m a big They Might Be Giants fan. Probably have more TMBG Cd’s than any other in my collection.

18) If you were President, how would you deal with the current economy crisis?

—I have never felt so ill-equipped to answer a question. Pass?

19) Have you heard about the bird?

—I have heard that the bird is the word.

20) Favorite Video Game?

—I love playing the Fire Pro series, and on my PC, I used to be addicted to a game called Freedom Force, a few years back.

21) Have you ever worn a Tutu?

—I am fairly certain I have not.

22) Favorite all time movie?

—That’s tough. I’m a big fan of just about all superhero movies, going back to the 1978 Christopher Reeve Superman film. I’ve probably watched “Glengarry Glen Ross” more times than any other movie. Maybe “UHF.”

23) Favorite TV show?

—I never miss an episode of “Lost.” I also really enjoy “The X-Files” and “Fawlty Towers.”

Well thank you very much Mike for your time, we here at TWG very much appreciate you doing this interview with us today. All the best to you this coming year with Chikara and with other matches you may have around the world.

Now just how great was that? But thats not all my readers, no, Ive been a busy bee and have secured another FOUR Indy Wrestlers for interviews. So in the coming weeks I shall be bringing you interviews with:

Shimmer & NWA Womens Champion, Ms Chif

CZW wrestler, and part of my last article, SeXXXy Eddy

CZW wrestler and BLK Out member, Sabian

Chikara wrestler and member of “Super Smash Brothers”, Stupefied / Player Dos

Though by the time you read this, the Ms Chif interview should be already done, but if anyone has ANY questions at all for the others, please leave a comment below and I shall do my best to ask them your question when the interview is done. I would like to thank you all for reading this week, my apologies for the delay in articles but I hope that the interviews more than make up for it.

Until next time…. this has been Hazed & Confused.

Larry Sam asked:


www.globalsurgerycenter.com

Lap-Band Surgery – Weight Loss Surgery

Safe, Rapid Weight Loss

It’s More Than a Question of Appearance!

Morbid obesity is not only unattractive, but life threatening. Even less severe degrees of obesity can be a major threat to the quality of your life. It has been estimated that 64.5% of all Americans are affected, to some degree, by problems related to obesity.

Obesity has been dubbed by some experts as “the mother of all diseases” because this condition either causes or exacerbates: dangerously high levels of cholesterol; high blood pressure; diabetes; impotency; hypertension; urinary stress incontinence; coronary artery disease; stroke; breast cancer; arthritic joints; sleep apnea; kidney failures; menstrual irregularities; asthma; swollen legs; depression; and dozens of

other health disorders.

Compared to a person of normal weight, a 25-year-old obese man or woman has a reduced life span, and can expect a loss of about 12 years of life.

Weight-loss surgery has been shown to improve one’s lifespan by reducing excess body weight. There are three common forms of weight-loss surgery:

• Gastric bypass surgery, a procedure that reroutes the digestive system, causing rapid weight loss.

Unfortunately, gastric bypass surgery also often leads to nutritional deficiencies that can cause

severe health complications.

• Gastroplasty, which also reroutes the digestive system, but is most notable because it restricts the amount of food that can be eaten by making the stomach smaller.

Bariatric Procedure –

• Laparoscopic Adjustable Gastric Banding (also known simply as lap-band surgery), a procedure in which an adjustable band is placed around the upper third portion of the stomach to create a small stomach pouch.

Healthcare professionals can adjust the dimensions of that band to hold 2, 4, or 6 ounces of food. Thus restricting the stomach gives the patient a feeling of fullness and thus prevents overeating, while at the same time allowing the food that is eaten to be released more slowly into the lower portion of the stomach for

healthier digestion.

Of these three approaches, Global Medical Service offers you Lap-Band surgery, which is approved by the FDA, is the only treatment that is reversible, and is the least invasive of all the procedures. The lap-band procedure can be performed in 30 to 40 minutes with the patient remaining in the hospital for as little as

one overnight. However, it is generally recommended that patients allow an additional week following the procedure to recover, and that they adhere to a carefully prescribed program of diet and moderate exercise during that period.

The Three Phases

There are three phases associated with the Lap-Band surgical procedure:

before the procedure, during the procedure, and after the procedure.

Before the Procedure

This phase involves a complete analysis of your medical history and medical records by the Lap-Band Surgeon who may also interview you by phone or face-to-face to determine the treatment course.

If you accept the recommendation by the Surgeon, you will be asked to comply with a prescribed regimen of diet and exercise in advance of the actual procedure. During this time, we will help you to finalize your travel and resort accommodations. Every detail of your itinerary will be documented for you, describing what will happen from the moment you arrive at your destination, how you will be transported to the resort, the full range of dining and entertainment options that will be available to you, and plans for returning you to the airport for your trip home.

During the Procedure

During your procedure you should expect to remain

in our 80-bed facility for, at most, two days.

All of the costs associated with your stay at the Center are included for this service. That includes the surgery, the anesthesia, your medications, your meals, the over-night stay with a 24 hour nurse, post surgery garments per your surgery, follow up visits, your transportation between the Hospital and Resort, and any incidentals.

You never need to put your hand in your pocket, unless you want to bring home a souvenir.

After the Procedure

Assuming that you have devoted one-week, you will likely have time to enjoy the fun and sun of the

beautiful Dominican Republic. You will, however, be expected to follow any diet and exercise regimen prescribed by your doctors. For weight-loss patients, these procedures will vary, depending on your weight and weight-loss goals, but will typically involve your adopting and adhering to a new attitude towards eating, including:

• Initially eating only foods that have first been shredded in a food processor. For lap-band

patients, these foods typically include meats that are easily chewed and digested, or other forms of protein, low-fiber vegetables, and salads. (Protein intake is especially important to lap-band patients, who must consume 50-60 grams of protein daily. Prohibited foods will include bread, potatoes, fried foods, starchy vegetables, and any spicy consumables.

• You will be drinking protein shakes and relearning eating skills much the same as a new baby eats, and slowly adds new and chunkier foods to its diet.

Chances are, you will be heading home in about one week. Much of your post-operative time will be

devoted to ensuring that you know how to maintain the long-term benefits of this procedure. Your Global Medical Service Personal Care Manager will make follow-up calls to you, both to get any evaluative feedback you might have regarding this experience, and to help you adjust to the wonderful experience of becoming the new you!

###

Simon Barrett asked:


Landmark Status is a wonderfully funny book. Alan Rolnick uses Miami as the backdrop, and real estate as the weapon, to take the reader on a madcap journey that I can guarantee you will enjoy. When I put the put the book down and wrote the review, I just knew I wanted to talk to this guy. Anyone that can create the outlandish characters and amazingly funny scenes that I encountered in Landmark Status, has to be a pretty interesting person to chat with. Alan agreed to an interview.

Can you tell us a little about yourself?

I grew up in Newburgh, New York, a little city on the Hudson River. It was a beautiful place, old, proud and mostly unaware it had been rendered obsolete, cut loose from history’s moorings and set adrift by changing times. As a kid, I played in an abandoned brewery, took bus trips to Yankee Stadium and collected autographs from Hector Lopez and Moose Skowron (we never could get close enough to Mickey and Yogi). One time, a big kid sat on my hand for the entire bus ride, leaving corduroy-striped welts that lasted a week, but it really wasn’t his fault I couldn’t throw strikes.

In my teens, Beatlemania struck. My brother Paul and I decided to be rock stars, saving for guitars with car wash money, playing battles of the bands on the firemen’s picnic circuit. Paul was an outstanding guitarist and singer, destined to become an award-winning producer in New York. I wasn’t, but joined him there after graduating from Johns Hopkins with a major in Frisbee. Together, we made brilliant recordings that few heard, earned fifty bucks opening for Buffy St. Marie at Philharmonic Hall, and fortuitously took the equipment home instead of leaving it for next weekend’s gig at the Mercer Arts Center (which collapsed later that night).

Taking up journalism to put myself through my career, I became the guy at the New York Times who used computers to rank college and pro football teams. In 1983, the human pollsters awarded the Miami Hurricanes the National Championship, but my computer preferred Auburn. I’d been to Miami, fallen in love with the place, and decided it was time to go to law school (as my family had urged since I was six, usually with comments like, “he talks so much, he’s gonna be a lawyer”). The idea of living where balmy breezes caress you on the way out the door in December was particularly appealing.

Atoning for my computer’s mistake, I learned torts in locked classrooms and pulled all-nighters on the Law Review, winning induction into the Society of Wig and Robe (which, fortunately, required wearing neither). After twenty years of schooling, they put me on the day shift, working at one of Miami’s top legal sweatshops, representing robber barons in complex cases in federal court. Years later, I switched sides and began representing Davids against Goliaths in class actions.

Eventually, I decided it was time to throw a rope around the places I’d met and the people I’d been, and set out to write the kind of story I liked to read.

What is it with attorneys, are you all closet authors? In the past year I have read at least a dozen books by people in the profession, oh and they have all been very good. I have come to the conclusion that every lawyer must have a book in them.

Jeez, are there that many? Seriously, though, lawyers have to write to eat, and they’re trained to turn “fact patterns” into stories. Many of those stories are stranger than fiction, and they do make you yearn to come up with your own. Storytelling is crucial in litigation, where winning requires framing compelling themes, keeping witnesses in character, and distilling every legal argument to the pithiest possible paragraph. One classmate used to say he aimed for hearing the imagined words, “so, f___ you,” after every sentence of written argument. The unifying experience of all law students is fatigue, so I’m not surprised he’s forgotten he said it.

Where did the idea for Landmark Status come from?

Miami’s a frontier town, where outsiders easily become insiders, bellying up to the bar, tipping back a mojito and quickly learning there’s no secret handshake. I’d never been in such a place, and my legal training had dropped me off in its inner sanctum. There, I worked and tangled with kaleidoscopically colorful movers and shakers who were busy with Miami’s principal business, buying and selling the same dirt over and over again. I also got involved in litigating some of Miami’s more infamous Ponzi schemes. Having become a fan of Elmore Leonard, Carl Hiaasen and Dave Barry, I wanted to do my part to honor this unique, subtropical nuthouse. It just had to involve a mad scramble for a piece of property, set against a backdrop of investment fraud. And it had to have a lawyer in the middle, doing real lawyering, citing real cases.

How long did it take you to bring this project to fruition?

Five years. It just seems longer.

I was very impressed with Landmark Status, I love the dark humor. Are you happy with the way it turned out?

First of all, thank you for the kind words. It’s always hard to know if the material is working! And yes, I’m very happy with the way the book turned out. Dark humor seems to grow wild here, a place so bright and beautiful it takes your breath away, even when random catastrophe is poised to strike, well, randomly. Miami is a city built by people on the run, from the cold, from persecution or personal dead ends, for whom making it to (and in) this magic city tends to foster a sort of self-absorbed sunstroke. It’s a narcissistic sense of safety and triumph you can feel merely by turning your face to the sun, until reality’s sudden impact shatters your daydream. This happens a lot in Landmark Status, starting with the wrecking ball in the first scene.

As the characters careen around Miami, where most folks are from somewhere else and ethnic politics dominates, they also collide with more serious questions about the American Creed and what’s happened to it in our fractious times. Everyone’s immigrant story gets told, but Delia, and to a lesser extent, Benjy and Raj, are the only ones thinking about what it all means. I really didn’t set out to explore Miami’s own origin story, how it came to be, who built it, and who came here when or why. But, as it unfolded, the story became a little more like “Hawaii” and a little less like “Hawaii Five-O” (tire-squealing car chase through Opa-locka notwithstanding). Looking back, I think giving the historical perspective makes it a richer story. It also means I don’t have to do it again.

Most authors style their characters after real people, so how much Benjy comes from Alan?

Benjy’s a lot more mellow than I am, for one thing. I’d like to think we share the almost unspoken inner sense of right and wrong that propels him, even though he makes light of it. I’m proud of him for that, because swimming against the tide he’s in isn’t easy. He also tends to withhold judgment a lot longer than I would, and suffers fools much more gladly than I do. He hates to lose, though, and will do what’s necessary to win, and we’re very alike in that respect. I enjoy his easygoing tolerance of the shenanigans of the connivers all around him. I have no idea where he got that. And that trust fund thing? Completely made up. All donations will be gratefully accepted.

Are we going to see more Benjy adventures in your next book?

Benjy will definitely be back. Once I figure out how to do this whole web publishing thing, clues to his whereabouts will be provided at my website (Alan Rolnick).

I remarked in my review that Landmark Status would transition nicely onto the silver screen, what are your thoughts?

It’s great to hear you suggest that. From the beginning, I’ve thought Landmark Status would make a smashing film (with apologies to the Spanish Inquisition sketch). I see pictures when I set a scene, and I’m looking forward to rendering them in pixels as well as words. Of course, destroying all those cars costs money, so we won’t be doing this one on a shoestring. Somewhere on my desk, there’s a legal pad devoted to casting choices and music cues. If it were a few years ago, I’d be chasing Dustin Hoffman to play Benjy, but I hope he’ll be interested in playing Benjy’s father Bernard, the legendary zoning lawyer and dealmaker.

I understand that you are currently working on a film project, can you tell us a little about that?

I’m Executive Producer of the film “Canvas,” which is in theaters now and will be out on DVD early next year. Produced by Sharon Lane (a force of nature, to whom I’m privileged to be married), it stars Joe Pantoliano, Marcia Gay Harden and Devon Gearhart. The film has won a number of festival awards, as well as praise for its realistic portrayal of a family struggling to cope with mental illness. Sharon fought for years to overcome studio apathy toward this indie film and first-time Director Joe Greco. We ultimately raised the money and shot it ourselves in South Florida during the legendary hurricane season of 2005, which almost blew us all out to sea. Sharon has another drama in development that also plays to her expertise in managing and working with young actors. I’m onboard for business and legal affairs, and just might Exec Produce this one, too. I’m angling for a comedy after that.

You obviously are a multi faceted person, lawyer, movie maker, and now author. What do you do with all your ‘spare’ time?

I honestly don’t have much spare time. I’m usually fighting to carve some out to keep up with our overbooked son, Max, who’s busy with school, piano lessons, soccer and baseball.

Alan, I want to thank you very much for taking the time to talk with me, and once again congratulations on creating a wonderful book, I hope that I see it on the NYT best seller list in the very near future.

Thanks, Simon. It was a pleasure.

Contraband asked:


Building a fan base is an important step for any band interested in elevating their recording and performing career. With attention and planning, even a modest following can become a powerful tool to support an artist’s work and expand their popularity.

Building a fan base is an important step for any band interested in elevating their recording and performing career. With attention and planning, even a modest following can become a powerful tool to support an artist’s work and e xpand their popularity.

People are attracted to bands on Contraband musical, cultural, social, sensory and spiritual levels. While fitting in to current trends may result in a rush of flavor-of-the-month fans, the artists who pursue and stay true to their own musical vision appear to have a greater chance at creating a broad, dedicated fan base. Rolling Stone contributed Kentucky-based band My Morning Jacket’s broad success to their unique musical vision, noting “The band’s ecstatic, spacey records and improv-heavy live shows are as popular with Bonnaroo hippies as they are with New York hipsters.” Frontman Jim James told the magazine, “We love that…Looking in the audience and seeing frat boys, indie rockers and maybe some sixty-year-old women.”

In the digital age, artists shouldn’t be afraid to give music away in order to reach more people. Andrew Dubber of NewMusicStrategies.com wrote an article titled “The 20 Things You MUST Know About Music Online” which counsels musicians to “forget product–sell relationship.” In a recent interview, Dubber told HomeTracked.com: “I recommend (musicians) recognize that their recordings are not the totality of their economic value. Recordings are idealized performances that show musicians in their best light. These are the best promotional tools available…And if records are the way you want to make your money, just think of it this way: it used to be that you’d press 1000 copies, give away 200 promos, and hope to sell the other 800. Now you can press 1000 copies, give away a million copies and sell the thousand.”

Once a band has earned a few fans by playing shows and giving away music, it’s important to retain their interest and encourage networking by keeping them up to date with current songs, concerts and a steady flow of appealing merchandise. The digital Contraband age presents a number of ways to accomplish this, with maintaining a web site, posting profiles on social music sites like Echoboost.com, email, internet radio, podcasts and social video sites. Performing Songwriter Contraband suggests networking through cell phones using fan club text messaging services like Broadtexter, which “enables North America-based musicians to create free Mobile Fan Clubs which easily allow them to use regionalized text messaging to stay connected with fans.”

Contraband, Contraband

Shalla DeGuzman asked:


SHALLA MINGLES with VICTORe of the band, Tokadiscos

“Tokadiscos Reggaes”

by Shalla de Guzman

First off, who’s VICTORe? 

Well, I was born and have lived in Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico my whole life, I’m 25. I’m the youngest of a family of five (My two older sisters always enjoyed to make me cry when I was a kid). I Studied Industrial Engineering here in Ensenada and I’m going thru a Professional Certificate in Construction Safety in the University of California, San Diego (UCSD).

I like to learn new things in all aspects of life. Love roller coasters, rappel and willing to skydive as soon as I have some spare money. Recently I learned to scuba dive, and has become my new passion, I just love it =)

Ensenada is a quite small town, and that’s what I like about it, it’s not crowded and if you want to see big concerts or the advantages of a big city, you just need to travel an hour to the north to get to Tijuana or cross the border and get to San Diego.

We started Tokadiscos eight years ago (almost nine) with the idea of making music that we enjoy. There were no other bands in the town that would do anything like it. A curse of the small town is that 98% of the bands follow the trends instead of creating something because you feel it. Back then, everyone was playing like Nirvana, then Deftones, then Blink 182 and now Emo. I don’t mean to be rude to any style of music (I like Emo), but after the trend is over you can tell who actually liked it and who is migrating to a new trend. Pretty much like a mainstream Mexican band called Panda.

So far we have two records and are working on the third one. The band hasn’t given us enough money to live yet, but has given us a lot of personal satisfaction. We’ve been in many places around Mexico and a few important cities in the US (San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Phoenix and Chicago). Roco and Pato form Maldita Vecindad recorded in our first record and we have some surprises for the next one.

Shalla: Hello VICTORe, nice band. Have you been performing long?

VICTORe: I’ve been playing for about ten years right now. I started a the School band and then moved to make my own music with some friends. In the band there are some older guys that have a longer road and some younger ones that have way less. We as a band as I said we have almost nine years and counting.

Shalla: When did you know you wanted to be a musician?

VICTORe: When I was about four years old I wanted to be a police officer (how wrong was I? Jaja), fireman or an Ice Cream Seller (I could get all the Ice Cream I could eat, can you imagine that???). After that I wanted to be a Professional Basketball player. As every average kid I used to play to be a singer with the comb as microphone, played the Air guitar since I started listening alternative music about the age of ten. But was at the age of 15 when I got my hands into a real drum set that I knew that I wouldn’t be able to drop the drumsticks anymore.

Shalla: Which musical instruments do you play? What’s your favorite musical instrument? Did you take music lessons or just learned on your own?

VICTORe:

I Love and have respect for all instruments. But my passion is all kind of percussion. I play drums most of my time, but I play a little (very little jaja)of congas, guitar, bass and trumpet. 

Shalla: Do you play the drums? Is it hard to play the drums?

VICTORe:

Yes, Is as hard as any other instrument. There’s no hard or easy instrument. Drums attract most common people because they think it’s just hit, hit, hit. The truth is that anyone can play an instrument as long as you dedicate enough (a lot) time to practice really slow and then gain speed. It becomes a second nature, like breathing, you never think about it, but do it all the time. When you start you only focus in that specific rhythm and any single distraction takes you out of the beat. But as you keep doing it, you can talk, sing, or even think about the after party and keep playing without even think about it. 

Shalla: Do you write your own music? What’s your inspiration?

VICTORe:

We as a band write our own music. I personally only work with the arrangements. Most of the time Tozzy (lead singer) comes to a rehearsal with an idea and we all together work it out. As I told you, our ages are quite spread (from 17 to 31), so we all have different influences and all put a little of ourselves into the songs.

Shalla: Any tips for other musicians on how to get your music out there?

VICTORe:

Well, forget about the record companies, the future of music is on-line. Make your own demos, records, and try to get it to all the audience possible. If they like your music they’ll start to ask for your shows and that’s how you start touring.

Shalla: Oh, and can we feature more of your music on SHALLA Magazine? (we can put a link to it or something)

VICTORe:

Well, you can find our music, videos or info in:

Music.com

myspace.com/tokadiscos

tokadiscos.com

youtube.com/profile?user=victoretkd

THANKS for the space =)

Shalla: Thanks so much!  Best with your projects!

or more on Tokadiscos: http://www.tokadiscos.com

Shalla DeGuzman’s short stories have appeared in the Mosaic Literary Journal and Mad Hatters Review, her articles in The Scriptorium and L.A. Freepress, her skits at the Stella Adler Theatre.

Her flash fiction Fish In My Bed recently won the FISH AND PLANE Competition and is featured in Issue 6 of Mad Hatters Review.

Shalla, a former writer and producer of a health and fitness cable show, is currently writing a novel. She is President of The ShalladeGuzman Writers Group

( http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ShalladeGuzman/ ) where she interviews literary agents, publishers, editors, etc.

For more about Shalla: www.shalladeguzman.com

and

http://www.myspace.com/shalladeguzman        

Eric de Fontenay asked:


An interview with Kerchoonz co-founder and Scotland-based, singer-songwriter Indiana Gregg (part 2 of 2)

In part 2 of MusicDish e-Journal’s interview with Indiana Gregg, we learn more about Kerchoonz, the site’s multiple features and it’s Choonz origins.

[Eric de Fontenay] The site is jam-packed with features and interactive areas. What other ways will you be attracting fans to the site?

[Indiana Gregg] There is a big online gaming area, video, live chat, TV, radio, news dig, and a lot of other stuff to have fun and be creative with. There will be a music discovery and recommendation engine to help fans find new music as well as a chart system for the various genres.

Hopefully, a lot of people will benefit from the free & legal model. Our focus is on helping artists get compensated for their work. But, we’ve made it fun for fans too. In fact, you don’t even need to be a fan to find your “niche” at Kerchoonz. And fans are actually financially supporting their favorite artists without it costing them a dime.

Artists can track downloads and streams of their music. They will know what region or even city their fans are coming from. So, it can help to better target their audiences and plan their gigs. We’re hoping that artists and labels potentially earn more through Kerchoonz than they may have done with traditional CD sales in recent years.

[de Fontenay] Word-of-mouth marketing is today’s holy grail. What tools does the site provide to empower fans to support their favorite artists?

[Gregg] One way is through the use of “KWIDGET,” interactive widgets that help spread the word. The “referral KWIDGET” promotes the site by allowing users to paste a banner on forums, other sites and in emails. For every band or pro member that joins the site through one of these referral kwidgets, the user who pasted it receives $5.

Users can help support their favourite musicians too. If a user from our site pastes an artist’s music elsewhere on the internet by embedding one of our music players, the artist still gets paid for their streams when other user’s click and listen or download a song through a kwidget. If they login and register for a band or pro account, the user who pasted the kwidget again gets $5. So, even the public can earn real money by referring bands and creative people to Kerchoonz. It’s spreading the word with a fun and financially interesting motivation.

[de Fontenay] What role will the Industry Pros play on the site?

[Gregg] As we are going to be adding two additional “User Types” – Label & DJ – Industry Pro type users will be expected to be Publishers, Management Co’s, Music & Media law firms, Engineers, Producers, Video Production Co’s, Hire Co’s, Accountants, Design Co’s, etc.

[de Fontenay] Do you handle differently artists with a large discography or labels with a catalogue?

[Gregg] Yes, labels will be allowed to upload more media and create more Sub-Profiles than a regular ‘Artist/band’ profile. Also, there are Gold and Platinum upgrade packages available to all users types offering more facilities relevant to each user type.

[de Fontenay] What role does video play in Kerchoonz? Will video creators also be compensated for the use of their works?

[Gregg] Yes, if it is a music video and the video ISRC is entered into the Video ISRC field, the play counts and revenue will be reported back to the Video Performance Limited (VPL) body in the UK or local equivalent.

As the site develops, it is our intent to include licences with non-music genre broadcasters for their content.

[de Fontenay] How will Kerchoonz attract artists who currently sell on retailers such as Amazon or iTunes? More importantly, how will it attract fans that love music but are primarily using file sharing to acquire music?

[Gregg] We aren’t competing with Amazon or iTunes. So, if an artist doesn’t want to give the music away as a free download, they can simply turn that function off. They can direct their fans to any online store they choose. However, they will still get paid if someone listens to their music through Kerchoonz. The streams are encrypted, so they can upload the full song without worrying about someone simply “stealing” it. If they change their mind or just want to give away a few tracks, they can do that too. Kerchoonz is flexible this way. We want to give artists, musicians, labels, bands and filmmakers interactive tools and let them choose how they want to use them.

People who use file sharing to acquire music may want to listen to the music before they download it. So, by listening to the music on Kerchoonz, they will have helped benefit the band/artists before they decide whether they want to download it or not. We hope that if they like the music, they might go ahead and support the band by downloading it either through Kerchoonz or going ahead and buying it elsewhere. If they don’t like it, well, they might not want to download it anyway. But, at least they have a safe and legal way of accessing it that helps the artists and the people who were involved in creating it. This helps give bands and artists and even labels the finances that they need to continue creating. And that’s what Kerchoonz is all about.

[de Fontenay] Since you mention “what Kerchoonz is all about,” where does the name come from?

[Gregg] Well, the name of the site came from the Choonz. Choonz are little purple people from a far off land who frequent the earth and bring us ‘ideas’. The Choonz wanted to help us find a solution to the recent crises that the music and film industries have been facing on the blue planet. On their visit, the Choonz told us that they know music makers and filmmakers have been getting ripped-off and that we must do something about it for the sake of future creativity. To avoid wars and crusades, they were able to find a peaceful solution several thousand years ago on their own planet, Kerchoonz.

Choonz believe music should be free and accessible to everyone, and so they showed us the light and helped us create a way where music can be free to the public while enabling musicians and creative people to earn a living from their streams and downloads. We wanted to help out, so, out of respect for their wisdom, we named our social networking site after them: “Kerchoonz.” At Kerchoonz, we think that the future of music won’t work if musicians aren’t compensated for their work. So, that’s us, the purple website called Kerchoonz.

Go Choonz!

http://www.kerchoonz.com

Eric de Fontenay asked:


An interview with Kerchoonz co-founder and Scotland-based, singer-songwriter Indiana Gregg (part 1 of 2)

Imagine working for years developing your music career. You’ve released several albums, signed with an indie label, inked licensing deals, and received love from the press and radio, all while you’ve toured the country. An indie artist’s dream! That is until you find out that your latest release has been illegally downloaded over 250,000 times off of major pirate sites like The Pirate Bay.

This is the nightmare Glasgow, Scotland-based, singer-songwriter Indiana Gregg faced about 18 months ago when she released her album “Woman at Work.” The level of piracy was actually threatening the financial viability of her independent label Gr8Pop. So Gregg decided to take matters in her own hands and fight back. She contacted the UK-based Mechanical Copyright Protection Society (MCPS) and British Phonographic Industry (BPI), as well as contacting the various websites linking to the illegal copies of her album. While nearly all the sites complied with the link removal request, file-sharing website The Pirate Bay responded with a “cyber-bullying” campaign, publicly releasing Indiana’s email that resulted in a malicious deluge from the site’s supporters.

Instead of getting mad, Indiana – with her manager and husband Ian Morrow – decided to get even on behalf of all artists. To accomplish this, she has set out to create a site that would pay artists for every stream of their music; and even pay when the artist would want to offer their music for free download. Slated for beta launch later this month, Kerchoonz.com has already attracted the attention of media outlets like the BBC and Digital Media Wire, as well pirate forums such as TorrentFreak and suprbay.org.

MusicDish e-Journal sat down with Indiana to find out more about Kerchoonz and how it might just tilt the music industry balance in favor of musicians.

[Eric de Fontenay] Where did the idea behind Kerchoonz originate?

[Indiana Gregg] I’ve always believed that art and music should be free and accessible to the people who can perhaps not afford it. However, it shouldn’t be at the expense of the people who create music and film. Since the late 90′s, billions of copyrighted files have been downloaded illegally. Free art is a great concept, but musician’s can’t live on “thin air” and it’s hard to make music without some investment. Music, film and art costs money, time and dedication to produce. We believe that if this continues, nobody will want to invest in new creativity, and we can’t let that happen. Brainstorming took place, and Kerchoonz is what we decided to offer as a solution.

I spoke with my partner/producer Ian Morrow, and we started to put this idea into motion. We began developing the site in late 2006 and in April 2008, we founded a new Scottish-based company, Kerchoonz Ltd. We’ve been working on the site around the clock with developers from all over the world (and every time zone!). You might say we’re workaholics, but it’s actually been terribly creative, fun and exciting despite the long hours we’ve put in. So, Kerchoonz is a site where artistic creators can give their music away for free and still get paid!

[de Fontenay] Obviously, piracy was a driving force behind Kerchoonz’ drive to compensate artists. In what other ways has piracy influenced the site?

[Gregg] To be honest, piracy is only a tiny part of what has influenced the development of Kerchoonz. In the early days, even before social sites like MySpace and YouTube came into the mainstream, we were discussing paying artists for streams and how social networks were using music to draw traffic to their sites. Having millions of people visit my own social networking pages, I thought it would be cool if we were able to pay artists for their streams.

You know, there is a fine line between a band getting “free promotion” on the internet and crossing over to that point where sites are really more or less “freely exploiting” a band’s work. Many sites are making millions in advertising each year from delivering the “goods” (music, film, software, games), however, the creative people whose work is being exploited earn absolutely nothing from these sites.

If a label or musician doesn’t want to give their music away as a free download, they can still be paid for their streams and even provide a link to iTunes or wherever their music is available for sale.

The bottom line is we need to protect the future of art and we hope that people will make the choice to support artists simply by listening or downloading for free.

I believe that on-demand streaming of music will be one of the main ways people access music in the future. Kerchoonz is a site where people can access music and create playlists on-demand at any time they want via the Internet or mobile phones.

So, really, I’d have to say that we’ve developed Kerchoonz primarily to cater to this huge shift in how people are choosing to access music. Was it due to piracy or the birth of social networking? Maybe a bit of both. People are changing the way they access music now and, to be honest, that’s been the strongest influence upon the creation of Kerchoonz.

[de Fontenay] Kerchoonz’ website mentions that Kerchoonz does not use DRM or embedded ads in download files. How does Kerchoonz generate the revenue to compensate artists? Do you feel that DRM and embedded ads will still be around in five years?

[Gregg] Advertisers want to reach specific numbers of people within a specific demographic. We want Kerchoonz to be fun and informative, and advertising is a way of finding out about new products and services. It’s also the way we plan to help compensate artists. But, we won’t be using pop-up ads or ads attached to the downloadable files.

Kerchoonz advertising is done in a way that’s more attractive and even entertaining for the user. We use a system where video adverts are played during downloads but they are not “attached” to them. There are no annoying force-fed ads. However, advertisers get their message, products and services across to their target demographic on the site, and that’s what’s important for this kind of ad-funded model.

Whether or not DRM or embedded ads will be necessary five years from now (or if they are even necessary now) depends upon the future of downloading. I have a feeling we are moving towards an era of ‘on-demand’ where people won’t want or need to actually “own” the files. So, it’s hard to say.

[de Fontenay] Do you feel that the industry’s approach to tackling piracy has been effective? What would you want to see proposed that would help you in developing a revenue channel for artists?

[Gregg] The music industry has suffered a tsunami of change over the past decade. It’s becoming more and more difficult for bands to compete by selling music alongside the huge popularity of “free.”

Has the industry been effective in tackling piracy? I don’t know. I think this is a difficult one to assess. I can only say that from my personal experiences, some of the pirate sites have been rather antagonistic in their approach towards musicians. They say that the industry is trying to force their old model on people. However, those same sites are the ones who are trying to force musicians into accepting “nothing” as an option.

As a result, the file-sharers have been targeted by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). I don’t know how effective that has been. However, recently more ISPs are getting involved and perhaps they will help reduce the problem.

http://www.kerchoonz.com

**********

Next week, in part 2 of MusicDish e-Journal’s interview with Indiana Gregg, we learn more about Kerchoonz, the site’s multiple features and it’s Choonz origins.

Lori S.m. Hollenback asked:


Q1: What made you want laser hair removal?

Wife: My husband and I are very active and in the summer are always swimming or going to the lake to wakeboard and relax. So, I’m constantly shaving and waxing different parts of my body to retain a smooth look and feel.

Husband: I don’t mind hair on my body, but I’m Spanish-Italian and probably have a little more hair and thicker hair than the average guy. So, I wanted to start laser hair removal just to thin some of it out and even remove it from some places of my body for a smoother look. And, like my wife stated, we are very active and are always outdoors during the summer. This will be a time saver.

Q2:  What body parts did you get the treatment on?

Wife: Well, I didn’t start with just one body part I went ahead and started treatment on several body parts including my upper lip, under arms and bikini area.

Husband: My wife actually signed me up for the treatments that included my back, the back of my neck and the front of my neck and my arms.

Q3: How did you find your doctor?

Wife: I found our doctor in a rush. I was planning on purchasing my husband and me treatment packages for Christmas and as the holiday got closer I found myself doing little research and interviewing a doctor that I had found a special on in the paper. I liked the facility, but having been through the consultation and pricing once I would definitely research a few more places in the future before committing and inquire about their laser equipment and any laser certifications held by the Physicians. The one thing I found interesting was that negotiating on the price of the treatments was like buying a car. They were willing to negotiate prices based on the type of treatments I requested.

Husband: My wife found the doctor; she actually purchased the laser hair removal treatments as a Christmas present for me.

Q4: How many treatments have you had?

Wife:  I’ve had a total of five treatments on all my body parts. The one thing I found interesting is the time frame you have to wait in between each treatment. For the upper lip treatments I have to wait six weeks in between each treatment. And for the underarms and bikini area I have to wait 10 weeks in between treatments. I still have at least one more treatment for each body part remaining.

Husband: I’ve had about four treatments on all my body parts. Unlike my wife, I think I’ll need more treatments as my hair is a lot darker and thicker than hers.

Q5: How are the treatments working? Has your hair stopped growing?

Wife: After the initial treatment I couldn’t tell a difference in some areas. So, the second treatment they went over those areas twice with the laser. Now, each time I go I can tell a difference. I used to shave my underarms every other day, now I’m only shaving them every four days. So, it’s definitely starting to work.

Husband: I’ve been through five treatments and so far I haven’t realized too much of a difference. But since my hair is thicker I’m told that I may need more laser hair removal treatments. The physicians tell me that everyone’s experience is different.

Q6: Is the laser hair removal treatment ever painful?

Wife: It’s not painful for me but it’s not comfortable. It feels like tiny little rubber bands snapping me. And depending on the area and the sensitivity it hurts less or more.

Husband: I don’t have the rubber band snap sensation, but my laser hair removal treatments get hot and sometimes feel like it burns.  It’s very uncomfortable.

Q7: Would you recommend laser hair removal treatments to others?

Wife: I think the concept of laser hair removal is great and if you don’t have to shave or you shave less I think it’s beneficial. I’ve seen some great results so far with the laser hair removal treatment so I would recommend the procedure up to what I’ve received, but I’m not done with the treatments so I’m not sure how the results will end, so I’ll have to wait to see how it goes.

Husband: I think the benefits are great, but because of my hair being so thick and my skin being so light it’s taking more treatments, more money and more time to see results. So, at this moment I wouldn’t recommend it, but I’m going to stick through it and see if I get some results after a few more treatments.

8: What advice would you give anyone wanting the treatments?

Wife: I’d recommend that you at least research and interview at least three different locations and physicians. I thought the negotiation of the prices was unusual and now wonder if all the places are like that. I also noticed that the first physician I had doing my treatments wasn’t as good as a second physician that I am now working with. So, I’d make sure to really shop around to find the exact location and physician that’s right for you.

Husband: Research. I’d research a few more places and compare prices, ask for testimonials from other customers and inquire about any laser certifications held by the physicians.