News/Updates

January 2012

Happy New Year! And let’s hope it’s a better one than last year. And forget all about the Mayan calendar, okay? They probably just ran out of tablets.

My year started off with a big bang because my first musical project was officially released on the 12th of this month. It’s called Cryptic Roots. It’s a nine song collection of all kinds of music. I refer to it as a collection because it’s not a physical CD, but rather a collection of music specifically designed for downloading. Stylistically, it’s literally all over the place. There’s a couple of waltzes, Latin Jazz, Euro-Pop Jazz, New Age, Techno/Industrial and what I believe to be the worlds first Goth/Funk song.A mad mix to be sure; I admit it. My goal was to showcase my songwriting  abilities. Also, I wanted to make sure that there was something for everybody. Surely, someone, somewhere will find something that’s pleasing to their ears. At least I hope so. If not, I’m in a lot of trouble.

Another reason I was eager to present such a varied mix of music was because of the reemergence of the single. Now, particularly with the influence of iTunes, music lovers are downloading single songs more than complete CDs. And I’m one of them. I can’t remember the last time I bought a CD, but I’ve downloaded quite a few tunes in the last couple of years. Check out your own music collection. How many CDs do you own where you like every song? Probably very few. Plus, with the world economy being what it is, I’d rather give potential fans the option of buying one or two songs rather than forcing them to buy the entire collection. It’s a brand new day and I’m willing to adapt… in order to survive.

Cryptic Roots is also a kind of musical manifesto. I’m a musician on a mission. I’ve noticed something very troubling in the last few years and my music is designed to confront it. There seems to be a modern, musical propaganda that asserts that melody, harmony, advanced chord voicings, interesting bass lines and HOOKS are no longer of value. As a result, we see the emergence of a new kind of music. Much modern music tends to be either coloring book simple/stupid or just plain noise. It’s obvious, at least to my ear, that it’s not “composed” by musician, but rather by people who own musical gear. Gear can be purchased at the local music store. Not so with talent. You’ve either got it or you don’t.

Music has been an integral part of my life since the beginning of my life. I love it too much to see it trashed by people who don’t care enough to even learn to play an instrument properly. Cryptic Roots expresses how I feel about music, hopefully, in a very musical way. But don’t take my word for it. Check it out for yourself. It’s available at CD Baby, iTunes, Amazon and a host of other online retailers. It’s also available directly from my Facebook page.

October 2011

It’s Halloween. And with my dark, morbid mentality, I’m in a reflective mood.  The last few months have been filled with a few lows but many more highs. The biggest low was the closing of my store MovieBrat. I opened the store in 2006 and it was a bold, perhaps even somewhat foolish undertaking. MovieBrat sold movies, books and posters. My goal was to create a store that was basically a headshop without the drug paraphernalia. A store that celebrated my love of films, books and images. A store where customers not only came to shop, but to exchange ideas about art. I wanted to create a kind of salon that generated an income. It was a unique concept and there was nothing else like it in Las Vegas. The first couple of years I actually did pretty well. I got a lot of good local press coverage and the public responded in a positive way. But the Great Crash of 2008 changed the Vegas landscape in a big, frightening way, killing major chain stores as well as mom and pop. Though I managed to survive the end of my lease, there was little point in renewing. Las Vegas, once the great boom town, had officially gone bust. Even now, I doubt that the city will ever return to its past giddy glory days. But life goes on.

Enter Raven Diablo.

My first novel, Raven Diablo: Agent of Kali, was published in December of 2010 and it remains one of the greatest triumphs of my life. It’s available on Amazon in both traditional trade paperback as well as Kindle. I began writing it in 2008 as I watched the national and local economies implode. In retrospect, I can honestly say that it was Raven who enabled me to maintain my sanity. As I watched both the world and my beloved business sink, the writing of my novel kept me afloat. The finished product was greeted with genuine enthusiasm by readers and that helped as well. I sold the novel in my store where I was able to gauge the impact up close and personal. Virtually everyone loved Raven, my dark, avenging superbitch with the heart of gold and a thirst for blood. There’s no way to describe the joy I felt whenever I sold a copy. And when customers asked for autographs as they almost always did, I was filled with pride. The biggest compliment was when a customer showed me her latest tattoo. On her forearm was my creation, Raven Diablo. I was stunned and remain so to this day.

Still, the dream of Raven breaking into the major marketplace eludes me. It‘s been said that in order to achieve the legendary big break, the only person you need to impress is the right person. Apparently, I’ve yet to meet that person. At least the person with JUICE enough to turn Raven into a comic book or game or action film franchise. Though I did meet my hero, Clive Barker, and that was a truly magical experience. I’d first met him years ago at a convention when I was still in the process of writing the novel. He was genuinely encouraging to me, telling me again and again that my efforts were “awesome”. I met him again a week ago at another signing. I went for the sole purpose of presenting him with a finished copy of the very novel he had encouraged me to complete. And when I showed him his name listed in the acknowledgements, he freaked out and gave me the warmest hug. A magical moment indeed.

Now, as I approach the first year anniversary of Raven’s publishing, my insatiable thirst for her entrance into the mainstream remains. I have a lot of new artwork and I’ve rebuilt her website. But sadly, I’ve come to the conclusion that I’ll probably never achieve that legendary, elusive big break for the simple reason that Raven is just not a mainstream work. It’s strange. The novel certainly isn’t like an abstract painting or atonal free jazz. There’s nothing impenetrable about it. The novel is about a female superhero and crime fighter. She’s a colorful character and there’s plenty of action. I set out to create an accessible, commercial property and I thought I succeeded. But now, it’s suddenly and painfully clear to me that I’ll probably never reach the wide audience that I seek. And it’s all because of what Raven represents. Like the title of the novel clearly states, Raven Diablo is an agent of Kali. She represents Kali consciousness. And that’s the problem.

One of the first people to buy and read the novel was a woman who often shopped at my store. She was intelligent, well read and contemplative. When she finished the novel, she  told me that she really enjoyed it. She also told me that as far as any kind of mass success, I was probably in for an uphill battle. She was correct in her understanding that the character of Raven Diablo stands in violent opposition to the patriarchal system that dominates the world. The Man runs the system, and he also obviously runs the marketplace. There’s no place for Kali consciousness in HIS modern world. The Man perpetuates the injustice that runs rampant in the world today, the same injustice that has stained human history with blood since the beginning of time. Kali destroys injustice. So clearly, Kali consciousness is something that must be suppressed and will be suppressed. Little wonder that most woman, particularly in the western world, know absolutely nothing about Kali and what she represents. It’s no accident. Like the song says, this is a MAN’S world. We tend to only know what HE wants us to know.

Now, having realized that I’ve inadvertently created a product doomed to be marginalized by the powers that be, I’ve decided to move on. There’s nothing else I can do. Raven Diablo exists. I created her and presented her to the world in book form. She’s available. But I’ll cease to actively promote her. Raven is a leaf that I now cast to the wind. As I wrote the novel, I often felt the presence of some spirit working with me. For that reason, I consider Raven Diablo to be a spiritual character. Like most spiritual things, the people who are meant to discover her will discover her.

So I move forward, but now in the realm of music. I’ve recently completed recording my very first recording project, a full length collection of original music. I’m a singer/composer and I play the keyboard. I would describe my personal musical style as Industrial Jazz… modern dance music for the brain as well as the butt. I’d like to think that my music is both accessible and commercial. Whether my music finds more success than Raven Diablo remains to be seen.

Stay tuned for updates.