MOVEMENT: ONLINE FEATURES

2012-02-11T08:26:00.000-08:00

DJ LORD

Imagine working a 9-5 job and within two weeks DJing overseas with one of the biggest hip hop groups of all time! That’s exactly what happened to Lord Aswod, better known as Dj LORD, from Public Enemy. He replaced Terminator X in 1999 and has been playing sold-out shows since. On top of that Dj LORD has won numerous turntable contests and is currently on the DJ Lord: Raising Hell tour. MOVEMENT MAGAZINE caught up with one of the hardest working men in hip hop for a chat…

So you joined Public Enemy on their tour in 1999, which is a huge deal. How did that happen and was it a big decision to stay with them? And were you intimidated by P.E.’s legacy when you joined?

It was MAJOR! Basically it happened in what seemed like the course of two weeks. My roommate (Rock Most) was doing production for Professor Griff and was told P.E. needed a Dj because Terminator X had just announced his retirement after The Smokin' Grooves tour. Griff heard of my rep on the ATL Underground DJ battle scene as well as DMC, ITF battles. Long story short, I came home from my 9-5 to find Griff in our living room. We chopped it up about the tour. I met Chuck shortly after. Griff got my passport expedited and I was on TOUR headed to Belgium with NO rehearsal.

The decision to stay was a no-brainer. I grew up listening to PE.. Chuck was and still is my hero.

I was very intimidated by it all but this was my big break. All that blood, sweat & tears plus insane dues paid? it was my time.

How did you get into turntablism?

I first got into turntablism in Savannah, GA, practicing with Dj Jeff Nice, Dj L-Trec, Dj Ally-Al 210 & Katoka. It's a small city so we all would build on what influences we heard on mixtapes, VHS tapes, television, ANYTHING, and basically spar. As time went on we all got better and went on to the other levels. Guess I was the Last Dragon of the clan.

Did your family play records when you were growing up? What are some of your favorite record finds?

My cousin Bernard in Chester,PA, played records as a Dj. He had the setup and all, which of course sparked my curiosity in the first place, which of course would get me punched out every time he would catch me messing around his setup! On Sundays my Mom would always play records while cleaning as well as my uncles throwing basement parties, so I have a unlimited amount of classic, funk & reggae songs in my head from childhood.

Do you remember the first record you ever cut/scratched/whatever?

The first record I skratched was “Rockit” by Herbie Hancock. The video possessed me.

You've won quite a number of turntable battles, how do you go about getting ready for one and what are some of the bigger competitions that you have placed in?

Getting ready for a Dj battle was always a warlike ritual for me. I would practice like a maniac, then back off, do something else like practice Kajukenbo (my Martial Art at the time), watch Animal Planet, eat a bowl of cereal, ANYTHING to re-set, then hit it relentlessly until the routine was tight. Which, of course, is never enough..heh. I've won a few DMC regionals, placed in a few ITF regionals, Kool-Mixx wins, Guitar Center wins. Constantly climbing that ladder

What kind of equipment do you use?

As far as Dj set-up I use two Stanton Str8-150s, an Akai MPD24 Pad Controller (Ableton) & a Rane TTM57 Mixer.

I read somewhere that you're also doing a little bit of dubstep stuff, any plans on sticking with that and do you feel like dudes like Skrillex are kinda watering down the music?

Actually I do a LOT of dubstep stuff. I was a member of Trillbass when I first started getting the feel and now damn near 65% of my gigs are dubstep-laced/requested. I think artists like Skrillex have taken MAJOR steps for dubstep. It's 'everywhere' now and it didn’t get there by a gang of people chiming in on chat boards etc... ranting on how much they 'hate' Skrillex. Cut the bullshit.

Do you feel any commonality with artists like DJ Spooky, Christian Marclay, Aphex Twin… guys with a more experimental, avant-garde take on turntablism?

Yup. We're all fam. They may have a different approach but it started with them playing with records to take the sound further.

Jazzy Jeff honestly doesn't get the respect he deserves but you've cited him as a big influence. Would you elaborate on this?

Simply put, Jazzy Jeff is the muthafuckin' man. I tell him this every time I see him on the road. He inspired me from the beginning- from the sounds to the equipment he used (at least from what I saw on album covers). I would spend countless hours trying to figure out his style

I know you used to frequent Jacksonville, any interesting stories?
Wayy too many to list here… Ask Matt or Steve.

What projects do you have lined up for the rest of the year?

Look out for The Dj LORD: Raising HELL tour (first show kicked off Jan 7th in Mobile, Alabama), my Dubstep cd Essential Kill ft. The Contraverse dropping in April, as well as a few upcoming collabs with Chuck D, Rock Most, Hulk & Dj Sagewondah,

Does Public Enemy have anything coming up?

P.E. just completed Operation Skid Row, a free show in Downtown L.A.'s Skid Row district. The goal of the free show Sunday was twofold: for hip-hop artists to perform gratis for skid row residents, and to spotlight the economic and political plight of L.A.'s homeless. We are dropping TWO albums in 2012, there is the PE exhibit opening on Feb.1st at The Grammy Museum and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, and a few world tours lined up. There are also plans in the works to tour with Cypress Hill... Stay tuned.

by JESSICA WHITTINGTON
FOR MOVEMENTMAGAZINE.com

DJ LORD performs TONIGHT at Phoenix Taproom
http://www.facebook.com/DjLORDofficial

2012-02-07T18:07:00.000-08:00

Movement Magazine caught up with Arthur Rowan who plays King Arthur in the Broadway show, Spamalot, which comes to Jacksonville next Thursday, February 16th

As a youth, did you aspire to be a Broadway performer? If so, did you ever imagine yourself in a Monty Python play? And if not, what did you think you would grow up to be?

"I got heavily into theatre in high school, but back then there was no such thing as a Monty Python 'play,' just the movies which I had already learned by heart. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine I'd have the chance to play King Arthur on stage."

As many of the cast members have been in an array of Broadway performances, what are the most notable shows the cast members have come from to make up the Spamalot cast?

"My favorite theatrical experience thus far has been working with the Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire. It gave me a chance to swordfight, sing, improvise in Shakespearean, and have memorable interactions with thousands of patrons. There is nothing quite so rewarding as giving a 4-year old girl a 'magic gem' that you paid 25 cents for at a party store, explaining it will bring her luck, and watching her face light up because she really believes in the power of it."

Seeing as you are the "leader of the evening,"have you always considered yourself a natural leader at heart?

"To be honest, I never really gave much thought to it. I do love being part of a team, and when placed in positions of leadership I mostlyjust strive to do right by the people who are counting on me."

What is your all-time favorite Monty Python character?

"Elizabeth Tudor as played by Graham Chapman on a motorbike."

If you could turn any of your favorite movies intoBroadway plays, which movies would you choose?

"It would be extremely challenging, but I'd love to see whatwould happen to Lord of the Rings or The Hobbit if given an imaginative directorand a huge budget."

What is your least favorite part of life in the Broadwayperformance scene? i.e. setup, travel, performing, etc.

"The impending sense of doom that comes from knowing you'llbe back pounding the pavement, looking for work again as soon as your currentshow is done. Stability is a very fleeting sensation, even for most 'successful'actors."

Are there any outrageous experiences that you have hadwhile traveling that you are willing to share?

"During Spamalot, there's one moment where I get to give a'shout-out' to any local celebrities of the town we're playing in. There havebeen a couple times when I met someone at the hotel or at the local mall whosaid they were coming to the show that evening, and I'd name them as one of thetown heroes during the performance, hoping I can give an extra dose of magic to atleast one person in the audience that night."

- by Jonathan Andrews/MOVEMENT Magazine.com

For information on Monty Python’s SPAMALOT shows in Jacksonville CLICK HERE or buy tickets now at www.artistseriesjax.org or call The Artist Series Box Office at 904-632-3373.

2012-01-05T11:23:00.000-08:00

Based on the best-selling 1995 novel by Gregory Maguire, WICKED, winner of 35 major awards, including a Grammy® and three Tony® Awards, is the untold story of the witches of Oz long before Dorothy drops in. One – born with emerald-green skin – is smart, fiery and misunderstood. The other is beautiful, ambitious and very popular. WICKED tells the story of their remarkable odyssey, and how these two unlikely friends grow to become the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good.

WICKED has “cast quite a spell” (Washington Post) throughout North America, breaking box office records in every city that it has played, including Toronto, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Washington, DC, Philadelphia and Boston to name a few. Called “a cultural phenomenon” by Variety, WICKED continues to thrill audiences around the world. There are currently seven productions of WICKED worldwide, including two North American tours, a Broadway production, a London production, a Japanese-language production, a German-language production and an Australian production. A Dutch-language production of WICKED will open in November 2011.

The MOVEMENT crew was invited to join the WICKED crew during one of the many days it takes to set up of the massive staging and publisher Max Michaels spoke with company manager Erica Norgaard about the show.

• • •

So Erica, one thing I was always quite curious about, with these type of productions. Because the setup can take days, when you're ready to go to your next city, Do you have multiple trucks that are traveling leapfrogging a set like this to the next city? Basically, how many productions are going on at the same time?

"Yes, we have thirteen semi-trucks worth of stuff. Three of them are duplicates. So, we have two dragons, and art displays that go on stage. And some electrical equipment. And those three trucks get to the city on Sunday, they start loading everything in on Monday. And the Rest of the trucks arrive on Tuesday Morning. It takes us two and a half days to set it up. And at the end of the run, it takes us about 6 hours to tear it all down, put it in the trucks, and then drive it to the next stage."

So there is basically three separate sets, but there is only one traveling cast?

"No, One set, but three trucks that have those pieces. One set of costumes, one set of props get trucked from city to city."

That is pretty Amazing. And what is with the awesome dragon? (laugh)

"Its sort of the thing that sets the tone for the whole show. You walk in and its the first thing you see, The dragon hovering over the stage with Emerald city sparkling in the background. Kind of, sets the tone for the evening of … you know … magic."

What do you think the most challenging parts of all those details, as far as a production of this magnitude.

"Well, its my first time in Jacksonville, so its always different to come to a city that I've never been to. I’ve been touring for a long time. So when you go to somewhere, like say Chicago, well I've been here like five times so I already know where everything is. Here I get here and they're like, 'Where do I park?' And I'm like, 'I don't know I haven't been here yet.” (Laughter)

How many in the cast, when you're on a tour like this, how many total [with understudies] would you say there are?

"We always have two understudies that can go on for them, so they are in the ensemble of the show. So, everyone has a back-up plan."

How many in this show are from the actual Broadway show, if any?

"Our Standby just came to us from Broadway, and there is a couple of others that are out with us right now. This group is ever-changing, its been changing out for about three years now. So a lot of the cast members had changeovers. Some of them have been with us for three years now, and some for only a couple of months. So it truly is ever-evolving."

So how long have you been with this show?

"I've been here with it for two years."

Wow, so you haven't really been home much.

(Laughter) "Nope!"

How did you become involved with ‘Wicked’?

"I went to school in New York and got hired by the company that manages the show. Then about seven years ago they sent me to Chicago to work on the show, so I've been working with ‘Wicked’ for about seven years now."

I have to say, the only off Broadway show I have ever seen was Evil Dead the musical. (laughter)

(Laughter) "Well maybe you should come see Wicked."

But are there flying monkeys?

(laughter) "Yes."

Then I'm in!

See more backstage and set shots on our Facebook page HERE.

• • •

WICKED returns to Jacksonville at the Times-Union Center’s Moran Theater from January 4-22, 2012 for a massive 24 performances. Tickets begin at $38.00 and are available at The Artist Series Box Office at (904)-632-3373 or online at www.artistseriesjax.org. VIP seats are also available for select performances. Performance schedule, prices and cast are subject to change without notice. For more information, please visit www.artistseriesjax.org

2011-12-16T07:35:00.000-08:00

Columbus, Ohio's very own Blueprint gained the attention of hip-hop fans with his collaboration on RJD2's song "Final Frontier" in 2002. After joining RJD2 for a couple of albums, they joined forces in Soul Position. The restless Blueprint is also a member of The Greenhouse Effect, which consists of himself and Illogic. Racking up a number of solo albums with Weightless Records and Rhymesayers he's been a staple of the underground hip-hop scene for well over ten years. While he's not producing albums for himself or other artists he's touring heavily. Traveling in Europe with the Family Values Tour, MOVEMENT got the chance to shoot him some questions...

You've been on tour for quite some time now with "The Family Vacation Tour", clearly staying very busy. What do you do in your spare time when you have a day off?

In my spare time I've been working on a lot of video projects. Last year I started messing around with video editing and I've been learning a lot about it and experimenting with it. I've got a few small video projects I try to work on to keep myself busy during down time out here. Either that or writing stuff for my blog at printmatic.net, but mostly video stuff.

I know with the Rhymesayers label you took a six year break between the 1988 album and the new one, Adventures In Counter-Culture, was there a reason for this? Do you still plan on releasing things on Weightless Recordings? You were rocking with Greenhouse Effect for a while back in the day, and then decided to do your solo thing, do you think you will do another collaborative in that vein anytime soon?

The main reason for the break in between albums was that I was unsatisfied with what I was doing artistically and wanted to something way more ambitious, but before I could do something more ambitious I had to have a better understanding of music. Unfortunately, it takes years to really learn about music and learn to write songs that aren't just rap songs. I was happy with the straightforward hip-hop stuff I was doing, but I felt like I had to have talent to do more, and the only way to do that was to take a break from releasing new records and really dedicate my life to learning about music, and following it wherever it took me.

I still plan on releasing things on Weightless Recordings, but last winter when I saw how much time I was going to be touring I decided that I needed to take a step back from my role in running the label. I talked with all the artists and slowly started shifting my focus to my solo career. Everybody involved was really understanding when they realized how long I had been putting out records but had never truly been dedicated to my solo career. I'd done many Greenhouse and Soul Position albums, as well as produced a ton of albums for other Weightless artists like Zero Star, Illogic, and Envelope, but I never really made myself or my career a priority. But with Adventures in Counter-Culture coming out I decided that I needed to change that and shift my focus, or else I would go my whole career not knowing what would've happened had I really pushed it as a solo artist. There were other roles I had to give up as well that were preventing me from concentrating on myself, so it was a gradual process of coming into my own and realizing that for me to be successful long-term I had to put myself first. I do plan on doing more Greenhouse albums this winter with Illogic though. I really enjoy working with him and it doesn't interfere with what I'm already working on.

I do plan on doing more Greenhouse and Soul Positions, hopefully next year.

Watching you perform live recently there was a definite branching out of the hip hop realm a bit, what influenced that and have you gotten any negative feedback from it?

I felt I had to change the live show to really do the album justice. Because Adventures In Counter-Culture is such an eclectic and progressive album, I felt like I had to do something really different and innovative onstage to match that, which meant that all the standard nuances of a hip-hop show had to go out the window as well. Not because I feel like don't love those things, but because I feel like I'm in a different place and I want to push boundaries and challenge people. All the people who come out to shows expecting me to do what I've been doing for years are taken aback by the new performance style, but overall it re-energizes them, and the way people view me now has completely changed. Before I was just a dope rapper, now people view me more as an artist who can and will do whatever the fuck he wants to do, which is what I feel better about. I hate feeling like I'm being safe, and the only way to ensure that doesn't happen is to constantly challenge myself in every area of my art.

I have been heavily influenced by rock performances more than hip-hop performances over the past few years, so that influence comes out a lot in how I set up the live show.

How are the dynamics of playing with a live band different from just having a DJ onstage? I noticed there were a lot of instrumental jams during the show and that isn't something you hear often during hip-hop sets. How did you meet your bassist Bobby Silver?

They dynamics of playing with a band are really different, mostly because whenever you do something live you introduce the potential for error. There are nights where I hit bad notes and although it sucks, it makes me feel more alive because I know I'm actually taking risks and that it's not programmed. The biggest advantage is that you can put together something really unique and one of a kind onstage. I can throw in instrumental jams and blend them into the vocal stuff and it feels like one cohesive piece--not just thrown together. It's really hard to create a set that's one cohesive, continuous piece of music with just a DJ, but adding instruments has allowed us to do that. At heart I'm a hip-hop dude, and always will be, so that mentality will be present in what I do, but now we can do so much more with it.

I met Bobby through the rock scene in Columbus, and from spending many nights drinking with him until four or five in the morning, back before I stopped drinking. He was in a band called Brainbow an incredible band that I've been a fan of forever. Me and his band collaborated a couple times so we've all been friends for awhile, and he always said that whenever I start incorporating live musicians into my show to hit him up. So when I started planning out the live set, he was the first cat I reached out to.

I gotta ask, what’s up with the keytar?

The keytar is my secret weapon! It was always something that I used to joke about bringing onstage for a hip-hop show, but they were always too expensive until the latest one came out with the Rock Band video game. I did some research on it and found out it could be adapted for my show and I brought it on tour with me immediately, without even really practicing that much at home with it. I just felt like it gave me something completely different on stage that kind of bugged people out when they saw it because it’s the last thing they’d expect at a hip-hop show.

Do you still write your rhymes shorthand? Like in a notebook or do you mostly just jot’em down on a smartphone or computer?

I still write all my rhymes in my phone. I used to do it on my Sidekick but now I've got a Blackberry. I haven't had an actual notepad in almost 10 years. It helps to be able to do it on the phone when you're touring a lot.

Growing up, did your parents play a lot of music in the household? Do you remember that first song that you heard that made you go, "Damn! This is awesome"?

Definitely. My parents played a lot of gospel and R&B in the house when I was growing up. I think the first song I really repeated over and over again was "Boogie On Reggae Woman" by Stevie Wonder. We had the 45 and I would sneak off into my room and listen to it on repeat over and over.

Who are some other lyricists that you look up to?

Always looked up to guys like Rakim and Saul Williams the most. I think they're both incredible writers but in completely different ways.

Anyone out there that you are looking forward to working with or want to? What albums or books are you into right now?

Not so much right now. I've been doing so much touring that collaborating with people would probably be very difficult. Hopefully I will do some music with DJ Therapy while I'm in town. He and I have been talking about it for a while, so once I get the beat from him it's gonna be on. Lately I've been reading a bunch of technical books about filmmaking and trying to learn Ableton Live so I can start incorporating it into my live show more. I would like to read more fiction but it's hard to find the time because I've been so busy reading all the manuals lately, trying to stay sharp and aware of the newer technology that’s out there as far as beat-making goes.

Knowing that you have played in Jacksonville a couple times, how have your experiences been so far in this city? Jacksonville has a very deep-rooted hip-hop scene and I’m always curious to hear about people’s opinion and experiences... And word on the street is that you have plans on coming back soon?

So far my experiences in Jacksonville have been great. It reminds me of Columbus in the way that it's a smaller market and how the acts in the city have great camaraderie. I already knew DJ Therapy (Paten Locke) from touring with him back in 2007 and we have been friends since, and I just met Willie Evans Jr, and I think he's a really dope artist too. It’s awesome that they come out and support me when I'm in town or just shoot through to say what’s up. I like the people in the city as well. Can’t wait to play there again. I'll be back Saturday Dec 17th @ The Phoenix Taproom.

http://www.facebook.com/events/203612666384154/

Interview by Jessica Whittington
Photos by Max Michaels

2011-05-13T12:59:00.001-07:00

1. Is this the first Cult Fiction convention?

Yes, this is the inaugural run for Cult Fiction Drive-In. However, Bob Slendorn (co-promoter) and myself (Ken Nelson) have been involved in conventions for years and years.

2. Who conceptualized the event and why?

I write for a magazine called Horrorhound and they throw these enormous events in the midwest, however they are catered almost entirely toward the horror audience. And similar events exist all over the country, however there really wasn't anything out there that provided that same sort of experience for fans of cult cinema in general beyond those who appreciate scare flicks. Bob conceptualized the idea of doing a 'cult' movie convention and approached me about joining him in the endeavor and I jumped at it. We envisioned it as a chance to not only bring in different kinds of celebrities that don't necessarily fit into the lineup at a horror convention or comic con, but also to highlight some of the less celebrated work - at least on a mainstream level - of different celebrities who often frequent such events.

3. You are from out of town (where?), so why choose Jax to hold it over cities like Tampa or Orlando?

At the time Bob came up with the idea for the show he was living in Port Orange, FL and Jacksonville just seemed to be a great central location to draw in fans from all the surrounding areas. Being in Northeast Florida and right off of I-95 provides easy access for fans to come down from places like Georgia and the Carolinas, as well as from Florida too.

4. Who is your favorite cult icon? (and will they be at the con?)

My favorite cult icon has to be Pam Grier - she's just been in so many classic exploitation films like Coffy and Foxy Brown that are a blast to watch over and over again. Not to mention her role under Tarantino as the title character in Jackie Brown - she's just such a great actress. And it certainly doesn't hurt that she was a badass and a beauty in those old grindhouse-era flicks. We're fortunate enough to have her at the show the entire weekend to meet with fans, sign autographs, perform a Q&A and more. We're also showing her best flick in my opinion, Coffy, on our outdoor drive-in screen Saturday night.

5. What is your favorite cult film?

There are so many that it's nearly impossible to choose. One of my favorites has to be Critters - it was sort of a Gremlins ripoff in the mid-80's that had this wonderful blend of sci/fi, horror, and humor - it's the kind of flick they just don't make anymore these days. I couldn't even begin to count how many times I've seen it. We'll also be hosting a Critters series reunion (yes, there are 4 of them!) at Cult Fiction Drive-In with Dee Wallace, Don Opper, and Liane Curtis in attendance. We'll also be showing Critters 2 on our outdoor drive-in screen Saturday night.

6. How has the pre-show response been? (are pre-sale tickets doing well?)

Ticket pre-sales have been great for a first-time show! There seems to be a lot of people excited about an event like this coming to Jacksonville - the community has been great at getting the word out there with lots of businesses going the extra mile to help out too such as Maverick's and EU Jacksonville.

7. If this convention does well, will you keep it in Jax for the next one - will there be a next one? Either way, do you promote events like this elsewhere, if so what/where?

Absolutely! We envision this to be an event that grows and becomes something that everyone looks forward to year after year. If the buzz we've received so far is any indication then I think we'll certainly be back in Jacksonville for many years to come!

CULT FICTION Drive-In
Underground Film and Cult Cinema Convention
at the Wyndham Jacksonville Riverwalk

May 20-22, 2011

Friday - 4pm-10pm
Saturday - 10pm-7pm
Sunday - 11pm-5pm

Get all the info at http://www.cultfictiondrive-in.com/

2011-03-05T07:23:00.000-08:00

We're here with the Edbot5000. First, thanks for coming out Ed!

"Thank you!"

You want to fill us in on your real bio? The bio from DeviantArt didn't say anything about you except you were drinking coffee and listening to angry music.

"I'm not into the artist bios. Every time I do one it comes off sounding like I'm a pretentious ass, so I like to keep them short and funny. I keep it simple. I'm a big comic book fan, quasi-collector, quasi-musician, quasi-art historian."

Pringle's or Lay's?

"The company Frito Lay?"

No, the crappy Lay's potato chips.

"Pringles, then. Definitely."

Where are you originally from? Are you the increasingly rare, 'Jacksonville native?'

*laughs* "Well, I've been here most of my life, but I was actually born in a small town in Indiana called Bunker Hill."

Bunker Hill, really?

"Yeah, it's like what Live Oak... well, maybe... no, definitely. It's what Live Oak would be to Jacksonville. One-street town in Indiana. I vaguely remember it, because it was like pre-school and kindergarten."

So the first five years?

"Yeah, about that. According to my folks, we spent a year or two in Arkansas, but I can't remember that at all. I think I probably blocked it out of my mind completely."

I don't blame you.

"Yeah, lucky me, I can't remember anything about it. So, a couple years in Arkansas and then my dad got stationed here when I was about six or seven."

Where'd you go to school?

"I'm actually surprised at how sane I turned out because there's a funny story about where I went to school. I actually, until eighth grade, went to St. Matthew's, which was a Catholic school."

I have scars on my knuckles from rulers at Catholic school.

"Yeah, I actually went there when the nuns were getting sued. I guess a nun slapped a kid in the face, so the parents weren't really down with that and sued the school. So I actually had a nun-less school my last year there. Pretty crazy. It was all like regular civilians there my last year. Nun-less."

I remember the order of escalations from Catholic school. There was like detention, then parent-teacher conference, then suspension, and then you went straight to hell.

"Yeah, exactly. Pretty much it. But I wasn't Catholic, so there was like me, and another group of kids that weren't Catholic either who hung out, kind of on the fringes. But we all went to Catholic school because our folks wanted us to go to private school, because it was a better school."

Was it?

"Allegedly, not really. So it was me and a handful of other kids that would hang out because they wouldn't let us take part in communion, or confession, or whatever... because, you know, they made you do stuff like that. We would just kind of hang out, isolated from everyone else, while the Catholics were doing the confirmation thing."

Isolated?

"Yeah, like gingers or something."

Were you already doing art in school there?

"I doodled a lot because my dad got me into comic books and stuff when I was really little. He'd always get like the ten for a dollar or the back-issues... then pre-screen them, of course, and then, you know. Give them to me. So I always doodled and was really into comics, but I didn't have any, you know 'formal' training until post-high-school. Because, actually, the second part of my weird school story is that for high school, I went to Trinity Christian Academy. So I went from Catholic School, to Fundamental Baptist... talk about a HUGE difference! So at Trinity art was like,

Wait, really? So you went from Catholic School to Fundamentalist Christian school and you were neither Catholic nor Fundamentalist Christian?

"Yeah, I know... anyway, at Trinity, art was like... banned, because it was the devil."

So you've already done your time in hell?

"Yeah, exactly! I pretty much went to where rich bad kids got sent my whole life."

Were you a rich bad kid?

"Nope, I was neither rich, nor bad. But people left me alone because I wore a trench coat one day to school and from then on everyone thought I was a Satanist."

For wearing a raincoat?

"Yeah, totally. And this was before the Colorado incident with the trench coat mafia, but they left me alone."

I can see the connection. Rain gear definitely equals Satanist.

"Absolutely. I wore the trench coat actually, because... do you remember the show back then? Parker Lewis can't lose? I wore it because of that sidekick guy. He would always pull all that stuff out of his trench coat and I thought it was cool with all his gadgets. It was kind of a TV rip off of Ferris Bueller. So everyone left me alone because I listened to metal and wore a trench coat. Never mind I wore it because I liked a stupid show."

Did you have long hair?

"No, they didn't allow it. It wasn't like a uniform like Catholic school where you had to wear the same thing every day, but it was a collared shirt, no facial hair, no hair past your collar, nice pants, and you know. So, not like a uniform, but still, you had to wear your hair a certain way."

Was it co-ed?

"Yeah, totally."

You get down with some fundy chicks? You know, since you were such a bad boy?

"I didn't do a lot of dating in high school."

They were all saving themselves for non-Satanist guys wearing Member's Only jackets or something?

"Kind of, but I was really fat and pimply in high school too, so that negated any 'bad boy' attraction that I could've had. I'm still fat, but my skin cleared up nice."

So I'm guessing from your body language and voice inflection that high school and primary school, not really the best times of your life.

"I don't remember them fondly. Not at all. When I got out of high school, I didn't even want to do the ceremony. I just wanted out, I didn't want to do the commencement, I just wanted out. Like, just mail me my diploma and let me get on with my life. I had some really good friends there, because I could kind of float between the cliques, but it definitely wasn't fun. It was, you know... like most high schools, run by the jocks and rich kids. Except with not as many drugs or shootings at Trinity... although there was a like, rumble in the parking lot, with like 40 kids from Trinity and then some from the public school. No one really got hurt..."

A rumble? Or like a ruckus?

"Definitely a rumble, but not like, you know, 'Warriors... come out and play!' or anything. Like a big brawl, but only like one guy from our school was the one that got beat up, no one really got hurt, just mostly pushing and shoving, but this one guy got beat, like took the brunt of all the beatings."

Did he deserve it?

"No, he was an okay guy, a decent guy... you know, well, he probably didn't deserve it. He was alright for a jock. No, I guess he deserved it. Yeah, he totally deserved it."

Alright, so what about the time after the 'bad time.' College? Any formal training in college? Where did you go?

"I did the FCCJ thing, I went to JU for a couple of semesters. My dad worked there, so I didn't have to pay the full-on private school tuition, but then when he left, I had to go to FCCJ. I was kind of directionless, like most people in school. Just took a bunch of art classes, went to UNF afterwards. Finally got out of UNF with my graphic design degree. Tried doing that for a year and hated it. After taking all the fine art classes and traditional art classes, working within those parameters was just, you know... I like design and I liked studying it, but you know, it was very rigid. Very structured. I worked doing freelance stuff for City Hall. I had a really bad experience right out of high school, when I got out, it was when multimedia was becoming the hot thing, so I just finished up this print-based degree and the very next year everyone was wanting multimedia guys. So, part of it was bad timing. They implemented the program the year after I left, so I was definitely on the 'blunt edge' of the graphic design program, you know? But I did do some freelance work, and I still do some freelance stuff now."

Well, you're definitely print-based now. I mean, it doesn't get more fine art than painting.

"Yeah, definitely."

What medium do you work in most often?

"Right now, just due to my lack of studio space, I work in acrylics, because it's not as messy. You don't have to have toxic chemicals hanging around the place like working with oils."

Do you prefer oils then?

"I actually like acrylics because I'm so impatient, but oils definitely have richer colors. More vibrant. But they take forever to dry. I just want to paint something and be done with it and move on to something else. So I'm definitely going to be sticking with acrylics for a while."

I like that some oil-based paints have arsenic in them.

"Yeah, if you're a angst-filled oil artist you can just off yourself in the studio when you're done with your masterpiece."

Nice. So, you canvas or board or what? I saw that you did an acoustic ceiling tile for Universe of Super Heroes.

"Yeah, a ceiling tile, that was Frankenstein. It was kind of like painting on canvas. It went better than I thought it would. It soaked up a lot of the paint like painting on canvas over wood. It had a nice texture and held the paint really well. I should be dropping that off this weekend."

Some quick work-related questions for you. Ready?

"Shoot."

Was Astaroth the head or belly?

"Pretty sure he was the head. I think the belly was like an independent, like mindless minion or something. The new stuff I'm doing, I like to do new stuff every month. Like the show I did last month was called 8-Bit Evil. Just trying to draw the bad guys from the old video games."

I loved the one from Contra. That definitely resonates with me. You know, everyone knew that boss.

"Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A, Select, Start."

Were the Contra guys gay?

"Yeah, totally gay. Lance and Bill? They wore matching outfits that didn't include shirts. Completely gay. It's funny though because all the stuff that was so macho-manly in the 80's and early 90's is so gay now. Like Magnum PI with his bristly mustache, Hawaiian shirt, and his short-shorts. Back then he was the epitome of manly heterosexuality, now... so he'd be so gay."

A bear.

"Yeah, exactly. Look at his mustache."

Speaking of facial hair, I notice your beard is pretty tame.

"Yeah, it's pretty low-key. My mom is from Taiwan originally and I had a chance to go there last year in April, so before I got on an international flight, I definitely didn't want to have a foot-long black beard in the airport with my complexion. It was definitely more paranoia than anything, but I'm sure it was a good idea. I mean, I never really noticed how big it was, but I look at pictures now and I‘m shocked at how big it was."

It was huge.

"Yeah, it was getting ridiculous. I mean, I guess I made the statement I was trying to make with the beard, but it's time for a change. Just moving on. It was ridiculous. I mean, I had to tuck my beard into my shirt to eat soup, or anything like that. I look at pictures and I'm like, 'That was so huge.'"

It was easily as big as your head. It was massive. It had its own gravity.

"You never notice it when you look in the mirror. But it was definitely getting out of hand, and once something interferes with my eating... sorry, got to go."

If you can't eat E-street beer-cheese soup, what do you really have, right?

"Yeah, definitely had to go."

Frankenstein's Monster... where are the bolts?

"I was definitely trying to do my interpretation of the monster. And I was scared to death of making it look like the Hulk. It's a big muscular green dude in my style, so it would definitely look like the Hulk so I changed my style for the painting. I thought about the bolts, but when I had finished the painting without them..."

It looks complete the way it is.

"I think so too. If I had added the bolts, they would have looked 'added,' and kind of cluttered it up."

It's creepy as hell, Ed.

"Thanks. I like it. I was happy with how it looked, so I didn't want to go back. I was more concerned about making the body look stitched together."

You can see the musculature under the skin.

"Exactly, I definitely wanted to make it look more horror than comic-book. Very sketchy. That's how I made him look, you know... NOT like the Hulk. I had never done a Frankenstein monster before, and my friend Nick did Bride of Frankenstein to hang up on the ceiling at Universe, so I wanted to, you know... complete the set."

Are you ready for a pretentiously artsy-fartsy question?

"Oooh, definitely yeah."

So, they say that eyes are the windows of the soul, and I notice your Frankenstein's monster has eyes completely shadowed and invisible. Are you saying that the monster has no soul? Or did you even think that far ahead to a hypothetical interview where you'd be asked this question?

*laughs* "I actually thought far enough ahead in that vein to think, 'I don't want to paint eyeballs because they're hard to do right' That's about how far ahead I thought, but I wanted to make sure that all my darker stuff, especially characters with the big brow, I usually end up putting their eyes in shadow because it looks right. Just maybe putting a highlight in there, but with the Frankenstein’s monster I didn't want to do that because I didn't want it to look like the Terminator."

Did you ever come up with a back story for your toons? Shyloh, Crabcakes, Claws, all those? And the Doom Floater... which incidentally, sounds like the toilet after Taco Bell.

"I get that a lot. I'm used to the jokes about floaters. I kind of have a story. It's about a dystopian future, you know, where reality TV has taken the place of just about everything. Shyloh is basically a bounty hunter, but the first female one, so there's a whole new dynamic taking place as she's filmed catching criminals or whatnot. It's like, the police have to not just catch the guys, but make it entertaining because they get paid by ratings. My problem is that writing isn't really a strong suit of mine, so I like putting the characters together, so I ended up with a storyline like a cross between the Running Man and Robocop. Everything's corrupt, corporations own everything, everything is about entertainment, instead of actually enforcing the law. But mostly, I like putting characters together, so I don't think much of the story and I just kind of left it there. When I was first starting to paint, it was darker stuff."

You keep mentioning 'dark stuff,' and I have to tell you, 'Shadowbot?' I want that hanging in my foyer like you wouldn't believe. It's freaking awesome.

"Really?"

Oh yeah, definitely. I love that stuff. The way you sketched it, the menace was like a punch in the gut. So, is that what you're talking about, or darker than that?

"I was doing more figurative stuff before. I don't have that kind of stuff online because I like to keep stuff current, but its definitely more expressionist stuff. Like German expressionist. Very dark. But then I took a break, working a lot more, and when I came back my style had completely changed. I hadn't picked up a paintbrush in years when I started getting back into it, around 2006."

Was it like riding a bike?

"I wish, but no. My style had totally changed. My drawings and paintings definitely have a more uniform feeling now. Before, when I would sketch, it would be comic book stuff and when I'd paint, it was a loose, kind of flowing abstract expressionism, but now, my sketching and painting are definitely more similar than different."

Tell me about the Mega-Girls.

"With the Mega-Girls, which are basically the bosses from Mega-Man, just gender-swapped. I had this image of the Metal Man as a girl and it ended up looking like one of the Mortal Kombat girls, which was pretty cool. I did that one and I got a huge response. I had always known that when you're doing online social network stuff, like DeviantArt, the response you get is always pretty fast. But whereas before when I was doing my own stuff, I'd always get some response, but when I did something that people knew, the response was instantaneous. It sucks that it took me this long to figure out, but as soon as I put a twist on something that people already knew, I got so much more response that it definitely shaped the next few pieces."

So it resonated with more people?

"Definitely. I read something that people in our age group, it's all about nostalgia. They want to see stuff that they've seen before. Something that reminds them of the stuff they were into when they were kids, you know?"

I'm just flattered you think I'm in your age group.

"I'm not too far behind you! But looking back, you know it's a big part of how people around our age look at the world. Nostalgia is a huge part of why I do this. Once I started doing Mega Girl, people came out saying, 'Do this! Do that! Are you going to do the rest of them!' and I got more hits on that one piece than on everything I had ever done before then. Now I don't even necessarily have to search for ideas. All the work's already been done, the characters, the Mega Girls, have already been designed, now I'm just putting my little twist on something that's already out there that people like. So I did all the bosses from Mega-Man 1 and 2, and I'll start on 3 as soon as I'm not sick of doing them anymore."

What do you mean?

"I was getting to the point where I would knock out three or four a day. I'm taking a break for now, although I'll get back to it soon. I think the reason they resonate with me as an artist is because that simple design, with the simple colors is so riveting. It helps to already have the design out there. I'm just making the Mega Man men into women. I'm not even the first person to do something like this, but I have to say that it's fun and I'm getting good response, so I'll keep doing it. I want to keep it simple, 8-bit character design. It helps me as well, with my characters. You know, you don't have to get so technical about it. You can make a very simple design that catches the eye and pulls the viewer in, you know? When you get complicated and very technical, you get wrapped up in fine details."

You're a musician too, so I know that you're familiar with the extremely simple hooks in music. It's the same thing then?

"Definitely. You get onstage, play something that's extremely difficult to learn, impossible to master, that's complex and subtle, and you play your heart out, look around and there's nothing but crickets. You play a three-chord song with a catchy hook and people fight each other to get on the dance floor. Four on the floor, three chords and you're done. Same thing."

MAre you trying to become a more commercial artist? Obviously you sell your work, so is that what you envision yourself doing?

"I'm not sure what my goal is, but I'm trying to get into certain markets for sure. I'm a huge retro-gamer, and I'm trying to get into collecting them. I have all the emulators, so I can play all the games I couldn't afford as a kid, so it's pretty awesome. It's awesome that there's the technology that lets me be a retro gamer in 2011."

Just throwing it out there, if you ever get a chance to draw the wasps from Yar's Revenge or Q-Bert's pyramids, let me know.

"Definitely. I've been looking at Atari stuff as a new focus. I definitely want to paint some Q-Berts."

It's very phallic.

"So much phallus, yeah."

Which brings me to 'Drill Robot Drill.' That could definitely go a couple of different ways... because where his drill is...

"Some people pointed that out. I tried to keep it subtle, really to just complete the shape. It was either going to be some sort of propulsion system or the drill, and people pointed out that it looked phallic. It wasn't gratuitous, so it wasn't bad. It's not like Ashley Wood where there's hydraulic pumps just hammering away in the groin area."

Over Your Shoulder, you described this a kind of dark self-portrait. Really? Where do you get you out of that? What were you thinking when you did that? Were you at a low point in your life or what?

"He's kind of wearing glasses. He's skinnier than I am. But definitely, without revealing too much, it was a pretty low point. When I was doing that stuff I was frustrated with a lot of things in my life. And you know, when I say, 'darker stuff' it means, like the characters. Just the concepts and stuff. At that point I was in my, 'I want to be Derek Hess phase.' So I was doing a lot of sketchier, looser things. At that point, I was doing stuff in all digital. I was just doing things that I didn't have to worry about making a mess, I'd have it forever, just print it out and there you go. That's kind of where my mind was during that time. Of course, you always come back to painting. There's no real way to replicate it, no matter how good the technology gets, there's something about having actual paints on and actual piece of art that you can hold and touch that's special."

So where do you see the fine arts going? Not necessarily asking for global trends, but like, here, in Jacksonville? We're sitting in Café 331 right now, surrounded by fine art, there's Art Walks all over the place with thousands of attendees, even the airport has a little gallery, are we in a fine art revival here in Jacksonville.

"The Art Walks, I can only really talk about the one here downtown, but they're always a blast. I have some pieces hung in the Art Center on Adams Street and I'm definitely the odd one out there. The other people are more traditional fine artists, my stuff is definitely the odd one out. There's a lot of good stuff everywhere now. There are a couple thousand people coming in there and it's great, after being in this for so long to see stuff like this bloom and then wither away, it's nice to see it coming back and getting some recognition."

There was a mini-revival in the early to mid-90's here, and now it seems like art is almost taken for granted in Jacksonville.

"Well, that's kind of cool. That there's enough artists out there working that you can take it for granted. I don't know if I see any real focus, it's mostly just chaos. Jacksonville is this huge place with all these different parts of the city where people don't really leave. Like people at the beach aren't going to cross the ditch. People in Mandarin aren't going to go to Orange Park. It's a strange town because people are stuck in their comfort zone, in their area, so they don't go anywhere. If you've got something going on, you have to get the people in that immediate area and then start getting people from slightly outside and then expand from there. I mean, if you grew up here, you'd know that you have to drive for 30 minutes to get anywhere in the city, but still people don't want to do it. People who think nothing of making an hour commute during the day to go to work, won't drive anywhere at night. It's weird that everything is so scattered. There's not any unified mentality to Jacksonville, there's just these little pockets of stuff going on, but each person's Jacksonville is right around their house and everywhere else is too far."

I live in Orange Park and there's people who won't go north of the highway for anything.

"I remember working at the Orange Park George's Music and people from Mandarin would call and say, 'God, I don't want to cross the Buckman to get there.' but really, it's like what? Four miles? I think it's more an aversion to bridges. If there's a bridge involved, forget it."

City full of vampires.

"Can't cross running water?"

Right.

"It's cool though, since it seems like there's more opportunity for people now. The library has a ton of stuff going on every month. There's some guys converting warehouses into music and art venues. It's a good time and lots of cool things going on, but you have to know where to look for them."

Okay... so let's say that you, beyond the wildest of wildest dreams, become the next big thing. Your characters, like Shyloh or Sickle or something gets a series or someone wants to make a comic book with them. How do you react to something like that? Are you actively pursuing success?

"That's interesting to talk to someone without using the phrase, 'selling out.' It's weird, because if you had asked me this before, you know, when I was younger and a lot more idealistic, I wouldn't do it at all. Now though? I'm ready. Let's do this. I'm tired of having no money. But, I don't know if I could ever just outright sell my characters off, you know? Like if I were approached and they would own the rights to my characters... unless it was some ridiculously huge amount of money that I just couldn't turn away. If someone wanted to take my characters and use them, it's tough, because there's always a part of me that used to look, like other artists, at their art as like, their children. They get so attached to them, you know? But at this point? If this is my career, I don't think I have the emotional attachment to my work where I couldn't let it go. I mean, there's definitely something there with each and every piece, but there's not enough of an attachment that I couldn't sell them. I had someone ask about the Astaroth piece, and they were like, 'Is that for sale?' and I said, 'Of course it's for sale. Everything I do is for sale!' Not even thinking like one of those artists that doesn't ever sell their work. There's artists out there that won't even SHOW their work because it's too private and personal part of themselves."

That's always annoyed me at gallery shows, 'NOT FOR SALE.' Why the fuck not?

"Exactly. Why are you showing it in public at all then? Is it just saying, 'Look how good I am?' It's kind of weird, unless its a show where the pieces have already been bought and it's part of someone's collection and they're showing the piece just to, you know, round out the collection so there's enough to fill the gallery. I want to understand why someone would show a piece in a public setting like that without wanting any kind of compensation for it. I mean, words are great, yeah, but words don't pay bills or put food on the table. I'm at the point where I'm not as young as I was when I started, and I'm definitely not as idealistic as I was, so everything I do is for sale. Everyone has a price, and the term, 'selling out' doesn't mean as much to me as it did when I was younger."

Well, the phrase 'selling out' is really overused. If you're still doing what you want and no one is telling you what to paint, then you're really just 'selling art,' not selling out. Having art with commercial appeal doesn't mean your art is shallow or 'not art.'

"Take the Nintendo stuff, the video game stuff. That's easily my best-selling work. I've sold almost a dozen pieces of the small pieces. The stuff that sells for me are the small ones. I sold some stuff to a gallery down south called Bird & Bear Gallery, it's part of Tate Comics. It's huge and really supports local artists. Those guys know everyone. Check it out. It's like a 6000 square foot comic book store. A lot of the artists, like lowbrow guys... artists that you'd see in like Juxtaposed, they're friends with them down there. The artists do like fixtures and sculptures for the store. It's awesome. If you're a comic book fan, they've got it. Everything."

Awesome. I'll check it out.

"Bird and Bear, amazing stuff."

I have two more questions about your work.

"Okay."

So, how close are Sickle and her Friend? Are they like BFF's or what? She clearly has both hands full of sickle... is she steering with her thighs or what?

"I'd like to think it's a telepathic bond or something. I'll go with that. Keep it kid-safe. I drew that because I was thinking about video games and how all these bosses are just floating giant heads. It didn't really make sense, so I wanted to show who's driving the giant floating head. I want to get some stickers made of that, which is why it's just 2 color. The video game stuff has been very well received, so I'm going to try to get my original stuff out there in the same vein."

I noticed you're doing a lot of stuff for bands, like flyers and so on.

"Yeah, definitely. That's one way to get it out there. That's how Derek Hess got big. With band flyers. It has to be simple too, because no matter how good the art is, you need to know who's playing. Also, I've been really wanting to get into the rock band poster thing as well, since it seems like it's coming back. When I get some studio space I definitely want to get a screen printing machine so I can make some t-shirts and stickers and whatnot. That's something I'd really like to get into. I haven't done it yet, but it's definitely something I want to try. I want to get my stuff out there in as many different formats as possible, just cover the world with stickers and t-shirts and flyers. I mean, that's the way to self-promote, 'Here's a free sticker with my art on it' and it cost me a tenth of a penny and I just made a lasting impression on someone who is going to talk me up to their friends or buy something themselves. I want to make some sticker business cards as well. There's so much I want to do and it's a matter now of just getting it done."

Last question, how high is the Cyborg Barbarian Chick?

*laughs* "It's probably after-effects of the drugs from getting that mace put on her arm and caffeine. She's definitely a fun one to draw."

I'd like to see more of her. That goofy grin and her wild eyes standing in a circle of the heads of her enemies or something.

"You know, actually, that one, for an original character, got a ton of response. A guy, like some stranger I didn't know on DeviantArt, sent me a message and asked to draw her. That was really cool. I've never had anyone fan-art me before. That was really nice, it definitely gave me some validation that something I imagined struck a chord with someone to the point that he wanted to emulate it. I've been watching a lot of Thundar the Barbarian cartoons, and before it got goofy, that used to be one of the most amazing cartoons before they added all the silly animals and stuff. They had these hand-painted backgrounds that looked like a whole team of genius artists worked on the background for weeks."

I remember those. Then they had a six-year-old draw the actual cartoon on.

"Yeah, exactly. I want to do something like that with Cyborg Barbarian Chick. Just put her in front of those amazing backgrounds so she really pops out at you. Some kind of apocalyptic thing like that, just something goofy that could go anywhere."

So, you do commissioned artwork, right?

"Yeah, definitely."

So if people want to get in touch with you, how would they do it?

"You can email me directly at edbot5000@yahoo.com or go to my DeviantArt site at www.edbot5000.deviantart.com. You can always catch me on Facebook as well, Ed Dansart, or go to my Blogspot at www.edbot5000.blogspot.com. If you forget all of those, just Google search EdBot5000 and there I am."

Thanks a lot, Ed. Any final words?

"Umm..."

I don't mean 'final words' like, I'm not going to kill you or anything.

ED - *laughs* Thanks for clearing that up.

JAX IDOL WINNER

2010-08-06T12:40:00.000-07:00

Every year local Jacksonville promotions company Encore Entertainment produces on JAX IDOL, a singing competition formatted much like American Idol, drawing in dozens of auditioners vying for a space in their coveted top 12 and competing each week to win the title of JAX IDOL. One such IDOL is Mark Laduke who took last years grand prize. MOVEMENT spoke with the winner and panel judge in the 2010 season ...

1. Are from Jax (if not, where from and how did you end up here.)

"I was born and raised in Jax. I will be moving up north in January however. I'm not really looking forward to the weather!"

2. When did you first discover your voice, and do you recall the song?

"I actually think my mom first discovered my voice. She would always have me in the school talent shows when I was really little. I guess my first performance where I discovered my voice was in first grade when I sang "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands."

3. Have you had any professional training prior to competing?

"I have the most amazing voice coach in the entire world. Her name is Lorna Greenwood. I've been studying voice with her for 5-6 years now. She's not only an excellent musician, but she's become a close friend. She's drastically improved my voice and performance skills. And she's given me 100s of performance opportunities over the years. There's no way I could have accomplished my music goals without her."

4. How did you first hear about and get involved with JaxIdol?

"A close friend of mine also involved in the singing community around Jax called me up last spring and was like, "Hey there's this contest coming up called Jax Idol..." A few months later the competition wrapped up and I was fortunate enough to have won. I had become very good friends with Josh (the CEO of Jax Idol) after the competition and we would talk about American Idol for HOURS. He mentioned to me a few months after my season wrapped up that "I would make a really good judge." So, he invited me on the judges panel. I was honored."

5. Tell me what the best and worst aspects were of being in the competition.

"I'm really trying to think hard about the worst part, because there really wasn't anything I disliked about the competition. I guess it would have to be putting hours of work into a performance, and then not getting the response you wanted from the judges. The best aspect of the competition was the performance experience. You can't get that kind of experience anywhere else in Jax. It was priceless."

6. How has winning JaxIdol effected your life and career?

"I've really noticed a change in my confidence after winning. It really gave me the mindset of "I can do this." I would have never been able to try out for music college. The competition also helped me learn A LOT of new songs for me repertoire that I use at all my gigs."

7. What's in the future for you now that you have won? Do you have a web site for fans to follow your progress?

"Well, I am very excited to be judging this season of Jax Idol. We just wrapped up auditions and I was pleasantly surprised at the talent we saw. After this season wraps up, I will be moving up north to go to the Berklee College of Music. I'm really hoping that the music environment up there will teach me a lot and help me grow. I have several studio recordings on myspace.com/markladuke. And some videos (including my audition video for Glee) on youtube.com/markladuke."

JAX IDOL is currently happening every Saturday through early October at Cafe 331 in Downtown Jacksonville - www.331jax.com

COLD CAVE

2010-07-28T12:33:00.000-07:00

COLD CAVE
Replies to questions by Wes
from Matthew Moyer

Tell me about the creative transition from playing guitar-oriented music with American Nightmare and Some Girls to making music as Cold Cave – it seems as much personal as it does aesthetic for you. What was it that drew you to making electronic music? When you sat down with the synthesizer for the first time, did sounds come to you immediately?

"Really it was just that I never wrote music before. I never played a guitar or bass really because I can't so off and on through my life I would become mildly obsessed with synths or an old piano. I started making music because I wanted to make something myself without relying on others and it came out electronic."

Did you enjoy bands like Depeche Mode, New Order or Sisters of Mercy when you were younger?

"Yea of course, younger and older. For me bands like New Order, the Cure and the Smiths growing up spoke to me."

What was your reaction when Matador expressed an interest in signing you? Are you pleased with the job they did on the “Love Comes Close” reissue?

"Thrilled because some Matador records were really important to me and one of the aspects of the label that I appreciated is that it wasn't defined by sound to me but by individuals, more so than other labels."

What does the material you are writing now sound like? When can we expect a new album?

"I'm recording now and not sure if I could say exactly what it sounds like. I know live the songs make more sense to me when played a bit more aggressively and I'm sure the new album will reflect that. It probably won't be out until 2011 sometime."

What does Cold Cave live sound like as opposed to on record? Are you able to do things with the songs live that you can't necessarily in the studio?

"It took a few line up changes and re-interpreting the songs publicly to get it right. I don't think we played a good set until about a week into our last European tour in May. The songs come off heavier live really as there are actual drums and more layers of synths and noise."

What sort of reactions are you getting out on tour in places you haven’t been before?

"I feel really fortunate, you know, we've become better, our shows have gotten better, and there are more people at each show and we recognize people from before. I don't know really what to say, it seems like the more we enjoy ourselves the more the crowd enjoys it."

Would you talk a little about the songwriting for Cold Cave? Do sounds and melodies come to you quickly? I like how you keep it simple in the songs - I can imagine fingers punching out every keyboard line, etc...

"I'm kind of in the middle of writing and recording now and am a bit neurotic and losing sleep so I guess that is part of my process. Pulling hair, chewing nails, self-loathing, frustration, little celebrations, nervous neighbors."

How has the writing process for Cold Cave changed, from early on when it was mostly you and now that you have a group of collaborators. Are they taking an active role in composing songs?

"No its just me still."

Do you feel able to express yourself more effectively (either lyrically or sonically) with Cold Cave?

"I don't know, maybe, maybe not. I don't want to really compare it to a previous band because its just a different time."

What are some nonmusical influences on the band?

"Life, love, regret."

How did you get the Radio Shack commercial? Were you pleasantly surprised on how it turned out?

"That was Matador. Yea I think when you sign up for things like that it could go any direction and it was fine by me."

Between Heartworm and Cold Cave and your nonmusical writings you must be working on art and music most every day?

"Yea just trying to write for Cold Cave and lately when I'm not doing that 5 try to take my mind off of everything with movies or just traveling. Since the band started touring a lot I've found it really hard to be home or somewhere for too long so we just keep moving."

Do you have any other projects or happenings in the offing?

"Not so much at the moment, just the new LP."

Do you have any long-term aims or goals with your art and your music? Or do you take these opportunities as they come?

"Yes, I have personal ones that I don't always realize I have. Really I want to provide in a way that others have for me."

Interview with SPLICE writer and director Vincenzo Natali

2010-05-20T13:14:00.000-07:00

Science and mankind often collide on the big screen with typically devastating results, be it our haphazard nuclear testing that brings rise to giant city smashing lizards or the mad doctor mending up pieces of corpses to build the first zombie in his lab, movie goers thrill to the spectacle that our own indifference to both science and our environment can cause. In the new feature film SPLICE (Warner Bros Pictures) writer/director Vincenzo Natali (director of 1997's THE CUBE) carries on this legacy beginning with a morally questionable act by two notable genetic pioneers Clive (Adrien Brody) and Elsa (Sarah Polley) who are eager to add the human genome to their DNA zoo on which they have built their fame splicing together new species to be harvested for life saving cells. But, as all good horror films go, the experiment quickly spirals out of control as the two find themselves raising in secrecy a new genetic human-hybrid that they can neither understand or control. This morning I had the opportunity to speak to the proud director about his newest creation.

Thanks Vincenzo for taking the time to speak with me. I saw the film a couple of days ago and really enjoyed it. We look forward to helping you get the word out about it.

"Well, you know its my baby, so I'll take help wherever I can get it!"

Indeed, and we're happy to help. You wrote and directed SPLICE, where did the concept for the script originate?

"The very beginnings of it, the kernel of it, came from a mouse of all things. But it was a very special mouse because it appeared to have a human ear growing out of its back."

I recall that story.

"It was a 1996 M.I.T. experiment called the "Vacanti mouse" [a laboratory mouse that had what looked like a human ear grown on its back. The "ear" was actually an ear-shaped cartilage structure grown by seeding cow cartilage cells] and it was just such a shocking image I immediately felt there was a movie in that mouse, and that's where it started."

I've read that it took you some time to write this script, anything in particular cause it to take so long?

"Aside from being a very slow writer, it had a lot to do with the fact that the movie has this sexual component to it that's quite frightening to a major Hollywood studio, it was a bit intimidating and weird, and yet the movie was never going to be a very low budgeted film because I had, at its core, very expensive effects in the creature DREN, so that was one issue. I think the other issue was that when I started on this it just wasn't part of the popular consciousness, people weren't really thinking about this sort of thing. In the interim years the science kind of caught up to my fiction and it suddenly became very topical. The movie technology evolved as well to the point where I could do something like this more inexpensively, and ultimately I made the film as an independent movie in the best possible way because I had total creative freedom. But the price to be paid for that is that it took a very long time."

That is impressive to have made it independently with the high quality of the visual effects and star names like Adrien Brody attached. Did you fund this out of pocket or find backing?

"Well, I have a brilliant producer from Canada named Steven Hoban and he is the one who really put all of the pieces together. The film is a Canada-France co-production, in fact the world's oldest film studio out of Paris financed the movie, a company called Gaumont. Of course sex wasn't an issue for the French at all, they thought it made the film more commercial [laughs], so I really had the best of all possible worlds because I made the film essentially with FinalCut, you know, complete control, and then when the movie was finished and screened at Sundance we had the very good fortune of Joel Silver picking it up and distributing it through Warner Bros. And so we have a major studio release!"

As you were writing this did you consult with geneticists on the probabilities of what DREN would look like if you put species A, B, C, and D together, or was her design more from the imagination?

"Well, there's definitely a degree of imagination involved."

Certainly!

"I did co-write it in consultation with a geneticist and what I discovered was there wasn't really any need for me to exaggerate all that much, that in reality truth-is-stranger-than-fiction and that many of the concepts that I was dealing with were entirely feasible. So I made it my goal to make the science in the film as close to reality as possible and to make my creature as biologically plausible as possible. I wanted DREN to be a creature that we believe could really exist, and everything we did in terms of her design was aimed at that goal. So in terms of what DREN is composed of, actually the thought is that its many different things, she's mammal, amphibian, reptile, plant, bird; you name it, but all these things combine to make something greater than the sum of its parts, so that even though she has these components, its not really obvious when you see her, they combine to make up something new and different. So I felt we had a lot of flexibility in terms of exactly what her various attributes would be."

I recall in the film, as your scientists were splicing and dicing you revealed different icons symbolizing the creatures that made up the experiments, but not for DREN. What is the combination of DNA that spawned her?

"At the end of the day, the idea is, that with their genetic voodoo Clyde and Elsa have accidentally triggered what's commonly refereed to as Junk Genes, which are dormant genes that all of us have which are left overs of evolution, so in fact even Clyde and Elsa don't know exactly what's in DREN because there are parts of her that are truly a mystery to them. And that's probably why they don't know exactly what she's going to become, which forms the dramatic spine of the film, its how DREN evolves through the course of the story."

What is your personal opinion on human cloning? For or against?

"Let me put it this way, I think that humans from the very beginning have changed their environment, and so now that the technology exists I have no doubt that we're going to start to change ourselves, maybe even partly out of necessity as our environment changes. I think its all going to happen, I just hope that it happens in a responsible way. And that's really what the movie is about, its taking responsibility for the things that you make. I will say also from the time that I spent in real labs and meeting real geneticists that these are extraordinary people, they are really heroic, courageous, dedicated individuals. You know they're not rich, they're not making a lot of money doing this kind of research, they're doing it because of their love of the science and because they want to help people."

How long did you spend in real labs, and was there anything you saw or learned that had a major effect on the script or storyline?

"We were very careful in the making of the film to really replicate what those labs looked like, even though they are not very attractive spaces, they are very industrial and functional ..."

Hey now, some us find industrial places very attractive!

"In some ways it is, yeah, depends on what you like. But there is a tendency in Hollywood films to sexy them up, to make them look very high tech and slick ..."

C.S.I.?

"Yeah, exactly. But that's not really the truth of it, and I intuitively felt that the audience would know that as well and what was really going to be shocking and exciting about this film was the sense that this kind of thing could really happen. I have one experience to that I have to say, it didn't inform any of the specifics of the story, but informed my general feeling about this work which was I remember being in a fertility clinic and seeing a pig fetus that was only a few days old, it was composed of less than one hundred cells, it did not have any blood yet, but it had a heart, or at least the beginnings of a heart, and that heart was beating. I was really struck by seeing that life-force in such a raw form, there was almost something mystical about it to me, almost something spiritual. I was really moved by it and I think that said something about the nature of DREN, because she is a magnificent creation, and things go wrong, but that has very little to do with the way she was designed, she's actually quite likely a step up on the evolutionary ladder, something really extraordinary and beautiful, and its really just the way she is treated or the situation in which she finds herself that causes things to go badly. My point, is that life is an extraordinary thing and if there were any single thing that were to make me believe that there is a higher power, it was seeing that little fetus."

OK, last question and it is a two-parter. 1. what is your favorite mythological human-animal hybrid, and 2. if you could go to a cosmetic geneticist and have something changed or added to you, what would you have spliced?

"OK, one ... off the top of my head I would have to say Medusa, for so many reasons, but mainly because I think its the idea that she is repellent and yet attractive at the same time is very intriguing to me, much like DREN our hybrid. And in terms of what genetic augmentation I would like ... if there is a gene that makes money? I think I need that one! I could sure use it."

You and me both sir! Well, hopefully this little experiment you've spliced together will take care of those woes for you! We wish you the best of luck with it.

"Thank you, it was really a pleasure speaking with you."

Thank you Vincenzo for your time and for such an entertaining film. SPLICE opens in theaters on Friday, June 4th nationwide. For more information visit the official web site
http://www.splicethefilm.com/

THOMAS DEKKER - DREAM JOB

2010-04-26T11:45:00.000-07:00

I've watched the career of Sci-Fi staple and voice over veteran Thomas Dekker for some time now, in his short career he has amassed an impressive list of credits from guesting at a young age on Star Trek: The Next Generation to his staring roll in the FOX series TERMINATOR: The Sarah Conner Chronicles. This summer he adds another trophy to his growing list of iconic roles as part of the scream-scene cast in the Hollywood resurrection of Wes Craven's classic horror juggernaut A Nightmare On Elm Street. This 'new nightmare' is another in a line of re-envisioned franchise restarts cast in the same bloody vein as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Friday the 13th by Michael Bay's production company Platinum Dunes. Where films like 'Chainsaw' surpass their elders in style and story, others like the latest 'Friday' leave throngs of die hard gore fans disappointed and angered over the hack job their characters suffer. So what does the boiler room hold for us and young Mr. Dekker? I spoke with him this morning about stepping into a dream job and coming face to face with one the most famous horror icons in history.

Hi Thomas, tell me first off if you are a fan of the original series and then how does this remake compare? How much can you tell us?

"Well I can tell you that I'm horror obsessed in general since I was a kid, so of course I knew 'Nightmare,' I knew all of them, I have the box set, my two favorites were the original and 'Dream Warriors.' I grew up on all these sort of horror movies. So I had just got done doing a movie called 'All About Evil,' which is a sort of horror cult send-up, the day I came back from that I auditioned for this. And you know that I've done reboots and remakes before, my TV show was a reboot, I kind of get nervous about how its going to pay homage to the original work, and I have to say as we were shooting it, mind you it was this big beautiful production, but I wasn't real sure how it was going to turn out in the end; then I saw the finished cut finally a couple of weeks ago and I have to say I was very impressed and pleasantly surprised. A lot of the iconic moments have definitely been recreated and done justice, but also I think that there is a kind of elegance to it that maybe was lacking in the original movies. I think that everything from the actors to the pacing of the film is very elegant, and A Nightmare on Elm Street as a story is deserving of that, so I'm very happy with it."

This film does seem packed with notable young stars, a horror brat pack.

"Definitely, and I have to tell you man, when you do a horror remake you don't expect to be in the company of such talented people, all of us around the same age, it was really an honor to watch all these actors do their thing because they are all really, really good at what they do."

Jackie Earle Haley has to be one of the creepiest people on screen, how was it working with him in and out of the Freddy character?

"He's the nicest dude! In fairness, Kyle Gallner (Quentin) and Rooney Mara (Nancy) had more to shoot with him than I did, most of my stuff was with Katie Cassidy (Kris), but in the brief stuff that we did shoot together he was great, but in any case it was just weird in a way, rather than scary. It was weird to be around him in that make up and running from him because I watch the original movie so much, even though Jackie's portrayal is totally different from Robert Englund's its like you are in a movie you've watched before. That's a strange sort of feeling, to be Freddy's new victim."

How was it working with first time director Samuel Bayer? He's well known for directing music videos, you being an emerging musician did you pick his brain?

"Sam and I got on really well, and I really like him a lot. Sam is, and I'm sure he'd say the same thing, he's a lunatic, but in the most beautiful wonderful way. He's got this incredible energy and extremely passionate, I think certainly because it's his first film. He's a master at visuals and that was sort of second nature, but I think he became more interested in performance and pacing and score and maybe all the things he wasn't so used to? because being a music video director, and for one as great as he is the visuals are going to come naturally, but everything else was really his passion project. You gotta understand, even with the large budget we had, this was a pretty tough shoot; there was a lot to get, and a lot of expectation and high standards to meet of course."

Right, you have an entire built in fan base looking at every thing you do with a critical eye.

"Exactly! I remember there was a sequence that ended up being cut and replaced with a different one, but there was one that involved a lot of extras, like 100 something extras, and it was a party scene, I remember we were mid-shooting, I think it was only the third week of making the movie and there were certain extras who were already making up their own assumptions, saying things like' Why is Katie Cassidy playing Nancy? She's blonde and Nancy was a brunette.' and Katie isn't even in that role, Rooney is playing Nancy, so there was all this sort of weird minutia that you realize as you're making it and the level of pressure from everybody. Sam dealt with all that very well and very gracefully and I really liked working with him."

So how long do you last in the movie? Do we get to see much of you are you an early victim?

"2 1/2 minutes!" (Laughs) "Its really fast."

In the opening credits, eh?

"Opening credits before you even see Jackie's name!" (Laughs) "No, I'm in it for plenty of time, I'm around the third to go. I was in Chicago for the whole two months of shooting the movie, my stuff was spaced out shooting over that period, so I was there for the whole time but had a lot of time off and that's when I made my new record on my laptop in a hotel room."

So its all done?

"Yes! We just finished mixing! But I have to be sort of elusive about this, because we're going in a new direction with the music that I think will surprise you. We're going to have to wait and see on that one!"

Well, then, that mystery will have to be solved in our next interview! See Thomas Dekker in A Nightmare On Elm Street opening this Friday April 30th nationwide. You can also pick through his body of his work on his Internet Movie Data Base page and keep an ear out for his new album!

www.nightmareonelmstreet.com/

MOVEMENT ATLANTA

2010-03-07T17:31:00.000-08:00

Look for free issues of MOVEMENT around Atlanta GA in Urban Outfitters on Ponce (pictured) and various shops in Little 5 Points.

Out of This World

2010-02-08T10:25:00.000-08:00

There is little better than getting out of town unless it is to experience the Out of This World exhibit of costumes and props from the greatest Sci-Fi films and TV shows of all time at the Orange County Regional History Center in the heart of Downtown Orlando. A concise collection of original costumes and props including Star Wars, Star Trek, Batman, TRON, Blade Runner, Terminator, Highlander, Indiana Jones, Enemy Mine and even the Wicked Witch's hat from the Wizard of Oz.

The exhibition opened this past Saturday, February 6th with much fanfare and the courtyard leading up to the museum filled with Ghostbusters vehicles, K.I.T. from Knight Rider, and a souped up Delorean from Back to the Future along with a rather convincing Marty McFly and Doc. Spider Man, Deadpool, Batman, Iron Man, Darth Maul and slave-girl Leia also made their appearances throughout the day.

This is an absolutely essential show for any geek, dork, comic book guy, or nerd, but its great fun for everyone and entirely family friendly. Just watch what you say once you're inside if you're a sci-fi novice, some poor fool made the error of admitting to his girlfriend that he had never seen Blade Runner within ear shot of our nerd posse. Warp speed FAIL! After the chorus of dramatic gasps had died down he was summarily chastised for his egregious sci-fi shortcoming and instructed to go right home and rectify it.

I'm as green as Greedo that Orlando has such a great museum that constantly welcomes such amazing geek-friendly exhibitions, the last was the career spanning Jim Henson experience featuring his earliest pre-Sesame Street commercial works to props and puppets from The Dark Crystal and Fraggle Rock.

Take it from me, a road weary dork, it is well worth the journey no matter what quadrant of the galaxy you're from, but don't delay, you've only got until May 16th to set your coordinates and engage at Warp to see this unique one of a kind exhibit!

Find out more here:
http://thehistorycenter.org/exhibits/outofthisworld

COMIC-CON-PLUS

2010-01-12T17:43:00.002-08:00

Borgs and Jokers and Furries, oh my! Chris King is living up to the spirit of the iconic Superheroes that he promotes every month with his local charity based COMIC-CON-PLUS which many people have been showing their geek off at. Its Jacksonville’s version of the BI-MON-SCI-FI-CON and has been fairly successful at its attempt in proving there is a market for a stable con scene in Jacksonville. One factor in the success of COMIC-CON-PLUS has been corralling vendors that offer what many fans have been missing out on at comic conventions of late … COMICS! The other factor, it all goes to benefit his non-profit organization that is focused on assisting the homeless.

Few have tried valiantly to put Jacksonville on the Con map, but even with a bursting marketing budget and top dollar celebrities most have not outlasted their first initial success to carry on in any tradition. But his started small and offered a die-hard fan base a rare outlet to build on along with the support from practically every comic shop in town. Yet, in the midst of this relative triumph, our hero faces a dilemma with the costs of such a production zapping his powers and hindering the forward momentum of his cause.

So, our intrepid hero has taken the Con on the move and is searching for a new not-so-secret headquarters. I talked to Chris to find out its future.

What inspired you to create Comic-Con-Plus?

"I am an artist, and I also needed some type of fund raiser for my non-profit for the homeless, so I combined my two talents of art/comics and the non-profit."

When was your first Comic-Con-Plus?

"June/July of 2009."

Give us a brief description of what the Comic-Con-Plus experience is like.

"We have a wide selection of dealers/vendors that sell anything and everything from 50¢ comics to expensive rare comics. Also action figures and every kind of toy, memorabilia and collectible. We giveaway dozens of prizes in raffles. When you pay for admission you get a ticket, and the ticket is used for the raffles. We give out passes to places like Dave & Busters, Adventure Landing and food from CiCi’s pizza and SONIC. We have free shaved ice and cotton candy for the little kids and offer hot dogs and sodas for sale."

Comic-Con-Plus is hosted by The Least of My Brethren, a nonprofit organization focused on assisting the homeless, which is also your project, correct? Tell me more about that and what does it do to help the homeless?

"The way my non-profit operates is; we wander the streets of Jacksonville and surrounding areas looking for people sleeping under bridges, in back alleys, and in doorways and give them food, a change of clothes and other things such as soap and toiletries. We also support many local shelters by finding and donating food and clothes."

The costs at the hotel your Con was being held at was cutting too deep into the expenses, so you're moving it. What is the plan?

"The hotel was putting me in the red every time. We will be at the Glynlea Grace Methodist Church for 2 more shows at the most, we need to find a place where we can have it on Sundays, since most of our best customers can only come on Sundays, its their only day off during the week!"

When are the next shows?

"January 27th, 3pm to 8pm at UNF in the Student Union Building ROOM 3806 and February 6th, 10am to 3pm at the Glynlea Grace Methodist Church.

Is there a cover charge and how much?

"$5 entry."

Is there an age limit?

"No age limit."

To keep up with dates and locations or reserve a vendor table for Comic-Con-Plus, or discover more about the Least of My Brethren mission visit http://comicconplus.webs.com/

TERA PATRICK

2010-01-12T17:43:00.001-08:00

Adult film star Tera Patrick, the only girl that has ever been on the cover of Playboy and Penthouse in the same month (Feb of 2002), reveals more than ever with her first tell-all book "Sinner Takes All" and a nationwide book tour. I had the chance to chat with her about the writing process, advice in the industry, and life after porn.

What made you decide that now was the time to write your story?

"It was a good time, after 10 years in the industry, I figured this is the time to write it. Because I’m in a new transition in my life, the book basically goes from childhood to present day, which includes my divorce. I wrote the book in 2009 with author named Carrie Borzillo. I figured I’m leaving one industry and going into a new one, so why not do it now?

How did Carrie get involved and what was the writing process like?

"Well, I had contributed to a book that she had written called Cherry Bomb, I did a little section in there on threesomes. We got along really well, and after I had done the initial phone interview, she marched into my office; now you’d have to see Carrie, she’s like 5’2," 90 pounds on a good day, she’s this tiny little fiery girl; and she goes ‘I need to be writing your book!’ and I just said OK! So we Okayed it with Gotham [publishing], then she would come over and it would be a couple bottles of champagne, a tape recorder and that would be the book session."

Sounds like the best way to write a book.

"It was the best! But it is hard to write a book, because you start talking about all kinds of personal things and things where you think; do I really want people to know this? But when I sat down I thought that I needed to tell everything. I have one chance and may never write a book again, this is my only chance, and so I was not going to hold back."

A true tell-all eh? Nothing left out?

"Nothing left out! The first chapter begins with me waking up in a mental institution, oh no, there was nothing left out!"

What led to Margaret Cho writing the forward?

"I had a show on Playboy radio on SIRIUS called Rock Star Porn Star, and basically she was a guest on my show and we clicked and we hit it off and became friends, so I thought why not have her write the forward, another powerful sexy Asian woman!"

As someone that will likely influence a lot of girls who may be entering the porn industry, did you keep that in mind when writing the book?

"Well, the book is a lot of different stories from my whole life, but I’d hope that for anyone who reads it that they take away some inspiration. The book definitely talks about some of the mistakes I made when I first got into the industry, because there really is no book that says ‘hey, this is how it goes, this is what you should do.’ I’m hoping that my book will do that and maybe prevent even just one girl from making the same mistakes I did. I do give advice in the book, for girls wanting to get into the industry which is to treat the business like a business, to not get caught up in all the partying and the craziness, and never sign anything without an attorney."

That seems to be good advice for any profession, doesn’t it?

"Really, yes. Not just for business but for life. This book is about life. This isn’t about porn; it’s about life in porn, life after porn, life before porn. There are people that know me from that, but there are people out there that know me from all kinds of different things I’ve done. I’ve lived a very good life and I’ve had the opportunity to do many, many things besides porn and that’s another reason why I wrote the book, because I’m out of that industry now and doing other things and my fans will follow me wherever I go … hopefully!"

I read mention that your career nearly derailed early on. What happened?

"Well, it wasn’t drugs. I never got into drugs, but I signed a contract without an attorney with a video company very early on in my career that I did not realize owned my intellectual property. So that was the turning point, something that almost derailed my career. I wasn’t going to be able to work as Tera Patrick and I had to go through a two year litigation to get that back. And the fans never really knew that, they never knew the struggle that I went through to stay in the industry to continue to work so they would still have Tera Patrick, because Tera Patrick could have disappeared in 2000 when all this happened. But, I got my name back and opened up my production company TERA VISION."

And that was with your husband, yes?

"My EX-husband, right. I was married to a musician and we divorced this year, which is how the book ends. The afterward is about the divorce and how liberating that was for me. Gosh, I think the next book I write will be a guide to divorce, A-Z how to get divorced and still be a lady!"

Have you had any regrets starting the company with your then husband?

"I was VERY happy starting my own production company, and I don’t want to say ‘oh I regret this, I regret that’ because there are things that I don’t regret, I just wish that would have been possibly more informed. I wish that I had known more about business, but that just comes with time, I’m still educating myself today and learning things about, not just the business I that I was in, but about the businesses that I am still pursuing. And it is tough, when I first started my company people were just like ‘oh, she’s just talent, she’s just a porn girl, what could she do?’ and I had to prove them all wrong!"

Is it hard for a woman to find that level of respect in the industry?

"I think that’s just with women in the work place in general, but for me I am just speaking from my own personal experience in the porn industry. I mean I think women, we’ve all come a long way, even though we weren’t ready for a woman President – which I was – I say for President we get Jessica Simpson and Suze Orman, Jessica can distract all the evil people out there and Suze can make all the decisions. But, I think in my industry, because I had been a performer everyone was willing to take meetings with me, when I was pursuing crossing over I was taking meetings at big companies but they weren’t serious. People just wanted to meet me and sit down with ‘Tera Patrick.’ So I was dealing with a whole other level of trying to get people to realize that I was serious about doing business. That’s why I only started taking meetings with women and gay men! [LAUGHS] So that was my experience early on in the business, and now I have a lot of great people in various industries that I have built up my name and relationships with."

Has being labeled an Asian adult film actress been positive or negative?

"I think its definitely been positive. I’m very proud of being Asian, I was raised in America, I talk about it in the book, I was raised by my father not my mother, who is Thai, so I don’t speak Thai and I feel like my ties to the Asian community are that I’m pretty much the J.Lo of Asian girls. There is not really an Asian actress that Asian girls look up to, and I remember when J.Lo came along all the Latin girls were like ‘Oooh we got J.Lo.’ When I go do my signings or when I’m out and about Asian girls, all kinds from every country, always come up to me and say ‘Oh Tera we love you! You’re our favorite!’ so in a way I think that made me successful. The stereotype of the typical girl that was in porn was blonde hair, blue eyed, big boobs and I was tall, lanky with black hair and brown eyes, and people really saw me as something different, which is why I think I became so successful so quickly. I was against the mold."

Being in the industry you are, and with a title like "Sinner Takes All," are you a spiritual person, and If so, do you see yourself as sinful and how do you bridge those two opposing words?

"[LAUGHS] Well, I was going to call it ‘Winner takes all,’ because I have successfully done what I wanted to do and I’ve done it all on my own terms, and that’s pretty much my motto for life; go get what you want and do it how you want to do it. Carrie Borzillo came up with the title, she said no ... you’re a sinner because you do porn; people are going to think that anyway.

But you know, I am very spiritual. My mother is Buhhdist, I was raised to be free thinking and free spirited, my parents didn’t force religion on me, but I go to the Buhhdist temple every week with my mother and I do lots of praying and meditation. I don’t want to sound too holy, but I’m down with Jesus. I have a very good relationship with God.

I’ve made so many people happy, and a lot of people have been effective positively by the things that I’ve done. I’ve done signings and people have come out and held up signs that say ‘I GET MINE AT HOME’ and I‘m like well, then go home and get it! What are you doing here with me? I’m not going to give you any! Go get it from your wife!

That’s what’s so great about this country, we can be whatever we want, where as I’ve been to countries where people are tortured and persecuted for believing what they do. I think its great that here we have the means to be what we want to be but don’t force that on anybody else. I think that people who have to aggressively press their views in any extreme is them being uncomfortable inside with who they are and expressing that outwardly to people they want to show their resentment to. Be it you’re gay, a dancer, a porn star, whatever. That has to do with how they are inside. It is really sad because you can’t judge someone based on what hey do, or how they look. And when people jump down my throat about porn I say; ‘Look, you’ve got to be 18 to look at porn, if your kids get into porn then that’s something you need to be monitoring at home!’ Not to get up on a soapbox, but everyone is looking for a scapegoat."

Now that you have retired from porn and done this memoir, what is next for you?

"I am actually opening a burlesque show, that I will be the star of, in Las Vegas. If I had to describe it, I’d say it like Pussycat Dolls, traditional burlesque, mixed with Cirque du Soleil. There will be aerialists and all, it will be a very big production and I will be the star of it! Otherwise I’m still very active, I’m doing a lot of modeling, I’ve been learning how to DJ and plan to tour."

Tera Patrick will be in
Jacksonville signing copies of
SINNER TAKES ALL
January 22, 2010
at
Books-A-Million
1910 Wells Road
Orange Park, FL
at 7pm.

www.teravision.com

_____________________________________________

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