20 APR 2024

19 APR 2024 · Those old sayings. Who what where when and how? Some of those old sayings are not only ancient but still carry an impact today. One of them? Money doesn't grow on trees.

19 APR 2024 · As the daughter of a music producer and drummer, Olivia grew up taking naps in guitar cases, playing around on piano keys and singing in vocal booths. At age 5, she wrote and recorded her first single, "If I Could Fly." At 13, she wanted to start taking it seriously and asked her dad to be her producer. They continued to record together through her teen years, and in 2021 she released her first album, "Silhouettes." While her parents supported her musical dreams, they emphasized the importance of education. During college, Olivia explored international relations & political science. However, music remained her priority. Along with music, Olivia has an eye for thrift shopping and anything '70s is her vibe, which aligns with her love for that era's music. She takes inspiration from artists such as Linda Ronstadt, Led Zeppelin and the Rolling Stones.

19 APR 2024 · Intimacy Coordinator Reveals How Sex Scenes Are Staged and How Actors Are Protected! From Basic Instinct to Call Me by Your Name, Coming Home to Fifty Shades of Grey, P-Valley to Outlander, sex scenes play a vital role in movies, TV shows, and plays spanning genres and subjects. Yet, as dramas and comedies increasingly reflect the reality of diversity, depicting acts of intimacy in a way that's genuine, affecting, free from entrenched stereotypes, and respectful to audiences and actors is a challenge. In The Intimacy Coordinator's Guidebook: Specialties for Stage and Screen (Routledge; April 1, 2024; Original Trade Paperback; ISBN: 978‑1‑032‑53147‑2), Brooke M. Haney reveals how intimacy coordinators use their cultural competencies and specialties in practice to create the most compelling storytelling. As Haney stresses, the job requires competency in the language of choreography - every move performed for the camera or a live audience, from a passionate kiss to a chilling assault, is meticulously choreographed, just like a dance or a fight scene - along with training in tools like modesty garments and props. In addition, an intimacy coordinator must possess excellent communication skills and the ability to read situations and respond proactively. What's more, every intimacy coordinator must find their unique lens. (For instance, some coordinators are specialists in bondage, whereas others are specialists working with minors.) The book features other intimacy coordinators' stories. It includes conversations with Olivia Luccardi (a producer and actress who played Melissa in The Deuce, the first television show to employ an intimacy coordinator), Tai Leshaun (a Black actress in Thunder Force and The Other Black Girl), Becca Blackwell (a trans actor, performer and writer), Jimmy Smits (an Emmy Award-winning Latino actor known for roles in TV dramas from NYPD Blue to Sons of Anarchy) and other Hollywood insiders who have worked on projects involving intimacy.

19 APR 2024 · When Ona Gritz’s adopted sister Angie disappears, Ona finds herself conflicted between being concerned and feeling indifferent due to Angie’s previous disappearing acts.  This all changes when Angie, her infant son, and her husband are found murdered, execution style.  In the new book, EVERYWHERE I LOOK (Apprentice House Press, April 16, 2024), author Ona Gritz recounts how, after struggling with her grief, she realized how many aspects of Angie’s life were misunderstood…or kept from her.  With an investigator’s grit, Ona embarks on an investigation to uncover secrets that could change everything she thought about her family.   All through their lives, Angie was always the rebellious and unwanted sister, while Ona was the golden child, who also suffered from health issues from birth.  Written as a letter to Angie, Ona is refreshingly honest about herself, doesn’t sugarcoat her actions growing up, and comes to terms with her role in Angie’s feelings of being unwanted.  At its core, EVERYWHERE I LOOK is a wildly fascinating, if heartbreaking, story about families and the secrets that lurk just out of reach. 

19 APR 2024

18 APR 2024 · Thanks for being part of the conversation I am the Poet In The Forest. A children series I penned out in the 1990s. None of it would be possible if it wasn’t for this forest in South Charlotte, NC. I talk about it so much that I thought maybe it’s time you get to meet all that inspires me. Thanks for being part of the conversation

18 APR 2024 · "You may think you know Dog the Bounty Hunter. Think again. This time, I'm writing my story-my way." Within Nine Lives and Counting, Duane "Dog" Chapman not only offers fresh perspective on well-known life events but also ventures into behind-the-scenes territory and backstories never shared publicly. This book sheds new light on: * memories of the painful events that shaped the author's childhood* the surprising hope he found in prison* triumphs and failures from his days as a single dad* lessons learned from his job as a vacuum-cleaner salesman* his story of learning to bounty hunt* and many other highs and lows from his life.

18 APR 2024 · Ron Keel’s RFK Media label digs deep to release Cold Sweat - “Unburied Alive” in conjunction with the band’s appearance at the 2024 M3 Festival May 5th. The foundation of this album consists of four unreleased studio tracks from the early 90’s, which showcase the band (Marc Ferrari & Erik Gamans, guitar – Chris McLernon, bass – Anthony White, drums – and Roy Cathey, vocals) delivering powerful heavy melodic rock at its finest. The lead track “Rain Down” is a classic-style arena rock working class anthem; “Unburied Alive” also features vintage concert cuts from their 1990 appearance at the Super Rock Festival in Mannheim, Germany supporting Whitesnake, Aerosmith, Dio and Poison, plus recent modern-era live recordings from their triumphant reunion at the 2020 Monsters Of Rock Cruise pre-party.  Ferrari founded Cold Sweat after departing the band Keel in 1989. The band released their acclaimed cult classic “Break Out” on MCA Records and toured the US and Europe before falling victim to the changing musical landscape of the 90’s. This collection of recordings proves that the music has stood the test of time, and the men behind that music plan to drive that point home when they hit the stage May 5th in Columbia, Maryland at this year’s M3 Festival, on the bill with Bret Michaels, Night Ranger, Y&T and Stryper. “We [RFK Media] heard these unreleased studio tracks and realized immediately, we have to get this music out there,” explains RFK chief Ron Keel. “Then we found out there were unreleased live tracks, not just from the 2020 reunion but from the 1990 festival appearance in Germany. It was like an uppercut to the jaw, a right cross and a body blow in quick succession, and we’re ready to deliver the knockout punch with this very special Cold Sweat release.”

18 APR 2024 · Fifty years to the month after Trouser Press published its first issue, Trouser Press Books has released Zip It Up! The Best of Trouser Press Magazine 1974 - 1984. This 440-page large-format paperback collects more than 90 of the best articles - profiles, interviews and histories - that appeared in the magazine fans have called "the bible of alternative rock" but had a broader mission than that. Sections on: . the 1960s. classic rock. glam rock. prog and art rock. reggae. the roots of punk. American punk and new wave. UK punk and new wave. post-punk Annotated with recollections and reflections on the changing times, the ridiculous business of independent magazine publishing and the colorful, complicated artists - illustrated with cartoons, covers, documents and ads from the Trouser Press archive - Zip It Up! is vintage rock journalism of a form that is no longer widely practiced: features heavy on historical detail and lengthy, probing interviews, all written with wit, intelligence and a willful expression of opinions and values. It is also an extensive document of rock's evolution from the 1970s to the mid-'80s, often capturing now-iconic bands in the early stages of their existence. By turns reverent, snarky, adulatory and cynical, Zip It Up! is a rich grazing ground for fans and students of music and music journalism.