|
I'm Nick Kelly, one of many Nick Kellys out there in the world wild web, but I'm the only ME that you'll ever know, and most folx are thankful for that. I'm a musician, a writer, an artist, a motorcycle rider, a hockey fanatic, a horror movie lover, a father, a husband, a son, and an overall lunatic. I've got some good stories so far on this wild ride I've called life and more comin' seemingly everyday, so hang out, pour yourself one up to the brim, and buckle up for safety.
It's going to be a fun ride.
more
|
Most people who know me know my love of the horror film genre through its many iterations. There are so many instantly recognizable horror icons; Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee, Barbara Steele, Bela Lugosi, Boris Karloff...Claude Raines. But of them all, if I had to pick a favorite, it would most likely be the delightful Vincent Price.Among his many talents, Price was a gourmet chef, a stage actor and an art collector. And so, in my pursuit to emulate the man I'd consider an entertainment hero, I decided to repeat something Price did in his lifetime. Cook a gourmet meal? Purchase a Rembrandt? Take the stage in a dramatic one-man show? Nope, none of those things.I bought a bug zapper.For those who remember Price's brilliant Citibank commercial circa 1985, the image of Vincent smiling with glee at the deaths of insects is priceless. For those who don't, it's linked here.Now that the shows are behind us, Division is hunkering down to get the final sessions recorded and begin editing the upcoming CD, Control Issues. We've made sure to record video of some of the sessions, and we'll be posting a recording diary blog on the official and MySpace sites.In the interim, it's repetition to cut down time on the clock once we're there. Special thanks to everyone who made the show at Mac's The Club last month. It's the last one for at least four months. See you guys on the web or maybe at Jaxx?One Love,nKLabels: Division, Jaxx, Macs the Club, MySpace, nK, Vincent Price
And so I have survived five days in Vegas, and one night in Essex, MD.I'm not sure which was harder on my health.Vegas was an interesting combination of experiences. Let's see if I can recap the agenda as accurately as possible. Monday, I flew out, landed, checked in to the Venetian, and headed up to meet the impromptu band, Sales Machine, for a five-hour rehearsal. It was pretty grueling, but it gave us a few rays of hope that we might actually be able to pull off the gig we were scheduled to play.Tuesday started with a two-hour rehearsal before team meetings and the best introduction to a sales conference I've ever seen. We had a flag ceremony and welcomed the athletes from the Special Olympics that the company is sponsoring this year. After a few hours in meetings, it was one more rehearsal, after which, we felt like we actually had a chance of not sucking too bad.Wednesday included meetings and classes all day, after which, we headed to the big room to prepare for the gig. When I say big, picture a convention hall. This place was HUGE. There were eight soccer matches going on as part of a round-robin tournament. There was food, beverages, air hockey, human bowling, pool, ping pong, a batting cage, and more...plenty more. In all, there was somewhere around 2200 people in the room.The stage setup was unbelievable. There were two separate risers (drums and keys), a big screen TV, great light show, as many mics as we needed, six monitors and even tele-prompters, which we didn't use because we're idiots. haha. We played a 45 minute set, with some issues opening and closing songs cleanly, but in all, it was pretty damn good.A few songs on the list: The Heart of Rock n' Roll, I Want You to Want Me, Jenny (867-5309), What I Like About You, Twist And Shout, Money (That's What I Want), I Feel Good, Papa's Got a Brand New Bag, Secret Agent Man, and Soul Man.As you can tell, we were all over the road. We had two guitars, drums, sax, bass and two vocalists. (And yes, Malena, your tambourine got to play Vegas!) It was fun. Everyone seemed to appreciate us, since I didn't pay for a drink the next two nights. (And didn't have another one for two more nights after that! haha)The rest of the conference went well. I was pretty much beat by Friday. We got up at 6 am Saturday (to the sound of a few guys and a paid escort in the next room) and flew home. Only, I didn't fly home. I flew to BWI, met the guys in Division and played a gig with Black Widow USA. Many thanks to the great support we had there, plus the Sudafed, Excedrin and Usana vitamins that got me through the show.It's so great to be home. Today is all catchup time (479 emails!), so anyone who dropped me an email or MySpace message, standby. I'll get back to you soonest.One Love!nKLabels: Division, Sales Machine, Usana, Venetian
There was a five-week stretch last year that included a very odd sequence of shows for me. Apparently, that full moon is back again, because April is proving to be a very strange month for this performing artist.Tonight, Just Wanna Play scrapped rehearsal for recording, and it was a productive (if way late) kind of night. We got the music recorded for six songs, with a few more and vocals planned for the next session. This means the long-awaited new demo will be available soon, so keep your ears tuned to the JWP MySpace page.Now, the weird stuff. I'm supposed to be doing a guest spot on someone else's show this week. I don't want to ruin the surprise, but I'll mention that it's a band that hangs out with Division A LOT...and it's a very appropriate tune for us and them. So that's Friday night (at Jaxx). Then, here comes the big news...I'm playin' VEGAS!Yep. I'll be singing and playing guitar (guitar, not bass..eek!) at a sales conference in Vegas that includes roughly 4500 people. It's with a made-up band, and we get one rehearsal before the gig. Expect horrible things, but I'm excited. I've never played Vegas before. Maybe I can channel some Dean Martin and get all boozed up and be the next big star. Or, I could suck. Whatever works.I fly back from Vegas on the 26th...with four hours to spare before I'm supposed to be on stage with Division. That show is going to be fun. It's a CD Release Party for Black Widow USA, and we're doing a new cover, and a song we haven't done in a few years. I expect a fun, and tiring time.I'm not sure yet if it tops last year's stretch, which included a bar gig, a car show, a gig at an elementary school, and an open house for a custom home builder, but it's going to be a fun month. Be safe and be well.One Love,nKLabels: Catwalk Black Widow, Division, Jax, Just Wanna Play, JWP, nK
I'm still working on edits of Catwalk:Lineage, including a fresh visit to some vampire scenes. It's always fun to try and figure out where your vampires fit in the grand scheme of fang-toothed evildoers. In this case, I think Lineage minions (not the elders, they're different) fit somewhere between the hordes in Underworld, the colorful beasts of Vampire Hunter D, and the feasting brood of 30 Days of Night. They certainly don't have the elegance of Anne Rice's brood, that's for sure.They have the Underworld fashion sense, and feature lots and lots of guns, that's for sure, but a different education. So, at any rate, Cat's story is wound around a vamp war in book two, and it's a lot of fun.Also in the postmortem category is the subject of one of the upcoming Division songs. I'll go as far as to confirm rumors that we do indeed have a zombie song on Control Issues CD. Previews will have to wait, but if you want a glimpse into how your might sing it, go watch Romero's Dawn of the Dead.From a writing standpoint, I got introduced to F. Paul Wilson's series of Repairman Jack novels. Good stuff.Okay all, you're supposed to be writing, marketing or being generally productive right now. Don't let me interrupt.One love!nKLabels: Anne Rice, Catwalk, Dawn of the Dead, Division, nK, Repairman Jack, Romero, vampires
This post is going to be totally random...no, not totally, but enough that it makes very little sense to anyone sober. I logged into my obligatory MySpace page (yes, you have to have one if you're in a band, write, act or are a webcam chick). I got to see an in-screen scene from the new Indiana Jones movie, "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull". Is that for real? I don't have a problem with a 60+ year old guy cracking a whip and beating on fake Nazis, but the title? Did they go dumpster-diving behind J.K. Rowling's mansion?That title is pretty weak. Right along the lines of, oh, I dunno, Attack of the Clones? That doesn't work for a multi-billion dollar movie franchise if you ask me. Not when there's a Nickelodeon game called Jimmy Neutron: Attack of the Twonkies. It's bad. It's comical. It's like the Tribbles on the old Star Trek. Or like when Frank Drebin from Police Squad would get a towel thrown in his face and wrestle with it for twenty seconds like an Alien facehugger.Skip that. That wasn't bad. That was priceless.So, where the hell is the title of your blog coming from, Cat? Oh yeah. Division is playing on Saturday night at our club sweet home, Jaxx. We'll be on stage with some very thrashy and heavy bands, including Arsis, Veil of Maya and Skeleton Witch. We'll also be following our buddies in Cab Ride Home...slightly unsober since 2006.So...if you were one of the Hollywood folks churning out remakes or rekindling old movie franchises, what would you call your latest project?One Love...nKLabels: Arsis, Cab Ride Home, Division, Indiana Jones, J.K. Rowling, Jaxx, nK, Veil of Maya
I can't explain it in detail, but let me tell you this...the upcoming artwork for the Catwalk novels is going to blow you away. Michal, one of my selected artists, has decided on a sort of facelift for Cat that makes him perfectly horrific. I can't wait to unleash him on the public!In the interim, it rests on those of us here at CatKlaw, Inc., to solicit some agents for publication, or to simply self-publish. In the growing digital age, literary publishing is so much like musical publishing, it boggles the mind.Division had our photo shoot for our newest CD, Control Issues, due out over the summer. Check out Mike Gong's amazing work, and then hit our MySpace page to let us know what you think!
Division's first show of 2008 is March 15th @ Jaxx. Click anywhere in this paragraph for a link!One love,nKLabels: Arsis, Division, Jaxx, Mike Gong, nK, Shadowflood, Sybir
Ok, the edits continue, including what I think is the most powerful scene in the first book, Catwalk:Messiah. I had to make a few passes at it. I hope it translates well. Poor Cat, I've made him suffer quite a bit. I'm 25 pages away from the first round of edits being finished, but it will take a few more nights. I've hit the end of my editing ways tonight, and tomorrow night...Cloverfield! Sybir has been awesome throughout, completing her massive daily regime and helpin' me with Pupzilla, who has been fun and tiring over the last few weeks. We had a chance to check out Eddie from Ohio on Saturday night which was fun. It was good to hang with bandmates from JWP.
Speaking of JWP, we'll be back at Bogey's on Feb 2nd. Bring yer dancin shoes! Division continues to record, as we go through more revisions of artwork and photography. Standby for updates on that! Ok, time to go shut down the brain for a bit. Best to everyone and Happy MLK Day!
One Love!
nKLabels: Catwalk, Division, Eddie From Ohio, JWP, nK, Sybir
As I eagerly await my turn at recording my parts for the new Division CD, I'm still pounding away on the classwork and preparing to edit "Catwalk: Messiah" for consistency and adrenaline. I like what I have, but every time I read J. A. Konrath's blog, I feel like I'm in grade school again. The most recent post had me howling.2008 has entered with a bang, and Sybir and I decided on a new tradition for ringing in the new year. Hopefully we can continue it. If I could say more, I would, but this is a family show.Speaking of, I had a chance to write about schools of crime causation for a paper in class. That was a fun week of researching, drafting, editing and re-writing. I wound up handing in a 2000-word piece on Albert Fish. Read the linked article if you want to read about a gross killer and massive sexual deviant. This week is a team paper week, so I'm limited to mentioning Armin Meiwes, the German cannibal, but I take my shots where I can get them."Dexter in the Dark" was a great follow up to "Dearly Devoted Dexter" on my reading list. Now, if Showtime will get to releasing the Season Two DVD, I can get caught up on the show as well as the books.No real goals or resolutions in this post. I've been far too scattered to have that degree of focus. That changes this week, since I have so much to do!One Love,nKLabels: Albert Fish, Armin Meiwes, Catwalk, Dexter, Division, J.A. Konrath, Jeff Lindsay, nK, Sybir
"Don't waste your breath. Don't waste my time. If I hear one more excuse, I'll lose my mind."- Lowen & NavarroThat's good stuff, isn't it? I love powerful lyrics. Friday night was a marathon night with JWP. Sunday night was an impromptu gig with Division. In all, not bad, and I'm glad work was slow enough Monday that I could recover.I love music that holds a message and just sweeps over you like a wave burying a sandcastle. I got hit with one of those from an unlikely source. I was watching Scrubs, Season Two. There's an amazing episode ending including a musical number and a character named Elaine. Those who are familiar will already know where I'm coming from on this. Those who don't, go buy Scrubs from Season One on DVD and start there. You'll like it.Catwalk is up to his helmet in trouble in the third book, "Catwalk: Mercy Killing". Progress is going better than I'd expected. Prostitutes, Russian assassins, political ambitious, arms dealers and more....stay tuned :)Have a great holiday everyone. If you're traveling, stay safe!One Love!nKLabels: Catwalk, Division, JWP, Nick Kelly, nK, Scrubs, Sybir
Division and I had such a blast Friday night, playing our last show of 2007 and playing host to a great band. We had the honor of playing at Jaxx (last time till March, kids!) and it was the last date of the U.S. tour for what-the-hell-do-you-even-call-them band, Therion. The easiest way to explain Therion is this. I have no idea how it works.The band features four vocalists, two male and two female, and an instrumental section that makes its living kicking people in the head. The music is heavy and straightforward, and the vocals provide such a myriad of textures that you simply don't know what's coming next.Minnesota-based Aesma Daeva was Therion's touring partner, and they are a damned laugh riot. They interrupted the encore by appearing on stage with a cardboard boat, plastic viking helmets and axes. I thought I was going to cough up a lung, I was laughing so hard.Locals Burning Shadows and Almost Human opened the show and really set the stage for us. We were so thankful that every band played and mingled without ego or incident.Special congratulations to the contest winners; Candy Caine, Alicia Smith and Suzanne Glover. It was fun to finally break out "The Collector" on people.Now, it's November, which means more NaNoWriMo. Time to get back to writing episode THREE in the Catwalk series, tentatively titled "Catwalk: Mercy Killing". More to follow.One Love!nKLabels: aesma daeva, Catwalk, Division, Division contest, NaNoWriMo, nK, Therion
Happy Halloween everyone! It's that time for one of my favoritest of favorite holidays, and as much fun as it's been, it's just getting waylaid in the storm of all that is going on. We're on what amounts to Day Five of our Halloween celebration, including parties, Trick or Treating, more parties, Candy, parties...well, you get the idea.Pup is the coolest Optimus Prime of all time. Far cooler than the crappy Gorilla version in the last few years, even cooler than the original, trailer with Rolly and all that. He wow'ed and dazzled everyone at my day job last night, and was spoiled as a result. Shocker.Tonight is the culmination of our Halloween celebration. More Trick or Treating, and then I'm off to see Lizzy Borden on his new tour. Should be a riot. Cant' wait to see Jaxx tonight. I'll be there again Friday for Division's gig with Therion. We get to close up our "Dying to Be in a Division Song" contest that night, so it'll be a good time.School is fun and exciting. Trying to fit in the reading and posting has been a little challenging with all else going on, but it's nice to be back in a learning environment. Not that I'm not always reading and learning for my day job, but now it's double the workload.It's also 12 hours til we kick off the 2007 version of NaNoWriMo. The Third Catwalk book is on its way!Ok, busy is as busy does...or was that stupid. Ah, either way. One Love!nKLabels: Catwalk, Die to be in a Division Song, Division, NaNoWriMo, Nick Kelly, nK, Transformers
Special thanks to everyone who made our Bottles and Throttles Charity Event the great time that it was. I had a chance to meet some wonderful people, and got a lot of support from a number of different organizations.The weekend with the other Lou-Evil Psycles was up and down and a lot of fun. The ride was incredible and the weather couldn't have been better. We had three groups including a host of MC's, and I really enjoyed the camaraderie we shared, sport bike and Harley riders alike. Raider and the boys from the NoVa chapter of Military Veterans MC were great. They have an event on December 8th. If you're local, please support them.Apparently, recovering from the weekend is going to be hard for some of us. The truck for the Psycles broke down on the way back to Louisville. I managed to get pummeled a few times by a wasp or yellow jacket or something, so I've got a swollen left hand. I then tried to manuever the house late last night and crashed into a glass picture frame, so I've got bandages and Benadryl for a couple of days.Now that it's all behind us, it's time to focus on the next few things. School starts for me tomorrow! We have a Halloween party to prepare for, and Division's gig on November 2nd with Therion.Thanks for listening...One Love!nKLabels: Division, Lou-Evil Psycles, Military Veterans
Cue the Danny Elfman music, this Cat is going back to school!I finished my enrollment papers today to go back to school and finish up a Bachelor's Degree in Criminal Justice. I have an Associates in Business Administration now, but it doesn't really apply to what I'm doing. It helps to have market knowledge and economics, but not so much on the creative side.With the courses I've already taken, I'll be at the halfway point by January. It's exciting. I'm not sure how I'm going to manage this in conjunction with recording the new Division CD, participating in NaNoWriMo, maintaining everything else I have going on, but I've always managed to get it done before. Just time to juggle.For now, it's all about the Bottles and Throttles Charity Event on the 20th, and Division's last show this year with Therion (Nov 2nd)!One Love!nKLabels: Bottles and Throttles, Division, NaNoWriMo, nK, Therion
This weekend was awesome. It was an educational mix of good and bad, with plenty of lessons filed inside my spinning skull. First of all, Mike and I stayed after rehearsal on Thursday night to record vocals for Division's upcoming demo. I haven't recorded anything with Division in a few years (despite doing some of my solo stuff). It was fun to see how different things are when you're trying to do it all yourself, rather than have a dedicated engineer. The demo is being mixed now (poor Mike!) and we'll have a few songs on hand in Chicago next weekend at Midwest Metal Anthem. Friday night, Division performed for a sold-out crowd at Jaxx Nightclub (opening for Kamelot). Before we played, Jaxx owner and long-time friend, Jay Nedry, announced the band's induction into the club's Hall of Fame. It was really breathtaking, having been on that stage dozens of times and watching the club stand firm and prosper for the last thirteen years.Sore from the festivities, I wound up knocking about twenty things off of my "take care of the house" list on Saturday. It also meant contacting a potential staging partner for October's Caring for Kids Charity Event for the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. Much more on that in the near future, so keep your eyes peeled.Saturday night, Sybir and I had the night to ourselves and elected to write and research instead of go out. Too bad neither of us is writing an erotica novel at the moment...that research is always so much fun. haha.Sunday was mostly a recovery day, other than the website updates, the networking, chores and another rehearsal. It's back to the work week tomorrow morning, so it's time to get the next piece written to Catwalk:Messiah.Be good out there. One Love!nKLabels: Caring for Kids, Catwalk, Division, Jaxx, nK, Sybir
This afternoon and evening, Sybir, Pup and I trekked up to Hunt Valley, MD to check in on the semi-annual HorrorFind Weekend. This was not the first time Sybir and I have been to that location, having attended a few sci-fi conventions in the past to help sell some of our old works. Thi was, however, Pup's first time at a horror con.For the adults wondering why anyone would take a toddler to a horror convention, save it. He was prepped with a few week's guidance that skulls and brains and fake blood were all just rubber and latex. They weren't any scarier than the punching dummy at Karate class. How did he do? The only time he even looked twice at a "scary" person was when he questioned the Toxic Avenger for wearing a tutu.I got a chance to meet a number of people and drop some Division CD's in the hands of folks who I think we'll partner with in the future. As for the talent there, Ernie Hudson (Ghostbusters, Congo, The Crow, Oz) was absolutely drawn to Pup and embraced him like they'd know one another forever. The local crew filming Women's Studies was very kind. The guys behind the upcoming film, Hatchet, were very engaging, and there were several other actors and actresses who were very sweet to Pup as well.There was a ton of stuff there to help promote the film I've been raving about, Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon.In the near future, the results will be engaging a lot of these folks either with Division or through Horrorview.com so keep your eyes peeled on results!After that, we hung with my buds Andrew and MB and attended an art exhibition opening down at the Ottobar in Baltimore. The artist is a talented young lady named Erin. If you get a chance to hit Ottobar this week, head upstairs for a sneak peek.One Love!nKLabels: Division, horrorfind, Horrorview, hyperplex, nK, pup, Sybir
That sound like enough stuff to handle at once, well, you know how The Cat likes to roll by now, I hope.First up: Dead Girls. The "Die to Be in a Division Song" contest is rolling along nicely with several very very convincing entries, including a few drownings and a damn convincing corpse. Details are here:
Entries now in for the "Dying To Be In A Division Song?" Contest! Click for Details!After that, let's go to New Songs. The Band is recording demo tracks now for two of our brand new songs, and we'll play 'em for the crowd at Midwest Metal Anthem in Lansing, IL in August. Don't miss out. First new Division chit in THREE YEARS!Aliens? Well, that's a guilty pleasure. As a writer, I love drawing resource material by playing my characters in RPG's. This week, City of Heroes launched Issue 10 (read: expansion pack) where the aliens come back and assault the city. Very cool stuff.Movies? Too funny not to share. My pup and I watched the 1959 debacle, "The Giant Gila Monster" yesterday, invoking fits of laughter from us both. Look for a review at Horrorview.com!Finally, a nod to history. It goes without saying that I respect Bruce Lee, not only as the baddest MF ever to walk the earth, but as a very inspiring philosopher. Sybir and Pup have both recently returned to the Dojo, and with that, I felt a need to open their eyes to the work of the Dragon. Last weekend, "Fists of Fury" was the feature film. This weekend, Jim Kelly, John Saxon and Master Bruce himself will be on display when we sit down to enjoy "Enter the Dragon".Take care out there. See you all soon!One Love,nKLabels: Bruce Lee, Die to be in a Division Song, Division, nK, Sybir
So, this past weekend, we played two shows. One in which everything went horribly wrong, and the other where everything went so amazingly well, it was hard to believe. Special thanks to everyone who came out to Rocks in Richmond on Saturday night and Jaxx in Springfield on Saturday night.There's plenty of talk about it over on the Division official site.While we were in Richmond, some of the Divisionettes got together and took pics for the "Dying to be in a Division song" contest we're running.
Division Announces the "Dying To Be In A Division Song?" Contest! Click for Details!They'll be posted to the gallery soon. Since then, work has been a whirlwind, but I got to the gym today and Sybir walked me through an arm workout developed by the late, legendary Bruce Lee. I'm already feeling it so it's time for some bourbon and the hot tub!One Love!nKLabels: Die to be in a Division Song, Division, Jaxx, nK, Sybir
What a weekend!I caught Transformers on Friday, that was everything it was cracked up to be. I'm sure I'll be back to see it again before it leaves theaters. The rest of the weekend was spent suspending disbelief while watching movies heavy on action and light on plot. That haul included Elektra, Ultraviolet and Bulletproof Monk. The kid and I even watched Kung Pow: Enter the Fist, which was a riot.Did you realize the same guy who wrote Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius, and Bat Thumb also wrote Patch Adams? Steve Oedekirk is more talented that most people will give him credit for. He's also a whack job.Once again, I have to announce Division's contest to kill women to be in one of our tunes.
Division Announces the "Dying To Be In A Division Song?" Contest! Click for Details!Check it out, at your own peril! hahaAlright, a week of hell at work coming up, followed by a busy Division weekend.One Love!nKLabels: Division, nK, Transformers
How do you celebrate the end of an overworked week with way too little sleep? You do something completely off the wall!In this case, Sybir and I designed a contest for Division's summer tour, in one of the oddest twists ever to cross our minds.Short version - We have a song where a guy kills a bunch of women. We're asking Division fans to snap shots of themselves and post them to our gallery in order to become the victims and be immortalized in song.Sybir went so far as to goth out tonight, lay down on our garage floor and go with black hair. In all, we had so much fun branching off from the day to day routine crap. I hope it's a huge success.Details are available at THIS LINK.one lovenKLabels: Division, Hunt, nK, Sybir
Wow, ever have one of those stretches where you felt like you were behind the wheel but not controllin' the car? That's me right now.With Division playing a ton of gigs and recording, and Just Wanna Play really taking off in our gig schedule, the hours I have outside of work are disappearing. Work has picked up considerably too, with a new product set and an expanded territory. I really dig what I do, and I think the company is moving towards a landscape-changing time with the upcoming Endpoint Protection product.Our son is still the same full-throttle little dude he always is, and he's so much fun. Tonight was Spongebob, baseball, Thomas the Tank Engine, Freak Kitchen and Tim Easton. Whew! After what Sybir had me doin' at the gym (not THAT!), it's hot tub time. God bless the Ghost of Jack Daniel.Anyway, Saturday, JWP hits the stage at the Big Boy Toy Show in Fredericksburg. Come on down if you wanna check out cars, boats, chicken wings and good music.One Love!nKLabels: Big Boy Toy Show, Division, JWP, Sybir
Okay, ow, my neck is sore. Why shouldn't it be? Division, the metal band I front, returned to perform our first live show in seven months last night. We had the fortune of playing with some great local talent, as well as some long-time legends in Metal. Doro Pesch, formerly of Warlock, headlined the show. Joey Belladonna from Anthrax and Chris Caffery from Savatage also played. What a great night.It felt phenomenal to come out on the Jaxx stage and rip peoples' heads off. Not literally, but hell, almost! The new material is infectious, and to see the crowd getting into things from the first note was a great experience.We won't be waiting this long for the next show. It's almost exactly a month away when we tailor our set to be even heavier and open for the Bay Area thrash gods, Testament! Details up on the official Division site.Today was a recovery day in which I didn't get to recover. Work went crazy, I was yanked in twenty different directions around a potential gig for JWP and little man wanted to take two hours to fall asleep tonight. Hey, when it rains....what's the rest of that, drink Jack, right?One love!nKLabels: Chris Caffery, Division, Doro, Jaxx, JWP, Nick Kelly, Testament
Yeah, yeah, it's my birthday. No more 33 for me, just on the jersey not the driver's license. Ah, well. When you're as happy with your life as I am, you tend not to give a chit about how old you are.I'm still greatly reveling in the Lowen & Navarro concert from last week. What an inspiration. If things go as planned, I'll have a very cool story from scheduled events in the next two days. That's what we call a teaser, kids. Make sure you check back this time tomorrow. I think I'll have some cool stuff to discuss.In the interim, I aced an exam and am now an agent for U First Financial, meaning I can help homeowners' pay off their mortgage in as little as half the time it would take now. I know, it sounds like a gimmick. I wouldn't believe it myself if we didn't use the program here at home. Ask me more about it via email if you want, and we can discuss your free analysis.I had a writing session last night with the girl who created Delilah Dupree, which was fun. We kept missing one another. It was great to finally sync up.JWP had a fun and productive rehearsal on Monday night. Fun, productive and slightly intoxicated I should say... Anyway, the idea I had for Desert Skies worked, so expect to hear that one on the site soon.Division continues to ramp up for our June 10th gig with Doro. Our bassist is back in the country, so that helps. haha.Enough blabber. Go get some sleep! One Love!nKLabels: Division, Doro, JWP, Lowen and Navarro, MMA, UFirst
Ok, day three of being sick and hobbling. Let's see, for all those folks who marvel at the pace at which Sybir and I manage to keep going. Yesterday: Up at 6 am, Cardio. Showered, Shaved, got all my stuff together, went to work (which was just more getting accustomed to the new role), drove home. Pup and I switched out the solar lights for eight new ones, mulched some of the front yard, ran the sprinkler. Got him in, gave him a bath, he sacked out in the truck during a little drive intended to do just that. Got back home, hit the hot tub, drank some Jack, wrote just about another thousand words in Catwalk:Messiah, imaged a desktop to do a restore, watched a 38 minute training video, rapped at a few friends, and set up everything for work today.Can't wait till I'm healthy again.Don't forget - June 10th: Division @ Jaxx with Doro and Belladonna
August 17th: Division @ Jaxx with Kamelotget yer tix from us by hitting the link above.One Love!nKLabels: Division, Doro, Kamelot, Sybir
Welcome home, Cat!Work-Man, four days of Chicago is enough of Chicago when you're bustin' in a new job, meetin' new peeps, learnin' new products, and trying to keep all the other stuff I'm usually juggling.Music-Division is juggling a few new tunes to play for our June 10th gig with Doro and Belladona. We have some never-before-heard material that people are definitely going to wanna catch. Cool stuff, plus maybe a new cover, who knows? Also, check our MySpace page for a live version of Greed!Writing-I tried to sleep on the plane tonight. No dice, so instead I managed to sketch out Pestylence; one of the villains in the current Catwalk novel draft. I have a few of the others already designed and written out but Pest is the first one I decided to sketch. I'll post some to this site when they're done as an update to the book.Ok, I've seen enough power point in the last few days to choke a mule so I'm off. One Love!nKLabels: Catwalk, Division
To say it's been an eventful night would be the equivalent of saying the Jim Jones mass suicide was "kinda upsetting". In the past ten days, I've had my day job change 180 degreees, my wife really dive deeply into her new role, our Motorcycle Club potentially double in size, my favorite team bounced from the playoffs, and my son prepare for pre-shcool. That's quite a deep-dish pizza, my devoted friends.Sybir swapped my schedule, leading to some cardio at 6:30 this morning, which should set the tone for this post. She's awesome, and the camo pants are just a tempting little finger drawing me to go to bed early. JWP finished another gig at Happy Endings this weekend, having an absolute blast while eating the fact that we played on the first gorgeous day of summer.Meanwhile, Division continues to work on selling tix to our next gig, June 10th with Doro. Old school metal heads will not want to miss out on this gig with the former vocalist from Warlock!Other than that, the edits continue for Catwalk: Messiah. Stand by for more free samples on the writing page!one love!nKLabels: Catwalk, Division, Doro, JWP, Lou-Evil Psycles, Sybir
Ok, on the briefest of breaks from workin on Catwalk:Messiah. I'm over 18000 words already, and that's after hacking...or as Joe Konrath or Sybir would say...editing...a few scenes.I'm solidifying a few scenes and the techniques that come into building them. I'm excited about how much the story is writing itself as well as guiding me to put some cohensiveness to what I have so far.On the music front, a three-plus hour rehearsal tonight puts Just Wanna Play in a prime position for our gig Saturday night at Happy Endings! Come on out and support us.Other than that, Vegas was a blast, including clubbing with David Hasselhoff, meeting Penn and Teller, and drinking more than a normal human's share. Now that I'm home, it's back to focus on education and safety for the kids, and community work while JWP works up to more regular gigs and Division finishes the touches on the next CD.I also had the chance to meet author Chris Gardiner, whose book, The Pursuit of Happyness, was recently adapted to movie form, starring Will Smith. It's an amazing story, worth a long, hard look from anyone who grew up without a parent.One Love!nKLabels: Division, Happy Endings, Happyness, JWP, Sybir
No April Fool's jokes, just more writing.Division had a band meeting last night. We're almost Nine songs into the next CD, with the probability of writing more before deciding on a studio, mastering and duplication. We want to do this RIGHT, not necessarily quick, so stand by, be patient and enjoy the surprises that will be coming from us in the next few months.With some very cool HELP, we've taken the first steps toward the 2nd Annual Caring for Kids Charity Event, to benefit the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. That's going to be a very fun event, so check back often for details.The Catwalk fans out there should know that the working draft of Catwalk:Messiah is over the 17000 word mark, with some fun emotional rollercoaster stuff coming out tonight.Next gigs: Just Wanna Play - April 21st at Happy EndingsDivision - June 10th at Jaxx with Doro and Belladona, August 17th with KamelotOne Love!nKLabels: Catwalk, Division, JWP, Malena, NCMEC
How does a song find the page and the recording media to become a real live entity? It really depends on the individual or group putting it together, and what dictates the feel and flow of the music. In the case of lyrics, often times it's something that isn't at the forefront of your thinking, but rather something lurking in the background.
Tonight, Division made a lot of progress on song #9 for the upcoming CD, and the evolution of the lyrics was really in sync with the music. We were sort of direction-less for a while, but once we decided on |
