May 5, 2008 by Bill Gould, Publisher.

Joshua Tree, California - For the last seven years a small cemetery in Joshua Tree, California has been playing host to a unique event that has been growing more and more popular every year. Joshua Tree Memorial Park, formally known as Mountain Valley Memorial Park, located in the eclectic and scenic village of Joshua Tree, has been hosting an annual Memorial Day Observance and Community BBQ on the cemetery grounds. The event commemorates Memorial Day by paying homage to our United States military in efforts to acknowledge their dedication, bravery and sacrifice during their service to our country. In the past, the hour long observance featured guest speakers, USMC Color Guard, placing of the wreaths ceremony, white dove release, advancing and retiring of the colors, invocations and free food and beverages to follow.

Having known Shawn Mafia for about four years I have shared a stage with him at events and booked him at many different venues. I can guarantee a special and unique performance that you will never forget for the rest of your lives. If you are in the mood for surreal experience or have a death fascination, this is your event, and without question Shawn Mafia and The Ten Cent Thrills are your band. I have his music in my MP3 player for my personal use and when I DJ a party or a show, I always find time to slip in a bit of a Shawn Mafia tune.

Since 2004, Singer/Songwriter/Performer Shawn Mafia and his backing ensemble The Ten Cent Thrills, have been performing live music for all those that attended the free community barbecue which followed the observance ceremony. Through the years people not only stuck around for the performance after the Memorial Day Observance, but started to come out exclusively for the musical part of the event itself! Drawn by the green grass and scenic setting of Joshua Tree Memorial Park (which is a perfect backdrop for any outdoor musical event) and perhaps by the “unusual” setting that listening to live music in a cemetery could evoke, it was only a matter of time before the cemetery owners would decide to take a chance on expanding the day into a bona fide music festival.

Newly crowned as the Mafia Memorial Day Music Festival, this year will feature a diverse line up of musical acts. Local rock noir icons Shawn Mafia & The Ten Cent Thrills will make their annual appearance and will be celebrating the release of their second full length compact disc entitled ‘Death In ‘D’ Major’. Others that will be featured for the first time on the cemetery lawn include blues harp legend John “Juke” Logan, Coachella Valley’s only surf rock/lounge/punk band Mighty Jack and Anaheim based indie singer/songwriter Ray De La Muerte.

Joshua Tree Memorial park will kick off their usual Memorial Day Observance festivities Monday, May 26^th, at 11:00 a.m. The live music festival will immediately follow at 12:00 p.m. and will continue on until 4:00 p.m. Event admission and parking is free. From 12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m. the cemetery will provide a community barbeque. Specified food and beverages will be free to all that attend during that time. Alternate vendors for food and beverage purchases, as well as a beer garden, will be available for the rest of the scheduled event time. Joshua Tree Memorial Park will also be raffling off prizes through out the course of the event; Raffle tickets available for purchase the day of the event only. A special booth will be set up to purchase all scheduled performers music and memorabilia! For more information on the Mafia Memorial Day Music Festival and to access specific scheduled times for any of the acts performing, please visit www.shawnmafia.com.

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April 21, 2008 by Bill Gould, Publisher.

4^th Annual event to include orchestra, art, acoustic and rock bands

Temecula, California – The Director and Founder of the Temecula Music Fest, Bill Gould, announced today that the line up for the 4^th annual Temecula Music Fest is in place and features the most diverse range of performers in the history of the festival. This year’s event will also feature artists, vendors, food and bowling, live and on a wide screen Nintendo Wii system, courtesy of Brunswick Cal Oaks Bowl!

Each day of the festival will also raise funds for 3 different local Non-Profit groups in the Temecula Valley. On Friday, Oak Grove Center in Murrieta, a school for education treatment and the arts will be our featured Non-Profit. Saturday a portion of proceeds will go to S.A.F.E. (Safe Alternatives For Everyone), a local group working to end family violence. Our Sunday our beneficiary will be the Arts Council of Temecula Valley, a group dedicated to preserving the arts and education children in the various disciplines of the arts.

“We are thrilled beyond compare with the way this year’s event has come together. There is such a diverse group of bands playing, along with the artists – this is the biggest and best year we have ever planned!” said Bill Gould, festival Director.

This year’s festival will feature over 35 bands and acoustic performers, multiple different visual artists and vendors.

Amazing bands Cetas Aspire, Jupiter, Robert Holts Orchestra, Guilty Conscience, Starving for Gravity, Opus Humanus and Peachcake will be this years headliners. For a full list of performers visit http://www.TemeculaMusicFest.com, as well you can find a couple of different versions of our festival flyers, venue and ticket info.

“Later this week we will have links to all the bands websites or myspace pages and short bios on our website, TemeculaMusicFest.com; we want you to interact with the bands and really be a part of a special event!” explained Gould, “We are taking this to a whole new level and will hold a ‘Media Day’ at Bob’s Murrieta Pizza on May 15 so the media and fans can come and meet all of the bands, take pictures and really get a feel for what this year is all about.”

The featured Artists will be Xavier Bellante, Todd Sanders and Gerald Clarke. Each artist will be displaying his works and there will be live demonstrations and ‘performance art’ that you can watch.

“There will be some very experimental art and visual concepts in play. Some you will see, some you will touch and some you will watch; come with an open mind and let the art expand your musical horizons” Gould further explained.

Vendors and Non-Profits will be at the festival all three days; there will also be panel discussions with members of the local and regional music community, teaching bands how to further their music career.

Volunteers are still needed for the festival, positions range from stage help to back stage monitors to ushers and parking lot attendants. There are also a couple of vendor spots still available; information can be found at http://www.TemeculaMusicFest.com, by email at info@temeculamusicfest.com or by phone at 951-491-9053.

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February 21, 2008 by Bill Gould, Publisher.

Riverside County, California – Yesterday was a long day for seven local school board members who boarded an early flight to Sacramento and spent the day meeting with legislators to fight for the future of public education in the face of the Governor’s proposed $14.8 billion in cuts to K-12 funding.

The delegation included Riverside County School Boards Association President Maggie Little from Corona-Norco Unified, Don Aikens from Palm Springs Unified, Robin Crist from Murrieta Valley Unified, Jesus Holguin from Moreno Valley Unified, Tom Hunt from Riverside Unified, Tom Thomas from Lake Elsinore Unified, and Barbara Tooker from Temecula Valley Unified who is also a member of the Board of Directors for CSBA.

After initial meetings with Secretary of Education Dr. David Long, and Executive Director of the California School Boards Association Scott Plotkin, the group met with Senator Dennis Hollingsworth, and Assembly Members John Benoit, Kevin Jeffries, Paul Cook, Denise Ducheny, and Bonnie Garcia.

“Our children’s education is being threatened by the Governor’s 10% across-the-board cut to all state-funded programs,” said Robin Crist, Murrieta Valley USD. “The people of California have spoken time and time again about the value they place in public education, and we’re in the Capitol today to let our legislators know that any state budget cuts must be laser-focused on priority programs.”

“We’re asking for greater flexibility and local control of the dollars that will eventually be appropriated to us,” said Tom Hunt, Riverside USD. “We realize there will be cuts because of the overall worsening economic conditions statewide; however, local officials have a better sense of the program preferences their constituents want and need.”

“We’re not talking about cutting the fat out of our operations – we’ve been doing that for years,” said veteran board member Don Aikens from Palm Springs USD. “We’re now into the bone marrow. This could mean cutting successful programs like Class Size Reduction, transportation, school safety officers, art and music, after-school tutoring, counselors, nurses, and librarians. This just can’t happen.”

“The Riverside County School Boards Association believes the only way these dramatic cuts can be softened is for quick and decisive action to be taken on the part of school board members, educators and support staff, parents, and students. We’re leading the charge on behalf of the people who elected us to do the ‘right thing’ by letting our fellow elected officials in Sacramento know that we cannot disenfranchise a generation of California’s children by taking away essential elements of their education,” said Maggie Little, Corona-Norco USD and President of RCSBA. She added the delegation was sent to represent the voices all school board members in Riverside County.

“The only ones who are ultimately responsible for making the decisions about this situation are the governor and the legislators. We all need to be proactive to make sure they understand the ramifications of their decisions. This will widen the achievement gap that we have been working hard to close, and it will derail our progress to meet the requirements of No Child Left Behind,” said Tom Thomas, Lake Elsinore USD.

“We had an excellent day and were able to get our message across to our legislators. I don’t think they fully understand the impact this will have on the entire system and at the very personal level,“said Jesus Holguin, Moreno Valley USD. “This is going to mean jobs as well as missing pieces in a child’s education.”

“We are the most over-regulated and underfunded K-12 program in the country,” said Barbara Tooker, Temecula Valley USD, and a member of the Board of Directors for CSBA. “In a state that has the 6^th largest GNP in the world, we rank an abysmal 46^th in the nation in K-12 education, and we are $2,000 below the national average in per pupil spending – even before these proposed cuts. Why are we placing our children at risk because state leaders can’t or won’t fix the structural deficiencies in this state?”

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