July 3, 2009 by PT Rothschild.

THIS FRIDAY NIGHT ‘THE ZEITGEIST ADDENDUM’ IS AT THE TEMEKU THEATER


Temecula, Ca – For only $5, you can see just what all the recent tax protests were all about in the movie ‘The Zeitgeist Addendum’, happening tonight at The Temeku Theater Movie. The movie starts at 11:15PM. The first 50 people will receive a free DVD of the predecessor film, ‘Zeitgeist’.

Remember, ‘the first thing to do is to ridicule’. There’s reason why the weird news is presented on a show by this name through a geek. This is a non-profit event with all proceeds going to buy more DVDs for distribution and a chance to meet other like-minded persons. This is your chance to be ‘The Man Named Thursday’. Be there, or remain uninformed! For sheeple who don’t mind coming out under the cover of darkness for a morning after tidbit of coffee conversation.

DIRECTIONS http:​​​​​​​​​/​​​​​​​​​/​​​​​​​​​www.​​​​​​​​​temekucinemas.​​​​​​​​​com/​​​​​​​​​directions.​​​​​​​​​asp

Posted in Finance, Movies, Money, Loans, Gangs, Theater, Murrieta, InViews, Film, Family Attractions, Politics, Temecula, News | Print | No Comments »

June 28, 2009 by PT Rothschild.

DORKS A’POPPIN’

Temecula, CA – I have to admit that reading the Ashley Cook and Peter Surowski Valley News pieces about Master Splinter, Tawnie Gadban, and The Shake Ups brought a sly grin to my face as it validates what I’ve felt for years about the world of interesting local new music scene and the people who inhabit it. Here’s the latest, Guys. Cyndi Lauper is doing a new movie called ‘Section B’ and a band who played Madlins, Java Jo’z, and other spots around the towns is doing the music sound track. I think that is, well, you know what kind of awesome. Don’t make me use that ‘word’ on a Sunday, the one that begins with a ‘f’ and ends with a ‘k’? (‘firetruck’), and actually, it isn’t quite the same band, either. But let me tell you in their own words.


“A few cool things band wise- we just landed a role in the feature film Section B with Cyndi Lauper. Our song The Life will be in the movie and on the soundtrack, plus we’re acting as the backing band in the film. We’re stoked about it, Brian gets to produce almost the whole soundtrack including co-produce title track Dream by Cyndi.”

Huge, huge news!!!  H&SR has been selected to contribute music and act in the new feature film, Section B.  Ensemble cast includes Cyndi Lauper, Tippi Hedren, Ace Young, and Queen Emily. The guys (former D.O.R.K., former Animo, now Heart & Soul Radio) will be contributing their own song “The Life” as well as acting as the backing band in the film.  On top of that our own Brian Johannsen will be producing a handful of original songs written for the movie performed by Ace Young, Queen Emily, Jennifer Wilde, and the legendary Cyndi Lauper!  Schuyler and Jimmy are slotted to contribute their musical talents on the tracks as well. Recently the independent film, written and directed by Darla Rae, has sparked quite the controversy around “Britain’s Got Talent” star Susan Boyle.  Rae extended an offer to the overnight sensation to sing a duet with Queen Emily, upsetting “Britain’s Got Talent” creators.  Lauper chimed in with her own two cents at the Tribeca Film Festival saying “I think she’s a kick.  I really like her” and it would be “fantastic” if Boyle accepted the role.


Follow all the hype, twists, and turns at film’s official website and blog: http://www.sectionbmovie.com Filming is expected to start early this Fall and Brian will be in the studio throughout the summer recording the tracks.  The film already has distribution and is releasing on 1,000 screens across North America.  A soundtrack featuring Lauper’s title track “Dream” along our song “The Life” will also be available.  This is going to be an amazing experience for us and we appreciate the opportunity, many thanks to Darla Rae and Jennifer Wilde for thinking of us!Here’s the cast thus far:Cyndi Lauper - Betty (Grammy Award Winner), Tippi Hedren - Helen (I Heart Huckabees, House of Good and Evil, “CSI”), Marla Maples - Martina (For Richer or Poorer, “Sunset Beach”), Tiffany Trump – Megan, Queen Emily - Bonnie (“America’s Got Talent”), Ace Young - Ryan (“American Idol Season 5”, Grease on Broadway), Jennifer Wilde – Delilah, Kirk Montgomery – Spencer, Steven Christopher Parker - Jackson (“ER”, Juno, Little Miss Sunshine), Darla Rae- Barbara (Halloween, Powder), Michael Shaloub - Mr. P (Monk), Laura Dodd – Lily, Jennifer Sciole, Denise Plante, Andrea Frizzi, and Mike Wheaton.

(Source: H&SR, Sean’s Spoon Fed)

Posted in Murrieta, United States of America, Movies, Temecula, Our Favorite Things, Music, Film, News | Print | No Comments »

June 25, 2009 by PT Rothschild.

GRANNY WAS RIGHT

Temecula, CA – Unless you’re living under a rock or out in the protest demonstrations shrouded from view by the Islamic government of Iran, you know that today, two people who were very famous died. One death was not so shocking and was sort of expected. That was the death of Farrah Fawcett, a television and movie star, who suffered and fought cancer for the last few years of her life. I remember seeing her as one of the original Charlie’s Angels and loosely followed her life as it appeared in the news over the years. She always stood out from the other ‘angels’ due to her big smile and beautiful tresses. She was prettier than a Playboy model to me and I was amazed to learn that she posed for Playboy when she was 50. I was also amazed and gladdened to see her win acclaim for her incredible role in ‘The Burning Bed’, proving once and for all that she wasn’t just another pretty face, she could really act. But it was the text I received earlier this afternoon from my Arizona friend Tank that really made me want to write this column. The text read that TMZ was reporting that Michael Jackson was dead at 50. Straight away I got on the internet and started to get all the available breaking news about it.


Many of my young peeps glower at me when they are talking or wearing T-shirts of bands that were big before they were born and I tell them that I saw that band live, ‘back in the day.’ That statement is also true of Michael Jackson. I saw the Jackson 5, live and onstage in Indianapolis in 71 or 72 at a two day Black Expo event. It’s funny because the woman I was dating, who had four kids, had been talking about the J5 songs. I gave her shit because the music, I judged, was too young for her. It was ‘bubble gum pop’ and was only meant for teenagers and tweens, but she insisted it was more than that and nights after I had gotten over to her house, she would play her J5 albums for me. At first I felt that the music wasn’t serious R&B, but the more I listened the more I started to change my view point, especially when hit after hit started coming from the group’s albums. I told her one afternoon that I had been wrong and that she was right. I made up for my misgivings by taking her to see the J5. That was when I saw what the buzz was all about. The moment the music started and Michael stepped out onstage in frontman fashion, I was hooked. You actually forgot the other brothers were onstage once he began to perform. Even the cartoon series on Saturday mornings had good tunage and the storylines weren’t half bad either. Later when MJ started singing solo I was aware of his impact. ‘Ben’ was a big hit with a number of my friends but I started to like his musicianship and production values when the ‘Off The Wall’ album came out. A friend named Mike first played the album ‘Thriller’ for me and I went right out and bought it, but the height of the MJ craze for me was the accompanying video. I was working in cable then and whenever the video came on a monitor, we would all stop working and take the fifteen minutes to watch it. I used to get the tingles from it. The make-up, the dancers, even the storyline and surprise ending was magical. Since I was studying about the metaphysical side of life at that time, it seemed to fit right in and inspire deep thought about the legends and fables that it was based on. There were other memorable music events of Michael’s that I, along with millions of other people, watched through his long career. His Simpson’s guest spot and writing the video song, ‘Do The Bartman’ still make me laugh when I see the DVD episodes. Later when his life turned more toward the bizarre, I couldn’t help but feel sorry for him and the strange prison he seemed destined for himself. Today though, as I talked to a former roommate, a woman from Mexico City who remained a huge and loyal fan up to the end, I consider myself lucky to have seen him and his brothers live, once upon a time, when my mind was closed to anything new and fresh. Michael Jackson, the entertainer, opened up a new day for ‘black’ culture’s R&B and the world to a new level of pop music to be appreciated by people of every country and culture. R.I.P. and Sing In Paradise.  

With the passing of Ed McMahon yesterday, it looks like my Granny was right when she observed to me as a youngster that famous people seem to always die in groups of three. One of these days I will get to say to her, “Granny, once again you were right as rain. No wonder my grandfather married you.”

Posted in Movies, Los Angeles County, Family Attractions, Commentary, Music, Film, News | Print | 1 Comment »

June 20, 2009 by PT Rothschild.

PARTY IS QUINTESSENTIAL SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

T-Town, CA – In Hollywood, the big party comes when a film or CD is released and someone newly rich has a big blow-out where all the ‘in’ people show up. But I live in the sticks, well, the ‘fast sticks’, so here the big ‘blow-out comes when the ‘rents are out of town, and Hawaii is way ‘out-of-town’. Standing out in the curved driveway and looking to the east, you see the darker hills of wine country. As you swing your unobstructed view around toward the south, you first see the lights of the Pechanga Casino off in the distance and then finally the string bead of lights crawling northward up from San Diego along the 15. It is an awesome view, and I know awesome views. Glancing back at the house, perhaps mansion would not be too strong a word to use here from the huge massive gate entrance, the line of cars parked out along the narrow hilly road goes for at least a quarter mile, but the noise made inside the house behind the tall blondish wood doors can barely be heard. “If this party was at a tract house in some neighborhood, you would already hear the crowd,” says my traveling companion in our party of four, arriving fashionably late. Indeed, as you walk past the line of cars parked up from the driveway entrance to the massive front door, the party din is barely audible though the house is lit up like a Christmas tree. It is only after you open the unlocked door and walk into the foyer which is filled with people do you realize that this party is big; big, big in fact. The room with six beer pong tables set up has people playing and watching teams compete. The spacious kitchen area is filled but not packed out. The sitting room is set up for a band though no one is playing when we get there. Later one guest will remark that he saw ‘the best concert ever in a living room’ as different members from three or four bands take the stage and jam covers. Out on the back patio and by the pool there are waves of people as well as up the wrought iron spiral staircase to the large balcony that gives you a higher vantage point of the view I described earlier.


Despite the fact that I have been to several ‘West Wing’ parties before, including one that had a grip of folks, this time there are more people than ever before. Though there are a lot of new faces, the scene faces that I know are everywhere. It is easier to say who is not there. Hugs and ‘hellos’ abound and soon I am engrossed in a deep political conversation and travelogue with two friends who crisscrossed the country thanks to their sales job. As the cool evening breeze kicks up, we decide to move inside and closer to the warmth of the crowd. And the party swirled on from there. A ‘flip cup’ tournament, later a beer pong match, an enchanting conversation about Salvador Dali with an artist just back from Chicago (“It was the wettest spring ever, so good to be back here”), shared secrets (“Guess who had a [ménage á trios]?”), video shooting versus work schedules, scene show music venue news, and some tech talk. But since this is Hollywood, or at least the back lot, the night turns to smoozing and networking for connections, at least for me. By the time I get home around four, I’m a happy camper. I’ve flirted, flitted, made some new inroads for next week; watched folks get pushed into the pool; seen some funny-at-a-party, lucky-they-were-drunk moments; and had a ‘the world dissolves around you’ conversation with a very pretty young woman that brings out a ‘who is this old panda’ look from the barely over 21 ‘stud-lees’ observing our absence. No fights, no high drama, just a beautiful party in a beautiful house in a beautiful valley setting. Temecula can be so alluring to live in, and so much fun.

Posted in Money, Homes, California, Temecula, Our Favorite Things, Music, Film, News | Print | 1 Comment »

April 25, 2009 by PT Rothschild.

FROM A ‘BATTLECRY’ TO ‘A BLISSFUL EVE’

Temecula, CA – Having lived out here for a while in ‘Paradise’, otherwise called Southern California by those living in unaltered states, I’ve found certain truisms besides the mountains with their snow caps in the winter, the beaches with their ocean air, surfers, and tourists, and the beautifully orchestrated ‘Doc Hollywood’ hotties and soccer moms. There is one clear rule. To reach your destination, you must pay your ‘dues’. Every ‘star’, whether in movies or music will tell you the same adage. Last night, two of T-Town’s newest ‘stars’ reached their desired destination, the release of, after long hours of sweat and tears, their personal statements touting entertaining tunage. OK, so maybe the ‘tears’ part is a little over-stated, but since sweat and tears are basically the same composition, I stand by my verbiage.

Arriving early with Cheryl and Mike Plato, throwing in a helping hand where needed, I watched as diminutive store owner Judy Wooten directed her staff in getting everything ready for the night’s activities concerning the posthumous CD release, ‘BattleCry’, for Elizabeth ‘Bipsy’ Amirian (for the back story, see previous articles here). As the last details were being taken care of, Isaac, Bipsy’s brother, and Angel, Isaac’s wife, got the reception area and all the electronics dialed in. Beside performing a one-man rap show at the start of the live entertainment portion of the evening, Isaac has posted a video of Bipsy’s epic testimony ‘The Adoption’ up on YouTube and showed the updated edition several times to the many fans at the release who watched and read the words as they rolled up the screen like credits in a movie. (You can read the full version here. Be warned, it is intense and heartwarming, but all true.) After hugging Cheryl, Bipsy’s mom, Judy spoke from her heart as she said that she and the ‘entire store were honored and grateful to be a part of this’ tribute to the Bips.

This was the attitude that I had expected from more ‘Christian’ places, given Bipsy’s personal testimonies which brought many young people into a meaningful relation with God and Jesus. Up till that moment I had been feeling like John in the Dessert, pissed, and biting the heads off locusts in spite, like an angry Alice Cooper. Judy’s commentary attitude would be repeated to Cheryl again and again as more people filled in who had been touched in some way by the abundantly talented Bipsy. She had a presence about her that was palatable.

I remembered the first night she had performed at Java Jo’z that owner Johnny worked. She started her first song just as Johnny walked into the kitchen to get some ingredients to make one of his signature sandwiches for a customer. A few bars into the song I glanced over toward the kitchen and there was Johnny, staring open-mouthed, in wide-eyed disbelief at the stage. I chuckled, for I had seen Bipsy perform once there before that night. Johnny never missed a Bipsy show after that, as I recall. Teresa Taylor, who owns the recording studio that Bipsy recorded in, echoed the awe in seeing and hearing Bipsy perform in the studio. Several other folks all expressed the same sentiment about Bipsy’s commanding stage presence. As some people mulled around in Bipsy conversation, eating cake and having refreshments brought by Mike and Cheryl, others examined Bipsy’s art pieces that were set on easels and on the memory board done by Liz Morales that will become part of the ‘victim’s rights remembrance’ celebration sponsored by the DA’s department in Riverside.

Flyers for the BipsyFest, happening in two weeks (May 8^th, 2009), designed by Ivan Promotions, were passed around. Ivan, who arrived with past Java Jo’z alumni and Bipsy friend Eddie (now on a mini-vacation playing with the band Paper Mache that will start touring again next month), was pleased to see the resulting printed flyer, but what really caught his eye was the video for the Bipsy CD song ‘Washerwoman’, produced by Ronny Lopez, who is casting parts for his upcoming ‘Bipsy’ movie – see Craig’s list. Also in the scene was the one other person mentioned earlier, Liz Morales, who had picked up the flyers from the printer and is still ‘paying her dues’ as she nails down the final details of orchestrating the event of BipsyFest, a first ever ‘showbiz’ undertaking by the retail industry employee. I’m sure she would be the first one to say to the fans there about the coming Fest show, ‘kids, it looks easy, but don’t try this at home, leave it to the professionals’. Such is the magnitude of inspiration inspired by Bipsy, still. Keep it tuned here for line-up and all other details about the upcoming BIPSYFEST.

Catching a waiting ride, I was at the second happening of the night before the sun had fully set at the beach. This was another CD release party for at The Merc’, marking an even older music association. I had seen these kids play when they were still being carded for buying Bazooka Joe. Now, My Last Revelation, still too young to buy a gun or a beer, was releasing their debut CD, ‘A Blissful Eve’ that was two years in coming to fruition. The crowd there took me back to the days of Madlins when we would have a show with a young band and all the classmates and relatives of the band would be in the audience.

After the warm-up act of Keenwild, a husband and wife duo that hadn’t performed a show in 18 months, though there was no rust on Jeney’s pipes and Bill’s experienced expertise kept any sound glitches from stopping the flow, the boys took the stage. Fresh from spending recording time with two seasoned Grammy winners, MLR looked like a band far beyond their years in stage presence. In no time a hardcore group of peeps was push-pitting as the sold out house stood watching and cheering the band on. Their manager, David Snelson-Smith, opened, before the music started, with a few words about the band then showed a video from their Grammy mentors, Fred T. Satterfield and Ron Fairchild, who reside in Tennessee. Through each song, MLR showed poise and enjoyed themselves, as did the audience.

As I said, it reminded me of Madlins’ shows of long ago in the homespun joy portrayed in the faces of the parents and grandparents. Flashes were going off all night and several videos were shot. Afterwards, amid the souvenirs of the night, Jared Miller, Kevin Hatch, and brother Derrick Hatch, all signed CD copies at the (judges’) table (from the weekly Battle of the Bands series). Some people may think that the ‘scene’ is music, but music is just the glue that draws and energizes people with richly textured creative personas to a central location for the enjoyment of all.

Or as Bucky Montgomery used to say, ‘Live music is your best entertainment value.’

Posted in Jewish, Christianity, Old Town Temecula, Temecula, Our Favorite Things, Music, Film, Family Attractions, News | Print | No Comments »