June 18, 2009 by PT Rothschild.

TRAVIS SIFLINGER ANOTHER TIP OF HUGE ICEBERG

Lake Elsinore, CA – Before the music show started with free hats from Rock Star at the Diamond Stadium where the minor league Storm play baseball, I had a chance to stroll around and see the vendors’ booths. After seeing only one food vendor, Smokin Aces Barbeque (714.737.1044), I kind of wished Mr. Pete’s had been there also to offer folks a choice, but some of the Mr. Pete guys were playing a show, Ivan was running a stage, and I was being my social butterfly self, so there you are. I met a lot of people at the vendor booths and most of the clothing companies I’ve already mentioned in the previous article, but there were more than just great looking ‘splash front’ T-shirts available for purchase or models for eye candy. To help popularize the event and put their name out, both Used and Optic Industries tossed out free T’s to the crowd, one of which I donated to a friend with a busted wing who couldn’t jump for the tosses. The ‘dirt’ culture, like the hot rod culture, or the boating industry, is big, second generation young and still mostly underground. By underground I mean like skateboarding before Tony Hawk became a household word to anyone under 40. So far, there is no ‘household word’ for the dirt culture, though there are three that I see in the running. Two of them will be covered in this piece. But first, a shout out to the ’real as dirt’ folks I talked to, all of whom were pleasant, engaging, and informative once I broke the ice.


As I looked out over to the horizon at the gleaming McMansions sitting above a shrinking lake, I wondered if the lake gatekeepers knew that Elsinore lies conveniently in the middle of the dirt empire. Justin Morgan of Raw Music Management rolled down from the furthest point, Reno, Nevada. One of the first booths that caught my eye as other booths were still setting up was the Game Over Fight Wear. Meeting Vince, Vance, and Game, talking a bit of politics raised by the images of their ‘Respect, Honor, and Support’ draped flag T-shirt showing a soldier charging toward you wearing a teargas mask as Ivan whizzed by us with a “Watch out, he’ll talk you ear off” (me?), it wasn’t long before I was getting the inside skinny about the band who chiefs the GOFW label, a hip-hop group named White Virus based out of Hollywood, CA. One visit to the band’s MySpace where the default banner reads ‘Boycott the Radio’ and list key words like ‘2012’, ‘Aliens’, and ‘The Illuminati’ show my ‘Spidey sense’ was politically correct. WV has just released their fourth CD, ‘Collapse of the Puppets’.

Rounding the corner of one vendor aisle, there was a set of ‘homemade’ kart style cars with a young boy and several adults milling around them. Striding over, I came across someone who may one day become a household word in the ‘dirt’ world, fifteen year old Conner Hart. The somewhat stocky kid who had a huge banner strung along the parking lot chain link acquainted me with his automotive passion, driving ‘trophy modifieds’ like #550, a 450cc stadium kart around the tracks at Lake Elsinore and at the Perris Speedway. The karts are called that because they are hand built from after-market parts. “I’ve been driving for two years. My folks help support (my interest, but it’s) my neighbor who built these,” as I peer over a 250cc and the larger 450cc (Honda powered) kart that is basically a roll bar cage fitted over an engine with four wheels attached. Conner smiled when I told him that I wished I had had one of these (karts) to drive around when I was fifteen. Next up I joined Real Smokers Only, a vendor from Buena Park, and got my membership card. Some hottie from San Diego passed me a guest V.I.P. pass to Pure Platinum, a gentleman’s club down in S.D. Then it was over to talk to Nick Nicholls, the cool rep under the Planet Minis Magazine big EZ-Up. PMM ties up all the loose ends with the latest in dirt track racing, the ins and outs of having, fixing up and racing mini bikes, like the FMX uses in their events and lifestyles of the Colorado River, the wet side of the dirt scene, the ‘river rats’. Having been a ‘river rat’ back in the 80s on the mighty Miss, I know first hand the fun and camaraderie you find in these groups. If the truth be known and if I can wax philosophical here, most people anywhere just want to live in peace, have fun, and be free of government intervention, and that is especially true of Americans, no matter what the color of skin. There’s a reason why everyone wants to come here to live. The opportunity to make money and have fun is huge in the USA, and in Southern California, it exists in spades, which segues me into the second person vying to become a household word from the dirt world.

Perhaps the one vendor who opened my eyes to the real dirt back story was the guy at Kronik Minis, a guy named Pete. Pete is a product tester/developer for SSR Motorsports and has been for the last seven years but now faces expulsion from his job because the state government has recently said that Pete needs to complete certain state requirements and pay state fees to keep doing the same job he has been doing for those last seven years. You have to wonder when the ‘state’ will quit pimping the working people to pay for the political/bureaucratic unearned ‘royal’ lifestyles. Pete explained the world of minis to me, which exist alongside the cars and boats in the world of extreme motorsports. Pretty much Honda introduced the kids to small 50cc lawnmower engine mini bikes. ATV’s followed and a culture sprang up of big and little kids riding around in the woods or hills or anyplace off the beaten path. But Hondas are expensive so a few years ago China entered the flay. They created beefed-up mini bikes and aftermarket parts that pack more punch but still fit the size of the Honda minis at a fraction of the cost. “Little 70s (70cc) get the little kids aged 5-6 years old started. These ‘pit bikes’ are stouter than the Honda 50cc but a Honda will cost you around $1000-$1200. The 70cc model that we carry, (a starter Kronik Mini) starts at $570. The bike has an automatic clutch so the kids don’t have to shift gears. For adults or the bigger kids we have an 110cc model with a hand clutch at about the same price. From there the prices go up,” said the SSR rep. “This is a huge but underground (market culture).” It was when I asked him how he got into this dirt tour underground that his face lights up. “I’ve known Travis (Siflinger) since he was 16 (years old) when the ‘dirt tour’ was just an idea and dream of his. He has a lot of heart and a lot of drive. He was the best friend of the son of the body shop owner that I managed. He takes care of everyone out here,” he said spreading his arm in a sweeping pattern. “He takes care of what he created. In fact, I owe him for the shade today as my EZ-Up blew over when a gust of wind got it after we had first set up out here yesterday.”

Though the Dirt Tour wasn’t as successful as it was hoped for, no one can deny the heart and soul of Dirt Alliance creator, Travis Siflinger, a Murrieta resident, to grow the whole scene and maybe one day to be the ‘Tony Hawk’ of the ‘dirt world’.

Posted in Sports, Inland Empire, Cars, Hemet, Christianity, Riverside County, Orange County, California, Motorcycles, Boats, Corona, Arizona, Perris, Temecula, Murrieta, Our Favorite Things, Family Attractions, Food, Lake Elsinore, Las Vegas, Moreno Valley, United States of America, San Diego, San Bernadino, News | Print | No Comments »

May 23, 2009 by PT Rothschild.

THE SUNDAY SEEN OF DAY 3 AT THE TEMECULA MUSIC FEST


Temecula, CA – Though Sunday started out pretty chill, things started to heat up with the winners of Bill’s ‘Battle of the Bands’, Soul Missive, the latest teen sensation to come out of this richly talented and diverse area. More old friends (Walk The Rio, Cetas Aspire, War Stories, and Inverse) heated up the Sunday music stew to a boil before Steam Powered Giraffe and Lee Koch chilled everyone to a satisfying simmer. Much praise is to be issued to all the promoters, cooks, and crew who made this year’s Temecula Music Fest so musically varied and the best TMFest, so far. Whoever said, after spotting Elizabeth Amirian’s ‘Bipsy’ tag on the Mr. Pete stage, “This is a good omen,” was right on the nose. Or as it says in the Bible, “The Memory of the Righteous will be a Blessing.” (Proverbs 10:7), here’s a look at the people blessed on last Sunday by a free American culture. Next up, ‘The Usual Suspects’ – A Look At The TMFest Crew.

Posted in San Diego, Las Vegas, Inland Empire, Riverside County, Los Angeles County, Orange County, Wildomar, Murrieta, Food, Music, Family Attractions, Our Favorite Things, Temecula, News | Print | No Comments »

March 26, 2009 by Bill Gould, Publisher.

Custom Search

Washington DC - Indeed it is true, President Obama will be online this morning answering question during an online town hall style meeting. This continues President Obama’s path of using new technology to engage Americans that other Presidents have forgot - the tech nerd. Good job Mr President!

Be a part of the online town hall meeting here - http://www.whitehouse.gov/openforquestions/

The event starts at 1130am eastern time - that is 830am in LA for the people reading who don’t want to do the math.

***UPDATE***
The questions were brought up by the public and then voted on by the public. The president totally dodged one of the most popular questions - should we legalize marijuana and tax it to help balance the budget and redirect police resources to more awful crimes? He laughed it off and plainly said no. With the millions of Americans smoking pot, and millions of dollars spent every day on pot, and it not being taxed, what do you think? Sounds like big money in the bank for a cash strapped State of California.

Posted in Hiking, Idyllwild, Cars, Theater, Racism, Upland, Romoland, San Jacinto, Muslim Affairs, Arizona, Jewish, Christianity, Drugs, Hemet, Sports, Full Value TV, Ontario, Rancho Cucamonga, Fontana, Blythe, Old Town Temecula, Movies, Inland Empire, Fire, Anza, Riverside, Winchester, Liberty Quarry, Nebraska, Fallbrook, Illinois, Politics, Burning Man, Temecula, Murrieta, Lake Elsinore, Wildomar, Our Favorite Things, Family Attractions, Film, Music, Commentary, Hotels, Food, Menifee, Denver, United States of America, San Diego, Moreno Valley, Perris, Casino, Palm Desert, San Bernadino, Las Vegas, Crime, Computers, Kansas, Homeland, Schools, News | Print | No Comments »

March 19, 2009 by PT Rothschild.

THE LATEST FROM A BAIL-OUT ORGANIZATION

Temecula, CA – While Obama goes on TV’s Leno show to decry the rape of the American taxpayer through his wallet by AIG, MSN has been featuring side articles on the many African girls and women who are physically raped every day, with little justice being done against the soldier rapists, like the little justice being done against the AIG execs. And it matters not whether the rapes are done as a ‘way’ to reorient some so-called ‘lesbian’ women or done in the name of pillage and rape, with the barrel of a rifle being the offending ‘penis’, taking liberties against a woman against her will or desire is WRONG. Even the Austrian incest dad admitted that, and that was after he had done the same thing against his imprisoned daughter for 24 years. That’s about the same length of time that the women and girls in many areas of Africa have been getting raped, and this time the criminal actions can’t be placed on a people of a different skin color. Or as any proctologist will tell you, assholes come on all colors.

Custom Search

Well, Sports Fans, my favorite charity organization, Invisible Children, has a house party option to rescue the children, or at least some of them, from these dire straits. This house party starts on March 25^th, a Wednesday. So take a night off from Bible study, a night off from your Spring Break and gather with your friends to learn how you can help. Details can be found here. And if you want something fun to put you back into the ’spring break’ mode, play a round of ‘King’s Cup’, after you work to save the children. After all, saving the world isn’t all seriousness and hard work. See next story, ‘All The King’s Men’

Posted in San Jacinto, Romoland, Idyllwild, Hemet, Christianity, Illinois, Fallbrook, Arizona, Theater, Upland, Rancho Cucamonga, Ontario, Fontana, Inland Empire, Nebraska, Riverside, Anza, Winchester, Palm Desert, Perris, Wildomar, Lake Elsinore, Menifee, Murrieta, Temecula, Family Attractions, Our Favorite Things, Politics, Denver, Crime, San Diego, United States of America, Moreno Valley, San Bernadino, Las Vegas, Homeland, Schools, News | Print | No Comments »

March 18, 2009 by Bill Gould, Publisher.

Denver, Colorado - The rumors have been swirling across the Internet for the last week or so, and I have to confirm the truth, Denver’s hardest working band, ANIMO has called it quits and broken up. In a statement on the bands MySpace page it was simply stated - ‘ANIMO is no mo’.

In speaking to front man Schuyler Ankele during a phone interview over the weekend, he seemed sad about the end, but hopeful for the future of his music. He told me that the band had just ran its course and with different priorities in life, the band members needed to move on. When asked about what he plans to do the music he was writing recently with guitarist and co-songwriter Brian Johannsen for the new ANIMO album, he said that he wanst sure, but that he has plans to keep writing songs with Johannsen.

“Brian and I have written many songs and I think we will continue to do that. If Jimmy is interested, we just might have him play drums. I definitely have plans for music in my future, this is not the end of my career,” explained Schuyler in a confidant tone. “There was just so much going on with life and after a band meeting it was decided that we would split ways.”

I have had the pleasure of knowing these guys for years now. We met in Las Cruces, New Mexico in September of 2003 while we were both on separate tours. By pure luck and coincidence, DORK (ANIMO’s former name) and my band, Keenwild were booked at the same venues two nights in a row. We ended up becoming fast friends, we did a radio interview in tandem and we got them on a couple of shows thru our then manager who was also a promoter in So Cal. They crashed on our floor when they came to town. It was a great time in both of our lives, full of new adventures and fun - yet also a lot of hard work and sleeping in the van with long drives and little food. It was this common bond of hard work and dedication that bonded us.


After a while, the first former singer, Dylan Martinez left the band and so left the heavy pop-punk-rap Mest influence and in came an even more poppy early blink-182esque style with Bryan Knoebel taking over the lead vocals after being the lead guitarist and back up vocalist. The band only got better after Bryan took the helm of the band. Soon enough Brian Johannsen joined the band after producing songs and playing some keyboard. I remember a show I booked for them at the Roxy, they just blew the doors off the place with Brian in the band. We (Full Value) went to countless DORK shows, booked them at events and tried our best to make sure everyone under the sun knew about our buddies from Denver.

I think it was early 2007 when Bryan Knoebel left the band. I got the sense from him a few months before it was announced that he was done and wanted to move on with his life. The spark had just left him. This happens more than I can tell you in this article. Many times I have seen great bands with big futures give it up after a founding member leaves the band, and at the time, DORK was a great, highly polished band with a big future. As it played out, Bryan didn’t want to be on the see-saw ride that was DORK, and he jumped ship. I recently caught up with Bryan on a social networking site and he is doing well, looks like a happy man who made the choice that was best for him.

The boys of DORK didn’t have any intention of stopping when Bryan left. They huddled and decided to make Schuyler the singer and to come up with a new name. After many long days of contemplation, they settled on the name ANIMO. I spent many days speaking with bassist Donovan Welsh about the name change and the new direction of the band. I told him I thought they had what it took and were a great band with of without Bryan. Indeed they were!

In the summer of 2007, the band took off on yet another Warped Tour - however it was kind of like starting over with a new name. They didn’t have the same recognition with the name change, but worked twice as hard to make up the difference. That is what made this band what they were, hard work and true dedication to the craft of touring and promotion. I enjoyed working with them during the period of the name change, I could sense that they were excited again, hungry to ‘make it’. When they rocked the Temecula Music Fest in 2007, they brought a new Rise Against style energy to the stage, to put it in plain words, they shredded the stage and this continued all summer on Warped.

After the Christmas break, I spoke to Donovan about playing the 2008 Temecula Music Fest, an event they had played for a few years faithfully. Donovan had told me that they were not going to be able to make it out, due to the high as hell gas prices and the fact they scored a great gig in Denver on the same weekend. Unfortunately for them the gig didn’t turn out as planned, performers canceled and it just wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. Either way, they were on the Warped Tour again and things looked bright.

ANIMO made it out to California a few days before Warped Tour to film a video for the single off the new album ‘Blood in the Water’ at The Merc in Temecula. It was a great experience and many of the bands So Cal fans came out on a Monday night to see them play and to hang out at TGIFridays after the show like every other time they came to town. At dinner that night Jimmy spoke like a man who was a man who was ready to maybe settle down a bit. He had changed personal things in his life that made him a happier man, it was great to see, but foreboding at the same time. ‘New Guy’ Brian had began to gel with the band and its longtime friends more and that was great, he is a good guy. I did however sense a certain disconnect from Donovan, I couldn’t quite put my finger on it, but it was there. As always, Schuyler and I drank a beer and had a damn good time, we are certainly good at that. All was well, or so I thought.

I arrived at Warped Tour in the summer of 2008 to see the band and to hang out with them, the only catch was that I didnt even see them all together except when they were on the stage. Donovan seemed to be in his own world, Schuyler was hella busy working the tour, Jimmy was no where to be seen and ‘New Guy’ was kinda hanging out alone. The vibe in the merch tent at Warped could be summed up by Joe (who was the merch guy) and his unfortunate condition - a broken arm. An arm broken by a 14 year old girl in an arm wrestling competition they were hosting in the tent. I sensed the same disconnect from Donovan that I had sensed from Bryan 2 years earlier. I was worried, very worried -these were my friends, and one of my favorite bands. The new album ripped and I wanted the best for them.

In November we headed out on our yearly trek to Kansas to see my wife’s family for Thanksgiving. We always go thru Denver, and we got a hotel for the night near where the band grew up in Arvada. I had attempted to call Donovan many times but didn’t get a reply, I chalked it up to him being busy around the holidays. I did get a hold of Schuyler and we hung out for a while and chatted about the band and the future, I guess it was all good, but still it seemed odd. I couldn’t quite figure it out, but something was off. Again, I wanted the best for my buddies and just looked forward to them playing the 2009 Temecula Music Fest so I put any ill thoughts aside and looked to the future.

Over the last few weeks I had tried to get a hold of both Donovan and Schuyler, with no success. I needed to know if they were good to go for the festival, after all they were a 5 time Warped Tour act and had grown a strong following here in So Cal, I wanted them to play. I wanted to see my friends, I wanted to rock out with my co*k out (old DORK reference), I wanted to scream ‘fu*k yeah’ at the top of my lungs when they played that song (fu*k yeah). I wanted to go to TGIFridays and drink a beer and be silly after the show, it was a tradition after all. I finally got Schuyler on the phone and asked him what was up. He told me “man, its a funny story”. After he told me, I didn’t think it was so funny. I was sad.

All in all, I have fond memories of the many times we all spent together and I only wish they could continue because no matter what they were called, DORK or ANIMO they brought a great show to the stage, genuine love for the fans and dedication that I could respect as a performer and a promoter. I wish nothing but the best to ANIMO; Schuyler, Donovan, Jimmy and Brian - my good buddies, one of my favorite bands and the source for many of the best memories of the past 6 years of my life in the music biz.

RIP ANIMO - 2001-2009.

Posted in United States of America, San Diego, Las Vegas, Kansas, Arizona, Hemet, Inland Empire, Full Value TV, Cars, Denver, Murrieta, InViews, Film, Music, Hotels, Food, Temecula, Our Favorite Things, Family Attractions, News | Print | No Comments »