Let The "Sunshine" In

Get Down Tonight!

KC AND THE SUNSHINE BAND HEADS TO WASHINGTON, D.C. FOR AMERICA'S NATIONAL INDEPENDENCE DAY CELEBRATION, A CAPITOL FOURTH, ON PBS

KC and The Sunshine Band Joins Barry Manilow, Alabama, Nicole Scherzinger, Hunter Hayes, Meghan Linsey, the National Symphony Orchestra, and more! 

It wouldn't be the 4th of July without fireworks and sunshine, KC and the Sunshine Band that is!
 

Just announced, household-name 70s dance group, KC and The Sunshine Band, will help to celebrate America's 239th birthday by performing their top-selling, multi-platinum dance hits like "(Shake, Shake, Shake) Shake Your Booty," "Get Down Tonight," "That's The Way (I Like It)" and more as part of A CAPITOL FOURTH, broadcast LIVE on PBS from the U.S. Capitol on Saturday, July 4, 2015 from 8 to 9:30 p.m. ET. The band will appear along with Barry Manilow, Alabama, Nicole Scherzinger, Hunter Hayes, Meghan Linsey, Lang Lang, Ronan Tynan, Robert Davi and the National Symphony Orchestra. Celebrating the March release of their new 60s cover album, Feeling You! The 60s, The Founder of The Dance Revolution, Harry Wayne "KC" Casey, and his high-energy Sunshine Band plan to bring their ultra catchy Miami-born pop, funk and R&B sound to the celebration, backed by one of the greatest fireworks displays in the country. With sales of over 100 million records, nine GRAMMY nominations, three GRAMMY Awards and an American Music Award, the band is still known today as one of the most progressive acts of the 70s, and their music is still discovered daily by millions around the world through its continual placement in top box office movies, commercials, video games and more. "It's a great honor for us to be a part of this birthday celebration for America," said Casey. "We're fortunate to be celebrating our 35th anniversary of our biggest hits this year, so it's rewarding to see that they have stood the test of time, and when our nation comes together to celebrate something as significant as our nation's birthday and our freedom, we can be a part of it. We hope our performance brings smiles to people's faces." According to event organizers, the top-rated, award-winning extravaganza reaches an audience of hundreds of thousands, and millions more at home through the live broadcast, as well as our troops serving around the world on the American Forces Network. Twenty cameras will be positioned around the city, including the U.S. Capitol, the White House and the Washington Monument for the national broadcast. A CAPITOL FOURTH can also be heard live on the radio over NPR member stations nationwide. For more information, visit www.pbs.org/a-capitol-fourth/home/. For all of KC and The Sunshine Band's upcoming tour dates visit www.heykcsb.com.

Colton Ford's Next Chapter

OK, let's get the obvious out of the way and sweep it under the rug. Colton Ford is best known for being a porn star. That's so fifteen years ago...

Since then Colton has become an accomplished singer and actor. He has had hit singles and albums such as Tug of War. His current EP is Next Chapter. He recently starred in the premiere of the play (which I attended) And All The Dead, Lie Down by Harrison David Rivers directed by John Coppola in Los Angeles, CA.

With a portrayal of Sheriff Trout on Here's hit supernatural series The Lair thrown in for good measure, what's next?

It's time to turn the page on Colton's career. Hey, it's all about that falsetto...Let's meet the 2015 model of Colton Ford.

MS: Hey how are you?

CF: I'm driving and eating, it's one of those days where I have to schedule my bathroom breaks. (laughs)

MS: You recently moved back to Los Angeles.

CF: I've been back in LA for a year and a half. I lived in New York seven years prior to that. It was time to move back to LA. I got everything I needed to from New York and I didn't have to be there to do what I was doing. I love New York though and still make trips there.

MS: Obviously I saw you in the play And All The Dead, Lie Down. This was the first time it was done ever, correct?

CF: Yes, it's the first time it was done. The writer, director and my co-star Kila Packett all developed it. It was a great experience!

MS: Kila and yourself had amazing chemistry!

CF: Yeah, we wanted to make it real and we worked hard on that. I really enjoyed it. I haven't had the opportunity to play a drama in quite some time with the things that I've done acting wise. It's usually been more cheeky, or like Sheriff Trout on The Lair stuff along those lines. So it was fun to explore that energy, there were more emotional things happening in this project than what I have been able to play in the other things that I have done.

MS: There was a lot of nudity and free balling in the show, I was told that was in it before I went, but was not expecting as much as there was.

CF: It wasn't supposed to be gratuitous. The whole idea and concept of this was that the audience is a voyeur. Your peeking in the window and watching a couple in their own natural habitat, without them having the knowledge of being watched. When they come out of the shower they take their towel off and they get dressed, when they go to bed and have sex they take their shit off...you know what I mean? It was the way it would be in real life and that's what the playwright & director wanted.

There is a thing about seeing a penis. We know Nicole Kidman was nude on Broadway, but when Daniel Radcliffe was nude we heard a lot more chatter about that. Some people are really taken aback by it and some just accept it as part of what the story is. The director was very cautious and concerned that it not be delivered in a way that was gratuitous.

MS: Mainly the conflict in the show stemmed from one of the couple being HIV + and the other being HIV - what are your thoughts on that?

CF: I think everybody has to figure out how they want to love. I am of the mind set that it would not be an issue for me if I was feeling somebody, and falling in love with somebody. We all should be educated about how you get it and how not to get it. We also have to recognize that we are a species that has to deal with sexually transmitted diseases, I don't care what it is you are at risk even if you practice safe sex. Personally I am not of the mindset that I am going to give someone head with a condom on, it's not for me. I make sure there are no cuts and sores in my mouth and I generally stay away from people cumming in my mouth. Just little things that make my experience safer. If your sexually active and not in a relationship chances are you are going to connect with someone that might be HIV +.

People now have undetectable viral loads, I don't live in fear around it. It certainly does not dictate whether or not I get to know somebody. That's the way that I look at it. The more that you are educated and the more you get to know the dynamic of HIV the less fear based you will be. You will be more open with regard to loving somebody without placing those kinds of conditions on that love.

Photo: Kevin McDermott

MS: Let's talk about your current EP Next Chapter.

CF: OK.

MS: It's more hard R&B and less Electronica than your previous efforts.

CF: My roots are R&B/Soul that's where I have lived all my life. When I was signed with Virgin in the 90's it was straight R&B. I moved into House Music and subsequently EDM. There has always been a thread of soul in my music and certainly in my vocal arrangements, you can tell my roots are in that genre of music. Now that I am in my fifties I want to do music more reflective of where I live and who I am...I certainly love Dance Music. The new stuff I am working on is more R&B/Soul, but it has the ability to be re-mixed into a dance song. That is how I am shifting musically. My next album is definitely going to be more Soul/R&B/Contemporary. Depending on the single release we will have a re-mix package that will give all of the different musical vibes and energies, but the album version will be of the R&B/Soul genre.

MS: I really loved Love is Taking Over which you co-wrote.

CF: Thanks! I co-wrote all of them except for the covers of Yesterday and Something About You.

MS: Sorry I didn't stay and hang out to say Hello after the play. I figured it was OK since I saw you before. (laughs)

CF: No worries I figured you had something to do. (laughs) 

Keep moving forward with Colton at:

https://www.facebook.com/ColtonFordMusic

https://twitter.com/coltonfordmusic

Ohm Shanthi: Trevor Hall

Chill It's Trevor
Photo: Emory Hall

TREVOR HALL

COMES FULL CIRCLE WITH HIS NEW RELEASE

KALA

THE THIRD AND FINAL CHAPTER IN HIS THREE ALBUM SERIES

TAPING PBS SHOW ON TOUR JUNE 16^TH AT WORLD CAFÉ IN WILMINGTON, DE

PERFORMING IN DEEPAK CHOPRA’S GLOBAL MEDITATION FOR COMPASSION ON JULY 11^TH IN CARLSBAD, CA

Ohm...Ohm...Ohm...It's Trevor Hall... 

TREVOR HALL has announced the release of his upcoming album KALA on August 21, 2015. Written in Hawaii and recorded in L.A., KALA marks the final chapter in a trilogy that chronicles Trevor’s spiritual and musical journey over the past few years.  KALA, which means ‘time’ in Sanskrit, embodies the very essence of time, permeating in each of the album’s tracks.

Trevor explains, “A year ago, my grandmother said to me…‘Isn’t time such a wonderful gift?’…….That was the seed. That was the beginning … ‘Time.’ …For as long as I can remember, time was something that I looked upon negatively. It was always a burden, a pressure, a restriction. It was something that I was always running out of, something that I couldn’t grasp. I constantly encumbered myself with the impossible task of figuring everything out right now. I mean, we’re running out of time, aren’t we? Look around you … Our daily lives are ruled by time. Everyone is in a rush. Everyone is trying to get things done before time runs out. We are bound by it, frustrated with it, and often angry at it.

When my grandmother looked up to me from her wheel chair on that golden afternoon, something happened. I didn’t know it then, but that one remark would stick with me for weeks and months to come. Slowly, but inevitably, her words would unravel the weighted tassels of time that I had continually allowed myself to be fettered by. In time, time changed its face.

Thus … KALA was born.

‘Kala’ is the Sanskrit word for ‘time.’ In contrast to my inherited understanding of time, many Eastern cultures of our world understand and treat time for its eternal nature. It is spoken of in its relationship to space and to growth. It fosters wisdom and right understanding. It is the womb of all creation - from which we all came, and to which we will all return to. There is no beginning, and there is no end.

This album mirrors my journey with time….my journey to surrender more deeply to it. KALA is about time the healer, time the teacher, time the friend, and all the lessons within. My hope and prayer is that these songs and stories help inspire us to look at this journey of life in all its vastness rather than its limitation.”

TREVOR HALL’S musical trilogy began with the 2014 release of CHAPTER OF THE FOREST, born during a yearlong sabbatical in which Hall returned to his beloved India, Nepal, Vermont, and Maine. His journey continued with his most recent EP UNPACK YOUR MEMORIES, a collection including some of Hall’s most personal tracks recorded on his laptop solely by him.   

Hall is currently in the midst of his summer tour which will include two special performances. He will be featured on Emmy Award winning PBS show On Tour that will be taped at World Café Live in Wilmington, Delaware on June 16^th. The program will air in the fall. The On Tour series is recorded live on location at local venues in and around Pennsylvania, Delaware and New Jersey. It airs on PBS station WHYY-TV. On July 11^th, Trevor will be the featured performer in Deepak Chopra’s 2^nd annual Global Meditation for Compassion at the Deepak Chopra Center in Carlsbad, CA. The event will be streamed live in English and Spanish. For more information on this event visit https://chopracentermeditation.com/globalmeditation

Full list of tour dates below with new fall dates to be announced shortly. For updates visit www.trevorhallmusic.com and www.smarturl.it/thtour .

2015 Summer & Fall Tour Dates

6-15-2015            Bay Shore, NY – Boulton Center (Special Event)

6-16-2015            Wilmington, DE – World Café Live Delaware (taping PBS series On Tour)
6-17-2015            Brooklyn, NY – Music Hall of Williamsburg
6-18-2015            Portland, ME – Port City Music Hall
6-20-2015            Stratton, VT – Wanderlust
6-21-2015            Stratton, VT – Wanderlust

6-24-2015            Alexandria, VA – Birchmere Music Hall
6-26-2015            Rothbury, MI – Electric Forest Festival
6-27-2015            Chicago, IL – Lincoln

6-28-2015            Minneapolis, MN – Cabooze

6-30-2015            Cleveland, OH – Music Box
7-01-2015            Cleveland, OH – Music Box
7-03-2015            Toronto, Canada – Lee’s Palace

7-11-2015            Carlsbad, CA – Deepak Chopra Global Meditation for Compassion Event

7-14-2015            Phoenix, AZ – Crescent Ballroom
7-15-2015            Phoenix, AZ – Crescent Ballroom – Sold Out
7-16-2015            San Juan Capistrano, CA – The Coach House

7-17-2015            Santa Cruz, CA - Catalyst
7-18-2015            Lake Tahoe, CA – Wanderlust Festival

7-19-2015            Lake Tahoe, CA – Wanderlust

8-01-2015            Bridgeport, CT – Gathering of the Vibes
8-04-2015            Missoula, MT – Top Hat

8-05-2015            Bozeman, MT – Filling Station
8-06-2015            Jackson Hole, WY – Pink Gerter

8-07-2015            Park City, UT – Park City Live
8-09-2015            Loveland, CO – Arise Music Festival

8-11-2015            Kansas City, MO – The Riot Room

8-13-2015            Birmingham, AL – WorkPlay Theatre

8-14-2015            Atlanta, GA – Terminal West
8-15-2015            Charleston, SC – Music Farm

8-16-2015            Charlotte, NC – The Visulite Theatre

9-01-2015            Hilton Head, SC – Rooftop Bar at Poseidon

9-03-2015            Carrboro, NC – Cat’s Cradle
9-05-2015            Floyd, VA – Floyd Yoga Jam
9-06-2015            Myrtle Beach, SC – The Boathouse

9-12-2015            Los Angeles, CA – Teragram Ballroom

9-13-2015            Joshua Tree, CA – BhakiFest

9-17-2015            Portland, OR – Star Theater
9-18-2015            Seattle, WA – The Showbox
9-19-2015            Vancouver, BC – Biltmore Cabaret

9-22-2015            Billings, MT – Pub Station

Website: www.trevorhallmusic.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/trevorhall

Twitter: https://twitter.com/trevorhallmusic

Instagram: http://instagram.com/trevorhallmusic

Youtube: http://youtube.com/trevorhallmusic

Tour dates: www.smarturl.it/thtour   

No Brainer: Magic Mike XXL

Time For Some "Magic" at Los Angeles Pride

It's the marketing no brainer of the year. Yes, there was a Magic Mike XXL float in the Los Angeles Pride Parade.

Stars Channing Tatum, Matt Bomer & Adam Rodriguez were on it accompanied by some shirtless ripped guys shaking their money makers.

Oh, and I was there and I saw it all with my own two eyes.

Brilliant idea not to mention fun!

Feel the magic at: http://www.magicmikemovie.com/

Because I'm Punk, That's Why

Trespassers Premiere New Video ("Thereafter") on Alternative Press; 'Rival Glass' EP Out Now on Spartan Records No "Trespassers" Hello followers, you may have realized I harbor a secret that is not in keeping with the conventions of society. "Yes" it's true, I love punk rock and am now introducing you to the "Trespassers." What are you gonna do?! Sue me MotherF#@kers?! Syracuse, NY's Trespassers are premiering a new video for their latest single "Thereafter" on Alternative Press. The track appears on their 'Rival Glass' EP which was released in late-February and is available now at iTunes and the Spartan Records store. What others are saying about Trespassers 'Rival Glass': "...it's clear that the band has the chops to go the mile. Distorted, grungy and very accessible. "- Punknews "For fans of Balance and Composure and the like."- Absolutepunk "...a bloody enjoyable listen. Robust, powerful and packed with subtle hooks, it’s the sort of EP that leaves you eager for more....showcases Trespassers at their serrated, jagged best."- Alreadyheard Upcoming Shows: Jun 16 Yardstock III Shickshinny, PA Jul 17 Bug Jar Rochester, NY Jul 25 Bistro de Paris Montreal, Canada Jul 26 Pauls House Ottawa, Canada Trespassers: Matt Wojtanik- Vocals Matt Travers- Guitar/Vocals Alec LaBounty- Drums Nick Hotaling- Bass Ryan Dugan- Guitar Facebook Spartan Records

That's So Raven

Rave-Symone on The View

While The View is a show I avoid at all costs I do love Ms. Raven-Symone for a myriad of reasons. 

Having caught her on the show by happenstance (it's what they had on TV in the waiting room) I may now tune in once in a while to check her thoughts out. She has brings a sparkle to the show that has sorely been lacking for years and I really respect her opinions and intelligence, Raven is bad ass!

And if she gets her way on her request to have Caitlyn Jenner on the show you KNOW I will be glued to the TV for that one!

Here is what she has to say on the subject -

Source E! News:

"I think Caitlyn Jenner is a very brave woman," the 29-year-old TV personality told E! News. "I think she has done a lot of things that will inspire many other people in the world to journey down their truth path...and I'm sure she would love us!"

That's so Raven, and I love her for it!

Raven Rules at: 
https://www.facebook.com/ravensymone
https://twitter.com/ravensymone

Killing Jimmy Hoffa

Killing Jimmy Hoffa comes to DVD July 21st The real story of the Teamsters boss told through exclusive interviews, news footage, and photographs  Remember the saga of Jimmy Hoffa? I do...he is one of the most prolific figures in American History. So much so that there was a 1992 movie starring Jack Nicholson directed by Danny DeVito simply called: "Hoffa" Fascinating stuff...

Jimmy Hoffa's disappearance and probable murder is one of the great crimes of the century. Despite a massive Federal investigation spanning 4 decades and hundreds of suspects, only the general contours of the crime are known. In the American mythology Hoffa is both hero and villain; a self-made man who ran the nation's largest union and was so beloved by the rank and file Teamsters he represented that they supported him as union president while he was under indictment and even in prison. Hoffa also moved in the highest circles of organized crime. Among his closest friends and business partners were members of the national Mafia commission, men he was forced to align with during the violent and chaotic early days of union building when corporations deployed armed goons and police to attack workers in the street, and unions battled each other to control the workforce.  Hoffa's chief nemesis was US attorney general Robert F. Kennedy, and the two men developed a deep hatred for each other. In the long aftermath of President F. John Kennedy's assassination Jimmy Hoffa's name swirled in the aether of conspiracy theories, and his close Mafia associates Carlos Marcello and Santos Trafficante are at the center of the most plausible theories about Kennedy's death. The two men Hoffa thought he was going to meet on the day of his disappearance have the most ironclad alibis of any suspects in the case. All the FBI's other leads came from informants and unreliable witnesses. In the years after the case the FBI has dug up farms, investigated waste dumps, and debriefed numerous Mafia turncoats that purported to have information on Hoffa's death, but they all turned out to be ephemeral. The only physical evidence is a single piece of Hoffa's hair found in Mafia enforcer Tony Giacalone's son's car. Frank Sheeran, a Teamster ally and Mafia enforcer, made the claim that he personally killed Hoffa in a house in Detroit and his story became a national best seller. But the veracity of Sheeran's story is undermined by his previous attempts to get a book deal centered around the claim that Richard Nixon had Hoffa killed, and his use of a forged document purportedly signed by Hoffa that validated his story.  "Killing Jimmy Hoffa" covers the life and times of Hoffa and explore all the theories about his disappearance. In analyzing the suspects we will take a tour of America's 20th criminal landscape and see how the Hoffa hit was the final act in the nearly 50 year reign of La Cosa Nostra as a shadow government that wielded chilling power and control over America. Finally, we will unveil a previously unknown, and the most likely, account of the events of July 30th, 1975, the day James Riddle Hoffa vanished. Jimmy Hoffa was a Shakespearean character. One of the last of the self-made American men to rise out of the working class, he was born fighting. To seize and maintain the power he so obviously craved Hoffa had to embrace the corruption of the world he inhabited. Corrupt businesses, corrupt politicians, and the very essence of corruption: La Cosa Nostra. He was a Caesar surrounded by many Brutus'. He lived to see his great nemesis, the golden boy Robert F. Kennedy, die before him, but also lost his greatest possession-the Teamsters union itself. In the ultimate insult, whoever killed him got away with it; Hoffa's soul forever un-avenged. Why do we still think about him? It must be that he reminds us of something about America, he reminds us that it wasn't always so easy, that it wasn't always so slick and clean. We know that he is dead, but the important question is: Who Killed Jimmy Hoffa? The cast of characters in the saga of Jimmy Hoffa is quite a menagerie. His peers were the most powerful men in America, on both sides of the law. The Kennedy brothers, Mafia strongmen like Detroit's Giacalone brothers and the murderous Carmine Galante, hard-nosed union men, CIA spies, and the captains of American industry. Hoffa was at the center of such a complex web of relationships, plots, and conspiracies that eventually he could no longer manage them and found himself taking a ride that he would never return from. At the height of his fame, his face was more recognizable than a movie star, he was more loved than Mickey Mantle. Just as the Kennedy's were the Golden Boys of the aspiring classes, of the college students , James Hoffa was the Golden Boy of the all those Americans who worked for a living, even if he was just as flawed as Jack and Bobby. The Hoffa hit was the last great flexing of Mafia power on a national scale. While the government didn't charge anybody, all the prime suspects received significant prison sentences soon after, unlike in the assassination of JFK, where they got away fairly cleanly. Starting in the late 80's many of the top Mafia chiefs were sent to prison for lengthy terms, and their ability to pull off crimes right in the public eye diminished. What we saw was an end to a period of extreme corruption in the American economic, political, and social systems that began during Prohibition. The era of assassinations, Watergate, etc. Corrupt politicians, corrupt police, corrupt leaders. Hoffa was a man of his times. Hoffa's disappearance was the capstone of 15 years of psychic trauma and shocking events that started with JFK's assassination and continued through the murders of MLK , RFK, and Watergate.