YOU ARE INVITED TO THE GOLDEN GOD'S AWARDS!!!!

After getting lost numerous times on the detours and exits of the California 405 Freeway, we finally arrived at the Nokia Live in Los Angeles, all geared up for the Metal party of the year!! I wasn't just toting my clutch, I was pumped with adrenalin! I knew the surprise was going to be, among many others, Max singing Roots with Suicide Silence! This was going to be sick!

Nokia Live

The minute we went up the escalator, the action started! Max and I had brought Igor and Aggy and were also meeting my Incite boys, who are recording in Van Nuys with Matt Hyde! I was told Max's escort for the night would be none other than the legendary Metal Maria, who is my dear friend..how could the night get any better?? And there they all were, at the top of the stairs! Big grins on all....

Aggy, Me, and Kendog at the entrance 

Commotion began immediately! Thats Metal..no rest...just action! Max, Richie and Igor were swiped away to walk the black carpet. The second they set foot on it, the cameras were out. Damn, you woulda thought Princess Kate was standing there! It was a mountain of flashes upon flashes!! I snuck off with Aggy to the other end of the carpet and had a chat with our friend, Dee Snyder. Dee was doing the interviews for VH1 and had a low stage set up where the artists finished their walk. So many people wanted Max and the boys it was nearly an hour before we saw them again!!

Dee spotted me!

Dee interviewing the boys!

When we finally got the guys back and went into the Nokia Lounge, we were surprised ..and DEE-lighted to find we had our own table reserved for THE CAVALERA FAMILY! This was gangster!! It was right across from Linkin Park and Ace Frehley's tables!! I am gonna faint just writing this!! Ok, get a grip...

Max and Ace Frehley

Kendog guarding our private table

Slayer kicked it all off as the surprise guest with South Of Heaven! No better way to get this off to a start than headbanging to Slayer!! Max and I rocked next to Jose Mangin and his hot Mama, Melissa! Everywhere you looked, there was a hero....Tony Iommii, Alice Cooper, Rob Zombie, Five Finger Death Punch, Lita Ford, Wendy Dio, Tony Hawk, Marilyn Manson, Body Count, ZZ Top, Pat Benatar, Guns and Roses, Dave Navarro, Carmen Electra, Zakk Wylde, Doyle and Elissa White-Gluz, Scott Ian, Nicholas Cage...to name a tiny fraction of the rockers there. Whoa, I am outta breath...

Slayer

Aggy, Melissa Mangin, an Me! 

Marilyn Manson, and Addy Miller

Doyle and Elissa

Alice Cooper and his wife

About 9:15, Max, Metal Maria (Ferrrera) and I went backstage to meet up with Suicide Silence. They were super-hyped and we were too! The crowd went into a frenzy and I will say, the sound out front was phenomenal!

Max playing with  Suicide Silence

Max, Me, and Tommy Victor (Prong)

We went back to our table and the crowd was so thick. Max was congratulated by his heroes and the boys and Aggy were tearing shit up in the smoking lounge. Me?? I was emailing and working as usual, tucked next to Max, with a smile on my face. When Igor pinched Andy Dick's nipple, we knew it was time to get outta Dodge...

Aggy, and Igor 

Class dismissed....

DON'T LET THE EASTER BUNNY HOP IN WITH A BASKET OF DARK AGES

It's Good Friday, my loyal Students. This is not going to be a rock blog...it is going to be very personal . If you want to miss class and headbang, it is all cool with me! If not, you can have a backstage pass to a private Cavalera moment...Easter in Serbia!

2004, what a glorious year and a stressful year! We had a new grandson, little Moses. It was the circle of Life and each time I gazed into his eyes I searched for that little drop of "me" that was meshed with his entire being. Amazing that you can sprinkle yourself here and there and and never quite leave this Earth...He was happy and fat..all the requirements for a wee one!

Me and Max

Max and Moses

There was a dark side and it attached itself to Max... It took my restful sleep away, my nerves were on the edge hanging on like someone clinging to the side of a cliff after slipping... My recruits had travelled with us, my Dad, Zyon and Fatty, our longtime friend. No way could I deal with this situation alone! Max was loosing it..captured in the grip of a fist so tight, it would not let go. I was trying to keep working and lasso Max's demons. My strength was sapping away....It was supposed to be Easter...but I couldn't see the sun or the hope, nothing but anxiety.

Me, Christina, Fatty, and Dad

Born into a Russian Orthodox family, raised quite in the Russian tradition, I have a strong sense of family, religion, hospitality and cooking, hard work, and yes superstitions that have travelled through time in our family. There is a desire in me to preserve our roots, our history...that is what truly makes us who we are. If you understand your roots, you know yourself.

cemetery in Kraljevo

We decided to do a bit of traveling and I had a mission. Mom had told me about a Russian General who had escaped to Yugoslavia after the Russian Revolution. He was living in secret, hiding in a tiny room. I suggested we all travel to Kraljevo; a city not too far from Belgrade. It would get us out of the house and hopefully take our mind off the Darkness and occupy us with some fun...it was like looking for pirate treasure!

We went to the cemetery first, thinking we could find a grave, but the cemetery was so vast and we couldn't read Cyrillic, no luck but fun. We went in the city for a coffee and a woman who walked up to chat actually knew the story and where the General had once lived. It was in a small room above a shop, just like Mom said. This could change Russian history books, which say the General died in Bulgaria. We were all excited, feeling like we had connected the dots.

Back in Belgrade, the Darkness followed us and I was running here and there, stressing and tense. I sent the boys to a game of basketball, but it only made matters worse...If I could just push that shizzle over the cliff? I couldn't think, it was suffocating me, ruining the day and stealing my sleep.

Fatty and Z playing basketball

I decided to visit the Russian Church. In my quest for my ancestry, I realized that my Grandmother had visited the same church, many many decades before me. Did she think her granddaughter would walk through the same doorway, pray at the same icon? I think not.

I had a short meeting with the priest who pointed me in the right direction. Giving my soul and my spirit a boost, I regained my strength. I was able to focus and see the horizon. I just had to cross the damn bog, wade through the deepest of muck, raise a sword against the evil troll of addiction. I knew I could do it.

I went to our home, in Belgrade, and whooped up an Easter feast, colored eggs and got the Tribe moving. Max was in a heavy spiral, that would take all my energy to contain, but I knew one day it would stop. Zyon and Fatty gave me a routine, a place to step away from the frontline. Occupying my time, every second of the day, in between constant damage control and multi-tasking would get me through this.

Zyon

I never had a clue. I couldn't see the future. No hope, no fear began to have meaning to me. I see it all as I look back through the ages of my life...This was the beginning of the DARK AGES...

Class dismissed.......

CHAOS AD IS BORN......PART 4 OF A 4-PART SERIES

During the Nailbomb recording, Max found a photo of a parade in the streets of Haiti. The people were wearing masks with horns and the photo was black and white. He wanted to use this pic for the Nailbomb record but changed his mind and went with the lady with the gun to her head.

The photographer who took the parade shot was a man named Gary Monroe, who lived in the US. Max discovered that Gary had made a book about the down-side of Disneyland--kids crying, parents pissed off, etc--and also visited Haiti often, combining compelling emotions in his work there. It intrigued Max so much, he brought Gary into the Sepul fold.

Tintern Abbey

Gary and the guys

Paulo and Max

Anreas

Sepultura

Paulo

Add caption

When the record went to the final mastering, we embarked on the longest photo shoot in Sepul history. 8 hours driving, hiking and marching around hills, valleys, woods, and ruins. I carried Zyon everywhere and the Dr Martins were very much appreciated by me that day.

Gary had planned the locations and taught us a bit of history along the way. I never knew the Romans had made it up to the Uk, but Gary showed us their footsteps...ruins and ancient columns. It was a long day with many jokes cracked but in the end it was all useful shizzle. It marked the ages. It stored that magic time for the Tribe. It became our history. And for a time, it was Camelot...

Zyon and Max

Zyon and Iggor

Paulo, Zyon and Andreas

Class dismissed.....

CHAOS A.D. IS BORN.....PART 3 OF A 4-PART SERIES

From time to time, record label reps would stop by. to check up on recording. The UK Roadrunner rep was a cool due named Marcus. He had grown up nearby in the town of Chepstow and his father was the mayor. When Max suggested to Andy that they record in a castle, Andy got excited! Just by luck, Marcus's father could get us access to Chepstow Castle!! It was all rolling together!!

Max thought it would be very cool to have a Brazilian band record a song about a tribe, in a Welsh castle. He left all the logistics to Andy. Captain Andy rounded up the mics, speakers, board, cables and every other detail necessary to accomplish this dream. There was a general fun feeling spreading through the compound.

The shadows in the castle walls were long and slicing. The sea gulls were circling, cawing all through the day. Musty acoustics, aged from weather and time. Sunshine fought to shine in the corners; the roof was long gone in some dusty century, but the walls still rose tight and strong. I sat at the back with Zyon and snapped photos and wrote on the card catalog in my brain and filed it under Castle Recording 1993.

Max, Zyon, and Me

Me and Zyon

At the beginning of the song, you can hear Andreas say in Portuguese, "Are you ready, Vovo?" Andy kept the sound of the seagulls above, live and fresh on the recording. The wind was our companion, a silent breeze. It was a beautiful day, cool in our barricade.

Andreas

After the wrap, we went into the village and it was boiling hot out!! The sun was relentless; no stone walls blocking the glare here! We all stopped for cold drinks.

ice cold sodas!

As the recording wound down, we planned a party. The owners of the estate and studio, their family, Andy, Trish and their kids and our Sepul mob all rocked the night away. Slamming sweet wine and playing 60's songs was on the menu! A giant pig was being roasted in the field by the lovely Welsh ladies and we were boogying to the band. I even danced with Max and Andy Wallace! Damn I never had so much fun! Andy treated us to his bass playing and covers of the Beatles and Rolling Stones. In the morning, we all need plastic surgery to remove our smiles.....but that is another story....

Class dismissed....