GROWING UP GREEN!! Wake up! Wake up! Let's Talk DEATH!

The '80's and '90's were the birthplace and growth chamber for many types of Metal...Hair Metal and Thrash were the main rivers bands took to. The Bootleggers was home to many baby bands, and where I started my education. After the city shut it down for no reason, I branched out, trying promoting and band management.

The Mason Jar was one of the Phoenix local hot spots for Metal. I saw Tool, Hanoi Rocks, and Sepultura there and scores more! I cant recall all the bands that flew through Franco's club! I also had the good luck to catch Death on the little stage! Some bands go on into the history books and some disappear. Death is here to stay!

It was a sad day when Chuck announced he was living with cancer. we all know that cancer research wasn't as advanced as it is now. I mean, it still is a flip-a-coin diagnosis! One day, as I was working, the phone rang and it was Chuck. He said he was trying an experimental treatment and was just calling to say hi. Yeah, I was surprised because I didn't really know him that well. If I recall correctly, he was in Tucson or headed there. He sounded strong and hopeful.

Recently, I was helping our son, Igor, pack some of his treasures and I came across a scrapbook I had made him in 2001. Full of fliers and laminates, passes and magazines, it also held a promo pack and letter from the label rep promoting Death! I thought I would share it with my Students here and they could all Scream Bloody Gore!!

Class dismissed......

GROWING UP GREEN!!!! WAKE UP!! WAKE UP!! HOP OVER TO METAL ALLEGIANCE!! MORE LEGENDS THAN EGGS!!

This week Max and I went to the Metal Allegiance show here in Phoenix at the new venue, The Van Buren. I had never been there before and I must confess, it was nice inside with a really rad dressing room area, roomy stage and legit cool security! Every where you look, a Metal legend walked past!! Dave Ellefson, Mark Menghi, Chuck Billy, Troy Sanders,Mike Portnoy, Alex Skolnick, Phil Demmel, John Bush, Dave McClain, Phil Rind, Wiley Arnett, Eric AK and MikeyGilbert and oh yeah, Max!!!!

I won't bore you with a long blog since many of you celebrate Easter weekend this week, but if you are lucky enough to be in one of the 4 cities this show is going to, I recommend jumping in the crowd for it!! You don't get the chance to see this many Metal Maniacs on stage together at one time!!

Since Max was here, the crowd got a rare treat of Voodoo Of The Godsend and The Prophecy! Look for yourself!!

Class dismissed.....

GROWING UP GREEN!! WAKE UP!! WAKE UP!!! CATCH ME IF YOU CAN....2 WEEKS IN THE CAVALERA HOME!

Many of you ask me what we do when we are home. People say "now you can rest" or "I am glad you are relaxing." Actually I would have to say home is as busy as being on tour! The only place we can rest is when we are flying! It's the only break lol!

A couple days after got home from Australia, I volunteered Max to have a exhibit at a science and technology seminar at an elementary school. Jason's (Skone) wife, Sian, is a 5th grade teacher and invited him to participate. Her class is studying the rain forest, and Max was supposed to talk about Brazilian percussion. That was easy since we have a mondo collection of instruments from all over the world. He took the berimbau, some beaded gourds, and I even packed him the leg instrument of beads feathers and bird beaks that she wore to record Itsari with the Xavantes! One Mom brought a old photo of her wearing Chaos AD shirt!


There were some super cool exhibits! The Phoenix reptile savers arrived with a collection of snakes and lizards. One lady pulled up with an alligator sitting in her car's back seat! She wrapped a small piece of duct tape around his mouth and said he was a puppy! He was in charge of himself definitely. The kids also showed off their art and experiments! Did you know air has weight? It does!!

Time for some savage fun after that excursion! What to do? We saw a traveling carnival at the nearby mall. That looked good! We packed up some grandkids and off we went in search of pirate adventure! Max never ever road on any type of wizardly ride before so we decided it was time!

Me? I am walking with Roxy and baby Remi taking the pictures as always. The Archiver. I also spot trashy unhealthy carnival food! And I am hella good at the water pistols..but Max always wins haha!

Next we jumped on a plane (nap time) and flew to New York to stroll the New York Metropolitan Art Museum for a private party and tour of the exhibit Play it Loud, which features legendary instruments from artists in the Rock World. Sure enough, Max's Warlock was there!

A meeting the next day for a planned documentary in the making and then blasting back to Phoenix...day flight means Read That Book, Glo!! Arrive home and zip off to a protest meeting with a friend and Roki, his first protest. A stupid lady walked around trying to incite people and talking White Power slang the whole time. She walked up to me, her final victim. I whispered "Hey go to your own party" and she blasted out some vicious profanity. Roki was right next to me. I asked him if now he knew why we were there and he smiled. "Yes, Grandma."

The park across the street had a ton of monuments for REAL heroes. The Codetalkers, the men of Pearl Harbor, pioneers, Korean War vets, 9-11, every military event you could think of. Roki soaked it all like a sponge.

The next day Max took Zyon and the rest of his crew to the Phoenix Suns game. Someones gotta cheer!

And last but not least, the next day we went to Jadore's classes' art show at a church in Scottsdale. It was elementary, middle school and high school artists from the Scottsdale area and damn, was it ever impressive!!

And then we made it home for my work week to start. I have Max working on new songs for the South American Beneath/Arise shows in June and I am planning the summer, fall and winter runs, and a few releases you don't even know about!. But today and tomorrow I am playing hooky since my assistant went Cochella!! Hell yeah!! Girls gotta have fun too!

Class dismissed...

PLAY IT LOUD STUDENTS!!

Last year I received a top secret call from the Rock and Roll Museum in Cleveland. They were ecstatic because the Metropolitan Art Museum, aka The Met, in NYC had decided to create a Rock and Roll exhibit of musical instruments, through the years, that were influential in artistic design, popular creative influences and also instrumental with fans' love of the genre and overall story of Rock and Roll. And yes, Max's BC Rich was to be included!! They said, "this is big! Like...the Beatles are in it!" They asked if I would loan the guitar to the exhibit. They didn't have to ask twice!!

Time passed and eventually I received the contract, next, the invitation and last, the RSVP! Damn this was REAL!! No major art museum in the world ever had a Rock instrument section or had even acknowledged that he style, the music and the instruments were art!! The exhibit would be called Play It Loud, and there would be a private viewing and party in the Met on April 1st, 2019. I admit, a couple times I did fear that it would be an April Fool's joke!

We flew to NYC on the 30th of March, nervous and hella excited! Before we knew it, we were standing on the stairs leading up to the Met!! I swear the buzz in that line was just uniform excitement! We all had big smiles and laughter! What an occasion!!

The front entrance had been turned into the sickest venue! A stage stood where the ticket booths usually were, and free open bars were scattered throughout the foyer. A giant Egyptian statue greeted us. We briefly started circling around the room, stopping to chat with Alex Skolnik, the only other Metalhead present. Alex is part of the Metal Allegiance record and tour, and Max is one of their special guests. No other Metalheads in da house!! We stuck out pretty much, since Max had his spiky Soulfly battle vest on and I was ravishing around in a leopard coat, a gift from Sharon Osbourne.

We were going to check out the exhibit, but almost immediately we heard the rhythms pumping through the hall from the legendary Roots band, so we headed back to the front gallery. They were slicing and dicing through the hall and the acoustics were unexplainably excellent! They were joined soon by the Eagles' guitarist Don Felder, who gave us some exceptional guitar sounds!! Max and I had nudged a good corner, front stage spot to watch the show and we weren't moving an inch!

The next surprise guest was Steve Miller!!!! For God's sake!!! Could it really be him!!! We were all flying like eagles. His wicked guitar sound was a masterpiece of crispness blended with a space odyssey voyage! It was brilliant!!

We saw Jimi Paige's double neck guitar on stage all night, but we never saw the master blaster. Later on we learned that he was cruising the exhibit while we were all bouncing from Hotel California to Soaring Like Eagles.

When the Roots had completed their 2 hour set, Max and I slid into the exhibit to catch a peak at his guitar. 15 minutes before the Met was to close, so we didn't get to see much. I passed the Beatles' gear, levitating past my childhood of Eric Clapton, the Who, Cream and the wispy flute of Aqualung himself! I came to a halt when a red BC Rich Warlock winked at me from the center of a display!

And there it was...snug as a bug, in between the Rolling Stone Ron Wood's guitar and flanked on the other side by the very own Beatle George Harrison's acoustic!! COULD THIS BE REAL!! Standing guard over was a Talking Head guitar! This was reality!! We couldn't stop laughing and swooshing!! In fact, I made a plastic surgery appointment to remove that split pie face grin!!

Next up, we got the Met boot...time to close. They weren't getting rid of us that quickly! Nope. We made plans to revisit the next day and get a private tour lined up! Next week, Students, bring your notebook...you are gonna get some lessons in the evolution of Rock and Roll!

Class dismissed....