HVCC brought this authentic Mariachi band back to Troy. The lights went out during the show!
Photography by Timothy Reidy.
7-Eleven Fun – The Weird Side of the Internet
7-Eleven Fun – The Weird Side of the Internet – by Liam Sweeny.
We’re not sponsored by 7-Eleven. I wish we were. For a quickie gas station-convenience store, 7-Eleven’s got it. Our incarnation of 7-Eleven in Speedway, but same diff. But 7-Eleven is know for pretty cool promo ideas.
Green Day was celebrating the thirtieth anniversary of their album “Dookie.” 7-Eleven was celebrating their 60th anniversary of putting fresh-brewed coffee in to-go cups (has it been that long?) So they teamed up, and at one New York store, on August 28th, the first 50 fans to show up and got a semi-permanent custom tattoo got 711 days of free coffee. If that isn’t a reason to get some ink, I don’t know what is.
So I have to wonder what is ‘semi-permanent?’ Does the tattoo wash off but come back in times of stress, like herpes? Can you make it reappear with a ritual involving yew and hemlock?
Oh, this is even wilder. They gave a baby a gift of $7,111. The baby was born on July 11th, 2019 at 7:11pm. It weighed 7 lbs, 11 ounces. This is the foretold ruler of gas stations and pope of convenience stores, destined to unite them all.
Oh, and their chicken wings are too good to be from a convenience store, just saying.
People don’t think much od 7-Elevens, or any gas station/convenience stores, for that matter, but we have to question why not? We value the supermarket, think highly of the pharmacy, but look down on the very place we go that gets us to the grocery store and pharmacy? With all those unhealthy snacks and those behind-the-counter vices, are they not paramours that will do what our spouses won’t?
I’m considering buying a 7-11 hat with a white pom on it. Just for winter. I already bought a Slurpee truckers cap. I’ll represent 7-Eleven, I don’t give a crap. People represent sports teams they’ll never see – I can go get gas at Speedway tomorrow.
“The Dynasty: Return to Neverland” @ The Linda, 10/12/2024
Jimmy Limits vs. Connor vs. Captain Blackwell vs. Laylah James
Coach Kyle vs. Mikey Cheese
Johan Nara vs. Jeff Nova
Thumbs Wrestling Championship with Rando as the referee – Seth Turner vs. Dan “The Beast” Severn
Fan Entrance contest
Big Jym Memorial Hardcore Match – Sgt. Fury vs. Brandon Smyth
Foxx Vinyer & High Voltage Omar vs. Jimmy Limits & Conan Lycan
Tina San Antonio vs. Hardbody Harlow
#1 Contender’s Match: Black Roze vs. Josh Alexander
Photography by Joshua Scarselli.
Jimmy Aquino – Xperience History
Jimmy Aquino – Xperience History – by Richard Beach.
Originally published in September 2021.
On Comic News Insider, Jimmy Aquino’s bio starts: Jimmy Aquino is the pretty one. He wrote that. Actor, bartender, podcaster on all things Comics, he is an interesting character. Read on and get to know an interesting renaissance man.
RRX: I’m speaking with Jimmy Aquino. He is the host of the Comic News Insider (https://www.comicnewsinsider.com/). He’s a bartender. He has been an actor and generally an interesting guy. So first, thank you very much for joining us.
JA: Well, thank you for having me. I appreciate it.
RRX: I’d like to get a feel for your background. Are you a native New Yorker? Are you not a native New Yorker? What were your influences when you were younger that have gotten you to the place you’re in?
JA: Well, I grew up in Jacksonville Beach, Florida and moved to New York in my early 20s to pursue, like many people do, an acting career.
RRX: How did that work?
JA: Yeah, pretty good for a while. I enjoyed it, had a great time. I did mostly musical theater as a singer and dancer, and all that stuff. Did about four shows a year. Between those shows, I either bartended or waited tables.
Around 2000, after my last national tour, I decided to step away for a bit. A bit became pretty permanent. I still enjoy it and love it, my friends still do it. But I just didn’t feel like I wanted to do it anymore.
RRX: You and I met because – as my wife and I are wont to say – so we were sitting in this bar and we met this guy.
JA: Some great stories happen that way.
RRX: Well, they do, they do. You are currently – and I don’t know exactly for how long – at a pretty cool place in Hell’s Kitchen.
JA: Yeah, I lived in Hell’s Kitchen when I first moved here. It’s always been my spot. I still hang out in that area, although unfortunately some of my favorite spots closed down due to the pandemic. There are still a lot of great spots there. I’ve worked all around that area.
I found this spot almost 20 years ago. I’ve been there almost 20 years now. I love it and it’s really great.
RRX: Was it happenstance that you became acquainted with all things comic? We just had an article in the Xperience Monthly about an artist for a number of pretty popular comic books.
JA: Well, I’ve always been an avid comic book reader since I was a kid. Dipped in and out of it, then really got back into it in my late teens/early 20s. My comic stack every week was huge. Even when I was an actor on the road, the first thing I’d do was seek out the local comic shop wherever we were – to visit it, to get my comics for that week.
Then, when podcasts started happening around, I guess, 2004, I was listening to a tech one because, again, I’m not very tech savvy, so I thought maybe I can learn something. So, my former co-host, Joe, and I actually started it with a friend of his because I was busy doing a sketch comedy. But within that year, 2005, April, when we started, I did probably half of the 20 episodes we did that year. It was just love of comics
RRX: How many people would you say you meet outside what I will call the “artist community”? Is that a regular thing? Does it only happen to me? It seems that it can sometimes be a bit random.
JA: Yeah, for sure. That’s what New York is so great about, I think. I remember my first two weeks here, I ran into some guy riding his bike that was from my hometown. He was visiting friends. Like, what? I hadn’t seen him in ten years.
But really, a lot is the podcast now. Yes, at the bar. Being in New York City in Hell’s Kitchen, which is also the theater district, I meet several. I’ve met so many, like a lot of big names have come through that bar, and then different places I’ve worked in.
But then, going to conventions for the podcast. That’s where I meet so many people, obviously. Most of my really good friends have come out of that.
RRX: A lot of people’s incomes were hit hard this past 18 months. How was your experience surviving the strain of it?
JA: The first three months, when everything was locked down, obviously no one was going anywhere. Especially in the restaurant business, we couldn’t do anything. We reopened July just for outdoor dining. But those three months of just being at home, I’d go once a week and do a grocery store run.
I really discovered my love of cooking about four years ago. Pre-pandemic, I’d have a friend over at least once a week to podcast and whoever came over, I’d cook for. That was my late-night sessions of YouTube, which were cooking videos. I was really challenging myself. That was really fun. I’d put up a picture and my friends were like, “We can’t wait to come back over to enjoy that food!”
But also, besides doing the regular weekly Comic News Insider podcast, my friend Heidi McDonald – she’s a comics journalist; she used to be an editor for Nickelodeon, Disney, DC, and all these things. She’s the BaRRXara Walters of comics journalism, basically.
I posted, now is a good time to catch up on movies I’ve never seen. One was the Evil Dead Trilogy. I’d never seen it and I –
RRX: Oh my lord, those are the best.
JA: I know. I finally watched it. So, I decided, I’m gonna watch it and she suggested, “Why don’t we podcast about it? Like the first-time watcher.” Oh, that’s great. That’s a great idea.
We started a side podcast and we just combined… The name of her website is the Beat or Comic Beat, mine is Comic News Insider. So, we called ourselves Comic Beat Insider.
That was a nice side project that just only recently we decided to take a little step back ’cause now things are opening and we’re busier now. But we’re still gonna do it off and on. We closed out with K-pop Month because I’d fallen down a deep well of K-pop. That was a really fun side project.
Podcasting, cooking, and watching TV is pretty much what kept me busy.
RRX: Do you have any projects or things that you’re working on that are upcoming that you’re looking to try to develop? Where do you stand on that?
JA: With the side podcast, Comic Insider has taken a hiatus. I still do specials on… the weekly show, Comic News Insider, is basically news, reviews, and maybe an interview, although I started doing the interviews separately because interviewers like to do long ones.
I do interview specials, where I just interview a writer, artist, actor. I just interviewed my friend Grace yesterday. She’s a big YouTuber, podcaster, actress, comedienne. She’s the voice of Cindy Bear in the new Jellystone HBO Max series based on Yogi Bear. So, we talked a lot about that, just doing a catch-up since we haven’t talked in years.
RRX: Are you optimistic about the new and reworked version of Suicide Squad?
JA: I’m very optimistic. I can’t wait. The trailer was fantastic. It looks really good. Word of mouth already is that it’s really good, so. I can’t wait. What, in a couple of days it comes out? So yeah, definitely gonna be checking that out.
I also love talking to voiceover actors. I’ve interviewed so many over the years ’cause obviously a lot of animation comes to ComicCon. Last time, I stayed with Tom Kinney, who’s the voice of SpongeBob. His voice is in every cartoon you can think of pretty much anyway. He’s so talented and so nice, and just a generally great guy.
RRX: To conclude what I will call the official part of the interview I like to ask a question. That question is, if there’s something that you want to say to the world. It can be anything you like. It can be how you feel about things, or things you’re passionate about, or anything. What would you say to the world?
JA: Wow. Hmm. So many things, then I can think of nothing at the same time. Hmm. Let me think about that for a second. Hmm. The first thing I can think of is the obvious. Be kind and care about your fellow human, things like that, which unfortunately we have really seen the opposite of during this past year and a half in a lot of people. Check in on friends and see how they’re doing, especially during times like this. Just show some love. Show some love to your friends. Even if you think they don’t need it, give them a holler. You never know what the slightest little hello might do for someone’s day.
RRX: Well said. Thank you very much.
JA: Of course. No problem. Thank you.
“Song City” @ The Waiting Room, 10/8/2024
Cassandra Kubinski, Sawyer Fredericks, Emily Pinkerton, and Shiloh the Messenger provided a nice return to a new season of Song City.
Photography by Timothy Reidy.
Daniel Maltz @ Troy Savings Bank Music Hall, 10/8/2024
The Tuesday “Music at Noon” series featured Daniel Maltz on the fortepiano.
Photography by Timothy Reidy.
Victor Wooten and the Wooten Brothers @ Troy Savings Bank Music Hall, 10/7/2024
Jukebox – Music News Cuts – 10/18
Jukebox.
The Cure
Robert Smith of The Cure has ideas about the end. Not in any macabre sense, but the end of The Cure. He has his eye on two dates; the 50th anniversary of the band in 2028, and the 50th anniversary of their first album, “Three Imaginary Boys.” He noted that preparing for an anniversary of the magnitude of what is coming up is more than he had imagined in 2024. This coming anniversary will see the release of a documentary.
On the subject, Smith was interviewed by Matt Everitt for the group’s official website.
“Seriously, I have to finish the second album,” Smith said. “We were going to play festivals next year, but a couple weeks ago, I decided that we weren’t going to play anything next summer. The next time we go out on stage will be autumn next year.”
He continued, “But then we’ll probably be playing quite regularly through until the next anniversary — the 2028 anniversary that’s just looming on the horizon. The 2018 one, I started to think about in late 2016, thinking, ‘I’ve got a year and a half, it’s easy!’ And I still didn’t manage to get there in time. Now, I’m starting to think, ‘2028, I must get things in order;’ so [that’s] the documentary film and various other things like that.”
“I’m 70 in 2029, and that’s the 50th anniversary of the first Cure album [Three Imaginary Boys],” Smith said. “If I make it that far, that’s it. In the intervening time, I’d like to include playing concerts as part of the overall plan of what we’re going to do. I’ve loved it; the last 10 years of playing shows have been the best 10 years of being in the band. It pisses all over the other 30-odd years! It’s been great.”
Read the full story here.
Ozzy
Jake E. Lee got shot. If you don’t know who that is, he’s a former guitar player for Ozzy Osbourne. He was shot walking his dog in what seems to be a purely random street shooting. Police are investigating, but as of current, they got nothing.
Lee backed Ozzy from ’82 to ’87, was on the song “Bark at the Moon.” He appeared on 1986’s “The Ultimate Sin,” and was fired by Sharon Osbourne.
He is currently recuperating in a Las Vegas Hospital.
Read the full story here.
Claypool/Keenan
The podcast “Kyle Meredith With…” celebrated it’s 1,000th episode with two special guests, Primus’s Les Claypool, and Tool/Puscifer’s Maynard James Keenan. The two iconic performers shared their musical relationship and some of the hijinks that occurred on tours. One moment in particular was an electrical problem at Red Rocks that caused them to have to vamp for much longer than either of them cared to.
Watch the episode here.
Cool with the Haunts – The Weird Side of the Internet
Cool with the Haunts – The Weird Side of the Internet – by Liam Sweeny.
Do you think your house is haunted? Yes? You’re not alone. Over 65% of homeowners in a recent survey believed that their house was haunted, having experience “unexplained phenomena,” according to a survey put out by Angi. Surprisingly, 58% would consider buying a house that might be haunted. 77% reported hearing spooky sounds, 12% more people than those who think their houses are haunted. So I’m guessing they don’t think it’s ghosts, but aliens. And this one is truly scary: 12% had reported hearing the toilet flush on its own. And no one heard the toilet flush twice, which means that ghosts don’t believe in courtesy flushes.
Maybe everybody thinks it’s cool to have a haunted house. Until the television takes Carol Anne, then it’s a problem. I’ve lived in haunted houses before. If you’ve lived in apartments in the northeast, you’ve lived with ghosts. In fact, a man was killed in the second floor of my current abode, and died on the front steps. It was a sordid tale, and I’ll not tell it because I don’t want midnight flushes, courtesy or otherwise. But I have definitely heard stuff that I can’t explain. In fact, the ghost screws with me. So I buy sage and screw with it.
A ghost soaked my television once. And before you say it was an upstairs leak, not even close. Nothing on the second floor, kitchen and bathroom on the bottom floor along with the TV, which was nestled in the corner, beyond the sense of putting a drink on the cable box. Woke up on the couch and saw a puddle over there.
Does ectoplasm turn to water? Did my television get doused in ectoplasm?
If you buy a haunted house, make sure you invite it to coffee. Grab a spirit box and find out why it’s there. Join it in its quest for vengeance and help it go into the light. Then pick out your drapes and buy a snarky front door mat.
David Halprin – Interview – Thanks for Asking!
David Halprin – Interview – Thanks for Asking! – by Liam Sweeny.
RRX: What historical era would you like to visit if the sole purpose was to put together a Battle of the Bands? How would you set it up?
DH: I actually love this question because I could probably give 4 to 5 answers. Well I gotta say the Late sixties 1969 so I would pick.
The Who , The Beatles , Rolling Stones, Blind Faith ( super group Eric Clapton , Steve Winwood , Ginger Baker, Ric Gretch ), Jimi Hendrix Experience, Grateful Dead, Allman Brothers Band, David Bowie, Led Zeppelin , Creedence Clearwater Revival, Janis Joplin and Big Brother and The Holding Company, Santana, and Bob Dylan and the Band.
I would set up head to head battles every night for a week or two and the finals would be on a Friday Night with the final 4 bands battling and the Final round on Saturday and the winner would Play a 2-3 show on Sunday evening.
Its really hard to Say who could win this Battle some bands could be on some bands could have off nights The audience and a panel off judges would decide The audience with the roar of the crowd. Even A band that lost a round could come back and win. Im pretty sure we all know who would win this Battle but Im gonna keep this opinion to myself but there would probaly some time of Purple Haze at the end. The ultimate winner would everyone who saw the shows and the bands that participated.
RRX: Love is a big part of music. We’re talking first loves here. Lots of cool stories about first loves and the things we do for those loves. Can you (or, in the case of a band, one member) talk about your first love, especially if you did something cool to express that love? (No names needed.)
DH: I got a song Going Back Home to Virginia ( Virginia is For Lovers ) all about a lost love. I had a girlfriend in Saratoga Springs years ago and I lost her because I moved back to Virginia. She now actually lives in Virginia now so I flipped the story around and made it about her leaving me to start a new life down south.
You get maybe 3-4 good girls that you have a chance with in your life and she was one of them and I let her slip away. I can look back and know how dumb I really was with some of my relationships with women.
RRX: Would you rather have one of your songs blow up and make you a one-hit wonder and household name, or would you rather have all your songs be solidly received, but no chart-climbers? (You have to pick one or the other here.)
DH: I definitely want my songs to blow up whats the point of doing this if you don’t go for it. I want everything number 1 songs on billboard, huge record deals and sales, Grammy Awards, Sold out shows and tours, the whole Rock Star world.
RRX: Playing out is tricky because you never know what’s going to happen when you get there. Sometimes everything goes wrong. What was your worst show like?
DH: It is Tricky , I guess one of the worst ones when I started promoting at a local bar in Troy in 2022. The Manager was really cool at first he gave me two nights Wednesday and Saturday. I was excited and had a great plan I would do an open mic on Wednesday with the singer from a band that then would he play on Saturday night with his band and two or three other bands.
I had to figure out who to get I knew alot of bands so my first call was to Brother T ( Tom Hogan) . I’ve known this guy since he was 14 years old I met him at Adirondack Strings Music Store in Colonie in 1991. The first band I asked was The Erotics and Mike Trash but he passed for some reason, so I then called up IKE from Ike Wasted World and he said he would do it.
So the open night was set for Wednesday, IKE from Ikes Wasted World, Brother T acoustic , Tommy Love on Drums , and Straight Edge Punks which is Tom’s Sons group The Emo Sea Monster and his friend Nick.
Everything was going pretty good we started around 7-8 the manager asked if I would stay till 2am because the had a late night crowd that would come in. Ike and Tommy Love were playing and Ike was paying through acoustic electric guitar out of my fender rock 1000 amp 100 watts and Tommy was playing drums and it sounded so cool kinda like the white stripes. Brother t did his set and his son played his set with his friend which was hilarious his friend plays the drum machine and TJ plays Keytar it was almost like a skit out of SNL. TJ was supposed to videoing the show and then only took video of his own group so the cool thing with IKE and Tommy was never recorded.
So everyone form the first group of people left and I was pretty much there by myself for a while. Matty d sent me a text message and said he was gonna check it out and he was gonna stop by with his crew so that was cool.
Then a guy showed up with his girlfriend and wanted to play. He had a real slick hair cut and hot girlfriend and told me he was a country singer and he had recorded in Nashville.
It was Jordan Stoner. I’m not making this up the first person to sign up for my open mic was this amazing country singer from Ulster county who is an awesome singer and recorded in Nashville. He sang about 4-5 songs and then Matty D played it was getting Late. I got up and started playing and the late night crowd that the manager told me about from the service industry showed up about 20-30 people. I was playing my songs Chi chi and the Slot Machines, Virginia , knocking on heavens door thing like that.
I thought the night was a success and I helped Tommy Love and his girlfriend carry his drum set out to his car. I then left around 2 in the morning but as I was leaving and giving the bartender a Tip he then told me I owed another 45 bucks. I said what? He said yeah your friend Tommy Love drank a bunch a beer and said to put it on your tab. I was so surprised and i didnt have the cash on me so I told him i would have to bring it back to him. I was gonna be back there Saturday anyway. Thanks Tommy Love .
I call the Manager and I tell him I got a band in mind for the show on Saturday but they are young and some of them are under age is OK if they play the bar. he said yeah no problem. You see Ike didn’t understand the concept I had and he couldn’t play with his band on Saturday so I was scrambling for a band. This band Fallen Youth was playing the Tuesday night open mic at the Black Bear in Watervliet and they where pretty good and all their girlfriends were really hot. This could be genius I thought.
I had a meeting with the Manager because I had concerns about doing the show because it Fourth of July weekend. I told him everyone is gonna be out of town and if we play on Saturday the only way people are going to come out is if it rains. He said he still wanted to do the show so I went forward with my Saturday show. The line up Brother T acoustic , TJH Emoseamonster solo , me David Halprin and Fallen Youth as the headliner.
I was gambling I knew these guys were young and inexperienced but they were excited to be playing one of their first gigs.
We got to the venue Brother t did his set for some reason he didn’t have any of his friends come out to see him that wasn’t very helpful. His son was playing next i told him to play a longer set try to stretch thing out to 45 minutes. Meanwhile we were waiting for Fallen Youth they were late. I called them on the phone and they said they where on their way. Well they lied they never showed.
The show was a disaster as the owner sat at the bar eating chicken wings with his girlfriend who was about 15 years younger then him. Everyone was tense because he was there. He was playing his set and they were not felling it. he is about 25 and plays the keytar and none in the bar was felling it. They actually shut the the door to the music room. When he was finally done I got up and started playing Neil Young’s Rockin in the Free world on my electric guitar as an instrumental.
The manager came back and shut the whole show down said its over you guys are done for tonight. I said fine. I went and ordered my free burger and ate it and then left.
A complete disaster thanks to that young band Fallen Youth fucking me over.
Ther more to this story but ill have to tell another time because I want to make the deadline.
RRX: My singer punched my drummer out. Memorable moment, though nothing to brag about. But we have these things that, when summing up your endeavor, an incident comes to mind. What do you got?
DH: I had a fallen out with my guitarist years ago when I was in Athens Ga . We where at a party and we had driven over together and he was ready to leave and he wasnt. He was buggin me to go and I didn’t want to leave because I was talking to a hot chic and there he was trying to cock block me again.
I final took him back to his pick up truck by my house and then when he got out he pushed me. Well that was gonna happen like that I threw that guy down on the ground and pinned him to the ground and he started crying like a little bitch. Well that was the end of our collaboration and playing together. But when I look back on that I shouldn’t have let that incident be the end of everything between us, I mean look at the Robinson Brothers in the Black Crowes they used to fight all the time and look where they ended up.
RRX: Like songs, every artist has a unique feeling about their first show. What was your first show like? Was it your best show? If not, what was your best show like?
DH: First shows? This question could go a couple ways. I think about the first show I every went to and how lucky I was to see these artist. The first concert was Andy Gibb at Great Adventure in NJ and I was really young. I was way in the back high up and the place was packed. It was the summer in NJ and what I could remember most was that all these young girls where up close to the stage and they where all passing out and I couldn’t understand why. They where all getting excited from seeing Andy play and with the crowd and the heat they passed out. I was thinking wow I want to be that Guy on stage making all the girls so hot they pass out and have to have Medical attention. That’s so cool and that so Rock n Roll and that’s guy I still want to be.