Saturday, December 31, 2011

And Another Year Passes...

Here's to 2012!

2011 is a bit of a "well we made it through that one" for me, and I think many other people as well, having heard from friends and fans. But then, so was 2010 for me... 

For 2012, I am truly looking forward to a number of things. The release of NAIADES, my long awaited Book & CD. I'm updating the NAIADES page to give full website info to each artist. Official preview video below:


Full video of the Mighty is coming later in January! Seraphemera Books' Marc Moorash is currently editing  as I type this. He was the brilliant artist/editor behind F&TM's "Battle Hymn" and "Sovereign" videos as well as the : shoumei : DVD... I cannot wait for this to come out. Perhaps it will be available the very day pre-orders begin shipping!

As far as performing live, look for me later in 2012. It's up in the air as far as what kind of show I plan to do, but I do know the *music* will be live! I have a wonderful group of musicians around me, and I am thankful that they plan to go on adventures. Stay tuned!

2012 is also going to be wonderful because Sonny is still with us, (and had we not begun the chemo program for his lymphoma when we did, he wouldn't have made it to Xmas)! I don't have the words for how Steve tirelessly raised the funds through his artist friends, or their amazing generosity and immeasurable talent in creating and/or donating art for Sonny's treatments. We'll be putting out a sketchbook for the art below!


THE SONNY PROJECT 
Top row: Jill Thompson, Kelley Jones, Miran Kim. Second row, l-r: Bernie Wrightson, Fiona Staples, Bill Sienkiewicz, Antoine Dodé. Third row, l-r: Ming Doyle, Scott Morse, Nathan Ooten, Liz Wrightson. Fourth row, l-r: Greg Ruth, Menton3, Daniele Serra, Gabriel Hardman. Bottom row: John Rozum, Monty Lewis 



Sonny is bouncing around with new energy and is a very happy dog these days, which - our vet pointed out - shows that he was sick for quite a while before we discovered that his neck glands were like golf balls. I can now safely say that - though I find many problems with chemo and human reaction, having seen it through my own sister 's losing battle many years ago - it does work in dogs...



This year I also plan to do some soundtrack work with one or two of Steve Niles' books...  Soundtracks and theme music are styles I have clearly been moving towards, so I figure this may be a great place to start. More on that as it comes... I have also begun doing some remix work, The March Violets will be releasing remixes, one of which was made by yours truly!

I may also put out (finally) a little Book of Tales... Little micro-stories that I have been writing for many, many years... I called them Tales from Parallel Planets for a long time, I may or may not use that as the title. I will include the original tale behind ANAFAE.

And speaking of ANAFAE, Jim and I may move this to a web comic, we're in the beginning of discussing this...

So 2012 shows great promise! Onward and upward!

Thursday, December 22, 2011

NAIADES Update!



So I realized it's been a few months since I updated this blog!

NAIADES is in manufacture, due to come out January 15th, 2012! I have a video I will be posting this weekend with highlights from the CD and all sorts of views of the artwork! Stay tuned!

Sonny is doing great, he has one more round (4 weeks) of chemo, and we hope it will really kick his lymphoma into remission!

Here's to a great Holiday! More info to come!

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

THE SONNY PROJECT


THE SONNY PROJECT  Some amazing artwork is being made of Sonny!

Top row, l-r: Scott Morse, Fiona Staples, Bill Sienkiewicz, Antoine Dodé. Second row, l-r: Ming Doyle, Miran Kim, Liz Wrightson. Third row, l-r: Greg Ruth, Menton3, Daniele Serra, Gabriel Hardman. Bottom row, l-r: John Rozum, Monte Lewis.

Originals are now starting to be auctioned!

See Menton3's gorgeous Sonny painting HERE!

See Greg Ruth's Sonny in Ministry of Silly Walks HERE!

More to come!

They'll also all go into limited edition print sets or possibly an art book, we're deciding as more art pours in!

Thursday, October 6, 2011

People are so amazing...

I can't even begin to say enough about how wonderful our friends are! So many have been helping and donating money and artwork! Here are 4 wonderful pieces made for and of Sonny to help offset his vet and hospital bills! 


Top left clockwise: Ming Doyle, Bill Sienkiewicz, Menton3 and Greg Ruth.


 If you'd like to donate, Steve has set up a donate page on his site HERE!  Anything will be great, from $1 on up!

We're going to be listing ebay auctions for Sonny as well, which will be so instrumental in getting him the every best treatment we can!


Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Sonny made it through his first chemo, and we are so very hopeful! We are currently talking to some amazing artists to do artwork for him to help offset the vet and hospital bills. With the artwork, we plan to sell as limited edition print sets as well as auction the originals. To the left are some lovely images of Sonny, left to right, by Ming Doyle, Greg Ruth and Menton3.

Monday, October 3, 2011

Sonny...

I find that the hardest, saddest animal rescue cases can also be the most heartwarming. I can't resist the hard luck stories as in the end, they end up being the happiest of all animals. This has lead me to adopt a three-legged dog, a kitten with a near-blind eye, a cat that needed to get broken her tail removed, the list goes on and on. We love our kids, each one has a very unique story.

Our dog Sonny is one; he's a very, very special pup. He was rescued in 2005 on a hot Summer day in Los Angeles where a bunch of street guys were feeding him beer. The woman that rescued him pulled up and demanded that they let go of the rope they had around his neck. He immediately jumped in her car and I met him a few hours later. He was a very sweet greyhound/terrier mix, completely dirty at the time with a giant scar that traveled half-way down his body. Vets tell me it was a Frankenstein sew-job. He also has scar tissue covering the skin under his ears. For years he had nightmares nearly every night. And a severe fear of being left alone.

With all of that... Sonny is one of the friendliest dogs I've ever known. He loves meeting people, loves kids, and finds himself more at home around humans than other dogs. He has an intelligence I've never seen in a canine, almost as if he could actually speak to you.

In 2008, Sonny came down with ITP, an auto-immune disorder that caused his body to destroy his own blood platelets. He nearly bled to death while they worked day and night to lower his immune system and stop the attack, as well as get him blood and plasma transfusions until they actually worked. It took three transfusions before his blood began to go back to normal. After that we had to work on keeping his immune system low and getting him tested repeatedly to make sure the ITP didn't return.

Sonny is a very happy dog these days. After everything he's been through, he's now stable and secure enough to be home alone, and he hardly has nightmares now.  He and his pal Zendra are like two peas in a pod.

So... I was quite shocked when I found the glands under his neck to be swelled out like golf balls. And after being tested, we find he has lymphoma. Most likely brought on by his immune disorder. He is not in any way acting ill, so hopefully we're catching this early.

Tomorrow we get him to the oncologist and figure out the plan of attack. I hate to do chemo, but Sonny is a very special case, and we have to really walk the tightrope on how we'll proceed. I've just gotten a whole new holistic supplement system for him to help with what he's got to deal with.

With everything else happening in our lives, this is going to be so hard to afford. Steve has been talking to artists about making special artwork of Sonny. We plan to sell sets of prints of our boy while we deal with the hospital bills to come.

Sunday, September 18, 2011

How Things Were... and How They Are.


I have in my possession an antique melodeon. It was hand-built by my great-great-grandfather. It doesn't work, the vacuum bellows are in need of repair. Someday I hope to find someone who can fix it. But I have something that is directly connected to my own roots, my family, and I can't tell you how much I appreciate it… I run my hands along the cherry wood that he sanded and stained. I can play with on the keys that he carved. It is an heirloom.

When I was a teenager, one of the things I loved about getting a new album was that it came with a big cover, often with a lyric sheet, and I would just sit and read over the lyrics and look over the artwork while listening to the music. It was an overall experience. It was a journey. Many from my 80's generation and older are just like me, but I do also know that some young people (and I HATE using that term, but, eh... I'm the older generation now, no denying that) are wondering what that was like. These records, some of them I have now 20+ years later, and the smell of them, holding them, it takes me back to those times. I love that...

We are locked into this high-tech, lightning-fast age and it gets faster every year…  which devalues all aspects of creation and Art as it now can be turned into digital media: visual arts, music, books and films. Younger generations grew up with and therefore always expect instant gratification. That also makes for a feeling of being uncentered and out of balance. The faceless world of the internet allows for no knowledge of action or reaction to what one does on the computer. Apathy prevails. 

I know that people will be able to download my next album free, and torrent sites will pretend that they are "promoting" my music, but really... once someone downloads it, the chances are nil that they will then actually buy it once they get it free. And what hurts Underground musicians is that our music is hard to find anyway, you have to really search to buy our music, I get that. So people just hit the button and download, then they have it and it's done. 

This is really affecting us, causing us to now to be forced to cancel tours, stop recording, or take years longer... because the source of our small supplemental income is now drying up. It's always cost to be an Underground musician, but now it is costing so much more... We used to sell a couple thousand of each release. Now it is a couple hundred. It affects us deeper than you know, especially when each downloader thinks "I'm just one person, my download won't matter." Times that by a few thousand, and there you go.

Here are some facts about what Underground bands get paid, and why it is so important to support them:

• If you buy something directly from a band's website, and you spend $10, they get the whole $10, minus only the processing fees from either the credit card company or Paypal. 

• If you purchase something from iTunes, the band gets about 67 cents for each dollar you spend. 

• If you purchase a CD from someplace like Amazon, they get about 45 cents for each dollar you spend. 

• If you download something from a torrent site, they (WE - as musicians), of course, get $0.

Possibly, there will be some sort of a Renaissance towards slowing things down. To spend some time in Nature, to enjoy your food, to take time out to read an actual book, or just lie in the grass.  With the insane amount of audio and visual input overload at every turn - the idea of waiting for anything seems so strange. So I ask you to take a little walk with me to an earlier time, when you wait patently for a new release, and you sit down, put the music on, and take the journey with me!

This is why I decided to go for a serious hard-cover book for NAIADES, so that fans will really have something solid to own, to hold, to keep forever, and years down the line, they can return to read and read again. I am doing this by the very seat of my pants, with the hopes that fans will really understand the value of my choice of music and art.

Love and thanks to Patty Hele, and kaRIN and Statik of Collide, who began this conversation with me...

Downloads die off with old computers and ipods, but Art is indeed forever. 

Saturday, August 13, 2011

NAIADES

I love researching! It fully enthralls me to get to the source of things. It also gives me so much inspiration and is so fascinating as I move through the mythology as well as the work itself...

NAIADES were associated with fresh water, as the Oceanids were with saltwater. Naiades presided over fountains, wells, springs, streams, and brooks.

But the NEREIDES were fifty Haliad Nymphs or goddesses of the sea. They were the patrons of sailors and fishermen, who came to the aid of men in distress, and goddesses who had in their care the sea's rich bounty. Individually they also represented various facets of the sea, from salty brine, to foam, sand, rocky shores, waves and currents, in addition to the various skills possessed by seamen. To the left is a Greek vase, depicting Nereides.

So like the ethereal piece, 'Naiades', that I had opening my last two shows, (and will also open my Los Angeles show) I have also create a piece called 'Nereides', which is much deeper and a bit more ominous...

I'm also very excited about the new album as far as the music! Though the first InfraWarrior album, which really was centered around electro-tribal work - for the most part, though... songs like "Into My Own", "We Are the One" and "The Turnaway" were quite different.

Paul Mercer and his producer Bruce Bennett are working on a gutwrenching classical song entitled "LureinLay". There is also a purely tribal drums and vocal piece entitled "Scylla and Charybdis" where I really have fun with multiple vocals. I even have a couple near punk rock-like tunes due to Steve Niles' help. Steve was in Gray Matter back in the day, one of the first Dischord bands, so he's been writing riffs with me. We knew each other when we were just kids in the punk rock scene, and I love how things have come back full circle for us! Just finished recording a song called "Pride" which I am quite proud of!

And then the song "EndBegin" which I listed the lyrics in my last post, the end is something I am so proud of! Mutliple chant vocals that intertwine, with tribal shouts that caused our dogs to bark throughout the house thinking I was hurt. Hilarious!

Info on the album artwork to come! I have big plans, and hope to report soon on them!

Sunday, August 7, 2011

Full Immersion into NAIADES

I am eagerly awaiting the finished painting by artist Chrissie Zullo of the album cover, and working away on the full album now as well as the booklet artwork. Bits and pieces of lyrics may show up, as well as fun mermaid imagery that I've been playing with. Here are the working lyrics to a new song "EndBegin"...

Through the cracks in the wall I'm going back to Nature

Through the holes in the floor my roots search for the waters

Along crumbling brick I'm building back my forest

Over collapsed walls I'm stretching myself homeward


As the sidewalks break I'm dropping down my anchors

Along rusting wires I'm stretching out my fingers

From the rotting beams I'm reaching towards the answer

Upon broken glass I may walk forever


The trees are burning and the wars unseen

What we know and what we believe

The walls are blurring and the lines between

What we know and what we believe


Leave the endless noise I'm going back to silence

On the crumbling bridge I cross back to the mountains

Through the blood red sea I'll sink into the alters


Through the cracks in the wall I'm going back to Nature

Leave a bounty of fruit at the base of the cinders

Through the holes in the floor my roots search for the waters

When the oceans die, your tears will fill the rivers.



Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Beating a song into shape.

Words bristle and ignite themselves
Backwards and upside-down before a pen can be found -
Claiming a strange reward in shattering bursts
That flame and die all too soon
To recreate such catastrophe.
I have left Life fall cold a plunging necessity somewhere behind me,
As I retrace its electricity...

Like a weed that triumphs charred ruin,
I suppose Nature springs from me then.
Blowing its brilliance through my lungs
Blazing its secrets forth
Changing colors against the frost
While I capture it thus -
Imperfectly -
Letting it cool past my fingertips,
Shaping it numb and trimming it to proper form -
Elementally agreeable
And trained to speak.

Friday, July 15, 2011

Sea Change...

I have to admit, I'm having a great time making jewelry, searching through boxes of my old stuff, resurrecting pieces I wore with costumes... and finding all sorts of new things to create. It's a zen thing for me, I am finding.

"My silence killed my writing skills..."

It's been a strange time. Restoration of my old pieces seems to restore me personally... It touches upon everything I am doing now. Transformation into a solo artist, choosing my own distinct vision, with the help, support and love of those around me...

Though my new album title, "Naiades" was decided upon, I have had a hard time articulating why I have chosen to go back to the waters... but my inner-voice told me to flow with this. Now things are truly making themselves known...

I am undergoing a Sea-Change, it seems...

From Shakespeare's The Tempest:

"Full fathom five thy father lies,
Of his bones are coral made,
Those are pearls
that were his eyes,
Nothing of him that doth fade,
But doth suffer a Sea-change,
Into something
rich and strange,
Sea-nymphs hourly
ring his knell,
Ding-dong.
Hark! Now I hear them, ding-dong, bell."

Renewal, Redefinition, Metamorphosis.

Lyrics are beginning to flow as I just work with my hands, especially when parts of completely different eras and ages suddenly click and just work together. My mind is allowed to float freely as my hands work. I am drawn to Dragonflies, Skulls, natural elements of change.

There was a woman that once wrote, "how do I know what I have to say until I see what I write?" So funny to see what is coming out of me and only just now catching myself in the mirror!

Saturday, June 25, 2011

On Purging and Moving Forward...

Sooooo…. it's been a good long while since I have written anything here. A great deal has happened in the last long while, and it's been very hard to write about my personal life. How does one lead a public and private life, staying true to one or the other, continuing a sort of mythology in order not to cause pain to fans, yet at the same time be thrown into the struggle of my life? Some of you know what I've had to go through in the last year. It's been, to say the least… challenging.


But I have come through and almost on the other side of some very dark times. Now I have a new life, new Love and feeling very hopeful towards the future!


With all of this, I am stronger now. I've learned to count on myself and to believe in myself. I've found the ability to ask for help when I need it (which is not easy for me), and to lean on those close pals around me who have helped me along the way. And the good side is these changes have fed my own personal artistic expression and have allowed me to grow by leaps and bounds at learning to record and mix my own music, as well as create the soundtrack to the live film for my shows. I feel as if I am walking in new worlds, entering new realms and all of it up to me.


Yet the truth is… It has been extremely costly to deal with a mountain of debt from the FatM tours - on top of upheaving my life, creating a new studio to work in and - in many ways, start completely over. I am now a completely self-run entity and will start my own record company to release my album in the U.S. But doing just a simple search for my music, I find website after website offering my music for free. Orders are very few and far between. It's been, at the very least, disheartening.


My fans say they can't wait to hear my next album. Many don't understand that it costs so much to do what I love to do, and create what they hopefully love to listen to.


This is why I am going to do the following: sell my paintings, more artwork, some personal creations, belongings and costumes -- and -- ask for donations.


I had a long talk with kaRIn and Statik of Collide, another completely independent musical entity and old friends of mine. They told me about their donation page, and the amount of support fans have given them. They also pointed out the following facts, which I know all too well, but may be good to reiterate here:


• If you buy something directly from a band's website, and you spend $10, they get the whole $10, minus only the processing fees from either the credit card company or paypal.

• If you purchase something from iTunes, the band gets about 67 cents for each dollar you spend.

• If you purchase a CD from someplace like Amazon, they get about 45 cents for each dollar you spend.

• If you download something from a torrent site, they (we - as musicians), of course, get $0.


For anyone who feels like they can help out a little (or for people who may have been getting my music for free), now is your chance to help me continue to make music. Your donation will help fund some of the costs of recording my new album, including mastering costs, production costs, some studio equipment I need as well as the dreaded pressing costs.


With any donation of $25 or more, you will also get your name in the credits of my new album as a special supporter.


PLEASE DONATE NOW.


Here are the pages with Items for Sale:


My Best Known Paintings, and Less Expensive Paintings


Unique, Hand-made and One-of-a-Kind items


Costumes and More


Hand-made Jewelry


I hope this will be fun for those fans who would love their name added to my next album, or get the chance to own a little piece of history from one of my costumes or art pieces.


Thank you for the support all these years!


XXOO!


Monica

Thursday, June 23, 2011

New Blogs coming at last!

I've been out of the loop, but now back to work on writing my thoughts... Stay tuned! XXOO, M

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Fozzie Bear...

I am writing this while my Fozzie Bear is still alive… though he is so weak and can hardly stand without falling, he still happily barks at visitors to come and greet him. The pain in his legs has gotten to the point that he cries quietly all day, so at least now he is comfortable these last few days - I made sure of that… The hardest part is that his mind is fine, it's his poor body that has finally worn out…


I met Fozzie when he was so tiny he actually looked like his Muppet namesake. (Namesake, is that right?) He had that short stubby puppy-bear nose and big wide eyes, all fluffy black and brown… He still had his fourth leg, but it was wrapped with "Please Adopt me" written on his bandage (by CC, my lil sis, who was a vet tech at the hospital - she was the one who told me about him). It was as thin as a stick and he used it like a little cane, though he was able to run around with it, tapping it every second on the floor. The story was he had been hit by a car and a junky was holding him - with the 4th leg dangling like meat - trying to sell him for drugs. Luckily the guy who gave him $20 brought him directly to my vet - and into loving, caring hands.


I hadn't had a dog since I was a kid, but as soon as I saw Fozzie, he was my baby boy. They removed his leg and he came home with a giant bandage that stretched all around him, and a big, wide smile. How can you resist a little puppy with three legs that's always smiling??? Fozzie didn't know he only had three legs - it didn't impact him until he was around 7 or so and the ACLs on both back legs had torn. Two operations later, he had metal parts put in his legs to help him walk again… We called him the Bionic Dog at that point.


Baby boy, never a complaint…


When I first wrote the short story "Spring - Untitled" - which later became the source for ANAFAE - I saw Fozzie as her guardian Fauz Fenris: a three-legged dog that grew a fourth leg of flora when Mother Nature stood by him… His personality burst from the pages. It is going to be hard to continue ANAFAE with him gone, but at the same time he will live on and on now…



Fozzie loved his big sister, Sugar, and especially loved his little sisters Daisy and Zendra. He raised my puppy, baby Nola, well. They all loved to chew on his neck while lying on their backs beneath his chin - Fozzie seemed vicious as he opened his wide jaws, only to gently touch their necks in play. He was always the most gentle and nurturing when new kittens were adopted - they would bat at his nose as he stared at them wide-eyed.


Fozzie went very peacefully, he had a wonderful, happy life - so hard to say goodbye... The doc found a large mass while examining him, so the time was right, to be sure...