SMC REVIEW | The Cynz release 'SUPERFAN' album via Bongo Boy Records!

By CA Marshall | Editor-in-Chief

Starlight Music Chronicles

www.starlightmusicchronicles.com

When you first begin listening to Bongo Boy Records newest Recording Artists ‘The Cynz’ and their album ‘Superfan’ (release date: September 8^th, 2015), you really don’t hit euphoria until you hit track three with the song ‘Evolution’, and it is true nirvana when you get even further along into the album. What does this mean? Well, to sum it up, this is the equivalent to attending a three day festival: The first day everyone is pumped up and wildly dancing around and by day three, they are walking away, spent, nodding their heads in agreement that they had just witnessed the greatest music fest in their lifetimes. Coolest part about ‘Superfan’ is that you get to listen to it over and over again. This is a true garage rock punk sound that Vocalist Cyndi Dawson and Guitarist/Vocalist Henry Cynz have mastered.

It might sound a little derogatory to say that you need to skip past the first two tracks on the album, ‘Mean Girls’ and ‘Superfan’, to get to euphoria, that’s not in actuality what I am stating: truth be told, it is better to compare these two tracks to a ‘hyped up horse kicking at the barn door’ before it is actually released and calms down making this an album that is a powerhouse punch right from the start. THEN you get to the wide open field. ‘Evolution’ is absolutely my favorite on this album as it is a true punk rock sound that brings me back to a time when bands like The Clash and the Sex Pistols were the height of the day.

Going further into the album, you are brought back to earth with the song ‘Learn To Feel Alive’ and I am reminded of the 80’s beats that used to play on the turntable: a softer, more punk/pop sound which always made me fell comforted. ‘Quick Fix’, ‘Miles Between’, ‘Weight of the World’ and ‘Live Like We’re Dead’ pull you back into the swing of things, getting the party started again. ‘I’d rather be me’ and ‘Leave Me Alone’ have some super fun blatant lyrics with smashing guitar riffs which lead into ‘Right To Your Grave’ and ‘Blame It On The Kiss’ , a song that elicits visions of a Rocky Horror Picture show party full of misfits jumping around. The lyrics and sound invoke mischief and fun!

The final track on the album, ‘Something To Steal’ is truly the Sunday night festival encore: The beat combined with astronomical guitar riffs contrasted with softer lyrics is a real trip.

When I listen to this album, I close my eyes and see the Spiked Mohawk hair, Leather, Studs and piercings on the ‘Superfans’ who would  be walking around back in the day with the headset on and walkman tucked in their pockets. The songs are consistent throughout representing the bands persona and genre which will appeal to fans today that are yearning for a return of real and raw punk rock at its best. This is an album you will not want to miss out on. Headphones, anyone?  

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The Cynz Social Media

Facebook: http://on.fb.me/1iPq4vn

Twitter: @CyndiCynz

Website: http://www.reverbnation.com/thecynz

Bongo Boy Records: www.bongoboyrecords.com 

SMC Review | REND drops POWERFUL *NEW* music single 'Skin and Bones'

by Candice Marshall

Just as eloquently beautiful and consistent with their last album, 'Winter to Summer', Canadian band REND has just dropped their brand new single release 'Skin and Bones' today and it is every bit of quality that this award winning band's fans have come to expect: absolute brilliance! At first, it sounded like a love song to me and certainly, for the purposes of the lyrics, it could be. However, after listening a few times, I interpret the song as: speaking about ones belief in a higher power and protection from that power in a world of people whose egos have consumed them. (Thus the title of the song) 

Frontwoman Carol -Lynne Quinn leads the band in a very lyrically powerful composition that talks about one looking past the surface of an individual and taking a deeper look within the beauty of their soul: lyrics like 'Everyone else is just skin and bones, but if I look close you're heart and soul, if I breathe you in, you make my head spin' specifically portrays this idealistic thought. The song throughout is ones reminder of staying focused on the positive and to always surround yourself in faith. This is a remarkable piece which reminds us to stop, take a moment in our busy lives and schedules, and remember the essence of who we are and how we can maintain a positive outlook in a sometimes superficial world. POWERFUL STUFF!

There is also a beautifully crafted lyric video (see below) which launched alongside the single release today and is also congruent with the branding REND has created. It is a must watch, even before listening to the song on it's own as it is very well orchestrated yet simple with thematic black and white tones throughout, almost like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, they belong together.

Instrumentally, Bassist Jeff Quinn, Electric Guitarist Steve Roe, and Drummer Jordan Dempster have created poetic justice in conjunction with Quinn's' lyrics that create a true alternative sound conducive to their previous album. I have personally seen this band perform live and nothing is done in half measures: their sound is always a powerhouse round-kick punch with strong vocals, extremely talented instrumentals, and true to their original recordings. What you see is what you get from REND and it is always GOLD.

Well Done!

CA Marshall | Editor
Starlight Music Chronicles
www.starlightmusicchronicles.com

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REND Social Media:

Facebook: www.facebook.com/rendmusic
Twitter: @RENDMUSIC 
Google+ : +RENDMUSIC 
Website: www.rend-music.com
Instagram: www.instagram.com/rendmusic

Bongo Boy TV and SMC Launch Their Biggest Indie Music Video Contest ToBe On National Television This Fall with ReverbNation

Press Release For Immediate Release Belvidere, NJ 

Bongo Boy TV with ReverbNation, who caters to more than 3 million music industry professionals, artists, managers, labels, venues, festivals/events the same source shows like The Voice and American Idol uses came together with sponsor Starlight Music Chronicles to offer a great opportunity for Independent musicians with Music Videos to be on Television this Fall. 

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START THIS FALL SEASON RIGHT AND BE ON TELEVISION! 

Starting today September 10th 2015 at 1:00pm, independent musicians with original music video can entry a new contest for free with a Reverb Press Kit account. This contest is open in all genres and runs through 10/10/2015. Winners will be announce on 10/15/2015. Bongo Boy TV and Starlight Music Chronicles will select Six (6) indie music videos, one entire TV episode, from ReverbNation submissions and air them on National TV with distribution by cable companies like NBC Comcast Universal, Cablevision, Time Warner, FiOS, AT&T U-Verse, Suddenlink, Charter Cable and RCN Network Television. This episode will air at prime times in cities like Nashville, TN, The Jersey Shore, New Jersey, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, California in towns across the United States. For a full list of distribution visit www.bongoboytv.com The TV Show is also available in The UK and Canada through GO INDIE TV ROKU CHANNEL. 

 In 2011, Grammy members Gar Francis and Monique Grimme, launched successfully The Bongo Boy Rock n’ Roll TV Show Series. And now The Bongo Boy Rock n’ Roll TV Show Series Presents Indie Music Videos from Around The World spotlighting independent artists and their music videos on 36 channels. Bongo Boy TV is NOT web TV but real television and is setting out to refresh and remake the indie music television experience by making it current and relevant to today’s media savvy audiences. Bongo Boy TV is like the awesome MTV but without soap operas and reality shows. BBTV brings your favorite indie band’s music videos straight to you on real television. 

Coming aboard this time is Starlight Music Chronicles (SMC) (www.starlightmusicchronicles.com) one of THE biggest and coolest online Music Entertainment Websites with five Contributors hosting monthly Indie Artist Competitions, Live concert Photography, Editorial features on Artists, photo shoots and a quarterly magazine! The site is owned and operated by Editor-in-Chief CA Marshall who also is a Contributor for Bongo Boy TV, Dynamic Magazine, Indie Music Bus, Indie Habit, and Nor'Easter Magazine. SMC is proudly affiliated with Morgan's Mission, Be The Game, Project Cuddle, and 'michigan' the Movie to name a few. 

This contest is made possible as CA Marshall from Starlight Music Chronicles and Bongo Boy TV supports indie musicians and their quest for greater success” TV show producer Monique Grimme shared. “We know TV viewers have asked for TV shows like The Bongo Boy Rock n Roll TV Show Series; MTV once dominated the scene and now we are filling their void. Bongo Boy TV’s distribution as grown enormously over the last 4 years with support from Bongo Boy Records and the artists that have featured their music videos on Bongo Boy TV. Together we are bringing Independent Music to Prime Time TV and nobody can’t stop us now. 

To enter this contest click http://tinyurl.com/BongoBoyTVStarlightMusicC 

Don’t have a ReverbNation account sign up for free here If your music video is selected, Bongo Boy TV will contact you to obtain an HD version of your music video. Your video must not contain violence, sex, or profanity. This opportunity is open to all genres of music and music follow FCC rules and guidelines for broadcasting. The show is rated is ALL AGES. 

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For more about Bongo Boy TV go to www.bongoboytv.com 

Information about Starlight Music Chronicles go to 
www.starlightmusicchronicles.com or 
Email editor@starlightmusicchronicles.com 

Media Contact: Bongo Boy TV – Email bongoboytv@aol.com 
Phone 908-455-1576 
Contact: Monique Grimme 
Web site www.bongoboytv.com

Emotion Sickeness Album Launch! | Bongo Boy Teams up with Swiss-Born Recording Artist Michael Resin

by CA Marshall | Editor

Starlight Music Chronicles

www.starlightmusicchronicles.com

I am a romantic, a deep romantic and when I have those ‘moments’ when I have the urge to watch a vintage movie, or even a modern drama, or even a play (Phantom of the Opera is my personal favorite), I know I can keep working, ignore that urge,  and not waste a moment watching these films. Why? Well, Swiss-born Michael Resin has wrapped up all of these ‘desires’ in his brand new album (Released September 1^st, 2015) by Bongo Boy Records and it is absolute magic to the ears! And all I have to do is hit the ‘play’ button on my laptop and I am in ‘my zone’. It is just that fabulous.

Heart-wrenching, languid, and sincere lyrics in absolutely every track elicit something deep within and I believe that this is the Artist’s goal as is suggested by the Album title: ‘Emotion Sickness’. I have been privy to listen to most of Resin’s tracks prior to the album release and I have to say that he has created a truly beautiful album which touches on every emotion of the human heart: sadness, desire, passion, frustration, anger, depression, and desperation. In life we all have emotions that we must face and/or conquer and the emotions derived from Love, Fear, Desperation, Desolation, and Circumstance is exactly what Resin has created: and he hits the nail on the proverbial head every single time in every single song. This is created with not only his brilliant vocal ability but also through gorgeous piano ballads that will truly pull at the heartstrings. Vocals and instrumental combined, it is truly magic.

But let’s talk about the song ‘Only Human’ for a moment here. After all, this was my very first experience listening to Resin via Bongo Boy TV. His video for the song was included in the episode I was reviewing and I remember that when the song had ended, I hit rewind. Then I hit rewind again. Then once more. I was absolutely blown away: I had never heard anything as beautiful as that song in my lifetime. Audibly you can hear the European flair in his vocals which only lend complete candor to this hauntingly beautiful song.  ‘Only Human’ is truly, the jewel in this albums crown.

Going deeper, there are collaborations in this release including the lovely gentle lyrics of French-born Betty Chrys in ‘Goodbye or Not’, a beautiful love duet (she has the vocal ability of Barbara Streisand here in ‘The Way We Were’) which elicits the struggles some couples face in their relationships: to go or to stay. Then there is the collaboration with Benjamin Karmer (also French), in the song ‘Thousand Tears’ which speaks to the heart about loss and coping with grief and Resin clearly and beautifully demonstrates in this ballad that it is perfectly okay to ‘not hide’ these emotions (through tears) because it is human to grieve in this way.

Other tracks in the album such as ‘Paralyzed’, ‘What I Feel For You’, ‘Believe in Love, ‘Point of No Return’, ‘I’m Free’, and ‘Falling of Deaf Ears’ are also stunning tracks and are consistent with the albums theme.

I am pretty selective when it comes to what I put on my iPod these days (after all, they can only hold so many songs right?) and I listen to hundreds of different genres and songs and artists every week. But with all due respect, this is an album which WILL be playing on my laptop steadily as I work. It has inspired me, lifted my spirits, understood my own struggles in life, and has brought me back to the very beginning, only several months ago when I first heard the enchanting vocals of Michael Resin. And that is the point dear readers: when an Artist leaves that kind of impression, they have succeeded in their creation as a truly gifted Artist. Make no mistake about it, Michael Resin, is that Artist.

This album is Starlight Music Chronicles approved! Well Done!  

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Bongo Boy Press Release:

September 1st, 2015 - Bongo Boy Records announces the release of 'Emotion Sickness' The Debut Full Album by Swiss Recording Artist Michael Resin.

This 10 Track album is going to Asia; where it will be made available through Bongo Boy Records' partner in Hong Kong. Distribution includes: Japan, Mainland China, Taiwan, Malaysia, and other Asian Countries. Michael Resin is no stranger at Bongo Boy. As Music Video Director (The Team Pool Label), Michael has also promoted many great music videos in National TV with The Bongo Boy Rock n Roll TV Show Series. Micheal is making his debut on Bongo Boy Records with 'Emotion Sickness' and Bongo Boy welcomes him to their International Roster.

To Contact Bongo Boy TV:

Monique Grimme/Gar Francis: info@bongoboyrecords.com

Website: www.bongoboyrecords.com and www.bongoboytv.com

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Micheal Resin

Michael Resin is originally from the Alpine heights if Lausanne, Switzerland took accordion and singing lessons at a very young age. Recently he released a few singles and 2 albums with Stephane Resin under the group name Be-Boys. In 2015 Michael recorded his first solo single called 'Point of No Return' of his new album 'Emotion Sickness'. a second single 'What I feel For You' was remixed by Recording Artist and Producer Benjamin Karmer. On June 6th the third single 'Only Human' was released' proceeds of the sale of the single go to Aid The Children's of Africa. The song is a message of Peace and Freedom.

Also in June, the music video 'Only Human' aired on Television in New York City on The Bongo Boy Rock'n Roll Show and went in heavy rotation Coast to Coast on 33 TV Channels later that month. (Time Warner, NBCUniversal Comcast, FiOS, Charter Cable and many more). 

This month "Emotion Sickness' is available for digital downloads in Asia with Bongo BoyRecords. 

Available everywhere else on Amaon and iTunes later this month.

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Michael Resin Social Media:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MichaelResinArtiste?fref=ts

Twitter: https://twitter.com/MichaelResin?lang=en

Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/the-team-pool

Website: http://www.michaelresin.com/

SMC | Ten Great Rock Movies for Your Summer Viewing (3D Glasses & Dancing Optional)

Reviews by Xristopher Bland

Perhaps it’s so face-meltingly hot where you are right now that a Popsicle whipped from a passing car would feel like a refreshing romp through a sprinkler. Perhaps it’s raining. Or perhaps the mosquitoes are so thick, it doesn’t matter what the weather is because you’d rather be trapped inside the cottage than outside screeching “Jeezfreakinhoseit!” while in a fog of Raid and blood loss. That’s the trouble with writing. I can cue up a list of ten fantastic rock movies and recommend them as perfect viewing in the air-conditioned coolness of some hot summer night. Yet given geography, the fickle temperament of weather and when you read this, they could just as easily be perfect rainy-day movies. However this day finds you—either hot, wet or seemingly screeching in tongues—here are ten great rock movies (in no particular order) to watch this summer: 

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Frank

If crazy is as crazy does than “crazy” is staggeringly brilliant in “Frank,” the dark yet moving 2014 comedy-drama inspired by the life of musician-comedian Christopher Mark Sievey and his comic persona Frank Sidebottom. Co-scripted by Jon Ronson (formerly of Sidebottom’s band), the film centers around an aspiring yet creatively challenged songwriter named Jon (Domhnall Gleeson), who lucks into the role of keyboardist with an experimental band named the Soronprfbs. (Actually, the name is unpronounceable and has no conclusive spelling.) Encountering nothing but hostility from the band save the brilliant but mentally troubled lead singer-songwriter Frank (Michael Fassbender, who wears a papier-mâché head throughout the film), Jon believes he’s nonetheless bound for stardom after his secret video posts of the band’s recording sessions get the band invited to appear at the South by Southwest festival in Texas. Yet as Jon’s misguided vision, the band’s escalating hostility and Frank’s disintegrating stability swirl together, the film moves toward a profoundly moving conclusion revealing that fame, fortune and musical genius are not always in the best interest of each other, even though they regularly get mixed around in the same bag of nuts. 

Shot in County Wicklow, Dublin, and New Mexico, “Frank” premiered at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival, where audience members were given masks similar to that worn by Frank in the film. The music in the film was recorded live by the cast during filming, and Fassbender does an incredible job somehow animating a static mask with emotion. In tandem with the film’s U.S. release, Fassbender also made an appearance as Frank with his band on the “Colbert Report.” 

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24 Hour Party People 

The party runs some two decades in this 2002 semi-fictional British comedy-drama about Manchester’s music scene from 1976 to 1992 and the rise and fall of Factory Records (Joy Division and New Order, A Certain Ratio, The Durutti Column and Happy Mondays). Based on the life of label founder Tony Wilson (marvellously played by Steve Coogan), the film begins momentously when Wilson sees the Sex Pistols perform at the Manchester Lesser Free Trade Hall for the first time. Inspired to organize a series of punk-rock shows at a Manchester club (where the brooding, erratic Ian Curtis leads Joy Division in concert for the first time), Wilson soon opens Factory Records and funnels money into the club Haçienda as a venue for his bands. As wildly upward as the rollercoaster of success seems to be riding, the tracks on the other side begin to come apart after New Order fails to deliver on an album after two years and Happy Mondays spend all their money for a fourth album on a drug-fuelled Barbados mystery tour, leaving Wilson with one last ditch effort to sell his label to London Records. 

Often intercut with real concert footage (including the Pistols at the Lesser Free Trade Hall), the film combines truth with rumors, an incredible soundtrack and the imaginings of screenwriter Frank Cottrell Boyce, who regularly breaks the fourth wall. In one scene, Buzzcocks member Howard Devoto (played by Martin Hancock) is shown having sex with Wilson’s wife in a club washroom while the real Devoto, as an extra, turns to the camera and says, “I definitely don’t remember this happening.” Coogan’s character himself often turns and comments to the camera, but if the blurred lines come across as rock ‘n’ roll swindle (to coin from the 1979 Pistols film “The Great Rock ‘n’ Roll Swindle), the filmmakers openly let viewers know what it’s all about—a capture in essence of a brief and incredible time when raw and incredible bands spat, snarled and otherwise vomited onto the world stage and changed the face of music forever. 

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Still Crazy 

While the phrase “we’re getting the band back together” will likely forever be tagged to the 1980 John Landis classic “The Blues Brothers,” the phrase actually defines an entire subgenre of films, with the 1998 Britcom “Still Crazy” remaining one of the best. Nominated for Best Picture at the 1999 Golden Globe Awards, the film opens in spectacular disintegration as the talented but famebesotted band Strange Fruit implodes at the 1977 Wisbech Rock Festival. Winding the clock forward 20 years, the film cuts to happenstance and former Fruits keyboardist Tony Costello (Stephen Rea), who’s asked to try to reunite the band for a Wisbech reunion concert. In seeking the help of former Fruits runaround girl Karen Knowles (Juliet Aubrey), the pair optimistically set out to re-create greatness by gathering former members and following the signs. (Indeed, it’s a recurring theme in the film that contains its own messages about trust and guidance.) Yet as the Fruits once more begin to ripen as still-incredible musicians, old grievances begin steering them toward an end that promises to be as bad as the first time. Co-starring Billy Connolly as roadie Hughie Case (the spiritual curator of the band) and Bill Nighy as the endearing-yet-haunted lead singer Ray Simms, “Still Crazy” doesn’t parody the comeback story. It honors and celebrates the fundamental truism that we all know what makes us happy—what we came here for. Though such passion can sometimes seem crazy within the so-called real world, it’s that very “craziness” that makes life, love and rock worthwhile and makes age just a story we tell ourselves. 

Musically reminiscent of Cameron Crowe’s 2000 drama “Almost Famous,” the soundtrack (released independently as a 14-track CD) was co-composed by Billy Connolly, Chris Difford (of the English band Squeeze) and songwriter Marti Frederiksen (Aerosmith, Carrie Underwood, Faith Hill), with “The Flame Still Burns” as the most heartfelt accompaniment to the romantic thread of the story and “All Over the World” as its rockin’ high point. 

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Lemmy 

If the gospel according to rock was an actual book (and one day willing, there will be), there’d likely be a section called the Book of Lemmy, and it would simply say two things: “There’s Lemmy—the godfather of heavy metal—and there’s the rest of us, as evidenced by the 2010 documentary “Lemmy” by Greg Oliver and Wes Orshoski. Spanning some four decades, the film grittily chronicles Ian “Lemmy” Kilmister’s beginnings with the psychedelic space-rock band Hawkwind to blinding musical force as bassist and vocalist for Motörhead, considered a precursor to the New Wave of British Heavy Metal in the late 1970s. Featuring rock-royalty interviews with admirers like Slash and Duff McKagan (Guns N’ Roses), Ozzy Osbourne, Metallica, David Ellefson (Megadeth), Peter Hook (Joy Division, New Order), Joan Jett (Joan Jett & The Blackhearts), Alice Cooper, Dave Grohl (Foo Fighters) and so many more as to dial the holy-craptitude levels to 11, “Lemmy” is more than a profile of a man ingredient-listed on the DVD as “49% mother—ker, 51% son of a bitch” (or, the perfect résumé to land a role as a crazed general in visual artist Bjorn Tagemose’s forthcoming liverock cinematic experience Gutterdämmerung). The film is an intelligent, rich and intimate study of a man so assured of himself and his vision of how he wants his life to be that he won’t suffer less, and that’s always an inspirational message for anyone, metal fan or not. 

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Ray 

Jamie Foxx gives an Oscar-winning performance as “Ray” (2005). Dramatizing the life and career of legendary rhythm and blues musician Ray Charles, the film spans 30 years, from Charles’ difficult beginnings in the segregated South through heroin addiction to his historic 1979 performance of “Georgia on my Mind” at the Georgia General Assembly. Independently produced by writer-director, Taylor Hackford (who spent 15 years securing financing for the project), the film affectingly captures the genius of Charles, who pioneered soul music in the 1950s, taught a generation to shake a tail feather and was one of the first African-American musicians to be granted artistic control by a mainstream record company. 

Also winning Golden Globe, BAFTA, Screen Actors Guild and Critics’ Choice awards (making him the second man to win all five major lead-actors awards for the same performance), Foxx incredibly had his eyes glued shut for the role. The real Ray Charles (who went blind at age seven shortly after the drowning death of his brother) was consulted during the making of the film and was slated to attend the opening but passed away from liver disease a few months before the film opened. 

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The Runaways 

Girl power doesn’t come as a cutesy, overly frosted confection in writer-director Floria Sigismondi’s gritty 2010 biopic “The Runaways.” It comes as a stick of dynamite, lit in 1976 when the teenage allgirl hard-rock band the Runaways release their signature song “Cherry Bomb” (ranked 52nd on VH1’s 100 Greatest Hard Rock Songs). Based on the tell-all book “Neon Angel: A Memoir of a Runaway” by the band’s original lead vocalist Cherie Currie (mesmerizingly played by Dakota Fanning), the film focuses on the relationship between Currie and guitarist-singer Joan Jett (Kristen Stewart) as the band comes together under the ruthless guidance and exploitation of record producer Kim Fowley (Michael Shannon). Perfectly timed in sound and temperament against the simmering angst of the time, the band defiantly switches its engines to full throttle in the maledominated world of rock and, like an explosion, sears its name alongside the likes of the Clash, the Ramones and the New York Dolls. Yet as brilliant as explosions can be, they’re short-lived, and as casualties come in the form of Currie’s escalating drug-abuse problems and dissention in the band (including a young Lita Ford played by Scout Taylor-Compton), “Cherry Bomb” begins to appear like a self-fulfilling prophecy in which even its creators may not be exempt from the blast. 

Though all-girl acts like the Spice Girls and Bananarama would arguably disserve female empowerment years after the Runaways through cutesy anthems like “Girl Power” and performances that seemed to say “I need a vitamin B12 shot,” “The Runaways” fills a persistent vacancy in rock, where all-girl bands remain anomalous and thereby many more sticks of dynamite remain to be lit. 

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Whale Music 

Mention the 1994 Canadian-made drama “Whale Music” to anyone who’s seen it and chances are that person will ask something along the lines of, “What did you think of the Rheostatics’ music? You have heard of the Rheostatics, haven’t you?” Sadly, that question came to me some three years ago when a friend recommended the film—the engaging story of a haunted, reclusive, Brian Wilson-type character named Desmond Howl (Maury Chaykin) who finds redemption, musical renewal and love through the enigmatic Claire Lowe (Cynthia Preston). Never having heard of the Rheostatics before, I wondered how I possibly could have lived in Canada my whole life without ever having heard of arguably the best alternative band the country had ever produced, and it remains one of the great regrets in my life that I never saw them live. If “Whale Music” seems small consolation to any fellow Rheostatic-less people out there, it’s actually tremendous consolation in and of itself as an incredible soundtrack that, like the film, comes across amazingly again and again. 

An adaptation of the 1989 novel by Canadian writer-musician Paul Quarrington, the film was released in 1994 as the Rheostatics’ soundtrack album “Music From the Motion Picture Whale Music” (not to be confused with the band’s incredible 1992 album “Whale Music”) The film features the band’s only Top-40 hit, “Claire,” which widely shot the band to fame and pretty much gave the Rheostatics everything they hadn’t been looking for as an alternative band wanting to stay that way.
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Hard Core Logo

Where the word “mockumentary” typically conjures up comedies like the 1984 classic “This Is Spinal Tap” and 1978’s “The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash,” director Bruce McDonald’s 1996 Canadian mockumentary “Hard Core Logo” is about as far from fluff as guns are from child-friendly toys. Adapted by Noel Baker from the novel of the same name by Michael Turner, the film “documents” the disintegration of the once-popular punk band Hard Core Logo and its members: lead singer Joe Dick (Hugh Dillon of the Headstones), fame-tempted guitarist Billy Tallent (Callum Keith Rennie), schizophrenic bassist John Oxenberger (John Pyper-Ferguson) and drummer Pipefitter (Bernie Coulson). In its always-present undercurrent of violence, desperateness and anger, it’s not difficult to predict how it will end, especially after John loses his medication and Joe discovers Billy’s offer to join another band. Yet as a character study riveting in its layers and complexities, it’s easy to experience why “Hard Core Logo” is frequently ranked among the greatest films to ever come out of Canada. Followed by the sequel “Hard Core Logo 2” in 2010, the film includes appearances by notable punk musicians, including Art Bergman, Joey Shithead (D.O.A.) and Joey Ramone.

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The Commitments 

Spectacular soul meets the pyrotechnics of ego in director Alan Parker’s 1991 Irish comedy-drama “The Commitments.” Based on Roddy Doyle’s 1987 novel (the first of the Barrytown Trilogy, all of which became successful film adaptations), the film centers around teenage music promoter and manager Jimmy Rabbitte (Robert Arkins), so disgusted with the bands he hears that he begins gathering what he envisions will be a world-class soul band. Fronted by the contentious but incredible vocalist Deco Cuffe (Andrew Strong, only 16 at the time of filming) and inspired by the trumpet of Joey “The Lips” Fagan (Johnny Murphy), Rabbitte sees his vision bearing out as the band begins to gel as the Commitments and finds its musical stride. Yet just as the band stands to meet greatness in the form of a promised club visit by soul legend Wilson Pickett, escalating ego clashes and relationship grievances between band members promises to end the show in calamity. 

Voted as the best Irish film of all time in a 2005 poll sponsored by Jameson Irish Whiskey, the film derives its incredible soundtrack from the actors, drawn from working Irish bands. So they’re actually performing their own music, released as a double-CD soundtrack that is a must in any music collection. 
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Get on Up: The James Brown Story 

Chadwick Boseman so convincingly and electrifyingly plays James Brown in the 2015 bio-drama “Get on Up,” it often comes off as one of the most amazing documentaries ever produced. Nominated for and earning so many awards as to be appropriate tribute to the Godfather of Soul, the film essentially unfolds in flashback from the opening scene in a darkened hallway where Brown walks to the sound of people chanting his name. Cutting to 1988 and Augusta, Georgia, where a shotguntoting Brown addresses a room of people over unauthorized use of a private bathroom in a strip mall he owns, the film interweaves Brown’s abusive childhood, partnership with musician Bobby Byrd in the Famous Flames and meteoric rise to funk stardom through King Records. Unflinchingly, the film also unveils Brown’s control issues, abusiveness, drug addiction and erratic behavior with such rawness, sympathy comes in short supply, even as the film details how he descended. Yet if music has little connection to the vessels through which the magic chooses to come, “Get on Up” shows the genius of Brown and the scope of how he impacted and changed the music business, and offers such high-precision, high-velocity funk performances by Boseman that it’s truly difficult to believe James Brown passed away in 2006. 

Originally titled “Superbad” while in development, the film stalled in development in 2006 before Mick Jagger read a script by writers Jez and John-Henry Butterworth and signed on as producer with Imagine Entertainment’s Brian Grazer (Oscar winner for “A Beautiful Mind”). 

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SMC Announces NEW AFFILIATE | 'michigan' Film by Yale Productions

This week has been a blur. I mean, I was just having coffee with my son at a Starbucks and the next I am having a conference call with Tzeitel Abrego, Assistant and Associate Producer to Jordan Yale Levine, Producer of the upcoming film 'michigan' (yes, all lower case in case you were wondering).

Before I get into what the film is all about, it is important to correlate exactly how Starlight Music Chronicles SMC) fits into this project. I will tell you a story......

"On December 9th,

1995, our family was impacted in a way that was never expected. You see, that's the day my cousin ended his life by his own hand at the tender age of 18. Still just a child and with his whole life ahead of him....it was surreal. I remembered walking up to the front step at my aunts house and she telling me, 'My son is dead. He hung himself. He's dead'. At the time, I had my own son who was only a year old and with life just beginning for our family, it was incomprehensible going home and imagining him gone only 17 years later. I held him tight that night and rocked him to sleep, grateful for the moment and wishing I could bring my cousin back to heal the pain my aunt was going through.

Even as a teen, I recall attending my first funeral at the age of 16 for a local boy who had ended his life at the age of 17. Before then, I had never seen a body before. I mean, it's not the natural order of things in life when it comes to accepting death, especially on those terms. Afterwards, I recall being relentless in my own crusade to help others: skipping a whole afternoon of school with a close friend to help him through a crisis in his life and talking him out of suicide. He is still around to this day and living a happy life with his wife and daughters in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Years later, he called and thanked me for that time.

I don't call myself a hero. Some I have helped and some I couldn't. Being a survivor of suicide (I have had 4 friends and one family member pass away in my lifetime) it makes you truly appreciate the little things in life and cherish the moments. I have remained determined and focused knowing I can't control always what other people choose to do, but remain hopeful that my actions speak volumes when I spend that 'extra' time talking to a friend or family member who really needs me.

I don't know why I have witnessed such tragedy in my lifetime, I suppose a higher power has guided my path to be one of a helper and healer and, well, I have just followed suit to what comes naturally for me to do. All I know is this: This topic is very real. No one is exempt and the more we address why this is happening by talking more openly, the more we bring awareness to the source: Depression, Mental Health Disorders, Bullying....the list goes on. We won't change the world entirely, but we can make an impact, and we can only do this if we try."

______________ 

Fast forward to present day. 

The last month has been a whirlwind with preparations, emails, planning, and scheduling for the first ever launch of Starlight Music Chronicles as an online magazine. My team and I have been busy behind the scenes working to bring the very best to our audience and for the Music Artists we work with. It has been an amazing adventure so far. In addition, we have teamed up with some amazing organizations such as: Project Cuddle, Be The Game, and most recently, Morgan's Mission, a cause that directly connects me to a the Dunbar family who lost their child Morgan to suicide at the tender age of 13. In support of the family, specifically to Bailey Dunbar (Morgan's twin sister), SMC has opened a 'Teen Beat' page which launched July 21st, 2015 with Bailey as our Teen Writer Contributor. (see here for her blog) 

So this brings us back full circle, and why this is important to me which brings us to 'michigan' and what, exactly, our affiliation will provide for this independent film:

Jordan Yale Levine

'michigan' is a film which will begin production in March 2016 in New York, USA and is being produced by Jordan Yale Levine (click here for complete info on Levine), the mastermind behind Yale Productions.The company boasts completion of films such as 'My First Christmas', Dynamite', 'Love on the Run', 'Petunia', and 'Wreckage' to name a few working with big names such as: Thora Birch, Brittany Snow, Michael Urie, David Arquette, Bijou Phillips, Vivica A. Fox, Aaron Paul, Scoot McNairy, Cameron Richardson, Michael Madsen, Vinnie Jones, Michael Urie, Jesse Eisenberg, Ben Stiller, John Waters, Jennifer Coolidge, Lance Henrickson, Andrew Keegan, Corbin Bernsen, Tom Conti, Evanna Lynch, Carol Kane, and many more. Levine has also managed stars such as Obie Trice and former WWE wrestling star Earnest Miller (aka: The Cat). 

The film will be directed by Janos Szasz of the film 'The Notebook' 2013 (see link) which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival, was picked up by Film Classics and was on Oscars' top nine foreign films to be considered for an Academy Award. 

The Storyline for the film (as submitted by the 'michigan' team) is as follows: 

Our story highlights the isolated, desperate and sometimes comically dark life of young people trapped in a small town in the Midwest. The story begins in the snow-buried parking lot of a high school in the state of Michigan, where three teenage boys are making a suicide pact. Two of the boys carry it out, but the third backs out at the last moment. Thirteen years later, we meet this same boy again – Jude. He has become the successful screenwriter of a hit film about teenage suicide. Now a grown man, Jude returns to his hometown and must choose how to keep the promise he made thirteen years ago, while his girlfriend Jesse must decide what really matters and what role honesty plays in her life and her relationship with Jude.

Starlight Music Chronicles will act as a media platform helping to promote this film in conjunction with Morgan's Mission as well  as networking the 'michigan' team with media supports, music industry support, and a myriad of other organizations and platforms to help make the project reach Global distribution. A kickstarter campaign will begin in a few months which will help with funding to promote the films mission: to bring awareness to teen suicide.

*Keep watching for more updates on our Facebook Page as well as the 'michigan' page (click here) for further announcements as this project moves forward.

We look forward to this venture and are happy to support Tzeitel Abrego, Mickey Solis, Jordan Yale Levine, and Janos Szasz as they move closer to production!

Tzeitel Abrego

Mickey Solis

Janos Szasz

____________________

Social Media for 'michigan':

Website: http://www.michiganfilm2016.com/ (coming soon)
www.yaleproductions.com/michigan-1.html (active)
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/michiganfilm2015
Twitter: @michigan_film
Instagram: @michiganfilm
Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/michiganfilm
Google+: http://bit.ly/1IPGIAt
Tumblr: http://michiganfilm.tumblr.com/
https://vimeo.com/69808203 - Janos Szasz on michigan (6:20 start time)

Andrea Nixon and The Prairie Son | You Didn't Make Me Kicking it Old Country Style

by CA Marshall

Starlight Music Chronicles (SMC) seems to be a Mecca for all music genres but as of late, it is clear that the Canadian Country Music Scene has really taken a shine to the website and we have been happy to receive messages from Country Artists such as Andrea Nixon and the Prairie Son. Why? Because discovering a music video for the first time that is absolutely full of electricity and charge like Nixon’s ‘You Didn’t Make Me’ truly is the Cherry on this already iced cake.

The song clearly talks about female empowerment and the visual clearly supports this with scenes of a young woman ‘under her man’s thumb’ (so to speak) stuck in a small town thinking she has no way out.  With the final scene showing that the young woman has ‘had enough’ she gives a knowing look to a young girl (in a previous scene who also stands up to a boy) before walking away from her life towards freedom.

Cleverly, Nixon is also featured in the video walking down the main street of a small town with her ‘Music Posse’ demonstrating her empowerment in the song with a 'Safety in Numbers' sort of theme. (see photo above)

Nixon reached out to Starlight Music Chronicles recently and asked us to have a look at her new video which dropped August 4^th and is also featured currently (until August 11^th when we change to another ‘Video of The Week’) on Starlight Music Chronicles. Be sure to check it out! (Click Here). 

At the onset, I was blown away. This is a deliberately strong piece which will resonate with anyone suffering the effects of bullying behaviors and searching to find their voice. Like a horse kicking at the barn door, this video has come out with a forceful start and is off and running! 

Well done!

_______________

Artist Bio:

Andrea Nixon is a Western Canadian country music singer songwriter living in Edmonton, Alberta. She was born in the small town of Kitimat, British Columbia. Her strongest musical influence and inspiration is Patsy Cline, though she counts other classic country artists such as Dolly Parton and Loretta Lynn amongst her idols. Being that she is a devotee of traditional country sounds, her own material marries toe tapping twang with contemporary storylines peppered with a fair share of heart ache, a smattering of optimism and a little humor. The end goal of both her song writing and performance is emotional authenticity & a strong connection to her audience. Her voice and musical styling have been compared to a young Dolly Parton on one end & the fiery Reba McEntire on the other. Her shtick is to write her own life into song in a way that her audience can connect to. All the members of her band the Prairie Son bring years of experience, phenomenal talent and skill, a genuine love of country music & tremendous energy & enthusiasm to the stage. Andrea Nixon and the Prairie Son are playing locally & planning an Alberta wide tour.

Band Members are: Andrea Nixon: Vocals Quinn Clark: Acoustic Guitar Charlie Biddiscombe: Electric Guitar Brayton Farmer: Banjo Lindsay Thompson: Bass Keegan Proctor: Drums Aurora Lenihan: Harmony Vocals Aurora Lenihan: Harmony Vocals

Social Media:

Website: www.andreanixon.com (includes audio and video) 

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

Twitter: @AndreaNixonSong

SMC Announces NEW AFFILIATE | Nor'easter Magazine!

Starlight Music Chronicles (SMC) Editor CA Marshall has been selected as a Contributor for the Brand Spanking new Nor'easter Magazine which officially launches on September 1st, 2015 and promises to be a 'Big Storm Coming' (quoted by Publisher Dean Smith).

Features in the Print Publication will focus on the Music Industry with features from Elite High Profile Contributors from around the globe covering live music events, concerts, etc. Starlight Music Chronicles Editor CA Marshall looks forward to working closely with this team and confidently can say that it is a positive affiliation for the Canadian-based website to venture into US territory. Features from the Artists that CA Marshall has worked with to date are being heavily considered for this publication.

SMC has officially launched the Nor'easter Magazine logo in the Affiliates section of the website and will be updating all articles submitted to the publication with a link similar to Bongo Boy Television in the Biography Section of the website.

You may find the Affilate link at: http://bit.ly/1IWksv2

___________

Letter from the Editor

It is with great pleasure that I can officially announce that I will be contributing articles on Artists I have worked with for consideration with Nor'easter Magazine in the very near future! I thank Micheal McKenna, the Super Power behind Nor'easter Magazine with Mr. Dean Smith, on the formal invite and look forward to working with such an established and accomplished team! This builds the bridge between Canadian Artists wishing to have a feature beyond Canadian borders as well as all of the Indie Artists that I have had the pleasure of working with to date and is yet another media platform for Starlight Music Chronicles Artists to have all of their hard work shared. Huge shout out to Mr. Dean Smith and Michael McKenna as well as Monique Grimme with Bongo Boy TV for the introduction!