A DAY AT SUPER MEGAFEST COMIC-CON 2018

October 22, 2018 limelightmagazine Leave a comment

By JAY ROBERTS

If you are a sports fan, at some point or another you’ve probably hear the phrase “If you ain’t cheatin’, you ain’t tryin'”. You are probably wondering what a sports cliche like that has to do with a comic / pop culture convention. Well, it’s simple really. If you couldn’t find something fun to do at the recent New England Super Megafest Comic Con (a.k.a. Super MegaFest), you just weren’t trying very hard!

Making a much hailed return to Framingham, Mass., after holding the event in Marlboro, Mass., the last couple of years, the October 13th-14th event packed in so much into the weekend, you’d be hard pressed to have tried to experience it all. But that’s not for lack of trying, let me tell you. Spread out over two floors, there was something for everyone from across the fandom spectrum. (For clarity’s sake, everything described in this article took place on Saturday, October 13th, the day I attended the event.)

Though Super MegaFest actually kicked off with a Cosplay/Comedy Kickoff Party on Friday night, it was Saturday morning that the festivities kicked off in full. Truth be told, the fun started before you even walked in the door. That’s because surrounding the entrance to the venue was a number of famous movie and TV vehicles. You could check out the jeep and SUV from Jurassic Park as well as the Batmobile and the Joker-ized Gotham City police car.

But if famous cars weren’t your thing, you ended up doing what I did which is go inside, get checked in so you could get your wristband and head into Super MegaFest proper to really get the good times rolling!

VENDORS

“Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth”. Nope, I didn’t say it, Mike Tyson did. But I did have a plan of action that got shot to hell before I even got into the Dealer Room from which every other section of the con was accessible. I was still in the hallway waiting to get in and my plan to not buy anything died a quick death.

Much like all conventions, the vendors at Super MegaFest were selling a wide range of items. You could get rare movies and TV shows on DVD, comic books, swords, masks, brownies and so much more. What killed my “no buying anything right off” plan? One comic dealer in the hallway had a trade collection I’d been looking for and I couldn’t resist the lower than expected price. Thankfully, the line sped up and I was in the big dealer room before I could spend any more money.

Of course, being in the bigger dealers was like throwing gasoline on a fire but I managed to restrain myself and instead focused on getting the lay of the land. Plus I had a schedule of events so I had to be at certain places at certain times. This was not the time to dawdle.

I quickly found that the first floor was dedicated to not just the dealer’s room but the guest artists area as well. Meanwhile, the staircase leading to the second floor of the convention was manned by members of the New England Brethren of Pirates, one of the many groups raising money for charities over the weekend. The members at the top of the staircase were all dressed as pirate wenches while once you went downstairs, the male pirates were offering the chance to “Fight A Pirate” in the foyer before you went down the hallway leading to the rooms where panels, Q&A’s and celebrity meet and greets/photo ops were being held. For more check out http://www.nebpirates.com

ARTISTS ALLEY DEALER FLOOR PART 1

I had some time to myself before the first panel I was planning to attend was scheduled. This allowed me to take a slightly more in depth tour of the dealer’s room. As I said, there were a wide variety of wares on offer. The first stop that I made was the Galaxy Creations booth. They specialize in making highly detailed masks worn by many different characters in pop culture. The focus is mostly Star Wars related, but there are a number of other shows and movies represented in the various masks on display. I had met the owner Jaycee at another con last year and was impressed by his work. So when I saw he was here, I made a point to reconnect with him. He’s got a couple of stunningly rendered masks for the DC Comics villain Deathstroke that kept calling my name while I was there. Check out their work HERE.

Comic book dealers were well represented as well as those selling artwork, toys and clothing. One dealer I talked to went so far as to point out that this convention was the second to last one he was doing before he went out of the business. This statement explained why he was offering his large display of books up for bargain prices.

Threaded throughout the room were authors, comic creators and artists too. I ended up talking to a few of them including Jay Mooers, the creator, artist and writer at Eden Park Tales. His books, comics and artwork were quite eye-catching and he had this one piece that featured a zombie Santa Claus that really stood out the most. You can check out all he has to offer at http://www.edenparktales.com

Jay Mooers, co-founder of Eden Park Tales

COMIC ARTIST AREA

The comic book guest artist list criss-crossed the entire comics universe. You had a rare appearance from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles co-creator Peter Laird, TMNT artist Steve Lavigne (who’s line never seemed to get shorter all day long), Jason Badower, Sean Chen, Tim Estiloz and many others.

I spent some time talking to four creators in particular: Joe St. Pierre, Ron Wilson, Mike Grell and Arvell Jones. Each artist was engaging and took the time to chat.

I’ve met Joe St. Pierre at a couple other cons in the last few years. I’m not sure if it was there at those other appearances but this time around he had a banner proclaiming that has done more #1 issues of Spider-Man than anyone. Given the banner and the focus of the material at his table we almost HAD to chat about the Venom movie (we both liked it) as well as prose novel thrillers and his creator-owned series The New Zodiax.

Ron Wilson is probably best known for his Marvel Comics work, including the Marvel Two-In-One series that featured The Thing from The Fantastic Four. But he’s done a lot of other work which included a couple of Conan stories. I had brought along a copy of a Savage Sword of Conan trade paperback collection that reprinted one of those stories. When I showed it to him, he perused it rather carefully and told me that he couldn’t remember having done it despite his credit on the first page of the story.

Arvell Jones is another artist who’s work I read back in the day. Some of his work was used in the teaser posters for the Black Panther movie but he’s worked on some of the biggest comics for both DC and Marvel, co-creating Misty Knight while working on the Iron Fist comic with Tony Isabella. I loved his work on DC’s All-Star Squadron but when I talked with him I asked him if there was a reason that he was credited only as “Arv Jones” on a particular issue of Marvel Two-In-One. He told me that it was one of his earliest works and they (I’m guessing he meant Marvel) weren’t sure about him yet and that the first five pages were actually his sample pages. He added that when he showed them to John Romita, he was told that he should finish the story. Misunderstanding what Romita was saying, he said again that they were just samples. Romita finally told him to finish the story and he’d cut him a check. So he did, but he didn’t like the story he was telling and that was how Bill Mantlo ended up writing the story that was eventually published in issue #15 of the series.

Before heading off to my first Q&A panel, I stopped off to talk with writer and artist Mike Grell. Best known for his work on Green Arrow and Green Lantern comics, he was also the driving force behind The Warlord for DC Comics. I got to watch him work for a brief moment and then talked to him about his Green Arrow story The Longbow Hunters and about The Warlord as well.

CHARITY FUNDRAISERS

Before I headed into the room where the Q&As where being held , I stopped off and got some pictures with Oscar the Grouch! Yep, I got to “meet” one of my earliest attitude role models. It was for a charity called the Yellow Feather Fund and for $5 you got your pic taken with the Sesame Street trash can denizen.

It was one of a number of charity fund-raising going on during the weekend. The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society was raising money with the chance to have your photo taken sitting on the couch with The Simpsons. And there were a few other endeavors going on as well.

Q & A PANELS PART 1

The Q&A panels were quite popular throughout the day. The first one held was for Mike Grell. The moderator started off getting Grell to talk about the early days of his career. Unsurprisingly, being a gifted storyteller is not limited to the stories he writes and illustrates. More impressive was that while he was talking, he was working on what I can only guess was a commission and yet never seemed to be distracted from answering questions from the moderator and later the audience.

He talked about working on Superboy and the Legion of Superheroes, the inability to sell some comic strips he had worked up. He gave a pretty detailed re-telling of The Warlord’s publication history. It had been canceled pretty quickly by DC’s Carmine Infantino but that the series got saved by Jeanette Kahn. Grell said that it was apparently her favorite book. He also mentioned how he knew early on in the book’s run how he wanted to end the story, adding that it took 35 years to do it but he ended the original story the way he’d envisioned.

The moderator asked about his series Shaman’s Tears and Grell talked about the book and how he’d always been interested in native cultures.

The audience got to ask a few questions as well. One woman asked him how early on did he realize that he could draw. This elicited Grell’s reply talking about growing up without TV and drawing in place of it. He also mentioned that pictures were secondary to good storytelling and detailed the difference with examples of each.

Not shy about sharing his opinion, when asked if he’d like to see a Warlord movie he said yes but emphasized his hope that it wouldn’t be like Batman vs. Superman or Justice League, two movies he didn’t like. He did specify that he liked the Wonder Woman movie though.

I asked him if he could forsee a situation where he’d do a new Warlord story in comics form and Grell said yes he could. He figured a way to bring back the character but that it would be tricky and added that maybe the story would be a good idea for the 50th anniversary of The Warlord. He said that in comics, “It’s hard to keep a good man dead”.

Remember what I said about everyone having a plan? Well, at this point I got the metaphorical punch in the mouth. After the Mike Grell panel had ended, I needed to duck out of the room for a quick minute before the start of the Lost In Space panel with Bill Mumy, Mark Goddard, Angela Cartwright and Marta Kristen. But when I got back and looked in, the room was quite packed with enthusiastic supporters of the show and actors. This made me decide to skip the panel altogether.

I did later find out that Bill Mumy was asked about his time on Babylon 5 during the panel, so I likely should’ve squeezed in somehow. That will be a regret of mine for sure.

I also ran into an acquaintance of mine later in the day. I didn’t know he was coming to Super Megafest so seeing him there was a surprise. He told me that they’d had a death in the family and that his daughter ended up not coming to the event as planned. He told Bill Mumy about it during the panel and Mumy recorded a video message for the girl to see.

WANDERING THE HALLS

With some unexpected free time on my hands from not being in the Lost In Space Q&A, I ended up checking out the rest of the second floor.

A couple of podcasts, The Dorkening (click HERE) and The Angry Geeks Show (click HERE), were in attendance and recording live shows as well. While I didn’t spend a lot of time checking out their tables, I did catch some fun chatter from the hosts of The Dorkening as I passed by. There was also a comedy/magic show running three times a day.

You could also meet wrestling luminaries Scott Steiner, Vickie Guerrero and Mean Gene Okerlund. Meanwhile, horror fans could spend some time with A Nightmare On Elm Street alum Mark Patton or Halloween’s Tony Moran.

The rooms set aside for the other celebrity meet and greets had Nicholas Brendon and Charisma Carpenter from Buffy The Vampire Slayer, the Lost In Space cast, actors Rusty Goffe, Cerina Vincent, Rochelle Davis and a number of others. The attending fans were lined up to meet their favorites throughout the course of the day. Some lines were longer than the other at various points, but it seemed that everyone was steadily busy whenever I wandered past the open doors leading into the rooms.

There were a number of cosplay guests lining the hallway, selling photo ops and such as well as interacting with other cosplayers who came to their tables including Koi Fish Asylum (click HERE).

CELEBRITY MEET AND GREETS

While waiting for the James Marsters panel to begin in the mid-afternoon, I ended up having the chance to talk with actor/director Tony Dow. Now I know that most people when thinking of Dow will say “Wally from Leave It To Beaver!”, but for my purposes I was interested in talking to him about his directing work on Babylon 5.

From left, Jay Roberts with Tony Dow (of “Leave It To Beaver”)

I accidentally timed things perfectly too. I got to his table in one of the meet and greet rooms during a lull and got to spend ten minutes talking about Babylon 5 with him. He spoke about the differences between directing B5 and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and the ins and outs of being on set directing the episodes. He seemed genuinely surprised but pleased that someone would ask him about directing and he asked me if the show was airing on TV anywhere. I told him that I didn’t think so but couldn’t be certain and that I just watch the show on the DVD sets.

By the way, Tony Dow was at the show with his former cast mate Jerry Mathers and if meeting them for an autograph and photo wasn’t enough for you, there was an extra option of having “Dinner with the Cleaver Boys” on Saturday night after the floor closed for the day.

I also got to briefly chat with Bill Mumy at his table after he returned from his pro photo op obligations. Besides his work on both Lost In Space and Babylon 5, he’s an accomplished musician and author. While waiting in line for my brief minute or two, I listened as he talked with other fans and answering their questions. Mumy had a packed weekend at Super MegaFest as he was performing an acoustic concert on Saturday night just after the con closed down for the day.

Q & A PANELS PART 2

As it turned out, I was late for the James Marsters panel and when I got there it was even more packed than the Lost In Space one. But I wanted to hear what was being said, so I found a spot in the back of the room for the last portion of the Q&A.

One fan asked about improv and if any had ever happened on the set of Buffy. Marsters said that it didn’t ever happen because if they tried to, Joss Whedon would let it go and essentially say now let’s do it right. The one time it did happen, Marsters and David Boreanaz were sent into another room to improv a verbal argument. This story saw Marsters go into his British accent and play out part of that dialogue. He concluded by saying the Joss was in the other room laughing his ass off over what was being said.

The panel concluded with a fan asking if, like Nathan Fillion has stated, Marsters would drop anything to go work with Joss again. He said that he told Joss whether it was 5 lines or 50 he’d be there so long as he wasn’t contractually obligated to be somewhere else.

Much like Bill Mumy, Saturday night after the convention closed for the day, James Marsters was booked to play an acoustic show for those fans who were staying around for the evening’s festivities.

WRITERS PANEL

While there were other non-celebrity Q&A events going on during the day like a video game tournament, a Star Wars trivia contest and a costume contest, the one that grabbed my attention the most was the panel “Anthologies and the New Writer”.

It featured authors Stacey Longo (click HERE), Rob Watts (click HERE) and Stephen Lomer (click HERE) talking about ways for new writers to possibly break in to getting their work published via anthologies. They spoke about and offered suggestions for looking for online open calls. They also talked about how important it was to follow the submission guidelines and etiquette.

From left, authors Stephen Lomer, Rob Watts and Stacey Longo

The three authors also spoke to what red flags to watch out for including some talk about “anthology mills”.

It was an informative discussion with some humor thrown in as well. The people in attendance asked a few pertinent questions. This included my question regarding their thoughts on how important reviews are, particularly on Amazon.com which is the barometer website for such things.

I was pretty intrigued by the whole discussion and spent some time after the panel concluded talking to the authors both in the room and back at their tables just off of the dealer room.

ARTISTS ALLEY DEALER FLOOR PART 2

Towards the end of the day, after talking to the three authors, I made my way back to the dealer floor where along with making some personal purchases for myself, I ended up talking to author Colin Carlton. He was at Super MegaFest promoting his book Infinite Velocity. The poster for the book had a quote that said fans of Star Trek and Firefly would find a lot to love with the book.

You can say that I was interested. So I asked Carlton what the book was about. His 10 second pitch was absolutely perfect. He said, “Imagine the crew of Serenity found an abandoned Enterprise”. All I can say to that was my reply was “SOLD!” You can check out more about the book HERE.

Carlton was sharing his table with Christian Hegg of Sterling Arts & Design (click HERE). Hegg designed the cover for the book. I’m looking forward to checking out the book for sure.

From left, author Colin Carlton and artist Christian Hegg

COSPLAY

As with all conventions, there was a sizeable portion of the fan base that came dressed up in some costume or another. And there was a lot to be said for many of the cosplay that I saw. From the family dressed up as The Incredibles and Mera from Aquaman, from multiple Poison Ivy’s and Harley Quinn’s to Batman, Batwoman, Wonder Woman and many others, creativity was not in short supply. One guy came dressed as music superstar Prince and his costume was amazing! My favorite was probably the woman that was dressed up as Captain Marvel from the upcoming Marvel movie. I thought the entire look was so well done that she was the only cosplayer I wanted a picture with rather than just taking a snapshot of.

The cutest moment involved the couple dressed as Belle and the Beast. I had taken a photo of them and then ten minutes later saw them as a little girl no older than three years old and dressed as Elsa came down a stairway, turned towards them and about lost it. She was smiling and overjoyed to see Belle and the Beast! Her enthusiasm brought a smile to my face.

The Baroness and Cobra Commander cosplayers

CLOSING THOUGHTS

With Super MegaFest 2018 now in the books, what are my final thoughts about my Day at the Con?

First, I should mention that while my interactions with the staff were limited, the times I did interact with them, they were very helpful and professional. This might seem unnecessary to mention but I’ve been at conventions where this was not the case.

Otherwise, all I can say is that I had a great time and I’m sure other attendees did as well. I was there to cover the event so it was a work day for me, but I still managed to carve out some “me” time amidst all the running back and forth (seriously, if you want to get your steps in on your FitBit, go to a comic convention!) to get the material I needed to write this article. And believe me, this could’ve gone on a lot longer. This is just the highlights really. But after skipping the event the last few years, I was rather pleased to find Super MegaFest to be an entertaining, fun-filled way to take part in the pop culture fandom I love so much. Getting to experience it alongside others who felt the same way only heightened my level of enjoyment.

So, circling back around to the beginning, if you weren’t having a ball at Super MegaFest 2018, you just weren’t trying!

For more on this year’s event or to follow the news for Super MegaFest 2019, click HERE.

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The Cassette Chronicles – Vinnie Vincent Invasion’s self-titled debut

October 12, 2018 limelightmagazine 1 Comment

By JAY ROBERTS

The Cassette Chronicles is a continuing series of mini reviews and reflections on albums from the 1980’s and 1990’s. The aim of this series is to highlight both known and underappreciated albums from rock, pop and metal genres from this time period through the cassette editions of their releases. Some of the albums I have known about and loved for years, while others are new to me and were music I’ve always wanted to hear. There will be some review analysis and my own personal stories about my connection with various albums. These opinions are strictly my own and do not reflect the views of anyone else at Limelight Magazine.

VINNIE VINCENT INVASION – VINNIE VINCENT INVASION (1986)

After years of being out of the public eye, ex-Kiss guitarist Vinnie Vincent has emerged in recent months and given a number of interviews. One of the talking points in the interviews has been Vincent totally trashing the second and final album that was recorded by his Vinnie Vincent Invasion group. The All Systems Go album featured Mark Slaughter on vocals and Vincent has nothing good to say about the album or the singer.

While I once owned that album, I’ve never owned or even heard the self-titled debut release until I picked it out of the “Big Box of Cassettes” to write this article. But after hearing it, I can understand why Vincent goes out of his way to dump all over the second album.

On All Systems Go, there seemed to be much more of a focus on writing full and actual songs. Whereas on this album, it seemed the songs were given, if they were lucky, secondary importance to serving as a way for Vincent to musically masturbate with his guitar and get people to pay for it.

I know this likely means I won’t be receiving a Christmas card from Vincent anytime soon but the fact is that there really isn’t much in the way of a decent track on this entire album. There’s ten songs and none of them really stuck with me or even got much of a rise out of me at all.

While the attempt to give listeners a jolt to the heart by making pretty much every song a fast charging rock and roll romp might’ve been a good idea, I found that the uniform lack of quality songwriting trumped all. It was all about how fast and how long Vincent could play a guitar solo.

The band lineup featured ex-Journey singer Robert Fleischman, bassist Dana Strum and drummer Bobby Rock. Sadly, they are all thoroughly overshadowed by the endless (and pointless) soloing from Vincent. At times, Fleischman’s vocals were so low in the mix as to be swallowed up by the music.

The only song that showed any signs of slowing down was “Back On The Streets” which had a somewhat darker tone to it. It also ended up being a vocal duet with Fleischman and Vincent taking turns on vocals. And yet somehow, this version of the song still managed to not work.

A long time ago, when music magazines were pretty much the only way you got news and reviews about artists, I remember reading one particular magazine’s reviews section. I don’t remember which album was being written about but the review for it was simply “This Album Sucks!” While that might seem more than a bit unprofessional, I have to confess that I had the same feeling about the Vinnie Vincent Invasion album.

I know that there are a lot of fans of Vincent out there and my opinion is likely going to be in the extremely small minority, but there’s nothing here that makes me ever want to listen to this album again. I’ve heard some mind-numbingly bad albums while writing this series, this just might be one of the worst ones yet.

NOTES OF INTEREST: The video for “Boyz Are Gonna Rock” features Mark Slaughter lip-synching over the vocal track from Robert Fleischman, who had left the group before the video shoot over a contract dispute.

The song “Animal” was on the soundtrack for the comedy film Summer School that starred Mark Harmon and Kirstie Alley. “Back On The Streets” was covered by John Norum on his Total Control solo album, which was featured in The Cassette Chronicles back in April of 2017.

Bobby Rock is currently the drummer for Lita Ford and I’ve seen him perform twice with her in the last few years.

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The Cassette Chronicles – House of Lords’ ‘Sahara’

October 5, 2018 limelightmagazine 2 Comments

By JAY ROBERTS

HOUSE OF LORDS – SAHARA (1990)

The second album from House of Lords might’ve been slightly less successful than their first album when you look solely at sales and chart records. But after listening to this album for the first time in more than two decades, I was a bit stunned to hear how well Sahara holds up. The album is a sleek, fast and at times highly aggressive guitar oriented album. While keyboardist Greg Giuffria started the band, the pomp and grandeur associated with the band’s sound gives way to the more guitar heavy sound and it comes off better for doing so.

I saw the band on the tour for this album. It was March 15th, 1991, when I saw them at the Citi Club in Boston (for those that don’t remember the place, it was on Lansdowne Street behind Fenway Park). They were opening for Nelson if you can believe it! While I am now what you might call an obsessive set list keeper, I didn’t keep track of the songs they played on this night. Oddly, I do have the Nelson set list. I was there to see House of Lords, but I brought my sister with me that night because she was a huge fan of Nelson (as well as loving their dad Ricky Nelson). So we both got to see bands we were interested in. Even more fun was the fact that we got driven to the show by my brother’s godfather in his limo.

Anyway, the album came out via Gene Simmons own label, Simmons Records, with the accompanying distribution of RCA and BMG. The band had lost original guitarist Lanny Cordola (even though he does get co-writing credits on two songs on Sahara) and replaced him with Michael Guy. However, I’m not quite sure how involved Guy actually was with the band. While he’s listed as a band member in the liner notes, the Wikipedia entry for the album says that Doug Aldrich was the band’s guitarist. Aldrich is credited in the album notes as providing “additional guitars”. So there’s a mystery for you.

Like I said, I haven’t really listened to this album since 1991. The band’s cover of the Blind Faith song “Can’t Find My Way Home” still gets airplay on classic rock stations, so I’ve heard that song many times, but none of the other nine songs really stuck in my memory. After listening to Sahara for this article, I’m kind of saddened that they didn’t.

The album opens with the song “Shoot” and though the term “crushing” isn’t one you might expect to read in association with House of Lords, that is exactly what this fast paced track made me think. There’s a nice gritty vibe to the song as well. I think part of that is because of the way singer James Christian’s vocals manage to get both down and dirty and soar high at the same time.

With “Can’t Find My Home” and the song “Remember My Name”, you get the required for the times power ballad tracks. Otherwise, rocking out madly is the name of the game here. There is really no track here I didn’t like hearing for the first time all over again.

The song “Heart On The Line” was written by Cheap Trick’s Rick Neilsen. He played the lead on the song as well. Probably unsurprisingly, this really did sound like a Cheap Trick with both Neilsen and singer Robin Zander performing backing vocals on the song as well.

The album’s title track might be the best example of the band’s ability to go for the more grandiose thematic openings to some of their songs. The extended opening here is still pretty rocking though. You might think that with a title like “It Ain’t Love” that you are in for another ballad, but despite opening up that way, the song soon vaults past that particular designation and becomes this big huge rocker.

The album’s closing track “Kiss Of Fire” is just a pure ballsy rocker that really lets drummer Ken Mary shine in the intro as he slams away on the kit to fuel the adrenaline charged song.

Given that a lot of the albums I listen to for this series are ones that I’ve either overlooked or skipped entirely when they were first released, I do enjoy finding what to me is an undiscovered gem. And with all ten songs on the album really appealing to me, I have to say that Sahara is one of my favorite albums to have written about for The Cassette Chronicles. It’s got a heavy power chord driven guitar sound, James Christian’s super vocals and it just rocks your socks off!

NOTES OF INTEREST – Despite numerous lineup changes over the years, House of Lords is still active today. The band will be playing in The Vault at the Greasy Luck in New Bedford, MA, on Sunday October 14th, 2018. And I was lucky enough to have already met current drummer BJ Zampa at that very venue when he played there on August 31st, 2018, in a couple of tribute bands (Black Knight’s Castle and Without Warning).

The Rick Nielsen written song “Heart On The Line” did end up being recorded by Cheap Trick themselves for their 2016 album Bang, Zoom, Crazy…Hello!

There’s a who’s who list of guests on this album. Others credited for playing guitar on the album included House of Lords singer James Christian, Krokus guitarist Mandy Meyer (mis-spelled Myer in the liner notes) and Chris Impellitteri. The backing vocals list included 20 people including White Lion’s Mike Tramp, Giuffria’s David Glen Eisley, Ron Keel and Autograph’s Steve Plunkett.

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Comic fans and pop culture icons will unite at Super Mega Fest

October 2, 2018 limelightmagazine Leave a comment

Fans of geek and comic culture will come together at this year’s mega event to celebrate party and meet their favorite pop culture and comic artist icons. The hometown comic con will be a special event because of the spectacular mix of diverse personalities, cosplayers and the amazing reunions Super Megafest Comic Con will host this year.

Comic TV and movie fans will be thrilled with rare Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Lost in Space & Leave it to Beaver TV cast reunions!

Super Megafest Comic Con takes place October 13 & 14 – Saturday 10:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Special guests and highlights Buffy the Vampire Slayer TV cast reunion with James Marsters, Charisma Carpenter & Nicholas Brendon; Lost in Space TV cast reunion with Bill Mumy, Marta Kristen, Angela Cartwright and Mark Goddard; and Leave it to Beaver TV cast reunion with Jerry Mathers and Tony Dow.

Horror and Halloween fans will be thrilled to meet Tony Moran, the original Michael Myers from the original Halloween franchise. Super Megafest will also host some of the comic world’s top artist and creators including the Iconic New England co creator of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles – Peter Laird. Additional Marque artists include Mike Grell of Green Lantern and Green Arrow, Ron Wilson of The Hulk, Joe St. Pierre of Spider-man/ Venom and Arvell Jones of Iron Man.

For more info or to purchase tickets, click HERE.

[PUBLISHER NOTE: Limelight Magazine freelancer Jay Roberts will be covering the event. Check back for a follow up story after the event].

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Obscure slasher films of the 1980s

October 1, 2018 limelightmagazine Leave a comment

During the month of October in 2017, Limelight Magazine counted down our favorite 31 horror movies since 2000. This year we decided to go back to the 1980’s which was the peak of the slasher film genre. While almost everyone knows the Friday the 13th, A Nightmare on Elm Street, and Child’s Play franchises, there were a number of slasher films that were released between 1980 and 1989 that have become neglected or overlooked. So, we decided to go through our extensive DVD and Blu-ray collection and feature a slasher film from this time period that we don’t hear a lot about anymore. While not all of these are great films, they are worth checking out if you are a fan of this horror sub genre.

It should be noted that we are referencing one obscure slasher movie per day alphabetically during October. We are only featuring those films we actually own. There are three letters of the alphabet (Q, Y & Z) where we don’t own a film title to match that letter. Please check back daily for the next featured film.

A – ALONE IN THE DARK (1982)

B – BLOODY BIRTHDAY (1981)

C – CHEERLEADER CAMP (1988)

D – DON’T GO IN THE HOUSE (1980)

E – EDGE OF THE AXE (1988)

F – FINAL EXAM (1981)

G – GRADUATION DAY (1981)

H – HIDE AND GO SHRIEK (1988)

I – INTRUDER (1989)

J – JUST BEFORE DAWN (1981)

K – KILLER PARTY (1986)

L – THE LAST HORROR FILM (1982)

M – MOUNTAINTOP MOTEL MASSACRE (1983)

N – NIGHT SCHOOL (1981)

O – OFFERINGS (1989)

P – THE PROWLER (1981)

R- RETURN TO HORROR HIGH (1987)

S – SILENT SCREAM (1980)

T – TERROR TRAIN (1980)

U – THE UNSEEN (1980)

V – VISITING HOURS (1982)

W – WELCOME TO SPRING BREAK (1988)

X – X-RAY (1981)

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Nita Strauss & Angel Vivaldi to rock Greasy Luck in New Bedford, MA

September 28, 2018 limelightmagazine Leave a comment

If you are a guitar enthusiast, get ready to have your mind blown! “Guitar Collective 2018” features three talented artists coming together to deliver a night of jaw dropping shredding in The Vault at Greasy Luck in New Bedford, MA. Co-headlining the tour are guitar virtuosos Angel Vivaldi and Nita Strauss (who many of you know from Alice Cooper’s touring band). Joining them on the bill is Jacky Vincent, former guitarist of the band Falling In Reverse. Tickets are only $21.50 and can be purchased HERE.

Vivaldi is supporting his new concept album, Synapse, which was released on October 6 of last year and features guest performances from Strauss, among others. Strauss is gearing up for the release of her first solo album, Controlled Chaos, this fall. Jacky Vincent is promoting his solo release, Life Imitating Art, that was released on August 31^st.

NITA STRAUSS

Los Angeles born guitarist Nita Strauss has become a force to be reckoned with in the music world, dazzling audiences across the US, UK, Europe, South America, Asia and Africa, and sharing the stage with a diverse range of artists including legendary R&B star Jermaine Jackson, early MTV darlings Femme Fatale, video game supergroup Critical Hit and popular tribute band The Iron Maidens.

Her still, exuberant stage presence and love for all things about her instrument have earned her a stellar reputation and endorsements from many top companies. Nita has been featured in many worldwide print ads and on dozens of albums, trailers, and soundtracks, most recently Heroes Of The Storm (Blizzard) and Grammy-nominated Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance (Konami/ Platinum Games), and is the author of the Premier Guitar column “Drop Dead Shred”. She was ranked first in the Guitar World article “10 Female Guitar Players You Should Know,” and has been featured in Revolver Magazine’s annual “Hottest Chicks in Hard Rock” issue and calendar for the last two years. In 2014 Nita became the official in-house guitarist for the LA KISS, the arena football team owned by Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons of KISS.

In June 2014, Nita replaced Orianthi in Alice Cooper’s touring band and has never looked back. She has become one of the most sought after clinicians in the industry and has done extensive clinic tours across multiple continents. Her consistent touring schedule has shown her to play in front of over a million audience members per year consistently for the past several years.

In 2017 Nita launched her original band, We Start Wars, and classic metal cover band The Starbreakers. Besides touring with Alice Cooper, she is currently putting the finishing touches on her debut solo album that she funded through a Kickstarter campaign earlier this year.

ANGEL VIVADLI

Across his five solo albums, featuring various accomplished players and producers, Angel Vivaldi has produced transcendent songs that communicate dynamic and uncompromisingly intense emotions across the full spectrum. Combining youthful exuberance with deep reverence for the genre’s forbearers, Vivaldi has quickly ascended to breathe the same creative air as the biggest names in rock guitar through his artistically ambitious undertakings.

His latest full-length album, Synapse, is a conceptual opus. It’s a dense exploration of the complex actions and reactions of the mind which either inspire or mirror (depending on one’s belief) the multitude of emotions each individual experiences.

Vivaldi’s commitment to his art is total; during the recording process, he painted and repainted his studio to correspond with the mood of each song. Tracks like “Adrenaline,” “Oxytocin,” “Dopamine,” “Endorphin,” and “Serotonin” musically elicit the exact type of emotions implied by connotation.

Synapse sees Vivaldi joyously matching musical wits with a number of his talented contemporaries. “Serotonin” features Strauss who also appears in its corresponding music video; All That Remains guitarist (and former Guitar World columnist) Oli Herbert guests on “Dopamine”; and Gus G. (Firewind, Ozzy Osbourne, Dream Evil) joins “Oxytocin.”

JACKY VINCENT

Jacky Vincent is an English musician who was the lead guitarist and backing vocalist of the rock band Falling in Reverse from its formation until his departure in 2015 and is the current guitarist of the power metal band Cry Venom. Vincent has released two solo albums, Star X Speed Story (2013) and Life Imitating Art, which was released on August 31^st.

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Vixen’s Janet Gardner to perform at Greasy Luck on Sept. 29th

September 27, 2018 limelightmagazine Leave a comment

Janet Gardner, of Vixen, will perform in The Vault at Greasy Luck in New Bedford, MA, on Saturday, September 29, 2018. Moriah Formica will open the show.

Known for being the lead vocalist of the legendary female rock band Vixen, Gardner’s powerful vocals propelled Vixen to the top of the Billboard charts with crossover hits “Edge of a Broken Heart” and “Cryin’” and AOR rockers “How Much Love” and “Love is a Killer”. Vixen toured extensively, grinding out 200 shows per year, opening for the likes of Deep Purple, Ozzy Osbourne, The Scorpions, Kiss, and Bon Jovi.

In an era primarily dominated by male rock musicians, Vixen’s all female line up didn’t come without its struggles. But their undeniable musicianship matched with Gardner’s unique and powerful vocal style propelled the band quickly to Gold Album status and earned the band critically acclaimed success that is still celebrated to this day on the likes of Sirius XM, MTV/VH-1 Classic, and nationally syndicated specialty radio shows. Vixen, along with their predecessors, helped pave the way for the current wave and success of female fronted acts such as Halestorm, In This Moment, The Pretty Reckless, and many others.

As a proven leader in the female fronted hard rock world, Gardner will perform songs from Vixen and her recent solo album.

Tickets are only $15 and can be purchased HERE. Reserved table seating is also available at that link. Tickets will be available at the door. For more details about the show, click HERE.

The Vault at Greasy Luck is located at located at 791 Purchase Street in New Bedford, MA. The venue is set within a former bank building featuring original vault doors and a truly historic feel. Patrons have raved about the superior acoustics and intimate setting.

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The Cassette Chronicles – Krokus’ ‘Headhunter’

September 21, 2018 limelightmagazine Leave a comment

By JAY ROBERTS

KROKUS – HEADHUNTER (1983)

You would think that a band that has released twenty albums over more than a forty year career would have made a pretty deep impression on me. But in the case of the Swiss rockers Krokus, that would be a false assumption.

If you’d asked me to name one of their albums, I likely wouldn’t have been able to do it. For whatever reason I never found my way into attaching my fandom to the band beyond the song “Screaming In The Night”. Beyond that, I have to own up to being essentially ignorant.

So when I dug Headhunter out of the “Big Box of Cassettes”, I wasn’t sure what to expect. I knew the band had kind of an AC/DC thing going for it with singer Marc Storace sounding an awful lot like he was auditioning for that particular band.

After listening to the album, I’m still not quite sure what to make of Krokus. The album opens up with two highly energetic and fast paced rock tracks. The title track has a particularly quick stepping feel to it. Both “Eat The Rich” and “Ready To Burn” are also charged rockers.

Headhunter features that classic “Screaming In The Night”, so it was pretty fun to hear that again. The song still gets airplay on classic rock radio stations and specialty programming shows, but it isn’t overplayed. Thus, when I have heard it on the radio, the power ballad still does have a specialness to it.

As for the second side of the album, things started out well with the opening “Night Wolf”. The song’s slow rolling intro gives way to a rocket fuel ride of a track. I thought Storace’s vocals were particularly enjoyable on this song. There was an added edgy snarl to his vocal delivery which made sense given the song’s lyrical content.

But then the band decided to include a cover of the Bachman-Turner Overdrive song “Stayed Awake All Night”. I’ve never really thought much of the original version of the song and Krokus didn’t accomplish anything that would be considered improving upon that original. It laid there flat and empty, a soulless attempt to curry favor with a song that admittedly many others have loved but I find a trying slog.

“Stand And Be Counted” was a decent enough rocker. I’d love to give you my first impressions on “White Din” and “Russian Winter”, but in all honesty, I fell asleep before the songs played. But when I woke up, I went back and listened to them both. I thought “White Din” was a bit of a futile waste of time. However, “Russian Winter” is actually a killer track. Even though the song is just over three and a half minutes, Krokus manages to give the song an epic feel to it. It feels like a longer song and I mean that in a good way. Fast paced and heavy, with a soundtrack that runs through your brain and a really great vocal turn from Storace, this is a great song!

Now, I know I said I don’t know what to make of the band. The album has some great highlights and not that many lows. But, while as a singular experienc I enjoyed the album, I can’t rightly decide if it makes me want to seek out more material from Krokus or not. Headhunter is good, but is it good enough to convert me into a long delayed fandom for the band? I just don’t know. I do have another Krokus album that will be featured in this series down the line, perhaps that will go a long ways towards answering my question.

Until that time, Headhunter does have a pretty solid pedigree and it was nice to finally get to experience a full album’s worth of material from Krokus.

NOTES OF INTEREST – The album was produced by Tom Allom, who is best known for producing a number of albums by Judas Priest. The song “Ready To Burn” features backing vocals from Judas Priest singer Rob Halford.

Jimi Jamison, who would go on to find his biggest fame with Survivor, also provided backing vocals for the album.

The band will embark on a career-ending farewell tour in 2019.

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The Cassette Chronicles – Cinderella’s ‘Long Cold Winter’

September 14, 2018 limelightmagazine Leave a comment

By JAY ROBERTS

CINDERELLA – LONG COLD WINTER (1988)

As I wrote in my write up on the first Cinderella album Night Songs, I really wasn’t all that into the first two albums from the band. However, much like the case with that first album, I’ve had to do a major rethink about Long Cold Winter after listening to it again thirty years after the fact. I suppose better late than never would apply here, but I really need to go back in time and have a long musical discussion with my 18 year old self about the music I ignored.

While Long Cold Winter did have four songs that were released as singles, I can’t remember really being blown away by the rest of the tracks on the album. I loved the hits, but given what at the time I perceived to be just a bunch of filler material to round out the album, the album was doomed to eventually find its way out of my music collection.

Jump forward from 1988 to 2018, and it looks like I owe a large mea culpa to the band…AGAIN! The band started moving even more away from most of the glam sound on this album, even moreso than album #1. This shift was immediately on display with the opening song “Bad Seamstress Blues / Fallin’ Apart At The Seams”. The first part of the song was this really cool dead on bluesy intro. Mostly guitar with a little one verse lyrical passage, it really resonated with me and left me with the sinking feeling that I was going to be giving myself a mental head slap when all was said and done. The second part of the song is a rocking stomp that had me writing a note saying “This is a GREAT song!”

I mentioned that there were four songs that got released as singles. The album was front loaded with three of those songs. You had “Gypsy Road,” which despite being the song that charted the lowest out of the four, might just be my favorite song on the entire album. Listening to the album while reading the lyric sheet really gave me that new appreciation for Tom Keifer’s writing ability all over again. Other than one co-writing credit for bassist Eric Brittingham, Keifer wrote all the songs on this album.

When the band initially released “Don’t Know What You Got (Till It’s Gone),” I kind of found myself annoyed by it. However, as I listened to it now, I got the chance to go deeper into the lyrics and found myself suddenly being really digging the song. It was like I was hearing it with new ears or something. Maybe because the lyrics resonated with me due to my pathetically sad social life at this current point in life, but whatever the reason. I actually enjoyed the song a lot.

And you can’t leave out “The Last Mile”, another rocking run through for the band. I do have to say that I was kind of disappointed by the closing song on the first side of the album. It’s called “Second Wind” but it actually did more to take the wind out of the sails of the album for a bit. It’s got a cool guitar solo and a long musical outro, but otherwise there was something missing with this number and I found myself feeling adrift while listening to the song.

The title track of the album opens up side two and while it had some really ballsy guitar work, I thought it failed to establish what seemed to be a moody atmospheric feel to the song. It left me cold (no pun intended) and I instantly hoped things would not be headed in the wrong direction with the rest of Side Two.

Thankfully, my fears were unfounded as “If You Don’t Like It” roared out of the speakers, with its butt-kicking ferociousness giving an instant jolt of energy. I really liked how the lyrics were so defiant and in your face.

“Coming Home” was a mid tempo power ballad and the album’s third single. I enjoyed the song then and now. “Fire and Ice” was a bit of a surprise for me because it definitely fell under the banner of filler for me when I first listened to this album back in the day. But whether it was the song or myself that matured over the last three decades, the track has grown on me.

Cinderella closed out Long Cold Winter with a bang on the track “Take Me Back”. It’s a lyrical nostalgia trip down memory lane set to a rocking soundtrack. It’s a flat out great song but what really got me excited was how Keifer’s vocals/lyrics really flowed throughout the track, particularly on the chorus.

It seems that once again, I’ve unearthed evidence that I failed to appreciate what was right in front of me all these years. While the notion of filler material isn’t completely dispelled for me because of the two songs I still really could do without, Long Cold Winter is actually far better than I ever gave it credit for upon its original release.

NOTES OF INTEREST: The album initially went double platinum and was eventually certified triple platinum.

While Fred Coury was the drummer for Cinderella, like the first album, he did not play a single note on Long Cold Winter. Instead, the drums were recorded by Denny Carmassi (Heart) and Cozy Powell (Rainbow, amongst a host of other notable bands).

Features & Interviews, National Artists

Fifth Angel returns with ‘The Third Secret’

September 13, 2018 limelightmagazine Leave a comment

After nearly 30 years since releasing a studio album, melodic hard rockers Fifth Angel return with a new album, The Third Secret, on October 26th via Nuclear Blast Records. The new album consists of 10 tracks that members of the band promise will please both their die hard fans and new fans alike.

“We are very proud of the new album! We hope the fans will hear the classic threads of the Fifth Angel they know and love, along with the growth and maturity the individuals of the band have gone through over the years,” said guitarist and vocalist Kendall Bechtel in a press release for the new album. “We hope they love the new songs as much as we do.”

In the 1980s, Fifth Angel was signed to a seven-album deal with Epic Records, but released only two albums – Fifth Angel in 1988 & Time Will Tell in 1989. (Click HERE to read a review/reflection of Time Will Tell). With a lack of label support in the early 1990s and the rise of grunge music, the band was released from their contract and went their separate ways.

Fast forward to 2018 and Fifth Angel is back with a lineup that consists of Bechtel, John Macko (bass), Ed Archer (guitars) and Ken Mary (drums). [Original vocalist Ted Pilot was asked to be part of the reunion but declined].

With their highly anticipated new album nearing its release, Limelight Magazine caught up with Macko who discussed recording the album, what it’s like to be back in the band and if we’ll see the band tour to support the release.

LIMELIGHT MAGAZINE: On October 26^th, Fifth Angel will release its third studio album, The Third Secret, on Nuclear Blast Records. It’s been nearly 30 years since your last album, Time Will Tell. Why did the band decide to do another studio album after all these years?

JOHN MACKO: We had been contemplating making a new record since 2010 when we played the KIT festival, but for one reason or another, it never happened, then after our performance at the 2017 KIT festival, we had gotten an offer to make a record with Nuclear Blast Records and that really got the ball rolling.

LIMELIGHT MAGAZINE: How long did it take the band to record The Third Secret and how do the songs hold up against your classic late 80s material?

JOHN MACKO: It took about 6 months to record and most of the song ideas were all new within a year or two at the most. We believe these songs stand with the prior records, capturing the style and spirit of the old stuff, but with modern production.

LIMELIGHT MAGAZINE: Fifth Angel released a digital single and lyric video for “Can You Hear Me” (click HERE to watch and listen). on September 7. Why was this song chosen as the lead single?

JOHN MACKO: I can’t really answer this question as our label Nuclear Blast made this choice, but we trust in their judgment and we are sure they had a good reason!

LIMELIGHT MAGAZINE: The album cover for The Third Secret was designed by Zsofia Dankova. It looks absolutely incredible. It also keeps the border art of the past two albums, which fans seem very excited about. Did the band have any input on the cover art or did the artist have free reign on the design?

JOHN MACKO: Zsofia did an amazing job for certain! But she did not make the design, the band crafted the design and we relayed that vision to Zsofia. The boarder was also our idea to keep some consistency and familiarity for the fans.

LIMELIGHT MAGAZINE: Since Fifth Angel has been away from the scene for so long, did you expect to ink a deal with Nuclear Blast Records?

JOHN MACKO: Not at all! It was pretty amazing to us when the offer was made, it was just luck we think that an A&R rep was at our 2017 KIT show and loved our performance, had it not been for that show I don’t think this record would have been made.

LIMELIGHT MAGAZINE: You’re first two albums (Fifth Angel & Time Will Tell) were released on Epic Records. How is it different being signed to a label today compared to back then?

JOHN MACKO: Well, I can’t speak for other labels in today’s market, but I will tell you working with Nuclear Blast is an absolute joy! Night and day between them and Epic/CBS records! They are tremendous to work with and we would recommend them to any band out there. They get things done right away and give us all of the creative freedom we need.

LIMELIGHT MAGAZINE: I’ve read that Fifth Angel originally signed a seven album deal with Epic but was eventually released from its contract. What led to the band’s initial break up in the early 90s?

JOHN MACKO: Basically it was bad timing, the band was dropped from Epic after the rise of “Grunge” music which drastically changed the direction of the music scene. Labels turned their attention to those types of bands.

LIMELIGHT MAGAZINE: When the band decided to record a new album, did you reach out to original vocalist Ted Pilot to be part of the line up?

JOHN MACKO: Yes of course! We have always asked Ted to be a part of anything we have been doing, but he felt his voice was not up to par.

LIMELIGHT MAGAZINE: Was it a difficult transition for Kendall Bechtel to go from being a guitarist to handling both guitar and vocal duties?

JOHN MACKO: I don’t think so, Kendall has been lead singing for many years with his own side projects and also doing guest appearances on other artists records.

LIMELIGHT MAGAZINE: As I was drafting questions for this interview, I read a press release that original rhythm guitarist Ed Archer has returned to the band. Does this mean that Fifth Angel may actually tour the States to support the release? (On behalf of all of your fans, we’d love to see you play some New England dates!)

JOHN MACKO: There are no plans of yet, but it certainly is in the realm of possibility!

LIMELIGHT MAGAZINE: I came across an interview with drummer Ken Mary in the August 1988 issue of Hit Parader where he said, “I don’t want to say that our show will necessarily be Cooperesque [in reference to being Alice Cooper’s drummer at the time as well as Fifth Angel’s], but let’s just say that there will definitely be some surprises, and lots of things that people haven’t seen before.” Interestingly, the band never ended up performing any live dates back then. Out of curiosity, why didn’t the band ever tour?

JOHN MACKO: It was always part of our plan to tour, but it seemed that one situation after another would always prevent us from making that happen, again bad timing seemed to be the issue.

LIMELIGHT MAGAZINE: Lastly, how excited are you personally to see the band back together and doing interviews about a new album again?

JOHN MACKO: Yes of course! Who would have ever thought? I feel truly blessed and lucky to have this second chance; most musicians don’t even get that opportunity once in their life time!

LIMELIGHT MAGAZINE: Is there anything else you’d like to add to this interview?

JOHN MACKO: We just hope the fans love this record as much as we do and continue to keep the faith!