CROWGRRL’S PERCH 09-26-04

MUSIC:

As promised in the Sept. 12 edition of the Perch, Part 2 of the interview with Jon Mikl Thor is appearing this week. (For those of you who might’ve missed part 1, you can see it in the 09-12-04 Perch) Jon Mikl Thor has as many talents as the Aurora Borealis has colors, and is just as spectacular. Luckily for audiences, he unleashes his creativity with the seemingly same speed and force of a Nordic Thunder God unleashing the power of storms. He has so many projects in the works at any given time, we almost need to conjure Odin’s own ravens - Huginn and Muninn - to keep track of everything so we don’t miss checking out a single second of any of the end results, whether those results be a new cd, movie, performance, graphic novel, the list goes on!

The Crowgrrl can’t stop raving about the recent cd, "Beastwomen From The Center Of The Earth", and already Thor have been back in the studio working on the follow-up, "Thor Against The World". Not only that, a video from one of the songs from "Thor Against The World" has already been shot, which John Fasano directed. John Fasano is also directing and co-producing a new movie with the working title "Murder At The Predisio" with Lou Diamond Phillips, which will feature Jon Mikl Thor ! Plus, Jon Mikl Thor is both producing and starring in the movie, "The Intercessor", part 2 of a trilogy.

Now, picking up where Part One of the Interview left off……

You’re also involved in comics, aren’t you?

Yes, I am. I’m very good friends with Mike Hoffman (or Mick Hoffman as he’s known when he performs onstage and records). But he’s known as one of the greatest fantasy artists in the world. They have called him the next Frazetta. (Frazetta drew all the "Conan" comics, which the comics have a likeness to, they have sort-of a "Thor/Conan" feel to them.) Years ago, I did some work with Neal Adams (he did "Superman", "Green Lantern", he’s very famous in his own right) to put out a comic of his own in the Seventies. Then I put out a comic with Ken Landgraff who worked with Marvel Comics and DC Comics; it was called "Rock Warrior". I toured science fiction conventions with that back in the early ‘80’s and performed at the science fiction conventions - something very unique no one was doing at that time. That comic did very well, then there was a lapse where I didn’t put out a comic. I did one when I tried to change the name of my band to Tritonz; I put out a Tritonz comic.

Then later, in the year 2000, I met up with Mike Hoffman, and we were talking about creating another "Thor: Rock Warrior" trilogy. So, "Thor, Rock Warrior" did really well. Then we did "Thor: Beastwomen."

"Beastwomen" is also a stellar album! I love that album!

I’m glad you liked that album! I didn’t just go straight heavy metal. Some of my fans who know the "Thor: Triumphant" album or "Thor: Only The Strong" criticized me because "Beastwomen" is not Death Metal or Power Metal because I’m experimenting. I think as a musician I have a right to experiment and try different styles, different kinds of music, and go different avenues. Expand my horizons. That’s what I felt I did with this. It originally came out as a comic, and the cd was going to be the soundtrack just attached to the comic. But then it went further and became a full album. Now it’s become bigger than we thought. We’re selling a lot of units of it. It’s taken on a life of its own. We’ve been offered also to do a movie on it.

It lends itself lyrically to a lot of visuals.

It does! It’s very visual, like "Sleeping Giant" and "Cry of the Valkyrie". There’s a lot you can do to get a film with that as a soundtrack as well.

How does that translate live? The places you’ve played for this album already, did you bring those visuals to life onstage?

We originally didn’t bring those visuals all to life because you would need a big stage set. But what we did: I had to fly quite a crew over to the east from Vancouver, then fly in Mick Hoffman, too. As you know, when you tour, the expenses get really high. So, it was sort-of a condensed down version of it. I still had quite a few theatrics, and actually had a Beastwoman onstage in full attire. We did some theatrics maybe that might be a little out of the realm. Like, Frank Soda, my guitar player, would take a tv set and explode it off his head. That was futuristic. We all wore wild costumes. Mick Hoffman was wailing on his guitar, and then I would do my usual bending of steel bars. Then we had someone dressed like a creature from one of the comics, and he would smash bricks off my chest with a sledgehammer. Things like that. So, we put on quite a show; we just had to adapt to the stages we were playing on.

But what I’d like to do is more like "Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars" David Bowie- type production where I’d have all these caves onstage. That’s what I’m trying to work on now, if I can do it. Just have all these caves onstage and recreate the center of the Earth. It just would take a little more expense.

I’ve played some pretty big places. Last November, we played Pacific Coliseum in front of 7,000 people in Vancouver. That was great because we had a huge stage and we could do incredible theatrics. But when you’re playing a 1,000-seater or a 500-seater, the stage at times isn’t big enough to accommodate the kind of show you want to put on.

In that tour, I had to scale it down. We gave them a show they’ll never forget, though. We really went all out in the show.

The costumes I have now, I basically picked up in different cities. I’ve got pants from New York, boots from San Francisco. Every time I tour, I‘ve seen things that I’ve never seen elsewhere. But I’m having all new costumes done. I basically design them myself. There’s stuff I want to do, like a very unique shoulder piece with a lion’s head on it; I want to do the breast plates, all that sort of stuff. I’m just locked in this new look which is very dark, almost like a Dark Knight kind-of look, which is all black, but still when the light hits it, it gets that bluish tint to it.

Yeah. In fact, we’re trying to do "Sleeping Giant". I’m always interested - is there any particular one you see as a video?

We could do a whole video album! But "Sleeping Giant" is definitely one we’re thinking about right now, or "Cry of the Valkyrie".

There’s numerous things I’m working on. I’m writing a book right now, basically just on four decades of Rock - what I’ve seen, who I know and associated with. There’s also a movie - Blue Lame 61 Productions in California has followed me for the past four years. They’re doing a documentary. They’re finishing that off, they’re in post-production right now.

Very cool! When is it going to come out?

They’re taking it to Sundance Film Festival, and I guess it goes from there. A lot of the independent films you get from these film festivals like American Film Market or Sundance. By having the films there, they’ll get picked up by distributors. They’ve shown the trailer to a lot of people, like their investors, and people were blown away by the trailer.

They followed me through highs and lows of various parts of my touring. I was touring quite a bit before I really got heavily into films again. That’s the trouble - I wish there were like ten of me, then I can do a lot of things at once.

There are a lot of things I’m doing. I’m hoping to see how far the "Beastwomen" album can go - like to an electronic game. We’re talking to different companies about that. They’d pick it up, and put building into the element and work on it. I think it’s perfect for an electronic game. "Beastwomen From The Center Of The Earth" is an adventure. They could use the adventures: the creatures they meet, the whole thing about battling alongside the Beastwomen, go on an adventure with Thor. They could animate it very well where it could be very successful. The "Beastwomen" concept has taken on a whole other dimension than what we first thought.

Do you have a title and release date for your book?

I was thinking of "Four Decades of Rock", that’s the working title right now. I’m still writing it.

I’m also involved in sportswear - I have my own sportswear company, with the Vancouver Millionaires. I got the trademark for it. In 1915, Vancouver had the Stanley Cup. Right now the World Cup is going on -- that’s where all the hockey nations battle each other. The Stanley Cup is emblematic of the NHL supremacy. Back in 1915 was the only time Vancouver had ever won the Stanley Cup, so it was a team that was sort-of forgotten. I’ve re-introduced them to a young market. I had the dj’s on MuchMusic wear the jerseys of the Vancouver Millionaires. That’s another product I’m into, this whole sportswear company I’ve developed after picking up the Vancouver Millionaire trademark.

Actually, I did one in 2002, one of the biggest ones - Comicon in San Diego. At that one, I introduced the "Rock Warrior" album. We were pushing the Thor "Rock Warrior" and "Triumphant" cd’s. It was great! I just dressed up in my outfit and just walked around, met people, went to my booth and signed autographs, then I did some strength feats. It was similar to what I did back in the early Eighties when I did my first "Rock Warrior" comic. It was huge! There were something like 60,000 people who came through the turnstile.

Speaking of your sportswear company, I thought "We Are The Panthers" was just as fitting for a sports team as it was for the storyline.

You’ve picked up on that, that’s for sure. The basic tracks for that were a chant for the Carolina Panthers back in the Nineties I wrote. It was played on the radio down there, and also at the stadium. When I was doing this album, I wanted a "cat" influence in the song. I actually used the basic tracks, then built on them and added a lot more things to it to use for this album. It was used in its infancy as a chant at the stadium and on the radio.

In the past, I competed in a lot of sports. I was Mr. Canada and Mr. USA, and competed against the likes of Lou Ferrigno and Arnold Schwarzenegger years ago.

Yeah, lifting up logs and throwing them at the bad guys and swordfighting in the movies. The guy who plays Mephisto, Craig Bowlsby, is actually a champion swordfighter. He showed me how to swing the sword properly so that it looks realistic. It’s great to have him on board.

* HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY to Blazed frontman Jesse Blaze from The Crowgrrl and family!

The Blazed website has been changed: it’s now at www.blazedrocks.com. Blazed will soon be releasing new 6-song demo! Check out the Blazed website for more info and schedule of live shows.

Check out Jesse’s radio show on 107.1 The Box in Long Island, New York. Those of you in the Eastern Long Island (and even parts of Connecticut ) area, be sure to tune in! (This station will be up on the web soon, too, so those of us not in that area can listen in, too). His show is in the 6pm to 11pm slot.

Blazed online chats have been rescheduled: the first Sunday of every month at 8pm EST. at http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/JesseBlaze/chat Check the Blazed websites for updates.

* Also on the Birthday Front, HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY to Demonicon bassist, Patrick Morris!

Demonicon had two shows this past weekend: one in Superior, WI, and the other at The Lab/Station in St. Paul, MI, with Deicide, Goatwhore, Cattle Decapitation, Jungle Rot, and Necromis. Those of you in the Columbia Heights, MI, area, check out Demonicon’s show at the Star Central with Shattered Realm and Fallacy.

* The new Shadows Fall album, "The War Within" (Century Media), is now out, and it’s awesome. The vocal harmonies are fantastic, as is the overall musicianship. This one has already made it into the Crowgrrl’s heavy rotation stack. The first 150,000 embossed Digipack copies include a bonus dvd, which features a video for the song, "Stepping Outside the Circle" from their "Art of Balance" album, two live videos, guitar lessons with Matt Bachand and Jon Donais, and a drum lesson with Jason Bittner.

They’re getting ready to hit the road in support of "The War Within" in a co-headlining tour with Damageplan and openers The Haunted.

Tour dates include:
Oct.27, 2004 - Atlanta, GA; Masquerade
Oct. 28, 2004 - Ybor City, FL; Masquerade
Oct. 29, 2004 - Lake Buena Vista, FL; House of Blues
Oct. 30, 2004 - Tallahassee, FL; Floyd’s Music Store
Oct. 31, 2004 - New Orleans; House of Blues
Nov. 2, 2004 - Houston, TX; Numbers
Nov. 6, 2004 - Tempe, AZ; Marquee Theatre
Nov. 7, 2004 - Anaheim, CA; House of Blues
Nov. 8, 2004 - Las Vegas, NV; House of Blues
Nov. 10, 2004 - West Hollywood, CA; House of Blues
Nov. 11, 2004 - San Francisco, CA; Grand Ballroom
Nov. 13, 2004 - Spokane, WA; The Big Easy Concert Hall
Nov. 14, 2004 - Seattle, WA; Showbox
Nov. 15, 2004 - Boise, ID; The Big Easy
Nov. 16, 2004 - Salt Lake City, UT; Loft Café
Nov. 17, 2004 - Denver, CO; Ogden Theatre
Nov. 20, 2004 - Milwaukee, WI; The Rave

* Former Blue Öyster Cult long-time roadie, Sam Judd, is currently in the hospital recovering from major spinal surgery. BÖC Fans website is holding a raffle to help Sam and his family through these tough times they’re currently going through. Either buy raffle tickets through the website (they’re $20 each) with PayPal , or send a check or money order to:

Sam Judd Benefit Raffle
P.O.Box 2851
Cupertino,CA 95015-2851

Besides being for a worthy cause, raffle prizes include such collectibles as a Buck Dharma archive set of solo cd’s, an autographed Blue Öyster Cult jacket, Blue Öyster Cult coaster set, an autographed Blue Öyster Cult poster or t-shirt, and other Must-Have items.

(The Crowgrrl wishes Sam a speedy recovery!)

* Dimmu Borgir are back in Norway to work on writing new material and take the first breather since "Death Cult Armageddon’s" September 2003 release. Look forward to a dvd and video reflecting the tour to come out in 2005.

SCREENS (Large & Small):

* Blade: Trinity is scheduled to be released on December 10.

* Hellraiser fans! Doug Bradley - Pinhead himself - will be making live appearances in the UK and the USA. Check his website for details and new dates that will be added.

Oct. 12, 2004 - Southampton, UK; Harbour Lights Picturehouse
Oct. 17, 2004 - Oxford, UK; Phoenix Picturehouse
Oct. 29 through 31, 2004 - Phoenix, AZ; Horrorfind Halloween Weekend
Nov. 6 & 7, 2004 - Ft. Lauderdale, FL; Screamfest 2004
Nov. 25, 2004 - Swindon, UK; The Infinitely Better Store

* The Sci Fi Channel had an excellent original movie that aired this past Saturday called "Darklight" (The Crowgrrl caught the second showing of it at 1am, after watching MTV2’S Headbanger’s Ball) starring Richard Burgi and Shiri Appleby.

In this movie, the demoness Lilith (Appleby) appears as a teenager with no memory - not even of her name - except for the letter "L", which is what she is called. Of course, she can’t understand things about herself, such as when she tried to save a little boy from being hit by a pick-up truck, and she was hit instead; the truck exploded into flames, and she was totally uninjured. However, the guy who took her in and gave her a place to live kept telling her, "You must build a new life in the Here and Now", and discouraged her attempts at trying to find her past.

Meanwhile, a couple other things are going on. A scientist artificially creates a demon, Demonicos, who can only be stopped by Lilith’s power. Burgi’s character is tasked with teaching her who she is, and teaching her how to rediscover her powers so she can take on Demonicos.

But wait, there’s more. There’s a religious sect trying to find and kill Lilith to begin with, and another wanting to drain and harness her powers.

Her "power" comes from the "Darklight" of the movie’s title. It’s what she’s made of. She can become invincible - and use the power for either Good or Evil. Her choice. But first she needed to reclaim and learn to use this power. This movie freaking ROCKED!

* The Crowgrrl didn’t say anything in last week’s Perch about the "Siegfried & Roy: The Miracle" special on NBC last week, because I didn’t have a free moment to breathe, much less go back through old Perch editions to see where I predicted the exact thing that Roy ended up saying about The Incident. But I found it. Remember in the December 28^th Crowgrrl's Perch where The Crowgrrl said any animal knowing someone or something it loves is in danger, picks that other creature up by the scruff and takes it to safety? That’s EXACTLY what Roy told Maria Shriver during that special.

Thank You to all the Partnership for Animal Welfare members (P.A.W.) letter writers who campaigned by sending letters to officials asking to save Monticore the Tiger’s life. (And if you watched the special, isn’t he a beautiful cat?!)

* Finally! The Crowgrrl’s local PBS station aired "Nature: Ravens", and it was well worth the wait. Although the program hinted at some of the legends surrounding these magnificent birds, the main part of the show was a look at actual Corvus Corax themselves.

The filmography was absolutely breathtaking in this visual gem! There were aerial acrobatics during mating dances. The playfulness of these intelligent birds was evident in the wild ravens playing in snow to a pet named Loki who took the padlock off his aviary, and later turned his human friend’s car off which he learned by watching her use her keys. The way ravens trick other animals away from food was fun watching, too. The Crowgrrl loved every minute of this wonderful episode.

PRINT:

* Chapter One of my own book, Under Her Black Wings (yes, the title is with Glenn Danzig’s permission - I never would have used that title otherwise) is available to all my readers in the "Print" section of this site.

From the moment this project started (brainstorming article ideas with a magazine editor; she asked if I could get an entire article out of the topic of Crow and Raven legends, and I quipped "I could write a BOOK on it!), it has taken on a life of its own, taken flight. So many people have gotten involved, and these beautiful birds mean a lot to many people!

The chapter list (the actual titles of the chapters may be renamed, but the subject matter’s the same) includes:

1. Overview (Check out the First Chapter here!)
2. The Real Thing (a look at the real birds)
3. Norse Mythology
4. Celtic Mythology
5. Other European Mythology
6. Native American Mythology
7. African Mythology
8. Oriental Mythology
9. Other Asian and Middle Eastern Mythology
10. Australian/Pacific Mythology
11. Corvids in Popular Folklore
12. Influence of Poe’s "The Raven"
13. The Dark Side
14. Influence of James O’Barr’s "The Crow"

All chapters are in progress, and as I research and as people share their stories, they’re included in the appropriate chapter. These should be available soon (to those with a subscription only) to watch the work in progress.

* Gothic Beauty Issue #14 is out! A copy just arrived in The Crowgrrl’s hot little hands! I can’t wait to read every delicious word! Check out details at the Gothic Beauty website. (Also, check out the cover of #14 - I seriously want an outfit like that awesome one the cover model is wearing!)

Gothic Beauty Magazine has revamped its website, and it’s fantastic! Go to www.gothicbeauty.com and check it out.

Anyone in the UK interested in being part of Gothic Beauty’s new UK Street Team should email street@gothicbeauty.com with your brief details and mailing address!

Ad space is available for future Gothic Beauty issues. For specifics, go to www.gothicbeauty.com/ads and "be sure to mention that Athena sent you."

* David "Avocado" Wolfe, author and foremost authority on raw food nutrition, will be making a number of live appearances, both with seminars, and performing with his band, The Healing Waters Band. For more information on any of these appearances, check his website under "Events".

• Oct. 15, 2004 - Toronto, Canada
  
• Oct. 16, 2004 - San Diego, CA
  
• Dec. 28, 2004 through Jan. 4, 2005 - Maui, Hawaii; New Year's Raw Food Retreat

For those of us not in the San Diego area, the Nature's First Law World Headquarters has an online superstore at Nature's First Law www.rawfood.com where many of the items mentioned in David Wolfe’s books can be found. You can also sign up there for a great e-newsletter. This month’s includes info on Blue Manna (wild blue-green algae), raw organic cacao (chocolate), upcoming special events, and new items available from that website.

ATTENTION: CHOCOLATE LOVERS! Chocolate just doesn’t get any more pure than peeled, raw/organic Cacao Beans themselves. These Cacao Nibs are available from the Rawfood web site, they’re item # 0878. Bon apetite!

* The Crowgrrl’s current reading stack includes:
"Mind of the Raven: Investigations & Adventures With Wolf-Birds" by Bernd Heinrich,
"Grimoire for the Apprentice Wizard" by Oberon Zell-Ravenheart,
"Norwegian In 10 Minutes A Day’,
"Norwegian Verbs & Essentials of Grammar" by Louis Janus,
"Eating For Beauty" by David "Avocado" Wolfe,
, and am even re-reading The Lost World by Michael Crichton (to write up quiz questions for my son’s home-school literature class - he requested reading this book next).

OTHER NEWS:

* IMPORTANT: Readers, something strange was in my e-mail box last week, a 19K-size e-mail with an attachment that was from "management@ crowgrrl.com" THERE IS NO SUCH ADDRESS. The topic line might have said "E-mail account security warning", but it smelled like "virus" to me and was immediately deleted. If anyone finds anything similar, do the same. Delete, don’t open. There is NO "management" e-mail addy here.

* A bid to protect great white sharks has been introduced to the United Nations’ Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) , supported by Australia, Madagascar, and the United States.

Great Whites breed very slowly, not proportionate to the rate they’re being killed. Although their species has survived since prehistoric times, they really are endangered now.

* The Maryland Renaissance Festival in Crownsville, MD, opened this weekend, and continues every weekend through October 24.

* Hey, Readers, you’ve gotta check out a product called Body Balance by Lifeforce. My family takes Body Balance every day! It’s much better than a daily multi-vitamin, that’s for sure! And another "plus", if we feel down or over-tired, a little more Body Balance does the trick to pick us up.

It’s a liquid, ionic, phytonutrient dietary supplement made from whole foods, and it contains a mix of over 120 vitamins, minerals, and phytronutrients that your body needs on a daily basis to keep healthy.

Why am I telling you about this because an ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure. I felt I had to share this as one thing most of my readers may not know, in July of 2003, The Crowgrrl was diagnosed with breast cancer. This is something I don't want anyone to have to go through what I did. I’ve refused the "conventional" paths of chemo/radiation/surgery, and have taken a holistic naturopathy approach instead (which I’ll go into in more detail in future Perch editions, or readers can e-mail me). I’m supposed to stay on a specific holistic protocol for two years. Withing 14 months the tumor was supposed to shrunk to half of its original size. Much to our surprise as of December, 2003, the lump (tumor) is gone! I’m fine! I firmly believe the Body Balance helped accelerate the healing.

Another Lifeforce International product in the online store, The Crowgrrl and family regularly use is Colloidal Silver. Silver is a natural antibacterial element that can be used both topically and/or internally.

* For those of my readers who experience annoying computer (pc/mac/linux) problems (or those of you techies who are annoyed at friends and relatives expecting you to be their personal tech-support 24/7), go to www.techiesanity.com for around-the-clock help. I’ve personally done so, and my computer’s working like a dream since getting help from there.

* Anyone who hasn’t already done so, check out the Gallery section here on the Crowgrrl’s site. Prints and some originals are still available. So, buy ‘em already!