Kim Wilson of The Fabulous Thunderbirds!

For over three decades, The Fabulous Thunderbirds have evolved from being a straight blues band into a very diversified American music band that still incorporates a very distinctive and powerful sound. Kim Wilson is the lead vocalist/harmonica player and also the group's founder. Now on a big American tour, Kim took time out of his busy schedule to chat with me about the group and his life today....


MICK: You started out working with some of the world's greatest blues players, people like John Lee Hooker and Muddy Waters. What was it like working with those legends?
KIM: There's nothing to compare to it. It's kind of like being with friends and playing basketball with Michael Jordon! Jimmy Rogers was the greatest. I played with everybody! I was a young kid when I got started. When I was 18 years old, I played with Eddie Taylor, Albert Collins, Lowell Pulson, Peewee Crayton, Luther Tucker, I met George Smith, John Lee Hooker, played with Johnny Shines back then. A who's who of blues! It was a dream.
MICK: How did you meet Jimmy Vaughn?
KIM: I was on a trip down to Texas. This gal offered me some gigs down there. I was playing for her boyfriend at the time and he was playing with Lowell Pulson back then. She had told him about me. This was around 1972. I had made a few recordings and Willie Dixon was my manager at the time. Dixon gave me over to Bill Dison, who was Jimmy Reeds' manager. He funded a recording session for me and I made a single. I sent it down to her and she loved it. I had never been on an airplane before! I was in Minneapolis at the time and I didn't want to be there. It was really cold there. I had just come from California and wanted to leave. I went down there but it didn't pan out. But I did meet Jimmy Vaughn at that time. He called me an we got together. The rest is history!
MICK: When Jimmy left the band in 1989, was there any anamosity?
KIM: Not at all.
MICK: You are the only original member left in the band, right Kim?
KIM: That's right!
MICK: As the old members left the band, was it hard to find good replacements?
KIM: No it wasn't! It's a pretty good gig to have. You get a lot of time if you are a soloist, you get to bring songs to the table. There's a lot of things you get with this gig. You get to play blues if you want to but you can also push the envelope if you want to. It's really up to the people in the band on how creative they want to be. The guys I have now are very original. It's been a blessing for me. It's very stimulating for me. I get to write a lot of stuff and sing a lot of stuff.
MICK: I see you have a very busy tour schedule this year.
KIM: They're still piling it on too! I'm happy about that. I'm not complaining.
MICK: You have your Blues Allstars touring South America too!
KIM: I have that and I have the Blues Allstars doing other things. Another tour in the Fall. I have both things going at the same time. The lion's share of it goes to the Thunderbirds obviously. I've got this great new agency that really stepped it up for us. A lot of really good things are happening. We were just in the studio recently in Austin and cut some new tracks. Adding to what we already have but we retracked a few things. It's a very cool atmosphere to be in right now. I hope everybody feels the same way I do! For me, to keep things fresh at this stage of my life, it's not easy. There's a lot of good players out there. I've had almost all of them! For me to really get my jollies, I have to see some creation going on. I'm proud to say I've got some guys here who are great players. I've kind of gone back a step in a way and gone forward at the same time. I'm playing a lot of blues in the set now and all of the other stuff I like as well. I never have a set list. I just call the songs off on the spot as we do the show. I tailor the set to the audience every night that we play.
MICK: So it's never the same each night?
KIM: Never
MICK: When do you expect to release the new album?
KIM: That's a good question! This year for sure. It's a work in progress. We have the advantage of doing this without a label and taking our time to finish it. We've been able to come back and buff it out some more. We've had a chance to play some of the tracks live for a long time. So now we can just walk in and track it in one or two takes. That's what we did on a couple of them. We had a session out here in LA that we felt wasn't the ideal thing. We felt there was some work to be done on the existing tracks we had. We've got them honed down now. It's cost a little bit of money but it's better than putting out a record where you're kicking yourself in the ass. It's going to be a really cool record.
MICK: What are some of your favorite venues to play?
KIM: I used to love The Ritz in New York. I really enjoyed The Bottom Line. I enjoy playing BB Kings now! I think that's a great room. I think that New York is famous for those kinds of rooms. I wish some of them still existed. I remember going to see Jimmy McGriff and King Crawford over at The Blue Note. That's still there. Then there's Max's Kansas City. New York is such a great place to play. There's not much happening out in LA right now. Of course you can still go to the large venues like Universal. Right now the cycle is down in all the big cities. There's some stuff happening in San Fransisco and Chicago now. Those are the cities you always look forward to. There's never been much happening down in Texas. That's why you go out on the road! Austin is the only place in Texas where there's anything remotely going on. Austin has always bragged about it's music scene but they dont really back it up.
MICK: How many harmonicas do you own?
KIM: Enough to get through a night! I happen to own a lot because I don't buy them off the rack. I have them worked on for me. I don't throw harmionicas away anymore. I send them back and they redo them for me. This guy Joe Filisko in Joliet, Illinois. He redoes them for me. He is a genius. I used to throw them all away after they broke down. I have many 60 to 100. Not really sure. They all keep going back and every now and then I get a new batch! There's nothing like a Filisko Harmonica!
MICK: Which harp players do you admire?
KIM: Almost all of them are dead! Little Walter, Big Walter, both Sonnyboys, George Harmonica Smith. James Cotton is a really great friend of mine and was a huge influence on me in a lot of ways. Jimmy Reed, Lazy Lester is a very good friend of mine. Snooky Pryor, Junior Wells, Junior Parker, Slim Harpo. I listened to all of them. There's people like Whispering Smith and Billy Bizer. These are people you don't even know! Most people will never know these people! I'm a really big fan of this jazz guy Mike Turk in Boston. He's a great harmonica player. I love Larry Adler, Toots Thielmans. I'm stubbling upon people all the time that I haven't heard. I'm just a fan of the instrument. I'm a fan of music. I like all music that's cool!
MICK: What do you like to do when you're not touring?
KIM: I play sports. I like to play basketball, go to the gym and work out. I like to go fishing out in the ocean which hasn't been good the last couple of years. I like to ride a bike and play a little golf. I have over 25,000 songs on my computer that I listen to. That's more songs than most people have in their record collections. I just put them on shuffle!
MICK: Are you religious?
KIM: I love gospel music. I am religious. I'm not one of these born again people and like to think I'm a spititual person. Of course I was taught to believe in God. Had my doubts in the past but you go back and say you're sorry. God is somebody to talk to and converse with! You have to start by saying "Listen, I'm not doing this because I want something!". There's lots of times you can thatnk God just for a beautiful day. I live out here in California and have a lot to be thankful for. Everyday is beautiful. I get to travel all over the world, I've played with some of the greatest musicians that ever lived. I've done a lot of cool stuff and it's far from over! I think I'm doing my coolest stuff right now!
MICK: What would be one word that would describe you?
KIM: Relentless!
MICK: What do you see down the road for The Fabulous Thunderbirds?
KIM: All good! I see no reason why we can't have commercial success again. I'm hoping there's going to be a rennescence here of the player. I can see it happening slowly. When I was a kid, that's all I was into was the players. If it were dance music, there had to be players involved with it as well. Before I got into blues, I was into Stax, Motown, Atlantic. I liked the soul music. I had the players in my mind because I started playing with I was very young. I stopped doing it to play athletics. When I got back into playing music again when I was 17, I already had that mindset. Over the years I came to realize that it's ok to have technical ability if you can deliver it. You have to be able to move people.

Kim and his band The Fabulous Thunderbirds continue to move people who come to see them perform! Upcoming shows include...
6/20/2011 B.B. King's Blues Club & Grill New York, New York

7/10/2011 North Fork Theater at Westbury Westbury, L.I., NY
with Dickey Betts!

Here's Lucie!

We came to know and love her as the daughter of America's favorite couple, Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. We also knew them as Lucy and Ricky Ricardo on "I Love Lucy" in the early days of television. Lucie Arnaz became a huge star in her own right, from her beginnings on the "Here's Lucy " show to her exceptional career as a singer and dancer. Lucie brings her new show "Latin Roots" to the Landmark Theater in Port Washington this Saturday. I was thrilled to speak with Lucie the other evening from her home in Connecticut...


MICK: Please tell me about your show "Latin Roots" coming to the Landmark On Main Street in Port Washington on Saturday, June 18th.
LUCIE: For ten years, I've been trying to put together this Latin Roots show that I've been dreaming about. After my last Cd a few years ago, I thought my next was going to be Latin music and what inspired me to go into the concert business to begin with, which was my father's music. A year ago in January, I got this opportunity to do a tribute to his music based on his original arrangements which is housed at the Library of Congress. We did the show here in New York for Lyric and Lyricists as we opened their 40th season with it. It was a huge success for five nights. Then we were invited down to the big Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts in Miami Beach to do it last July. My brother [Desi Arnaz Jr.] was in it with me, Raúl Esparza sang a lot of my father's numbers, Valarie Pettiford danced in it with two other dancers, and a fifteen piece orchestra. The show is called "Babalu". It was spectacular! Simultaneously, as I was directing and producing this show as a tribute to my dad, I was also producing a Latin Roots Cd. They both came out on the same weekend! I am so happy with this music and this type of Cd. It's contemporary music with a Latin flair. I have a song my father wrote, I have Cole Porter and Johnny Mercer and some new stuff. The show I'm bringing to Port Washington is all focused on that. It rocks and it's very sassy and it's kind of sentimental. It's a labor of love and a Valentine for my dad!
MICK: Is this show at the Landmark different from your Babalu show?
LUCIE: The Babalu show had a much bigger orchestra and had the original Desi Arnaz orchestration with his charts from the Desi Arnaz Band. But some of the songs are the same just with a smaller trio. The Babalu Show was five people and two dancers. This show is just me! I can't do the Babalu show alone and I can't do it for cheap! It cost me a lot more money to take that out!
MICK: I read that as a child, you had an early appearance on the "I Love Lucy" show. Do you have any recollection of that?
LUCIE: I have no recollection of that and there's a good reason for that! It was a misprint that somebody put in a book a long time ago. I believed it my whole life! TV Land finally started running the entire "I Love Lucy" shows without any of the cuts or edits for commercials. I couldn't wait to finally see the episode that they told me that both my brother and I were on. It was the final "I Love Lucy" episode where there's a statue out in the park and Lucy is pretending to be the statue. There's a crowd scene and I was always told that me and my brother were in this scene. I looked and sure enough, there's my brother but that's not me! It's some other girl! So that was just an assumption on somebody's part. However, I guess I could say I was in the original 'I Love Lucy" show because my mother was pregnant with me when they did the original pilot!
MICK: Keith Thibodeaux played Little Ricky on "I Love Lucy". Were you friends with him?
LUCIE: Very good friends! I thought he was my brother for the longest time! He practically grew up in our house. He's lived in Jackson, Mississippi for the better part of his life. Desi and Keith were the best of friends. Keith was around 4 years older than Desi but growing up, they were best friends. He virtually was the inspiration for my brother to learn how to play the drums. Keith went everywhere with us. They grew up and went their separate ways. Keith had a little rock band and Desi had Dino, Desi and Billy. That was the only connection. Years later, Desi is watching a talk show and realizes Keith is on the show. Meanwhile, my brother had got married to this lovely lady named Amy Bargiel who was a ballerina and ran a ballet company. So he's watching this talk show and sees Keith and his wife who's a ballerina and runs a ballet company! Desi says "Hey Amy, come in here! There's my friend Keith who played Little Ricky! He got married to a ballerina who runs a ballet company too!"
Amy looks and says "Oh yea! She was my room mate in college!" What are the chances of that? Strange things happen in this world!
MICK: What is your fondest memory of your mom and dad. I know there must be many but is there one that really sticks out?
LUCIE: That's almost an impossible question. But guess the one that i would choose, at this moment, would be the last time I put the phone up to my father's ear so that my mother could talk to him and they told each other how much they loved each other.
MICK: Your costar on "Here's Lucy" was veteran character actor Gale Gordon. I know he was with your mom throughout her entire TV career. What was he like?
LUCIE: He was one of the nicest, funniest, dearest men on the planet. I think I only knew two people in the sixty years I've been on this earth that were genuinely nice to everybody and that talented...that was Gale Gordon and Jimmy Durante. He was truly unique and I learned so much from him about how to be professional, to come prepared and keep a good spirit about you. He was the best guy to work with. I'm sure that's why my mother depended on him for so many years. She always knew that whatever you gave him, he could always knock it out of the park.
MICK: You've done numerous stage plays. Do you have a favorite role?
LUCIE: I do have a few. "Lost In Yonkers" was a thrill, one of Neil Simon's best works ever. He won the Pulitzer for it. It's a cathartic, riveting, dark and funny play. I had the wonderful part of Bella. I also loved the fact that I could tap dance with Tommy Tune in "My One and Only". That was a huge undertaking. I had just had my third baby when I went into rehearsals for that. To learn that amount of dancing was a big triumph. That was fun, fun, fun! "They're Playing Our Song" was a pretty perfect show too! It was my first Broadway show. I've had so many parts! I loved "Annie Get Your Gun" and "The Witches Of Eastwick". "Seesaw" was the very first National tour I ever did with Cy Coleman and Dorothy Fields music, Michael Bennett directing. That was extremely memorable.
MICK: Are you close with your brother?
LUCIE: Yes! Not physically because he's out in Nevada and I live in Connecticut. We try to get together as often as we can. We're having another family reunion on what would have been my mother's 100th birthday this year. Every Ball of the Ball family comes together. Desi and I will be there with our kids. We've had a wonderful time doing the Babalu Show together. That was great fun!
MICK: Is the family reunion going to be in Jamestown, New York?
LUCIE: We were thinking about going to Jamestown because there's all kinds of festivities there this year. My Aunt Cleo, who was my mother's cousin but really raised as her sister and was also executive producer of "Here's Lucy", is one of two matriarchs left. The other is Zoe. Zoe gets around pretty good for 93 but Cleo not so much. So everybody is going to Cleo in Northern, California!
MICK: are you involved with the Lucille Ball/Desi Arnaz Center in Jamestown?
LUCIE: Yes as much as I possibly can! I was on the board of directors there for over five years and created the place. It's a lot to be a board member. I'm also a board member of The American Theater Wing here in New York. Between my concerts and that, directing, producing, editing and writing..it's just too many things. They went through some great changes up there! They have a brand new, very savvy, very smart young creative and artistic executive directer who is doing a fabulous job at the Center. They've come up with some stuff that I think my mother would be very proud of. The original idea that we had, that was sidetracked by the previous administration, was to have a festival of comedy called for Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. Support comedy into the future! Teach it, find it, honor it, award it! Also, they are creating the first ever "Comedy Hall of Fame" which is being named after Lucy and Desi. That's all happening this year! We support them 100 percent!
MICK: Up until this point in your career, what would you consider your greatest achievement in your career?
LUCIE: I would have to say winning an Emmy Award for directing and producing "The Lucy and Desi Home Movie". That was a cathartic experience to create. I worked on it for four years and you never know what you have. You just follow your heart and make what you think is right, not a trash piece. To be awarded an Emmy for Outstanding Documentary was pretty thrilling. It's hard to beat that!
MICK: Is there anything else you would like to accomplish? You've accomplished so much in your career!
LUCIE: Everything! I have lots to do yet! I'm dancing as fast as I can! I have lots more Cd's I want to make, books I want to write, about ten documentaries I want to make. I have three Broadway shows in the hopper that my husband Larry and I want to produce. I won't live long enough to do all of this so I have to work fast! I've got plenty left to do!

See Lucie Arnaz this Saturday, June 18th at 8pm in "Latin Roots"
The Landmark Theater, 232 Main St., Port Washington (516) 767-6444

For more on Lucie....www.luciearnaz.com

Get Ready For ReadyIN 10!

There's a new band on the horizon and I'm sure you will be hearing a lot about them very soon. Based in Babylon, "ReadyIn 10" is more than ready to take the world by storm with their unique style of songwriting, musicianship and the lead singing of Sal Nastasi. I had the great pleasure to chat with Sal the other evening...

MICK: Your new CD "31 Strong " sounds great! I've been listening to it quite a bit. How is the CD doing so far?
SAL: It's going really well! We are getting a lot more downloads from this CD than from our previous CD "Face The World". "Face The World" has been around a lot longer but this one is picking up a lot faster.
MICK: The band is very reminiscent of Bon Jovi. I say that in a very positive way. Have other people told you that?
SAL: We hear that all the time. I'm a Bon Jovi fan and I know my voice sounds a little like his. I don't take that as a bad thing. I like Bon Jovi and I buy tickets when they come around.

MICK: How did you guys all get together?
SAL: Marc Viola (the guitar player) and I have known each other for a long time. Our parents are good friends. We were in search of a bass player and we found Mike Elefante, who was playing with another band. We auditioned for a drummer and that's how we found Mike Moore. Our current lineup has been together for three years now!

MICK: Is it true you came up with the name "Ready In 10" from a Chinese menu?

SAL: Yes, that really is true! We booked our first show in February 2005 at The Bitter End in NYC. The venue needed to make a flyer so they asked for the name of the band. Quickly, I looked down at a Chinese menu and thought "ready in 10" sounded cool so we went with it!

MICK: How did you come up with the name of your current CD "31 Strong"?

SAL: 31 Strong is address where our studio is. It's the place where we hang out and everything happens!

MICK: I see that the band did quite a few charity events last year. Are there more planned for this year?

SAL: We are always doing charity events. Right now, we are trying to get together with Wounded Warrior and any other veteran's charities. We just recorded a new song called "Freedom's Cry". We put it up on I-Tunes a few weeks ago and we are going to donate all of the money we make from the downloads of that song from now until September 11 to all sorts of different veterans charities. The song was written by our drummer Mike Moore's uncle, who is a veteran. He wrote the song six or seven years ago and he thought I would sound great singing it. I was messing around with it and I recorded it. It actually came out pretty good! So the CD is out and we are pretty excited about it!

MICK: "Ready In 10" has been announced as the official band for this year's Marcum Workplace Challenge to be held at Jones Beach State Park on July 26, 2011. What exactly is that?

SAL: Workplace Challenge does events all over the world. Originally, Chase was the sponsor but now Marcum does it now. They get many local businesses and companies on Long Island to compete in a 3.5 mile road race at Jones Beach. They do it every year. At least 10 thousand people compete and it's a really nice event. Our band was asked to play this year. A couple of years ago, I sang the National Anthem at this event which was very cool.

MICK: Speaking of the National Anthem, you were also chosen to sing it at the Long Island Ducks home opener this year! How did that go?

SAL: It was great! A little chilly that night but it was great! They had a nice sized crowd that evening.

MICK: Are you a baseball fan?

SAL: Yes I am! I don't really follow the Ducks that closely but I do go to a few of their games. I'm actually a big Mets fan!

MICK: It seems that the band has a close relationship with the New York Jets. Are you doing anything with the team this year?

SAL: I'm not sure if anyone is is the offices right now because of the strike but I assume we will be doing something with the team. I usually sing one National Anthem a year for the Jets. At the end of the season last year, I wrote a theme song for the team. They seemed to have liked it. I sent it to them two days before they lost their last playoff game. I'm hoping they pay some attention to that this year. The song came out great. It's called "Jets Fans Get Up" and you can actually see it on YouTube.

MICK: How long does it take you to write a song?

SAL: Well, that particular song is kind of cool. We played in Times Square at a Jets rally on the Thursday before that big playoff game. Steve Overmyer, who is the award-winning field reporter for Jets Post Game Live and Jets Nation on SNY, came up to me and told me the Jets needed a song. "I don't know how fast you can write one but if you get me a song as soon as possible, I know the Jets are looking for one". So for the next two days, i kept thinking about it. On Saturday morning, I got! I locked myself in my basement, wrote it in two hours, recorded it, did a little video, and got it over to Steve. He said they really liked it! Then the Jets lost the game to the Steelers so that ended the season. So hopefully this year they pick up on it again!
MICK: You've opened up for some pretty big bands such as the Goo Goo Dolls, Fall Out Boy, Incubus, Poison, and Lifehouse.
What was your most memorable opening show?
SAL: It has to be the first one. We opened for Fall Out Boy. That show wasn't on the big stage at Jones Beach. It was on the concourse stage. The place was packed. People just came rushing over to our stage and that was very cool. That was the first time we played in a venue that size with so many people around that we didn't know.
MICK: Who are your influences musically?
SAL: Personally, I listen to everything. From The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, to basically whatever is on the radio. I listen to 101.9 WXRP. Alternative rock and classic rock. I've always been a big Zeppelin fan.
MICK: What's on the agenda for 2011?
SAL: We are probably going to put out a live CD within the next few months. Things from a few different shows that we've recorded in the last year or so. Hopefully it will be out later this year or early next year. We just want to keep playing a lot. The writing is very important to us but we aren't constantly writing. Mark and I are the main song writers in the band. Mike Elefante, our bass player, writes some of the music as well. We don't pressure ourselves writing so when we get a bunch of songs written, that's when we put out another CD. Right now, we are in the performance mode. We want to tour and play as much as we can. We all love being on stage, playing together and traveling together. We are all great friends! Just play, play, play and hopefully there's a CD in there somewhere too!

For more on ReadyIn 10, please go to readyin10.com

Songwriter Extraordinaire JIMMY WEBB!

He is quite arguably one of the greatest American songwriters in the last 50 years with hits like "Wichita Lineman", "Galveston", "By The Time I Get To Phoenix", " Up Up and Away", "MacArthur Park", "The Worst That Could Happen", etc...Jimmy Webb's string of hits made his catalog of songs rank second in total airplay only to the songs of Paul McCartney and John Lennon.

Today, Jimmy is still going strong with no signs of slowing down! I spoke with him as he prepares for next weekend's Port Jefferson show before embarking on a much anticipated Australian tour...

MICK: How many Grammy Awards have you won?
JIMMY: I have three of them. I've been associated with a lot more. My songs have won Grammy Awards for other people but those three are mine!
MICK: How did you meet Glen Campbell?
JIMMY: I actually met him in a recording studio after we had a couple hits together. We were doing a commercial for General Motors. I was pretty excited about meeting him as I walked in. Of course I knew exactly what he looked like because he was on television every week. He was tuning his guitar and looked up and I walked up to him. I stuck out my hand and said "Hello Mr. Campbell". He looked up and said 'When are you getting a haircut?" My hair was down to my shoulders. That was pretty much the substance of our relationship over the years. He was politically different in another ballpark than I was. We overcame our differences and we managed to make a lot of fantastic music together. We've been close friends for a long time.
MICK: Do you still keep in touch with him?
JIMMY: Of course! Glen's part of the family!
MICK: How was Richard Harris chosen to sing "MacArthur Park"?
JIMMY: He wasn't really chosen. We were hanging out in Los Angeles working on an anti war type protest rally kind of thing. He and I got used to hanging out after the show around the piano, have a few beers, sing some Irish songs and talk. I got to know him well even before I saw the movie "Camelot". I went and saw 'Camelot" and he did a nice job singing in the film.
At some point I said "We should make a record together". He telegraphed me from London a few weeks later and said "dear jimmy webb...come up and make record...love richard". Very short telegraph. It was my first trip out of the country. I got on a 707 and went over there. We were committed to making an album. We just ran across "MacArthur Park" in a pile of songs. He liked it and wanted to do it. He stood up and smacked the piano and said' I'll have that one Jimmy Webb and make a hit out of it!" We were just playing around and having fun and something really wonderful came from it.
MICK: Was his version of "MacArthur Park" your favorite? I know it was recorded by many people.
JIMMY: His version is definitely my favorite.
MICK: You were recently elected Chairman of the Board of the Songwriters Hall of Fame. What exactly are your duties as the chairman?
JIMMY: I have the great privilege presiding over the annual gala where we induct our new members into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. This year we have Leon Russell, Garth Brooks, Billy Steinberg and a few others going in. It's the show of the year! The hottest ticket in New York! We are having Hal David accept an award for excellence for the last ten years of shepherding the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Our ultimate goal is to create a building somewhere so we can honor all of the great men and women where they deserve to be honored, people like Jerome Kern, the Gershwins, Cole Porter, etc...We are looking forward to it. I don't know if I will be able to do it but I will give it a hell of a try.
MICK: When you write a song, what comes first for you, the music or the words?
JIMMY: There is no rule. Traditionally in the generations that preceded me, in duos like Richard Rogers and Lorenz Hart, Rogers always wrote the tunes first and Hart put the words to the music. When Rogers started working with Oscar Hammerstein, Hammerstein wrote the words first and Richard Rogers put the music to the words. In our generation, starting with singer songwriters like Joni Mitchell, James Taylor, in some degree the British invasion, the tendency from that point on has been to write the lyrics first and the music later. I've done it every way you can think of.
MICK; You will be appearing in Port Jefferson at First United Methodist Church on May 28th. What can your fans expect to hear?
JIMMY: It's an entertaining evening. I play and sing. A lot of the stuff is very well known material, hit material. There's some lesser known songs that I talk about that had distinctive and distinguished careers with artists like Judy Collins, Shawn Colvin, Nancy Griffith. I talk quite a bit about my relationship with Mr. Sinatra. It's anecdotal stuff. It's not somber by any means, it's a very light hearted evening to make people feel better and leave in a great mood. Sometimes I even get them to sing along with me! Anybody who wants their money back I will personally refund it! It's never happened yet but I personally stand behind that guarantee!

MICK: How long have you lived on Long Island?

JIMMY: My wife Laura and I have lived in Bayville for the last six years.

MICK: Are you excited about your upcoming Australia tour?

JIMMY: I'm always excited about going down there. It's an extraordinary, kind of kookie upside down land full of crazy animals. Great people who are very much like Americans. To me, the whole country itself is very close to a younger version of America of 50 years ago. There's a lot of wide open spaces. In the north there's beautiful jungles and beaches. Take the Daintree National Forrest for instance. There were 15 original flowers in the world. Flowers are relatively recent developments in the world of botany, say in the last 2-3 million years. Thirteen of those original flowers still grow in the Daintree Nation Forrest. So you can go there and see the original flowers. That's pretty cool. My wife and I have gone snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef. There's places that I play there almost as much as some places I play in the United States. There's a wonderful club in Sidney called "The Basement" that I can't wait to get back to. It's like home base to me. We go as far west as Perth and Fremantle. That's a six hour flight from Australia's east coast. The people are very accepting and grateful.

MICK: Your newest album is "Just Across The River". Do you have anything new coming up?

JIMMY: The record company has asked me to go ahead and do part two of 'just Across The River" because the current one is very successful. It actually landed on the charts. It was comfortably up on the charts which is pretty good for an old geezer like me! I'm also working kind of quietly on another Broadway show. I don't really talk about it much because I think it's bad luck. I'm also trifling around with my memoirs too. A lot of my shows are based on anecdotal material and people always come up and say I should write some of those stories down before it's too late. That's an inspiring comment "do it before it's too late". I'm working on that! I may be starting some projects with my wife, perhaps something for PBS. Experimenting with some ideas in the education field. I'd love to do more with that because the government is cutting back farther and farther on the school programs. We are having less music in our schools and our children growing up without understanding what music is. That's a big thing to take out of a person's life. My wife and I have agreed that it is something we want to address. I'm also vice chairman of the ASCAP Organization. I stay busy and I'm definitely not bored! Sometimes I'm plum tuckered to tell the truth! But I'm still writing music and very much enjoying performing. My voice is stronger than it's ever been in my life. I've been very fortunate to have really bloomed later rather than earlier as a vocalist. I see no reason to quit. There's no expiration date on a career in music. Someone like Louis Armstrong is my idol! I want to be just like Louis Armstrong when I grow up!

MICK: Who do you like listening to?

JIMMY: I'd say that 80% of the music I listen to is classical music. When I'm in the studio, I listen to what I'm recording. I have some favorite singers and writers like Sarah McGloughlin whom I like very much. Every once in a while I will hear something that turns me on but I'm not hooked into any of the new music in a significant way. I like Radiohead and think they are really striving to create original things. I still love Joni Mitchell, Randy Newman, Warren Zevon, and the Beatles. I love the big bands too! I listen to Jonathan Schwartz on the weekends. I'm not the band of the week kind of guy. I not that crazy about Lady Gaga. I've listened to a couple tracks. Maybe one of these days she'll be one of my favorites. But so far it's touch and go with Lady Gaga. I like musical stuff. I like tunes and lyrics and all that old fashioned stuff. I'm hopelessly mired in the traditional craft of songwriting. If someone is not doing a good job songwriting, I'm probably not going to be listening closely.

MICK: Are any of your children musically inclined?

JIMMY: All of them! Two years in November, I was touring with my five sons. I have five sons and a daughter. She's at Berkley now. They are all musical. The three oldest boys are professional musicians who play and sing extremely well. They were all out on the road backing me. We did 15 dates in England and had a blast. It cost a fortune but it was a blast! For the lucky few that got to see us, it was pretty inspiring to see a family like that together on the bandstand. It was one of the best feelings I've had in my life. I'm trying to work it out so we can go out and do it again. They're rockers and play guitars! Our drummer was Cal Campbell, Glen's son! He's a monster of a drummer. My oldest son Chris and second oldest son Jamie are both working on solo albums. I'm also getting ready to go in and do another solo album. I guess it will be a while before we get the band together again. That was really one of the high points in my life. You can't have awards that make you feel as good as that makes you feel!

You can catch Jimmy Webb in concert this Saturday, May 28 @ 8:00pm

First United Methodist Church in Port Jefferson http://www.gpjac.org/

For more on Jimmy Webb: www.jimmywebb.com

A chat with Navy SEAL Lt. GARY S

Lieutenant Gary S is a highly decorated 21 year veteran Navy SEAL whose battles were not only fought overseas but also in United States courtrooms. He is also a freelance writer whose current children's book "Never Far Apart" is a heartwarming story that helps children cope with seperation from a military parent. Gary's next project is a book that details his military exploits and quest to gain custody of a son taken away to Israel by his ex wife. It's not often you get to speak to a true American warrior but I did!

MICK: When did you join the Navy?
GARY: I joined back in 1986.
MICK: How were you chosen to become a SEAL?
GARY: I actually wasn't chosen contrary to popular belief. No one is ever invited to become a SEAL. I joined the Navy just for that reason. There were no Navy SEAL movies back then. Most people didn't know what a Navy SEAL was although most had heard of the Navy frogmen, which dated back to World War II. I had heard about it from a friend. I joined and went to boot camp and then went to Navy Corp School, which is where you go to become a medic in the Navy. I then went to field training. At that time, it was considered the toughest training in the world and I'm sure it still is. Everything fell into place after that.
MICK: How long did it take you to train to become a SEAL?
GARY: Initial training was six months. After that, it was another six months of intense training which was also an additional vetting period. You must pass certain tests after that six month period. That is when guys in the team get a chance to see who you really are outside of the rigorous training environment.
MICK: What was it like going into Afghanistan as one of the first military troops after 9/11?
GARY: It was pretty interesting for me. At that point, I had done my first ten years in the military as an enlisted member of the field teams. At around the eleven year period, I actually got a commission. I went to college on my own on my off duty hours. I worked my way up through the ranks of the SEAL teams and ultimately became an officer. 9/11 happened shortly after I became an officer. I had just been relocated by the military from the East Coast to the West Coast. They were looking for young officers to go over there. Initially I was working in our joint operations center and was able to work my way into many operations. I had a lot of passion in me and wanted to go over there after 9/11. My heart bled for the families of people lost in New York.
MICK: When did you first get married?
GARY: I'm divorced from my first wife. I married an Israeli whom I met on my first deployment in the field teams in late 1987. We got married and waited about 10 years before we decided to have a child together. She came with me to California when I was transferred from Virginia. Subsequently, I was told I would be deployed right away. I hadn't bought a home in San Diego yet at that point and had no choice but to put her and him on a flight to Israel to stay with her family until I returned from Afghanistan. Unfortunately, she never came back. If I had realized I had any marital problems back then, obviously I never would have put them on that plane.
MICK: Is that something that happens often in the military?
GARY: It happens a lot more than people realize. Unfortunately for me, there were no laws back then to say what she had done was wrong which was parental child abduction. I was flown to Sacramento, California by Sen. Bill Morrow (R-Oceanside) and Sen. Denise Moreno Ducheny (D-San Diego) to testify before the California State Senate. My case was ultimately sent up to Washington DC. It took about six years but it finally resulted in the amending of the Soldiers and Sailors Civil Relief Act which protected service members from things like credit card debt and problems with rent. It was more financially orientated. It protected soldiers until they returned from deployment. It was hard to get attention on my case. Back then, there were around 1000 service members that had cases like mine. In my case, they couldn't declare parental child abduction because I was the one who put them on the plane. To this day, I haven't got any formal visitation or custody of my son over in Israel. I fly over there a couple times a year and it's very costly, around eight to ten thousand dollars visiting him. The first six years, my visits entailed sitting next to him in school all day and that was pretty much all the time I got with him. My attorney at the time told me I needed to take a parenting class on base and get a parenting class certificate. If my ex wife ever came back to the United States with him, we would try to go for full custody for a temporary period until it went through the legal system the appropriate way. I actually ended up marrying the teacher of the parenting class! We ended up having four children together in our first four years of marriage!

MICK: Please tell me about your children's book "Never Far Apart".
GARY: After she left with him, I didn't have a lot of communication with him and still don't. He doesn't speak English. Whatever little English he was exposed to kind of faded away. It was difficult over the years to communicate with him when I went to visit him. I really worked hard to maintain that relationship. The book was my way of letting him know that no matter how far away he was, we are never far apart. I've always got him right here in my heart. There's a lullaby in the back of the book called "SS Rock-a bye" which i used to hum to him when I put him to bed at night. For the book, I finally put the words down. This book is actually the first in a series of five. My current wife wants me to write one for all of the children. So now I'm writing books for military children.
MICK: You also have a new book that's almost ready to be published.
GARY: Yes, I'm working on my first book for grownups. It's my memoirs about places I've gone, things I've done in the field teams. It's very different from most field books as it's not specific to any war or conflict. I've been in pretty much everything that's happened in the last 20 years in one way or another. My book pretty much lets other people into the mind of one specific Navy SEAL with my political beliefs and theories of my own. It talks about our way of life in the United States and offers some common sense solutions to a lot of the problems facing the nation now.
MICK: You were a SEAL for 21 years and you are now retired. Is there an age limit to the length of being a SEAL or a mandatory retirement?
GARY: I'm sure there is eventually a limit but I've seen officers stand for over 30 years. Normal retirement can be anywhere between 20 and 30 years. I got out when I did because of all the legal proceedings I was going through here in California, Virginia and Israel. I had three attorneys all working at the same time to help me out. They could only do so much because there were no laws in place back then. I was up through the night talking to attorneys in different time zones and it got to the point where it was impossible to balance my personal life with my military life. I ended up being unable to find any employment in Southern California that paid what I needed. I went back to work in Iraq providing diplomatic protection to the U.S, ambassador Ryan Crocker in my first year of retirement. It was a very interesting period for me. I was still able to serve my country in some capacity.
MICK: The big thing in the news lately is the Team Six of the Navy Seals taking out Osama Bin Laden. What are the different levels of SEALs?
GARY: All of the SEAL teams are a great bunch of guys. Once guys have paid their price of doing a cruise or two, they put you through another rigorous period of training. They are usually a more mature leveled individual over there and that's primarily because they've already traveled the world and made a name for themselves. They take a little more time to think before reacting. The Team Six is considered our best of the best.
MICK: What kind of job are you doing now?

GARY: I work in anti piracy operations basically hunting pirates over off the east coast of Africa, the Indian Ocean and up into the Persian Gulf. I'm getting older now so in this position I'm in now, I wait for them to come to me if they want trouble. I really enjoy the job. I'm gone away a lot and I'm also home a lot. MICK: How is it with the pirates over there? Is it getting any better?

GARY: The U.S. military is stepping up operations over there. Our arms have been tied as we have guys spread out all over in Iraq, Afghanistan, Africa, etc...We are spread thin in the military. That's why there's a lot of private contracting companies trying to pick up the void and help out where they can. When I was working under the Department of State in Iraq protecting Ambassador Crocker, you would hear among civilian communities and blogging sites horrible bad mouthing of contractors. I always thought it was very interesting that most contractors were guys that had spent at least 10 years in the military or were retired military. The week before they became contractors they were heroes to the country. Then when they become contractors, they were called war mongers and mercenaries which was utterly untrue. I think 45-50% of the wars are in Afghanistan and Iraq were being fought by security contractors of some form. There were guys helping with electrical, plumbing, building structures or behind guns shooting. They are all just as American as they were when they were on active duty. It's all kinds of people, men and women, who love honestly their country and want to contribute after they leave the military. They're not taking money from any foreign government.

MICK: What do see in the future for yourself?

GARY: I'd love to get a normal job here in Southern California and come home to my wife and kids every night. But there's not a whole lot of security work out here that pays what I require with five children and living in Southern California. So I will keep doing what I'm doing. I will keep writing my book and the other children's books. I don't expect that to pay the bills today but maybe it will when I'm 65! I'm also a lyricist and have a lot of children's songs for military children. I've written a lot of country music lyrics.

MICK: Is there anything else you would like to mention?

GARY: Yes, on my current job, we will deliver US aid to Africa with an entire ship full of rice and grain. Most of the time, these people don't even realize that this is from the United States of America. There are people back here who have lost their homes and their jobs and basically getting kicked out in the street. But their tax dollars are going to buy this rice and grain for Africans who need it which is a great thing. The problem is that the grain is usually purchased in some other country. The US government will buy it from places like Russia or Australia, put it on a foreign ship that was built in China and run by Indian and Filipino crews. They will deliver it to the East African Shore countries and the people there don't realize it is coming from the United States because there's no sign or anything. It's all foreign flagged vessels delivering it. You have to wonder how we are winning friends and influencing people when they don't even know it's coming from us. We help out the country we buy the grain from, we help the country that builds the ships, we help out the Indians and Filipino crew members on the ship and we help out the Africans that are getting the grain. We should somehow let these people know that this is coming from the United States of America!

For more information on Gary's book "Never Far Apart":

http:/neverfarapartseries.com/aboutbook.htm

MELBA MOORE is Back!

Melba Moore personifies the term Broadway legend through her class and unparalleled career that has reaped a Tony Award, 4 Grammy nominations and a best new artist award in 1971. She continues to forge ahead with new music and a long awaited return to New York when she makes her debut at The Cafe Carlyle now through May 7. I spoke to the very gracious Melba prior to her opening night...

MICK: It's a thrill to have you coming back to New York again with "Forever Moore" at the Carlyle Hotel. What are your thoughts on this engagement?
MELBA: Momentous! It's such progress for me as I keep moving toward the goals I want to achieve in my career. I feel so ready and comfortable, excited and proud! I feel like I'm cute and pretty too!
MICK: What can your fans expect to hear?
MELBA: I'm going to do a combination of things that have become natural for me to do. I've discovered over these 40 plus years that I'm kind of a potpourri of things, not just one! Many times an artist will try to do a variety of things just for the sake of it but I am a variety! I will be doing songs from the great American songbook that everybody loves but my own personal rendition of them. Songs like "Blue Skys" by Irving Berlin. I will be doing songs from the Broadway shows that I starred in like "Hair" and "Purlie". I would love to have done "I Dreamed A Dream" from "Les Miserables" but I'm finding I don't have enough time in the show.
MICK: Have you finished your new album yet?
MELBA: No I have not. I have three songs so far. I debuted the title song which is called "Love Is". That is available on my website, I-Tunes and Amazon.com.
MICK: I know your new album is on your new label A'Moore Entertainment which you share with your daughter Charli Huggins.
Is she a singer also?
MELBA: No, she likes the business aspect. She wants to do the executive part of it. It's our project together!
MICK: Please tell me about the Melba Moore Foundation For Children.
MELBA: I started that for abandoned and abused kids back in the 90's when there was a crack epidemic with moms who were high on drugs and infected with AIDS. They would go to hospitals and have babies and abandoning them there. That's how I got involved. I volunteered at hospitals to take care of some of the abandoned babies. I realized more had to be done. I started the foundation to help get placement for the children and get more people involved. I went on the board of Hale House to learn about the issues and how to deal with them. Mother Hale had be dealing with orphans and abandoned children for many years.
MICK: Who are your heroes?
MELBA: I'm Catholic so Mother Teresa is definitely one of my heroes! Another is my patron St. Francis. Also St. Anthony and St. Clare, all of whom came from wealthy families and gave their money to the church. If I get very, very wealthy I will do the same thing!
MICK: You've had many great accomplishments in your illustrious career. Is there something you would still like to accomplish?
MELBA: I want to finish what I started! To do much more Broadway theater and get much more involved in film and television.
MICK: Are there any new movies on the horizon? I know your latest film was "The Fighting Temptations".
MELBA: Yes, that was a few years ago. Right now I am sticking to live music and performances because it's a centerpiece for me that spawns on to other things. That will be my focus!
MICK: Are there any Broadway shows on the horizon?
MELBA: I feel that there will be. There have been some things offered to me that I really don't want to do. I have a couple ideas that I'd like to co-produce.
MICK: I also read that you are a born again Christian but you told me you are a Catholic also.
MELBA: That's not also, it's the same thing! There are so many denominations and thank God in America we have lots of varieties. But I like to say one thing here as a blooming expert in the field. Catholicism is not a denomination; it's the first church! All of the others spawned from it. They are denominations or offshoots from it. The Catholic Church is the church Jesus started. So if you are going to be born again, that's where you will be born again. I think it come from the direct imperious of outburst of the Holy Spirit on different sections of people. I have had that experience so I am born again in that sense!
MICK: Have ever experienced any miracles in your life?
MELBA: I'm sure I have. I think I am a miracle in a sense. I think that what I am now is so unusual for a person to have these kinds of chances to start again to build and flourish a career at this late stage. That will have to speak for itself. I am not the same person I was before and that's a miracle. But it's not something that happens over night. A miracle in progress!
MICK: Will you be doing any new Christian music?
MELBA: Absolutely! I have people submitting things to me now! As a matter of fact, one of the Clark sisters [the Clark Sisters are very famous Christian singers out of Detroit] is writing something for me. A few other people are creating some original Gospel music for me. Shirley Murdock is very well known in the Christian field. She was known in the secular field for a huge 1986 R&B hit "As We Lay". She's also an incredible song writer and producer along with her husband Dale DeGroat. They will be writing some things for me.

MICK: What are your long range plans?

MELBA: I don't have a long range plan except not to fall back into the ditch any more. It's so hard to get back up. I want to keep consistent, keep growing to be top quality at what I'm doing. Maybe one of the long range goals would be to get to the point where I have a consistent body of comedic theatrical work. I like humor and comedy and have a natural gift for that. I haven't had a chance to show it off except for "Purlie" on Broadway. I didn't know what I was doing and got a Tony Award for it! That gave me an idea that I should really make a focus out of that.

Melba Moore appears through May 7 at the Cafe Carlyle, 35 East 76 Street, Manhattan, NY (212-744-1600)

the carlyle.com/entertainment.cfm.

http://www.melbamoore.com/

RICH SIRGIOVANNI and The GRIMPS!!!

It's not often that a man has a dream that involves all of his passions and through hard work and determination, it becomes a reality. You might even call it magical. Rich Sirgiovanni is that man and he is on the verge of something quite incredible. His creation of a new cartoon called "The Grimps" is about to take the world by storm. I recently had the good fortune to speak to Rich about his fascinating life and his great new adventure.....

MICK: Are you originally from New York?
RICH: Yes, I was born and still live in Queens!
MICK: I see on your Facebook that you were very involved with music when you were younger.
RICH: I've been playing drums and singing since I was around 14 years old. Back in the late 70's, I played in Max's Kansas City, CBGB's, Great Gildersleeves, quite a few clubs on Long Island. I played in copy bands and original bands. Manhattan was the place to feature all the original music in those days.
MICK: How did you get into the advertising industry?
RICH: I graduated from the School of Visual Arts in 1979. I got into advertising because it was one of those careers where when you got out of school, you could hopefully find a regular job while you pursued other things and in my case, it was cartooning. I took plenty of advertising courses and went in that direction where I made a good living for many years. Having a music background allowed me to work in recording studios and write musical jingles.
MICK: I know that "Gotta Go To Mo's", the Modell's jingle, is probably your most famous jingle you created. Did you have any idea that it would be so big? Everybody knows that!
RICH: When we came up with that idea, it was something fresh for Modell's. A new direction. We knew there was something special about it. It was catchy to everyone who heard it when we broke the campaign. By no means did anyone think that people would still being using it now 15 years later! That was an exciting thing to work on!
MICK: Please tell me about "The Trolls".
RICH: "The Trolls" was the original name of my of my current project "The Grimps". Two months ago, I changed the name of the project because I found out that Dreamworks is coming out with a movie called "Good Luck Trolls". They did the story with the family of the person who created the Troll dolls in the 60's. The story line is about the Troll Dolls. My idea is completely different. I went through all of my proper copyrights and felt it would be too confusing. So I created a new word called "Grimps" which is a combination of gruesome and impish. So that is the new title of the project and the show!
MICK: I saw that for "The Grimps", you have some amazing people lined up for the voices of the characters.
RICH: Yes, for the voice overs, we already have committed Peter Noone from Herman's Hermits, Eric Burdon from the Animals, Todd Rundgren, Mickey Dolenz from the Monkees, Keith Emerson from ELP, etc... I've met with most of them and they are all committed to being part of the project. We are also in the works of talking to other hopefuls like Ringo Starr, Meatloaf, Debbie Harry, even Jack Black!
MICK: Are they going to do just the voices or will they do the music also?
RICH: At this point, they will doing just the voices of the characters. Part of the plan with the Grimps is that the show is going to present original rock and roll music. Kind of the same theory as The Monkees back in the 60's. We will create new original songs from a wide variety of songwriters and try to create a completely different sound. The basic sound of The Grimps will be that of an original rock and roll band. Part of the concept is something that is very cool and will tie in the generations is to have a lot of rock icons involved in the show. The children are the primary audience but this will also attract the parents and definitely the grand parents. The show is a subtle tribute to the history of rock and roll also. All of the characters that I've named come from different people from rock and roll. For instance, the four main Grimps are Winston (from John Lennon's middle name), Moony (from Keith Moon), Mac (obviously from Paul McCartney) and Emerson (from Keith Emerson). We have other characters that are also named after rock people. A knight and a dragon are secondary characters who were with the Grimps when they were cursed in the storyline are named Billy and Shears. The evil wizard is named Specter. The fan club for the Grimps is run by Cynthia, Patty and Maureen (named after the Beatles wives). I tried to take a lot of these subtleties and maybe just the people from our generation will know or appreciate it and it may go over the heads of the kids but it really doesn't matter. When my oldest son was five, the biggest thing in cartoons was the Teenage Mutant Turtles. All the kids knew Michelangelo, Donatello, and Raphael as turtles, not as Renaissance painters! I took that same kind of concept in developing my characters.
MICK: Is "The Grimps" going to be a TV show or a feature film?
RICH: We are hoping for TV. When we go out to California next month to start pitching the Grimps, we have some meetings scheduled with some motion picture companies. It would be fantastic if it could go in both directions. I have some very interesting people involved with this working with me.
MICK: So what stage are you in now? Are the cartoons still being talked about or have they actually been created already?
RICH: We are right at the stage where we can present this to the networks. A presentation video has been made. Pilot episodes have been written. The characters have been developed. We are just putting the finishing touches on it. Even the music aspect is pretty interesting. My musical producer is Ron Dante! Ron is working with me as the musical production supervisor. The theme song, which was just finished and recorded in Los Angeles last week, is titled "We're The Grimps". It was written by Ron Dante and Freddy Cannon (who had the hit 'Palisades Park"). It is a very cool, upbeat introduction of the show and the characters. Simple lyrics for the kids to remember and very bouncy! We are also developing a three song demo of the actual sound of the Grimps. My idea is to produce good original rock music that will be presented by this cartoon rock and roll band. Ron Dante is writing some of the initial songs with Andrew Gold, another legendary performer and songwriter.
At the same time we go to the networks, we will also be going to record companies to present the concept of this. We are really trying to develop a sound that is very upbeat, contemporary and unique; not Juvenal even though it is for a cartoon show. We are right at the point where we are ready to show the world what we've got!
MICK: Sounds like you have some heavy hitters with you!
RICH: I'm also working with another gentleman, who is representing me, by the name of Ron Alexenberg. He is the former president of CBS Records and worked under Clive Davis many years ago. Ron is responsible for signing Meatloaf, Boston, Michael Jackson's solo career, etc...the list is endless with the people he has worked with. He is very involved in this project, both on the music end and the television end. Everything seems to be falling into place nicely. The next step is to see if the guys in the suits out there like it!
MICK: When is this going to be presented to them?
RICH: Sometime in early May, June the latest.
MICK: Do you have any other projects that you would like to share with us?
RICH: No. This thing has absorbed most of my time right now. I've put all of my concentration in it. I'm the creator and the illustrator of it. Developing characters and working behind the scenes, especially with the music. It's what I've really been involved with for the past two years. I've kept all of my focus on that.
MICK: How is the advertising industry doing these days?
RICH: It's been slow and soft. I've always worked with small and medium sized businesses, not only on Long Island but in the tri-state area. The economy the last few years has slowed things down quite a bit. You have to knock on more doors than you ever did before. People are very cautious with there money which I can understand.
MICK: Are there any future plans for new musical ventures after this?
RICH: I still play drums and sing. I hope that as this is being developed I will be more involved on a level of music with the Grimps. Once we get it launched, I will be busier than I ever have been which will be a lot of fun. I will get to have my hands in everything I always loved. When I decided to create this idea, I wanted to combine my passions which are rock and roll, cartooning and writing. That's how I developed this idea which is about 4 kids with a little magic and mystery. The storyline goes back 500 years ago where these 4 characters were minstrels and they were very popular in those days. An evil wizard, who is jealous of their celebrity, puts a curse on them and turns them into these little grimps to be thrown into the Forest for eternity. One of their other friends, who was also transformed, is also a wizard. After 500 years, he comes along and figures out a spell to transform them back to humans. But there are two glitches to it. One is that they only go back to being humans from sunset to sunrise. The other is they are still small. The ongoing quest is he will always be looking how to make the reversal of the curse permanent. In the meantime, they can come back to being humans and since they were great musicians who have been hanging around for 500 years hidden from society, they come out and become a pop rock group called "The Grimps". It's the trials and tribulations of being a rock band and having the secret that they turn back into these ugly little monsters in the daytime, that dual life they have to live with. That storyline gave me the ability to combine music and have something cool for kids.