It's all about the music !
Jimmy Hopper Live In Concert
Interview with Jimmy Hopper
by Bruce J Maier
Bruce- THANKS AGAIN FOR MEETING WITH ME TODAY JIMMY! TELL US HOW THE NEW SHOW IS GOING AT THE LAVA ROOM AT TRADER VICS IN LAS VEGAS……
JIMMY: “The show is going really well. We are atop Trader Vic’s, on the strip, and with the fountains of the Bellagio as my backdrop. It’s a beautiful room with the most incredible sound being engineered by Carlos Morales, formerly the lead tech at the Bellagio.”
Bruce : I UNDERSTAND THAT YOU HAVE NEVER HAD FORMAL TRAINING IN MUSIC. WHAT’S IT LIKE TO WORK WITH SOME OF THE FINEST MUSICIANS IN THE WORLD AND DO YOU HAVE ANY TROUBLES COMMUNICATING WITH THEM MUSICALLY ?
JIMMY: “Well, that’s an interesting question. Most of the musicians I work with have PhD’s in music and, when I show them an arrangement with all the intricacies, they think it’s strange to be able to do this. Like having a sixth sense, I hear things. I hear parts and arrangements in my head I am blessed with a gift where I can create and compose music, and thankful to be in the company of great musicians.”
Bruce: WHEN YOU ARE NOT ON STAGE OR IN THE STUDIO, HOW DO YOU LIKE TO RELAX?
JIMMY: “I work out every day...lots of push-ups, a couple of hundred crunches, and I have been jumping rope for a several years now. I get a great work out and I love staying in shape and being healthy.”
Bruce: WE ALWAYS LIKE TO ASK ARTISTS WHAT DO HAVE TO SAY ABOUT YOUNG PEOPLE WANTING TO ENTER INTO THE MUSIC BUSINESS. DO YOU HAVE ANY ADVICE FOR THEM?
JIMMY:“If it’s really their passion and they are motivated to sing, play, or write then they should just go for it! Totally stay away from the drug scene, stay focused, and keep on reaching for your dreams. And parents, support your kids. If a child is showing an interest in music or the arts, we really need to get behind them and support them in their passions and interests.”
Bruce : WHO IS JIMMY HOPPER OFFSTAGE?
JIMMY: Many have the impression that musicians and entertainers lead a different lifestyle offstage. I enjoy staying at home with my wife, Sheri, just curled up on the couch watching a movie. And just being around my children and being a part of their lives is yet another blessing.
Bruce: Jimmy it’s really nice to have spent a few minutes with you today. Thank you for what you contribute as an artist and entertainer to this world. I will be looking forward to meeting with you again.
JIMMY: "Thanks, man... It’s nice that people like you, Bruce, call and give me the opportunity to express myself."
There was more of our chat and we did speak about the musical, ‘ The Day There Was No More Music “ and I would urge you all to go to Jimmy’s main website listed below and get the full story. I can tell you this, the excitement that Jimmy conveyed to me with such incredible enthusiasm about the play, the characters and the buzz that’s already been created, I believe Jimmy Hopper will be a name inscribed into history with the greatest writers and composers of this century! ! BJM/2008
Jimmy Hopper appears in Las Vegas Trader Vics in the Lava Room Wednesday through Saturday evenings. Call 702/405-4700 for reservations. March 28, 29, and 30th, 2008, Las Vegas, NV – The Band performs three consecutive evenings at the Suncoast Showroom. Anticipated sell-outs. Ticket office: 702/636-7075 or 877/636-7111 or visit www.suncoastcasino.com .
Official website: www.jimmyhopper.com
For booking details contact G. G. Conklin at JH Inc./East Coast Office
ggconklin@erols.com
757/749-0849
KEEPING YOUR HEAD- continued from page one
by Jonn Gold
they were afraid of stopping the river of cash? In some cases, maybe. In others though, perhaps those who wanted to help didn’t know how or who to call. Have you ever seen someone passed out with a bottle still glued to their hand or a needle sticking out of their flesh, comatose and almost on the “other side”? Well, I have and I would use every method and means of help available to save a life, help someone get it “ back together “.
Sometimes though, it’s like a Band-Aid and only treats the symptoms, not the catalyst. I don’t have the answers and this is a complex maze of physiological and psychological afflictions and disturbances, which the common person has no proper training for treatment. However, we are all smart enough to recognize when someone we care about is in trouble.
Being a musician or entertainer is a gift that millions wish they possessed, yet some of those who have been privileged with the spotlight and the paparazzi are left feeling detached from reality. So, they take the magic potion that will give them a few moments of happiness, whatever that is. Hank Williams Sr. died on the way to a performance in the backseat of his car, from an overdose of medication and alcohol. The benefits of fame and wealth could also bring pressures to be and act, pretend to like people who would further your career, in addition to feeling the loneliness of the road on long tours away from family and other loved ones. Relationships, intimacies and confusion are elements of the volatile cocktail served with the entrée of money and the success wheel merry-go-round which some entertainers succumb to and they just go insane, or worse, they die.
If you are an entertainer or are in the business of music or entertainment then I would suggest you right now, wherever you are on this planet , whatever stage you are on, whatever stage your life is in, evaluate where you are today . How do you feel? Are you partying too much or going so far off the deep end with drugs or other habits that you are owned by it? Do you have a lifeline? A friend or special someone who can be there for you, listen when you’re down, bring you back up? What does your spirit tell you? Don’t worry, this is not the damngoodtunes ministry, this is a friend out there sending a message that we don’t want what’s happening to this recent 26 year old star, what happened to Elvis and Hank or Jimi or Janis to happen to you. Your music, your words, your talents are needed in this world. Please stick around a while. We love you.
Resources:
http://www.drugabusehelp.com/
http://www.addict-help.com/
http://www.mentalhelp.net/
www.crossroadsantigua.org
Hey here's the perfect gift.... concert tickets
from Ticketmaster! Just click through to the
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ALL ABOUT BLUE SUEDE NEWS MAGAZINE BY PUBLISHER-FOUNDER MARC BRISTOL
CONTINUED FROM PAGE ONE
CONTINUED FROM PAGE ONE
.......when they got the same or a similar idea. I had no capitol whatsoever beyond my reputation as a musician and band leader, my experience writing a regular column for a national magazine (The Mother Earth News) for 6 years, and a little experience with graphics in the form of occasional posters or promo sheets for the bands. I can tell you it's not a good idea to start out without capitol AND partners. It's also almost a requirement that you should be a natural workaholic, which I'm not. Still, after a couple of years doing it as a free giveaway publication just in the Puget Sound area, I quit for a year (and wrote a screenplay) and regrouped with the idea of putting it out nationally, and with a price on the cover.
I didn't want to do it except for people
who were willing to pay for it. I wasn't able to sell enough
advertising or subscriptions to make anything on it as a local
publication, although some others have moved into the breech locally
and continued portions of that coverage. When I started it back up in 1989, I came up with the tagline "House Organ Of The Church Of Rock'n'Roll", and Doug Biggert, then head of the magazine division of Tower Records, liked the line enough to give me a chance and consign some for the chain. This was enough encouragement to keep me going, and I picked up a few more national distributors, doubled the number of pages from 16 to 32, then put a slick cover around it, which added 4 more pages. Gradually it got up to 68 pages total, counting the cover, and with issue #34 we went with a duotone cover, blue and black. It was always our intention to try and cover a whole spectrum of American Roots music, which is a tough row to hoe in an industry that finds it most convenient to pigeonhole everything for marketing purposes. At one point in the 68 page issues we were reviewing around 200 titles per issue, and because there was a big Blues boom going on, 90% of those titles were Blues, and we were perceived as a Blues magazine, in particular by advertisers. But when Stevie Ray Vaughan, Robert Cray and the Fabulous Thunderbirds put Blues on the map, everyone who had long wanted toe a Blues album decided then was the time. Soon there was a glut of Blues product eroding the chances to make money on individual titles, and also several new Blues publications competing for the ad dollars. We got kind of squeezed out of those dollars when 3 of the bigger publications began offering color ads, which cost a lot more at the time. Around 1990 the Rockabilly Revival began to reheat, and we began getting a bunch more Rockabilly product to review, which at a certain point changed the perception of Blue Suede News in the minds of several of our loyal Blues advertisers. Finally, in the last couple years, some of those are coming back, and newer Blues labels are seeing fit to advertise with us. We never changed our attitude about covering the whole spectrum, as we see it.
www.bluesuedenews.com
( COMING SOON PART TWO ! )
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