AZ's Diary of a Damned Man

On the second of those Memorial Day weekends when I wasn't in the southwest I spent a rainy weekend at Camp Sweet Minnihaha and went canoeing and got wild with some old rock n roller fiends. And Gomez.

Last year a nursed a friend back to health from surgery. This year I lick my own wounds. And I swear next year this time I'll be back in Mexico.

Got caught in the rain on my bike this morning coming back from the 14th district Chicago Police Precinct with whom I had to visit to get some incomplete information. AZ and CPD or any PD for that matter have several conflicts and sometimes the only way to deal with things is face to face, which is that much easier, but at least you don't leave till you're satisfied.

So much for a wonderful holiday weekend. Hoo fucking ray. So after a morning marathon of Outer Limits I popped in the latest Type O CD, find a couple new favorites and sip tequila. And play it over again. It fits the weather we've been living with.

The weather in Chicago has been as erratic and unpredictable as a woman in the throws of PMS, which needless to say if you've ever had to deal with is not fun. Either of them.

Tomorrow it's finish the mag and we'll post the photos from last weeks shoot with Messy, Lady Snake, Angelique, Chrstyne, and Trixie. You'll all get to see the shirts Mr.. Martin Atkins had made for us.

The issue is huge and there are more interviews than ever before in this one. I actually had to take a lot out and am putting them on the website this week.

As you may know our reviews section, which is also our online store has some new additions and we'll be adding plenty more today. So if you want to buy any of the music we're writing about, this is a good place since you get the MK / Amazon.com discount.

Big photo shoot and filming for the MK DVD that we're producing with Undeerground Inc. this week with some great ViXXXens. And the new MK and MK ViXXXens shirts should be available later this week as well. They come in two versions. A baby doll T for the girls that reads I'm a ViXXXen on the front and MK logo on the back, and the mans shirt reads Got MK? on the front and has the logo on the back. They are quite cool I must say.

Tomorrow is D DAY which means it's done. And the weekend is for copy-editing and re-fining. Everything you've ever come to love about MK will be changed FOREVER. "BIGGER BADDER AND BETTER." And it'll be worth the wait. For fucks sake they said God created the world in 6 days and rested one, just imagine what I've compiled in 6 months.

On that topic, I got an email from Ed at AVN and he's actually submitted a ViXXXen to us for consideration. Now that's a rush coming from the leaders in Adult Entrainment, to approach us to subit a model. Ihope this is a sign of tings to come.

Layout will be done Friday. Kevin and I have 2 more days, I think left to wrap our end up, that is without going into the weekend.

June is already shaping up to be loaded. Looks like Bob may be getting a new speedboat which means it's dark tan and lots of water skiing for AZ.

I've got more coffee in my body today than I've put in it in a month, and I hope I can get some sleep. If not, it's back to writing up more DVD's, only this time it'll be music videos.

Before Day OF The Dead began which happens to be my favorite of the trilogy do to it's anatomically correct attention to gore, I was approached by a tall bald dude with a long black beard calling my name. It took me a minute but it was ROB X (Twardy) who once played in MACE, the cat who RON MARKS replaced. He was a friend of mine for years but we've lost touch since he moved to Kenosha and is involved with family life. And he and Amy have another one on the way after 14 years. As he followed me to the beer and wine counter a beautiful Nubian babe seemed to be eavesdropping and she asked if she may cut in from of me. and it dawned on me it was the one and only Miss Jacky Blacque of THRILL KILL KULT and she commented on how long it would take for me to recognize her. I gave her a great big hug and told her how great she looked and I went back in for the film. About 1/2 way into the film I decided to walk out into the lobby and see if I could catch George.

He was there and I showed him the photo I have of he and I 11 years ago at the ZOMBIE JAMBOREE which was the silver of NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD. Neither one of us look the same. We had small talk and later we got another photo together, and he asked me for some of my bubble gum. Then we went back into the theater for the end of the film and another Q&Q session with George. This time Rusty and another guy did most of the work and it was much more interesting than the babble the night before. There was lots of talk about TOM SAVINI and his new work on DIAMOND DEAD as well as the final chapter (?) of the DEAD series titled DEAD RECKONING, which he'll be doing with FOX/SEARCHLIGHT hopefully this year sometime.

He'll be back here July 30-Aug 1 for the Day Of The Dead reunion with Joe Pilato, Lori Cardille, Gary Klar and Anthony DiLeo. Joe Bob Briggs and a bunch of other will be here too. It's going to be an actual Drive In setting and should be pretty awesome.

MOVIESIDE is doing another festival in June at the BIOGRAPH as a Tromathon with Lloyd Kaufmann. Friday - June 18, 2004, and it will include 3 days of TROMA films and lots more surprises. See www.movieside.com for all the information.

I must say that in my nearly 7 years as a Chicago resident this is one of the things I've looked forward to the most. It is a really good time with great people involved all the way around. And Rusty does one hell of a job putting together a show.

Today I'm going back George is speaking again, and they are showing THE CRAZIES, DAY OF THE DEAD, and CREEPSHOW.

We will have lots of photos from this event and the guests, performers and attendees.

Where does a guy begin? I'm blown away and have been running and wheeling and dealing and shaking hands for 5 days 24 hours with minimal sleep.

Ron Marks the critically claim guitarist from Celtic Frost, who is a friend and business partner has a solo project called SUBSONIC, and he arrived in Chicago Saturday just afternoon at Midway. He was coming in for 4 things.

1) To Shop for a record deal

2) To see PRONG ( for which his best friend Dan play drums, and is in the band via a long story but is because of Ron's association with me back in 97....yes I'm proud of it and believe I'm entitled to bragging rights, so fuck all ya all naysayers) And for me to hang with my pal Tommy V.

3) To shoot stock footage for his video for the single "Dream American"

So before heading off to the club we decided to stop at Jewel for some supplies for the cookout we intended to host on Sunday. So among the grub we also got 2 fifths of tequila and a case of Tecate to add to the fifth of tequila and 12-pack of Tecate we had just tapped into at the haus. Then it was off to Chicago Heights.

To make a longer story shorter when we wheeled up into the backstage loading area I sang out of the car to the band.."On a cold and gray Chicago morn, another baby child is born, in the Ghetto." We got out and called with the boys for a few minutes. Aaron who I met back when he played in Rorschach Test was playing in PRONG now and remembered me from the night I took them and BILE out back in 2000. We made small talk and piled the car full of the PRONG guys along with Ron and Brigette and weaved back the tattered roads of Chicago heights. Tommy had remarked that when they checked in all of the people who worked there (who were all black) stared at PRONG and their tour manager Waldo like they had never seen white folk. We had people piled on top of each other in the car in a way I never had in my life, ever. So we managed not to get pulled over and we all went into the hotel and I video tape an interview w/ Tommy in his room while the others were getting showered. We also used this time to catch up. I hadn't seen Tommy since we were in Las Vegas last Sept and he came to hang out in our suite there on a hot southwest Saturday afternoon. We'd chatted a few times on line but that was it. About 9PM we piled back into the car and made it back to Oasis 160 where Dog Fashion Disco was wrapping up their set. Someone had remarked that a Megadeth tribute band was playing after PRONG and Aaron said and Puppet Show which is a SPINAL TAP joke. So I figured the whole Megadeth trib thing was a joke too.

We unloaded and hung out in the backstage area which isn't really back stage but on the other side of the massive Oasis 160 dance club. Now this entertainment multiplex is in a strip shopping mall, so you really have to picture yourself more in Indiana than what we're familiar with here in Chicago. But northern Indiana is pretty much a big Chicago suburb and a lot of Chicago's suburbs are like being in Indiana. It's really hard to explain in a way that doesn't insult people so I'll refrain from trying as I don't want to do that. So Rodney and SuZn joined us back there and Dan Locke showed up and we shot some backstage stuff and weaved our way back out to the rock part of the club where I saw Fred and Jeff, and Brian the Metal Maniac, Steve and some other friends.

PRONG took the stage at 10:30 and I copped a squat up front by the stage and video taped their first song for the DVD. Then I joined my friends on the other side of the barricade and enjoyed a lengthy PRONG set. There wasn't really enough material from their new album SCORPIO RISING for my tastes. The album is great and I play it a lot more than a lot of the other newer metal I've been getting in the mail. And I wasn't the least surprised when my old pal dedicated a song to me which was "Cut Rate" from the CLEANSING album, which was a huge release for PRONG back in the early 90's. A lot of people aren't aware that the theme song to the old Headbangers ball was actually PRONG, but it sure was. The set ended and they came out for a great encore of 2 songs and said goodnight. I knew I would be deaf but I stayed up front for my friends. Dan and SuZn took a lot of photos and we all convened in a side room by the unloading area. Tommy asked me, "You're not leaving are you?' because the last couple of times I saw them the person I was with insisted on leaving afterwards. So we hung out and the club really wanted all of PRONG's shit out of the club to the extent that the security was loading the van. So we planed to meet up across the street at a sports bar and this is where it really gets funny.

Before we split and we still fucking around in the unloading area, Aaron came running up and told us some really nasty girls were onstage with this Megadeth tribute act. YES it was true, there was a totally different show starting after PRONG and though there was a puppet show, this was much more hilarious. We walked up to the side stage and it was happening. Some serious corn fed babes were dancing and hanging al over and drooling for these local guys who were the late night act these kids all came to see. And they were eating it up and we were nearly pissing and soiling our undies watching this putrid yet vulgar display of adoration. So naturally, I captured a few minutes on tape.

Half an hour later and we were at this Sports bar called Teezerz and the people were a little thrown off by the appearance of over a dozen long hairs and dark clothed people ordering pitchers and pitchers of beer. It was just Me, Ron, Brigette, Rodney, SuZn the band and the tour manager, but it was enough to look like an invasion. And the village appeared to get a little restless. The best part was they were doing Karaoke and you know Tommy was getting up there. And when he did I was down front with the video camera and got the performance which is also going on the DVD. Now you must imagine the setting. The walls was that paneling you may have had in your rec room if you are from my era, and there was a little disco ball above the stage, an American flag was draped in the back to remind us all where we were and the piece de la resistance was one of those yellow have a nice day smiley faces with a stupid flickering Christmas wreath around it.

The show stopper was when this leggy Hill-Jenny got up and started dancing around Tommy doing the woo oooh yell. And another ball cap guy grabbed the other microphone and sang along with him at the end of the song which was Enter Sandman. Now, Enter Sand Man has go to be the WORST fucking song to do Karaoke to because you spend more time waiting out the measures and standing there than you do singing. And our dear Mr. Victor did so with that trade mark smile on his mug. Now he may have been smiling because he was so happy to be singing to a taped performance, but I suspect he was amused at the same thing me and my pals were.And if you're reading this you know what I'm alluding to.

Most of the band went back to the hotel while me and Ron, Dan and Brigette drank a few more pitchers before last call. Dan and Ron are best friends, and they both played in a band with Trent Reznor before Trent went to Cleveland and played in Lucky Pierre and later started NIN in Chicago. Ironically where I fit into this picture is that Dan is in PRONG because I met Ron after he played in CELTIC FROST as a lead guitarist for MACE and because I knew Tommy, Dan got a job playing for PRONG. With that all said and done and now part of rock history, I must not forget that when Waldo before Waldo drove the rest of the band back to the hotel he promised to make me a drink called An Incredible Hulk, which would be the last thing I'd be able to consume that morning.

So we fucked around at Teezerz a bit longer, hit a White Castle on the way, all the while Dan insisted that Waldo would be asleep, and we arrived at the hotel. We went to Tommy's room and there was Waldo waiting for me with a big glass full of green liquid and I poured it down my drink-hole, and that was it. I wasn't driving and I gave Ron the keys. It was 530 and Tommy finished playing the new MINISTRY CD I let him listen to and we were on the road and the sun was coming up. 45-min later we were in Chicago and 15 min after that fast asleep. It was on of the great nights just like the old days with no curfew and noting went wrong and everyone involved were happy.

Sunday began just before noon and I began dragging the grill and cooler downstairs to the yard to grill out. I don't think I even bothered with coffee and went right for a cold cold cerveza. Ron wakes up later than most and didn't jump up when I played the Elvis version of In The Ghetto in the office, but he later admitted upon rising from his slumber that he heard it. He remarked what a creepy song it was and it was even creepier the way Elvis sang it. With just less than 5 hours of sleep in me we were at it. I had invited Yvette Lera over and she brought her friend Yvette Marie the photographer. Later on Steve Franks from Ranallis came by with some friends as well. The weather was weird. It's pour rain for 5-10 minutes and stop for a few hours and do the same thing again. But we hung out ate and had fun. As the night dropped on us we took the stuff inside, everyone left and Ron and I turn up our guitars and began playing KISS songs and more very loudly. We kept at this till about 10 PM and little did we know we finished all of the alcohol with the exception of 3 Tecate.

With a couple days of deaconry and rock n roll behind us, not to mention the damage on anyone who lives within range of our amps may have sustained, we were alive and kicking Monday morning. At 12:30 we were on the road and had a meeting with Sonic Wave International. A record label who is better known for it's massive distribution than they are for giving big advances to create albums. They have offices in the USA and in Singapore, and I know their executive producer very well. In fact both of us are mentioned and pictured in the same article of Rock and Porn issue of AVN. Traffic was hellacious and I had never been to Arlington Heights before. But after getting lost and finally arriving we were greeted by the secretary and led back to the executive office, And after the proper introductions and catching up we got down to business. An hour or so later we walked out with a contract. Now it's not signed as of today because our attorney still has to look it over but as far as we see it serves Ron's causes very well and being that I will be acting as his media relations publicist, he earns another 5% on top of his percentage of royalties and 100% of his publishing profits. His distribution will be in every Best Buy, Tower, Borders, Barnes and Nobles and every large record chain in the world, not to mention every country. It will be as good as what he had in FROST, only he will retain the largest profit as opposed to sharing it and not getting any of the publishing, which is what you want when all is said and done. The label will not only distribute his new record but may re-release his last album which was on the Canadian based OUTLAW RECORDS. And they manufacture all of them and will sticker the release according with the tag"FORMER GUITARIST OF CELTIC FROST.

When we got in the car he was stunned and said what just happened. I was like, I told you what happens when you hire AZ for PR. (Now his check had better clear or I'm off to Pennsylvania with my Louisville Slugger.) Ron is basically hiring me for a 6 month deal and from there he may opt to continuer with me or pursue another.

With that behind us, we were in the ran and it took us over 3 hours to make the 30 mile drive back to the office. And it sucked nuts. However, the slower traffic provided us with meeting time that if we had been at the office could have easily been interrupted with phone calls and emails.

We celebrated with Briegtte at her favorite Mexican restaurant, Luna Mexican and we had huge meals and lots of margaritas. Dale Bennett caught up with us there. He had driven from Iowa to check out the Genitorturers and Pitbull Daycare and would be staying the night in the rock room. So we finished up, hung out at the office, Dale took off and we all went to sleep to prepare for the video shoot the next day.

Tuesday we grabbed breakfast and Ron and I ran some errands, I tooled around in the garden outside and the film crew from Indiana showed up. It wasn't the whole crew but Solomon Mortamur the mastermind behind the soon to be cult classic IT CAME FROM TRAFALGAR and his assistant Earl Butterworth arrived and after a shot and a beer we were off to Navy Pier for some exterior shots for Ron's single "Dream American". But on teh way we stopped by teh recording studio where we will record teh interior and live/lip synched portion of the video. And we took in it's deck which his high upon the Chicago skyline with the city on every side of it. We grabbed some shots from there and I took us all to the Pier as we played David Allan Coe CD's in the car.

We did about an hour or so on the pier and came back to the office, grabbed some chow and then, arrived at the EXIT where Corey was kind enough to allow us to shoot some interior stuff there for a few hours. Now being that everything was going 100% perfect and just as planned up until this point you know something would have tee go wrong and it did. Some of the extras that we had there to be in the shoot were un-coopperatitive which made things very difficult. But we made it through and the Indiana boys were on their way back with lots of footage and Ron and I hung at the bar for another hour or so before grabbing a cab over to LIARS CLUB.

At LIARS we ran into a lot of friends including Louis Svitek who played In MINISTRY and some other bands. He and Ron had never met, but the drummer for FROST Reed St. Mark also played in Lou's band MINDFUNK for a while, so they had that in common. We saw a lot of other friends as I introduced Ron to them and we closed my old stomping ground down and came home for a good nights sleep.

The next day I was worn out. I had been wheeling and dealing for well over 5 days and needed a brake. NOT BREAK, a real BRAKE. So after getting Ron to the airport I let my hair down, put my feet up and took a few days off.

Part two of this story will begin with a camping excursion to Sweet Minnihaha in Wisconsin next month and the wrap up of the video.

Thanks to everyone include Solomon and Earl, PRONG, THE EXIT, Herb at LIARS CLUB, all the Mexican Restaurants in Logan Square, the fine people of NAVY PIER, CHICAGO HEIGHTS, and Anand Bhatt at Sonic Wave International, and the Yvette's for their last minute suggestions.

Today and tonight we shoot some footage for Ron's new single. And we finished up a month from now and send the masters off to the label.

The weather is shitty, it's warm and milky out.

All I have time for now, expect a massive update about everything from PRONG till today.

Thursday afternoon SuZn came by and we did the financial reports for Alex Zander Enterprises, Inc. it was long and tedious and when all was done, everything was in line and looking pretty good considering all the money spent on attorneys, filings, and other legal expenses racked up last year to reform the publication. Afterwards we dropped into Dorothy's for a couple beers. Later I joined my long lost fiend Jeff for 60 hot wings at Birds Nest and I gave him a stack of porn to review for MK. I made sure he got the nasty stuff since he's sure to appreciate it more than most others who are usually turned off by Bukakke

Friday night we went to "LAS PALMAS" RESTAURANT & LOUNGE to see the photography exhibit by SERPENT'S TEMPTATION and EXPRESIONES ARTISTICAS. Fernando and Lady Snake introduced us to some new people and Zoran and his brother joined us along with Raven Danzig and her group from the Minneapolis based Evilworks Inc. I couldn't stay much past 1230 since I have to pick up Ron Marks at the airport who is coming in to do some work this week. Tonight we are going to see PRONG at Oasis 160 who have his best friend Dan Laudo as the drummer. Of course my buddy Tommy Victor is the main man and he is pretty thrilled that I was in AVN.

If weather permits tomorrow we'll be grilling out and the beautiful Yvette Lera is stopping by.

We have welcomed a few fresh talent on board at MK this week Jeff Phillips is our new metal writer who took the helm this week.

As you likely know from looking at the site the Rock n Porn cover story of AVN Online came out. I am honored to not only be featured in it, but the only other publisher who was included and pictured was Larry Flynt. I never thought I'd see that day. It hit stands today so it will be interesting to see what develops from this. I do know that our new issue is going to be received in a huge way. I'm expecting massive orders from now on. The Messy issue sold well enough that the orders for the next were increased and luckily for me things happened this winter the way they did to work in my favor. I doubt I would have had the kick in the ass revelation I did to gut the whole thing. Or maybe it was that awesome bottle Hacienda De Chihcahua imported Tequila Zoran bought for me.

The Al J interview was yesterday and Rich is interviewing Gene today.