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Little miss perfect

Posted on: July 6th, 2014 by tommyj

Courtney Love: "Artists can self-destruct so easily. […]

Beyoncé named most powerful celebrity

Posted on: July 2nd, 2014 by tommyj

NEW YORK: U.S. pop singer Beyoncé, basketball […]

… Cher turns back time

Posted on: June 24th, 2014 by tommyj

Cher performs in concert at Rexall Place […]

The Bacon Brothers to Play MPAC, 7/20

Posted on: June 18th, 2014 by tommyj

The Bacon Brothers to Play MPAC, 7/20 […]

Dustin Lynch Hits the West Coast

Posted on: June 15th, 2014 by tommyj

DustinLynch_photo1_300dpi-m_1San Diego, California or the West Coast has not been know for its Big Country Western sound in the music industry.  When you think about San Diego and the West Coast sound, you think of The Beach Boys, Van Halen, Katy Perry, Snoop Dogg, P.O.D., Poncho Sanchez (raised in Norwalk) and a host of other sounds.  You may not see them all on stage at one time but they all represent the diversity in sound that is the west coast. California has not been on the top of the list in producing great country western singers and musicians. East County communities of San Diego have long been and are big supporters of country music.  With small pockets of Country & Western venues sprinkled here in there (InCahoots in Mission Vally and Double Duces in the Gaslamp), it will be hard to find a bar with a mechanical bull to ride and/or enjoy watching a good ride, let alone do the most up to date 2 step. In Comes Dustin Lynch out of Nashville, Tennessee, bringing a little Country Swag to San Diego.  Dustin Will be peformong live Sunday night @ 8:00pm PST, inside ethe all new Tin Roof Bar & Restaurant, in the heart of the Gaslamp.  The Tin Roof is San Deigo’s newest performing venue where music is LIVE and so is the crowd. Will this be the start of the new invasion of Country to San Diego?

The note on the Bluebird Café’s Facebook page says it all: customers who visit the Nashville songwriters club – instrumental in the development of Garth Brooks, Faith Hill and Kathy Mattea – are expected to keep quiet and listen to the words from some of Music City’s most influential composers.

It all goes back to the Bluebird for Lynch, a native of Tullahoma, Tennessee. Influenced in his youth by such stalwart country singers as Alan Jackson, Garth Brooks and Clint Black, Lynch knew the importance of the Bluebird, and he chose his college – David Lipscomb University – in part because it was less than two miles from the club, which proved immensely important in his development.DustinLynch_photo3_300dpi-m_0-1

Listening has an added benefit – it gives the listener a chance to learn.

That’s how singer-songwriter Dustin Lynch used the Bluebird. And he used it intensely. He rented an apartment behind the venue’s back parking lot and literally walked to the Bluebird several times a week to listen and learn about the mysterious art of creating songs from some of Nashville’s most important writers. Don Schlitz (“The Gambler”), Tony Arata (“The Dance”), Paul Overstreet (“Forever And Ever, Amen”) – all are mainstays of the Bluebird legend, and it was at their proverbial feet that he picked up key insights about the writing process.
“I was soaking it in, trying to be a sponge,” Lynch says. “I was mainly trying to hear the story behind the song, how it came about, what it’s really about. There’s something about understanding the songwriter’s realm. You get a little more grip on the way it was written and why it was written and how they got to the finished product.”

DustinLynch_photo2_300dpi-mThat education paid off in a big way for Lynch. He signed with Broken Bow Records – the home of Jason Aldean and sister label to Stoney Creek Records (home to Thompson Square) .His debut single, “Cowboy and Angels,” is quickly rising up the Country charts. Lynch is working with producer Brett Beavers (known for his work with Dierks Bentley) and engineer Luke Wooten (Brad Paisley, Sunny Sweeney) on his debut album (due August 21, 2012) with a backlog of his own songs. He’s written that material with a bundle of Music City’s top writers – Dallas Davidson (“Just A Kiss”), Tim Nichols (“Live Like You Were Dying”), Casey Beathard (“Don’t Blink”), Phil O’Donnell (“Back When I Knew It All”) and Steve Bogard (“Prayin’ For Daylight”), to name a few.

DustinLynch_Banner_300x250_v2Click here to watch Dustin's Video Where It's At

San Diego will be honored to have a rising star such as Dustin Lynch perform in an area where Country Music is not one of the staple products or sound.  Look for a follow up interview soon in The Image Of Magazine, as we follow the career of this soon to be mega star.  We are looking forward to supporting Dustin in his rise and keep his Country Swag alive here on the West Coast.  So if your father loves Country, show him that you really care and bring him to a one of a kind show in San Diego.

 

Tommy Jennings

Editor – The Image Of Magazine

 

 

Jennifer Lopez, at peace with herself

Posted on: June 13th, 2014 by tommyj

Jennifer Lopez In the course of one […]

Fingerprints at the San Francisco Black Film Festival

Posted on: June 11th, 2014 by tommyj

Fingerprints ArtClick here to see trailer of Fingerprints
Whether my creativity has expressed itself through poetry, songwriting (ASCAP), fiction, screenplays or drawings, the arts have always been great passions of mine.  Despite being among the few of my time raised without television, film for me became the ultimate canvas.  I started writing poetry for spoken-word performance and was working with local indie singers/music studios in San Diego when I relocated there at the age of 19.  At the same time, I also wanted to write a novel.  Point being, I was writing all the time.   I kept a book (before my lap top days) under my bed called, The Brain Storm, because I never knew when it was going to hit; the need to write something; a melody, a phrase, a poem an opening to a story at 2, 3 or 4 in the morning and I had to get it down on paper before it was lost.  A friend of mine had me show my writing to a writer on Moesha named Norman Vance.  Well, after reading a draft of my novel, Girlfriends, he convinced me into turning it into a script.  I did not, however, know the first thing about writing a screenplay or ever thought of writing for the screen but I did my research and wrote my first complete script.  That was all it took, I was RobynCharlesaddicted.  The visual arts, the poetry, the characters, storytelling all of it synthesized for me in screenwriting and I was determined to learn as much as I can.  I enrolled in San Diego Community College District and then transferred to UCLA after being admitted into the film program.  I went with the intention of becoming a screenwriter only, but the beauty of the undergraduate program at UCLA is that you have to do everything before you can concentrate in your senior year.  When I saw my first short-film project on the big screen, I became addicted and could not fathom writing without directing.  What I fell in love with is working with the actors.  So for my senior year, I completed the production track stayed an additional year to complete the screenwriting track and immediately applied to the Graduate Directing Program at UCLA.  I felt that at this point in my education – or should I say my journey – I was on the cusp of “becoming” for lack of a better word and if I did not continue my education, my growth as an artist would be stunted.  Thankfully, I was admitted and while completing the directing program also completed (unofficially) the screenwriting program writing several features and television projects as well as producing and directing several short films with Fingerprints being my feature debut.

THE SAN FRANCISCO BLACK FILM FESTIVAL was founded with the artistic vision to provide a platform for Black filmmakers, screenwriters, and actors to present their art. As a competitive film festival, SFBFF identifies filmmakers, screenwriters, and actors that are emerging as talents and established artists who are contributing to the cinematic legacy of African Americans. SFBFF conscientiously expands the notions of “Black film-making” to a global perspective. Hence, film submissions are accepted worldwide from filmmakers and screenwriters who are of African descent and others, or feature actors representing the African Diaspora..

unnamedFingerprints draws us into a world in which an individual is faced with battling demons that only arise from the most opaque recesses of the human mind – the outward manifestation of an internal war that is profoundly human. Gregory Marks is a comedian on the rise who does not realize his comedy is a defense mechanism that masks a dark side he unleashes when pursuing an Oscar-worthy performance in a dramatic role that sends him spiraling into madness. As a Juvenalian satire,unnamed-1 Fingerprints blurs the line between comedy and tragedy and like Black Swan and The Fighter it will catch you off guard as a psycho drama but with an urban twist anchored in the competitive world of the entertainment industry.

The idea of Fingerprints began with me wanting to explore the vulnerability of comedians and what caused them to implode under pressure.  At the time I began writing the story, almost every major comedian we all knew and loved had had some type public breakdown and by the time I was in post Kevin Hart had his Laugh at My Pain tour and Katt Williams was struggling.  For me the script was a great vehicle to explore the fragility of human nature by placing it in the superficial world of entertainment.  So I created this world based on popular misconceptions of what it means to work in Hollywood and be famous. I adore actors; the fragility, the vulnerability, the process.  Watching a great performance is like watching someone exposed, no skin, nerves raw and I am often time frustrated with those who do not respect “the process” arbitrarily assigning themselves the title of actor with absolutely no training or understanding of the psychological toll it takes to become great at the craft. unnamedWhat better way to explore the fragility of someone who hides behind his defense mechanisms as a comedian than to force him to delve into what he has suppressed while placing a level of trust in someone else’s hands (i.e. the director, acting coach, etc.) that for most is way to much to ask. 

 

The San Francisco Black Film Festival will be taking place at the theater in YOSHI’s (The Jazz Heritage Center’s Media & Education Room and the Burial Clay Theater (@ the A.A.A.C.C.). There will be special events and a Filmmakers Lounge for media types to socialize and network. Forums discussing the state of Independent Film and how you can cash in within the new environment as Online Streaming fights for good content. There will be a music aspect as well as we discuss “Scores” and show music documentarys supplemented by live shows with Q&A’s. This is the place how to find out how to get that project done within your budget parameters and find out how DIY are getting the job done. This festival is for everyone and everyone is invited! Come share the culture that helped shape San Francisco and enjoy great films that are of entertainment and importance to all. 

Other notable selections include Lion Of Kings fea. Cuba Gooding Jr. and Dennis Haysbert; That Daughter’s Crazy: Rain Pryor; The cChanging Faces of Harlem and Black and CUba.  Visit www.sfbff.org to get the full list of films and times, as well as events for the film SFBFF weekend.

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Jazz at the Creek

Posted on: June 9th, 2014 by tommyj

Jazz at the Creek with M.A.N.D.A.T.E. Records

By: Jacqueline Penhos

  

  JATClogoheader-v3_white2-copya copy          Bringing originality back and adding a new twist, that’s what Jazz at the Creek is all about. If you’re anything like me, you appreciate the sultry sounds of Bessie Smith, Etta Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Louis Armstrong, George Benson, and Ray Charles. A few Sundays ago I had the opportunity to meet a few of the new names added to the lovely genre, we call Jazz. Upon arrival, I immediately felt the smooth tempo and FAwJv-T_WS71-BwZ5CwpI9kLMVRc10GSmv70djio7DA,4BZjUB3y_6NJ6UIyIpf02igm7DmOQooLH2pI_qeGGPAfresh air. After a couple hellos and lots of hugs,  I started to meet the Artists. I had the pleasure of interviewing the one and only Marion Meadows. One of the best American Saxophonist, Composer, and smooth Jazz recording artist. Native of West Virgina, grew up in Connecticut,  Marion graced San Diego with his presence for the first time in 5 years. Jazz at the Creek motivated him to return. His passions for music, led him to appreciate the works of many jazz musicians such as Stevie Wonder and Duke Ellington. After studying jazz with Anthony Truglia, Meadows attended Berklee College of Music, where he majored in arranging and composition. He later went to SUNY Purchase School of the Arts where he studied under Ron Herder.  dLP7CiNcSXbaKqzCWbD_VbtiRrr_AyNRYBiFoYTK7o4,YTQVOkeCH_rvHbNatm8YAdwFRmz4fgIIc8b7kbOxOnEMarion has an eclectic group of inspirations, from Miles Davis to West Montgomery. Growing up in a household with a variety of music, in his words, “The Express Train, overwhelming.” “Unfortunately the generations coming up will never hear the marvelous icons we grew up with.” I asked his opinion of the future of our music industry and where do you think it’s going?  “It’s a good time for Artists (contemporary jazz artists), at least internationally, not so much in United States. It’s important for people (younger) to understand and appreciate the history of music. We haven’t kept up with the education of music. Our kids don’t  know about different genres of music because most schools do not have the budget for such programs.  Music always recycles around, generation after generation. If you’re a true musician then you learn about it and appreciate it.ZzDcGizD4dDk911rM8Tc5oli6WtvCVNcCbsuKyj0D7Y

            “This series brings Jazz to the community. Meaning, it affords an opportunity for those who are community involved, as well as those who are community jazz enthusiasts to come together in a multicultural setting, where they oriented, networking , and enjoy good music.” Enjoying Jazz at the Creek reminds our generation that Jazz is part of history. It must be honored and remembered. It brings me joy to know that young people are being conscious and positive.

The Groove Masters also wowed the crowd with a personal touch performance.  As they grooved the crowed on stage, several attendees were pleasantly surprised with a in your face, in your lap performance, as the band members played to and in the audience.  Locals such as Kelly Cole, Authur Mitchell, Douglas Oden and the owners of Baad Baby Clothing Diana Higgins and William Campbell got an upclose and personal show. As I was going to sit down and enjoy the show, I met Kelly Cole and Amehd Dense both radio personalities and Jazz lovers. Each show is also posted online. Ms. Cole believes in promoting new artists and new music.  Amehd is the Host for Jazz at the Creek and Lights Out with 98.1. Both were a joy to meet and learn from.

 hh_pLAQpL52rsak3vKofFnyCJsaK5r_QxOymnowt9owAmehd reminds us that a portion of each ticket purchased will go to the San Diego Food Bank Kids Backpack Program. There are children in San Diego, who are in need of food and essential items to help them grow in strength and confidence. What better way to make a donation to a child and enjoy an afternoon of soulistic vibes. Jazz at Market Creek plaza, sets a new perspective and positive energy to our community. Market Creek is the perfect location, to enjoy a weekend afternoon, listening to Jazz, enjoying a few bites while supporting the arts.  For more information, visit www.JazzattheCreek.com for showtimes any lineup. JazzCreek2014Postcardweb6

The next installment for Jazz at the Creek is this Saturday June 14.  It is recommended to arrive early for parking and good seating.  The lineup include industry leading guitarist Paul Brown with special guest Elan Trotman and Curtis Brooks. Jazz at the Creek is produced by M.A.N.D.A.T.E Records, Lead by Leonard Thompson (Masters of Education, Bachelors of Business Administration, Psychology of Business Management & Productivity) and Michelle Thompson, who are well known in the industry for seeking and finding talent, while developing artist for “Show Ready” status. M.A.N.D.A.T.E. Records produces quality shows and artist throughout the industry in gospel, R&B and jazz.  To find out more about MANDATE Records and future shows visit www.mandaterecords.com.

 

 

 

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Two Producers, One Concert, Many Surprises Special

Posted on: June 7th, 2014 by tommyj

Toronto – Hal Willner is known for […]

Filling Station Pub – Bikini Contest Vol. 1

Posted on: June 5th, 2014 by tommyj

Bikini_Contest The first Bikini Contest of the year in San Diego takes place at The Filling Station Pub.  This is the 3rd annual and the military patrons are never disappointed because they get to chose their winners.  Be sure to check out the first of many bikini shows this summer in San Diego and across the country. We are always looking for our first bikini cover for The Image Of Magazine.  Who knows, maybe this weeks winner from the Filling Station Pub will be chosen for the  cover shot for a upcoming feature.

The Filling Station Pub is one of SanDiego’s top venues that cater to our military with a chilled atmosphere and great drinks and specials.  For the local crowd The Filling Station Pub is a great watering hole and good food prices.  The DJ’s are some of San Diego’s best and karaoke selections are as diverse and the city itself… The singers, well lets just say most of them give it the ole college try.  But don’t be surprised when you do hear a singer or two make Simon and Randy have a kumbaya moment.

The Contest starts at 11:00pm but the fun begins when the doors open.  Lets see what fun we can have this Saturday night and who walks away with the top prize.

The Filling Station is located at 9522 Miramar Rd, San Diego, CA 92126.  Call (858) 578-0757 for more details.