It’s official. With the approval of the Jackson District Library’s tech department–yes, the JDL has a tech department–the Jaxon Film Fest in conjunction with the Jackson District Library will start streaming a number of Saturday Matinees building to the Jaxon Film Festival (The Jaxon Film Fest will take place September 29th at the historic Michigan Theatre, downtown Jackson.) Featuring Michigan short films and features, the first of these Saturday Matinees will air Saturday, May 12, on ustream.tv/jaxonfilmfest at 2:00PM.

“It’s exciting and certainly a privilege to work with Steven George, the director of the Jackson East Branch Public Library.” says David W. King, director of the Jaxon Film Fest. “The library is more than a collection of books. It’s a valuable resource; an asset to the community; an ally; and, in this instance, a leader taking us into the 21st century.”

Although these matinees are open to the general public at the Jackson East Branch Library, 3125 East Michigan Avenue Jackson, MI (limited seating available.) because of the available apps on ustream.tv, these matinees can also be watched on personal computers, iPhones, iPads, Android devices and Android tablets. For apps http://ping.fm/2jxIx

The Jackson Library does have tech people. It has marketing people as well. It’s the library’s marketing people who will handle the marketing for this series of Saturday Matinees. Watch and listen for additional news and a list of scheduled films on local Jackson television stations, public access television stations, radio stations, newspapers, etc.

For additional information:
Steven George
Jackson East Branch Library
3125 East Michigan Avenue
Jackson, MI 49203
(517) 788-4074

David W. King
Jaxon Film Fest
P. O. Box 6283
Jackson, MI 49204
(517) 569-2351

If you would like to submit your Michigan-made films for broadcast and inclusion in the Jaxon Film Fest, here’s news that will interest you http://bit.ly/IDFzi8

The Jaxon Film Fest wants Michigan films. It is granting waivers to all Michigan made filmmakers, producers, etc. These may be of any genre including: Action, Adventure, Alternative, Anime, Art, Avant-garde, B-movie, Biography, Comedy, Coming of Age, Crime, Dance, Environmental, Fantasy, Flash, Horror, Mockumentary, News, etc. This would include music videos but the focus must be on Michigan bands of any genre.

Says Film Fest director David W. King, “Since we first announced our call for entries (February 28, 2012), we have done well beyond our expectations. But many of the films entered are entered accompanied with this query, “Will you grant us a waiver on your entrance fees?” Remembering that our focus is on Michigan films, we have decided effective as of today, April 1. 2012 (and this is not an April Fool’s joke) we are waiving fees on all Michigan films, and Michigan films only.

This would include films entered by Michigan filmmakers, Michigan producers, films shot in Michigan, films utilizing a Michigan cast or Michigan labor, or of a Michigan focus. These will be the only films for which waivers will be considered.

“While we will continue to accept films from elsewhere, and this includes international films, Michigan films will be the only ones to which we will grant waivers.

“To make this fair to other filmmakers, we are talking about various marketing measures we will institute beyond simply the consideration for showing a film.”

What these additional measures are was not disclosed. It was suggested that those interested email the Jaxon Film Fest.

What Kinds of Films are being sought? The Jaxon Film Fest is looking for entries in the following categories with a Michigan focus: feature films, shorts, documentaries.

A FEATURE FILM as defined by the Jaxon Film Fest are films of Narrative form, in any genre, from 45 to 141 minutes in length.

A SHORT is a film of any genre from 8 to 45 minutes in length.

DOCUMENTARIES are from 45 to 141 minutes in length and must have a topical Michigan interest. Documentary films constitute a broad category of non-fictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record.

For more information email the Jaxon Film Fest at jaxonfilmfest@gmail.com

Submit all films by mailing

David W. King
Jaxon Film Fest
P. O. Box 6283
Jackson, MI 49204

The Jaxon Film Fest Mission Statement The Jaxon Film Fest supports and celebrates the art and entertainment of film in all its forms. Through screenings and associated events, the festival aims to present a wide spectrum of filmmaking – feature films, documentaries, animation, short films, experimental, student work, big budget, micro-budget, trailers. . The Jaxon Film Fest offers filmmakers the opportunity to learn, grow and exhibit their films and bring audiences and filmmakers together to better enjoy the art and fun of filmmaking.

The festival will offer attendees quality films expanding their knowledge of cinema and enhancing their appreciation of the filmmaking process. Film professionals and the interested public will have the opportunity to gain industry knowledge through interaction within a festival environment.

Follow fast-breaking news on the Michigan Film Industry. Like us on Facebook:

http://ping.fm/4UVwP

It’s not too late to get your films in.

It’s official. With the approval of the Jackson District Library’s tech department—yes, the JDL has a tech department—the Jaxon Film Fest in conjunction with the Jackson District Library will start streaming a number of Saturday Matinees building to the Jaxon Film Festival (The Jaxon Film Fest will take place September 29th at the historic Michigan Theatre, downtown Jackson.) Featuring Michigan short films and features, the first of these Saturday Matinees will air Saturday, May 12, on ustream.tv/jaxonfilmfest at 2:00PM.

“It’s exciting and certainly a privilege to work with Steven George, the director of the Jackson East Branch Public Library.” says David W. King, director of the Jaxon Film Fest. “The library is more than a collection of books. It’s a valuable resource; an asset to the community; an ally; and, in this instance, a leader taking us into the 21st century.”

Although these matinees are open to the general public at the Jackson East Branch Library, 3125 East Michigan Avenue Jackson, MI (limited seating available.) because of the available apps on ustream.tv, these matinees can also be watched on personal computers, iPhones, iPads, Android devices and Android tablets. For apps http://ping.fm/XcUM9

The Jackson Library does have tech people. It has marketing people as well. It’s the library’s marketing people who will handle the marketing for this series of Saturday Matinees. Watch and listen for additional news and a list of scheduled films on local Jackson television stations, public access television stations, radio stations, newspapers, etc.

For additional information:
Steven George
Jackson East Branch Library
3125 East Michigan Avenue
Jackson, MI 49203
(517) 788-4074

David W. King
Jaxon Film Fest
P. O. Box 6283
Jackson, MI 49204
(517) 569-2351

If you would like to submit your Michigan-made films for broadcast and inclusion in the Jaxon Film Fest, here’s news that will interest you http://bit.ly/IDFzi8

Join us this coming Saturday, March 17 at the Carnegie Branch Library (that’s the main library in downtown Jackson ) for our very first Jaxon Film Fest Preview Party. The library is located at 244 W. Michigan Ave., Jackson, MI 49201.

Watch movies and voice your opinion regarding movies, features, shorts, documentaries, music videos, ad infinitum, we receive and whether you think they are strong enough and good enough to appear in the upcoming Jaxon Film Fest, scheduled September 29, 2012. Your opinion matters.

This Preview Party starts at 10:00 AM and runs until whenever. Admission is FREE. As this is our very first such party, we will see whether food and drink are allowed.

This coming Saturday we will Preview independent writer/ director/ producer David Spaltro’s newest release “Things I Don’t Understand.” David Spaltro grew up in Jersey City, New Jersey, across the Hudson from New York City. He graduated with a BFA in Directing at the School of Visual Arts in 2005. After a few years of traveling abroad and working as an editor he wrote, directed and produced his first feature film “…Around” in 2007. A love-letter to NYC and part auto-biography of his time at film school, “…Around” made the rounds on the festival circuit to much critical acclaim and found release through Cinetic Media online, VOD and on Netflix in 2009. It had it’s television debut on PB on Christmas Day in 2010. Spaltro wrapped his second feature film, the drama-comedy “Things I Don’t Understand” he also wrote, directed and produced in 2011. Adapting the biography “Sex and Rockets: The Occult World of Jack Parsons”

Trivia Regarding David Spaltro
Financed his first feature “…Around”, a semi-autobiographical tale of attending school in New York City while living out of Penn Station.

Lived and taught English for six months in Korea in 2006 where he both helped design a language and SAT prep program and wrote the first draft of a screenplay for what would become his first feature “…Around” (then called “Two More Years”).

Worked as an editor on a behind the scenes feature for “Where the Wilds Things Are”.

Avid boxer and has trained in several forms of fighting and defense including Akido, Brazilian Jui Jitsu, Tae Kwan Do and Wushu.

Michigan’s newest film fest, the Jaxon Film Fest (south-central Michigan’s newest independent film and music fest) has announced its call for entries.

The Jaxon Film Fest is Michigan’s newest film/music festival.

The Jaxon Film Fest is all about Michigan. Whether Michigan produced films, films with a Michigan focus, or films employing Michigan citizens, or Michigan music, the Jaxon Film Fest will have it all.

Located 60 miles west of Detroit in south-central Michigan along the I-94 corridor, approximately thirty miles west of Ann Arbor, Michigan (home of the University of Michigan); thirty miles east of Battle Creek/Kalamazoo, Michigan (home of Western Michigan University); and thirty miles south of Lansing, Michigan (the state capital and home of Michigan State University) and thirty minutes north of the Indiana and Ohio state lines, Jackson is the ideal location for Michigan’s film and music industries.

It also is looking for feature length films, shorts and documentaries of non-Michigan focus. With categories this broad, it is hoping to attract some of the best made films available.

We are sincerely interested in becoming a member of this community and engaging with other filmmakers, film festivals, and other film professionals. Drop us a line and say “Hi!” jaxonfilmfest@gmail.com

For more information:

If you are a Michigan based musician interested in an opportunity to play the Jaxon Film/Music Festival,http://ping.fm/LRMNK

When:September 11, 2011 1:20 p.m. – 9 p.m.

Where:The Bluestone 583 E. Broad Street Columbus, OH 43215

Who: Project Blues is a Columbus-based nonprofit using the healing, connecting power of Blues music to help raise funds for people impacted by cancer who do not have the financial resources to deal with it. Our work supports LifeCare Alliances’ Columbus Cancer Clinic by funding mammograms and adopting families. Further, we host benefit and outreach concerts in cancer clinics. www.projectblues.org

About the 1st Annual Blues Bash: Don’t miss the 1st Annual Project Blues Blues Bash – even if the shock of the stellar line-up blasts off your appendages and you gotta glue your arms and legs back on and carry your car to make it, do it. Because, this is one show that will keep Columbus talking for years! Proceeds from this event will go to support LifeCare Alliances’ Columbus Cancer Clinic. We promise it will be an epic event from 1:20 pm until 9:00 pm, with a Blues EXPERIENCE the likes of which you’ll never forget.

The Blues Bash Schedule: 1:20-1:50 pm Hurricane Jerry Loos will perform a solo acoustic set. This top Central Ohio Bluesman will set the stage with his virtuoso acoustic guitar skills and his back porch Blues. For more information on Jerry, check out: http://ping.fm/e1nxg

2:00-2:45 pm Ray Fuller and the Blues Rockers. Ray is THE top Columbus Blues man. He will Rock the house! For more information on Ray, check out: http://ping.fm/2hELN

3:00-4:00 pm Jon Del Toro Richardson and Rich DelGrosso. Bringing a whole lotta Texas to the Columbus stage. Check out: http://ping.fm/nohlo http://ping.fm/pbowv

4:15-5:30 pm Johnnie Bassett. Hailing from that Detroit Blues tradition, Johnnie will be the “Smooth before the Slap” and the “Calm before the Storm”. His new album “The Gentleman is Back” describes him. Smooth and sexy. Lookout ladies, Johnnie’s playing for you! http://ping.fm/zIcLz

5:45-7:00 pm Diunna Greenleaf with lead guitarist Jon Richardson. Diunna will make you cry! She will get to the Gospel in the BlueStone which is a turn of the century Church. With her big voice and big soul, she brings audiences to their knees. Check out: http://www.diunna.com/

7:30-9:00 pm And just when you thought it couldn’t possibly get any better – the legend himself, Mr. James Cotton “SuperHarp” and the James Cotton Blues Band with lead guitarist and Project Blues Member Tom Holland. James is a living legend, a Blues icon and certainly a national treasure. Hailed as the greatest all time Blues harmonica player and one of the last of the original and great electric bluesmen, James will light you on fire all, and then, you’re just done! Check out: http://ping.fm/MHk1Z

Interviews with Blues’ Artists: To arrange interviews with any of the Blues Artists, please contact Michelle via email moore-galvin@mindspring.com or by phone at 614-633-8124.

Tickets: Tickets start at $25 for military, students, fireman and police and $50 for general admission. Tables are also available. Proceeds benefit LifeCare Alliance’s Columbus Cancer Clinic.

To purchase tickets: http://ping.fm/L6QZt Get your tickets now because once they’re gone, they’re gone!

Media Credentials: We are issuing press passes for members of the media, please email Michelle to apply for yours.

Sponsors include: Mediu, Jontaar Creative, More Marketing, Commerce National Bank, Mrs. Ohio America, Columbus Blues Alliance, Central City Recording and Dusty Blues.

About Project Blues: Blues. It’s the sound of raw, unapologetic human emotion. Born of struggle, hardship, overcoming adversity and living to connect our common experiences through the beauty of music, Blues has helped define the pure American sound. While perhaps not one’s first thought when listening to the Blues, the range of emotions it evokes have a lot in common with those impacted by cancer. Project Blues was born first in the hearts of a few good men who had experienced cancer and helplessly watched loved ones struggle with the disease. The idea sprung up from the notion that there’s fellowship and healing in the Blues. Pain. Fellowship. Passion. Healing. This emotional journey brings us together in Project Blues. The Goal of Project Blues for 2011 is to sponsor 250 mammograms for women in need in the city of Columbus, and also to sponsor up to five families for up to one year while a family member is receiving treatment for cancer. www.projectblues.org

About LifeCare Alliance Formed in 1898, LifeCare Alliance is Central Ohio’s first in-home health care agency, Ohio’s first agency to provide visiting nurses, and the nation’s second agency to deliver Meals-on-Wheels. LifeCare Alliance is a not-for-profit organization that provides a comprehensive array of health and nutrition services to older adults and chronically ill or homebound residents of Central Ohio through its signature programs: Meals-on-Wheels, Senior Dining Centers, Wellness Centers, Help-at-Home, Visiting Nurses, Columbus Cancer Clinic, Project OpenHand-Columbus, and Groceries-to-Go.

The Agency’s mission is to lead the community in identifying and delivering health and nutrition services to meet the community’s changing needs.

LifeCare Alliance has emerged as a national leader in merger collaborations, having successfully completed three in the last seven years with Meals-on-Wheels of Madison County, Project Open Hand-Columbus and the Columbus Cancer Clinic. These mergers have eliminated or reduced costs and the redundancy of services in Central Ohio, resulting in more funds for programs, enhanced services and an increase in client access to basic needs.

LifeCare Alliance has begun several social entrepreneurship endeavors to provide added funding for our clients, including L.A. Catering, meal sales, corporate wellness programs and immunizations. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter. www.LifeCarealliance.org

For more information: Michelle Moore President, More Marketing 732 Stonewood Court Columbus, OH 43235 (p) +1 -614-633-8124 (f) +1-614-888-2437 (e) moore-galvin@mindspring.com

In two weeks Tim Corser, and Kings of Rock Entertainment fire up the monster music machinery for one last run this summer as they join 102.5 to present BuzzFest 2011, August 14 

23 bands will take one of three big stages Sunday, August 14 as Tim Corser, the King of Rock Entertainment and 102.5 FM presents Buzzfest 2011. This show will take place at the Riverwalk Amphitheater. Jackson, Michigan.

Although it has only been a month since Tim Corser and the Kings of Rock Entertainment produced Rockapalooza 2011, in less than a month they will crank up the monster music machinery again and present Buzzfest 2011. Rockapalooza 2011, which an estimated 8,000 people attended kicked off what was the official start of summer; Buzzfest 2011 will mark summer’s coming end. Firing on all cylinders this machine will a emit a sound that will once rock downtown Jackson, Michigan area and shake the walls of the city.

Featuring twenty three big bands on three separate stages, this show will be an almost non-stop, hard charging thirteen hours long. Featured are:

Main Stage: Evans Blue, Nonpoint, Egypt Central, Janus, Sore Eyes, Lifeline Revolution, Heads of Our Enemies, Jackson, Blackened Earth, Miles Away

Stage 2: Motograter, It Lies Within, Hollow Drive, Blackstone Masquerade, Evan Russell Safer, Last Born Legend, Caeser.

Stage 3: Anew Revolution, State Your Cause, As Summer Dies, Dreams for the Sleepless, In This Life From Standish, Thee Unknown, Circus Asylum, Know Lyfe.

If you have never attended a Tim Corser and Kings of Rock Entertainment show before, but your tastes in music favor alternative rock with an emphasis on original songwriting, these shows are a “can’t miss.”

C’mon out. Make the drive. Make this music the soundtrack of your summer 2011.

Riverwalk Amphitheater
1 Energy Plaza Dr.
Jackson, MI 49201

For more information:
Kings of Rock Entertainment
823 N. Wisner St.
Jackson, MI 49202
timcorser AT hotmail DOT com
For the official Buzzfest Facebook page:
http://ping.fm/mK8zh

A San Carlos warehouse filled with rock legend Neil Young’s music equipment, vintage cars and other memorabilia burned in a three-alarm blaze early Tuesday, causing an estimated $1.1 million in damage.

Workers and friends of the longtime Peninsula resident spent the day moving guitars, canisters of film, framed photos and other items that had been in the warehouse at 593 Quarry Road. Young, who lives in a home near La Honda, arrived at the site late in the day and surveyed the destruction.

Investigators have ruled out arson but didn’t say Tuesday what caused the fire.

The roughly 10,000-square-foot building sustained $300,000 in damage, and Young’s possessions that burned were worth about $800,000, Belmont-San Carlos Fire Marshal Jim Palisi. No one was injured in the fire.

The fire broke out about 2:55 a.m., and crews had the flames under control by 3:45 a.m., said Belmont-San Carlos Fire Chief Doug Fry, adding that firefighters saved up to 70 percent of the memorabilia, including six classic cars, that were stored in the warehouse.

A documentary Young made about Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, “CSNY/Déjà Vu,” was shown at the close of the Sundance Film Festival in 2008. Young rents the warehouse, which is on a street lined with industrial businesses, Fry said.

A Young spokesman declined to comment Tuesday on what items were in the warehouse.

One of the most important guitars in the history of rock and blues music will be released this December: Eric Clapton’s 1960 “Beano” Les Paul. The axe that Slowhand wielded on the classic John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers album Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton — when Londoners were declaring him “God” — will soon be available in stores, courtesy of the Gibson Custom Shop.

Check back in the coming weeks for more details!

John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers (featuring Eric Clapton),“Steppin’ Out”

[youtube=http://ping.fm/728Ld]

Nonesuch releases its second record from North Carolina-based string band the Carolina Chocolate Drops—a four-song EP—on January 25. The record is a collaboration with the New York City–based Romanian gypsy punk band Luminescent Orchestrii; it was co-produced by that group’s sound engineer, Joseph “Bass” DeJarnette, with the Carolina Chocolate Drops and Luminescent Orchestrii.

This self-titled EP is available for pre-order from the Nonesuch Store, where the first 100 copies of the CD and the first 100 copies of the 10” vinyl EP will be signed by the Carolina Chocolate Drops. All pre-orders include an instant digital download of the record’s opening track, “Short Dress Gal.” (As always, purchases from the Nonesuch Store include a high-quality digital download of the record at no additional charge, available release day.)

The project began when both the Luminescent Orchestrii and the Carolina Chocolate Drops, longtime admirers of each others’ music, were performing at the Folk Alliance festival in Memphis, Tennessee. Every day in Memphis, the Lumiis would set up in the hall and do a short set for the passersby. One day the Lumiis’ Sxip Shirey noticed that the Drops’ Rhiannon Giddens was watching and asked her to join them. What followed was “magic … one of those rare festival moments that never happens again,” as Shirey said.

The Chocolate Drops were soon invited to Brooklyn to join the Luminescent Orchestrii and their friend human beatboxer Adam Matta to record “Knockin’,” from the Lumiis’ record Too Hot to Sleep, and Blu Cantrell’s “Hit ’Em Up Style,” which was on the Drops’ album Genuine Negro Jig. Next the Lumiis and Matta went down to Winston-Salem, North Carolina, to record a new version of the Sam Morgan jazz classic “Short Dress Gal” and the Lumii song “Escoutas (Diga Diga Diga).” These four songs comprise Carolina Chocolate Drops / Luminescent Orchestrii.

The Carolina Chocolate Drops formed after band members Dom Flemons, Rhiannon Giddens, and Justin Robinson met at the Black Banjo Gathering in Boone, North Carolina, in 2005; they have toured continuously since the band’s inception. All three trained in the Piedmont banjo and fiddle musical tradition under the tutelage of Joe Thompson. The members come from diverse musical backgrounds, sharing singing duties and swapping instruments throughout their sets. Flemons has immersed himself in the music of the past, with a prodigious record collection and an immense knowledge of the different playing styles of the blues, country, and string band traditions. In addition to her work with Joe Thompson, Giddens—a Piedmont native—studied opera at Oberlin Conservatory, performs with a Celtic band and is also an avid contra dancer and caller. Robinson, the group’s main fiddler, also plays banjo; he grew up in a house full of musicians—his mother is a classically trained opera singer and cellist, his sister a classical pianist and his grandfather a harmonica player.

The Luminescent Orchestrii’s music features Romanian gypsy melodies, punk frenzy, salty tangos, hard-rocking klezmer, haunting Balkan harmony, hip-hop beats, and Appalachian fiddle, all eaten and spit out by two violins, resophonic guitar, bullhorn harmonica, and bass. The band members are from different scenes in New York City, yet come together through their love of Balkan and Gypsy music. Sxip Shirey is an international circus composer, Sarah Alden is an old-time fiddle player, Rima Fand is an experimental theater composer, and Benjy Fox-Rosen is a free-jazz bassist. It is not uncommon to find Shirey playing with the Bindlestiff Family Cirkus, Fand composing music for a Lorca puppet show, Fox-Rosen at a jazz gig, or Alden fiddling away at an all-night old-time session. Since 2002, when the band was formed, the Luminescent Orchestrii has toured the East Coast, England, Scotland, and Germany.

http://ping.fm/MdabL