Interview: Donita Sparks

Donita Sparks co-founded the heavy riff-oriented band L7 in 1985. L7 released six studio albums, one live CD, and one greatest hits record. Their 1992 release Bricks Are Heavy was included in Rolling Stone’s list of “Essential Albums of the 1990s”. With their recording career beginning in 1987 and continuing through the ’90s, L7 spawned underground and mainstream hits such as: Shove, Pretend We’re Dead, Shitlist, Andres, and Fuel My Fire.

Touring the world countless times, L7 also graced the main-stage of Lollapalooza in 1994 and appeared in the John Waters movie Serial Mom as the band “Camel Lips”. In 1991 Donita and L7 formed Rock For Choice with the Feminist Majority Foundation which staged numerous concerts benefiting pro-choice organizations.

Recently, Donita along with Kristin Hersh launched CASH Music (Coalition of Artists and Stake Holders). CASH Music is a platform for artists to create a sustainable livelihood and more interaction/exchange with their fans. In addition, Donita contributed to the score of the 2007 feature film The Life of Reilly (starring the late Charles Nelson Reilly). She writes a weekly music column “The Spin I’m In” for the popular, politically progressive blog Firedoglake.com. Donita also created a mash-up of Brazilian rock sensations CSS (vs. L7) in response to the band doing a lively cover of the Sparks’ penned L7 classic Pretend We’re Dead. The mash-up, Pretend We’re Alala, can be heard on L7’s and CSS’s MySpace pages.

We had the honor of sitting down with Donita to discuss her new album, her days with L7, touring with Nirvana, and her business venture with Cash Music. Here’s what she had to say:

DVD Review: Les Miserables: 2 Disc Collector’s Edition

Les Miserables has been a long time favorite of mine. I was a huge fan of book by Victor Hugo during my youth, and I’ve been equally as enthused about the musical all 3 times I have seen it. I’m not alone in my love for this musical though, as it’s been seen by over 51 million people worldwide.

DVD Review: The Invasion

The Invasion is the newest remake of a classic that takes a new bent more disposed to our technological advances and better understanding of microbial threats. In fact, the new delivery system of the alien invasion is more believable to the modern mind which makes the invasion that much more willing to accept.

Interview: Ryan and Rage from Flurish

Drawing from influences like U2, Depeche Mode and The Cure, Flurish banded together to create intense, beautiful rock and roll and that’s exactly what they do. Over the years, their craft has matured as their sounds range from a flurry of athereal orchestral rock to 80’s electronic pop that makes you want to get up and move. Not only does Flurish constantly strive to reinvent the limits of pop music, but their unorthodox live performance has been turning heads for years. For such a massive, sweeping sound, one would be surprised to find only 2 guys onstage. How do they do it? One might ask. With the masterful use of technology and an electrifying dynamic, Flurish has discovered that 2 is all you need. When taking the stage, the band is confident in their ability to take the crowd to the next level, giving them something they’ve never seen before.

We had the honor of sitting down with Rage and Ryan at a local Atlanta coffee shop to talk about music, touring, and their favorite television shows.

DVD Review: Becoming Jane

Becoming Jane is inspired by the untold story that influenced the novels of one of the most well known and celebrated authors. While the movie offers a speculative view at the life of the young Jane Austen, it offers viewers an emotionally engaging love story.

Jane Austen (Anne Hathaway) seems to have everything in order, though she is constantly asked if she’s experienced the love that she writes about…

Interview: Nate Koach and Jason Reed from Sub Urban Riot

Sub Urban Riot can’t be mistaken for an unruly band of ne’er-do-wells. They simply believe in supplying endless fun in an otherwise serious world. They fuse unlikely partners, enjoy planned chaos and they can be found breeding curiosity. A diverse, bizarre and delicious marriage of bold simplicity, grit and attitude.

In a world dominated by obnoxious in your face noise, their attitude is different. They turn that noise into something usable, which they see as turning the dull into something poignant. They’re part of an unusual band of rioters. This band of Rioters is on the rise; building “endless fun in an otherwise serious world”.

Interview: Jean-Luc Bilodeau from Kyle XY

Kyle XY follows a mysterious boy who looks like a teenager, but otherwise appears to be a newborn. The Trager family takes him in as one of their own. The series is produced by Touchstone and executive producers J. Mackye Gruber, Eric Bress, and David Himelfarb.

We had the honor of interviewing Jean-Luc Bilodeau who plays Josh Trager on the series, and here’s what she had to say.

Interview: Kristen Prout from Kyle XY

Kyle XY follows a mysterious boy who looks like a teenager, but otherwise appears to be a newborn. The Trager family takes him in as one of their own. The series is produced by Touchstone and executive producers J. Mackye Gruber, Eric Bress, and David Himelfarb.

We had the honor of interviewing Kristen Prout who plays Amanda Bloom on the series, and here’s what she had to say.

Interview: Tift Merrit

After two records and a Grammy nomination, Tift Merritt took hiatus with a piano in Paris and was rewarded with an unbridled inspiration and a wealth of her most accomplished songs to date. On February 26, Concord Music Group’s Fantasy Records will release Merritt’s Another Country.

Merritt’s debut Bramble Rose earned spots on both Time Magazine and the New Yorker’s year-end Top Ten lists. Tambourine, her sophomore album, was Grammy nominated for Country Album of the Year and earned numerous accolades from press and fans. She has appeared on “The Tonight Show” and “The Late Show with David Letterman,” and shared the stage with Elvis Costello, Gillian Welch, Emmylou Harris, Ryan Adams, Willie Nelson, and Nickel Creek. Her Austin City Limits television performance was released on DVD in October of 2007.

Another Country was written by Tift Merritt, produced by George Drakoulias, and recorded by David Bianco. The players include guitarists Charlie Sexton and Doug Pettibone and Tift’s longtime band, Zeke Hutchins (drums), Jay Brown (bass) and Danny Eisenberg (keyboards).

Interview: Amy Ryan from Gone Baby Gone

Ben Affleck and the wonderful cast of GONE BABY GONE have already received rave reviews and accolades for this provocative, gripping and heart-breaking story about the disappearance of a little girl and the search to find her. This gritty, fast-paced thriller is realistic and immensely poignant. All the performances are outstanding. Amy Ryan – not widely known internationally before this film – plays Helene, single mother of four year-old Amanda. As the film unravels, we discover that Helene is hardly the best kind of parent. She takes and deals hard drugs, she is neglectful, selfish and unappealing – yet on some level truly loves Amanda, her little girl. It is a powerful performance from Ryan.

Morgan Freeman plays Capt. Jack Doyle ) of the Crimes Against Children unit, leading the police investigation along with Detective Remy Bressant (Ed Harris).
When the police fail to make inroads and seem no closer to finding the little girl, her aunt and uncle call in private investigators Patrick Kenzie, (Casey Affleck) and his girlfriend and partner, Angie Genarro, (Michelle Monaghan). The pair find themselves embroiled in a complex case on the tough streets of Dorchester, a rough Boston neighborhood, in a grueling case involving drug dealers, hard criminals and child abusers. They try to find their way through a murky web of lies and violence. GONE BABY GONE is a gripping Police thriller, but it is also far more – at the heart of the story is a moral dilemma and some serious questions about the safety and welfare of children.

The film was directed by Ben Affleck who co-wrote the script along with Aaron Stockard. It was based on the novel by Dennis Lehane.

For Amy Ryan, this has been the movie role of a lifetime. She is receiving widespread praise, including her recent Best Supporting Actress Academy Award Nomination, for her realistic portrayal of this damaged mother and the grim, disturbing world she inhabits. Ryan has already won The New York Film Critics Circle and The National Board of Review awards for Best Supporting Actress (as well as several other American film awards.) She has also been nominated for a Golden Globe.

Ryan grew up in New York dreaming of becoming an actress and attended the High School for Performing Arts. Over the years she has had extensive experience in theater and television. She received two TONY nominations for her performances in UNCLE
Her films include BEFORE THE DEVIL KNOWS YOU’RE DEAD, DAN IN REAL LIFE, CAPOTE, WAR OF THE WORLDS, KEANE, LOOKING FOR COMEDY IN THE MUSLIM WORLD and YOU CAN COUNT ON ME. She will also be seen in BOB FUNK and THE MISSING PERSON. Her television work includes HBO’s THE WIRE and 100 CENTRE STREET.

Slim, blonde and attractive with warmth and appealing openness, she talked about her passion for the film and her career in the following interview.

Interview: Scott Williams from Bones

A darkly amusing procedural with humor, heart and character, featuring Dr. Temperance Brennan, a highly skilled forensic anthropologist who works with FBI Agent Seeley Booth on murder investigations when the standard methods of identifying a body are useless. Brennan’s special expertise lies in her uncanny ability to read clues left behind in the victim’s bones. The series is inspired by real-life forensic anthropologist and best-selling novelist Kathy Reichs.

We had the pleasure of interviewing Scott Williams who is not only a writer for the series, but also a co-executive producer for the hit series. He talked with us about the series, the writers’ strike, and the famous Moonlighting curse.

Flurish Review: The Sound Of Control

Drawing from influences like U2, Depeche Mode and The Cure, Flurish banded together to create intense, beautiful rock and roll and that’s exactly what they do. Over the years, their craft has matured as their sounds range from a flurry of athereal orchestral rock to 80’s electronic pop that makes you want to get up and move.

DVD Review: King Of California

After spending several years in a mental institute Charlie (Michael Douglas) is sent home, reuniting with his teenage daughter Miranda (Evan Rachel Wood). Charlie becomes obsessed with the notion that a long-lost Spanish treasure is buried underneath their local suburban California Costco. Disconnected from reality and his daughter’s life, Charlie’s erratic behavior further strains their relationship…

DVD Review: Sex And Breakfast

Sex and Breakfast depicts two twenty-something couples who venture into the world of group sex as a way to address issues that have arisen in their relationships. The film is described as a sexy, insightful dramedy. It definitely, without question, is sexy and insightful, but I don’t believe it’s accurately described by the Hollywood coined term “dramedy”.