"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye." --Antoine De Saint-Exupery

"Openness is our art form. Spontaneity is Genius." --Leonard Cohen

"To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket--safe, dark, motionless, airless--it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable." --C.S. Lewis

I live in NYC and spend way too much time on the computer working on my online music magazine...This is my PERSONAL page. If you're an unsigned band and want me to review your music, please go to my magazine website by clicking on its banner, find the address, and mail me a cd. I don't review music via myspace. I have no problem with adding anyone who's a musician or in a band as a friend for your networking purposes, but please also take the time to click on the Crusher Magazine profile, which is #1 in my friend's list and add it to your friends as well...OK???

I love music, art, literature, and photography. I grew up in the South with very old-fashioned genteel values and learned to be a lady...and I mean, the Gone With The Wind kind of stuff like embroidery and how to choose fine linens, china, crystal, and jewelery...oh, and of course how to cook... BUT, Daddy was disappointed that I was the firstborn and a girl. He taught me all the boy stuff too, so I've got a lot of tomboy in me (don't let the girl-y make-up fool you!) I have a thing for weapons, very bad boys & girls, tattoos, and anything that gets my adrenaline pumping as well... I used to get in a lot of trouble in high school for going to hang out on the wrong side of town, but man, it was fun!!!

Just how different was it growing up in the South? Well, you've read about Civil Rights and desegregation in your textbooks...I lived it. Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education, 402 U.S. 1 (1971) was an important United States Supreme Court case dealing with the busing of students to promote integration in public schools. I was just a kid at the time and didn't really know what was what. I just know that when I moved to North Carolina from Georgia there was a big hoopla with my parents over the fact that I had to ride a bus for an hour to go all the way downtown to what would now be called the "'hood", past the projects of Earle Village and Cherry to go to my new sixth grade class at First Ward. If you'd like to know more about the Supreme Court case, you can read about it by clicking here And if you'd like to know what it was like to be a kid in the middle of it, you can just ask me. (If you go to Charlotte now, Earle Village and Cherry projects are gone and First Ward is now totally reclaimed by urban renewal and gentrified...!!!)

My great-grandfather was from Rome. He played flute under the great conductor Maestro Arturo Toscanini. He emigrated to America and played in the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, as well as having his own band that played around the NY area. I also played the instrument exceedingly well when I was younger, and still occasionally play when I want to relax. So I guess you could say the music thing is genetic... I've been obsessed with it as long as I can remember. (And yes, I was the total music geek in school...band, orchestra, choir, jazz band, and pep band...)

I had dance training when I was younger, but a couple of car and motorcycle accidents ended that, leaving me with permanently severed leg nerves and severe epilepsy and other issues from head injuries. They said I'd never walk again. I proved them wrong. The seizures make it hard to photograph rock shows with lots of strobe lights, and it seems more bands are using more of them these days, but I refuse to let that limit me or keep me from doing what I love. The head injuries make me behave strangely sometimes, so, if you think I'm being weird, like I got hit on the head, well, I guess bouncing off the pavement at 45mph might have had something to do with that. Hey, and I'm highly medicated, too... (At least I can laugh about it now.) What can I say? I'm complicated and eccentric just like the South, where I came of age. It just makes life that much more of an adventure. It's not supposed to be easy, anyway. That would just be entirely too boring!!! BUT...if I happen to have drifted off in the middle of a conversation...maybe I'm here...(this video was filmed in my old hometown of Myrtle Beach, SC...and yes, I DO like the music of Kenny Chesney...but I happen to like the work of the video director Shaun Silva even more...which is why i'm putting another one in the music section to the left.)

I love to support and promote my friend's bands...and expect them to promote and support my mag Crusher just the same....and those who are my friends know just how loyal I can be...

I've written for Creem, Details, Metal Mania, Rock Scene, Reflex, Powerline, Livewire, Creem's Thrash Metal, Metal Hammer, Easyrider's Tattoo, Varla, and IFQ among others. It's many hours of long hard work and not nearly as cool as you'd think. (Point in case: Think about the scene in the movie ALMOST FAMOUS where the kid calls up the famous writer Lester Bangs and is surprised when he's actually home...and Lester tells him it's because, "I'm just not cool." Truer words were never spoken. Thanks, Cameron Crowe!!!) if you'd like to read some of those classic articles, please visit rocksbackpages.com by clicking here

I worked at Gibson Guitars doing endorsements, where I signed Nirvana, White Zombie, Hootie and the Blowfish, Me'shell N'dege'ocello, Biohazard, Rocket From the Crypt, Testament, Killing Joke, Alice In Chains, Hanzel und Gretyl and many others. Not as hard as writing, but more hectic...

I've always had a natural ability to draw and paint, and I am attracted to art in various media. I once worked for Mark Kostabi as a sketch artist in his think tank. There I got to meet his very cool musician/producer brother, Paul "Ena" Kostabi, who was a founding member of the band White Zombie and who also produced my friends' the She-Wolves. You should definitely check out their page here on MySpace as well as their website (see link below...

I've modeled for Eric Kroll and have been in his books Fetish Girls and Beauty Parade. If you know who that actually is, then you now know a whole lot more about me, and you can pride yourself on the fact that you're smarter than the average bear, Yogi.... you can order fetish girls by clicking here

I've recently returned to live concert photography...which is what I moved to NYC to do originally, but somehow got sidetracked into the writing end of things...and yes...these are my photos on this page (unless otherwise noted.) I've been having particularly interesting outcomes with digital manipulation of some of these images lately. I would like to eventually work some up for a gallery show.

At this point in my life, I've given up on being a good example...but prefer instead to be a horrible warning...

Black Crowes (& the OLD 42nd Street between 8th and 9th Avenue...)"They say rock 'n' roll is the devil's music. Well, let's say that it is; I've got news for you. Let's say that rock'n'roll is the devil's music and we know it for a fact to be absolutely, unequivocally true. Boy, at least he fucking jams! Ha ha ha ha! Okay? Did you hear that correctly? If it's a choice between eternal hell and good tunes and eternal heaven and New Kids On The fucking Block … I'm gonna be surfing on the lake of fire, rocking out … high five at Satan every time I pass the motherfucking shore." --Bill Hicks

Crusher Magazine donates all eligible cds, after review, to Musicians On Call. Their profile is #2 in my friends list. Please visit their page and support this wonderful charity. Thanks....