Melita returns from DC this week and it was only a week ago she was in Upstate New York to take the bar exam. She ha studies relentlessly for this thing. I wanted to take the time to share a kind text she sent to me while I was at the airport very early in the morning 12/12/2024 on my birthday as I was travelling to New Orleans. I’ve carried this message with me and it’s comforting the kindness that it exudes:
Today, I just want to take a moment to celebrate you—not just for the incredible person you are, but for the endless support and kindness you’ve shown me. I honestly don’t know how I could have navigated certain moments without your help, movies and just making me laugh
May your day be as amazing, filled with all the love, laughter, and joy you bring to everyone around you. Here’s to another year of blessings, success, and happiness!
Have an absolutely fantastic birthday!
The neverending summer heat has really affected my Citizen App as its blows up in regards to violence and random idiocy like this one.
VIP Media Private Invite: Curtis Duffy Hosts ‘Alt. Nation’ Photo Exhibition NIN, Nirvana, drinks + more| Aug 15 at After
Hi ,
Wanted to flag a timely and visually rich story for next week along with a special invitation.
You are cordially invited to a private media preview of Alternative Nation: A Retrospective, a powerful new photo exhibition debuting in the US Friday, August 15 from 5–6:30PM at After, the West Loop cocktail bar from Michelin-starred chef Curtis Duffy and presented by Behind The Gallery. Enjoy complimentary cocktails and meet featured award winning photographers Jonathan Rach and Joseph Cultice. Duffy will also return Saturday to host a public Q&A with the artists.
This exhibition showcases rare, BTS, and never-before-seen images of Nirvana, Nine Inch Nails (in town the same week), Smashing Pumpkins, Aphex Twin, Pearl Jam and more—captured by five legendary photographers who helped shape the visual language of the ’90s. But these aren’t just performance shots—they’re deeply human moments that trace the rebellion, identity, and raw emotion at the heart of the alt-rock era. Storytelling is the soul of this exhibit.
The show opens to the public immediately after the preview and runs through August 20—so any coverage will help invite fans to experience it firsthand.
Would love to coordinate interviews, portraits during the preview, or a segment with Curtis or the artists. Open to explore content ideas as all photographers are available remotely.
Hope you can swing by or please get in touch if you’d like to connect further.
Thanks!
~SiouxZ
I’m having my 30 year old TYPE O NEGATIVE Tattoo updated this year
My friend Saffron Alexia Adams sent this picture today from the Indiana State Fair.
I will be insuring all of my neighborhood knows that I AM THE MAYOR OF NORTH KENMORE
Before I was a V. I. P. My very first rock star autograph IGGY POP Instinct Tour Columbus Ohio Newport Music Hall Sept 19 1988. Andy McCoy was the touring guitarist.
This was an amazing event. A Sunday afternoon concert put on by two good friends bands playing together for the first time ever. Not only was it on a beautiful afternoon but it was at Liars Club where I used to spin and hold industry related events for years many many moons ago. It was great seeing Gary Kessler and Herb Rosen. I also so a lot of other old friends and hung out with a bunch of incredibly talented musician type. Jeff Givens dedicated a song to me titles “Queen City” to which he alluded to it was from one particular verse of the song.
Mark played a lot of his catalog and it was the first time I saw the Black Friars Social Club live. I’d only seen him perform as RAZORHOUSE in the past. He dedicated the song to his late brother Jay Panickcalled “Ballad of a Junior Hit Man”. I’ve played it on the podcast and shared it online. Jay was a very good friend of mine who I shared a lot of really good times with. He even took two trips to New Glarus to hang out.
I certainly enjoyed the fact that it was a Sunday afternoon again. Perfect. I was home before dark
” I lost my younger brother Jay 4 years ago and I wrote this as a tribute to him. Part loving jibe and part tribute. When Jay was in 6th grade he had a kid gang and they called themselves the Jr Hitmen. They went as far as to have it printed on the back of their members only jackets. Naturally we never let him live this down, I hope Jay gets a laugh out of the song and the video. I know his kids like it. He preferred a much heavier style of music but I know he’d get a kick out of it.”
“Songs are just places you keep your stories”, Mark Panick, lead singer and songwriter of Black Friars Social Club, explains of his life of loss and redemption. When Black Friars began their collaborative recordings, little did they know how spot-on these themes would be for our pandemic world.
Black Friars Social Club formed out of a residency in a gritty Chicago Irish pub (owned by a fireman, sadly burned down), where local and traveling musician friends and colleagues distilled songs down to their melodic skin and rhythmic bones. Black Friars Social Club songs illustrate twisted tales from the alley shadows while tugging at your heart. These collaborations are both deconstructed and developed. They paint stories of Panick’s recent personal loss of both his younger brother and sister and other tragedies, and his path onward.
Jeff Givens and Mark Panick
Jeff Givens and AZ
Max Bravo and Jeff Givens
Triple Threat Jeff, Max and AZ
Triple Threat Max, AZ and Jeff
“I’ve got boots, guitars and whiskey, that’s all I ever need”
– Girl in Carolina, from the album, “Bourbon Cowboy”
Singer/Songwriter Jeff Givens is a road-seasoned troubadour. A musical gypsy, Jeff travels the country, meeting folks from all walks of life and listening to their stories. He lives this life, documenting it all in his songs. Somehow, writing through the haze of self-destruction like his heroes before him, (Kerouac, Burroughs, Lennon, Hank, Townes and others) he has prevailed and come out the other side, battling his demons by writing about them. Born in Tennessee and raised in Chicago, Mr. Givens is a music veteran of over 40 years and has played in many bands, from Chicago to Boston to Nashville.. Recording two albums at the iconic FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals AL., and working with Jay Bennett from Wilco are a few career highlights. Back in 2001, Jeff went all-in; he left his day gig and everything else, to fully embrace this musical journey. Tramping around America, like a prince of skid row, he continues to write songs that define his life. .
www.jeffgivens.com
