Staring at the computer screen right now just trying to find words to express how we are all feeling in Oklahoma after yesterday’s devastating tornado. It’s awful, just horrible, our hearts are aching for those who have been affected by what is now thought to be the most destructive tornado in recorded history. My family and I live in Edmond, which is 30-40 miles north of Moore where the tornado hit, so we are all safe and have no damage. But the day before, May 19th, we ourselves were in a storm shelter as a small tornado touched down a half mile away from us (luckily we had no damage then either). Living in Oklahoma my whole life this is nothing new, we grew up with tornadoes and for years have known all about what
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Everyone has a bucket list. We’ve been so fortunate in the Sugar Free Allstars to have already crossed many of the things off on our list – perform in Europe, meet some of our favorite musicians, tour across the country… Then there are those things that aren’t on the bucket list, nor even on a wish list of any kind, because the chances of them happening are so remote that it doesn’t even enter your conscious mind. Crazy things like, oh I don’t know, performing your own music with a symphony orchestra…….oh wait, we got to do that!!! Okay, in all fairness we’ve always kind of thought it would be pretty cool to perform with an orchestra, I mean, who wouldn’t want to experience that? But you don’t really think it’s going to happen. So
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**CAPTAIN’S LOG: SATURDAY, JANUARY 18TH 2013, 2330 hours** I found the simple life ain’t so simple, when I jumped out on the road – VH No truer words have been spoken Mr. Roth, no truer words indeed. As a matter of fact I’m on the road with Sugar Free Allstars at this exact moment – heading east on I-40 toward Gallup, New Mexico where we will be playing the last show of a 10 day tour that also included Phoenix, Arizona and Los Angeles, California – so it’s only fitting that I should be thinking about the challenges of touring. Touring is hard physically, mentally and emotionally, but if you want to expand into new markets and build a fanbase outside of your home area you have to do it. It’s fun and exhausting all
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For the last week I had been working on my next blog post which was going to be about Sugar Free Allstars’ recent 10 day tour out West. That was… until I got home to Oklahoma and learned about OK House Bill 1895. This bill proposes to cut state funding to the Oklahoma Arts Council by 25% per year for four years, eliminating all funding by 2017. This is disturbing for numerous reasons. On the grand scale this is sending a message to the nation that the arts aren’t important in my home state. On his blog Representative Cockroft, who authored the bill, says: “I have nothing against the arts, in fact; quite the contrary. However, I do not support the misuse of taxpayer’s dollars. Every dollar saved from these side projects is a dollar better
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Babies are amusing. They are also media hounds. Fortunately for me, my son Owen (who turns 1 on Jan. 17) loves the camera. He smiles for pictures and actually seems to trump up his personality on video. Somewhat unintentionally, I found a way to use this to my advantage. As a full participant in the Facebook generation, I found it uncomfortable how much effort went into staging just the right picture for each month, sitting him in the same spot every 30 days next to the same stuffed animal, dressed up in something cutesy. It got annoying. It’s kind of a mom-ish thing to do, but I really did want to keep my friends and family updated on his progress; it just wasn’t any fun doing so. During his first month, my wife was using
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The Rock Star Dream: name in lights, stadiums packed with screaming fans, partying all night, making millions of dollars… Awesome, right?! So how does one end up going from that fantasy to playing shows in libraries and schools for kids and families? Well I’ll tell you after I introduce myself. My name is Boom! (I also answer to Wiser, Chris or DaddyDaddyDaddyDaddyDaddy) and I play organ and sing in the funky kindie duo Sugar Free Allstars out of Oklahoma City. For those of you not familiar with kindie (indie music for kids) it is basically a sub-genre of children’s music that has become a whole movement of creating music that is enjoyable for kids and adults alike. A phenomenon common to many kindie acts, SFA included, is that they started out playing for “grown ups&#
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Sometimes I wonder how I survived this long after my wife and I had our first child, my daughter, in late 2010. Then, we went and did it again. Our son was born only a few weeks ago on December 8th. He just survived his first apocalypse, so I’m very proud of him. My name is Brian Zalewski. I think I’m finally getting that hang of this father thing, though I have a lot of thanks to give to the mother. I am now 32 years old, though that will tick up one number in under a month. I’ve been an avid lover of music and video games since I was a young boy. I usually lean toward the heavier rock and metal music, personally. As for video gaming, I play games across the board,
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We’ll have to wait until June 22 for Pixar’s Brave to arrive in theaters, but the...
Reliving childhood every day and telling our wives "it's for work."
