In the third and final installment of The Dirt Diary series, we meet Ava—Rachel Lee’s alter ego of sorts. When Rachel’s Florida visit starts going sour, she turns to Ava to spice things us a little. For the trip which was supposed to be an occasion for her to catch up with her beloved Dad,… Read More Book Review and Guest Post: ‘The Gossip File’ by Anna Staniszewski
Straight off the heels of her week in Paris, Model Undercover: Stolen With Style follows sixteen year-old Axelle to the Big Apple where she has been asked to find a big black diamond that was stolen from a photo shoot. Although she has the connections—her aunt Venetia is the editor of a well-known fashion magazine… Read More Book Review: ‘Model Undercover: Stolen With Style’ by Carina Axelsson
In a society driven mainly by scientific fact and logical reasoning, it’s nice to believe that perhaps magic does still exist. While believing in God and in the miracles of faith as experienced by believers of various denominations, it’s sometimes nice to read about a sort of magic that requires minimal effort. What can I… Read More Book Review: ‘The Dress Shop of Dreams,’ by Menna van Praag
Jurassic 5 rapper Marc 7’s debut solo album, Food Clothing & Shelter, which dropped in March of this year, is enjoyable, yet thought-provoking, angry at times, and always heartfelt. Born in New Jersey, Marc 7 moved at the age of 14 to California, perhaps the reason why the sounds of both east and west coast… Read More Music Review: Marc 7 (Jurassic 5) – ‘Food, Clothing & Shelter’
The lines between music genres are increasingly blurring, creating some great sounds that manage to be both familiar and new. New York’s Paul Maged joins the ranks of artists that claim to be blurring the lines, creating a unique blend of sounds by mixing together punk, grunge, classic rock, indie pop, and ballads. The 17… Read More Music Review: Paul Maged – ‘Diamonds and Demons’
One of my favourite stories, which seems to draw its roots from a Native American tradition, goes as follows. An old man is teaching his grandson about life, telling him that a fight between two wolves is going on inside every single person on this planet. One is evil: anger, envy, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity,… Read More Music Review: Unfathomed of Abyss – ‘Arisen Upon Oblivion’
Central Washington-based self-described groove, rock, reggae trio Dimestore Prophets seems to be dedicated to bringing to their listeners music they dub as “feel good” since 2009. In April of this year, guitar player and vocalist Ray Glover, drummer John Wilson, and bassist Eric Groff released their EP Be Yourself in which they explain they brought… Read More Music Review: Dimestore Prophets – ‘Be Yourself’ EP
I am always up to give an artist who wants to go against the grain a try. When I read that Nate Paladino started writing his own songs because he was tired of hearing about good people “being done wrong” in songs, it felt like it might be a good match, especially after coming across… Read More Music Review: Nate Paladino – ‘Good Boy’ EP
With Andy Bs on the guitar and taking care of vocals, Ty Dennis on the drums, Brad Cummings on bass, Brian Swislow on the keyboards and on the Hammond organ, Don Hammerstedt wielding his trumpet, and Russ Thallheimer taking care of the saxophone, Cold Blue Water’s self-titled release is a collection of five songs that… Read More Music Review: Cold Blue Water – ‘Cold Blue Water’ EP
A modernised blast from the past, this self-titled and self-produced nine-track EP from Los Angeles pop band The Great Escape is a fusion of indie rock and pop greatly influenced by big names of the past (such as Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin) and of the present (such as Adèle and Amy Winehouse). This engaging… Read More Music Review: The Great Escape – ‘The Great Escape’