#and they’re just so expensive I can’t afford these things… give me the affordable bootlegged stuff instead pls

[bugeyedfreaks]

So this is a very ancient post I saw get reblogged recently. The reason I wrote that I hated the fact that the signature was on the cel (and that it ruined it for me) was because I very much dislike this common practice these animation art places do where they mark up the selling price of production art by having people sign it. I’m not against signatures (i.e. someone getting their cel signed by whoever at like a con or something), and I wasn’t saying this against any specific artists (as I guess this was interpreted 🤷‍♀️) but it feels like this kind of thing is done just to squeeze more money out of original production materials instead of just leaving it alone as a piece of art (often drawn and inked and painted by people other than whoever has signed it, too).

Clearly in my haste to just share something that irked me, I didn’t properly convey that my annoyance wasn’t about aesthetics, it was about ethics.

This cel is being sold on some cels website and I would LOVE to have it but it’s ruined by that signature, ugh.

[beedaleebjd]

Psssst do you happen to have any tips or beginners links for newbies who are interested in getting in to the BJD hobby? 👀

*SOFT SCREECH* ALICE COME DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE WITH ME... /CLAMBERS FOR

This is a very slap-dash tips post, because a full fledged crash-course would take me much longer than a day to assemble. I think this could get someone started, but I can always answer specific questions if you have them in the future. ❤️

BJD 101: For a rundown of definitions, terminology, and origins of the hobby, I highly recommend checking out the Wikipedia article. (Warning for old vaguely spooky doll photos) I honestly wish I just read this when I got started, haha. It’s not everything, but it’s definitely a start.

Study! Read as much as you possibly can!! Especially terminology and maintenance. I highly recommend watching a bunch of unboxing and review videos- it might seem silly, but they're really helpful to get an idea of scale, how they function/pose, and how they look and feel when handled by a human. I also recommend trying to find owner photos of dolls you’re interested in, because sometimes the store photos are limited!

Join a community! Consider joining a forum like den of angels or a facebook bjd group like BJD Addicts! Exposure to the hobby is really helpful and you learn way faster. It’s fine if you’re shy, you don’t have to interact if you don’t want to- I like lurking DoA for the valuable tutorials and threads on doll brands I'm interested in. Tip: You can view some of DoA’s threads without an account by searching "[subject/doll of choice] den of angels" in google, but i got tired of that pretty fast. Signing up takes a few weeks to get approved but it's worth it for all the knowledge, even old archived stuff.

Window-shop until you drop!! I think the number one regret in the hobby is 'too many dolls, not enough time to love any of them'. So I HIGHLY recommend making wish-lists. These help a lot with avoiding impulse purchases and buyer’s remorse. There are a loooot of dolls out there, so if you've seen a huge majority of them, you'll be more picky.

For me, wishlists include both dream/grail dolls, tentative desires i’m not sure about but want to remember the name of, dolls I could never afford but feel validated writing down somewhere, and also cataloging info- measurements, wig/eye/shoe sizes, resin colors, price, current availability, dealer websites, etc. it becomes such a godsend when you shop for them. you’ll thank me later!!

I spent a lot of time browsing dealer websites like Alice's Collections, Legenddoll, Denver Doll, DOLK Station, etc- I linked some of those here. This is to see what my tastes are. Not EVERY doll company will go through all or any dealers, but it’s a good start!

If you’re the social type, going to conventions or local bjd meetups can help with getting an idea of your preferences! I accidentally walked by one at sakuracon last year and got to hold an MSD and an 11cm tiny, and that was REALLY helpful for me to realize I DID like those sizes. If other doll owners will let you hold theirs, I totally recommend it! (Always ask first, of course! Not everyone is comfortable with it!)

Go!! Slow!!! if you think you're taking it easy, go even slower. i'm so serious. it's so easy to get dazzled, over-eager, or totally overwhelmed by this hobby. especially if you have a habit of hyper focus/special interest tenancies like i do. 

Patience is a virtue anyway: If you’re not buying second-hand or in-stock dolls, you will be waiting a while for your doll. Anywhere from a few months to a year, depending on the company and how backlogged they may be at any given point. Dolls are usually pre-order and take time to be made.

Some people like to just buy sculpts and let a character ‘come to them’, which is absolutely valid so if you wanna just go on a feeling that’s great!! i totally can’t afford that route most of the time, so I spend a lot of time mood-boarding for my potential dolls using pinterest and my own art to see just how in love with an idea i am and highly recommend it. I’ll ramble about this in another post soon.

Budget! They are not very cheap like 10-20$ fashion dolls at wal-mart, so those new to the hobby may be shocked.This hobby is an investment and an indulgence/luxury, as with most Nice Things. But don’t be discouraged! There are affordable dolls out there, a lot of Dealer websites offer layaway plans, and the second-hand market is always circulating things!

Here is a DoA list of dolls that are under 300$. 

Note: Size of dolls often scale with price, so the bigger it is, the more expensive (and HEAVY) it will be. Some videos on BJD sizing here and here, but Flickr is crawling with height comparisons as well.

Craft or Not To Craft: Are you team 'i'm gonna sew/craft stuff/do wigs/eyes/faceups for my doll' or team 'i'm gonna buy clothes/props/faceups/wigs/etc from other artists!'? I know most people end up being a little bit of both, but these things both cost time or money (or both) so you wanna think about that in the overall price when you're considering a doll. It seems intimidating, but really, it’s the responsible thing to do. I’d rather plan for it than have a naked sad doll to feel bad about. Some personal recommendations below helped me get started:

Wigs: Monique Gold Collection wigs are affordable in the 20 dollar range, and have incredibly soft fiber! (You can find a lot of these available through ebay sellers as well)

Eyes: Lemonjellyshoppe and CandyKittenEmporium have some incredible eyes and also do custom orders!

Sewing Patterns: DGRequim on etsy and SproutyDoll have both been very nice to use and easy understand and modify to fit your doll!

When you’re savvy on the sizing of your dolls and if you’re comfy with secondhand sales, Facebook groups like BJD Addicts Sales & Commissions, BJD Lovers Sales, and BJD Adoption has a lot of people selling BJDs and accessories, oftentimes discounted for de-stashing or collection overhauls!

In addition to the other dealer sites I linked before, Dollmore (which also has an ebay shop) has a lot of options on everything! 

Rec@sts and the community- This is a veeery hot button topic, but you’ll probably see a lot of it the more you get into the hobby. I don’t want to talk about it a lot because of the negativity it attracts, but to sum it up: BJDs are essentially commissioned art pieces. They are hand sculpted by an artist or small group of artists, and then cast in resin and refined and strung by hand. There are people that will cast copies of them and sell them for a very cheap profit. To put it simply, it’s theft, and it effects the livelihood of people that make a living of their art. A lot of companies stop making dolls because they can’t compete anymore. Most official doll/art related conventions (LDoll, Resin Rose, etc) ban rec@sted dolls, as well as DoA and several of the facebook groups. Be sure to read all the rules of groups/forums you join them.

A lot of people come into this hobby unaware of this and buy a bootleg doll on sites like Ebay or Aliexpress, and then get turned away from the community without understanding why. There are understandable circumstances that cause someone to end up with a bootleg doll, but it’s also important to respect the artists and creators that share their art with the public.

On that note: Sometimes people will resell 2nd hand dolls as legit when they are not. Be careful about who you buy second-hand dolls from. Also, keeping certificates of authenticity (CoAs), receipts, and original packaging is must if you ever plan to resell your doll!

I... think that’s everything major I can think of... at least enough to get someone started? I know a lot of it is a bit vague, but if you wanted my opinion on a certain brand or size of doll or budgeting tips if money is tight, I’d be happy to give my personal preferences on that separately!! But otherwise, good luck and happy treasure hunting! ヾ(＾-＾)ノ

[helloworlddemo1122-yahoopar-blog]

Johnny Depp's 7 Biggest 'Rolling Stone' Revelations: From Depression to How Much He Really Spends on Wine

Johnny Depp is opening up in a big way in a candid new interview with  Rolling Stone magazine, in which the 55-year-old actor addresses his highly publicized legal battles over his finances and reports of his extravagant spending.

Writer Stephen Rodrick was invited to spend time with Depp at his rented mansion in London, England, where the conversation also turned to his complicated relationships with close family and friends, as well as a serious struggle with depression due to problems both in his personal and financial lives.

Here's a look at the biggest revelations from Depp's interview:

Multimillion-dollar lawsuits, a haze of booze and hash, a marriage gone very wrong and a lifestyle he can’t afford. In our exclusive new feature, we take you inside the trials of Johnny Depp. "I kept trying to figure out what I'd done to deserve this," he says. "I'd tried being kind to everyone, helping everyone, being truthful to everyone." Click the link in our bio to read the full story. Illustration by Matt Mahurin (@mattmahurin)

A post shared by Rolling Stone (@rollingstone) on Jun 21, 2018 at 5:02am PDT

1. Depp is very much open about his drinking and smoking

Rodrick describes entering Depp's rented mansion and feeling his presence immediately.

“He is here in the stogie-size joint left by the sink in the guest bathroom. He is here in the never-ending reservoir of wine that is poured into goblets," he observes.

During their first meeting, Rodrick writes that "Depp sits at the head of the table and motions towards some rolling papers and two equal piles of tobacco and hash, and asks if I mind. I don't. He pauses for a second. 'Well, let's drink some wine first.' This goes on for 72 hours."

Depp also isn't shy about his history of using drugs. Later in the interview, when talking about one of his idols, writer Hunter S. Thompson, he regrets quaaludes no longer being around and recalls the bootleg quaaludes he used to take.

"They're made with just a little bit of arsenic or strychnine, so the high was far more immediate," he explains. 

Depp then recalls once asking a Florida bouncer to punch him while on quaaludes for no reason.

"You either wanted to smile and just be happy with your pals, or f**k, or fight," he says of being under the influence.

2. He has complicated relationships with his family

Depp talks extensively about his late mother, Betty Sue, in the interview, who died in 2016 after a long battle with cancer. The actor reveals the first thing he bought when he started making money was a small horse farm for his mom in Kentucky, where she was born.

"My mom was born in a f**king holler in eastern Kentucky," he says. "Her poor f**king a** was on phenobarbital at 12."

Though he clearly loved his mother, he also claims they moved 40 times growing up and that she would sometimes give him "irrational beatings."

"Maybe it's an ashtray coming your way. Maybe you're gonna get clunked with the phone," he says. "It was a ghost house -- no one talked. I don't think there was ever a way that I thought about people, especially women, other than 'I can fix them.'"

"Betty Sue, I worshiped her," he continues, before adding, "She could be a real b***h on wheels."

At her 2016 funeral, Depp recalls saying, "My mom was maybe the meanest human being I have ever met in my life."

As for his other siblings, Depp -- who's the youngest of four -- tells the magazine that one of his sisters and her husband and son moved to his mother's farm in Kentucky and were hired to manage the property, but their spending allegedly became out of control. After his mother died, the family still lives there.

"Their thinking is that I'm going to take care of them forever and that the farm is now theirs," he says. "I didn't make that promise."

The magazine also notes that Depp's close relationship with his sister, Christi, who was once a constant in his life and managed his day-to-day affairs, became strained when she was opposed to his 2015 marriage to Amber Heard. 

"Depp’s last constant connection with the real world was severed," Rodrick writes.

3. He actually spent more than $30,000 a month on wine

Depp's former business associates filed a countersuit against the actor last February, after the actor filed a lawsuit in mid-January against The Management Group (TMG) and its associates for allegedly defrauding him and mismanaging his money. Among Depp's alleged extravagant expenses they claimed they warned him about was spending $30,000 a month on wines flown to him from around the globe.

Depp proudly admits the number is actually higher.

“It’s insulting to say I spent $30,000 on wine,” Depp says. “Because it was far more."

Depp also addressed the claim that he paid a sound engineer so he could feed him lines through an earpiece while filming, explaining that it was actually sounds that were fed to him, which he says allowed him to be a better actor.

“I’ve got bagpipes, a baby crying and bombs going off,” Depp shares of the sounds. “It creates a truth. Some of my biggest heroes were in silent film. It had to be behind the eyes. And my feeling is, that if there’s no truth behind the eyes, doesn’t matter what the f**king words are.” 

As for the allegation that he spent $3 million to blast Thompson’s ashes out of a specially-made cannon?

"By the way, it was not $3 million to blast Hunter out of the f**king sky," he says. "It was $5 million."

And it appears that Depp's lawsuit against TMG isn't going to be resolved anytime soon.

"I have never, ever been in my life the bully kid," he notes. "I never went out of my way to hurt anybody. When I was a little kid, what I was taught was never start a f**king fight, but if somebody f**king tags you or starts invading your f**king world, finish the f**king fight. To my mom's exact words, 'lay them out with a f**king brick.'"

4. He became depressed over his financial issues and personal life

Depp says that after his divorce from Heard and his lawsuit, he became severly depressed. 

"I was as low as I believe I could have gotten,” he says. “The next step was, ‘You’re going to arrive somewhere with your eyes open and you’re going to leave with your eyes closed.’ I couldn’t take the pain every day.”

He says he then went on tour with his band, The Hollywood Vampires, and started writing a memoir on an old manual typewriter, like Thompson. 

“I poured myself a vodka in the morning and started writing until the tears filled my eyes and I couldn’t see the pages anymore,” he tearfully says. “I kept trying to figure out what I’d done to deserve this. I tried being kind to everyone, helping everyone, being truthful to everyone.” 

“The truth is most important to me," he adds. "And all this still happened.” 

5. He was extremely close to Tom Petty

Depp reveals he had a close friendship with the late Tom Petty, who died in January of an accidental drug overdose.

The actor says they used to frequently speak on the phone, and has clearly been hit hard by his death. 

“We’d call each other and ask, ‘Hey, you still smoking [nicotine]?’ Depp recalls. “Tom would go, ‘Yeah, I’m still smoking.’ And I’d feel better: ‘Well, if Tom is still smoking, I’m OK.’” 

“I loved him,” he continues after a pause, shedding tears.

Later, he also laments the deaths of Thompson and Marlon Brando, and the loneliness he now feels.

"Marlon and Hunter. I needed my guys," he says.

6. He supported Penelope Cruz while they filmed Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides

Cruz reveals to the magazine she told Depp that she was pregnant right before shooting 2011's Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides and contemplated dropping out. She says Depp opposed. 

“He protected me every day, and by the end, I was six months pregnant,” Cruz says. “I’ll never forget that.” 

"I imagine Johnny doing a version of Jack Sparrow at 70, or 80,” Cruz also muses, referencing his iconic Pirates character. “It will be as charming and as great.”

7. He has plenty of thoughts on Harvey Weinstein

Depp recalls his interaction with the disgraced movie mogul, calling him an "a**hole" and a "bully" when he worked with him and director Jim Jarmusch on 1995's Dead Man. 

“Have you seen his wife? It’s not a wide range," he also comments. "It’s not like he went, ‘I must go to the Poconos to find some hairy-backed b***h.’”

Still, he recalls a more tender side to Weinstein, when he witnessed him picking up his daughter from school.

"The image that took my breath away was Harvey Weinstein, a goliath Shrek thing, bending down to put on his daughter's raincoat," he shares.

Earlier this month, some fans became concerned about Depp after photos of him in Russia were shared on social  media, in which they commented that he looked "thin." However, an insider told ET that Depp, who is currently on tour with The Hollywood Vampires, is doing fine.

“Johnny is healthy and is enjoying his time on the road with his band,” the source said.

ET spoke to Depp last May, when he gushed about his 19-year-old daughter, model Lily-Rose Depp. Watch below:

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Amber Heard Opens Up About Living 'Truthfully' Following Divorce From Johnny Depp

[duhragonball]

Jumping onto the anime split another anon asked about earlier, I have seen some purists and elitists hate the split because they hate that some fans like the Kikuchi Soundtrack for DB but prefer a different soundtrack for DBZ. Never mind that these same purists and elitists didn’t complain about DBZ Kai using a different soundtrack (at least before the “Yamamoto Scandal” lead to the Kikuchi Soundtrack being reinserted in the Saiyan to Cell Sagas).

Good point, Anon. Kai just isn't on my radar, tbh, because it came out in 2009, long after I had already experienced the episodes that Kai was re-editing. I'm aware of Kai having a different score, and I've even enjoyed listening to it on YouTube, but I keep forgetting that there's a whole other cut of DBZ with a different score.

But a lot of younger fans got started on Kai, because it was available on cable TV and in video stores, and so on. So it shouldn't surprise me that there's a schism between "Kai loyalists" and "Z traditionalists."

What does surprise me, is that there's a schism over the BGM for Dragon Ball and DBZ, because Shunsuke Kikuchi did both. I'm assuming this is less about the composer and more about "We had a perfectly good set of songs, and they just ditched it all in favor of this awful new stuff."

I find that humorous, because one of the major bones of contention about the Funimation dub was the Bruce Faulconer score. "Oh, the Faulconer score ruined everything!" they would cry, except half of them probably thought the original score had already ruined everything.

What amazes me is that, in this day and age, you can pretty much watch this stuff any way you please now. I have my Orange Brick sets, and I can watch subs or dubs at will, and I can also watch the dub with the original Japanese score. It's letterboxed, but if I cared enough, I could buy the un-letterboxed editions somewhere. If I liked the Kai version better, I could buy that. If I hated Kai, the Orange Bricks are still available for purchase. If I hated all of the anime productions, I could just buy the manga.

But there are still people who complain! I think this is why we've seen an uptick in fans kvetching about aspect ratios and "faithful" remasterings. In the 90's, subs vs. dubs made some sense, because in the days of VHS you didn't always get a choice, and when you did, the subs were on one tape and the dubs were on the other, and most people couldn't afford to buy both. So I can see how there would be some tribalism over that. But now you can get just about any version you want if you want it badly enough. I think that's why the "purists" gripe about things that aren't likely to ever change. If they get what they want, they'll just move the goalpost, because complaining is all they ever really wanted.

What frustrates me is that so much of this is just gatekeeping and tribalist bullshit. I'm about to go on an old man rant, so maybe I should put a cut here.

Okay, so about me: I'm 44, so I'm old enough to remember the 90's, but I didn't get into anime until about 1999, when I was 22. Before that, I remember in college when I'd go down to the dorm basement to watch TV, and sometimes there'd be a group of people setting up a VCR to play some anime tape they had. It was a whole communal experience back then. Anime was expensive, and you probably needed a circle of friends to share tapes like that. But I can't really speak on that experience because that wasn't my scene. I'd just come down the stairs, see those guys setting up, and I'd give up on any aspirations of watching "Star Trek" that night.

When I got into anime, it was because of "Toonami" on Cartoon Network. Toonami played it smart, because they ran a lot of American cartoons from the 60's, 70's and 80's, and they would sprinkle a little anime in there too. For me, it was like sneaking cat medicine into a piece of salami to get me to eat it. And they lowered the cost-of-entry. All I had to do was turn on the TV in the middle of the afternoon.

By 2001, I was writing Tenchi Muyo! fanfic, and I saw all these older guys pissing and moaning about the dubs, and Cartoon Network censorship, and this-that-and-the-other. They were mostly complaining about kids and teenager who got into their fandoms through Toonami, but they were also talking about me, a 24-year-old man with a job who understood that Cartoon Network can't show naked titties on TV. Of course they painted swimsuits on everyone in the onsenscene. What the fuck else could they do? Why was there an onsen scene in the first place?

But it was easier for them to cast the new influx of fans as idiot children who hadn't even seen the """real""" version of Tenchi and DBZ, with actual swearing and sexual harassment and so on. One time I bought a Tenchi manga collection at a comic book store, and the guy just assumed I was just as anti-Cartoon Network as he was, because I looked old enough to be on the "right" side. I didn't want to bother telling him that CN was the only reason I was buying the thing.

Over time, I realized that this was more of a cultural thing than anything else. The established fans had to go out of their way to get into these shows--watching bootleg fansubs or buying tapes through mail order-- but the new fans were just channel surfing one day and got hooked on a safe-for-TV edit. The older fans would complain about the edits, the dubs, the music, but those were never the problem. The problem was just that these new fans didn't share the experiences of the old fans. They were watching the same show, but they didn't watch it the same way, which meant they were now bad somehow, or incomplete.

After so many years, I had hoped that the schism would die down. Dubbed DBZ had become a fait accompli, and nobody was interested in spelling "Vegeta" with a "B", and Toonami airs at midnight now, because it's a nostalgia show for kids who grew up with it in the 2000's. But there's still new things happening, and new fans who want to create division. When all those video games came out in the 2000's, I remember seeing GameFaqs dolts arguing over whether the game would run better on XBox or Playstation. So I guess it shouldn't be much of a shock that Dragon Ball Kai is a line in the sand for some people. There's probably some 30-year-old who thinks the only right way to watch Z is to watch Toonami like he did when he was ten.

But the arguments over the Japanese BGM only proves that there's no finish line for this sort of thing. Well, I guess one day, enough people from my generation will have died off, and later generations will just accept that there's multiple BGMs, because Dragon Ball's been around for so long. But by that time, some other division will come along.

And I'm not saying people can't have differences of opinion on things. I think Dragon Ball GT fucking sucks, but I know a lot of people love it (for some reason) and I try to respect that. Some people love Super, others hate the entire thing, and I'm kind of in the middle, because I despise parts of it and love other parts of it. There's room for nuance, is what I'm saying.

But a lot of the cranks I've seen, they aren't interested in nuance. They just want to make blanket statements. "Everything after Episode X is garbage, and if you like it, then you're garbage too." "If you experienced X this specific way, then you're a true fan, but otherwise your experience doesn't count." Just stuff like that.

I think a lot of that is based on this inability to see beyone one's own self. Like, okay, I don't like GT very much, so it would be very tempting to just assume that no one likes it, or that no one can like it. And that mindset--that GT is objectively bad-- would lead me to think that anyone who claims to enjoy it is being dishonest or trolling. That mentality is toxic. I'd go around treating GT-likers as if they were despicable enemies, and encourage others to do the same.

And I think that's where this DB vs Z thing got started, to circle back to the original topic. I can understand where some fans didn't like the Z branding, or the new music that went with it. But loads of people did like it just fine. That doesn't make them wrong or evil, or delusional. It just means there's a difference in tastes. Nothing more.

But the reason I wanted to compare that schism with others is because I want to warn anyone reading this: Don't fall into that trap as you get older. When I was younger, I used to see all these old farts lambast my generation over dumb things, and now I'm an old far and I see so many people my own age criticize younger people the same way. That's bullshit. I had hoped we would all break the cycle together, but no. For some people, they just don't notice that they're even getting older. They just get crankier and more out of touch and they assume it's the rest of the world's fault. That's why you see people treasure the early stuff (like OG Dragon Ball) and hate on the newer stuff (like DBZ). It was like that 35 years ago, and it was like that 20 years ago, and it's still like that today. It'll probably always be like that, but you can make the decision to rise above that sort of elitism.

[thejustinmarshall]

Annie Haslam Talks Renaissance, Tour, DVD and Two NJ Shows

Interview by Danny Coleman

“It never stops, it’s crazy because I manage the band right now I’m wearing 10 hats; it’s the only way to do it really because too many things have gone wrong in the past because of people who didn’t have the same vision. So we’re doing things now though, it’s amazing.”  

So says the incomparable Annie Haslam of the legendary progressive rock band Renaissance as she prepares for the launch of their seven shows, “Day of the Dreamer Tour” which makes stops November 16 at the Newton Theatre in Newton, NJ and November 17 at The Scottish Rite Auditorium in Collingwood, NJ. The Scottish Rite is also the only one of the seven where the band will once again be joined by an orchestra onstage.  

“The reason we could do it with the orchestra last time was because we had done that, “Indiegogo” project and all of our fans came forward and helped make that happen,” said Haslam when asked why only one show with the full compliment. “I wish we could because that’s the way it should be really; it’s just perfect music for the orchestra, it always has been but it’s expensive. Times have changed with the music business and of course we’re now a, “Heritage band;” I’m proud of it but there’s so much competition for the shows because there’s so many bands performing live now. We’re hoping to go further afield next summer to Germany and Italy and we’re talking about and dealing with that right now; possibly England but we are concentrating on further afield.”  

No strangers to touring at great length over their 49 year history, this storied group which formed from the remnants of The Yardbirds has begun to scale life on the road back a bit; not because of a waning desire but due to financial and logistical reasons. 

“It’s seven shows in November; unfortunately it’s the same old story,” she said with a sigh. “The money that the promoters would give us is not enough to cover our expenses. It’s heartbreaking really and they would probably be small club dates and we just can’t do it. We haven’t been to the west coast in such a long time and they’d (the promoters) have to take a chance on it and a lot of the promoters are different than they were; they’re younger and there’s lots of other bands out there now and new prog bands. Not that we’re a prog band; we’re a symphonic rock band,” she said as she giggled at the term. 

“We used to be so huge in Denver but we just can’t get there. We did Red Rocks twice in the 70’s but we just cant get there. Somebody asked me recently; what else would you like to do? I was thinking well, we’ve done everything that you can ever dream of; we did Albert Hall, three nights at Carnegie Hall, we’ve played with orchestras, we’ve been all over the world but I think one of the mistakes that we made in the 70’s is that we concentrated way too much time on the east coast of America instead of going out to the rest of the world and the west coast. We did go out to the west coast but not all that much and I think that might have changed things around at the time had we tried to spread our wings and gone to other countries; it’s amazing what we’ve done. We’ve done everything, I’m not popping off yet but; what else is there to do? I’d like to go to Iceland, that’s one thing I’d like to do. I’d like to see the northern lights for sure but I want to carry on singing and as long as I look good and have my five octaves; I can’t sing those songs if I haven’t got my five octaves and I’m not going to do that to the people as well as myself if I haven’t got those five octaves.”  

With the release of a new DVD titled, “A Symphonic Journey,” the band’s third; these November shows are a great way to promote its unveiling and allow the world to see the group up close and personal. Filmed in October 2017 at The Keswick Theater in Pennsylvania, this DVD shows the multi-faceted talents of not only the individual members of the unit but showcases Haslam’s artwork as well.  

“The show at the Keswick with the orchestra was a dream of Mick’s and it was a dream that he never saw and that was to play with an orchestra again. Theother dream was one that I had and I made it happen as well; you know that I’m a painter now obviously and I painted 11 paintings to go with the 11 songs that we did and we enlarged them to 24 foot by 12 foot and they were on the screen behind the orchestra and oh gosh that was amazing. So that was two giant bucket list things and when I look back at it now because of the package that we have out and I feel very proud of it and the band.” 

So why not return to the site of the filming? How and why did they arrive at the Scottish Rite Auditorium for the lone show with the orchestra? 

“Bill Rogers who is fantastic and has promoted us for many years and even back in the 70’s helped arrange it and we had already done the Keswick last fall and we usually don’t do the same place every year because there’s other bands for people to see. The last time we played the Scottish Rite was Michael Dunford‘s last show in 2012 and I was wearing a back brace because I’ve got a dislocated vertebrae and that is also the last time that I saw Michael alive; when he left he got the last British Airways flight out of Philadelphia before Hurricane Sandy hit. We were supposed to play the next night at The Strand Theater in Lakewood, NJ and our drummer Joe Goldberger and I were staying in Fort Washington, PA and we were in the elevator and this guy came in and asked; “Where are you guys going? Are you in a band?” He then asked where we were playing and we said, Lakewood and he said, “You must cancel it because they’re closing down all the roads tonight; you’re not going to be able to get out of Lakewood, you’ll get stuck there.” So we didn’t do it and I actually called the promoter and said that we weren’t doing it and I made the decision because it was going to be very dangerous; so I made the call and the decision to cancel it and thank God we did because it would’ve been a mess plus we would’ve been endangering other people who also could’ve gotten stuck.”  

Haslam has been in love with being an artist ever since her childhood; a dream which was fostered along by supportive parents, “When I was 10 years old my parents sent me for allocution lessons to get rid of my northern accent and I thought; what the hell are they doing to me? They couldn’t really afford that but they must have known that something was coming to me when I was older and that I would need a well-spoken voice. When I was 10 it didn’t work straight away but it started to work as I got older and I moved to London and started mixing with people who use Queen’s English and that’s where I got right into it. That’s why when I sing, people say that they can understand every word I say and that’s why they did that for me. They also let me go to art school because they could see that I was artistic and they let me go to a secondary art school when I was 13 and then a full art school when we moved and instead of me going to work like all of my friends, I went to art school because they could see that I had something there and now I’m a painter. My parents were nurturers and they were amazing. I love when after a tour I’ve got a little bit of time to relax and get on with more painting. I just love it with such passion but it’s a bit difficult right now because I’m getting this tour together and I have so many things to deal with but I’m getting requests for pet portraits and then I’ve got these hand written lyrics and they’ve got to look really good on a page and then I have to work out how they’ll look when transferred onto the page because they’re hand written; so I’ve got lots of projects to keep me busy.” 

Frustrated at times like many others by today’s business side of the industry, Annie sometimes frets over the role that technology can play in undermining an artist’s bottom line. 

“We went to Japan for two shows in September for four days and managed to get an album out through Cherry Red Records before the bootlegs came out and so through them it was out in England and Europe and we decided that we had to put it out in Japan before we got there to support the shows that we did there. So sad is the business now because so many people are ripping you off with bootlegs these days and it breaks your heart. I know people who have walked away from the business because they recorded for months and then somebody buys it from their website and then they copy it and put it out selling it for less money and they make a fortune. That happened to us when we went to Japan in 2001 and we recorded, “The Land of the Rising Sun” which was a brilliant live album and by the time that we got the tapes from the people in Japan and worked on it and we mixed it the bootleg had been out and we only sold a few thousand copies.”  

So what does Annie love to do with her time and possibly post Renaissance? 

“I’d love to do philanthropy work if I had the money, that’s what I would like to do. There’s so many things that I’d like to change on this planet with people, children and animals. I feel that when I’m doing things that it’s part of a healing process and with my art and the band’s music I’m doing exactly that. The band’s music and the tones, the notes and feelings, not particularly the words or the notes but there’s something in there with the music that is really special and so unique and there’s nothing like it and never will be again I think.” 

To discover more about Renaissance, the current tour or the new DVD, please visit www.renaissancetouring.com. 

Danny Coleman (Danny Coleman is a veteran musician and writer from central New Jersey. He hosts a weekly radio program entitled “Rock On Radio” airing Sunday evenings at 10 p.m. EST on multiple internet radio outlets where he features indie/original bands and solo artists.)

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