Greetings, True Believers! The time has come to march forward into the spring, and what a spring we have ahead of us. Gross Misconduct is re-emerging from their winter hibernation with a new bass player in tow, Three Inches of Blood has been nominated for a Canadian Independent Music Award, and the sun is shining. We've had several quality metal releases already this year, and the tours are already starting to hit fast and furious. This is where we're going to start things off.
A hearty thrashing goes to my good friend, Kristina "Killkrist" VanBlyderveen, of Killkrist Productions. A long time promoter in the Okanagan Valley here in BC, Killkrist was responsible for bringing bands like Nevermore, Kataklysm, and Zimmer's Hole to Kelowna during the late 1990s and early 2000s, until a series of personal tragedies struck and forced her to take a hiatus, starting with the death of her husband, Matt, from cancer. After taking the time to heal and get things back in order for herself and her family, Kristina has come back in a big way, by staging a sell-out show on March 3rd in Kelowna, featuring the return of Kataklysm to the Okanagan on their current headlinging tour with All Shall Perish and Abysmal Dawn (who were reviewed and given high praise in this month's VC EZine!). It was very difficult for her to pull off, due to issues with Kelowna's notoriously fickle venue management forcing her to change locations 3 times. Still, she kept her ticketbuyers abreast of the situation with instant facebook updates, and made everything work. "What a struggle it was, but sooo worth it! Kataklysm did it once again for me. To Matt, my kids, the fans, and the scene, thank you big time!" She replied, when asked for comment about the show. No, Kristina, thank YOU for your tireless efforts in trying to keep the metal flowing in the B.C. interior!
Now for the burning: Hypopcrisy! No, I'm not bagging on the band Hypocrisy for their ambitious but ill-thought out Catch 22 album, but the pop stars who are only now "donating" the money they recieved performing for well-known tyranical dictator, madman, and all around evil guy, Moamar Ghadafhi, and his family. Singers like Nelly Furtado, Usher, and Mariah Carey have all been hired to perform for the Libyan despot ad his clan over the past few years, when knowledge of his atrocities, his complicity in the bombing of a plane over Locherbie, Scotland, and human rights abuses was all common, but ignored knowledge. It merely would have taken opening up a newspaper to see these things, but these stars ignored it, took the money, and ran. Only now, when the world can no longer ignore the atrocities happening as Ghadafhi desperately clings to power, ordering mercenaries to carry out airstrikes on his own citizenry who just want a chance to work and be free, do they even think, "Oh, maybe we shouldn't have done that?" Bullshit! You pathetically attempt to look socially conscious by giving back money you happily accepted when offered, when you should have done the right thing in the first place and said, "No!" Get stuffed, you overpaid, morally and ethically bankrupt pieces of excrement! Giving back dirty money doesn't absolve you of guilt for taking it in the first place.
You can't claim ignorance when you take money from bad sources. If you know that the source of your money is dirty, you have moral responsibiolity not to take it. We see this happening a lot today, not just from celebrities, but from banks, casinos, and real estate agencies. There are consequences for doing this, maybe not here, but maybe after death. It's a matter of reaping what you sow, and even through bad times, if you do the right thing, good will come of it eventually. Just look at Killkrist, who has weathered storms, continues to do so, and continues to do the right thing. Her rewards may not necessarily be financial, but sometimes the intangible rewards are the best. Food for thought...
Godspeed and Party on,
Jé-Pé
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