October
26, 2006
This Saturday in Holland, Venice will be on the television show
"Top of the Pops." The program airs on Nederland
3 (BNN) and will be broadcast at 19.00 hrs - 19.50 hrs. (7pm-7:50pm.)
Here are some fun YouTube videos:
John Vester has asked me to let all the LA fans know that while
Venice is off in Holland promoting their CD, he's holding down
the fort in Venice, CA, and will be performing this Saturday at
the Venice
Carnevale,
on the Grand stage, 4:15-5:00pm, backed by a 5-piece band.
October 22, 2006
For those of you who don't frequent Venice Talk, I'd like to share
a couple of sections of a very revealing article that was recently
posted on our forum. This is from a magazine called "Revolver,"
and I'm only printing the English translation here (provided by
Dutch fan Erna Van der Graaf), for the fans in America and other
non-Dutch-speaking countries. For the full article in its
original language and the accompanying pictures, I strongly
urge everyone reading this in the Netherlands to pick up an original
copy at your local newsstand. This is one you'll definitely
want for your collection.
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Kipp and Michael are talking about the darkest periods in their lives. "People sometimes think we lead smooth and easy lives, and that our music is all sweet and lovely. But there's definitely a dark side to the Lennon Family. It’s a crucial part of our lives and our music. Over the years, we have been spared nothing, not even murder. It’s almost movie material.” Those "important revelations" turn out to be really shocking and are spoken about spontaneously, one after the other. Halfway through the conversation, the Lennon men look at each other with astonishment. "To be honest, we've never discussed all this before," Kipp says, as if surprised with his own openness. He stays silent for a while, and then continues, "But while we're on the subject..." (snip) It’s just a tiny step from eternal life for Katrina, a niece of Michael’s who was murdered, and has a song dedicated to her on "Amsterdam." "Heartbreaking" is how Michael describes this young girl's fate. "She was so young. She hung around a group of boys and girls that were so wrong for her. A real criminal street gang. One day, she decided to start a new life. She went back to school, found a job after that, and was leading what you might call a normal life. She just made the terrible mistake to go to a party one day, where some of those gang members were present. There was a fight that night. I don't want to go into the details, but she was murdered." Kipp continues, "And you should know we stem from a big family with a very warm connection, where love comes first. Such tragedies are so hard to handle. But they do happen, every now and then." Then, after some hesitation, he starts talking about his father, who was murdered too. He was shot by a disturbed fan of his sisters, who were very famous in the fifties as the Lennon Sisters. "They appeared on TV every Saturday evening," Kipp says. "That was a big deal in those days, because there were no more than 4 TV stations in the entire United States. There were even dolls of them that you could buy, so you can imagine how popular they were. It also attracted the wrong crowd, like stalkers. There was one guy who stalked them day and night, and had set a goal for himself to marry one of them. One day, he approached them really aggressively, and when my father tried to stop him, he pulled out a gun and shot him. I was nine years old at the time." Recently tragedy struck again, when their eldest cousin died. "And this while our youngest cousin is facing death right now, because of his addiction to heroin," Michael says with a sigh. "This leaves us with two options. Just give up because of what is happening to this young boy, or be happy about the great life our eldest cousin has lived. Our choice is to hope, and we try to convey that message to our fans through our music. This is how we can spread happiness to our public, even if we had a terrible day." Kipp: "While we're on the subject, I've carried a heavy load for the last twenty-five years that has finally been lifted. When I was twenty years old, and my girlfriend was just seventeen, we had a baby, but were not able to raise this child. We were simply too young, and that’s why this little boy was given up for adoption. That's haunted me since then. Not a single day passed by where I didn't wonder how he was doing, and if maybe he was angry with me for not handling my responsibilities. A few years ago, I just couldn't take it anymore, and I went looking for him. This might have been the best decision I've ever made. Turns out he held no grudge against me, and he's been around in my life and house all the time since then. He even plays the guitar and writes songs!" Michael: "That boy is the sunshine in our lives. We all are so happy things turned out the way they did, because we could imagine what Kipp must have felt like." Kipp: "It seemed to be destiny. My mother was really bothered by the fact that she had never met my son. On her death bed, she finally got to meet him. The last piece of the puzzle fell into place. She had eleven children and forty grandchildren, but still she missed that one. At her funeral, my son sang for her. Isn’t that the best ending ever? Another chapter in the life of the Lennons ends positively." Text: Harry de Jong |
Kipp's newfound son is Charlie Vaughn. If you'd like to go back and listen to the Venice songs that Kipp wrote about him over the years, (which until now you've probably never known what they were really about), the ones you'll want to put on are "The Only Love I Had," "Comes It Now," "I'll Keep My Fingers Crossed," and from the new album, "Weight Has Been Lifted" and a section of "Life is Like a Movie" ("...the lost prince has returned"). You can listen to a few of Charlie's demos on his MySpace page. And for those of you in Los Angeles, you can catch Charlie's next gig at Monroe's Bar on Sunday, November 5th at 8:30pm. 8623 Melrose Ave, West Hollywood, CA 90069. I hope to see all you local guys there!
If you'd like
to discuss your reactions to this article, you can do so here. (When you get
to the bottom of the first page, click on the number 2 on the
bottom-right to read the rest.)
October 14, 2006
A
quick amendment to yesterday's post. The television show "Mooi
weer de Leeuw" was taped today, but it doesn't air until
tomorrow (Sunday) night. It will also be rerun on Monday night.
October 13, 2006
A
few things for you Dutch fans to look out for:
1. Saturday, October 14: TV show: "Mooi weer de Leeuw," from 20:25-21:25, Nederland 1
2. Saturday, October 21: Radio show: " Spijkers met Koppen," from 12:00-14:00, Radio 2 (live)
3. Saturday, November
11: Radio show: "Cappuccino," from 09:00-12:00, radio
2 (live)
October
12, 2006
Got a few new things for you today:
Here's the new television commercial currently airing in Holland.
Here are the audio clips from the new album.
And here are the video clips from
"Ally McBeal" where Vonda Shepard sang Venice songs,
now in Quicktime!
October
9, 2006 - Update
Apparently my post from a couple of days ago caused some confusion.
I've gotten several e-mails, and have read a few posts,
asking whether Venice has changed their "First Three Songs"
rule. I've now checked with Michael, and Venice does not
have a "First Three Songs" rule. We're not sure
where that came from. The fact is that Venice does not have
any policy on cameras whatsoever. Many venues, however,
do. So if you want to bring a camera into a show, you would
be wise to contact the venue first and find out whether they'll
allow it. If they do, the band will not veto that decision.
But I'd like to
throw my two cents in. This is just me -- not the band,
not the management, and not the label -- so it is not official
and it is not policy. But it occurs to me that this "First
Three Songs" idea is a smart one. It can be very distracting
to be up on stage trying to give a performance and having to deal
with random white lights popping up from all directions temporary
blinding you. In addition, it can be equally distracting
to be sitting in the audience trying to enjoy the show and then
having to deal with the same blinding white lights regularly drawing
your attention and imparing your own vision. So if you do
plan to document the concert photographically, and the venue says
that it's okay, why not get what you can during the first three
songs, and then put your camera away for the rest of the show
as a courtesy to the band and to those around you? I think
that would be a really nice thing to do.
October 9, 2006
Here's a note from Michael Lennon:
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Hello friends, Michael here, checking in with all of you who are wondering how the hell it's going. Well, I'm happy to say that the new drummer for this tour, Martijn Bosman (Kane), is a great guy, a great drummer and a quick learner. We've had two days of rehearsals with Martijn in a little studio in Almere. The owner is in a band called "Chuck Wagon" and they even play some Venice songs in their set......pretty cool, huh? We arrived to a rainy day, which contrasted with our sunny California departure, but in one day, we sprinkled Venice dust on the Netherlands, and now, on Monday, we have sunny skies again..... (We'll try not to use up all the magic dust too early......we've got a long tour ahead of us.) I hope to post some pictures and/or video soon, but I haven't had time to edit out the nasty, naked shots.......you know how we get when we're on the road. Tomorrow we start our first real rehearsals with the full lights and sound.....very excited to see the new stage design and to play the new songs. Well, that's it for now. I'll be updating you soon. All you American friends, feel free to come on over. The Dutchies are real friendly and will give you a bed to sleep in and feed you some meat and potatoes for free. Love you all, Until next time, |
October 6, 2006
The band is in Holland now, rehearsing for their two-month Netherlands
theater tour that begins next week. So this seems like a
pretty good time to remind all you Dutch fans about the meet-and-greets.
After any concert on the tour, find the line in the lobby
and stand in it, and you can meet the band and have them sign
anything you'd like. If you want to take pictures with them,
that's fine too, but please remember that you're not allowed to
bring cameras into the show, so you'll have to leave your camera
in your car and then go out and get it after the concert ends.
There's also a little-known policy about the meet-and-greets that I'd like to share with everyone. If you or someone in your group is 16 years of age or younger, you can walk straight to the front of the line. And we'd like to ask everyone reading this that if you see anyone in the crowd who looks like they're 16 or younger, please inform them (or their parents) about this rule, since there's a good chance they won't have visited this webpage or seen this news item. And I don't think there'll be any signs announcing it either. It's strictly a word-of-mouth thing.
Thanks!!
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