December 29, 1999
Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Mark Lennon........

December 28, 1999
I've finally gotten audio samples for Mark Lennon's solo album, "Christmas In the Groove."  They're over here.


December 18, 1999
When ordering copies of "Christmas With Venice," please make your cashiers check or money order out to Venice, not to Christmas With Venice.  Also, the $20 price is $15 for the CD and $5 for shipping and handling.  But that shipping and handling price doesn't increase when you buy more copies.  So one CD is $20 total.  2 CDs are $35.  3 CDs are $50.  4 CDs are $65.  Etc.  For international orders, please add $5 to the total amount for additional shipping costs.  Thanks!


December 13, 1999
Audio clips of Venice's brand new album "Christmas With Venice" are now available here.

So what could possibly be better than a brand new Christmas album featuring members of Venice?  Well, how about two? That's right, straight on the heels of Venice's surprise new release comes Mark Lennon's very first solo album, "Christmas In the Groove."  Where Venice's Christmas album offers great acoustic, traditional arrangements of holiday classics, Mark's album will feature more upbeat, R & B interpretations.  Eight Christmas standards, plus two new originals written by Mark, "Every Day With You Is Christmas" and "Hold Out 'Til Christmas."  Like Venice's release, this CD will also only available through mail order.  $18.00 includes shipping and handling.  Make check or money order out to "Billy Blaser Music."  Remember to include your address with your order.  Send to:

I don't have audio clips yet, but I do have a sneak peek at the cover art:

In other news, be on the lookout for the soundtrack to Dreamworks' upcoming animated film "The Road To El Dorado," starring Kevin Kline and Kenneth Branagh and opening into theaters in Summer 2000.  The film's songs are written by Elton John and Tim Rice, the same team who wrote all the songs for "The Lion King."  The soundtrack will contain film versions of the songs, and also versions performed by Elton John and his band, and featuring Kipp Lennon on backing vocals.  (For the record, Kipp is not working directly with Elton on this project.  His sessions are with Davy Johnstone, Elton's lead guitarist and musical director.)

Also, watch for a new television commercial for Coke, where computer generated aliens come to earth looking for a nice refreshing beverage.  Kipp Lennon provides the voices for all of the aliens, and made up his own gibberish language for the ad. It should start airing soon.

And finally, speaking of commercials, pay close attention to the television ads for Amazon.com airing now.  The chorus of singers includes Kipp and Mark.  In one of the spots, the singing stops for a moment and Kipp speaks.  (Don't look at the strange guy lip-synching the line, just listen to the voice.)


December 6, 1999
Here's that info I promised you:

December 3, 1999
BIG NEWS!  Venice has recorded a Christmas album, entitled "Christmas With Venice."  12 acoustic songs done in the classic Venice style.  The $15 CD will be self-released, which means you can't get it in stores.  You'll only be able to buy it at their shows, starting next week at Arcadia.  Mail order will also be available, and I'll post ordering information as soon as I have it. Also, look for audio clips next weekend, after I procure my own copy.


November 29, 1999
I've been so busy with my new baby, that I almost didn't notice that Venice Central passed 30,000 hits today.  You turn your back for a second, and see what happens?


November 27, 1999
I normally keep personal matters off of this webpage and focus strictly on Venice stuff, but this warrants making an exception. This evening, my wife and I became parents, and welcomed our son Jonathan Henry Levitz into the world!  Pictures and more info are here.


November 25, 1999
Last month, when Venice played some shows in Holland, they invited Venice fan and Onelist member Marius Suiker to join them at their soundcheck and sing lead on "The Family Tree."  He recorded this once-in-a-lifetime experience, and now you can hear it right over here.  After you've listened, drop him a line at suiker@home.nl and let him know what you think.


November 14, 1999
Added "California Calling," the B-side to "Theme To the Class of '65."  That's over here.  As always, thanks to Jon DeLong for this one.

Also, did some serious expansion to the Bootlegs Page.  See if you can tell what's new.


November 13, 1999
Another full concert added today.  This was recorded on September 22, 1999, at KRSH's Backyard Barbecue event in Santa Rosa, California.  Check it out here.  And thanks to Jon DeLong for providing it!

Also, Venice live on KINK-FM in Portland, Oregon.  Thanks to Becky Hoyt for this one.  This interview is kind of fun, because the disc jockey asks questions about obscure subjects that he could have only learned about by perusing this webpage.


November 10, 1999
Netradio is giving away a special Spin Art machine, with pictures of Venice all along the sides.  Register to win over here.

I've added not one, but TWO different Venice appearances on San Diego's SETS 102, from July and August of this year. Interviews and live acoustic performances abound.  Check them both out over here.  Thanks for these recordings go to Jon DeLong, who lives nowhere near San Diego.

Also, a couple of new additions to the Bootlegs Page.  See if you can find them.


November 5, 1999
Thanks to Rene Steenbergen for sending over his interview with Venice, as it aired last month on Holland's Rebecca Radio. You can listen to this broadcast as a RealAudio file, or download it as an MP3.  Be sure and check out my cool audio tweaking, shortening up "Always."  (I'm very proud of this one.)  It's over here, right at the top of the page.


November 3, 1999 - Update
Friday night's show scheduled for the Hilton Hotel in Reno has been cancelled.  Sonia Dada will still perform as scheduled, but Venice is no longer on the bill as opening act.


November 3, 1999
Those of you in Oregon should tune into KINK, FM-102 tomorrow (Thursday) afternoon at 2:30pm.  Venice will be their in-studio guests.  Thanks to Jan for the tip!


November 2, 1999
Correction.  The Holland radio broadcast will take place on November 13th between 19.00 and 22.00 o'clock on Radio 2 in the NCRV program "Music."  The songs that will be performed are "Always," "Mary On My Mind" and "The Family Tree."  Thanks again to Marius for the info.

Another correction.  Despite press releases stating the contrary, the new Simpsons album was released today with the Kipp Lennon track "The Sound of Grandpa" nowhere to be found.  Sorry, guys, but you can still hear that song over here.


October 31, 1999
Happy Halloween everybody!

More news today courtesy of Marius Suiker.  If you're in Holland, be sure and catch the Radio 2 radio show "Volgspot Live" on November 12th, where they'll broadcast Venice's acoustic performance, recorded live in their studio when the band was out there a few weeks ago.  To hear three songs from those sessions, "For A Kiss," "If I Were You" and "Love the One You're With" / "I Want You Back," go here.


October 29, 1999
Attention all Venice fans in Holland...  The first Dutch Venice Fan Meeting will take place on November 20, from 11am until 5pm, at the following location:

To RSVP, and for further information, please contact club President Marius Suiker at suiker@home.nl or phone him at +31 (0)77-3870542.


October 27, 1999
All the audio clips for "Garage Demos Part 1" and "Garage Demos Part 2" are now available as MP3s.

According to Rene Steenbergen, radio disc jockey at Holland's Rebecca Radio, he's just received a promo CD of Venice's next overseas "Spin Art" single, "Always."  He tells me that the B-side track is "Garden Wall."  Still no word on what the second single will be here in America.  For the time being, "The Man You Think I Am" is still the emphesis track.  So if it's been a while since you've contacted your local radio stations to request it, it's probably time to make another round of calls.


October 24, 1999
More Holland pictures from Marius Suiker and Hans Bouwman.


October 23, 1999
I added an entire Sweetwater show to the video clips page today.  27 songs, available as 28.8k, 56k and cable/ISDN files.  Between digitizing, converting, building the page and uploading all the files, this took well over 50 hours of work over the last two weeks, so I really hope that everybody takes full advantage of this and checks out every song.  I'd hate to think I did all that for nothing.  Thanks to Jon DeLong for providing the videotape!  Those files are right over here.


October 20, 1999
This Friday night at Genghis in Hollywood, John Vester will perform songs from his forthcoming album, which is being produced by Venice's Michael Lennon.  In addition, John's set will include his own versions of many of his Venice collaborations.  (John wrote "We're Still Here" and co-wrote "When I Get Over You," "The Road To Where You Are," "Mary On My Mind," "The End of the World" and "The Family Tree.")  Genghis is located at 740 N. Fairfax.  The show starts at 10:30pm and entrance is $10.


October 17, 1999
The following video clips are now available as cable/ISDN files: Access Hollywood / CNN "Showbiz Today" / E! News Daily / KTLA Morning News / Regis & Kathie Lee.


October 16, 1999
Now available, video clips of Venice live at the Abbott Kinney festival, recorded last month.  Thanks to Susie for providing the tape!


October 13, 1999
Our pictorial coverage of Venice's trip to Holland continues with new pictures from Hans and Marius.  Click on their names to see their pictures.  Thanks guys!


October 10, 1999
The following video clips are now available as cable/ISDN files: Borders Books / Santa Monica Pier (1999) / 2 Meter Sessies (1998), / Live at the Mayfair / Rick Dees' "Into the Night," / "All My Life" Music Video / "People Laugh" At Universal Amphitheatre / ABC News, / Entertainment Tonight / CNN Review and Landslide (with Stevie Nicks).

Remember, if you don't have a cable or ISDN connection, these files should still run fine off of your hard drive.  Just download them, and enjoy much greater sound and picture quality than 28.8k and 56k streaming can provide.


October 9, 1999
Thanks again to Rene, we have our first pictures from last night's Holland show.  They're over here.


October 8, 1999
Attention Holland fans: Venice will do a small performance / autograph session this afternoon in record store PLATO in Groningen.  Thanks to Rene Steenbergen for the tip!

Very slowly, I'm adding to the archive of existing video clips with new files formatted for cable/ISDN lines.  These files have much greater picture and sound than the versions that currently exist, and when downloaded, they should play on most computers.  I've already got the Borders and Santa Monica Pier shows updated.  More coming soon.


September 30, 1999
On November 2, Rhino Records will release "Go Simpsonic With The Simpsons: More Original Music From The Television Series."  This is the follow-up to "Songs In the Key of Springfield," and it will include "The Sound of Grandpa," sung by Kipp Lennon.  You can read the complete track listing here.

Venice's two headlining shows in Holland both sold out two hours after going on sale.  Way to go, guys!

For those of you who couldn't make Venice's acoustic show at Border's Books the day the album was released, you can now check out the show over here.  Thanks to Jon DeLong and his camcorder!



September 21, 1999
Sorry for the lack of updates lately.  My work schedule hasn't left me with the free time to do much more than update the Tour Dates page.  Got some great new additions today, though, that should make up for it.

First, July's Santa Monica Pier show, which has been available as an audio file for a while, is now also available with video!  That's over here.  Thanks to Jon DeLong!

For over a year, Venice Central has offered a 28.8k 3 minute "Boxing Helena" ending credits version of Mark Lennon singing Bonnie Raitt's "I Can't Make You Love Me" with just piano and vocals only.  Thanks to Jennifer Kaplan, we now have an almost 6 minute MP3 version of the entire band playing the song!  That's here, about halfway down the page.

Next, we have the WRLT online broadcast of Venice's full August 29 concert from Nashville.  I had technical problems during the first song, so I had to edit the file later to make it flow.  Which is why it sounds like the band abridged it.  They didn't, I did.  If anyone taped the show off of the radio, I'd appreciate a copy.  In the meantime, the file is over here.

And finally, new pictures from Donna and Franco.  Got a ton more to scan, but to be honest, I have no idea when I'll be able to get to them.  Sorry.


August 27, 1999
A quick reminder that Venice's Nashville concert will be broadcast live over the internet this Sunday, August 29, from 8pm to 10pm, local time.  (That's 6pm to 8pm Pacific Standard Time.)  You can tune in by going here.

Also, there was a great article in Billboard Magazine last month, that details many of Vanguard's unique marketing plans for the new album.  You can read that over here.  Thanks to Audrey and Tom for this!


August 24, 1999

If your local store isn't carrying a copy, you can always purchase it over the internet.  Amazon.com seems to have the best deal.  And hey, while you're there, why not write a positive review?


August 23, 1999
Venice's new album "Spin Art" comes out tomorrow!  Call and e-mail everyone you know and tell 'em!

This week's "Spin Art" audio clip: "So Bad."  That's the final one.  They're all up now.

San Diego's North County Times newspaper gave "Spin Art" a nice review.  Thanks to Dave Mulgrew, you can now read it online.


August 19, 1999
In celebration of Venice's new album release, Vanguard Records is giving away a free spin art machine.  Register to win it over here.


August 18, 1999
Billboard Records' review of Venice's new single "The Man You Think I Am" can be read here.


August 17, 1999
This just in from Michelle: Next Wednesday, August 25, Venice will appear on SETS 102-FM at 9:30am pacific standard time.  You can listen online by clicking here.  If you live in San Diego, you can also catch them at 8:30am that same morning, when they perform on the KUSI Morning News.

By the way, the Venice Community Mailing List (Onelist) now contains over 120 subscribers, and the radio call-in campaign is going strong.  If you'd like to join us and share your war stories with Venice fans all over the world, you can sign up by clicking here.  (If you don't want upwards of 50 e-mail messages a day, I recommend signing up for the digest version, which combines all the day's postings into a single file.)


August 16, 1999
Venice Central passed 20,000 hits today!

Vanguard Records has asked me to take down the Borders flier, so in accordance with their wishes, I have removed it from the site.  However, they've promised to replace it with a flier of their own, so as soon as they send it to me, I'll post it right away.


August 15, 1999
This week's "Spin Art" audio clip: "Poor You, Poor Me, Poor Love."

In other news, I spoke with John Vester last night.  As many of you know, John is a frequent Venice collaborator, having written "We're Still Here," and co-written "When I Get Over You," "The Road To Where You Are," "Mary On My Mind," "The End of the World" and "The Family Tree."  John has started work on his second album, and Venice's Michael Lennon is serving as co-producer.  Among the tracks likely to appear on this album are "Unbreakable Heart" and "The Mermaid Song," both of which were co-written by John and Michael, and were recorded by Venice for "Spin Art" but didn't make the final cut.  In all likelihood, John will take Venice's recordings and replace the lead vocals with his own.  More on this project as it progresses.

In the meantime, you can hear John Vester's versions of most of the aforementioned songs, along with much of his own solo material, when he performs at Genghis on Friday, September 17th.  See the bottom of the Tour Dates page for more details.


August 13, 1999
Right-click here (Mac users, click and hold) to download a poster advertising Venice's Borders' show.  The file is a Word document, and should open up in your word processor.  Please print up as many color copies as you can, and hang them up all over Los Angeles.  (Please keep it legal, though.)  For those of you in Santa Monica, let's cover the 3rd Street Promenade with notices!  The better the turnout for this free show, the better for Venice!


August 12, 1999
On Tuesday, August 24th, the day "Spin Art" is officially released, Venice will perform a free concert in front of Borders Books on the 3rd Street Promenade in Santa Monica.  The show starts at 7:30pm.  There will be freebies, surprises, camera crews, hype and hoopla, and of course, great music!  Remember, nothing draws a crowd like a crowd, so bring as many friends as you can.  Hey, it's free!  How could they possibly turn this down?

Lots of new pictures today from Jennifer Kaplan, from Jenn Branch, and hey, from me! ( Okay, mine are from October.  Gimme a break, it takes a while to fill up a roll!)


August 8, 1999
This week's "Spin Art" audio clip: "Always."


August 3, 1999
I've added e-mail addresses to each entry on the radio station list.  Now you can request the single all over the country without incurring long distance phone charges.


August 2, 1999
Thanks to my brother Joel, the radio station list now includes frequency, city information, and links to station homepages.  Thanks Joel!


August 1, 1999
In 1994, Mark Lennon performed unplugged at Genghis in West Hollywood.  He sang both Venice songs and covers, and his band consisted of Michael Lennon on acoustic guitar, Kipp Lennon on background vocals, and Scott Crago on percussion.  And now you can watch the show over here.

This week's "Spin Art" audio clip: "The Road To Where You Are."

Want to hear Venice's new single, "The Man You Think I Am?"  Not just an audio clip, but the whole song?  You can download the MP3 from Amazon.com over here.


July 30, 1999
You can now pre-order "Spin Art" from Amazon.com for $11.88!  (You pay for shipping but don't have to pay tax, so it works out about the same.)  Click here to buy it!


July 29, 1999
Thanks to Vanguard Records, we now have a list of U.S. Triple A radio stations.  So head over here, find the stations nearest you, give 'em a call, and ask them to play Venice's new single, "The Man You Think I Am!"  Feel free to do this as often as you'd like.....


July 28, 1999
Venice will be performing at 3rd & Lindsley in Nashville, TN on Sunday night, August 29th, and the show will be broadcast live on the internet.  You'll be able to access it from here.


July 26, 1999
Added Jennifer's House of Blues and Topanga Days photos, starting here.

Also, thanks to Jon DeLong, we now have two more of Kipp Lennon's "Simpsons" songs, "The Sounds of Grandpa" and "Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head."  Those are over here, sharing the section with "Songs In the Key of Springfield."


July 25, 1999
This week's "Spin Art" audio clip: "More of a Miracle."  Go listen over here.

It's also worth mentioning that the Bootlegs Page and Full Concerts Page have both been steadily growing over the last few weeks.  I usually don't announce when I add files to those pages, because it helps to protect the identities of the anonymous contributors.  But you might want to peruse those pages from time to time just to see if there's something there you haven't seen before.  Quite often, there will be.

The Tour Dates page is quickly expanding too, as Venice's tour schedule starts to take shape.  That's another page to keep your eyes on.

Speaking of tour dates, Venice's August 28th show at Arcadia in Santa Monica has been cancelled.  The August 27th show is still on.


July 22, 1999
This month's Showtime Magazine features a review of the Santa Monica Pier show from earlier in the month.  Check that out over here.  Thanks to Wanda for the tip!  (And remember, you can listen to that show over here!)


July 19, 1999
Sorry about the lack of updates lately.  Things have been crazy.

Be sure and check out all the new Tour Dates.  There are a ton of shows coming up.

I forgot to mention it, but last week's "Spin Art" audio clip was "The Family Tree."  This week's is "Mary On My Mind."  Those are over here.

Vanguard Records has completely revamped their Venice site, and it looks great!  Click here to see it.

Finally, if you weren't able to make it to the Santa Monica Pier show on July 1st, have no fear, now you can listen to it online, compliments of Los Angeles radio station KPCC.  Thanks to Bonnie for providing me with a copy when my DAT machine failed me.  For those of you outside of Los Angeles who are anxiously waiting a Venice tour, this is a little 74 minute taste of what the shows are sounding like these days.  And as an added bonus, Jackson Browne joins them for "Brown Eyed Girl!"  That concert is over here.  (By the way, also on this page is a full concert from 1996 that I posted a few months ago but never made a news item of it.  If you haven't listened to it yet, go check it out too!)


July 8, 1999
Check this out.  Thanks Shannyn!!!

Also, our first Santa Monica Pier photos, including tons with Jackson Browne.  These are compliements of Dan, and they're over here.

Happy birthday to Venice Central!  That's right, the webpage turns one year old today.  Six months ago, we were averaging 1000 hits a month.  This past month, we've raised up to over 100 hits a day!  You guys are doing an amazing job spreading the word.  Congratulations everybody!


July 7, 1999
I've updated the file on how to help the band, and added some new ideas.  Check it out!


July 5, 1999
This week's "Spin Art" audio clip: "Garden Wall."

For those of you in the Los Angeles area, remember to tune into KPCC, 89.3 FM tonight from 10pm to midnight for a replay of Venice's Santa Monica Pier concert.  Of course, if they also air the opening set from Sally Taylor, then expect Venice to come on the air closer to 10:45pm.


July 4, 1999
I added some Phil Collins video clips, with Mark Lennon singing backup.  Those are over here.

In other news, last weekend, I interviewed lighting designer Marty Carrillo.  Marty's been with the band almost from the very beginning, and he even shared a house with Kipp and Michael for 10 years.  There's a lot of fascinating material in this interview, and I think you guys will really enjoy it.  It's over here.


July 3, 1999
Sets 102 update from Kipp Lennon:

According to San Diego Venice fan Leigh Stern, there are two phone numbers you can call in on.  The Comment Line is (858) 320-7030, and the Request Line is (858) 570-1021.  If you get on the air, remember to hype Venice Central!  This webpage is designed to turn Venice Virgins into fans with all the audio and video content, so let's get those radio listeners over here!  (If the DJs ask for the URL, tell them it's long and complicated, but if people go to any search engine and type "Venice Central" with quotation marks around it, they'll get here fairly easily.)


July 1, 1999
When lighting designer Marty Carrillo wasn't helping out the Dutch television crew during the taping of "2 Meter Sessies" back in April, he was taking pictures.  And now you can see those shots starting here.


June 28, 1999
This week's "Spin Art" audio clip: "One Quiet Day."


June 21, 1999
I got my copy of "Spin Art" today, and you heard it here first, this is by far the best Venice album yet!  But domestic release is still two months away, and it seems a little early to post all the sound clips right now.  So, because I love the opportunity to heighten the anticipation a little, and also because I'm a bastard, I'm going to post the album clips slowly.  I've started with four, and I'll add one clip a week until the release date, August 24.  You'll find those clips over here.  Keep checking back.  And spread the word!


June 17, 1999
Notice something new in the Table of Contents on the main page?  I'll give you a hint: It's between Video Clips and Pictures.  If you don't see it, hit "Reload" on your browser.

Once you're done reading that, go here immediately.  It's the official webpage for "2 Meter Sessies," the program that's running a 1 hour special on Venice next week in Holland.  The page contains the audio of the entire program.  If you haven't heard any of the songs from the upcoming "Spin Art" album yet, now's your chance.  There are also a lot of great pictures of the show, and video clips will be added soon!


June 16, 1999
Due to technical difficulties, Sets 102 was unable to put Kipp on the air this morning.  In addition to the interview, they had also planned to debut "The Man You Think I Am," but instead chose to wait, because they felt it will have more of an effect if it follows up Kipp's explanation that he and Michael wrote it about becoming fathers.  The interview and world premiere of the single will be rescheduled soon.  I'll post details as soon as I have them.


June 15, 1999
Tomorrow morning (Wednesday) at 8:30am Pacific Standard Time, Kipp Lennon will be interviewed on Sets 102, a radio station in San Diego, California.  The interview is likely to be followed by the world radio premiere of the first single, "The Man You Think I Am."  If you're not in San Diego, you can listen online over here.


June 14, 1999
Yesterday morning, Holland's Radio 3 played a few excerpts from the upcoming Venice television special, "2 Metre Sessies."  I hope to have an audiocassette of those songs shortly, but in the meantime, the recording of Jackson Browne performing "For A Dancer" with Venice singing backup has already appeared on the internet.  This is only 28.8k mono, and when I get it up on Venice Central, I'll make it available in 56k stereo and MP3, but this should tide you over until that happens.  Thanks to KC for the URL!

By the way, my lovely wife turns 29 today.  Happy birthday, Erika!


June 11, 1999
Be sure to check out "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno" this coming Wednesday night, June 16.  Phil Collins will be performing, and Mark Lennon will be one of his backup singers.  (Thanks to Marty Carrillo for the heads-up!)

Attention Los Angeles fans: At 10:00pm on Monday, July 5, radio station KPCC-FM (89.3) will broadcast Venice's July 1 Santa Monica Pier show.  With luck, that show will be available here at Venice Central a few days later.


June 7, 1999
Dreamworks is currently in production on the animated sequel, "Joseph: Prince of Egypt II," which will be released directly to video.  Ben Affleck is one of the film's stars, but Ben doesn't do his own singing.  That job is held by Kipp Lennon.  Kipp is currently recording 5 or 6 tunes for the film.  Many of them are duets with Jodi Benson, who you might remember as the voice of Ariel in Disney's "The Little Mermaid."  But that's not all.  There's also a song that's sung by Aaron and his brothers, so who do you imagine Kipp recommended for that job?  That's right, Pat, Mark and Michael will be joining Kipp for one song.  Look for "Joseph" to hit video stores sometime between 2000 and 2002.  (Animation takes a long, long time, and recording vocals is just the first step.)


June 5, 1999
More pictures from Picture Jen, a.k.a. Jennifer Kaplan.  These Earth Day shots begin here.


June 4, 1999
"So, Matt, what have we got for the fine people today?"  "I'm glad you asked me that, Matt!  Today, we have new Sweetwater pictures from Wally!  That's right, Wally!  The first 500 people to click here and look at them win ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!!!  YAY!!!!!!!!!!"

Okay, time for my sedative...


June 3, 1999
More '80s stuff, courtesy of our good friend Jon DeLong.  First, pages of Teen Magazine articles featuring budding teenage heartthrob Kipp Lennon.  Those start here.

Jon also sent us...  Well, it would spoil the effect to tell you about it, so just go here and see it for yourself.


June 1, 1999
Vanguard has announced that Venice's first single from their new album "Spin Art" will be "The Man You Think I Am."  Watch for it to hit radio on July 22.  And keep checking back to Venice Central for upcoming instructions on how you can help make this song a hit!


May 29, 1999
Added a few things today:

First, Wanda has contributed a lot of great pictures from the Earth Day and 4th and B shows last April.  Those start here.

Next, something a lot of you have been waiting for...  We now have video clips of last year's edition of "2 Metre Sessies!" This half hour show aired only in Holland, and contains interviews and acoustic performances.  It's over here.  Thanks once again to Kipp Lennon for donating this.  Hopefully we'll get this year's edition shortly after it airs in late June.

Currently, these clips are only available as RealAudio video files.  Zipped avi files, which much better picture and sound, will be available soon.  I've been slowly uploading them for the last few days, but it isn't easy.  Each of these 8 files takes roughly 3 hours to upload, and my line keeps disconnecting.  Every time that happens, I have to start that file going all over again.  (It happened once with only 2 1/2 minutes left to go.  The fans in Holland probably heard my scream.)  My computer has been attempting to upload these huge files for over 60 hours straight now, and I've only been successful with 5 so far.  Once I get the rest up there, I'll ammend the page so that you can download them.  Look for that, hopefully, by the end of this holiday weekend.  In the meantime, the RealAudio files will provide immediate gratification.

Lastly, we have a very rare video clip of Venice playing Fleetwood Mac's "Landslide" at At My Place in the late 1980s. Special guest Stevie Nicks duets with Mark Lennon on the song.  A pretty incredible performance!  Enjoy that over here.

Chipping away at the pile...  Lots more coming soon...  Keep checking back!


May 26, 1999
I was home sick today, which gave me the opportunity to play a bit of catch-up.  I still have a pile of stuff to add to the page, but at least I was able to take a small chunk out of it.  (I probably should have spent the day resting.  Oh yeah, oh well.)

First, Venice fan Angel Rogero performed "Charm You" last November at Cal State University, Northridge (my alma matter!) at a vocal jazz concert, and you can listen to her interpretation over here!

On that same page, you can check out Venice's rendition of the Star Spangled Banner.  This is a studio recording, donated by Mr. Kipp Lennon himself.

Back in November of 1997, Venice appeared on radio station WHUD in New York, and performed many songs acoustically in between interview segments.  Pete Valenzuela played bass.  You can listen to that over here.  This was also donated by Kipp Lennon.

And finally, thanks to Jon DeLong for tracking down a recording I've been looking for for a while, Engenheirdo do Hawaii singing "Lado A Lado."  Yes, this track is in Spanish, and it features backup vocals by Kipp and Mark Lennon.  That's over here, about halfway down the page.


May 24, 1999
And now, the setlist for Venice's forthcoming album, "Spin Art:"

Which means that "Unbreakable Heart" and "The Mermaid Song" didn't make the cut.  Hopefully we'll hear those tracks as B-sides to singles.  "Unbreakable Heart" might even be sung by Michael on their next album, "Welcome To the Rest of Your Life," which will be released on Columbia Records in 2002.  (Isn't it cool how you can go back later and revise the archives and make it look like you predicted the future?)


May 23, 1999
The Lennon family just keeps growing and growing and growing...  On Thursday, May 20th, at 1:30pm, Venice's lead guitarist Michael Lennon and his wife Danielle welcomed the newest member of their family, Rowdy Beck Lennon.  Rowdy weighed in at 8.6 lbs. and 22 inches, and you can see pictures here.

Normally, I try to avoid spotlighting the band's personal lives on this webpage, but this was a special request from the proud papa, and I could hardly turn that down.


May 19, 1999
"With A Little Help From My Friends" has been added to the bootlegs page.  Anybody have any copies of cover songs that aren't on this page?  Please e-mail me at matt@venicecentral.com.  Thanks!


May 17, 1999
Venice has announced the title of their forthcoming album: "Spin Art."  Release date is planned for August 24.


May 16, 1999
On Saturday, I interviewed Pete Valenzuela, "Man of All Trades and Jack of None."  Pete has worked for the band for 15 years, and in this interview, he shares many of his experiences and observations.  You can listen to that here.


May 8, 1999
Lots of new stuff today!

First off, tons of amazing 4th and B photos, contributed by professional photographer Baldi.  Check those out over here.

Mar has also contributed some great 4th and B shots, as well as several nice stills taken earlier in the day, at the Earth Day show in Pollywog Park.  Those start here.

Next, we have an extremely rare recording, once again tracked down by detective-extrordinaire Jon DeLong.  As far as I can tell, this long-out-of-print 45 is the very first release ever credited to Venice.  It's "Class of 65," the theme song to the short-lived 1978 sitcom, "Whatever Happened To the Class of 65?"  You can listen in RealAudio or download an MP3.  Both versions are over here.

Finally, there are a couple of new additions to the bootlegs page.  Venice sings "In My Adobe Hacienda," which their parents used to sing together in the 1940s.  Also, we now have Venice's rendition of John Vester's "You're the One."  Those songs are both over here.

I've got several more things yet to add.  So keep checking back!


May 5, 1999
Attention all Venice fans in Holland!  Aline de Boer reports that the new "2 Metre Sessies" Venice special will air on June 23rd. Enjoy the show, and know that all of us here in America deeply envy you.


May 4, 1999
Last week, I conducted an interview with songwriter John Vester, to talk exclusively about his work with Venice.  You can listen to that interview over here.


May 3, 1999
Venice will be performing at the House of Blues on Saturday, May 22.  This is an important show for the band, because it's a major Los Angeles venue, and it's their first time headlining there on a Saturday night.  If this goes really well, it would be a great calling card for them, and could open up a lot of doors when the new album comes out in August.  So please try to make this show if you can.  Bring all your friends along with you.  And spread the word!


April 27, 1999
New pictures today.  Dan Young contributed some Polliwog Park shots, and Joyce Richards sent in photos from Sweetwater.

In other news, it was just announced that Venice's forthcoming album will contain a cover of Fleetwood Mac's "Landslide."


April 24, 1999
In 1981, Kipp Lennon appeared on an episode of the television drama "Eight Is Enough," and thanks to Jon DeLong, Venice Central now has a copy.  It is, however, hidden away deep inside the webpage.  Happy searching!  (Okay, I'll give you a hint.  Go through the pages in the Articles and Reviews section, and click on all the pictures until you find it.)


April 21, 1999
As previously reported, Venice spent the last week working with a Dutch crew for a television special that will air internationally.  This afternoon, Kipp Lennon filled Onelist subscribers in on the details, and made a couple of announcements:

April 20, 1999
Venice Central passed 10,000 hits tonight!


April 18, 1999
Added audio clips from Mick Bird's album, "Na'au," which include background vocals by Mark Lennon.  That's over here. And if you want to read about Mark's involvement in this project, click here.


April 15, 1999
Santa Barbara Coach House pictures are now online, compliments of Jennifer Kaplan.  Check them out, starting here.

And Linda's pictures, taken at the Galaxy last week, are here.


April 13, 1999
I've been searching for ages for the soundtrack to the 1985 Emilio Estevez movie "That Was Then...This Is Now."  I happened to mention this to Venice fan Jon DeLong, and in less than a week, he tracked down a copy and mailed it to me.  Color me impressed.  Anyway, the point to this story is that featured on this long out-of-print album is a track sung by Kipp Lennon, "Born Alone."  And you can now enjoy this burried treasure right over here.  Thanks Jon!

Now if we can just get our hands on the soundtrack to the 1987 Patrick Dempsey comedy "Can't Buy Me Love....."

Jon also sent a press photo of the 1990 version of the band. I put it here, with the others.


April 11, 1999
Got some interesting information talking to the band after the Galaxy show last night.

First of all, the forthcoming new album will contain only 13 songs.  12 of them are newly-written.  "World Upon My Back" will be the only "Garage Demos" re-do.  3 are songs that they've never played live.  (Which means that of the 12 new songs they've been playing live recently, 3 of them won't make the album.)  Because it's taken so long to record, the release date has been pushed back again, probably to August.  The band will not hit the road to tour until the album is out.

The brand new song "Family Tree" was recorded with a string section, which should take the recording to a whole other level.

In other news, because of Venice's popularity in Holland, a crew from a station that is kind of like a Holland MTV is going to be following Venice around all next week, conducting interviews and shooting them in the studio.  At the end of the week, they're heading to Jackson Browne's studio to record duets with Jackson and David Crosby.  These recordings will be for the Holland show only, and not for the new Venice album.  I'll do my best to get a copy of the show once it airs, and post it on the webpage, but because of the different HDTV formats, this might be a problem.  If you live in Holland and think you can help, please contact me.  Thanks!


April 9, 1999
Onelist subscribers got a piece of news about the recording sessions for the new Venice album yesterday.  We were discussing the song "Feelin' Alright," which Venice covers at many of their shows, and Kipp Lennon dropped us the following note:

April 5, 1999
Added sound clips from Michael Ruff's 1996 album "Girl Like You," which feature backup vocals from Mark Lennon and Venice.  You can listen to those here.


April 4, 1999
Happy Easter everybody!  To celebrate, I've devised a musical Easter Egg hunt.  I've posted 15 original Venice songs, all recorded in the late 70s/early 80s.  These are all new additions to the page, and you probably haven't heard any of them. They've all been shortened to one verse and one chorus, as per my agreement with the band.  28.8k versions of each song are hidden throughout the Pictures section (so fans with slower connections are not excluded).  To hear these audio clips, you'll have to go through each page of full sized pictures and click on every single one.

Again, there are 15 songs total, so if you haven't found them all, keep looking.  Remember, they're all in the Pictures section. So if you're poking around the pictures in the audio or video areas, you're in the wrong place.  And don't forget to go through all of Jennifer and Ken's pictures.  Several can be found there.

Happy hunting!


March 31, 1999
McCabe's pictures, starting here again, compliments of Jennifer.


March 24, 1999
New newsletter:

March 16, 1999
Cancel yesterday's announcement.  The Galaxy show is back on!


March 15, 1999
Due to a scheduling error made by the Galaxy Theater, Venice's April 10th show has been postponed.  As soon as a new date is announced, I'll post it here.


March 1, 1999
Some Christmas Show pictures added today, courtesy of Kelley and Jennifer.  Kelley's are here, and Jennifer's start here.


February 26, 1999
The bootleg audio page more than doubled in sizethis morning!  Lots of great new stuff.  Check it out here.  The new files are the ones that offer you the choice of "28.8k / 56k / Download 56k."


February 25, 1999
The Santa Barbara Coach House show has been postponed to early April.  As soon as a date is confirmed, it will be posted.


February 22, 1999
Lots of new tour dates!


February 14, 1999
The McCabe's shows have been confirmed.  Venice will be bringing their acoustic set to the guitar shop on March 20th and 21st.  Tickets go on sale on March 1st. At that time, you can order them by calling (310) 828-4403 or (310) 828-4497.


February 12, 1999
If you're not already subscribed to the Venice Community Mailing list, once again, I strongly urge you to do so.  There are currently over 70 people subscribed.  A lot of the time, there isn't much going on over there, but every now and then the group gets into a really interesting or funny discussion, and when that happens, it's all worth it.  In addition, the list is made up of many people who go way back with the band, along with a couple of members of the Venice family, so if you ever have a question or an issue regarding Venice, you can bring it up on this list and someone who knows the answer is bound to respond.

Even if you feel you have nothing to contribute, there are usually interesting things to read.  For example, this afternoon, Kipp Lennon provided us with the following news update:

If you're interested in joining us, follow the link from the main page of Venice Central.


February 3, 1999
According to the Troubadour webpage, there will only be one opening act at Venice's Sunday, February 14th show.  Which is great news, because it means the show won't end at 1am on a worknight.  Instead, it will finish up around the 11:30pm, midnight range, which is a bit more manageable for those of us who have to get up early the next morning.


January 24, 1999
Joyce has added 4 new shots from last week's show at The Galaxy.  They're here.


January 20, 1999
Okay, maybe I do have one other thing to report.  Another reason there hasn't been much activity on this site lately is because I've been spending the past month developing a new webpage.  It's called "The Musical Crossroads," and with it I hope to bring some attention to many talented songwriters and performers who lack the superstardom they deserve.  The site is kind of tiny right now, but it's designed to expand, and hopefully with time it will grow into a valuable resourse for fans and artists alike. (Hey, this site started out tiny and look what happened!)  Please check it out over here, and e-mail me at matt@venicecentral.com to let me know what you think.

And to answer your question before you even ask it, this does not pose a threat to Venice Central.  I have no intention of trading in one site for another.  Now that The Musical Crossroads is up and running, I will maintain both sites equally.


January 19, 1999
Wow, it's been a little while, huh?  Sorry about that, but there hasn't been much to report.  The guys are in the studio working on the new album, and from all reports, it's going very well.  Other than that, it's been very quiet.

A few things to talk about today, though. Joanie has put together a webpage to commemorate Venice's Christmas Show '98, and the trek a couple of dozen internet friends made to Los Angeles from all over the country, just to attend this show.  Lots of pictures of Venice, and lots of pictures of fans.  If you're active on Onelist, here's your chance to see what these people look like.  The webpage, "The Road to Where They Are," is over here.  Good job, Joanie!

And finally, Venice has scheduled another holiday show for the Troubadour.  They'll be performing on Valentine's Day, Sunday, February 14th.  Bring somebody you love.


January 4, 1999
A couple of things to report today.  First of all, a huge thank you to my brother Aaron for designing the webpage's new logo. Pretty cool looking, huh?

Next, all the minute-long audio clips from all five Venice albums are now available as both 28.8k and 56k files.  The files designed for the higher connection times contain much better sound quality, plus they're in stereo.  For the casual surfers who discover Venice's music for the first time via this webpage, these will make a much stronger first impression.

Just so you know, I updated the Lyrics Page to reflect the new file names.  So all the links will continue to work.

This may sound like a minor update, but because I had to redo every single song from scratch, this alone actually took up most of my four-day weekend.

Finally, and most exciting of all, I got a copy of the soundtrack to the late 70's movie "Buck Rogers In the 25th Century," which has been out-of-print for almost 20 years.  The theme song was sung by a 19 year old Kipp Lennon.  You can hear both versions of this song at the bottom of this page.