June 25, 2001
Hey, we're back!  Did you miss us?

In case anyone hasn't noticed, Venice Central has been down for about a week and a half.  The issues have all been server-based, and I won't bore you with the technical details.  What is relevant is the fact that the site has moved to a new location.  This won't change any of your bookmarks, because this new location carries the venicecentral.com domain name.  The very fact that you're looking at this page right now means that that automatic re-routing has already kicked in, without you having to do anything differently.  But here's the issue: The site is made up of nearly 2 gigs worth of Venice material, and all that stuff needs to be uploaded to this fresh, virgin server.

So I've been uploading files to this new machine 24 hours a day since Friday afternoon.  So far, I've gotten all the pages and pictures up, but I'm only midway through the audio and video files.  That's going to take a few days, so please be patient, and if a link doesn't work, try it again later and you should have better luck.  When the entire site is operational again, I'll let you know here on the news page.


June 14, 2001
I just got an e-mail from Dann Gillen, part-time drummer for Venice drummer and full-time drummer for Pine Mountain Logs.  He's produced an album for his friend Scott Reeves.  (If the name sounds familiar, he plays Ryan McNeil on "The Young and the Restless.")  Dann plays drums and acoustic guitar on the album, and special guests include such Venice luminaries as Michael Lennon, Mark Harris, and Alexis Sklarevski.  Also, Mike Finnigan, the Hammond B3 expert from "Spin Art" and CSN fame, plays keyboards.  The album will be released sometime next month from 3G Records.  Once it's out, you can purchase it from Scott's webpage, right over here.


June 13, 2001
Attention all Dutch fans!  Next week, June 19 and 20, Venice will be taping two performances in the Netherlands for a music television show called "Paradiso Live," which airs on the first Thursday of every month.  It's taped on the beach.

June 19th is a surf music special.  Venice will perform "Surf's Up" by the Beach Boys, accompanied by the New Groove Orchestra, which is reportedly a Hip-House Big Band.  Also at this show, they'll perform their Beach Boys medley, and one Venice song.

On June 20th, they'll perform on a completely separate episode of the same show, which will pay tribute to music of Quentin Tarantino movies.  On this day, they'll perform only one song, "Stuck In the Middle With You," which was featured in "Pulp Fiction."

200 seats in front of the stage are being given away to anyone who goes to the show's webpage and requests them.  That page is here.  If you can't get seats (I believe the 19th is already filled up), don't worry.  The shows are outside, and anyone walking by is welcome to stand behind the seated area and watch the show for free.


June 9, 2001
Wow, a whole month without updates!  Sorry about that, but nothing much has been happening.  I've updated the Tour Dates page as new shows have been added, but that's about it.

The guys are busy writing new songs.  Maybe five or six of them are about 75-80% done.  If all goes well, they may be ready to debut something during their upcoming Holland tour.  (Keep an eye on the Community Mailing List, and you're sure to hear about it the night it happens.)  January/February 2002 is the projected release date for the next album.

John Vester, on the other hand, has over 20 songs recorded for his new album, and he and Michael Lennon (who's producing) are well into the mixing stage.  As I've mentioned before, all members of Venice have co-written songs with John for this project, and they sing backup and play on many of his tracks.  "The Mermaid Song" and "Unbreakable Heart" will probably both be featured on this album.  These two songs were originally recorded by Venice for their "Spin Art" album, but were left off when the label limited them to 13 tracks.  John's album should be released in the next few months.  When it is, I'll let you know how to get it.

Oh, and if anyone out there is still looking for Venice's debut, self-titled CD, I see five of them on sale, under $8, at Half.com.  Better move quickly if you want to claim one.  Please, in the spirit of fairness, don't buy more than one, and if you already have one, wait a couple of days to give the others a first chance.  Thanks!