Jazz trio entertains Valencia

Students perform for naming of the new West Campus Mears building

Originally published in the Valencia Voice

While employees of Mears Transportation and faculty and staff of Valencia Community College's West Campus gathered together to celebrate the renaming of the Student Services Building, they were delighted by the jazz stylings of Valencia's very own jazz trio, Tuesday, Nov. 16.

Bassist Nasrulah Rahbari, keyboardist Patrick “PD Midnight” Dunn, and drummer Joey Lanna, all students based out of the East Campus, jammed outside of the newly-named Paul Mears Sr. Building, entertaining such company as Bob Segal and Teresa Jacobs.

“No one's going to guarantee success but myself,” said Rahbari. “That's when I decided to go to college. That's when I decided to go to Valencia.”

In high school Rahbari had no focus or experience in instrumental music. “In high school I was actually a choir kid, and it wasn't until after that I really started working on playing.”

“My mother was a piano teacher,” said Dunn. “I've been learning music since I was in the womb,” he said with a smile.

“I started learning music in sixth grade,” said Lanna. “I stayed at the school from sixth to seventh grade, but it had such a bad music program, and it wasn't until I was in eighth grade that I truly started getting into music. By tenth grade, I was in both Wind Ensemble and Jazz Band.”

The young group of musicians, Rahbari, 24, Dunn, 21, and Lanna, 23, met and started per- forming together only a year ago, but already the guys agree they plan on making music for some time to come.

The group agrees that Valencia was the unifying factor when the trio first started playing together.

“I was originally in recording engineering,” said Lanna. “Then I switched to music performance then finally music education.”

Being the closest in age, both Rahbari and Lanna met each other long before the trio ever came together as students at Freedom High school. Four years after graduation Rahbari had become a regular band member of the group “A Palace in Persia.”

“I have been with the band for over four years,” said Rahbari. “The the last two years with that band is when we came out with the album 'Metaphonemia.’” Also, during that time is when Lanna started playing with the trio's bassist.

With over 35 years of combined musical experience the group of 20-somethings have a very defined taste of and philosophy on music.

“When you play the kind of music we play, you have to be open minded,” said Lanna.

But even with their relaxed approach toward the art form, all three agreed that music required intense practice and training.

“I like listening to technically advanced music,” said Rahabari. “When you want to get that sound you really have to put in that grind. The deeper you can go the more you can express.”

The group believes that improvisation is like being fluent in another language and having a conversation with another person.

“You would practice to give a speech but you wouldn't practice to have a conversation with someone,” said Dunn.

Self-described as a classic jazz trio with modern musical influences the group feels very strongly about the direction their music is going. They are currently working on getting the trio recorded.

“We have no reason to stop now,” said Rahbari. “When things in my life were so uncertain the best thing I ever did was go to school.”

To learn more about the guys and their music make sure to visit www.apalaceinpersia.com or e-mail the trio at TrickDunn@yahoo.com. Avail- able for any event or any style of music the group can sometimes be heard playing at Natura Cafe off of University Blvd.

‘Brimstone and the Borderhounds’ comic: A review

Originally published by the Valencia Voice

Based on the pro-wrestling persona of Brimstone and fellow wrestlers and a plot centralized around the underworld, I had no idea what to expect as I read issue #1 of “Brimstone and the Borderhounds.” I was pleasantly surprised.

This isn’t Brimstone’s first venture into the world of comic books, but it certainly has created quite a stir among the community since its release this Halloween, hailing such attention from comic greats like Jim Lee.

Out of all the elements in this issue, possibly the most impressive is its story. It is a new and innovative take on a popular genre of comics, making itself the best parts of “Hellboy” and early ’90s classics.

The premise?

Technologies from other worlds have allowed large powerful corporations, namely the “Intra-dimensional trans-reality bio-etheric retail corporation,” to probe the realm we know as Hell. Shrouded in mystery are those responsible and in charge of the various methods of soul acquisition.

A “sorting hat” of sorts (too many sorts, Russell), known as the Nexus, selects prime candidates for work as slave labor for unknown forces holding stock in this trans-dimensional business. Oh, and all these slave workers have already died once. That’s pretty important.

The first issue takes readers step by step through the whole soul-herding process while instilling a sense that not all is as it appears to be, introducing characters such as “Mr. Hostile,” a homicidal maniac who even after his supposed execution has gripped New York city in a vice of fear in the wake of a series of ritualistic killings.

Couple this with the activities going on in hell, and you have two intriguing story lines set in different worlds that look distinct yet seem connected somehow. Hopefully we will found out how they are connected in future issues.

In almost a throwback to ancient mythology, Chavez Raoul, DJ to the damned, welcomes incoming floating freighters of souls similarly to the way in which Charon rowed the barges across the River Styx of Hades.

With so many souls being rushed to Hell daily, certain aid is needed to ensure that all “company property” is accounted for. This is where the Borderhounds come in.

Whenever a soon-to-be slave, or “weeper,” escapes and flees to the wastelands of Hell, Brimstone and his partners jump into action. Working for the Border Enforcement and Retrieval Department, they are paid in turn for each living slave captured. They are bounty hunters from Hell, need I say more?

My biggest criticism of the comic’s premiere deals heavily with overall layout and design.

Although writers Carnevali and Brimstone follow the standard of comic paneling in page layout, key decisions in dialogue box placement and artistic direction make character interactions confusing and hard to follow at times. Most dialogue is straightforward enough, but a few minor hiccups break the focus of conversations – leaving readers disconnected from the story.

Aside from that, the series has a lot of potential to develop a large reader base of hardcore fans who enjoy both wrestling and comics.

Issue two of the series, which has been set at four issues, will hopefully delve more deeply into the background of other characters such as Detective Billy Altar, the officer in charge of handling Mr Hostile’s trail of murders.

Overall, “Brimstone and the Borderhounds” is a comedic work of magnum opus proportion in the making and readers looking for an original new series should look no further for this must-read.