Thursday, December 24, 2015

AUSTRALIA OR BUST!!!!

With all the hoopla regarding the cancellation of Soundwave, I thought I would brighten things up a bit and also clarify....contrary to reports, Killer Be Killed is not owed moola from their performance last year and we WERE paid amazingly fast. I have heard this isn't the case with many other acts, but I like to keep my nose to myself and cannot comment on other band's business. Max and I absolutely love the Australian music scene, having gone there since the wild days of the early 1990's. The vivacious fans, the fervor of Metal in the veins of the bush lands, it all adds up to a great experience!

Soulfly

Mikey and Max
From Soundwave, to Sidewaves, to Big Day Out, to Gigantour, to headline shows, i have planned many tours across the Land Down Under. Sepultura was quite famous for a riot in Perth, permanently causing the total destruction and closure of a venue! Ah, yes, the lovable Aussies. They are maniacs for merch; they are loyal to bands and actually BUY cds, and they patiently wait in line at in stores to meet their musical heroes-always buying a cd to get signed and never pulling the Whine out of their mouth! A band's dream! My next dream is to roll across the country with my Maximum Cavalera Tour! One day, hopefully in 2016!

Igor and Christina

Me, Igor, and Max

Max and Zyon
Once, we took 23 people with us--band, crew, children, nanny, friends, boyfriends and girlfriends all in tow! We dined on alligator cooked by yours truly and blew the crap out of digiridos, all for fun! One night, we were awaken by Mary Poppins ,er Joey Nugent, our son's nanny, saying that Zyon had slept walked out of the hotel room and was nowhere to be found! Running to the lobby, the smiling receptionist pointed to the bar and behold... Zyon was walking in circles slapping the dead finger as he prowled, unknowingly! Thank God he never wandered out of the hotel!

Roy, Max, Squasha, and Me

Paul, Andrew, Igor and Me
Besides friends who are/were promoters, AJ, Squasha, Gavin, Adrian Bohm and others through our 20+ years of tours, our dearest buds are the famous twins, Paul and Andrew Haug. They were 15 years old when we met them and they have grown with us, as our children have grown up with them! Many visits to the Melbourne Zoo were made into memories because of their friendship. We have known each other through happy times and the worst of times. They have never lost their humor or their youth! Some of you may know them from their band, Contrive!

One of the worst experiences happened to Incite! They were in their infancy when we toured there and they weren't very experienced at the time, when misfortune became their shadow! I checked everyone in for the flight to the US and as you can imagine, we were all looking forward to being home! As we approached the passport checkpoint, Luis Marrufo, the bass player reached for his passport, only to find that some slight of hand pickpocketer had swiped it from his jacket!! You can imagine his shock and my pissed-off-ness when we both realized we would have to leave him on the Big Island until he got a replacement passport! That was not a good thing!

Max
One thing you can always be assured of is the fact that we will always return! Morfing from one band to another, bringing a son or daughter or several, we cannot resist the lure of the succulent Harry's pies, the curves of the Opera House, the changing lights of the bridge and the bungi jump on the Gold Coast! The screams of the fans and the poofy-ness of the koala bears will beckon us back, many, many years to come!





Class dismissed......

Friday, December 11, 2015

TRIBE, LET US WELCOME THE SOON TO BE MRS. CAVALERA!!!

Next week, on my Father's (RIP) birthday, our son, Richie, will tie the knot with his squeeze, Shonda Mackey! Not only will we be gaining a daughter from another Mother, but the Tribe will have a new Mrs. Cavalera in our tight circle.




I met Shonda when Richie introduced her to us some time ago. When he told us she was a fetish model, I admit, I raised an eyebrow! We never had a clue that she would be marrying him one day. We could see from the start that she was very much in love with Richie. She is a hard worker and a beautiful person, inside and out. She has proven herself to be loyal, and protective of us all. In our family, privacy is very important and treasured. It is also rare. Shonda slid right in with us and has never let us down. We have seen her evolve into a serious model, part time actress and now, a wife to or son.

Poster ad from the boulevard in Huntington Beach
When Thomas Mignone was looking for a Medusa who would allow a snake to slither on her body, Shonda donned her body suit and made friends with the serpent. Voila! Snakes of Jehovah gave us the smack down! Thomas said he had never shot anyone the camera loved more!

Mr. and Mrs. Richie Cavalera and son, Sawyer

Richie and Sawyer
So next week, Tribe, let us welcome another woman in the family tree of ancestry of the Cavalera family... Mrs. Richie Cavalera!!! You know how we do it!




Class dismissed......

Friday, December 4, 2015

CALL THE POLICE! WE HAVE BEEN ROBBED!!!!

In 2004, we did the craziest tour that we had ever done! It started out all cool...lots of shows, Soulfly headlining and the kids in tow. We some of the kid's friends with us, too.....Bryan, Eddie, and Joey, the boy's nanny. With the band, crew, kids and friends, we needed a giant bus! We found this bus in Sweden. It was the biggest band bus in the world, exquisitely furnished on the inside! A double decker, of course, but it also had 2 bedrooms and living room lounges upstairs.

Igor and Max in our bus lounge


Tour dates

Roxanne and Moses
The upstairs was cut in half with a wall, which divided the upstairs into the family room and the bushwhacker's room. Each had bunks for everyone and a spacious living area with poofy black leather couches and a kickass entertainment area. We really loved that damn bus! By the end of the tour, the bus had so many mechanical failures we were arriving up to 5 hours late for festivals!! But, dear Students, that is another blog...

Bryan


Roxanne
One night in Italy, about 4:30am, I was awaken by a phone call from our friend in America, Tess (RIP) Krimbell. As I chatted away in my bunk, I got up to make sure that the kids had all gotten to their bunks, and not fallen asleep to a video game. Walking to the front of our area, I peaked down the staircase and was shocked to see the door wide open and Bryan's backpack laying near the door, with a hundred dollar bill sticking out of it!!

I walked downstairs, still yapping to Tess, and looked around for Bryan. We were parked at a truckstop in Italy, and as I expected, everyone was snuggled in their bunks. I gasped when I got to the kitchen are. It was the room we kept all of our laptops, phones charging, cameras, etc. It was bare!!! Not a device anywhere!!! Fear washed over me as I realized that we were being robbed. Was whoever behind me, or hiding in a corner? Was I about to be grabbed and silenced? WTF was going on?

I ran upstairs and woke the driver and everyone up. Shock turned into anger. This had never happened before! We contacted the police promptly. They arrived and it seemed that this had been happening in Italy many times. In fact, they said we were "lucky!" they told us that a gang from Northern Africa had been pulling similar heists. They went by the gang name "Amerikans." We were lucky because usually they pumped some narcotic gas into the bus to knock everyone out and many times, the people neared to where the gas came into the bus, died. I guess in that respect, we were blessed! What an experience...one I hope is never repeated!!!

Christian

Yuha, getting the f%#@ outa Dodge!





Class dismissed....