Marla Maples

Marla Maples is a woman who certainly needs no introduction. Best known for her marriage to Donald Trump (and as the mother to their daughter Tiffany), she is also an actor, writer, radio show host, and musical artist. Her latest EP One World of Love is out now. The album will benefit organizations that strive to bring peace, unity, healing, and love to each other and our planet.

Each download of the title song “One World of Love” benefits Success For Kids (SFK.org). SFK works to help at risk children and teens improve their interpersonal skills, emotional intelligence, problem solving skills and self-sufficiency. You can download the song and learn more about SFK at http://sfk.org/en/donate. Also on the EP is “The Touch,” which benefits Beauty through Cancer and can be downloaded at Beautythroughcancer.org.
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Maximum Ink: What was it like growing up in Georgia? What are your fondest memories from back then? Do you get back to Georgia very much?
Marla Maples: Life was simple in many ways but very full of adventure and friendships. I recall climbing trees, wading through streams, chasing cattle through the pastures and being bucked off a few old paint horses. It was a very healthy and earthy lifestyle. Sports, family, and church were the center of my life in Georgia. I had a musical father who had a band in high school. He went on to do Opera and musical theater in Atlanta. I recall going with my mom to see him perform as the lead in an opera of King Arthur, and I was awe struck. He then became musical director at our Baptist church and chose a different path so he wouldn’t have to be away from me and my beautiful mother. I still have a lot of the same friends I had in school. I just love to visit my 92 year old granddad, my little sister Danielle, my dad, aunts, uncles and a lot of cute cousins in Georgia.

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Mastodon

Any metalhead with their ear to the ground is sure to hear the rumbling, gargantuan footsteps of the mighty Mastodon. The densely complex and thought provoking heavy rock of the recent Crack The Skye and Blood Mountain releases have propelled Mastodon out of the underground and onto arena bills and critic’s top lists. I conversed with drummer Brann Dailor in anticipation of their May 18th appearance at the Orpheum Theater in Madison. Mastodon is rounded out by guitarists Bill Kelliher, Brend Hinds, and bass player Troy Sanders.

Maximum Ink:  Has Mastodon been to Madison before?

Brann Dailor:  I’ve been there a bunch of times.

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Eli Mattson

Eli Mattson is probably best known as runner up on TV’s America’s Got Talent, on NBC, where he lost to Neal E. Boyd by only 0.5%. He has made several appearances in Vegas with AGT winner Terry Fator. Eli started playing the piano at 5 and has been performing as a vocalist/pianist since the age of fourteen.

MAXIMUM INK: You claim Door County, WI as your home. What it is like to get chances to play your home town?
ELI MATTSON: “Well I lived in Door County as a kid, went to Southern Door, and worked at the Pizza Hut in town. After that I moved around a lot but what Door County really gave me was a start with music. My first regular gig was at Java on Jefferson when it was there.  Now when I play there it’s great to see the people who supported me first.”

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Eli Mattson

Eli Mattson is best known as the runner-up on season three of America’s Got Talent (AGT). The following interview was done around September 2009 (before the interview that ran on here … for a magazine that never went to press). Seeing as it is so very hard to find an artist that does deserve to be praised for their talent as much as this one, I thought the readers of Maximum Ink might like to see this interview (a prequel of sorts). Eli is a Wisconsin native who has been performing as a pianist and vocalist since the age of fourteen. He has made several guest appearances in Las Vegas with AGT winner Terry Fator. He has four albums to date and talent to spare. He recently performed along with several other musicians in the Tim Janis Christmas Carol at Carnegie Hall.

Maximum Ink: Where are you from and when did you first take an interest in music and why? When did you take up the piano?
Eli Mattson:  I was originally born in Duluth, MN, but my family moved around a lot. We came to Wisconsin when I was about ten, and I was in Door County off and on most of the time. I can’t really say why I took an interest in music. It just always made sense to me. I started playing the piano when I was five, and I fell in love with it. I can’t imagine it not being a part of me.

MI: Who are some of your biggest musical influences and why?
EM: Well, Elton John and Billy Joel of course, but I really love all music. I think it’s important to listen and learn everything you can from any artist out there, especially when you’re trying to be one. Some other names would be, Jimmy Newquist, Alice in Chains, Harry Chapin, just to name a few. Good music is good music!

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M.A.X.-mas Volume II

We’ve all heard the lousy Christmas songs that get beaten into our head over and over every single year since our conception. The one’s that make you go just a tad bit crazy and one more step closer to that breaking point. If you’re from the U.S., you know all about the corporate sponsored shopping spree we as Americans partake in, despite whether or not we have money. Now, I’m no Scrooge. But if I’m going to have to suffer through another year of thousands of meaningless dollars spent and seeing family half of us don’t like as it is, I want some kick ass music to dull the pain.

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Jim McCarty

Jim McCarty is credited with helping found, and drumming for, two British rock band; Renaissance and The Yardbirds. The Yardbirds got their big break at the Crawdaddy Club in London when the Rolling Stones decided it was time to move on from their standing gig at the place. They later played the Beatles 1964 Christmas show. The Yardbirds as we all know boasted three of the most influential guitarists of all time, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, and Jimmy Page. The Yardbirds were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992.

In 1982 Jim formed Box of Frogs with early Yardbird companions Samwell Smith and Dreja. Making two albums, the first featured Jeff Beck and the second Jimmy Page. Somewhere in all that he also began his work as a solo artist. His latest offering “Sitting On The Top of Time” is as he calls it, “focusing on the Renaissance side” of his musical stylings. He worked hard to make sure the lyrics were all positive. Jim added, “I kept trying to remain positive, which was difficult in these strange times.” I recently had the chance to question him on what all of these things have been like.

Maximum Ink: When did you first become interested in music?
Jim McCarty:  I’ve always been interested in music, since my grandmother had a stand up piano that I used to “mess around” on! The first magical moment was when I was about 16, and somebody took me round a local house where a live band was rehearsing in the sitting room. They played some Shadows songs, and I was completely blown away!

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The Meat Puppets

Drifting in the hazy, smoky air like their psychedelic, attention inducing beats, guitar plucks and other worldly lyrics that intertwine, the MEAT PUPPETS and their music refuse to return to reality.  While some attempts have been made to call their sound acid-fried country-punk, stoner rock or cow punk, just to name a few, the band couldn’t care less.

“I don’t own up to any genre classification,” says singer Curt Kirkwood.  “We’re just the musicians.”

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