Janeane speaks with Starr Parodi, an innovative solo artist, pianist, multi award-winning composer and producer. She is also an honoree in the 2021 SHE ROCKS AWARDS!

WATCH | LISTEN

Starr Parodi first entered the public eye playing keyboards as part of the house band on the hit late-night Arsenio Hall Show and has played, toured or recorded with a wide array of artists including Carole King, George Howard, BB King and Mavis Staples. Since then she has become a vibrant part of the Los Angeles composing community, scoring hundreds of episodes of TV & film as well as being a passionate and innovative solo artist, pianist and producer whose work has been featured on NPR, The BBC, KCRW and iHEART Radio. 

As a multi award-winning composer, Starr has had her symphonic works premiered at Lincoln Center, received a gold record for her production/arrangement of the James Bond Theme and is the first woman to have her compositions performed in the 87-year history of the Festival of Arts-Pageant of the Masters where she is currently a featured composer. Starr is also currently president of the Alliance for Women Film Composers and champions opportunities for women in film and TV.

READ her full bio here.

Excited to share my conversation with Cherie Currie who will be honored at the 2021 SHE ROCKS AWARDS Friday January 22, 2021!

Cherie Currie’s extraordinary life reads like fiction. From her time as a teenage rock star to becoming an accomplished Chainsaw Carving artist, Cherie has always taken the road less traveled. Cherie was just 15 when she became the lead singer of The Runaways, and within a month the band secured a deal with Mercury Records. After leaving The Runaways, Cherie began a lengthy solo career that includes collaborations with Slash, Brie Darling, Billy Corgan, The Veronicas and more. Her most recent solo album, Blvds of Splendor, touches on her retro appeal while marking the strong foothold Cherie has cultivated in modern mass appeal.

WATCH | LISTEN

Photo credit: Robert Sebree

Cherie Currie released a new solo album produced by Matt Sorum (Guns N' Roses, Velvet Revolver). Blvds of Splendor via Blackheart Records in April 2020. 
ORDER | STREAM

Click here to watch "Behind The Scenes" footage of Cherie & Matt during the making of the album: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ljnky6xbnTg

Blvds of Splendor features guest collaborations with Billy Corgan of Smashing Pumpkins, Slash and Duff from Guns N’ Roses, as well as Juliette Lewis, Brody Dalle, The Veronicas and drummer Matt Sorum,

Consequence of Sound

Rolling Stone

The special digital only release features three bonus tracks (including a remake of The Runaways classic “Queens of Noise” featuring Brody Dalle, The Veronicas, Juliette Lewis and Matt Sorum paying homage to late Runaways drummer Sandy West). "Queens of Noise" is offered as an instant grat track when you pre-order the album: https://presave.io/t/cheriecurrie.

View the Queens of Noise Recording Session

Cherie Currie Returns with New Star-Studded Solo Album
“Blvds of Splendor”Set For Release Via Blackheart Records April 28, 2020


Billy Corgan, Slash, Matt Sorum, Duff, Juliette Lewis and more make guest appearances
Digital-Only Release Features Remake of The Runaways Classic “Queens of Noise”

Click here https://youtu.be/ZrJxqCrfBWk to view In-Studio footage
of “Queens of Noise” Recording Session

Click here to watch "Behind The Scenes" footage of Cherie & Matt during the making of the album: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ljnky6xbnTg

Los Angeles, CA – April 8, 2020 - 70’s Icon and Ex-Runaways singer Cherie Currie has confirmed a release date for her latest solo project which features a bevy of rocks finest on the new album, Blvds of Splendor. The album is set to be released digitally on April 28, 2018 via Blackheart Records Pre-Order Link and features guest collaborations with Billy Corgan of Smashing Pumpkins, Slash and Duff from Guns N’ Roses, as well as Juliette Lewis, Brody Dalle, The Veronicas and ex-Guns N’ Roses, Velvet Revolver drummer Matt Sorum, who also produced the set. “Cherie’s voice tells it all, she is the real deal. And now more than ever that voice tells the story of where’s she’s been in her life. This record is about who Cherie Currie is now. We’ve waited a long time to hear this icon of Rock N’ Roll do what she does best. I’m very proud to be a part of this album by one of the best female singers of all time.” said Matt.

Photo credit: Robert Sebree


Blvds of Splendor has been a labor of love as Cherie & Matt originally began work on it back in 2010 when Cherie was promoting The Runaways movie (currently streaming on Netflix) which stars Dakota Fanning as Cherie and Kristen Stewart as Joan Jett. The tracks languished in the vaults for years while Cherie went back to work on her chainsaw carvings (see here: CNN) and did other studio work for 2015’s Reverie release, which features some of the last works of legendary Runaways manager/producer Kim Fowley.

In 2016, Cherie was set to release Blvds of Splendor when she had a near death accident while chainsaw carving falling over 12 feet to the ground off of a hilltop scaffolding. The accident left Cherie with partial facial paralysis and severe head trauma for over 10 months. After her recovery, she met and went in the studio with Fanny drummer & vocalist Brie Darling and in 2019 they released their critically acclaimed The Motivator album via Blue Elan Records. Cherie is back to chainsaw carving again and is ready to finally release Blvds of Splendor. “I’ve never had so much fun making a record before. We all looked at each other and went, ‘Oh my God, there’s magic happening here” Cherie said.

Blvds of Splendor was released on 180 Gram Translucent Red Vinyl for Record Store Day in 2019 with a limited run of 3000 copies. This will be the first time the album is available worldwide digitally for the fans. The digital release features three bonus tracks (including a remake of The Runaways classic “Queens of Noise” featuring Brody Dalle, The Veronicas, Juliette Lewis and Matt Sorum paying homage to late Runaways drummer Sandy West) that were not included on the Record Store Day vinyl release. "Queens of Noise" will be offered as an instant grat track when you pre-order the album: https://presave.io/t/cheriecurrie. View the Queens of Noise Recording Session


Blvds of Splendor full album track listing


1. Mr. X
2. Roxy Roller
3. You Wreck Me
4. Black Magic
5. Blvds of Splendor
6. Force To Be Reckoned With
7. Bad and Broken
8. Rock & Roll Oblivion
9. Shades
10. Draggin' the Line
11. Breakout
12. The Air That I Breathe
13. What Do All the People Know? – Bonus Track
14. Gimme – Bonus Track

15. Queens of Noise – Bonus Track

CHERIE CURRIE (The Runaways) & DAVE SCHULZ

(Goo Goo Dolls) JOIN TOGETHER

ON THE CLASSIC “WHAT THE WORLD NEEDS NOW IS LOVE”

WATCH THE VIDEO HERE

American Songwriter Magazine Interview HERE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: OCTOBER 1, 2020 - Former Runaways vocalist Cherie Currie has released one of her all-time favorite songs with “What The World Needs Now Is Love.”

You can watch the video HERE featuring Cherie and an all-star band all filmed separately in quarantine. Pre-save the single HERE & HERE which will be released Friday, October 2.

This timeless classic written by Burt Bacharach & Hal David and originally recorded by Jackie DeShannon exudes the hopeful message of spreading love into the world with its signature lyric: “What the world needs now is love, sweet love. No not just for some but for everyone.” A message that couldn’t ring more true in these current times.

Cherie says – “Driving back from my sister Marie’s house in Henderson NV over July 4th weekend I was listening to the Forrest Gump soundtrack Marie had gifted me. When “What the World Needs Now Is Love” came on I put it on repeat to sing along. I was struck with how prevalent this song is, especially today. Right at that moment Dave Schulz called me and I shared my thoughts on the song. “Let’s do it!” and Dave set off on making this possible. His talent as a producer and player are so obvious as to why he has had the successful career he has. Dave Schulz brought in wonderful players! Even the violinist who worked with Burt Bacharach. The final key was reaching out to my long time friend, vocalist Julie Ragins to complete the chill factor on the end of the song. My dear friend and publicist Ken Phillips was onboard from the start stating this was a timeless song in a time where what we REALLY need is love. Love created this. From our hearts to the world. Love really is the answer!”

The track was produced by keyboardist /vocalist Dave Schulz (Goo Goo Dolls, Berlin, The Sweet, Wang Chung), who selected a few of his supremely talented A-list musician friends for the occasion.

“During the lockdown, I have been producing an entertaining and quirky series of "quarantine style" songs/videos for my youtube channel and had randomly said to Cherie "Let’s do a duet!" She immediately got excited because she happened to be driving along at that exact moment ...and had heard "What The World Needs Now Is Love" (Jackie DeShannon's version of the Burt Bacharach classic) in her car and thought what a great message that would be for our times. Of course I was ecstatic at the idea. I'm a HUGE Burt Bacharach fan and couldn’t agree with her more. I immediately enlisted a few of my favorite session musicians / friends. It truly was a blast to create and I think it’s great for Cherie, especially, since it’s not something her fans will expect from her. We're so excited about it...we may even do an entire album like this! – says Dave

Bass - Tony Levin (King Crimson, Peter Gabriel, John Lennon)

Drums - Randy Cooke (Ringo Starr, Dave Stewart, Five For Fighting, Colbie Caillat)

Strings - Eliza James (Burt Bacharach, Paul Anka)

Backing Vocals - Sharlotte Gibson (Nine Inch Nails, Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey) and

Julie Ragins (Moody Blues, Queen Latifah) with strings recorded by Matthew King Ross (David Foster, Barbara Streisand). Audio mixed & video edited by Sammy Burke
Follow Cherie Currie:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cherie.currie.58

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cheriecurrieofficial/

Cherie Currie Official Website: cheriecurrie.com

Learn more about Cherie and her chainsaw carving here: http://www.chainsawchick.com/about.html

Album cover photo credit: Robert Sebree

For interview opportunities with Cherie Currie and Matt Sorum

please contact: KpPublicityGroup@gmail.com and http://kenphillipsgroup.com/currie.htm

Coming up at the SHE ROCKS AWARDS - Ann Mincieli, Mad Skills Award - GRAMMY-winning recording engineer, studio coordinator for Alicia Keys and co-founder of NYC-destination studio Jungle City Studios

Ann Mincieli, Mad Skills Award - GRAMMY-winning recording engineer, studio coordinator for Alicia Keys and co-founder of NYC-destination studio Jungle City

WATCH | LISTEN

"If you focus on being great, then no matter who you are

and what you want to achieve, your success will follow."

A sought-after recording engineer, Ann Mincieli fell in love with the idea of engineering around 1990. Since then she has worked on albums for the likes of Alicia Keys, Jay-Z, Drake, Mariah Carey, Usher, Jennifer Hudson, and Whitney Houston.

WATCH: https://youtu.be/N5xLPO9nfi8

Serving as the regular engineer for much of Keys' work, Mincieli earned her first career GRAMMY for Best R&B Album as the engineer on The Diary Of Alicia Keys at the 47th GRAMMY Awards. She earned a second career GRAMMY in the same category at the 56th GRAMMYs for Keys' Girl On Fire.

Mincieli is the co-founder of Jungle City Studios in New York. Thanks to her skill as a sound engineer and her large collection of vintage gear, including a vintage Versatone Bass amp played by the Wrecking Crew's Carol Kaye and 20-plus '70s and '80s era drum machines.

Did you know? According to an interview she did with Atlantic Records, her favorite piece of gear is the Telefunken M16 microphone.

In 2018 Mincieli was featured as part of the Recording Academy's "We Are Music," campaign, which was designed to showcase the creators the Academy represents.

About Ann Mincieli

Ann Mincieli is a renowned Engineer, Mixer, Collaborator and Album Project Manager for Alicia Keys. Since 2018, Mincieli has been involved with She is the Music, a nonprofit organization dedicated to increasing the number of women working in music across all levels. The 2x GRAMMY® winner has worked with some of music’s biggest acts including Mariah Carey and Jay-Z, among others. Mincieli is the owner of Jungle City Studios, which is one of New York’s most elegant and best equipped recording facilities in the world. As a prominent leader in the music industry, Mincieli has been at the forefront of the movement to restore Manhattan to its former prestige as one of the world’s top recording destinations.

Laura B. Whitmore, Founder of The Women’s International Music Network™ (The WiMN) and the SHE ROCKS AWARDS - Coming up January 22, 2021! RSVP NOW!

Laura B. Whitmore, Founder of The Women’s International
Music Network™ (The WiMN) and the SHE ROCKS AWARDS 

LISTEN | WATCH

The She Rocks Awards honors women in the music & audio industries.

Join the event live on Friday, January 22, 2021

Pre-show: 6:00 pm PT / 9:00 pm ET Awards begin 6:30pm PT / 9:30pm ET

The Women’s International Music Network™ (The WiMN) brings women from all facets of the music industry. The organization produces events, creates opportunities for performance and networking and works to bring the conversation around diversity in the industry into the forefront. The WiMN seeks to create a hub to connect women in all facets of the music industry and works to expose role models, events and educational opportunities that focus on women in music.

Founded in 2012 by Laura B. Whitmore, a veteran marketer of the musical instrument and audio industries, the Women’s International Music Network site (TheWiMN.com) hosts interveiws, news, events, and a community forum for women from all walks of the industry. In 2020 they will launch the new She Rocks Podcast, featuring interviews with women in music.

SHE ROCKS 2021 Honorees! See the LIST!

ABOUT THE SHE ROCKS AWARDS

Founded in 2012 by the Women’s International Music Network, the She Rocks Awards honors trailblazing women from all areas of the industry– from educators, to label execs, manufacturers, non-profits, media, performers, engineers, and more. Past honorees include Melissa Etheridge, Gloria Gaynor, Tal Wilkenfeld, Nita Strauss, Pat Benatar, The Bangles, Suzi Quatro, The B-52s, Colbie Caillat, Sheila E., Linda Perry, Chaka Khan, Ronnie Spector, Lita Ford, Esperanza Spalding, Shirley Manson and many others. A complete list of previous honorees is here.

Each year, the She Rocks Awards attracts music icons, artists, industry professionals, fans and media for a one-of-a-kind event that shines the spotlight on women who stand out in the industry, and offers a high energy evening of performances, networking opportunities, giveaways, a silent auction and more.

Questions or comments? Contact us at info@thewimn.com

ABOUT LAURA B. WHITMORE

Laura B. Whitmore is a graduate of Hofstra University with a B.S. in Music Merchandising and an M.B.A. in Marketing. As the marketing manager for Korg USA for 20 years, she was instrumental in marketing, PR and artist relations for the Korg, Marshall, and VOX brands. She was also editor of Korg’s ProView Magazine. Prior to that, she worked in the Direct Marketing department of CBS Records.

In 2008 Whitmore left Korg USA and founded Mad Sun Marketing, a boutique agency that specializes in marketing, PR, artist relations, event production, graphic design, and more for music and audio companies. Past and current clients of Mad Sun include Positive Grid, ArtistWorks, 108 Rock Star Guitars, Academic Superstore, Acoustic Amplification, Agile Partners, Breedlove Guitars, Colby Amplifiers, Dean Markley USA, Korg, KVRaudio, MusicFirst, Muse Research, NewBay Media, Notion Music, Peavey, SIR Entertainment Services, SIR Stage37, SoundTree, Sterling Audio, Take Me To The River, and more.

Today she is the Vice President of Marketing for Positive Grid, an innovative, forward-thinking music industry hardware and software company.

Whitmore was the editor of Guitar World’s AcousticNation.com and the creator of the GuitarWorld.com featured blog series, Guitar Girl’d. She writes regularly for industry media outlets including Parade.com, Guitar World, Acoustic Guitar, MI Professional, In Tune and more. Whitmore has hosted and moderated many workshops and panels at events such as NAMM, Digital Hollywood, and SXSW on the topics of women in music, marketing, PR, apps and music making, songwriting, and more.

In 2015 she and Brad Tolinski (former editor of Guitar World) launched a live event series called BackStory (backstoryevents.com) that is streamed live with major media partners like Guitar World, Parade.com and AOL.com. Guests have included Ringo Starr, Andy Grammer, Paula Cole, Orianthi, Colbie Caillat, Amy Lee, Ace Frehley, Roger Waters, Zakk Wylde, Tom Jones and many more.

Whitmore is a also a singer/songwriter and acoustic guitarist. She and her co-writer Jenna Paone will be releasing an album in 2020. She currently lives in Massachusetts and has two amazing children, Emma and Cole, and two sweet little dogs, Zillie and Luna.

My Divorce Party - The Movie Comedy feature about lifelong female friends helping their BFF through divorce!

Invest in My Divorce Party - The Movie:
Comedy feature about lifelong female friends helping
their BFF through divorce! | Wefunder

Desiree Staples

Executive Producer - Divorce Party: The Movie

https://wefunder.com/my.divorce.party.the.movie

One of the Producers of "Take Me To Tarzana." Producer of episodic short film selected in Tribeca Film Festival's N.O.W. Showcase 2020. Desiree has acted in multiple award wining and distributed projects, and is a respected actress in the Industry.

Logline: Future divorcee, Xan gathers her closest friends in Joshua Tree to celebrate (or more appropriately sulk in) her impending split. Chaos ensues when she reveals she brought her divorce settlement money to the party with the intention of blowing or burning it all by the weekend’s end.

Synopsis: On the eve of finalizing Alexandra 'Xan' Lynch’s divorce, she decides to gather her closest comrades in Joshua Tree to relax, celebrate, and more appropriately, sulk. The gang arrives at their less than tranquil lodging, an RV park in the middle of nowhere (no, it isn’t a ‘low-key’ chic one). They meet their neighbors Ezekiel, a pansexual hick, and Amara, and an Instagram bohemian hippie (neither are low-key chic either). That evening, Xan drunkenly spirals out of control. She pulls out a bag and begins taking out large amounts of money, throwing it into the fire. Her equally inebriated friends quickly get over their shock and confusion to stop her from burning her entire life savings. She reveals half will be going to her cheating husband come Monday in their divorce settlement. Lines are soon drawn as every friend has a different opinion on what Xan should do with the money.

Samantha, always practical, wants her to invest in a conservative long-term mutual fund. Jasmine, three years in recovery, wants her to selflessly donate all of the money to different women's shelters and nature preserves. Isabella (who is trying to hide her own recent engagement) thinks Xan should use it for her own self-care and Wendy, every group needs a wildcard, just wants her to piss it all away on strippers and drugs. Xan decides to split the cash evenly between each of her friends, with only one caveat: they must spend it all this weekend. They each get to live out their ideal way of helping their friend through this heartbreak. As they spend their way through Joshua Tree the group learns that maybe Xan is not owning up to the whole story and tensions begin to rise. As Xan and her friends’ tensions come to a head, Ezekiel and Amara plot to steal the rest of Xan’s savings. Luckily, like Ezekiel and Amara, the plot wasn’t too deep and the gang quickly sabotages them. Although they were able to band together and dupe the couple’s scam, the damage Xan has done to her friends is irreversible. Xan’s only goal now is to get the few relationships that matter back on track.

Comparable Films:

Divorce Party is a female-driven, fresh, exciting, and hilarious feature film in the same spirit of BRIDESMAIDS, GIRLS TRIP, BOOKSMART, RAISING ARIZONA, ROUGH NIGHT, and more! We think this story is extremely marketable to all women, and our goal is this film be not only relatable to millenials and Gen-X, but women of all ages!

RSVP TO WATCH THE SHE ROCKS AWARDS This Friday, January 22, 2021 Sponsored by Positive Grid

The She Rocks Awards honors women 

in the music & audio industries.

Join us live on Friday, January 22, 2021

Pre-show: 6:00 pm PT / 9:00 pm ET Awards 

begin 6:30pm PT / 9:30pm ET

Register to watch it live:

RSVP TO WATCH THE SHE ROCKS AWARDS

This Friday, January 22, 2021

Sponsored by Positive Grid

The 9th Annual She Rocks Awards is just days away! Our honoree and performer lineup includes Nancy Wilson of Heart, The Go-Go’s, Cherie Currie; drummer Cindy Blackman Santana, Evanescence front woman Amy Lee, comedian Margaret Cho, and many other amazing female role models. Join us for this year's fabulous online show hosted by Lzzy Hale (Halestorm), pre-show hosted by Lyndsey Parker (Yahoo Entertainment/ SiriusXM) with opening act Magnolia Boulevard sponsored by PRS Guitars. Plus, we have a few surprise guest appearances in store! 

The She Rocks Awards will stream live on Friday January 22, 2021. The event begins with our virtual red carpet at 5pm PT/8pm ET hosted by John Stapleton of M.A.C Cosmetics, followed by the pre-show starting at 6pm PT/9pm ET. The awards ceremony begins at 6:30pm PT/9:30pm ET on Believeinmusic.TV, Parade.com and AXS.TV. Click below and RSVP for the link to watch the show!

Coming up soon! Liz Atherton, Founder of CASTVOICES

 

Liz Atherton is a veteran of the talent business with more than thirty years experience as the founder of one of the top talent agencies in the industry, as well as a tech entrepreneur.

Liz started her professional career as a project manager for a Fortune 10 company with world-wide engineering and product reach. However, she was always drawn to the entertainment industry having been raised by arguably the top jingle producer ever, Jodie Lyons. And while her dad would pull her into the studio now and again, Liz’s real interest was in streamlining the business behind the business.

Living in Austin during the heyday of Texas TV and Film production, Liz took her love of talent and technology and founded The Atherton Group (TAG) Talent Agency. TAG grew into one of the top boutique agencies in the U.S. (and one of the first in the world with an online presence). With operations in California, Texas, and Louisiana, and bookings worldwide, TAG consistently appeared in the top 1% list of IMDB’s “power” talent agencies.

Liz sold her interests in TAG in 2018 and founded EANK, Inc., an enterprise business-to-business system comprised of CastVoices, CastActors and ProductionJunction – soon to become the trifecta for securing work in the Film/TV and VO industries. CastVoices, the first vertical, is set to launch this spring as the new “home base” for VO talent, Agents, and Casting Directors.

Liz attended the University of North Texas graduating with a Bachelor of Science in Management with a major in Personnel Management and Organization Behaviour, and minors in Math and Psychology. She currently lives in Austin, Texas, and is the proudest mom of 4 amazing children who have grown up into successful, philanthropic adults, and a dog named Fish!


Liz Atherton - LinkedIn

Founder

www.CastVoices.com