ZupaNova

ZUPANOVA

Lance Jones, Davy Brown, Kimala and Rawcel

ZupaNova

www.zupanovamusic.com

Lance Jones, Kimala, Davy Brown and RawCel

ZupaNova or Super Nova, a stellar explosion in the heavens, connotes birth of stars; In Latin Nova means “New”. So however you want to use the word, literally “Super New” or metaphorically “birth of stars and natural talent” I think it’s safe to say that this group’s name is very suitable since they bring fresh and stellar performance and music.       

At first glance ZupaNova’s style and music was reminiscent of the super pop stars The Black Eyed Peas. In fact, some members of ZupaNova had been hanging out with the latter in their early careers. Group member Rawcel and DJ Poet, the CEO of Listen Deep Records where ZupaNova worked on their music, were collaborating with members of The Black Eyed Peas during their early years. ZupaNova member Lance Jones is the chief vocal producer in Listen Deep. The recording studio collaborated with Apl.de.ap in many projects; the artist and studio still maintain a close relationship. Even though there’s a lot of influence—ZupaNova is ZupaNova—and not a shadow of The Black Eyed Peas.

Lance Jones brought in a lot of the R&B “let’s-get-ready-to-make-love-vocals”, Kimala was the sultry female voice that brings down men to their knees, RawCel contributed the Hip Hop influence and rendered some crazy rhymes and Davy Brown added jazz flavor with his out-of-this-world guitar line. Just check out their song “Need Your Love” from “First Contact” and you’ll understand what I mean.

         

There’s a lot of love in this group, they spouted mottos like “Team Work Makes the Dream Work”, “Zupa Positive”, “Share, Create and Collaborate”, that even the group’s manager Mike Bajrami told me “I like these people a lot, I don’t work with people I don’t get along with because you can’t maintain the relationship if you dislike your group…there’s something really special about this group”. 

What’s so special about them? Besides their great talent they were genuinely kind and humble people, I saw those attributes during the interview, and they put a lot of tenderness into their music in “First Contact”. RawCel a Los Angeles native with an easy smile gave a lot of the hip hop street flavor remove the real nasty and gritty language. Lance Jones must be one of the most welcoming and humble artist I’ve met. His voice could easily fit in a boy band such as The BackStreet Boys or a seductive R&B group like Boys II Men but I’ve never heard him brag of his talent. I actually met him a month before while working on another story in Listen Deep Records before my interview with ZupaNova. Kimala, who rendered her sensual voice and scorching presence during recordings and video shoots, was a caring and really friendly person. “I’m like their sister and mother put together” she said about being the only female member of the group. “She cooks for us” Lance Jones chimed in happily. Kimala has a special place in my heart since she’s my “Kababayan”, my fellow Filipino from the Philippines, and “Pinays” (Filipino Women) are known for their sweetness. Davy Brown was a laid-back and happy person so like how he played his jazzy guitar or bass lines in their songs. He worked with one of the Masters of Jazz like Bunny Brunel and Baba Elefante, that kind of cred could easily get into the head of shallow musicians, but not Davy Brown.

Their goal is to perform all-over-the-world. Lance Jones wants to hit Japan, Davy Brown wants to see Brazil, Kimala wants to perform in the Philippines, especially in the province of Pampanga, and RawCel’s personal goal is to do a concert in Staples Center in LA. This group has the heart, talent and the charisma and they are ready to take on the world. Watch out for fresh—and ZupaFabulous—music of ZupaNova. 

All Rights Reserved 
2014 
RG Los Angeles Stories / Three R Photography

ZupaNova Slide Ext "Energy"

ZupaNova "Energy" Music Slide

ZupaNova at the Atwater Beer, Wine, Food Festival

My piece on the Zupa Fab group ZupaNova will be posted soon here in RG Los Angeles Stories!

A Night in LA ROCK and Roll Mecca Video (long version)

A Night in a L.A. Rock & Roll Mecca (long version)

Dan Castle, Alison, Nico and Chicago Red

Alison and Dan in the Kibitz room

Dan Castle and Alison performing an unrehearsed song in the Kibitz Room.

Dan Castle's New Song; Check out my July 2013 posts for the complete story.

 

Dan Castle's new song that he is working on. I used my Iphone to video him, should I dare say that I directed this gifted director!

For the complete story on this dynamic artist please see my July 2013 posts.

 

Copyright 2013 RG Los Angeles Stories



Dan Castle: his thoughts about his movie The Visitor

 

 

Copyright 2013 RG Los Angeles Stories

Dan Castle Interview Part III of III

 

Dan's book about a compilation of his paintings

 

Dan and his "Money Book"

 

FAUVE's Album "Blizzard"

 

Dan mentioned by FAUVE in their acknowldegements. Dan is currently pursuing a project with FAUVE.

 

Another of Dan's painting hanging in his kitcken.

 



 

 

 

Dan Castle's film "Newcastle"

 

 

 

DAN CASTLE Part III of III

Writer/Director, Musician, Painter, Photographer

www.dancastle.com

I have no idea how Dan can keep up with all his inspirations. I have a difficult time writing about it because it appears like he is doing so much in a given time. I don’t know how to put his stories in one smooth flowing narrative. I am actually making it sound like his works, in film and painting, overwhelming which is not the case, they are all there to enrich the soul not suffocate it—His paintings are excellent examples of it.

He has a book out, aptly entitled “Sunflower Days”, a collection of his Impressionistic oil paintings, and is available on Itunes. While I’m no art connoisseur and could not give you an authoritative opinion of it, I can confidently tell you that his artwork, to me, evokes serenity and quiet joy. His paintings appear to personify his inner self, since his persona looks hard-as-nails rock star yet his paintings are as sunny and uplifting as a sunflower (Dan please don’t kill me for describing you as “Sunny”). On his website he cited Vincent van Gogh as one of his favorite painters. I read Van Gogh was also bad-ass, apparently he lost his ear in a knife-fight, look up one of his self-portraits and you would understand what I’m talking about.

Working on your art doesn’t necessarily mean creating it. There are a lot of actions to take to get to the end product. Fundraising campaigns, going to school, going places…those are small steps but one had just to move towards the creation process. That I think is what Dan meant about placing importance on the “process”. “A man gets to be immortal with his work and like other artists I just want to leave something behind long after I am gone…I just want to create beauty…so all the steps I took (learning book keeping, fund raising campaigns, going to school, travelling) are all the process to materialize my work”.

And so he does, create beauty and leave it for us to marvel with—like his paintings and drawings, photographs, films and music in the soundtracks in his film—to inspire us. That’s really the legacy he is after—since he himself was inspired by others before him—such as Pro Hart. Actually he and his partner Corey Page are co-producing a biographical film, with lead producer Philippa Pomeranz and scriptwriter Richard Burman called “Chasing Dragonflies”, about this visionary Australian artist (Dan is currently working on the theme song for the film and that they had just finished a fundraising campaign this June. Check it out on www.facebook.com/ProHart‎ ).

Speaking of inspiring, while Dan was in Paris studying art, he met the band members of “Fauve” in a pub called Frog and Rosbif. They must’ve had one invigorating and interesting discussion since Fauve wrote a song stemming from that chat. The song’s title is “Cock Music Smart Music”. The band is very big in France, they are an eclectic group who plays electronica and punk/rock/rap music; and even though I can’t understand their lyrics, I can understand why they are big. I’m listening to it, for the fifth time, as I work on this piece and I can’t stop bobbing my head to it.

Right now Dan is focused on his music and he can be usually seen in Canter’s Deli Kibitz Room where he sometimes performs during Open Mic night. The Kibitz Room is a Rock and Roll mecca here in Los Angeles where band members of the Doors, Guns N’ Roses, Red Hot Chili Peppers, just to name a few, used to hang out before they no longer able do so upon reaching their rock-stardom status and fear of being mobbed by hysterical fans (I am making sure to stay in contact with Dan since I want to see his performance again, and so that I can brag that I get to chat with him in the legendary bar).

Henri Matisse, the great expressionist artist (or impressionist, depends on who you talk to), once said “Creativity Takes Courage”. I see a lot of courage in Dan. His short film “The Visitor” is a gay-themed film created in the time when there wasn’t so many films created in that genre.

His latest endeavor with his friends, a biographical film about Pro Hart, the father of Australian Outback painting, sure won’t be hitting the summer box office bonanza here in the US—but he does it. It appears that he doesn’t care if he is directly responsible for bringing beauty or helping bringing the beauty as long as it’s materialized for all of us to enjoy and find ourselves in.

Over and over again Dan says to me “materialize it…create it…take the step…do the process…” now I understand that what he is saying is Take Courage, Create Beauty.

 

End of Part III

 

Note: there are so many things that Dan and I talked about and I have particular quotes from him that I find enriching but unable to coalesce into the articles. One of these days I will post them.

 

All photos and article are copyrighted.

Copyright 2013 RG Los Angeles Stories



 

 

 

Dan Castle's Movie Newcastle

Trailer of Dan Castle's Movie Newcastle I am currently working on the final piece on Dan Castle. Please check out this trailer.

Dan Castle Interview part II of III

 

Dan's painting of St. Tropez

 

 

Dan's "Money Book"

 

Dan's Photos of Newcastle

 

Dan's Oil Painting

 

 

DAN CASTLE  (part II of III)

Writer/Director, Musician, Painter, Photographer

www.dancastle.com

 

“As I was floating around on my surfboard waiting for the waves…alone…I thought how risky this is, that at any given moment an accident can occur. It’s so easy a surfboard hitting you on the head leaving you messed up…then the story just came to me” He says recalling on how the script of the short film “The Visitor” came about.

The concept was simple, a surfer in a wipe out, waking up all confused, entering a home that he thought is his…the problem is that the house already has a lonely man, a writer, living in it. The presence of the surfer forces the writer to confront his emotions that he is trying to bury. Again I’ve only seen the trailers (Netflix is such a let-down) and also since I am not a movie critic, I am not the best person to give any review about it. But what I have seen in those several minutes is a work of a confident director. Barry Otto’s performance was brilliant and Dan catches the raw emotions splendidly. There is a reason why this short film has been critically acclaimed, and there are better persons out there who can give you an insight about it, but what I can tell you is that the scenes in and out of the water are breathtakingly beautiful.

I am very impressed on how Dan shot some of the scenes. It’s terribly difficult to create scenes that are sensual yet so beautiful and poetic. I am doubly impressed by how he got the venerable Australian actor Barry Otto to play a leading role in it. Barry Otto is the father of Miranda Otto, yes that Miranda Otto from the “The Lord of the Rings” (I bit my lip and didn’t tell Dan how much I fancy Miranda). Mr. Barry Otto appeared in the films “Rogue” 2007, “Australia” 2008, “The Great Gatsby” 2013, just to name a few.

I actually had the nerve to ask Dan how he felt in directing Barry Otto as if I am eager to find out if Dan gets nervous (haven’t I mentioned already how supremely cool Dan looks). Dan said that he and Barry just got along so quickly and he was amazed how he found it too easy to work with an actor of that caliber.

“The Visitor” was shot in Tamarama Beach, two hours north of Sydney, Australia. Dan went to see the Sydney Film Festival in 2001, and with the script already written, decided to film it in Tamarama Beach after seeing the place. At that time funding the film wasn’t too big of a problem, since his collaboration with Mike Thomas on Jour de Fete Films has been paying off, and that his friends from Australia did not hesitate to produce.

This is the point of Dan’s story that I really found out how passionate he is with his art. See, any other man would probably just secure his monetary gain and hand it to Morgan Stanley and let them handle his wealth. Not Dan. He wanted to make his scripts a reality and so he did (he co-produced in “Newcastle”). I know to what purpose short films serve (well I presume to know)…they collect accolades and build portfolios for directors (and actors, editors, etc.)…that’s it. It’s not going to be grabbed by the bigwigs in Hollywood and make tons of cash. This was all about great art—creating the shots and capturing incredible acting. No matter the purpose, it is still an expensive undertaking.

From there several years later, Dan worked on the film “Newcastle”, after seeing the place. “I get my inspiration from the places I see…I take photos, paint and write the script…then the music follows...all of those things feed on each other and my inspirations just grow…I just let it, I don’t sulk when I don’t get to write for a week, nor paint, I just have a lot of outlet for my inspirations” Dan said humbly.

If it’s another artist I would think it arrogant for a man to claim that he has such talent it just oozes out of him. But Dan is not that way because what he wants is for people to understand the courage that it takes to create from your inspiration and not focus on the end product of an artwork. “You need to create…work on it…it’s the process that is important” he says wisely.

Let me talk a bit about Dan’s photography, since it plays a big part on his creative process and research. His photographs of “Newcastle”, prior film production, are so surreal—imagine a perfect beach community, laidback, beautiful sand and ocean, a peaceful place yet with tons of young people, he somehow manage to capture all those—and he have it all catalogued in his notebook (he calls it money book as he uses it as a visual aid when he approach investors to fund his film). Abercrombie and Fitch once had a syndicated magazine catalogue and for a second I thought I was looking at photos from those. One has to have an eye and quick wits about him to capture great stills and Dan has it. In Newcastle he saw a cloud that is illuminating in different wonderful colors, he photographed it, then drew a pastel of it. What purpose did the pastel drawing serve the film, I don’t know, but Dan likes beauty and he likes the process of creating and materializing. He calls his art “expressionistic” by producing the mood and feeling as opposed to objective reality.

I agree with Dan. One has to get out of the house go to places, take photos, paint or write (if one can), and just work on your creativity. Don’t worry if it’s good enough since Dan himself has pointed out it’s the process that counts (practice makes perfect right?). Act on your inspiration, express your feelings, don’t let it go to waste.

Dan himself has said over and over again during the interview that “Not all of us are Mozarts, most of us has to work on our talent”. He went to Paris for Art School and he traveled a lot collecting inspiration. He has a painting of St. Tropez hanging in his bedroom and he admitted that a script was already inspired by that trip (his painting of the St. Tropez skyline is one of my favorites).

End of Part II

 

 

 

All Photos and article are copyrighted.

COPYRIGHT 2013 RG Los Angeles Stories

 

 

Dan Castle Interview Part I of III

 

Dan Performing at 7020 Melrose

DAN CASTLE  (part I of III)
Writer/Director, Musician, Painter, Photographer
www.dancastle.com

I’m grounded enough to admit that my writing has a lot of room to grow. My aim in life is actually to get better at it and be able to write an eloquent literary fiction. In times such as this I wish I already am a talented writer.

I’m anxious to write about Dan Castle, he is after all a modern day Renaissance Man, Writer/Director, Musician, Painter, Photographer, he accomplished so much I’m afraid that I cannot give justice to his achievements with my writing.

I met him performing in 7020 Melrose and I was intimidated to approach him because my first impression of him was that he is a serious and aloof musician. May be its because he is so good at playing his ballad, singing in pained and longing voice, I actually thought him a detached and lonesome man who would pounce at anyone who attempts to give him company in his isolation (also he kind of look badass and with a name like Dan Castle—forget about it!) But when I introduced myself I was immediately struck by his open-minded personality, humble demeanor, and down to earth tone of voice. Don’t judge a book by its cover.

We talk a little bit and I mentioned to him my Blog and the kind of stories I’m collecting. I thought he was just humoring me, like how one usually does in a social gathering when one deigns interest, but he gave me his business card after our brief conversation and told me that he’d be okay for an interview. I immediately look him up in the internet and visited his website (www.dancastle.com), and after several exchanges of email, he agreed to show me his projects. What an awesome guy!

I visited his house, several days later, and I immediately noticed his works, tools and toys—the paintings, guitars, easel, surfboards—it seems like everything is ready to burst out and spill their stories. To be honest with you that two hour interview wasn’t enough, there was just too many stories behind all his artworks occupying his home. At this point my perception of the aloof and mysterious musician is completely gone. It must be the coziest house I ever visited, if he has Ikea or Pier One furnishings there I hardly noticed them at all, because his paintings are the ones standing out. They are so appealing, so peaceful yet invigorating it just summons you (I’ll get back to you on his paintings in a bit). So there I was sitting comfortably in his seating room surrounded by his paintings and the stories began to emerge. I tried to keep up (Dan can attest to this, I actually broke a pen trying to write as fast as I can) and mostly I did just because of the short window of time that we have—he was forced to curtail most of his anecdotes.

Dan, despite his creativity and accomplishments, is a humble man, he is proud of his work but more like how a father is to his child rather than an artist to his masterpiece. I can feel the sincerity of wanting to share the experiences he had. In fact, he did say that some artists are afraid to share their work as if they would lose it. “To me, art is like a candlelight in a dark room, you have to share the light to make the space brighter…do not be afraid because sharing the light won’t extinguish it” he says eloquently.

To give you an idea how talented and dynamic this guy is let me throw in some of his accolades. His films, “The Visitor” won the Best Screenplay and Best Fiction Short at the St. Kilda Film Festival and Best Short in Seattle Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, Honolulu Gay and Lesbian Film Festival and North Carolina Gay and Lesbian Film Festival. His other one, “Newcastle”, got good reviews from LA Weekly, Sydney Morning Herald, Herald Sun, Inside Film, ABC Radio, just to name a few.

I personally haven’t seen the whole movie at the time of this writing but I’ve seen the trailers of “Newcastle” (for some reason I can’t find it in Netflix in my internet even though it’s supposed to be available; and even though Dan sent me a link). It’s a coming of age film about teenage surfers set in the hypnotically beautiful New South Wales beach town community—Newcastle. “The cinematography from Novocastrian Richard Michalak brings the salty sting and sun-kissed grit of Newcastle right off the screen, but he also captures the emotional swell of the ocean” the ABC Radio raves in its review.

As a side story, I was immensely embarrassed thinking that Dan was born in Newcastle (I questioned him about his lack of Australian accent). Well he was born in Newcastle, but it is in Newcastle Delaware not the one in Australia.

The cinematography and editing of “Newcastle” appears to have been handled by a master. Film productions, any film good or bad, are notoriously difficult and expensive endeavors. I participated with a production back in college and it was top-to-bottom an amateur work filmed with handheld video cameras—it was something I probably would not be too eager to do again. If I had nightmares with that college experience, I can’t even imagine what kind of hellish experience awaits someone who undertakes a full length movie production.

We will get back to the movie Newcastle later on. I would like to take us a little bit back in the past. Dan went to NYU for music and business and his initial passion in film is not directing but in sound design. I can see the allure of sound design to a musician, putting music into a movie is like breathing life into it.

He said that he didn’t really have the talent to play the guitar when he was young, and that he was no prodigy, but he worked hard on it, practicing daily. Dan is humble almost to a fault, learning to play the guitar is one thing but learning to arrange musical score is another. He may not be a musical prodigy when he was a child but I think he has a dormant prodigious aptitude to music that emerged later on. I will abruptly cut short the story of his talents in music here (I know I’m leaving behind too many unfinished stories but it will all come together near the end).

He interned in an independent film distribution company called “Strand”, here in LA, where he met Mike Thomas. Mike ventured on to establish his own boutique film distribution company called “Jour de Fete Films”. Dan worked with Mike in a supporting role—mostly handling the book keeping side of it—or producing in some of the films (Sometimes it’s hard to keep in mind that the Indie film industry is first and foremost a business enterprise). They produced or distributed films such as, Todd Phillip’s “Bittersweet Motel”—yes, that Todd Phillips who directed the “Hang Over”— a documentary about the rock band Phish, “Relax, It’s Just Sex” starring Jennifer Tilly, “Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont” directed by Dan Ireland and others.

At some point while in the process of finding himself and getting busy with so many film projects, he learned to surf. What can I say about surfing? Nothing really since I am no surfer. But I see surfing as a life drama—a man trying to conquer, or temporarily tame the waves—both athletic performance and artistic expression; a theatrical production by the ocean unfolding in a grand scale. I don’t know how Dan saw the waves, and the surfers courting it, but it is no doubt that he was inspired by it.

 

End of Part I


Copyright 2013 RG Los Angeles Stories

 

Dan Castle performing at 7020 Melrose

 The first time I met Dan Castle