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The First Wonderfront Music + Arts Festival Entertains San Diego Waterfront

Johnnie Crow — Sun, 08 Dec 2019 09:03:50 +0000

Images by Johnnie Crow and Sandy Beitler
Words by Sandy Beitler

As my first experience in San Diego, I got to be part of the inaugural Wonderfront Music + Arts Festival which took place November 22-24, 2019. Wonderfront was a 3-day Music and Arts festival along the beautiful downtown San Diego waterfront. This massive festival extended from the Broadway Port Pier all the way to Hilton Bayfront Park. Now, if you’re an out-of-towner like me, you had no idea how far that really was until you tried walking it from stage to stage to see bands. Lucky for me I was with someone who knew their way around, but we still had a hard time getting where we needed to be when we wanted to be there. There was a lot that we got to see but also a lot we had to miss with so many things being scheduled at the same time or being so far apart that you just had to choose something closer. The plus to that was, I got to see new bands that maybe I wouldn’t have otherwise.

Wonderfront had over 100 Artists and more than 10 stages for the 3 day event, with a myriad of genres to choose from. There was Jazz, Reggae, Rap, Hip Hop, Punk, Dance and even Comedy. Not only did the festival have a plethora of musical acts, it had silent discos, arts, crafts, skateboarding, local food fair, craft beverages, jet boat rides, sunset cruises, and yacht parties. There was so much going on that the fun didn’t have to end when the festival finished at night. They had offical after parties at local clubs and on ships. So if you weren’t done enjoying the scene you didn’t have to be.

Day 1 started late Friday afternoon, and featured performances by Aminé, Bad Suns, Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals, CNCO, Cofresi, Don Omar, Duckwrth, EarthGang, Earthless, Gioli & Assia, Lil Baby, Michael Franti & Spearhead, Miguel, Parquet Courts, Pepper, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, The Schizophonics, X Ambassadors, Ximena Sarinana, Banda Tierra Brava, Los Crecidos, and Seis en Linea.

Day 2 got things going before noon on Saturday, and included sets by Migos, Big Gigantic, J.I.D, Bob Moses, Bryce Vine, Common Kings, Flatbush Zombies, MGMT, Nicky Jam, Pennywise, Phantogram, Reykon, Slightly Stoopid, The Knocks, Thievery Corporation, TOkiMONSTA, Vince Staples, Zion y Lennox, Jhay Cortez, Alice Merton, Allie X, BoomBox, Z-Trip, Fakear, Goldfish, Grandson, The Vandals, Wild Belle, Andy Frasco and The U.N., Capyac, Chesca, Henry & the Invisibles, Jordan Hollywood, Marie Monti, Steve Fulton Music, The Routine, Wild Prxfits, Grandma, Jesse Baez, and Brewfish.

Day 3 was another all day affair capped off by Guitar Legends 3, a partnership with America Salutes You – an all star benefit concert to support Military, Veterans, First Responders and their families which was recorded for future broadcast. The show was led by Billy Gibbons (ZZ Top), joined by George Thorogood, Nancy Wilson (Heart), Steve Lukather (Toto), Warren Haynes (Allman Brothers), Charlie Starr (Blackberry Smoke) and Kenny Aronoff and the LA All-Star Band. Other perfomers were Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike, Los Angeles Azules, 3LAU, Banda Los Sebastianes, Bas, Big Wild, Busta Rhymes, Grace Vanderwaal, Hippo Campus, Jonas Blue, Lil Dicky, Los Tucanes De Tijuana, Manchester Orchestra, Moon Taxi, Suicidal Tendencies, Tribal Seeds, Tyga, Walk The Moon, X, Khea, Broods, The English Beat, Japanese Breakfast, Z-Trip, Chrome Sparks, Diamante Electrico, Donna Missal, Exmag, Ghost Light, Victoria La Mala, Haddon Cord, SoDown, SunSquabi, Cydeways, Glades, Donavon Frankenreiter, Rob Machado & Friends.

Wonderfront and San Diego have an exciting and interesting festival here. San Diego makes the perfect back drop for this very diverse and spread out event and I look forward to seeing how they improve the event for 2020.

Wonderfront 2019 Day 1

29 photos

Wonderfront 2019 Day 2 by Sandy

31 photos

Wonderfront 2019 Day 2

24 photos

Wonderfront 2019 Day 3 by Sandy

46 photos

Wonderfront 2019 Day 3

52 photos

The First Wonderfront Music + Arts Festival Entertains San Diego Waterfront first appeared on Game On Media.

Jonny Z to Release Tell-All Book “Heavy Tales: The Metal. The Music. The Madness. As Lived by Jon Zazula”

Johnnie Crow — Wed, 14 Aug 2019 02:26:42 +0000

Music Industry Legend Jon Zazula, a.k.a. Jonny Z, to Release Tell-All Book, “Heavy Tales: The Metal. The Music. The Madness. As Lived by Jon Zazula”

Lived and Told by Megaforce Records Co-Founder Jon Zazula

Brought to Life by Harold Claros-Maldonado

Foreword by Testament Vocalist Chuck Billy

Heavy Tales: The Metal. The Music. The Madness. As Lived by Jon Zazula Available for Pre-Order in Hardcover and Paperback Here

Jonathan Zazula, known the world over as Jonny Z, has lived an intense life. Born in 1952, he began his extraordinary journey as a renegade youth who went from living on the streets of the Bronx in New York City, to later working on Wall Street, and eventually (and unexpectedly) transitioning into the music business and discovering Metallica and others. Today, Jonny Z remains one of the most respected names in heavy metal and the music industry as a whole.

Jonny Z tells all about his incredible life in a brand new book that he describes as, “not a typical rock n’ roll book, but rather, a blue collar success story” – entitled Heavy Tales: The Metal. The Music. The Madness. As Lived by Jon Zazula, scheduled for release on Tuesday, October 29, 2019. Heavy Tales is the detailed, never before told story of how Jonny Z founded legendary New Jersey-based label Megaforce Records with his wife, Marsha, and built a dynasty unmatched by others – forever changing the scope of heavy metal.

Pre-orders for standard and signed hardcover and paperback copies of Heavy Tales are now available via www.jonzazula.com, as well as digital retailers such as Amazon, Audible, Barnes & Noble and Ingram Content Group.

The ebook version of Heavy Tales will be available for pre-order soon, and will be released on Black Friday, November 29, 2019.

Jonny Z and Marsha Zazula in the Golden Era of Megaforce

Jonny Z says about deciding to release a book about his life, “I wanted to tell the story of my life before someone else did. This is a story that has a motto behind it – “nothing to it but to do it”. There were a lot of odds factoring in for Marsha and myself, and we did it. No matter what anyone says to Marsha and I, we did it, and I just wanted to get that story down – that it took two people. I wanted our love story in there. I was also never very forward and transparent about my manic depression and bi-polar condition, and I just wanted to tell the story of how a man can get through that, poverty, incarceration and humiliation and rise to succeed with everything against him.”

After experiencing the horrors of Wall Street, in order to put food on the table for his children, Jonny Z began selling records at a flea market store he dubbed Rock N’ Roll Heaven in 1981, which blossomed into a major record store in the United States and influenced the heavy metal movement as we know it today. Seminal Megaforce Records publicist and Adrenaline PR CEO Maria Ferrero was his first customer before the store was even open.

Zazula adds, “I sold metal records because metal is foreground music, not background music. It inspires you to listen and pay attention to it. The fans of heavy metal music all came into the store with their painted jackets and denim vests and patches, which was very reminiscent to me of the late 60s and early 70s music scene that I was such a part of.”

In the winter of 1982, Jonny Z received an unexpected demo tape from underground, unsigned band Metallica. Eager and determined to have the music heard by the entire world, Jonny and Marsha, founded Megaforce Records in 1983, and soon after, released Metallica‘s debut album, Kill ‘Em All. Through this release, Megaforce cemented its position as the de-facto music label in America for heavy metal – but that’s just the start. The bands they would go on to work with released some of the most prolific and important albums in heavy metal history, giving it its Golden Era.

Heavy Tales details the stories of how Jonny Z worked miracles by managing and releasing albums by Metallica, Anthrax, Testament, Mercyful Fate, Overkill, Exciter, Stormtroopers of Death, Method of Destruction, Ace Frehley, King’s X, Ministry, Mindfunk, Nudeswirl, Warren Haynes, Disco Biscuits and others, and how one night in 1984, he jokingly created rap metal before anyone else conceived the idea.

With a foreword written by Testament vocalist Chuck Billy, plus over 100 rare photographs unearthed from the MegaVault and photographer friends worldwide, Heavy Tales is the definitive American story of a family man with a dream, determined to prove to the world that heavy metal belonged on the stage, in your car, on the radio, inand in your living room.

Chuck Billy mentions in the foreword, “After reading this book and learning about Jonny Z and how he helped to shape the future of heavy metal, I think you will agree that being a bat shit crazy genius is what it took to create the biggest independent record label in the world.”

Together, Jonny and Marsha built a musical dynasty out of modest beginnings unmatched by any other underground heavy metal label, a partnership that has stood the test of time, deaths, egos, and grunge.

Outside Rock N’ Roll Heaven record store in Clark, NJ

Photo: Brian Keith Nyers

Jonny Z and Scott Ian of Anthrax

Photo: Mark Weiss

The stories told in Heavy Tales were captured and compiled by Harold Claros-Maldonado, a lifelong fan of heavy metal who originally contacted the Zazulas to write a report on early Metallica. After several discussions, Zazula felt Claros-Maldonado would be the ideal partner to help him tell his story in a book.

Harold Claros-Maldonado says, “Jon Zazula is without question the Godfather of thrash metal. Having the opportunity to work together, I learned about the miracles he worked in order to release some of the most potent heavy metal albums of all time. With this book, I know many fans of Megaforce Records releases will have a greater sense of how a working-class man built an empire out of nothing to give us all the soundtrack to our lives.”

L to R: James Hetfield, Scott Ian, Jonny Z, Lars Ulrich, Kirk Hammett, Cliff Burton

Photo: Metal Mike Rijswijk

Jonny says, “At one point we were one of the biggest indie record labels in America. With all of the mistakes and all of the successes, we managed to thrive. Readers may learn what to do and what not to do as fledgling industry hopefuls getting started in the business. The book is a hard, brutal unraveling of the truth, and tells it all. I’m putting this book out around Halloween, because there’s nothing scarier than the truth.”

Release parties are currently being planned for the fall – stay tuned for more details!

For more information on Heavy Tales: The Metal. The Music. The Madness. As Lived by Jon Zazula, please visit www.jonzazula.com, www.facebook.com/heavytales and www.instagram.com/thejonzazula, and stay tuned for more information coming soon.

Photo: Gary Schwartz

Jonny Z to Release Tell-All Book “Heavy Tales: The Metal. The Music. The Madness. As Lived by Jon Zazula” first appeared on Game On Media.