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Entertainment to experience … or to see!Whatever branch of service you might have served in, you may recall just how much they molded you into being a soldier, sailor, marine, etc ... but they didn't do a WHOLE lot to prepare you for being a civilian once again.Enter Mil-Tree, and their program, "Tapestries of Transformation." The purpose of which is connecting veterans back to their community and reducing chronic loneliness and isolation.The culmination of the program will be a theatrical performance in the spring, which comes together as the culmination of several workshops — drumming, writing and storytelling, acting, and movement. The workshops are coming up QUITE soon — running through February. AND — they're not JUST for veterans.More at mil-tree.org.

John Jorgenson grew up in Redlands (and while at University of Redlands, actually played clarinet with Benny Goodman conducting!!!), and at one point worked at Disneyland — playing in three different bands comprised of the same four guys. He was in The Desert Rose Band, along with Chris Hillman of the Byrds and Herb Pederson, who's played with more people than I can name in one breath. He was also in the award-winning Hellecasters, and was invited by Elton John to be part of an 18-month tour, which turned into a 6-year stay. John Jorgenson is also one of the forerunners in the world of Gypsy Jazz.I interviewed him just over a decade ago when he was getting ready to perform in Redlands, though this was before the creation of KVC-Arts. About time I included this one! John is still touring and performing in a number of configurations. More at johnjorgenson.com.

For this edition of KVC-Arts, David Fleming interviews Evan J. Marshall. Beyond his time with Riders of the Purple Sage, Evan is known to many as Mr. Solo Mandolin, due to his ability to play both accompaniment and lead at the same time. For this reason he's also known to some as "The Lone Arranger," but also due largely to his take on the final movement from the "William Tell Overture" — better known in many circles as the theme for The Lone Ranger.

Growing up — in movies, books, TV ... Matt Gilbert never saw lead characters like himself — Native American. And he decided he wasn't going to wait for someone else to make it happen. We ended up with the Chandera Trilogy ... though books four and five are in the works. Frank Blanquet, Television Producer/Director for FNX | First Nations Experience, recently interviewed Gilbert, aka Wolf Golan, about some of his writing.From the website: "Book 1 begins with Maxwell Wilkes marooned on an uncharted planet with his girlfriend Alexandra Parks and the small Riven 5 Shuttle Crew. They find themselves in a medieval kingdom, where they are seen as 'Strangers from the Stars.' They soon find out the kingdom is at war with a dark lord in the east. Can they help the kingdom tip the scales to save this new world called Chandera?" With themes and motifs reminiscent of Star Wars, Tolkien, and other epics — it's an adventure ... and it continues.

Writers on the Block started off as pretty much an open mic for writers ... mostly poets. It soon became mainly an online Facebook presence where people could share their works, as well as give and receive feedback. It then became a live event once again — the first Wednesday of every month at The Vault Martini Bar Redlands (which turned 20 years old this year!).There's a sign-up sheet starting at 8, and by 9 be ready for, well, readings and recitations. I got there as someone was reading from a short story. Many, many poems followed as we went through the sign-up sheet. I heard some very personal pieces, and some which were designed for a laugh. I heard some works which adhered strictly to meter and form ... and others were a rant on paper. And all of which I enjoyed thoroughly.The main driving force behind Writers on the Block these days is the combination of Alfred Valdivia Jr., Jamie Lee Musser, and Jose Nevarez AKA Vill Ain. Jamie and Villain join me to talk about Writers on the Block — past and present — and more.

On this edition of KVC-Arts, we'll hear from Johnny A. Hickman about this region of California as well as bands from the area (Cracker's roots are indeed Redlands, San Bernardino, Highland, Riverside ... ), another phrase or three talking about the songwriting process for Cracker, several REALLY cool tunes from Hickman's early solo release, Palmhenge — as well as the origin of that name, and yes — Cracker's breakout hit — "Teen Angst."

KVC-Arts #500!From David Fleming: I’ve spoken with Trans-Siberian Orchestra's Al Pitrelli quite a few times by now, and it’s always 90% or more TSO, and then just a glimpse at some of his past, with some REALLY cool music and experiences there. I finally asked him if we could do a NON-Trans-Siberian Orchestra interview sometime, to which he agreed… and then he agreed again to make that a rather lengthy interview to be used for show number 500. He agreed before I could even finish asking.We started with his work with Randy Coven. Maybe around age 22 or so, Pitrelli played 2nd guitar on one of the tracks for Coven's "Funk Me Tender." By the 2nd Coven release, "Sammy Says Ouch," it was solidly a three-piece band (with guests), with Coven, Pitrelli, and John O'Reilly at the core. They recognized that by the third release, and instead of calling it The Randy Coven Band, then naming the cd, it was simply called CPR. The CPR release is mostly instrumental, though one of the two songs include Stevie Wonder's "I Wish," with the mighty Zakk Wylde on vocals. You can find a video of this easily enough on YouTube by the way. It clearly comes from an old VHS tape which was starting to stretch out, but it's SO much fun, and beyond vocals, Wylde really burns it up on the final guitar solo (of course). A reference point: For Wylde, this would be the year after Ozzy’s “No More Tears,” and a couple years before his bands Pride & Glory and Black Label Society.This is the next KVC-Arts - Sunday October 15th at 6 pm PST, and Tuesday the 17th at 2 and 6:30 pm PST. Streaming live at kvcrnews.org, and locally at 91.9 FM.We spoke at such length exploring the non-Trans-Siberian Orchestra side of Al, that there’ll be a special one hour KVC-Arts Saturday October 21st at 7 pm PST. More funk and fusion, some Alice Cooper, Dee Snider, Morning Wood (a wonderful acoustic project), Asia, and touching quite lightly on Savatage and TSO. I could've easily included more Savatage and TSO, as well as Megadeth, but after the 50-minute mark I started leaning more toward sounds or bands of which people are not (or less) aware.

From David Fleming: The celebration of KVC-Arts #500 continues!You've easily read something similar on a previous post or three. Every time I speak with Al Pitrelli (Music Director for, and one of the lead guitarist with, Trans-Siberian Orchestra), we're speaking about TSO's upcoming tour. Also every time, if I have 3, 5, 12 minutes left, I'll ask for a quick mention of one part or another of Al's extensive and varied career. Last time we spoke I just finally asked if we could do a NON-Trans-Siberian Orchestra at some point, to which he agreed. We not only arranged for such an interview, but it was also set to go for an extended length of time to be used for KVC-Arts #500. I was hoping for an hour... I closed at an hour and a half.Last KVC-Arts we heard primarily about Pitrelli's work with Randy Coven. Tonight we have a special one-hour edition of the program talking about music from, or his work with - get ready - Alice Cooper (where I ask if one of his most searing and soulful solos was, well, a segue), Dee Snider & Widowmaker, Asia, Morning Wood, lightly on Savatage, a bit of session work, a REALLY cool grouping with O'2L, touching only SLIGHTLY on TSO, and one more from his work with Randy Coven...I skipped over Megadeth, and other Savatage and TSO material...I'm sure there's some material in there I've forgotten to mention, but I can say confidently that the first half hour has (for the most part) more of the hard rock kinda stuff, and the second half more acoustic material. This was a FUN one to assemble!

David Fleming speaks with Yngwie Malmsteen once again. On this edition of the program they touch on his newest, called "Parabellum." A PHENOMENAL release. We spoke a lot about his release prior to "Parabellum," "Blue Lightning." Three original tracks, the rest being covers which were not traditional blues tunes, but rather rock and pop tunes which leaned heavily in that direction. As he said, "It's not blues per se, but it's BLUESY," with covers of The Beatles, Clapton, ZZ Top, Hendrix and more. All with a hard, heavy drive, with an Yngwie stamp (to say the least). Just incredible! We also spoke about a really cool night sharing the stage with Steve Vai, an evening filled with incredible talent, and at time great humor.

Jazz vocalist Jonathan Karrant will be in the region QUITE soon! He'll be at Herb Alpert's Vibrato Grill Jazz on Thursday the 30th, and will be in San Diego in early December. His CD releases are all wonderful, wonderful, wonderful... and his latest, called "Eclectic," continues in the same vein - beautiful jazz arrangements on pop tunes, and thoughtful and moving arrangements on some of the standards. To see him live is special as well, with the delivery of just as much a storyteller as a singer. David Fleming continues his conversation with Jonathan focusing mainly on his newest release, and a couple singles out there as well. More at jonathankarrant.com.