Pj Perez Online

Why is Common running at the camera like that? I have no idea, but isn’t that an awesome cover? I’m not sure why the logo is pink, but either way, it’s much better than the usual anorexic model/reality TV star of the month featured on 944’s glossy face. Oh, yeah, I have a story in that issue entitled “Miracle on Sixth Street,” all about Henri & Odette, the fancy new gallery in downtown Las Vegas’ Fremont East Entertainment District. Go read it.

What else have I been up to, besides not updating this site? Oh wait, I have — I even added three photos to the Image page. But otherwise, I interviewed Billy Idol last month for the next cover of HRH magazine, which should be coming out sometime between now and Christmas. Also, I snuck in a couple of quick stories for the Las Vegas debut of Six Degrees magazine, which you should be able to find in November.

I think that’s pretty much it on the freelance front. The Hype! Today is growing by leaps and bounds, and I’m working on expanding VEGASinsight to include more comprehensive neighborhood and venue guides. Should anyone out there care to help contribute, let me know. I’ll buy you a soda pop.

Oh yeah — my band, As Yet Unbroken, took second place in the Gorilla Productions Battle of the Bands Las Vegas finals, which garnered us some hookers-and-blow money. Subsequently, we’ve actually gotten some media coverage and more gigs. Go be our “friend” on MySpace. Please.

I have this crazy idea: Maybe I should try doing less stuff. You know what I mean by “stuff” — writing, reporting, drumming, blogging, traveling, what have you. But alas, I have this obsessive drive to spread myself thinner than most, and so while you haven’t seen updates here on pjperez.com, I have been posting nonsense all over the web, including the usual suspects, VEGASinsight and Pop! Goes the Icon.

But then I went and decided to beta-launch a new site, The Hype! Today, which features national and international news, reviews and commentary on new music, art and fashion. Why? Well, why the hell not? Honestly, I missed having a regular outlet to tackle whatever I deemed “cool,” as I did when I edited Racket, so there you have it. It’s a slow build, but if you want to get in on the ground floor, subscribe now, and as always, I’m open to contributions from all courts.

Oh, in publishing news, I have a piece on my journey via hypnosis to nail-biting freedom in the September issue of 944 Las Vegas, “Hypnotic Tales.” Keep an eye out for the October issue of that same magazine, in which I interview the lovely and talented gallerist Jennifer Harrington. I know, it’s a little odd that most of my freelance work since leaving the employ of 944 Media has been for that same company. Go figure.

In other news, my band, As Yet Unbroken, is gearing up to compete in the finals of Gorilla Productions’ Battle of the Bands on Saturday, Sept. 20 at Rox Club (5285 Dean Martin Drive). The more tickets we sell, the better our chances of winning, so if you want to enjoy a night of rock ‘n’ roll and support your favorite raconteur, go ahead and grab discounted $10 tickets at our website now. Both your soul and your conscious will thank you. We have more gigs lined up for the fall and if we win this thing, we’ll nab some free studio time, so maybe you can help us record a proper album!

That’s about everything. I have even more cooking, but I’ll keep that stuff to myself until next time. Stay cool, kiddies.

The August issue of 944 is out there on the streets somewhere, and on page 128 (I think), there’s a lovely two-page spread about the starting-tomorrow Amplify!! Music Conference written by this guy. 944 recently upgraded its website (again, for the 400th time this year), and it’s actually pretty cool, incorporating a fast-loading, interactive digital version of the full magazine (ads and all). So guess what? I’m not uploading the crappy scans here. Instead, I’ll point you to the magic link that will make the two-page spread appear out of thin pixel air.

If you bother to do that and have ever read Racket, that magazine that historians claim I once edited and did, indeed, once exist, you’ll notice the layout of the story is quite different than the rest of 944′s usual sexiness and looks more like one of those “Stopover” spreads from Racket. Well, that’s because the editors asked me to write it in that style, and the designers must have followed suit as well. I am a bad influence.

Look for more Pj-penned words in the next few issues of 944. Otherwise, I’m keeping busy with my band, As Yet Unbroken, which won its first round of Gorilla Productions’ Battle of the Bands a few weeks ago and will be competing in the finals on Sept. 20. More details to come.

Finally grabbed a few copies of the summer edition of HRH magazine, the Hard Rock Hotel’s big, glossy, in-hotel publication. The Sex Pistols cover story looks great. They spread it out over six pages, six very difficult-to-scan pages due to the magazine’s size and binding, but I persevered! But more importantly, I share a contributors page with Sarah Silverman. That makes me, like, one degree separated from her, right? Hot.

I have not fallen off the face of the Earth. I mean, that should be obvious if you’re keeping up with VEGASinsight or, more enjoyably, Pop! Goes the Icon, but if you’ve just been popping by the ol’ PjPerez.com looking for updates, you probably haven’t noticed any since May. Yeah, I’ve been that busy. But I just finished off a couple of stories for August’s Las Vegas edition of 944 and now have a smidgen of breathing room, so here we are.

My Sex Pistols cover story in HRH, the in-hotel magazine of the Hard Rock Hotel, came out a few weeks ago, but even I haven’t seen it yet. You’d be surprised how hard it is to get a hold of a few copies of that magazine even at the hotel. I’m going to try to get my grubby hands on it this week, though, so hang tight for scans.

I did a little piece on The Get Back, everyone’s favorite monthly funky soul dance party, for the latest edition of the First Friday Newsletter, and per usual, here’s the cover, my bio and the story itself:

In other news, the band in which I play drums, As Yet Unbroken, is playing its debut gig during a battle of the bands at Rox Club here in Las Vegas on July 27. It would be great if you fine people clicked here for more information and then bought tickets to the show. And then showed up. And then cheered us on. So we can win. And rock your world.

As I was adding this week’s published works to the ol’ articles listings, I realized that, oddly enough, I’m returning to the pages of the Las Vegas CityLife exactly four years since my last article was published in there. It’s kind-of strange. The Las Vegas media community is relatively small and incestuous. When I started writing on a freelance basis for CityLife back in 2000, my usual editor (in all things A&E) was Mike Prevatt. A year or two later, he returned to Los Angeles, and Jarret Keene took over as A&E editor. I wrote for him until I went to Greenspun Media in 2004, and then started writing for both A&E editor Martin Stein and co-editors-in-chief Stacy Willis and Scott Dickensheets at the Las Vegas Weekly.

When I left Greenspun to launch Racket magazine for Wendoh Media in 2006, suddenly I was editing stories by Martin and Jarret — the former of which also pinch-hit as my copy editor for the duration. When I decided to leave Wendoh earlier this year, I started talking to both my old editors at the Weekly and CityLife, though ultimately I decided to write primarily for CityLife, and primarily for Mike Prevatt … who returned to his old job (and Las Vegas) a few years ago. And who else is now working for CityLife? Scott Dickensheets.

Yep. This town is just that small. Anyway, if you want to read about a hot punk band coming to the House of Blues tomorrow, read my story about Be Your Own Pet. Or get familiar with one of the young movers behind the Vegas party scene in my Fear & Lounging piece on DJ ABOM. Oh, and I finally grabbed a copy of the May 944 (with Lenny Kravitz on the cover), and brought you people some scans of my story on EQ3, “Modern Living”:

Sorry, folks — just pulled myself out from a mountain of deadlines. Should have two articles coming out in Thursday’s CityLife and if my calculations are correct, the May issue of 944 Las Vegas should be on the streets by now. Let me know if you see it, would you? I believe I have two pages of modern furniture goodness in there.

Just topped off a long piece for another publication, but I’m holding on saying which one just yet. You know me, I like to keep you kids guessing. Oh, and did you check out the nifty index page I cooked up while you weren’t looking? Of course you didn’t. Would you believe me if I said I had business cards that look just like that?

One final note: The May First Friday Newsletter came out last week; my bald mug is in there, along with a cute little piece I donated about Love Pentagon, a cute little band you should go see tomorrow night at the Freakin’ Frog. Want to see more? Click below, babies:

I’ve been alternately a writer and an editor for the last half of my life, and both roles have their perks and drawbacks. This essay by Michael Kinsley is close to my heart:

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1729711,00.html

(via Mark Evanier)

I don’t usually give unsolicited advice, but just this once, I’m going to:

When you already have two overlapping article deadlines, two overlapping research paper deadlines and one big friggin’ move all coming up in the same week, don’t take on additional assignments. Well, I guess for the rest of you, that’s not advice — it’s common sense. But for this freelance whore, it’s a lesson hard-learned.

Even more frustratingly, I have not received confirmations of interviews with the subjects of the two aforementioned articles, one of which could be potentially painful should it fall through, both to my wallet and to the publication expecting a lengthy feature story.

Well, at least I finished the band bio I agreed to rewrite for a small fee, and I even took the time to play with WordPress’ new built-in gallery tool to reconstruct the Images page on the new site here. And sweet Jesus is it sweet. I love technology when it makes life easier. And allows me to spend less time tooling around with coding and photo resizing and more time … packing.

This rebuilding of pjperez.com is a slower process than I thought. I finally added and slightly reformatted the Articles page (formerly known as “freelance bibliography” or some such nonsense). The newest version of Wordpress includes the ability to embed photo galleries in some fancy new way, but it’s going to take me a little while to figure that out. I’m also planning an awesome splash page for the relaunch, but again, it’ll take some time to get to. Why?

‘Cause, I’m busy, that’s why. Working on a story about Be Your Own Pet, a band opening for She Wants Revenge at the House of Blues on May 9, for the CityLife. Also working on another project that, as usual, I am reluctant to talk about until it gets closer. I know, I make you kids wait. I’ve also gotten awfully tied up in this new band for which I play drums, As Yet Unbroken, about which you’ll be hearing more soon.

That’s it for now. Hang tight for more on this site, but until then, visit VEGASinsight and see what other topics are getting the Pj treatment.