MK ULTRA

Thanks to Adam Becvare for the scoop

Punky Meadows and Frank Dimino of ANGEL played to a packed house June 15 at Count’s Vamp’d in Las Vegas when, unexpectedly, former ANGEL keyboardist Gregg Giuffria walked onto the stage to the roar and cheers of shocked fans and kicked off “The Tower” for the encore. The crowd was in a trance and Gregg sounded great, as if he never stopped playing with the guys. The chemistry and vibe was magical.

This was the first time Gregg, Punky and Frank performed together in over 37 years. You can clearly see in the video footage below that he was really enjoying himself, as did Punky, Frank, and the rest of the band on stage. This was a very special moment for ANGEL fans indeed.

Meadows and DiMino are continuing their joint tour, with stops including Chicago, Detroit, St. Louis and Nashville. They will also play in the U.K. for the first time in October.

The band is rounded out by Danny Farrow (rhythm guitar), Charlie Calv (keyboards), Steve O’Jane (bass) and Billy Orrico (drums) and is delivering a full ANGEL set with select solo material from DiMino’s 2015 solo effort “Old Habits Die Hard” and Meadows’s 2016 release “Fallen Angel”.

 
DiMino joined Meadows on stage for the first time in over 30 years in March 2017 to perform the ANGEL song “Tower” at the Backstage Bar And Billiards in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Punky and Frank, along with other former members of ANGEL, appeared at the 2016 Vegas Rocks! Hair Metal Awards at the Eastside Cannery Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. The group received the “Glam Rock Legends” award in honor of their contributions and influence in music. Accepting the award were Meadows, DiMino, Gregg Giuffria, Barry Brandt, and Felix Robinson. This marked the first time all surviving ANGEL bandmembers — bassist Mickie Jones passed away from cancer in 2009 — had been on stage together since 1980.

Formed in 1975 by Meadows and Jones in Washington D.C., ANGEL straddled the fence between the prog-rock pomp of YES and ELP, the orchestral hard pop of QUEEN, BOSTON and ELO, and the riff-heavy raunch-rock of KISS and AEROSMITH. They were discovered by KISS bassist/vocalist Gene Simmons while performing at a nightclub and were eventually signed to the same label as KISS, Casablanca.

Released in the fall of 1975, the band’s self-titled debut was promoted with a number of live appearances on the great American arena circuit with the likes of AEROSMITH, BLUE ÖYSTER CULT, JOURNEY and RUSH. The group’s gimmick — the members were all dressed in white — got them labeled the “anti-KISS” by rock critics, and their spectacular stage show was so over the top that even Simmons & Co. were said to have been inspired by it.

ANGEL started to fall apart in the early 1980s after Casablanca pulled the plug on the group due in part to disappointing album sales. In 1981, Robinson and DiMino left to pursue other projects. Meadows and Giuffria tried to keep ANGEL going and came close to landing a record deal with CBS. But it didn’t pan out, and ANGEL finally disbanded.

Hanzel Und Gretyl has been an ever evolving band. The last album, Black Forest Metal marked a new era, employing black metal & satanic themes crossed with motifs from the Brothers Grimm fairy tales. Another dark step forward in the bands evolution, Satanik Germanik is Hanzel Und Gretyl’s darkest, most metal release to date and arrives just in time for the band’s 25th Anniversary! More evil, menacing and fun than ever, while still remaining 100% Hanzel Und Gretyl.

Johnny Monaco performing with LA GUNS in Rockford june 1, 2018 photo by Cassie Balazik for mk ultra magazine

I hate having to report on this, but it is what it is. We at MK love Johnny Monaco!- az

SOURCE: SLEEZEROXXX

It’s Sunday, June 17th and it is approximately 4:30 pm… and I’m looking at a post that Phil Lewis, of L.A. Guns shared. It’s Johnny Monaco playing guitar. Fans are commenting and suddenly BAM!! Phil made this comment, “Goodbye Johnny. It was nice while it lasted. Good luck in all things to you. The road’s gonna miss you”. This prompted fans to ask, “Ehh huh”? and “What’s up Phil? Are you serious? Johnny is leaving”?

While Phil Lewis will gladly deliver the news, he doesn’t always feel the need to give an elaborate explanation or go into detail about band situations. He spells it out and then moves on. He did, however, pop in with another comment under that same Facebook post, “Welcome back Adam Hamilton”.

Adam, if you’ll remember, is a past L.A. Guns member from 2001 through 2007. At that time, he played bass in the band. Adam lives in Los Angeles and is also an accomplished producer and session musician who plays guitar, bass, keyboards and drums.

I’ve seen L.A. Guns more times than I can count in the last couple of years and they are sounding excellent. We have to keep in mind that this band is Phil Lewis and Tracii Guns. The other members sound great but if they feel their needs to be a change, I trust it’s for the best and we will all benefit.

As you know, L.A. Guns are currently in the studio recording songs for their next album! I’m sure they won’t miss a beat and Tracii can obviously play all guitars on the record but I do wonder if Adam is participating as a guitarist or as a songwriter (he’s been a credited songwriter on past L.A. Guns records). This could be interesting!

Adam Hamilton

Hamilton chose to begin working as a producer and writer full time in 2006 due in part to his desire to marry and start a family. His production work includes many titles released by Cleopatra Records, including albums by Leif Garrett, Dale Bozzio of Missing Persons, Vanilla Ice, and George Lynch. Hamilton also produces and writes music for television, and his work has appeared on Family Guy, The Simpsons, The Osbournes, Six Feet Under, Saturday Night Live, Numb3rs, Gene Simmons Family Jewels, Bones, America’s Got Talent, and many others.

Hamilton’s most notable production work on an album was as producer of William Shatner’s third studio album, Seeking Major Tom (2011). Cleopatra Records founder Brian Perera teamed Shatner up with Hamilton for the project, and Shatner made Hamilton prove himself to him with the production of the hardest song on the prospective album, which was a cover of Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody”. Shatner was happy with the results and Hamilton produced the rest of the album. The album was recorded primarily in ProTools and included many well-known guest performers, including Nick Valensi, Ritchie Blackmore, Candice Night, Lyle Lovett, Brad Paisley, Steve Miller, Ian Paice, Johnny Winter, Steve Hillage, Bootsy Collins, Patrick Moraz, Toots Hibbert, Peter Frampton, John Wetton, Wayne Kramer, Carmine Appice, Sheryl Crow, Michael Schenker, Ernie Watts, Edgar Froese, Dave Davies, Warren Haynes, Mike Inez, Zakk Wylde, and Steve Howe.The album debuted at #1 on Billboard’s Heatseekers chart and received positive reviews from many publications and websites.

This series is directly regarding the true story I heard in 1994 that prompted me to name the magazine MK ULTRA. I read the story while in college but when I heard it again in the winter of 94 it rang a bell of familiarity and was the perfect name for my forthcoming project which I had been putting together with other writers although it at the time did not have a name. Perfect in every way. 

The New York Times awarded it a NYT Critic’s Pick with reviewer A. O. Scott saying “Mr. Morris presents a powerful historical argument in the guise of a beguiling work of cinematic art — and vice versa.” Matt Zoller Seitz, writing for Vulture.com, “The filmmaking gathers all the bits and pieces of the story together and arranges them in ways that are clever, surprising, and so aggressively (and deliberately) self-conscious that there are times when the whole thing gets close to turning into an intellectualized formal exercise…there’s never a moment where Olson or Morris fail to fascinate” Vanity Fair called it “one of the most original things you’ll see all year.

In collaboration with Dead Seed Productions Mortiis will be releasing some very limited edition products, namely a “Perfectly Defect” picture disc and the “Weal & Woe” cassette box.

The “Perfectly Defect” picture disc will be limited to only 100 copies and comes housed in heavy PVC sleeve with a thick lyrics card. You can order this item directly from Dead Seed Productions.

Next is the “Weal & Woe” cassette box set (limited to just 150 copies) holding 4 cassettes featuring over 60 tracks. Included are “Perfectly Defect” (full track session with 4 bonus tracks), “The Great Deceiver”, “The Great Corrupter”double cassette box (with the never before physically published 3 bonus track EP). The set also includes a silkscreened print by Maggot Meister. Also this item can be ordered directly from Dead Seed Productions. All Cassettes are also available individually from Dead Seed.

Upcoming shows

And while we are at it, here are the upcoming “Era 1” Live shows:

• JUN 15 Salón Bolívar, Mexico, Mexico
• JUN 24 Ragnard Reborn Festival, Kharkiv, Ukraine
• JUN 29 Kilkim Žaibu, Varniai, Lithuania
• JUL 14 Castle Party, Bolków, Poland
• JUL 25 Badlands Bar, Perth, Australia
• JUL 26 Crowbar, Fortitude Valley, Australia
• JUL 27 The Factory Theatre, Sydney, Australia
• JUL 28 Bendigo Hotel, Collingwood, Australia
• JUL 29 Brisbane Hotel, Hobart, Australia
• JUL 30 Enigma Bar, Adelaide, Australia
• JUL 31 Darkroom, Christchurch, New Zealand
• AUG 01 Valhalla, Wellington, New Zealand
• AUG 02 Whammy Bar, Auckland, New Zealand
• AUG 09 Brutal Assault Festival, Jaromer, Czech Republic
• NOV 15 Casa De La Cultura De Lo Prado- Ex Mundo Mágico, Lo Barnechea, Chile
• NOV 15 Mvseo Rock, Buenos Aires, Argentina
• NOV 17 Fundación Teatro Bolívar, Quito, Ecuador
• NOV 30 Club From Hell, Erfurt, Germany
• DEC 1 MS Connexion Complex, Mannheim, Germany