Name: Amanda Jo Cevallos

Birthplace: Dallas , TX

Currently residing: Austin, TX

Musical past and present in one rambling run-on sentence: i got a guitar when i was 21 wrote my 1st song at 18.. put the pieces together when i was about 24….. spend most of my musical journey trying to figure out which song I wrote to teach to the band next. I’m currently touring Europe, and the US. my band has no name.

Website

1. Who are some of your favourite composers, musicians and bands from the past and present?

i love Willie. and anyone who writes songs is up there on my list. especially country songs.

2. Is there a particular song or musical passage that never fails to move you emotionally?

“pickin up hookers instead of my kids..” –  Willie Nelson

3. How would you describe your perfect day?

get up late, make coffee, drink it, write a song, “take a nap”, cuddle, have some wine, smoke some weed, repeat.

4. What would your friends say they appreciate the most about you?

i do what the hell i say im gonna do…on my own time of course.

5. What is your most valued material possession?

my cat

6. Who were you, or would you be nervous to meet?

I’m nervous about most things…meeting people is not one of them tho. we are all imperfect, no matter what, so if someone is real famous, and I’m nervous, I just imagine them delivering pizza or flowers.. lot’s of stars did that stuff.. so i default to they probably worked hard for their success, like me, so why be scared of them.. they’re cool. or not. but who cares!

7. If you could blink your eyes and be in a favourite place right now, where would that place be?

on top of a mountain by a light house drinking wine with my honey in Spain.. oh wait, I was there last week! and i did that. dammit, take me back!

8. Is there something you would like to do more of in the future?

no. i do enough now as it is…well, i guess I’d like to play more piano and lead guitar.. but im working on that in the present, so.. in the future I’d like to be good at those things.. currently im dreaming about being good at anything.

9. Where would you like to find yourself in ten years?

i want to be a mom. So i hope to have kids by then. and a family. couple dogs, a few cats… a career in country music! im not askin’ for much.

Name: Alysia Stern

Birthplace: New York

Currently residing: Long Island

Musical past and present in one rambling run-on sentence: I began writing poetry and stories at the age of nine. I wanted to be a journalist and an author. I always had a fondness for music and found myself singing my poetry and creating beats in my head. Since Shaun Cassidy “Da Doo Ron Ron” and the Grease soundtrack, I have been a music fanatic.

Website

1. Who are some of your favourite composers, musicians and bands from the past and present?

I was always a big “Freestyle” fan. Soave, Fascination, Coro, George LaMond and Johnny O are the first few that come to mind. Since Cris and I started our radio broadcast, we get submissions from around the world and there is so much hidden, unsigned talent out there. Lately, Indie musicians have become my favorite. There are too many  artists to name. And as we get to know them, and learn their stories, struggles and triumphs… it makes  their music so much more inspirational.

2. Is there a particular song or musical passage that never fails to move you emotionally?

Enrique Iglesias “Hero.”  Being a New Yorker, September 11th was one of the most horrible historical moments in my life. Every time I hear this song it makes me well up with tears.  All these years later, having an entertainment business and radio broadcast,with Cris,  knowing he is a NYC Fireman ~ I don’t take anything he does for granted. Not even a phone call to ask me to do something stupid.  I guess that song now reminds me of him.

3. How would you describe your perfect day?

My perfect day is getting up at 5Am. Putting on the pot of coffee and praying while the kids are still asleep. Then getting them up and off to school, going for a morning run and coming home and working for twelve hours. Work for me at this point is so rewarding. We get to hear new unsigned, unreleased music, we get to meet great people and most of all we get to help people pursue their dreams.  In the evenings, after dinner and showers, I share stories of  the people Cris and I met, show the twins videos or we listen to the new music.  I find that my daughter is now really into writing music and playing her guitar.  So I guess as I am inspired, and sharing the dreams ~ my children are getting inspired as well. To go to bed with inspiration from great talented people and dreams from ten-year old twins and people around the world, it makes me want to wake up tomorrow and do it all again.

4. What would your friends say they appreciate the most about you?

That is hard to say. I know they all know I have a heart of gold, and I am kind and funny also. But the past few years I think some of them think I am self-absorbed. I talk about myself and my career too much. After my husband left, about four and a half years ago, I was not a wife anymore, I didn’t have that identity… and as I realized that although one dream was ruined, the rest of them were still inside me and I was going to pick up the pieces and march forward to be the woman I always dreamed of being. I could not afford to have a PR company represent nor did I have money for expensive press releases or campaigns. So not only was I my own talent, I was my own PR Rep, manager, promoter, fan club and supporter. I guess to someone that may seem selfish, but to me it was all I could do to make this dream into a reality. I had to live it, breathe it and speak it. You never knew who I would meet or who would get to know me and want to hire me. The squeakiest wheel gets the grease. It finally worked for me. My real friends saw past that but I guess I weeded out a lot of “not-so real” friends because I have been deleted on Facebook and not invited to parties or talked about by those who didn’t walk in my shoes and judged me. It just makes my story more “readable” I guess. LOL  I turned the past four years of struggles into experiences that made Cris and I start The Rendezvous Show Inc. – an affordable Promotions Company for Indie Artists.

5. What is your most valued material possession?

My iPhone because it has all my contacts and client’s phone numbers and pictures of my children in it.  I could not go a day without it.

6. Who were you, or would you be nervous to meet?

When I got to spend an hour interviewing Gloria Estefan, she really changed the way I look at celebrities. She is so beautiful and humble. I realized people are just people whether they are famous or not. I don’t get “Star Struck” when I do celebrity interviews, but maybe meeting John Travolta or Robin Williams would give me the butterflies in my stomach.

7. If you could blink your eyes and be in a favourite place right now, where would that place be?

It’s actually right down the block, on the corner of Ocean Avenue and Richmond where the reality meets the Great South Bay. Hurricane Sandy destroyed the bench I used to sit on, but It was always my place of “regrouping” and serenity. To watch the boats sail by with  the warm Bay breeze on my face… I would definitely say that’s my fave place.

8. Is there something you would like to do more of in the future?

Yes, Family vacations.

9. Where would you like to find yourself in ten years?

I hope in a similar situation, with our businesses, The Rendezvous Show Inc. becoming larger and more well-known. Could you imagine how many Indie artists Cris and I will have met in ten years?  I also hope by then I would have written that world known novel I have been dreaming of since I was nine. I have eight children’s books published now, but I have not yet written one based on music. I hope to have that completed as well.