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vol 4 • iss 1 – jan - feb 07

MyChemica lRomance

Conquering the World

:RISEN MAGAZINE6

Features16 My Chemical Romance:

Conquering the WorldMCR needed just one record to conquer rock

stardom. Now, two years later, they are

returning to conquer the world.

24 Jennie Finch: Fast PitchJennie Finch is one of those people you could

love to hate. She’s gorgeous, an Olympic gold

medalist, married to a professional baseball

player, and can throw a softball 71 mph.

Problem is, Jennie Finch is impossible to dislike.

30 Robert Randolph:On the Narrow RoadJudging from his smile, it has been a joyous

ride for Robert Randolph to move from a

childhood in the House of God Pentecostal

Church in Orange, New Jersey, to being named

as one of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time

by Rolling Stone. When he took his licks outside

the sanctuary, it was the folks in the nightclubs

that began wiggling their hips, waving their

hankies, and shouting hallelujah.

36 Underoath: Lion’s DenNot since the Apostle Paul approached Mars

Hill, boldly proclaiming news of “The

Unknown God” to a potentially hostile group

of polytheists, has anyone seemed so

dangerously out of place as Underoath on

the Vans Warped Tour.

42 Hana Beaman: Your World AwaitsSnowboarder Hana Beaman sits atop the

TransWorld Rider’s Poll. She is one part control

freak and one part daredevil when it comes to

getting airborne off mounds of snow. Although

she has broken her collarbone and hates getting

concussions, it doesn’t seem to stop her. You

gotta love that.

46 Pigeon John: Room to LivePigeon John believes in living honestly when

people are watching, living righteously when

people are not watching, and creating bomb

hip-hop. That’s a tall order, but he’s counting

on some divine inspiration.

jan/feb 2007

:RISEN MAGAZINE8

EXPRESSIONS50 Mike Shinoda: The Work Speaks For Itself

Most likely, you’ve heard Mike Shinoda’s rhymes for Linkin Park

and Fort Minor, but have you seen his graphic art? Check it out.

54 Bil Zelman: Never Been to a Pep RallyPhotographer Bil Zelman was pretty disruptive when he was a kid. “I’ve been to jail enough times to realize that not everything I put my hand to is good,” he admits. These days, his hands are on his cameras. And that’s all good.

SCREEN64 DVD Reviews

Jeffrey Overstreet recommends some of the moviesthat you may have overlooked and shouldn’t have.

SOUND66 CD Reviews

RISEN lays out the low-down on a stack of new musical offerings.

UP TO SPEED68 Daniel Dae Kim, Ladies of The Office,

and Lupe FiascoThose who have been featured in RISEN are on the move. Find out where they are headed.

END NOTE70 Sylvester Stallone:

Sly Goes One More Round

Departments

:RISEN MAGAZINE12

EDITORIALEDITOR-IN-CHIEF :: Steve Beard

MANAGING EDITOR :: Regina Goodman

FOUNDING EDITOR :: Chris Ahrens

COPY EDITOR :: Dane Wilkins

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS :: Corey Moss, Scott Schulte, Jeffrey Overstreet,

Jared Cohen, Jessie Duquette, Thaddeus Christian

ARTART DIRECTOR :: Rob SpringerPHOTO EDITOR :: Bob Stevens

CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS ::Tyler Shields, Estevan Oriol, Lou Mora, Steve Moors, Blaine Franger, Landon Finch, Chapman Baehler, John Shear

PHOTO STAFF :: James Smith, Todd Casey, Alyse Gylfe

ILLUSTRATION :: Zela

WEB/MULTIMEDIA :: Andrew Harrill

FASHIONFASHION EDITOR :: Mona Van Cleve

CONTRIBUTING STYLISTS :: Davia Matson, Matthew Estrada, Chris Vanek

PUBLISHER :: Michael Sherman

ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER :: Dan Alpern

ACCOUNTING :: Cynthia Beth

RISEN Magazine is a subsidiary of RISEN Media, LLC. The views expressed by the subjects interviewed in RISEN Magazine are not necessarily those shared bythe staff or publishers of RISEN Media, LLC.

All interviews are recorded live and exclusively for use by RISEN Magazine. Interviews remain the sole property of RISEN Media, LLC. All rights reserved. No part of the contents of this magazine may be reproduced without the written consent of RISEN Media, LLC.

PRINTED :: USA

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RISEN is published 6 times a year byRISEN Media, 11772 Sorrento Valley Rd., Suite 152

San Diego, CA 92121.

Periodical pending at San Diego CA and additional mailing offices.

POSTMASTER:Send address changes to RISEN Media, PO Box 469077

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RISEN Media, LLC11772 Sorrento Valley Rd., Suite 152

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[email protected]

Copyright © 2007 “RISEN” is a Trademark of RISEN Media, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Cover My Chemical Romance :: Tyler ShieldsCover Underoath :: Blaine Franger

january/february:Contributors

1. Lou Mora - PhotographerHana Beaman (page 42)

Hana is truly was one of theeasiest going people anyone couldever have the pleasure of workingwith. She lives what seems to bean amazing life, being able to travelthe world, snowboard, and hangwith friends. We should all be solucky.

2. Blaine Franger - PhotographerUnderoath (page 36)

Underoath is the definition ofadrenaline rush. When they gotonstage the crowd went nuts.Underoath was jumping aroundeverywhere, which made it nearimpossible to get good photos,especially at night! I did manage toget a few good ones though.

3. Scott Schulte - WriterJenny Finch (page 24)

Scott Schulte has interviewedsome of today’s biggest namesincluding Michael Jordan, DerekJeter, and Garth Brooks. A nativeof Milford, Connecticut, Schulteand his two sons (16, 11) reside inBountiful, Utah.

4. Estevan Oriol - PhotographerPigeon John (page 46)

It’s always cool to shoot the guysthat are fresh to the game like Pigeon John.

5. Tyler Shields - PhotographerMy Chemical Romance (page 16)

Biggest band in the world, a hugemagic box, three models, and TheMagic Castle on Halloween. Itwould take me five pages toscratch the surface of what thisday was like, but I will say the MyChemical Romance boys areamazing to work with and leave itat that...

6. Corey Moss - WriterMy Chemical Romance (page 16)

Love ‘em or hate ‘em, you can’treally deny My Chemical Romanceare the most exciting thing goingon in rock right now. I’veinterviewed them before, but thistime they really seemed to comefrom a great place. They’re honest,hardworking guys who deservetheir success.

7. Steve Moors - PhotographerRobert Randolph (page 30)

Fun afternoon! Great stories! Reallynice guy! Oh, and if you see him, tellhim he left his yellow shirt at mystudio.

7

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:RISEN MAGAZINE14

Chris Gardner is a powerful, wealthy, and inspiring

man who is accustomed to calling the shots. With

his cleanly shaved head, million-dollar smile, and

extra-fly designer suits, he commands attention

when he enters the room. Gardner landed a

sizeable advance for his autobiography, The

Pursuit of Happyness, and Will Smith portrays him

in the recently released film about his life.

Life’s good for Gardner; but it wasn’t always

that way.

Living in San Francisco in the early 1980s,

Gardner became a single father of a 2-year-old

son. His car had been impounded, the IRS was

barking about back taxes, and he was barely

able to keep his head above water selling

medical equipment. Through some disastrous

circumstances, Gardner and his young son got

kicked out of their apartment and began

sleeping at cheap hotels, in flop houses, and

even on the streets.

The film successfully ushers you into the

emotional exasperation of being completely

broke—selling plasma and hitting up your friends

for the few dollars you loaned them six months

previous. In one wrenching scene, Gardner and his

son sleep in the restroom of a subway station.

Holding his son as he barricades the door for

protection, Gardner sheds the tears of a man

trying to do the right thing.

In recreating the scene more than twenty

years later, Gardner accompanied Will Smith to the

very restroom where he had taken refuge with his

son. “When I walked into that bathroom with Chris

and stood there, I got it,” recalls Smith. “I

understood. And then after that to actually shoot

the scene…with my real son on my lap, it’s no

acting necessary.”

What Smith comprehended was Gardner’s

spirit to do whatever he must to change his life and

create a brighter future for his son. “I attribute that

commitment to my child to [my] growing up

without a father” Gardner told me, “and having a

stepfather who was fond of reminding me of every

opportunity he got, ‘I ain’t your daddy. You ain’t

got no daddy.’ I made a decision at 5 years old

that when I had children, my children would know

who their father was.”

Although the times were desperate, Gardner

honored his vow. They bathed in public restrooms,

stood in long lines at soup kitchens, and were

often turned down at shelters that admitted only

single men or women with children.

The film takes you through Gardner’s daily

routine of making sure his son was dropped off

at day care, while attempting to sell medical

equipment during the spare moments he was

not training to become a stockbroker. He had to

leave his training courses early to pick up his

son and stand in line at the shelter in hopes of

getting a bunk.

Pushing his son in a stroller, Gardner became

a common sight in the neighborhood. He attracted

the attention of local prostitutes who admired his

steadfastness for taking care of his boy. They

would give his son $5 bills. “If it were not for those

ladies of the evening giving that child $5,” recalls

Gardner, “there would be times I could not have

fed him.”

Essential to Gardner’s eventual success was

the ministry of the Reverend Cecil Williams and

Glide Memorial United Methodist Church. “Without

Glide, there is no Chris Gardner,” he often says.

Glide was the only shelter that would allow a man

with his child.

“Baby steps count, too, as long as you’re

going forward,” Williams used to preach. It seems

simplistic, but it carried Gardner through many

difficult situations. “Rolling my child through the

streets of San Francisco in his stroller, up the hills

and down the hills and through the rain, I just kept

saying to myself, ‘baby steps count too.’”

Gardner’s story is the kind that inspires us at

RISEN. It’s about second, third, and fourth

chances. It’s about scrambling to make ends

meet and finding peace in the house of God. It’s

about refusing to roll over and play dead. It’s

about commitment, redemption, failure, and

success. It’s about barricading a bathroom door

in a public restroom to provide a safe place for

your son to sleep. It’s the kind of story that

garners the attention of ladies of the night and

men of the cloth.

The Pursuit of Happyness is about pursuing a

dream—the subject matter that we are so curious

about in RISEN interviews. That is why we ask our

subjects about their faith, fears, inspiration, and

failures. We want to know why artists, actors,

athletes, and musicians keep getting up and doing

what they do. Chris Gardner grabbed inspiration

from church services, the generosity of street

walkers, and even the thankful heart of his son.

After a year on the street, they finally found a

place to live. One night the electricity was cut off

(Gardner owed $18) and he had to bathe his son

by candlelight. Gardner told me that he was at his

lowest emotional point. “I didn’t know whether I

was going to quit, crack, or cry,” he recalled. “And

I’m washing this baby—this 2-year-old kid—and

he picks up on this. And he says to me, ‘Papa, you

know what? You’re a good papa.’ At 2 years old.

That was all I needed to keep going forward.”

Gardner went forward and became a very

successful businessman—and remained a good

dad, long after his humiliating bout with

desperation was over. In the midst of his trials,

he never lost his commitment to fatherhood, his

faith in God, or his vision for a better

tomorrow—even if he had to live on the streets

to reexamine those virtues.

january/february:Letter From The Editor

Steve Beard

Editor in Chief

photo

: K

en

ny W

ilson

JAN / FEB 2007 - Feature 17

MyChemicalRomanceike the Gallaghers and the Robinsons beforethem, the Way brothers have gone from

sharing a bedroom to sharing room at the top ofthe rock charts. Unlike the brothers behind Oasisand the Black Crowes, however, My ChemicalRomance singer Gerard Way and bassist MikeyWay have always actually liked each other.

“We’re like best friends in the entire world,”Mikey explains. “We have this bond that’s kind ofcrazy. We always have people asking if we get infights. The bottom line is we probably get in onefight a year and it’s never that bad. It’s like a mini-argument.”

With their other “brothers” at their side—drummer Bob Bryar and guitarists Ray Toro andFrank Iero—the Ways needed just one record toconquer rock stardom. Now, two years later, MyChemical Romance are returning to conquer the world.

Interviewed exclusively for RISEN Magazine in Los Angeles.

Writer: Corey Moss

Photographer: Tyler Shields

Styling: Mathew Estrada

Hair and Makeup: Chris Vanek

l


RISEN Magazine: You’ve said The Black Parade was adifficult album to make. How so?Gerard Way: I think it was very difficult because we set our

goals very high and we didn’t simply want to follow up

Revenge. We knew we wanted to reinvent ourselves and we

knew in a lot of ways we needed to pull off our skin. I think

that’s what made it so hard because there was no tragic

event, there was no one thing that spawned the record, like

Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge [which was largely about the

death of their grandmother]. So we had to look inside

ourselves for the record, and I think whenever

you look inside yourself, you find a lot of ugly

stuff. It becomes very hard. It’s almost like

surgery every day for six months.

Mikey Way: It’s kind of like you’re a wet rag

and you’re squeezing, so that’s going to get to

anybody. Look what happened, though. We

made probably the best album of our careers.

RM: So it’s possible to make a concept album that is alsopersonal?GW: All the great ones, I feel, were personal. The best example

of that is Pink Floyd’s The Wall, where it’s this story about this

rock star guy named Pink and it’s obviously not about this guy

Pink, it’s about Roger Waters. I’ve heard concept records that

are just straight works of fiction and I find them to be very

hollow. I don’t think people get anything out of that. I think, if

anything, they’ll get some kind of metaphor out of some kind of

element of the story, but I think it works quite well to have it

really be personal and yet tell a story. And the more I live with

the record, I think it’s blatantly personal.

RM: Then why mask it at all?GW: I mean, really, the basic answer to that is it’s just a lot of fun.

RM: And there’s nothing wrong with that. GW: The biggest compliment I get from people is they listen to

it and say, “This record’s fun as hell to listen to and actually live

in and it sounds like you guys were having fun when you made

it.” We’ve had such a desire since childhood to bring back that

sort of pageantry to rock or that theater that had been missing.

It had just gone away because I think after Bowie had done it, it

had been cheapened by so many bands. After Pink Floyd’s The

Wall phenomena, there hasn’t been anything like that, and I think

it’s a shame that people haven’t even attempted it. I also think it’s

something much more interesting to relate to, cuz really when

you boil it down, no one wants to hear about my problems. I

don’t! That’s not what makes the band special. We weren’t going

to sing about being famous or successful. Nobody wants to hear

that.

RM: Like Revenge, this record also has several references todeath.GW: I think it stems from a childhood reaction to death. One

being of fear, one that was instilled in me from the Catholic

Church, one I grew to resent. And that’s not to say I have a beef

with religion at all, cuz I respect people that have faith. I have faith,

but as far as my experience with the Catholic Church growing up,

I was made to fear things and it stuck with me and never went

away. It never had a good effect on me. I became death-

obsessed. But the one thing I’ll say about this record: Even though

we are dealing with death again, it’s a much different way than last

time. The last record was almost totally kind of fictional, except for the track

“Helena” which is very honest and pure, very much about a real thing. [The

Black Parade] looks at death from a very realistic standpoint.

RM: Is there a certain faith that you follow?GW: I basically believe in a higher power, I believe in something bigger than us.

So I kind of cling on to that for sanity reasons. I have a lot of faith in myself, a

lot of faith in my guys, and a lot of faith in something larger than us. I don’t put

a lot of stock in people that I meet, though.

RM: What about the afterlife?MW: I would like to believe something happens; otherwise it’s a really scary

thought. We have to be here for a reason because too many things add up, you

know. They can’t all be coincidence.

GW: I totally think it’s like the movies. I think it would have to be. I think it’s really

corny with lots of fake trees. Like really fake clouds, it’s probably really bizarre

and I kind of see it totally as almost like a sitcom. That song “Dead,” I think the

lines in that song are almost like a response to that feeling of what heaven is

like.

RM: Have you ever had a near-death experience?MW: When we were shooting the “Ghost of You” video we almost drowned in

the middle of the ocean. My life flashed before my eyes. Basically we were on

a hidden boat, you know like in Saving Private Ryan, those metal boats with a

trap door in the front. Somebody’s bright idea was to drop the hatch while we

were in the middle of the ocean, and the water filled up the boat and the boat

started to capsize while we were on the boat and water came up to my neck.

And I had 100 pounds of gear on.

GW: I actually haven’t.

RM: But it’s something you fear.

GW: When we set out to make the record, [producer] Rob Cavallo had given

us a very important piece of advice, which was to find the thing that you’re

afraid of the most and that’s what you have to sing about. And the record has

its own evolution, when you listen to it, it seems at first, yes I’m afraid of death,

we’re afraid of death, but the more you get into the record you realize I’m

actually afraid of living. I think more people are afraid of living than they realize.

They’re not actually afraid of death, they’re afraid to live their lives how they

want and do what they want and be who they really are. I think that is the

ultimate fear that I had, so that’s the fear that I addressed.

RM: A lot of artists who write a lot about life and death had a darkchildhood. MW: It was more later on that that stuff happened to us, the drug addiction and

the alcoholism and the deaths in the family. In the early days [of My Chemical

Romance] it was self-destructive and then we just…grew up, basically. We just

got rid of all that stuff before the band got popular.

RM: Tell me about recording the song “Cancer.” GW: It was very cathartic, but very painful. It was supposed to be. It’s actually

an empowering song, I feel. There was a thought process behind why it’s called

“Cancer.” It could’ve easily been called “The Hardest Part” or something, but

the subject is so brutal and it’s so heavy, you can’t pull punches with the title

][We’ve had such a desire since childhood tobring back that sort of pageantry to rockor that theater that had been missing.

:RISEN MAGAZINE20

even. I think the title actually is as important to the song as the lyrics and

the music. It automatically puts something on the song. Yes, cancer’s

affected me, it affects everyone. I don’t know one person that hasn’t

really been affected by it. It’s obviously a very strong metaphor for

something else, but at the same time it is being very upfront. It is what

it is. It’s my favorite track on the record.

MW: That’s the song where the first time we played it, we got a reaction

from the crowd that was like, whoa, they look like they all just got

punched in the chest.

RM: Is it inspired by anything in particular?GW: I had a sense on the record, while making it, I felt very desperate,

very distraught. In a lot of ways I had a feeling of a terminal condition. I

felt kind of like time was running out, very desperate, occasionally

paranoid. It just came out very naturally.

RM: Musically, the song “Mama” is a huge departure for MyChemical Romance. Is it exciting when something like thathappens, or a little bit scary? GW: If it’s scary at all, that’s what makes it so exciting. It was extremely

exciting. We knew we had done something we had never done and we

had creatively raised the bar for ourselves, and we then knew that we

had to ditch a lot of songs. It was scary in that regard, to say this record

is something much different now. It’s not going to be the follow-up. It’s

going to be the record we would’ve made three records down the line

from the last record.

MW: And Liza Minnelli is on the song, and we’re all big fans of hers.

RM: Tell me about starting the record with a song called “The End”?GW: It’s the end in a lot of ways. It’s the end of this person’s life. This

record has a very strong sense of resignation from a lot of things, a lot of

places we had come from or a lot of things we were inadvertently

pigeonholed to that we were never a part of. That track is the end of

everything people had thought about the band. It really right away closes

the chapter and you almost at that point don’t even recall Three Cheers

for Sweet Revenge, if you’re a fan. And if you’re not a fan and you’ve

never really heard of the band other than what you’ve seen on TV, then

you’re like, I didn’t know this is what the band really sounded like. So the

idea was to start at the end because that’s really where it starts.

RM: There is a strong Queen influence on the album. What wouldFreddie Mercury think of The Black Parade?GW: I think he would really truly love it. To me, he’s my favorite frontman

of all time, he’s my biggest inspiration. Not just for his vocal ability, his

songwriting ability, but the fact that he was who he was. He was so self-

expressive. He was very unashamed to be what he was. I think that he

would find this record to be such a form of self-expression that he

would really appreciate it. In a lot of ways, from my end of it, this is a

tribute to him.

RM: My Chemical Romance fans are so loyal, almost obsessive.Why is that? GW: Because we are really honest. We had a lot of courage in the

beginning to be who we are, to say the things we wanted to say, do the

things we wanted to do. And the lyrics connect to them because they

come from the place of an outsider and a lot of our fans are outsiders.

And also there’s a whole world there. When you think of My Chemical

Romance, you don’t just think of a band that’s up there wearing t-shirts

and jeans and just getting up on stage playing some songs and saying

goodnight. You think of an entire mythological world.

MW: When the record starting taking off, we were getting all these offers

like, “We’re going to bring this to pop stations.” And we were like, “We’re

not ready for that yet.” We didn’t have a global message quite yet. We

kind of played for our fans and luckily other people caught on. I think this

time around we have more to say and I think we are going to say it and

I think people are going to listen.

RM: What’s the global message? MW: The global message is stand

up, believe in yourself, and don’t

take anyone’s crap. Instead of

worrying about what you didn’t do,

start doing it. It’s like the last song

on the record, “Famous Last

Words,” it says just that. “I’m not

afraid to keep on living/ I’m not afraid to walk this world alone.”

RM: Eddie Vedder went into a deep depression after one of hisobsessed fans drove their car into his house. Do you worry aboutthings like that?GW: It’s a fear that you have, especially with a band that deals so

much with fiction and mythology and worlds that don’t exist, people

could end up living in those places in their heads too much and

develop relationships in their heads that they have with you that don’t

exist. But I don’t know how I would deal with that if it did happen.

RM: Gerard, you suffered a nervous breakdown early on in theband. Did you ever fear you were going back down that pathmaking The Black Parade?GW: I wasn’t worried about relapsing into drug addiction or drinking

or anything like that. I was concerned about getting tremendously

depressed again, but I wasn’t concerned about getting suicidal

again. I had been through so much hard stuff, I was like, well, it’s

never going to get that bad again. I had been through death, I had

been through addiction, I had been through everything that is really

hard to go through, and I came out of that. So I really could have

faced anything at that point.

RM: Do you cry when you are going through something like that?GW: No. I was raised by my dad and he is not a crier and it got

inadvertently projected on to me. So I don’t cry a lot, which means

that I also hold in a lot, unfortunately. So I talk quite a bit to my guys

to avoid breakdowns. But I just kind of stare at a ceiling if I get

depressed. I don’t really cry.

RM: What’s your idea of perfect happiness? GW: I think perfect happiness is having a clean soul, a clear

conscience. A lot of that comes out of living your life as a good

person, as good as you can, and realizing that you will make

mistakes and it’s not the end of the world and you are just human.

I think it all starts with what’s inside your head. I don’t think anything

else can provide happiness to you but what’s inside your head.

My Chemical Romance’s latest CD, The Black Parade, is available

in record stores and online.

][I think perfect happiness is having a cleansoul, a clear conscience. A lot of that comesout of living your life as a good person,

Jennie Finch

wh

Writer: Scott Schulte Photographer: Landon Finch


RISEN Magazine: You, of course, are an Olympic gold medalist,and your husband plays for the Arizona Diamondbacks. Whatwould you think if Ace decides sports are not for him?Jennie Finch: I think it would be a little strange since both families are

so into athletics and it’s such a big part of our lives. But the important

thing about being a positive parent is to let your child grow into what

he or she wants to be, to find and cultivate their dreams and let them

find their own path in their lives.

RM: With the two high-demand andhigh-profile careers, how is itmanaging both careers?

JF: Our relationship has been this way

from the beginning. We met when I was

a senior in college and I had the

Olympics and he had his training with

Arizona, so we haven’t experienced

anything other than this. It’s a real part of our lives.

RM: With being two recognizable athletes, do you ever just wantto be left alone?JF: It’s nice that people appreciate what we do. We would never be

rude to people who want to talk or get an autograph and share in our

lives, but we also enjoy our privacy and we’ve learned how to make

that part of our life happen. During the off-season we travel, we spend

a lot of time with our immediate families and close friends. We go

places where people don’t recognize us. But we’re not complaining.

We’ve been very blessed and taking time for others is a small thing

when you think about all we’ve been able to do in our lives.

RM: What do you do to avoid the burnout of sports?JF: We don’t talk about baseball or softball much. I mean we’ll

discuss it when we’ve just finished a workout, but then it’s over. We

do a lot of other things. Since we travel so much, we really enjoy just

being home together, cooking together, or maybe going out to a

relaxing dinner. We love to golf and that’s relaxing.

RM: You are known for your Christian beliefs and values. Howhave those beliefs helped you in the different aspects of your life?

JF: It’s pretty basic, really. Jesus Christ is my Savior and I know he

was born and died and rose again so we all, including me, can be

forgiven for our sins. He is amazing. I think my pregnancy gave me a

new insight into how he works and how miraculous he is. I would just

think, God, you are so real. You are amazing to allow me to have this

great experience of motherhood. I’ve seen throughout my career how

a lot of professional athletes and movie stars live in the world and how

empty they still feel. For me, there is no true happiness in worldly

things. The Lord is the center of my life and I feel bad when I see

others with that emptiness, and people who are searching to fill this

gap in their lives because I know that gap can be filled with the love of

Jesus Christ. I always had my faith as my backbone. I work hard to

keep my eyes on the true prize in life—living for Jesus Christ and his

glory—and not living for the worldly things like the fame or the money.

RM: Do you try to share that message of Jesus Christ with people?JF: Absolutely. I always want to share the message of Jesus Christ

with people. Hopefully people will see God’s love in my eyes. I tend to

try to please everyone and that can be difficult, so I stay focused on

pleasing God because if he is my number one fan, I’ll be fine.

RM: You are in a unique situation in that you are a great athlete,but you also have the looks to be a full-time model if you choseto. How is to be seen as a sex symbol?JF: It’s very weird. But I do enjoy it. My dad always says I’m a girly girl

and he’s right. I’ve been able to do modeling and I enjoy getting all

dressed up, getting to pick out my clothes, getting my hair done, and

my makeup done. It’s all fun stuff that a lot of girls love to do from an

early age.

RM: With the modeling, have you had to put your foot down andset up clear boundaries as to what you will and will not do?

JF: Yes. I’ve turned down several popular magazines because their

standards are different than mine. I’ve done this for several reasons.

First, there are just things I’m not going to do and publications I am not

going to align myself with. Then there’s my family. I’ve been raised to

work hard to keep my eyes on the true prize in life- living for Jesus Christ and his glory-and not living for the worldly things like the fame or the money.

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ennie Finch is one of those people you could love to hate. Olympic gold medalist, named one of Peoplemagazine’s 50 Most Beautiful People, past model for the coveted Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue, married to

Arizona Diamondback pitcher Casey Daigle, and pitches a softball at 71 mph. And as a brand new mother of abeautiful baby boy, Finch may very well have it all. Problem is, Jennie Finch is impossible to dislike.

As I met her for the first time at the 2005 ESPY Awards, she wasn’t hiding from the public behind an entourage.Rather, with her teammates—Dr. Dot Richardson, Lisa Hernandez, and others—Finch chose to hang out in the mediadinner room, laughing, smiling, sharing stories, and listening intently to everyone she met.

I sat down at the table, next to Finch, and in a few minutes of conversation, I could tell that she was no ordinaryworld-class model and sports star. Instead of the inane me-me-me babble one might expect from someone who has itall, she wanted to talk about my family and what I did as a writer; it was Finch’s genuine interest in others thatcaptivated me (OK, the blonde hair and blue eyes didn’t hurt, either). So when we finally did this interview, it didn’ttake place at a studio, softball field, or in her Tucson, Arizona, home. Rather, we spoke as she and husband Caseystrolled through a local mall looking for clothes for their new son, Ace Shane Daigle. A first, for sure.

Interviewed exclusively for RISEN Magazine in Tucson, Arizona.

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avoid certain situations and to live according to strict guidelines of

moral standards that I firmly believe in. Then, there are the little girls out

there who do look to people like me as a role model, and I don’t want

to do anything that would give little girls the wrong ideas as to what is

and is not appropriate behavior.

RM: With Casey being a professional athlete, he must go throughsimilar situations. Do you work together on deciding whatproducts to endorse and align yourselves with?JF: Absolutely. We take that very seriously. Anything that is going to be

attached to us is extremely important. We make each move carefully.

We use our families, our faith, and one another when we make

decisions as to what we’ll do and what products we’ll associate with.

RM: You are currently featured in a Gatorade commercial withthe likes of Derek Jeter, Kevin Garnett, Dwyane Wade, andPeyton Manning. How was that experience and how did it helpthe exposure for women’s softball?JF: It was great. It was an incredible honor to just be in a commercial

with those other great athletes. It was real exciting because the idea

of being in a Gatorade commercial itself is amazing. Those are the

commercials I used to watch as a kid and then I was chosen to be in

one. I loved the story line and the idea of turning all of us into kids just

playing in the backyard. I mean that’s really what sports is all about.

We’re all just kids’ at heart playing kids games.

RM: When did you realize you had a special gift for softball?JF: I think when I was 12. I was on a team that had finished second

in the nation. It was weird to know I had been a big part of something

that was that good. From there, I just worked very hard and stayed

focused on achieving everything I could with my talents as a softball

player.

RM: You made the U.S. National team just six weeks after thebirth of your son. How did you manage to get yourself in world-class condition in such a short period of time?JF: I was blessed with great support throughout the pregnancy which

enabled me to stay in shape during that time. I knew I had to be on

the field within six weeks of my son’s birth, so that kept me motivated.

I stayed in close contact with my doctors and I was able to lift weights

up to the 8th month of the pregnancy. I ran every day through six

months and then walked six miles a day. I walked six miles the day

before the delivery. I’m also only 25, so I had age on my side. I also

have family members with me as I travel. I need people to help with

my son, but we have made the choice to not hire outside help, but to

utilize our family members so our son grows up around those people

who are related to him. It’s something we’ve been blessed with. He

already has quite a scrapbook because he hasn’t left my side since

he was born, so there’s been lots of traveling for this little guy.

RM: Every person I have talked to about you says the same thingabout you: “She’s so nice, so approachable.” How have youbeen able to keep your head when so many premiere athletestoday don’t do that?JF: Well, first, thank you. I have always been taught and I personally

believe that we’re all people and we’re all equal, just with different

talents and abilities. I also have a great husband and extended family

and they help keep me grounded. I don’t like confrontation. I don’t like

having enemies. I like getting along with people.

RM: That’s interesting. How are you able to be a world-classathlete with that mind-set?JF: I am a fierce competitor. I want to win. I don’t like to be in a room

with people I’m competing against, but then there’s the outside world.

I leave my competitiveness on the field, and when I go out into the rest

of the world, I want to be nice to people. It’s just as important as

winning any softball game.

RM: Do you plan on being a stay-at-home mom or do you expectto keep working professionally outside the home?JF: I want to keep working outside the home as long as I can.

Obviously, motherhood is my most important job, and Ace will play

heavily into my decisions. I play professional softball with the Chicago

Bandits and I’m having fun. I also do work as a sportscaster with

ESPN. Hopefully, I can bring Ace with me and continue doing those

other things, but as with all my decisions, it will be based on family,

faith, and then my sport. So we’ll just have to wait and see how things

pan out.

RM: When you look back on your life, what’s your greatesttriumph?JF: Aside from my wedding day and now becoming a mother, it

would have to be winning the gold medal at the Athens Olympics. I’d

dreamed of wearing the USA uniform for so long, and to have my

family there and play alongside my hero and role model, Lisa

Hernandez, was just amazing.

RM: What do think your future holds?JF: I don’t know for sure. Hopefully, staying active, having some more

kids, doing clinics, traveling, and enjoying all aspects of my life as an

athlete and mother and wife.

Jennie Finch currently pitches for the Chicago Bandits of the NationalPro Fastpitch Softball League. For more information, visitwww.chicagobandits.com

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have known the name of sacred steel virtuoso Robert Randolph for a while now. Still, I ofteninadvertently refer to him as Robert Johnson, the crossroads blues innovator, somehow in mymind confusing those set apart by three-quarters of a century. There are obvious similarities,including identical first names. Both are African American men who at a young age brought newmusical art forms to the public. But there are differences between them, one of the greatest beingthat Johnson reportedly sold his soul to the devil while Randolph unabashedly plays church songsfor bar patrons who find themselves hypnotically singing along with a pint in their hands, swayingas if they were in a junkyard choir.

I am seated alone in a dressing room when the 24-year-old saunters in, yawns, puts forth oneof the two most talented hands in rock music, shakes conventionally, eats a few strawberries fromthe bowl set before him, sits down, and begins speaking. He has a lot on his mind, much of whichwill be left on the stage tonight. He carries the weight of being the latest big talent to come outof the church, joining a long list of others from Ray Charles to R. Kelly who have taken similarroutes and, perhaps, fallen short of the Great Commission.

Because of his deep musical and spiritual roots, Robert Randolph has the distance to viewfame in one direction and salvation in another. He chooses a third alternative, the most difficultof paths, signaling the way to both fame and salvation. This is a narrow road and few find it.

Exclusively interviewed for RISEN Magazine at the Hollywood House of Blues.

Writer: Chris Ahrens / Photographer:Steve Moors

RISEN Magazine: You’re a long way from the Church of God … Iget the feeling that’s a rather strict denomination.Robert Randolph: Yeah, in some ways. Many of the old guys who

grew up playing there had to deal with a lot. I wanted to play like some

of them. Not only did I want to play like them, I wanted to be better. I

wanted to stretch out a little more.

RM: I don’t know if he said it or not, but there’s a quote attributedto David Bowie that rock ’n’ roll is the devil’s music.RR: Music is just different, different styles. You can sing about

something in a rock form, Gospel, jazz, or R&B. Rock is just a certain

sound. It’s all in what they’re singing about; nothing is the devil’s

music, unless you’re singing about the devil.

RM: Were any of the more conservative church membersconcerned that you would stray when you pursued successbeyond the church?RR: Yeah, a lot of the people I grew up in church with are concerned

about us going out and playing. What church people sometimes think

is that if we’re not around them, we’re going to be constantly around

drugs and so many different things. But we try to take all these songs

I grew up with in church, like “Jesus Is Just All Right” and “Deliver

Me.” That is something I learned in the church that I can give to

people. It’s the Gospel message with a rock vibe, rock edge, rock

sound. We call it “rockspell.” Recording this record, talking to people

like Eric Clapton and Carlos Santana—really getting to hang with

them, sit down just like we’re talking now—we were able to talk life

stories about where they are now, not where they were twenty years

ago. Back then somebody would stick a needle in their arm, or snort

blow, all those different things. They understand spirituality now. Their

advice to me was, make sure and write songs you believe in.

RM: There’s got to be a lot of temptation for a rock musician, but Iwould think that even beyond sex and drugs, pride is the biggest one.

RR: For me it’s not really an ego thing. The more busy you become

… sometimes people do have big egos, [laughs] but sometimes you

become so busy while becoming a star and while becoming

appreciated by a lot of people … there comes a point where … and I

can only imagine what it’s like for a Dave Matthews or Prince or

Clapton. For me, I don’t really see the ego thing. I don’t really get into

it like that … I came from church and you know what you’ve been

taught, what life brings us and what God can bring us and the talent

that God has given us. To be able to sing and play and share it with

people, that’s always with me.

RM: Do you think all music is spiritual?RR: In some ways, yes it is. But it depends on what spirit you’re

lookin’ for. [Laughs] There’re a lot of different spirits out there. Are

you looking for good spirits or bad spirits; what do you want to

fuel? If you’re depressed about something and you want to come

out of it, you want to look for something that’s gonna help you get

into a good spirit.

RM: Clarence Fountain of the Blind Boys of Alabama said he wasin the studio when a man offered him and Sam Cooke contractsto play rock ’n’ roll. He believes that Cooke taking the offer led tohis death, while his keeping on with Gospel sustained him.RR: You never know what God has in store for other people. The fact

that Sam Cooke was here for a short amount of time … nobody can

say if the Lord took him away from here because of that. He is heavily

influential to so many people. God might have said, Okay, that’s

enough for you here. It’s not because he left the church; I don’t

believe that. What do you say about the guy who lives only to be 50?

What do you say about the guy that lives to be 120? What do you say

about the kid who dies at birth?

RM: On one of your records you say, if you’renot going to clap or stomp your feet, get outof here.RR: That’s the mentality, man. I love for people

to come out, have a good time, and release all

of the things that surround them during the day.

Even for us, we don’t get to go to church as

much as we used to. What I try to give to people

is the church/Gospel vibe, that uplifting vibe.

That’s what we wanted to do with this record.

We wanted our producers to know that we wanted to reach

excellence and do something on a popular level and on a mainstream

level, but still get people to celebrate life while we’re on this earth, to

share those things with somebody else.

RM: I believe that if the church went outside of itself, it will findthat they don’t have as many enemies as they might think.RR: I’m glad we have an opportunity to do what we do, because … as

much as you learn in church, when you get out of it and go to other

places, it will get you to tweak your message a lot of times. I tell that

to preachers and people I grew up with in church. What do they have

to say to the Europeans, the Indians, the Africans?

RM: I saw a video years ago saying that Alice Cooper channeledhis name from a 17th Century witch. I had the opportunity to sitdown with him after that and he was a solid Christian andlaughed when I told him the story, which he had heard manytimes before.RR: You never know until you really get to know people. At the end of

the day God is the judge.

RM: A lot of your major influences had major drug problems orare no longer with us: Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Sly Stone …RR: I never really listened to Sly Stone until a few years ago, not

heavily, anyway. We all heard Sly’s songs, but when I got a videotape,

what he talked about was the same thing I already knew. Thirty, forty

years ago he talked about hearing certain sounds in church, and

taking those sounds and getting out of the church, take that spiritual

kind of party vibe … of course he got mixed up in other things, and

that happens. People ask Sly Stone where he came from and he says

he came from a church down in Michigan and people say, “What, we

never heard of that kind of church,” and they want to go down and

see it. They hear about pedal steel being in church and they want to

go see it.

RM: Is your home church entertaining?RR: Oh yeah, big time. Like they have a sort of Blues Brothers

attitude. It’s a great church and it’s just fun. Even now, you go and you

feel good. Church should make you feel good.

t’s all in what they’re singing about; nothing is the devil’s music, unless you’re singing about the devil.

I

RM: Many churches seem to specialize in making people feel bad.RR: Yeah, yeah. You go to church to seek help. There’s a scripture

that says, Jesus is my doctor. It’s not really a scripture, but …

RM: Jimi Hendrix said he wanted to make music that soundedlike the heavens were opening; what would you like toaccomplish with your music?RR: Man, that’s about as perfect as you could say it. I want to give

people something for this day and age. It may be different than Sly or

Prince or Stevie. That was some of the stuff we grew up on. A lot of

young kids, African American kids, don’t know what that good side,

that spiritual side can do and how it can influence people twenty or

thirty years down the line. We’re in a big hip-hop world, where a lot of

it is about gangs and drugs and sluts. It forces the mind of a kid to do

things they shouldn’t be doin’.

So hopefully I can—being

young and African

American—reach out with

energy to so many other

people.

RM: What are your dreams?RR: To be in the Rock ’n’ Roll

Hall of Fame and not be

broke. I want to be in good health and be in the Hall of Fame. That’s

what it’s about, that means you really accomplished, you touched

more people than you can imagine. That’s like the Ph.D. of music.

You’re done.

RM: What causes you to grow as a musician?RR: Being humble, being open-minded, being able to work with

different people and being in a right mind.

RM: When you see a young woman doing something nasty onthe dance floor and you know …RR: You gotta get in or you gotta get out. That’s it. You gotta be in

the right mind. You gotta know what you’ve been taught.

RM: Do you have any scriptures that sustain you?RR: “Without God I can do nothing.” “Faith is the substance of things

hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” It’s all about faith.

RM: I had a friend who was dying of cancer at 21 years old. Hewas listening to a Stevie Wonder song and he said, “God speaksthrough Stevie.” These guys had never met each other and yetStevie Wonder helped him to the other side.RR: Yeah, yeah. About three weeks ago I was walking out of a

restaurant in Nashville and a guy was walking in. He just hugged me,

man, and he said, “I’m a huge fan and I just got out of jail. What

helped me get out was my friend sending me one of your CDs. I heard

‘Going in the Right Direction’ and that led me down another path. I

just want to hug you and thank you for helping me get my life

together.” Experiences like that are more important than sellin’ a

million records.

RM: What’s the most fun thing for you?RR: Sitting down, writing songs, performing them, and seeing a great

reaction from people. That’s something God gives you.

RM: What do you think of rap?RR: A lot of it is good and a lot of it is bad. I think in thirty years

everyone will be rapping, just like rock ’n’ roll is everywhere now. But

people need to be original. Let it be something you really believe in,

that’s the same thing Clapton told me. Write something truthful. If you

feel there’s something God gave you, do it. I never want to be a

sellout, but when you hear that one song, you know that one that will

sell units … There’s nothing wrong with that.

RM: “Going in the Right Direction” is that kind of song.RR: That was a gift, yeah. That was an old song my mother wrote in

church, years ago. I took it and stretched it out a little bit. I want

people who would think, Oh church, no, no, don’t preach to me, to

be singing a song they wouldn’t otherwise sing.

RM: Have you ever experienced a miracle?

RR: Oh yeah. Once when I was about 19, going to work, working the

third shift I fell asleep behind the wheel, going uphill. The car turned

over, caught on fire, and I woke up and jumped out. Had I been goin’

downhill, you wouldn’t be talking to me today. That was a time when

I was young and I had been partying. My father had gone out of town.

RM: Is there a lot of pressure being a minister’s kid?RR: Not really pressure, but you’re hidden from a lot of things. I try to

tell parents in church not to cut their kids off from society, that it will

hurt them more. You want to teach them the difference between right

and wrong. That’s why a lot of kids rebel. A lot of them end up being

victims through not knowin’. I try to show them the other side of it.

RM: Excessive use of drugs and alcohol seems to tame people,not make them wild, as many people think.RR: Everything is bad for you if you do too much of it. Some things

are more harsh to your body. In the Old Testament, they were into

herbs for healing. I’m heavily into herbs now. You hear about people

dying from pain killers.

RM: One of the saddest things to me in the African Americancommunity is a diet that kills so many people.RR: Yeah, I come from a huge diabetic family. I’ve grown up in the

church where they pray, “Lord help us,” but they’re killin’ themselves,

eatin’ so much fried chicken and greasy stuff; you are doing the same

thing the alcoholic is doin’ down the street. [Laughs] You’re eating

that food and it puts you in that daze, where you gotta lay down. I got

my parents into it now, herbs, natural teas, natural medicine.

RM: Where do you see yourself in 10,000 years?RR: Hopefully in heaven, a place that I see with everybody dancin’

and singin’, and shoutin’ and everybody’s hanging out, having a good

natural time. We’re gonna try to get there tonight, but we ain’t in

heaven yet.

Robert Randolph & The Family Band’s latest CD, Colorblind, is

available in record stores and online.

itting down, writing songs, performing them, and seeing a great reaction from people. That’s something God gives you.

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:RISEN MAGAZINE36


Writer: Chris AhrensPhotos: Blaine Franger

omebody’s messing with me—trying to get me to crack by sending me out to Coors Amphitheater to be immersedin a pit of inescapable electronically amplified noise on a day that will send a few hundred thousand pilgrims home

from air conditioned theaters, wondering at inconvenient truths while an equal number rock their way through this, thehottest summer in recorded history. Back at headquarters they know my feelings about this overstuffed squirrel cage.They know my thoughts on the hoards that spend beach time and allowance money, losing mid-range tones andmiddle-class values in seconds, along with their voices by trying to get their heroes’ attention from a few football fieldsaway. But there I was, just as ordered, at the Vans Warped Tour in San Diego, California, and with 57 laps around thesun, the oldest person in line to see what most would consider a contradiction in terms, a Christian hardcore band. Youmay know them as Underoath.

Now, I’m not siding with those Christian conservatives who equate rock concerts with witch burning and paganrituals, but I would be less surprised seeing a statue of Aphrodite than I would a right-side-up crucifix on stage. I reachfor a water bottle and within minutes realize that my mounting paranoia is merely the result of heat and dehydration.Then, as my mind clears it occurs to me that not since the Apostle Paul approached Mars Hill, boldly proclaiming newsof “The Unknown God” to a potentially hostile group of polytheists, has anyone but Underoath seemed so dangerouslyout of place. But we like musical acts that seem out of place, don’t we? Observe the woman who calls herself Madonnaand judge for yourself.

After being jerked from one gate to the next and eventually being denied entrance to the lion’s den for lack ofproper credentials, I hit my cell phone and reschedule my time with the band. Eventually, I spoke with SpencerChamberlain, Grant Brandell, and Aaron Gillespie of Underoath. Turns out, they’re not uncomfortable standing nearthe jaws of the hungry beasts at all. In fact, they rather seem to enjoy it.

Interviewed exclusively for RISEN Magazine in Pomona, California.

:RISEN MAGAZINE38

RISEN Magazine: You guys are blatantly Christian. Are non-Christians respectful of your beliefs?

Spencer Chamberlain: We accept people and so they accept us. A

lot of people will ask us to pray for them. The way we live our lives,

we try to be good people. Everyone screws up, and of course we get

a little…When you believe in something strongly, you live it to the best

of your abilities. Obviously we’re not God, but we do try to set a good

example.

RM: Do you feel pressure because you’re a Christian band?

Grant Brandell: There is some pressure, but we’re not perfect. We

have struggles and we keep each other accountable. Sometimes

people will put us under a microscope and with that comes more

responsibility. So we try to be the best dudes we can be and keep

each other accountable.

RM: Has there been any resistance to your music?

GB: Yes, like anything people try to do, there’s always that.

RM: Do your beliefs help or hinder you in being around peoplewith contrary worldviews?

SC: I hope that our beliefs help us be nonjudgmental.

RM: Some people will come only for the music and not themessage, so how do you react to seeing drunken people in youraudience?

SC: Like anywhere else, some people get drunk, some don’t.

RM: Is there Satanism in rock ’n’ roll?

SC: Sure, I think so.

GB: The only time I saw anything like that was years ago. But I think

that Satanism was their gimmick. I don’t know what they were called,

but they were kind of nerdy, geeky dudes. They marched around with

banners that had burning pentagrams on them.

RM: You guys don’t look like church kids; and it would be pretty easy

for you to be misunderstood; so how does the church treat you?

Aaron Gillespie: Being on the road, we don’t have a home church,

but the church we left behind was very supportive of us.

RM: Do you feel your values come across in your music?

SC: I feel our faith is communicated.

RM: It seems guys in rock bands have more chances to stumblethan the average guy. How do you deal with sexual temptations?

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SC: I’m not that kind of guy. Even if I wasn’t a Christian, I don’t think

that would ever happen to me.

GB: If you don’t go looking for it, it’s generally not a problem. But if

you go looking, you can find trouble. But it’s not like there’re naked

girls waiting for us backstage. You learn to avoid certain situations

over the years.

RM: You must get your fairshare of groupies. Are they atemptation?

AG: No, I’m never tempted by

groupies.

RM: What tempts you?

AG: I’m just tempted by life, the same things as anyone else.

RM: How do you keep yourself in check?

AG: Between the members of the band, we keep ourselves

grounded. I realize that all of this could be over in a year. This band is

not my identity, but I do feel this is where God has me.

RM: You hear thousands of people shouting your name. Certainlythere’s a temptation to think you’re better than other people.

SC: That’s everything I stand against. We’re not special or cool. I’m

the same dude I was five years ago. How cool am I? That’s ridiculous.

RM: What are your motives for doing music?

GB: It’s not something done for fame, not at all, and it’s more of a

blessing than any of us ever thought it would be. We’re Christians and

we love playing music. That’s the biggest thing in our lives. Fame is

such a funny word to me. People ask me what it’s like being famous,

but when I’m not playing I’m like anyone else. I may be playing video

games with my friends or something. So fame never comes up in my

thinking. I think that all the members of the band try to be as humble

as possible. I try never acting like I’m something more than what I am.

We’re just like any other kids who come to our shows, but we have

been so blessed. If anyone in the band acts egotistical even for a

second, the rest of us will keep them in check. We’re very good

friends in that way. We’ve all been best friends for about three years.

RM: What keeps you humble?

SC: Knowing myself and realizing that I’m far from perfect.

RM: Do you think the band can do a good show, even on nightswhen they’re not feeling it?

SC: If the band’s not feeling it, the crowd won’t feel it either.

RM: There was a movie called Chariots of Fire and the maincharacter said he felt God’s pleasure when he ran. Do you feelGod’s pleasure when you play music?

GB: Yes, I feel God’s pleasure when I play music. I can’t say I feel it in

every show, but sometimes I do and sometimes I believe our music is

straight-up worship. Obviously you have good and bad days, like

anything else in life.

SC: Playing live is the best thing ever. Sometimes I feel the presence

of God really strongly when I’m on stage, but I also sense Him in the

stuff I see each day and the things I go through. God inspires my

everyday life.

RM: Do you read a lot of Scripture?

AG: I’m not as disciplined as I should be. If I can discipline my human

and disgusting flesh to read a Proverb a day, that’s good.

RM: How do you feel you’re doing, representing Christ as amusician?

AG: I don’t feel I do a good job of it. I’m a terrible person. None of us

are capable of putting on Christ one hundred percent.

RM: What do you hope to do in the future?

SC: To keep writing music and playing shows; that’s all I really want

in life.

RM: Where do you see yourself in 10,000 years?

AG: Hopefully in heaven. Yeah, hopefully I won’t live to be 10,000

years old.

Underoath’s new CD, Define the Great Line, is available in record

stores and online.


RISEN Magazine: Where did you grow up?Hana Beaman: I was born in Santa Barbara but I grew up in Big Bear.

RM: Did you surf before you snowboarded?HB: No, I’m a beginner at surfing. I’ve surfed the last two years and fallen

in love with it. I went to Oceanside yesterday and got pounded, took my

board in my nose. I was all mad. [Laughs]

RM: The term boarding is used often to describe surfing, snowboarding,and skating. Do you think there’s a meeting of the cultures?HB: Yeah, I think we’re all kind of lumped into that group of—I don’t want

to say extreme—alternative sports. We all have the tradeshows together;

we all do the same stuff. It’s cool.

RM: To be at the top of a sport, you need confidence. Sometimesgifted people never go past intermediate.HB: In order to be the best at your sport you need that confidence and

you carry that confidence into other sports. I use surfing more as

recreation. I don’t have to push myself as hard as I do in snowboarding

and I enjoy it for that.

RM: Does snowboarding ever feel like a job to you?

HB: I have bad days where I think, Why am I out here? But it never feels

like a job unless you’re forced to do something you don’t want to do.

RM: Board sports seem to breed an independent counterculture,but when they get expensive, as snowboarding is, the ghettoaspect of the sport gets cut out.

Writer: Chris Ahrens

Photographer: Lou Mora

Makeup: Davia Matson

Professional snowboarder Hana Beaman arrives at my door, still wet from a surf session on herlongboard. She looks happy and athletic as she introduces herself, walks in, and takes a seat. Hermannerisms are not those of an Olympic gold medalist, but instead resemble those of a humblesurfer new to the area, asking directions to the best surf spots. Maybe that’s because she lives inthe moment and right now, hundreds of miles and a season away from snow, she is thinking ofsurf. Talking about surfing, which has been my sport for the past four and a half decades, puts meat a distinct advantage. Now, if we were to talk snowboarding, the sport that sent her to the topof the TransWorld Rider’s Poll this year, things would be a little different. Or so I thought. Butwhen the conversation shifted from salt water to frozen water, she remained happy and humble.Oh, and you can add humorous and friendly to that.

Interviewed exclusively for RISEN Magazine in Cardiff by the Sea, California.

HB: Yeah, I think that’s one of the limitations of our sport. You have to

buy all the gear, travel there, and buy a lift ticket. I wish it was a little

more accessible for people. But where there’s a will there’s a way.

RM: What goes through your mind when you’re 20 feet in the airand you realize you might land wrong?

HB: [Laughs] At that moment you just sort of take whatever is going

to happen. In powder it’s not that bad, but when you’re in a park jump

and something goes wrong, your heart stops. Tuck and roll.

RM: What’s the worst you’ve ever hurt yourself?

HB: I’ve broken my collarbone. All of the injuries are bad, but I hate

getting concussions. You have no clue what’s going on. I’m kind of a

control freak, but I’ve been fortunate not to have any major injuries.

RM: Would you call yourself a risk taker?

HB: Yup, I’ll be at the top of a jump and not know what’s going to

happen, but I’ll be, Oh, well, go for it. [Laughs]

RM: Are you like that with everything?

HB: A lot of stuff. In daily life, we’ll drive somewhere. If we see some

random surf spot we’ll just go in. My girlfriends and I will go on

random trips without hotels or anything.

RM: What scares you?

HB: I would have to say, having something happen where I couldn’t

take care of myself. I’m really independent.

RM: What created that independent spirit in you?

HB: I think being an only child. Both my parents have done crazy

stuff. They totally believed in me and things I wanted to do: they were

totally supportive. They gave me a ring when I graduated and on the

inside, it says, “Your world awaits.”

RM: Do you feel any responsibility to younger people getting intothe sport?HB: I don’t get a lot of people saying, Oh man, you’re the reason I

started or anything. I’m kind of off in my own world. I kind of forget

that people watch what I do. Sometimes I’ll be like, Oh yeah, you

shouldn’t say that word cuz some young girl’s gonna use it.

Sometimes I need to watch my mouth.

RM: What would you do if you lost everything you have? You’re inOmaha, nobody knows you, and you have ten dollars in your pocket.HB: I’d probably camp in the forest and figure out what I’m going to

do. I’ve often thought that if something happened I’d go into the

woods and try to capture squirrels and eat them. [Laughs]

RM: Are you comfortable in the woods?

HB: Growing up in Big Bear, my friends and I were always outside.

We had multiple forts in the woods and we’d go out and make arrows

and spears and try and catch fish and stuff. I know enough about the

woods to probably survive for a while.

RM: What’s the roughest outdoor experience you’ve ever had?HB: I don’t know if it was ever that rough. We went hiking in the

mountains outside of Mammoth, 50 miles outside of Mammoth. It

was a good time. I like hanging out and getting dirty. I grew up with

all kinds of guy friends around, so we would always be climbing trees,

riding bikes, wrestling…

RM: What other things do you pursue?

:RISEN MAGAZINE44


HB: Right now I’m really into remodeling my house. It’s super cool to

have your space feel like the home you want.

RM: If you could name five of the greatest moments of your life,what would they be?HB: I’d have to say that last the Rider’s Poll was one of them. That

and the first real wave I caught, where I was actually in control.

RM: Does snowboarding ever get territorial?

HB: It can in the backcountry. But people in resorts come from all

over the place.

RM: Is there any resentment between skiers and snowboarders?

HB: There are some people that would say so. I think a lot of the older

skiers hold resentment, but we have a lot of friends who are skiers.

RM: At this point, what would your last words be?

HB: Probably, I love you guys and thanks for being in my life.

RM: Do you have any guiding slogans or books or anything?

HB: Not really. Maybe “carpe diem.” Try to have fun each day, try to

do something unique each day.

RM: Are you ever bored?

HB: Being an only child you’re never really bored. Even if I’m in my

house I’ll draw or something. Organize, clean, something.

RM: A lot of extreme sports people I know are cautious emotionally.

HB: I’m definitely very introverted. I seem open, but there’s that thick

layer that guards the inside of me. It takes a long time for me to be

open. I can be a really good friend to somebody and not let them know

a lot about me. I can be very emotionally guarded, especially with guys.

RM: What would people be surprised to know about you?

HB: They might not know that I’m really shy. I exude confidence to

people, but I don’t think they know that I’m just putting it out there. I’m

the worst person with meeting new people. There’s probably a lot about

me people don’t know, that I don’t even know about myself. [Laughs]

RM: How much do you travel?

HB: I’m home for, maybe, five or six weeks a year. A month or so in

the summer and a week in the winter. It depends on how good a job

I’m doing. If I’m doing my job well, I’ll never be home. [Laughs]

RM: Do you feel a responsibility to be happy?HB: Yeah, and I’m generally happy, but once in a while I’ll start

thinking about things too much and get bummed. In my life I get to

snowboard. Other people are starving. Sometimes I think I shouldn’t

be doing this; I should be over there helping those people.

RM: How do you use low feelings?HB: They motivate me to better myself and to be better to people.

RM: What do you think heaven would look like?HB: I’m more of a reincarnation person.

RM: So what do you think you’d come back as?HB: I’d like to say I’d come back as a fish or a bird. I think that would

be cool.

RM: Would you look at that as an improvement?HB: I don’t want to say that human beings are the most important

animals on this earth. You can probably learn something from being a

bird that you couldn’t learn from being human. There’s got to be

something more than this one life and a heaven you go to for eternity.

RM: Where do you see yourself in 10,000 years?HB: I’ll be on some other planet, raising a family. I’ll be my own

grandma, reincarnated. [Laughs]

Hana Beaman lives in Mammoth Mountain, travels the world, and

snowboards almost daily.


he thin outline of Pigeon John is buried in the cushions of a couch in the waiting room of one ofthe world’s most famous tattoo artists, Mister Cartoon. Amid photos of 50 Cent, Eminem, Dr.

Dre, and other rap legends on the wall, he casually browses magazines, then stands to politelyshake hands and introduce himself, displaying no more pomp than if he were Dre’s gardener. Themetaphoric first impression is of a man at home with himself, while still searching for his placein the bigger picture. And while he shares much with the ghosts who have occupied this space inthe past—talent for one thing—he is not here for the same reasons they were, preferring tokeep his arms ink free, his neck and fingers ice free, his clothing plain, his talk straight. Instandard issue t-shirt and jeans, he lets his plain wrap style do the rapping. He has a soft,authoritative speaking voice. I like the way he laughs.

Interviewed exclusively for RISEN Magazine at Mister Cartoon’s tattoo parlor in Los Angeles.

RISEN Magazine: So, what’s a good Christian boy like you doingin a place like this?Pigeon John: [Laughs] Oh, I don’t know, just chillin’ I guess.

RM: You cross over into a lot of different worlds, it seems. PJ: I just kind of grew up doing shows in both worlds. So I really

didn’t know any better. Going to open mics at The Good Life on

Crenshaw, and then starting to go to church at around 17, where they

were doin’ shows. So I never really drew a line between the two, just

kept doin’ both. I’d invite non-church friends to my little church shows

and invite church friends to The Good Life. It was the same world to

me.

RM: You were influenced by both worlds?PJ: Heck yeah. Musically and by lifestyle. I like the way a lot of bands

in the Christian and secular markets handle themselves on and off the

stage. I kind of learn from everybody, whether it’s going out with

Blackalicious, seeing how they do, or Matisyahu, seeing how he

does. Pretty much learning from the guys I’m out with.

RM: Do people expect something more from you, morally andethically?PJ: Yeah, I think so, mostly from the Christian side. Whether it’s

drinking, smoking, or talking about girls. It’s a very fine line it seems. I

get a lot of e-mails, and they’re mostly earnest, saying, “Hey, I don’t

understand why you do things this way.” The questions never seem

to stop coming from that side. It’s a hard thing trying to please people,

but I try to be reasonable and courteous. I definitely want to do that,

but it seems that at some point you have to accept who you are, that

God created you this way for a reason.

RM: What is your life’s purpose?PJ: Well, I think it changes every year. Trying to find my purpose has

been a lifelong thing, but I’m finding out it’s not a dead-end. For me,

it’s not ever that clear. My purpose right now is to try and make bomb

hip-hop music, do the best shows and take over a side of

underground hip-hop and just be there and be myself on and off

stage. That is the biggest challenge for me, being myself, trying to

remain honest. Cuz if I start living two lives, or hiding this side of my

Pigeon JohnRoom to Livet

Writer: Chris Ahrens Photographer: Estevan Oriol

:RISEN MAGAZINE48

life…Since the beginning I wanted to be honest with my music, so I

don’t want anything crazy coming out. My purpose is to live the

Gospel when no one’s looking and to do pure music. I want to do the

right thing, but a lot of times it’s a struggle. That’s the hardest part for

me, just letting God live through me in an honest way.

RM: Who inspires you musically?PJ: Q-Tip from A Tribe Called Quest is one of my biggest inspirations

from like the older school. Modern day, I love what Outkast is doin’

and specifically Andre 3000. He’s the guy who really scares me, cuz

he is doing some fantastic stuff. He’s become what Beck and Prince

are. He can do any type of music and whatever he does is hot. It

takes time to do that, to get to the point where you’re a musical icon.

Beastie Boys are another, where you start one way and two albums

later…now they can do a jazz instrumental record and people go,

Yeah, that’s the Beastie Boys. I would love to get to that level.

RM: For some reason the arts have been seized by darknessover the years. The worst thing anyone can be labeled is“sentimental,” and if you do something happy the criticsprobably won’t get it...PJ: Definitely. People need to label a person, nothing wrong with that.

The whole happy rapper…When De La Soul came out they were like

the hippies of hip-hop. But I think it’s more challenging to do more

positive music. I look up to Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys, the

Beatles, obviously, Stevie Wonder. It’s harder to write a song that lifts

people’s spirits. If you consider doing happy music, the critics at

magazines don’t usually feel it. I take it as a challenge. I like to see

what everyone else is doing and do exactly the opposite. To me that

is the essence of punk rock. It’s way easier to do the norm and follow

the stream.

RM: In his Nobel Prize acceptance speech, William Faulkner saidit was his goal as a writer to lift men’s hearts. Today you couldhardly say that without ridicule.PJ: That’s the bomb, lift men’s hearts. I love doing that. I love to let

my personal issues show in the music, so people can relate to the

struggle, but also relate to me trying to get beyond the struggle.

RM: What does it feel like when people elevate you beyond whoyou know you are?PJ: I love when it’s about the song. It’s your song, it’s my song, it’s

everyone’s song. I think of a song like a communal thing. Whenever

someone comes up and says this song touched me or helped me, I’m

instantly very humble and grateful. Just to imagine that one of my songs

belongs to someone else…I feel a responsibility, especially at an all-

ages show. When my friend’s 7-year-old son is sitting there, I instantly

want to do right. I naturally snap into line when a kid is around.

RM: Okay, you’re in France and the hottest 21-year-old woman

you’ve ever seen hands you her hotel key; how do you not go?PJ: [Laughs] Things like that do happen on the road. What I like to

do…I tell the people I tour with before we all go out, no girls in the

room. A couple of them are single, so they might get a number here

or there. Sometimes it takes a few more minutes to get rid of the key,

the number, or whatever. Then I think how it says that candy becomes

gravel in the mouth. That feeling and knowing the harm it will

cause…a little mixture of that…Me and all the friends grew up without

dads, and it’s kind of like we want to do right this time. There’s no

excuse, we all fight for doing right, especially when nobody’s looking.

RM: It seems that many people without two parents achievegreat things.

PJ: I can see that coming out of survival. I think doing music forsurvival is different than doing it just for fun. No matter the situation,two parents, no parents, there’s always a way to flip it.

RM: What makes you cry?PJ: The human condition. When I see it in film, in music…It has a lot

to do with God and man, that huge argument, that’s where all the art

comes from in my opinion, or that peaceful time, or that breakup. I

think that every single human has been through that same thing.

Marilyn Manson being raised by a pastor in a church, it’s so clear.

Everyone goes through the same thing. They think they’re rebellious,

but the more they back up, the more they see they’re just one long

song thousands of people have sung.

RM: What would you want your final words to be?PJ: I was never good at jobs. I’d always be losing money, coming up

short or selling diamond rings for half off. I was constantly being fired

and feeling sad when a phrase came into my mind, Work to eat, eat

to live, live to write. This song from a group called The Innocence

Mission alluded to a person telling God, I don’t have any gifts and in

the song God says, “What are you talking about? The way you

garden, raise a kid, teach a science class, or do all those little things

are art to God.” They’re as big as Picasso or some great political

leader. I think most people work to eat and eat to live and work to eat

and they never…

RM: Where do you see yourself in 10,000 years?PJ: In 10,000 years, dude, swimming through space on a dragon

with golden hair, with my family and best friends, going through the

universe and we’re having the time of our lives.

Pigeon John’s newest CD, Pigeon John Is Dating Your Sister, is

available in record stores and online.

Whenever someone comes up and saysthis song touched me or helped me, I’minstantly very humble and grateful.

:RISEN MAGAZINE50

My best friend once said to me, “I think someone or something throws a boulder

in your path so huge, you’re forced to go down a different road. And it happens

because we believe we’re headed in the right direction, but in reality, the right

direction was the other way all along.” I couldn’t help but ponder the roads Mike

Shinoda has traveled as I spoke to him about his debut art show. Yes, the same

Mike Shinoda whose rhymes you know from Linkin Park and Fort Minor. What?

You didn’t know he was an artist? Neither did I.

Both to my surprise and admiration, Mike received his bachelor’s degree in

illustration from the notable Art Center College of Design. His education there

bore fruit with the album art for Fort Minor’s The Rising Tied. And that piece is

part of a series of ten that debuted in a gallery showing last November. Mike told

me, “I think it’s so much better to see a piece of art in person than a reproduction

of it. When [printers] reproduce a painting, they get them looking really great, but

it’s not the same as that original pigment out of the tube, onto a paintbrush, onto

canvas. And not to mention the fact that people have only seen the Fort Minor

artwork six-by-six-inch, whereas the actual paintings are 24-by-24-inch each.”

In this day and age, when celebrities of all types are branching out—Diddy

as an actor, Madonna as an author—it’s likely that Mike Shinoda the graphic

artist finds himself minimized by Mike Shinoda the musician. But he dismisses

the idea his fans might not take his art seriously, saying, “There’s nothing you can

say about that, you know. The work speaks for itself, so all I can do is encourage

people to actually look at the paintings. I have a lot more experience with art, as

far as time.”

And if you’re wondering how Mike found himself tied to two chart-topping

groups, as opposed to his original intent of becoming a graphic artist, he

explains, “Up until I graduated from college, I was pretty much focused on going

into [graphic design] full-time. This was my dream; this is what I thought I was

going to do for a living, forever. And the fact that Linkin Park took off is basically

a freak accident, that once it happened, I was thinking, ‘Wow, this definitely

changes a lot of things.’”

This then begs the question: does Mike love one art form more than the

other? “No, I love them the same. These are two things I’ve done my whole life.

The great thing is that I can do both. The band actually affords me a lot of

opportunities to do my art.”

Mike’s boulder didn’t force him down a different road entirely, but instead

revealed an alternate route—one that allows him to harmonize the sounds and

visuals he was created to express.

Proceeds from Mike Shinoda’s show benefited his scholarship at Art CenterCollege of Design. Linkin Park is currently working on their third studio albumandwill headline the Bamboozle Festival with My Chemical Romance this May.

dept:Expressions

Writer: Regina GoodmanIllustrations: Mike Shinoda

:RISEN MAGAZINE52

JAN/FEB 2007 - Department 53

:RISEN MAGAZINE54

I’ve worked with RISEN staff photographer Bil Zelman four times. Each

session came complete with its own difficulties: There were 20 minutes

allotted to shoot Ozzy Osbourne at his Beverly Hills castle. (The images were

so good that the Oz publicity machine purchased them.) This issue’s feature

on Invisible Children was shot in a San Diego canyon while the sunlight

disappeared. Angels & Airwaves lead man Tom DeLonge was put into a

studio setting but photographed with one of Zelman’s old box cameras.

Dennis Martinez, the 1977 world skateboarding champion, sat still in Zelman’s

San Diego studio, holding a .44 to his polished head, splitting fame with the

pistol for one 500th of a second or so.

In each session Zelman reacted quickly, in an unscripted manner,

bringing the sum of his experience into play, capturing more than was

apparent to lesser trained eyes and “celebrating the mistakes and those in-

between moments,” as he so eloquently puts it.

Zelman, who believes that a good photographer needs to engage both

hemispheres of the brain, credits his scientist father for “teaching me to be

meticulous and modeling a great work ethic. He is also the one who pushed

the artistic side of me by making me work to be someone other than him.”

Things have since resolved themselves between father and son, but

during Bil’s childhood the Zelman home was far from functional,

something that sent the 9-year-old kid to his own darkroom, where he

developed the photos he was taking. “The darkroom was a safe place for

me,” confides Zelman.

No sooner had he turned 16 than Bil left home, learning about the darker

side of life, shooting photos and experimenting with dangerous drugs like

heroin. “I never went to a pep rally, and I saw things other people didn’t. Still,

around 19 years old, something snapped in me and I knew I had to leave that

life. I entered school and found that I was about ten years beyond most of the

people I was there with. They were taking pictures of cats and people

smoking pot, something I left behind when I was about 13. Not many people

strive to do anything different.” In school, Bil applied the tools of knowledge

and experience to the task of making a living as a photographer. By age 23

he was shooting some of the biggest names in entertainment, including David

Bowie, the Rolling Stones, and the Beach Boys, for magazines like Rolling

Stone and Spin.

“I know how to take a photo, and it’s starting to feel too safe,” he

confided. “Next, I want to start directing films. Whatever I get into, I devour.

Still, I was a pretty disruptive kid, and I’ve been to jail enough times to realize

that not everything I put my hand to is good.” Well, the photos ain’t bad, Bil.

Bil Zelman’s book, Isolated Gesture, is due in 2007 from Push Press.

Writer: Chris AhrensPhotographer: Bil Zelman

dept:Expressions

Bil ZElmaNhas never been to a

PEp rally

:RISEN MAGAZINE56

:RISEN MAGAZINE58

:RISEN MAGAZINE60

:RISEN MAGAZINE64

Gangs of New York

(2002, available on DVD)

Martin Scorsese’s The Departed is likely to earnhim a great deal of attention and acclaim at Oscartime this year. And it’s about time. From the meanstreets of Mean Streets, to the dangerousloneliness of a Taxi Driver, to the bizarre night lifeof After Hours, to the dizzying dogfights of TheAviator… Scorsese is a masterful director.

He almost won Oscar glory a few yearsback, in his first project with Leonardo DiCaprio—a film called Gangs of New York. While Gangs isnot his greatest work, it is worth seeing forDiCaprio’s determined performance and theambition of Scorsese’s vision. But best of all, itgives Daniel Day-Lewis, who may be the greatestfilm actor since Robert De Niro’s glory days,another chance to shine.

Gangs of New York is about an uprising ofIrish immigrants against a gang called “Nativists”who seek to drive them out of Civil-War-era NewYork. DiCaprio plays Amsterdam Vallon, a toughyoung Irishman who returns to a poor New Yorkneighborhood to avenge the murder of his father,who died defending the rights of Irish immigrantsto live in peace on American soil. The murdererwas William Cutting (Day-Lewis), also known as“Bill the Butcher,” leader of an immigrant-hatinggang.

Vallon’s revenge quest gets complicatedwhen he becomes the Butcher’s apprentice in allthings devious and violent. The stakes are raisedhigher when he falls in love with Jenny Everdeane(Cameron Diaz), a pickpocket and con womanwho is dangerously close to the Butcher’s cold,cruel heart.

This story would seem predictable. Butwhen the inevitable confrontation finally arrives,Scorsese pulls the rug out from under us. Werealize the film is not about a blood rivalrybetween two men, but instead about theconsequences of the rich turning a blind eye tothe poor.

Day-Lewis’s sneering, roaring, monstrousperformance steals the show, but the supportingcast is effective as well, featuring John C. Reilly(Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby),Henry Thomas (E.T. The Extra Terrestrial), andBrendan Gleeson (Braveheart). These actors sinktheir teeth into the script with the sameenthusiasm they would give to Shakespeare. Infact, the film resembles the sort of bloodstainedepic Shakespeare might have written.

The Double Life of

Véronique


What would you do if you found out you had atwin, a kindred spirit, someone who looked justlike you and shared your feelings?

What would you do if you found out thatperson was born in a different country and is livingtheir life unaware of your existence?

That’s the puzzle facing Véronique inKrzysztof Kieslowski’s masterpiece The DoubleLife of Véronique, just released in a masterful DVDedition from The Criterion Collection.

Drop-dead gorgeous and exquisitelytalented, Irene Jacob plays both of the centralcharacters—Weronika, a sensual soprano living inPoland, and Véronique, a melancholy musicteacher living in France. Her performance won herthe Best Actress award at Cannes in 1991.

This is the kind of film for people who love toask questions. The film inspires more and more ofthem with every viewing. As the two charactersexplore their differing lives, romances, andmysterious callings, they wrestle with the notionthat they are not alone in the world. Why arethese two lives so similar? Is one the dream of theother? Are they connected on a spiritual level?And who is the stranger guiding one of them evercloser to himself? Are we puppets, responding tothe manipulative prompts of a controller, or are wefree to choose and find our own way to love?

Kieslowski’s most mysterious film is astrange spiritual journey through the enigmas thatdistinguish one life from another. While thecharacters face different challenges and fall fordifferent lovers, they are compelled by very similarlongings for connection, expression, joy, and love.

Slawomir Idziak’s masterful cinematographytransforms the light itself into an active andengaging character. Zbigniew Preisner’s music iswhat it always is in Kieslowski’s work—anessential piece of the puzzle, crucial tointerpretation of the whole film.

To say much more than that about the filmwould be to risk spoiling some of its myriadsurprises. While this is the project that set thestage aesthetically for Kieslowski’s masterfulThree Colors trilogy—Blue, White, and Red—it ismore mysterious than any of those films. Youmight even be frustrated by its elusiveness. Buttwo things are almost certain ... you’ll puzzle overit for a good while, and you won’t forget it.

Chariots of Fire


Chariots of Fire, Hugh Hudson’s glorious, spiritedfilm about the challenges of running fast and livingwith integrity, accomplished one of the grandestupsets in Oscar history.

And it deserved its honors. Here’s a sports movie with all the exhilaration

of unlikely victories, yet it’s fueled by spiritualdebate and examples of life lived to the fullest.These are inspiring true stories of men who didmore than run well ... they dedicated themselvesto virtue, to faith, and to excellence.

Ben Cross and Ian Charleson are brilliantlyconvincing as Harold Abrahams, a Jew fighting hisown bitterness and the prejudice of others, andEric Liddell, a Christian torn between hisresponsibility as a missionary and his responsibilityto the gift of running that God gave him.

For Abrahams, the crisis comes when heloses and must learn to swallow his pride. ForLiddell, it comes when his Olympic heat isscheduled for a Sunday afternoon, which conflictswith his convictions about resting on the Sabbath.

While it must have been tempting toentangle the two stories, the screenwriters wiselykept the stories separate, without developing anykind of exaggerated rivalry between the two. Thuswhen they do meet, the moment is realisticallyfleeting and incidental, and all the morememorable for it.

Hugh Hudson’s film earns its tear-jerkingmoments. It does not oversimplify orsentimentalize. Most sport movies make the storyall about overcoming impossible odds andwinning. In this one, running is a metaphor for life.The way these men run ... and why they run ...tells us volumes about their hearts. Some run forpride, some for God. Some find joy, some findfurther frustration.

The film benefits from strong supportingperformances by Alice Krige (Silent Hill, Star Trek:First Contact) and Ian Holm (Alien, The Lord of theRings: The Fellowship of the Ring), and the greatSir John Gielgud has a small but memorable roleas well. Vangelis’s classic synthesizer soundtracksounds rather dated today, but at the time it wasthe perfect accompaniment to the swift pace ofthe film. It seemed to make the lush greenhighlands of Scotland glow a little brighter andenhance the excitement of the Olympiad crowd.

Chariots of Fire will stick with you, very likelyfor the rest of your life, and it can be a rewarding,inspiring story for those with eyes to see.

dept:Screen


The Limey


We see revenge stories on television and the big

screen all the time. But in Steven Soderbergh’s

The Limey, the formula is just a framework for a

much weightier story.

The Limey brings us alongside an enigmatic

antihero. Wilson is a guilt-ridden Englishman on a

one-man journey to violently avenge the death of

his daughter, Jenny, who left him behind on her

quest for fame and glory in Los Angeles. In other

words, he’s a man who messed up, and to fix it,

he’s going to make a bigger mess.

Like most crime stories, The Limey’s

characters are violent and selfish. But

Soderbergh likes bad guys. And, as he proved in

Out of Sight, he likes drawing them closer to

goodness. We see the beginnings of realization,

and perhaps even redemption, as Wilson begins

to learn how to navigate the labyrinth of Los

Angeles, how to deal with rich and famous

villains, and what might have happened to his

daughter in her last days. (And, in the movie’s

funniest sequence, he learns about valet parking.)

Was Jenny murdered in cold blood? What

happened when she got involved with a devious

record producer? These questions are

compelling, but ultimately the film is exploring a

deeper question: Did anybody love her and

appreciate her the way her father should have?

As Wilson, Terrence Stamp turns in a

fantastic performance—sad, funny, and nuanced.

His supporting cast is quirky and hilarious—

featuring memorable turns by Luis Guzmán,

Lesley Ann Warren, and Peter Fonda.

While the story is really quite simple and

could have been told in 30 minutes, Soderbergh

knows better. He creatively shuffles the

chronology of the scenes so we are forced to

figure out how Wilson ended up in this mess. In

an inspired flourish, Soderbergh employs footage

from an early Stamp film to illustrate Wilson’s

memories, and it works beautifully.

American Beauty, Fight Club, The Life

Aquatic with Steve Zissou, The Royal

Tenenbaums, Broken Flowers, Don’t Come

Knocking…it’s interesting that so many films in

recent years have depicted father figures who

have failed their children. It points to a severe lack

of fatherly responsibility in the world today. You

have to wonder—is anybody out there getting the

message? Are we?

The Pledge


Jack Nicholson, who recently received yetanother tidal wave of praise for his work in TheDeparted, gives one of his best performances inSean Penn’s The Pledge. He brings acomplicated mix of fear and anger to thecharacter of Jerry, an aging cop who just can’tbring himself to quit—even on the night of hisretirement party.

When a little girl is found brutalized in thesnow, Jerry can’t tear himself away from theinvestigation, as grisly as it is. He’s getting old andhe knows it. But he’s determined to find the girl’skiller, so determined that you might think he’sdriven by something deeper and more personalthan the cause of justice. In spite of his bestefforts, evil still haunts small towns, freeways, andforests. And Jerry can’t live with the fact that hewon’t be able to resolve the conflict for good. So,after he breaks the terrible news to the victim’smother, he’ll go so far as to “swear on his soul’ssalvation” that he’ll find the killer.

And when he meets a down-on-her-luckwoman (Robin Wright Penn, in a shockinglyuncharacteristic role) with a daughter the sameage as the victim, he finds himself drawn in bytheir enormous needs—needs he can’t possiblymeet. And as he becomes their guardian andcomforter, a plan begins to form in his mind.Wouldn’t this little girl be the perfect bait for thatkiller?

Sean Penn is a powerful director, and hispatience allows his actors to cultivate marvelous,complicated characters. Supporting turns byBenicio Del Toro, Helen Mirren, Harry DeanStanton, and especially Vanessa Redgrave arearresting, populating a community of peoplewrestling with their own fears of death andirrelevance in their own way. Penn cleverly avoidsgiving us too much information about the killer, sohe remains a phantom ... something bigger thanjust one dysfunctional person.

Against a gorgeous backdrop, The Pledgestorms forward with the ponderous steps of agreat literary tragedy. Whether Jerry succeeds ornot, this movie will leave you wondering where hemade his first mistake, and what he might havedone along the way to “protect and serve” moreresponsibly.

Jeffrey Overstreet’s reviews and interviews haveappeared in Paste and other publications. Hisbook about finding meaning at the movies,Through a Screen Darkly, will be out next year;the first novel in his fantasy series, Auralia’sColors, is due in 2007.

The Hudsucker

Proxy


In what must rate as the most spectacular fall inHollywood history, Waring Hudsucker (CharlesDurning), the head of Hudsuck Industries, standsup on the table during a board meeting andthrows himself out a skyscraper window.

The company loses its head.But without missing a beat, Sid Mussburger

(Paul Newman in an unprecedented display ofcigar-chomping arrogance), the company’ssecond-in-command, picks up the meetingwhere Hudsucker left off. His only eulogy is theacknowledgment that “Waring Hudsucker isabstract art on Madison Avenue.” And then hesets about planning how the company can exploitthis situation for a profit.

They’ll hire “some jerk,” you see, to be thenext president. A puppet-head. A proxy. An idiot.Stocks will plummet. The board will buy up thestock at street-level prices until they own thewhole company, becoming millionaires asHudsucker Industries rises again.

The boob that they hire is Norville Barnes(Tim Robbins). And what Sid Mussburger doesn’texpect is that Barnes has a plan of his own tosave Hudsucker Industries. Barnes, you see, hasimagination.

But that’s just the beginning. Will Barnes losehis innocence and become the next cruel andmerciless Sid Mussburger?

Even though the Coen Brothers built TheHudsucker Proxy with materials invented by FrankCapra, telling a story of Warm-Hearted Goodnessvs. the Establishment, there is no sincerity in theperformances. It’s all played for camp, as high ascamp can go, recalling comedy classics like TheThin Man and Sullivan’s Travels. So Hudsucker isnot a particularly profound film.

But it is hilarious. Hudsucker’s relentlesslyinventive style and cinematography, CarterBurwell’s acrobatic score, not to mention theover-the-top performances from Robbins,Newman, and the sensational Jennifer JasonLeigh (who steals the show), make this a feast forthe eyes and ears, and a barrel of laughs. It’s thewackiest work from the Coen Brothers sinceRaising Arizona. The sequence in which Barnes’Big Idea catches on, well, it’s nothing short of amasterpiece of comic momentum.

And in spite of its outrageousness, there aresome moments of genuine warmth and emotion.The fairy-tale conclusion sends us away with asmile on our faces.

dept:Screen

dept:Sound

:RISEN MAGAZINE66

Artist: Kevin DevineAlbum: Put Your Ghosts to RestLabel: Capitol RecordsRelease: October 17, 2006

Kevin Devine is one of those artists that takes

absolutely no time to get used to, and I mean that

in the best way possible. Kevin has a soft voice,

similar to that of Ben Gibbard (Death Cab For

Cutie), only more youthful and playful. Much of the

record is just guitar and vocals; a combination that

seems to work well here though. It never sounds

too thin, and it never gets boring. The songs that

do feature more full instrumentation are composed

well with the other parts complementing, rather

than overshadowing, the heart of the song. The

record seems very nostalgic, bringing back

sentiments of high school summers and lost loves,

but doing it all with style and grace. This isn’t the

most exciting record of the year, but it’s certainly

one of the most accessible independent releases

in some time. Expect to see everywhere. Soon.

—Jared Cohen

Artist: OwenAlbum: At Home with OwenLabel: PolyvinylRelease: November 7, 2006

For those of you unfamiliar with Chicago’s Owen,

you’re missing out on one of the most sincere and

beautiful songwriters currently performing. Mike

Kinsella, Owen’s sole member, is no stranger to the

music scene. His brother Tim performs under the

name Joan of Arc, and the brothers have released

over a dozen records combined since 1997. While

simply writing a lot of songs isn’t the greatest of

feats, writing songs that are so touching and honest

is. The songs of Mike Kinsella hold nothing back. As

he sings in “Bad News,” “Whoever you think is

watching you dance from across the room, they

aren’t / If anything, they feel sorry for you ‘cause you

try so hard.” And while anyone can be disappointed

in others, most people would have trouble doing it

as beautifully as Kinsella does. Not only are the

songs genuine and heartfelt, they’re simply

beautiful. This is one of the five best records of

2006, so go take a listen. —Jared Cohen

Artist: Jeremy EnigkAlbum: World Waits Label: Reincarnate MusicRelease: October 16, 2006

Jeremy Enigk has an interesting place in modern

alternative music. His former band, Sunny Day

Real Estate, is one of the few bands responsible

for bringing a little-known musical subgenre called

“emo” to a mainstream audience. It’s been years

since Sunny Day Real Estate called it quits, but

Enigk is back to show he hasn’t lost a bit of his

talent. Enigk’s first release in ten years is a great

collection of sounds, featuring rich instrumentation

and reverb-heavy vocals. Enigk’s beautiful voice

floats on a cloud above a road paved with

shimmering guitars, deep bass, and keyboards.

The sounds on World Waits are as creative,

driving, and ethereal as any old fan will remember

from Sunny Day Real Estate’s releases. This record

is everything fans have been waiting a decade for,

and is a perfectly flowing album from beginning to

end. Hopefully this marks the return of a Jeremy

Enigk who releases beauty like this more often.

—Jared Cohen

Artist: The DecemberistsAlbum: The Crane WifeLabel: CapitolRelease: October 3, 2006

The Decemberists return with what is easily their

most complete album to date. While previous

records focused more on experimentation and

pushing their sound to extremes, The

Decemberists seem to have realized what they

are; a great rock band. The songs found on The

Crane Wife are a bit more poppy than records

past, but the band is still able to showcase their

creativity and unique sound. The Decemberists

have discovered that a band can experiment while

still sticking with a sound that really works for

them. Some songs on this disc are thin and calm,

while others are laden with guitars and electric

organ. Either way, the sound comes out sounding

completely unforced. While the music may be a bit

different, one thing hasn’t changed at all, and

that’s the piercing voice of lead singer Colin Meloy.

Meloy hits every word in exactly the right manner

and makes sure that no song has a slow point.

—Jared Cohen

Artist: BrackenAlbum: We Know About the NeedLabel: AnticonRelease: July 11, 2006

You may know Bracken’s Chris Adams as one half

of Hood, the lo-fi electronica outfit from the UK co-

founded by Adams and his brother Richard.

Bracken is Chris’s solo journey into experimental

trip-hop brain scrambling; a jumble of radar blips

and record scratches, dizzying and rhythmic keys,

and dub flourishes all origami’d into airplanes and

ninja stars, then thrown from steel and stone

skyscrapers into the night sky by happy teenagers

with dayglow nail polish. Drum kits hurl themselves

down bottomless flights of stairs and saxes

scream like lab animals, while Chris calmly phones

in vocals through tin cans and string. It’s haunting

and hypnotic, constantly moving, shifting,

dropping out completely, then reforming to come

at you from every angle, but .

—Jessie Duquette

Artist: MenomenaAlbum: Friend & FoeLabel: BarsukRelease: January 23, 2007

Friend & Foe is Menomena’s fourth release, and it’s


dept:Soundunconventional and wonderfully addictive.

Menomena are three handsome chaps from

Portland, Oregon, making experimental indie pop:

Danny Seim on drums; Justin Harris on bass, sax,

and keys; and Brent Knopf on guitars and keys.

The boys share vocal duties that range from

school yard sing-song catchiness to triumphant

mantras. Pig grunt sax roots around punchy

drumbeats and tidy pianos. It’s both light and dark,

like any good pop album. Friend & Foe’s cover art

is a frantic intestinal scene from the awesome

graphic novelist Craig Thompson (Blankets, Carne

de Voyage), with spermy monsters and skull-faced

bean creatures running amok. Menomena recently

made an amicable split from PDX indie label

FILMGuerrero and have found a new home on

Barsuk Records, which puts them in the company

of Death Cab For Cutie, Nada Surf, Mates of State,

and They Might Be Giants.

—Jessie Duquette

Artist: DeerhoofAlbum: Friend OpportunityLabel: Kill Rock StarsRelease: January 23, 2007

Deerhoof have created the ultimate soundtrack

to an interstellar version of Frogger. Or, to look at

it under a different light, if Devo, Kermit, and Bjork

collectively raised a child, its lullabies would

probably resemble something close to Friend

Opportunity. With their tenth album, the Bay Area

trio bring a hailstorm of bouncy, existential tracks,

placing this record solidly in the noise-pop

category, if such labels are required. Employing

an expansive palette of tones, vibrations, and

blips, Deerhoof paint a masterpiece of action and

motion; the street-level sound of crosstown

traffic. But have no fear, head-bopping radio-pop

enthusiasts, Deerhoof haven’t written a verse,

chorus, or bridge that will outlast your attention

span—they stick solidly to three-minute-or-less

songs with enough sugar-sweet sounds to kill a

Care Bear. The album peaks with the oddly

transcendental tenderness of “Kidz Are So

Small,” in which Satomi Matsuzaki joyously

proclaims, “If I were a man and you a dog/I’d

throw a stick for you.”

—Thaddeus Christian

Artist: The ShinsAlbum: Wincing the Night AwayLabel: Sup PopRelease: January 23, 2007

On the fast track to the zenith of indie rock fame,

The Shins have delivered another crystal-clear

collection of shining sixties-pop songs in the

tradition of Oasis or The Smiths. Out on Sup Pop,

Wincing the Night Away is splitting at the seams

with smart mega-pop singles like “Sleeping

Lessons” and “Spilt Needles.” Lucid and emotive,

the tracks ring out like a church bell, harmonically

complex but not cluttered. A few of the songs, like

“Turn On Me,” cross the line into downright

saccharine, but these syrupy excesses are

balanced out by the sparse beauty of melodies like

“Black Wave” or “Sea Legs.” Despite their

Albuquerque heritage, The Shins make music with

the salty-skin feel of a pre-Jaws beach party. You

can look forward to hearing their breezy cuts surf-

side from the fog-sodden fire rings of Santa Cruz

to the sun-drenched sands of Sunset Cliffs.


Artist: The Broken WestAlbum: I Can’t Go On, I’ll Go OnLabel: Merge RecordsRelease: January 23, 2007

Hailing from LA, The Broken West have perfected

the lazy summer day song, perfect for when you

have absolutely nothing else to do. Completely

mellow and ready for soft-rock radio, I Can’t Go

On, I’ll Go On is guaranteed not to offend anyone,

unless they hate weekends and uplifting pop hits.

Following in the steps of the Goo Goo Dolls and

Nickleback, The Broken West operate safely within

the confines of A&R radio, absolutely no rocking of

the boat whatsoever. My grandmother and my

11-year-old niece appreciate this album equally.

Like Prozac, these songs have been engineered to

prevent road-rage and postal-snap; every second

is upbeat and well-mannered. It’s like a vision into

a utopian world where everyone signals their turns

and no one tailgates. It’s peaceful there but lacking

in excitement. I think these guys are from the same

neighborhood as Mickey Mouse.


Artist: The EarliesAlbum: The Enemy ChorusLabel: Secretly CanadianRelease: January 23, 2007

The Earlies’ Enemy Chorus is pop music for

astronauts; spacey and mechanical soundtracks

for voyages through the heavens on rocket ships

made from scrap metal, twisted harmonicas, and

broken Casio keyboards. And it’s pretty good

stuff—in moderation. The Enemy Chorus is The

Earlies’ sophomore album and it’s an improvement

on previous work, taking their psychedelic jams off

on a bad trip and leaving most of the happy-go-

lucky at home. Their main problem has always

been singer Brandon Carr, whose vocals range

from a humming quality similar to refrigerators and

older model computers to an irritating sappiness

best left to contemporary Christian radio. It’s both

distracting and off-putting, which is a real shame

because there’s a lot going on under Carr’s

droning; video game keyboards, clean twinkling

piano, no fewer than sixteen musicians lending a

hand—there’s even sitar on there if you can make

it that far into the album.

—Jessie Duquette

:RISEN MAGAZINE68

dept:Up to SpeedDaniel Dae KimRISEN Magazine: Do you think there’s a message of redemption in Lost? Daniel Dae Kim: Absolutely. It’s too prevalent a theme for it not to be on purpose. It’s about coming to termswith who you are in your own history. Another prevalent theme is “daddy” issues. A lot of the characters haveissues with their fathers. Jack Shephard, Locke, Jin, and Kate all have issues with their fathers.

RM: God is often referred to as “Father.” Are the “daddy” issues really God issues?DDK: Yes. So much in fact that a lot of fans initially thought the island itself was purgatory. However, theproducers tell us that that’s not the case. But the island seems to hold second chances and could definitely bethe afterlife.

RM: Does that make you think about life after death?DDK: It makes me think about the present actually, about what I have today, and makes me very appreciativeof my surroundings and all of my blessings at the moment. It makes me aware that these things are temporal,and as a result I’m very appreciative.

Up to Speed: ABC’s Lost celebrates its third year as a nominee for Best Television Series–Drama at the AnnualGolden Globe Awards. Also nominated is Evangeline Lilly, who plays fugitive-on-the-run Kate Austen. Seeminglytaking a page out of HBO’s book, ABC execs announced a 13-week hiatus of the show, which means newepisodes will not air until February. The bold move was in response to viewer complaints that seasons one andtwo were wrought with repeats.

Lost returns to Wednesday nights at 9:00 p.m. on February 7th.

Ladies of The Office RISEN Magazine: What makes the American version of The Office a success?Melora Hardin: Well, first of all, I think the writers have done an amazing job of [giving] the show an Americansensibility and injecting American humor into it. Whereas Ricky Gervais was much more dry and sarcastic, Steveis like a quintessential boy next door, petulant...bratty. If you look at sitcoms today, they’re basically populatedwith men who are bratty boys and ball-buster women. I fill that role and Steve fulfills the petulant child role.

RISEN Magazine: Why do you think people identify with the character of Angela?Angela Kinsey: I think everybody has worked with an Angela. I worked in corporate America, and I certainlyhad my person. I was helping decorate for the Christmas party, and I was fussed at because I did the bowswrong. So [Angela is] very relatable to me.

RISEN Magazine: What is your greatest achievement thus far?Mindy Kaling: Moving to L.A. and not flying home when I was discouraged. When I think about how difficultit was in the beginning—how lonely I was out here—but I didn’t give up and go home.

Up to Speed: When the winner for the 2006 Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series was revealed as The Office,viewers almost assuredly were stunned, albeit pleased. The American remake of the successful British sitcomhad just finished its first season, and critics’ predictions were that someone else would be taking the Emmy homethat night, not the new kid on the block. Steve Carell, the socially inept boss who has a knack for making youblush on his behalf, is nominated for a 2007 Golden Globe for Best Performance in a Musical or Comedy.

The 64th Annual Golden Globe Awards airs Monday, January 15th, at 8:00 p.m. EST.

Lupe Fiasco RISEN Magazine: We spoke with Afeni Shakur a few issues ago, and she thought that hip-hop’s main problemwas a fear of learning. Would you agree with that? Lupe Fiasco: No, I think it’s a lack of honest as opposed to a fear of learning. A lot of rappers are smart; a lotof people are learned. People, even the general consumer, are not as dumb as people might think they are. I hadto learn that. But for me, the problem with hip-hop is a lack of honesty and a lack of responsibility.

RM: What do you mean by honesty? LF: People [in the hip-hop industry] don’t want to say that we’re the problem. Rappers don’t ever want to pointthe finger at themselves. Hip-hop never boycotts itself; other people are always boycotting hip-hop. You have toask yourself why that is. [A lot of] rappers don’t take responsibility for what they’re saying. Some rappers do. Theytake responsibility for those negative and degrading lyrics, and they know what they’re doing. They’re like, “I’mjust trying to get paid, man.” But you’re getting paid at the expense of the minds of hundreds of thousands oflittle kids that listen to your records and recite them and walk around trying to live like that. And it might eventuallylead to their demise because they don’t have security guards. And that is what I think is wrong with hip-hop.

Up to Speed: Putting the finishing touches on Food & Liquor, Atlantic originally slated its release for early 2006but an Internet leak of an unfinished version pushed the street date to September. Hard times and hard workcome with reward, though, as Lupe was recently announced as a three-time Grammy nominee. “Kick, Push” isnominated for Best Rap Song and Best Rap Solo. Food & Liquor is nominated for Best Rap Album.

The 49th Grammy Awards airs on CBS Sunday, February 11th, at 8:00 p.m.

Back issues of RISEN magazine are available for purchase while supplies last at risenmagazine.com.

:RISEN MAGAZINE70

I was 12 years old when I first saw Rocky. Thirtyyears ago, the film made such a deep impressionon me that I actually arose early one morning andguzzled the raw egg concoction that Rocky drankwhile training. Before I could get out the door tojog around the block, I threw up. That was the lasttime that I sipped from the dreadful cup, but Inever forgot the values of the film—persistence,determination, and faith.

The recently released Rocky Balboa is thefinal installment in one of the most successful filmfranchises in Hollywood history. Inspired by theMuhammad Ali-Chuck Wepner fight in 1975 andwith $106 in the bank, screenwriter and actorSylvester Stallone created an Academy Award-winning cultural icon stitched together from blood,sweat, and a black eye. Rocky rose above hiscircumstances and proved he was not “justanother bum from the neighborhood.”

It had nothing to do with winning or losing. Ithad everything to do with getting back up on yourfeet after getting punched in the face. The film wasa tutorial in respect—for yourself, your opponent,and the opportunities that life presents.

Although he does not take home thechampionship belt, Rocky walks out of the ringwith his pride, reputation, dignity, and honor. He isthe classic portrait of the head-held-highunderdog.

In each film, Rocky takes on an antagonistsuch as Thunderlips, Clubber Lang, Ivan Drago,and even Mason “The Line” Dixon. He is alwaysproving to himself that he can still lace up thegloves. When life gets rough, he climbs back in thering. When his manager dies, he climbs back in.When his wife falls into a coma, he climbs back in.When he loses all his money, he climbs back in.

In promoting Rocky Balboa, Stallone hasbeen emphasizing the spiritual journey of his prizedcharacter. The opening shot of the original Rocky

is a picture of Jesus. Since they were filming in achapel-turned-gym, the camera slowly movesfrom the face of Christ to the rafters and finally toRocky’s face. “As he’s being hit, with the picture inthe background, you know that the man was beingchosen for a spiritual journey, like I was,” Stallonesays. Despite his violent line of work, Rocky washumble, respectful, and self-sacrificing.

Stallone wanted Rocky Balboa to “saysomething about how I’d been sort of waywardand lost and how would I get on my feet again.” He

wanted Rocky to reflect the kind of dramatic upsand downs that he faced in his own life. Stallone ishonest about Hollywood’s seduction.

“It’s a very, very morally weakening situationbecause you are given the keys to a candy store,”Stallone confesses. “People will say yes to youwhen you’re wrong. Your morals, and your outlookon life, are corrupted. You actually start to believeyour hype. And when that starts to happen, youjust want to surround yourself with people who willnever tell you the truth and will only tell you whatyou want to hear.” Stallone confesses that it waswhen he gave in to these landmines of fame thathis career took a downward spiral.

“Everything that I’ve done that has been baddeserved to fail because it had no spiritualmessage—nothing,” Stallone candidly admits. Andhe has been in some stinkers. As life often imitatesart, Stallone’s career often mirrored his personallife. He admits to giving into “the lackadaisical,irresponsible, immature lifestyle that a lot of starslive.” Having hit rock bottom after the failure of hissecond marriage and the stagnation of his career,he looked hard for a moral compass and tried topoint it in the right direction.

Stallone had been raised in a religious homeand attended Catholic schools. “I was taught thefaith and went as far as I could with it,” he says.“Until one day, I got out in the so-called real worldand I was presented with temptation. I lost my wayand made a lot of bad choices.”

Ironically, his catapulted career proved to becounterproductive in his search for happiness andpurpose. “After you’ve been knocked down a fewtimes, and the world has shown you its dark side, youkind of realize that you need light, you need guidance,you need God’s word, you need spiritual help,” hesays. “And that’s when your journey will begin.”

Stallone testifies that his faith has given himpeace—a valuable commodity in Hollywood. “Themore I go to church, and the more I turn myselfover to the process of believing in Jesus andlistening to his Word and having him guide myhand, I feel as though the pressure is off me now,”he says.

At the same time, Stallone is still making hisappeal to relevancy to a new generation. Eventhough the notion of a 60-year-old man climbingback into the ring for one more fight soundsabsurd, one need only see Stallone’s chiseledphysique to realize that it might not be a far-flung

stretch of the imagination. He is packing muscleand swinging like a welterweight.

“An artist dies twice, and the second death isthe easiest one,” Stallone told the New York Times

regarding his career’s ebbs and flows. “The artisticdeath, the fact that you are no longer pertinent—or that you’re deemed someone whose messageor talent has run its course—is a very tough pieceof information to swallow.”

I’m not sure he has to worry about that justyet. When Stallone walked out onto the sidelines ofLincoln Financial Field during a recent MondayNight Football game in Philadelphia, the 60,000fans in the stadium began chanting, “Rocky!Rocky! Rocky!” His character is etched in the soulof that city. There is an eight-and-a-half foot statueof Rocky outside of the Museum of Art—the site ofone of the most memorable scenes in film history.Who can forget Rocky climbing up the seventy-two steps of the museum and raising his armsvictoriously?

When I was a child, my family lived a fewblocks from those steps. The site has becomesuch a landmark that Pulitzer-prize-winningreporter Michael Vitez and photographer TomGralish produced Rocky Stories: Tales of Love,

Hope, and Happiness at America’s Most Famous

Steps to chronicle those who climb the steps andstrike the Rocky pose. They come from all kind ofcircumstances: a recovering drug addict, a trackteam from Belfast, a race car driver, professionalwrestling fans from Australia, a struggling actress,a Turkish woman who overcame tremendous oddsto attend the Wharton School of Business.

“I discovered many things at the RockySteps. People came to propose marriage,” writesVitez. “Or because Rocky had given them hopeand direction during troubled times in their lives.They came because they had overcome cancer orother trials and felt that they, like the moviecharacter, had surmounted much in life...The stepshave become a place where people can bring tolife the message of Rocky—that with hard work,faith, and support from people you love, you canaccomplish almost anything. People are alwayshappy at the steps. Running up and celebrating atthe top offers a tonic to the world’s problems, ifonly for a moment.”

Not a bad gift. Thanks, Sly.

Writer: Steve Beard

Illustration: Zela

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