Curie Author Showcase (July 7th, 2018)

• In the spirit of Curie's mission to promote undiscovered but exceptional content, we wish to use this twice weekly section to provide an author showcase for some of the outstanding authors who received Curie upvotes in past week. Curie curators and reviewers nominate authors for inclusion in this showcase and author approval is sought and attained.

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Featured Author: @rockchickjen
Our single has been launched on our website
and soon on all other music sites! All thanks to Steemit!!!

The musical portion of today's Author Showcase is a bit different than normal. I say that because it is a bit heavier than the normal weekly Open Mic entry. This is the new single, "My Wings" from @rockchickjen's band Sacrifice the Truth. It is a great collaboration of no less than seven Steemians. They all came together to do their part in producing the band's new album. Even if this isn't your style of music you have to admire something like this coming to life from a group of people here on the Steem Blockchain.

I came from a very musical family. My dad, grandpa, great-grandpa and many others played music in my family. Started a band with my husband years ago after doing acoustic stuff on my own for a few years and we’ve been in some type of band ever since! Our band Sacrifice The Truth formed in 2015 even though we’ve all played music together for years.

After joining Steemit, and meeting a bunch of other musicians on there, I became a moderator for the Steemit Local Music Society on Discord where I met many more musicians and people involved in the making of music. In the SLMS we have a services section to help other musicians find resources they need to be successful on Steemit. We have mixers and songwriters to people who are willing to collaborate with other musicians and artists as well. Then when I was invited by @lk666 to join his Steemit Metal label, Circle of Death Records. And I thought, “I can get all the resources I need for our first EP My Wings right here on Steemit.”

So I got @derosnec to do the album art, my friends @jasonrussell and @melodyrussell to take the pictures and the inside cover, @landingpadstudio recorded the stems, and fellow co-creator of the SLMS @harrisonmir to mix the album.
For this album we chose My Wings for the single because it was a song dear to our hearts. It’s about being picked on and your conscience turning against you, holding you back from becoming the beautiful creature you were meant to be. Then when you finally learn and spread your own wings, you will fly! Single is out now on most streaming sites including these:

Itunes:
https://itunes.apple.com/…/album/my-wings-single/1406513977…
Google Play:
https://play.google.com/…/alb…/Sacrifice_the_Truth_My_Wings…
Tidal:
http://www.tidal.com/album/91349007
Deezer:
https://www.deezer.com/album/67359602
Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07F6WNVL2

Our Website:
https://sacrificethetruth.godaddysites.com/

We are also selling shirts to help with printing our EP at
www.bonfire.com/my-wings

Be sure to check out all of their sites for more of their music and so much more.

Go listen to the new single, "My Wings."

Featured Author: @phedizzle
BAREFOOT IN THE BOONIES: Rewind: Growing up with turntables

Next up we have one great storyteller. If you want to hear some great stories go scrolling back through their blog page and you will find many just like this, but yet so very different.

I miss my stepfather Jack very much. When he passed away in 2013 I inherited his records. It meant so much to me then. It means so much to me now. These were my first experiences playing with records. Eventually, playing music with the turntables faded away from being commonplace. Exciting new technologies, the boom box and soon after walkmans and cd players, seemingly knocked the turntables into the afterthought of most people.

I love how as a child they learned to love music through their stepfather's old clunky turntable which not only helped build their relationship with him, but also would shape the rest of their life. Watching the progression from young kid wearing oversized headphones just to fight off boredom to professional Recording Engineer and Layback Audio Operator working for Warner Brothers was quite enjoyable.

Go checkout this newest installment of BAREFOOT IN THE BOONIES

Featured Author: @seesladen
Quitting Life...

Images property of @seesladen

Today's fiction short story comes to us from the Finish the Story Contest run by @f3nix. For this past week's contest the beginning of the story was provided by a recent favorite author of many Curie Curators @calluna. Her story titled, "Quitting Life" was given many endings this week. One of my favorite endings was written by @seesladen. They put an interesting little spin on their ending.

@seesladen added:

Most times I'm my own protagonist in my stories. Strangely though, most times I do not know where or how I'll end up, even though I did have a definite idea of same before starting my journey. I just fill that which is empty, and empty that which is full. While #SladenSpeaks...

As usual I won't ruin the story for you. Head on over to read it for yourself and also check out @f3nix's post to see some of the other endings for this story. Week #19's Finish the Story Contest is now open as well.

Go read this version of Quitting Life...

Featured Author: @bdmillergallery
With Inspiration from a Fellow STEEMIAN I Am Off On A New Project.. [Part 2]

Images property of @bdmillergallery

We move on to our art fix for today. @bdmillergallery brings us a stunning sunset painting which was inspired by a photograph from @daveks. Brad throws in detailed process steps to show you just how he did it. The great thing about this is that he didn't just take the photo and paint a copy of it. He simply used it to inspire his own vision of what the sunset should look like.

I have enjoyed drawing and painting for as long as I can remember. As a teenager, I sketched and painted at home as well as in school, never thinking about formal training or pursuing a future in art at that time. I ventured down other paths, majoring in Horticulture, receiving my Associates Degree from Cumberland County College and a Bachelors of Science Degree in Agriculture from the University of Delaware. However, just a few short years ago with a touch of encouragement from my wife, I finally began to study and pursue art again and decided to put my works and myself out there.

My art work incorporates a wide variety of subject matter, including landscape, seascape, cityscape, and still life images. My paintings are recognized for their realistic and expressional values. They are the product of a continuing process of exploration through which I seek to portray personal and visionary interpretations of my surroundings. My paintings are impressions of places and events from everyday life, an interpretation of my imagination, and personal responses to what I see and feel on a daily basis. More recently I have invested generous amounts of time into my landscape painting. I am surrounded by natural and man made beauty, which inherently presents itself in the tri-state area, and almost demands that I paint it.

Not everything is art. Art is not everything, but it comes close. Art is everywhere and all the time. In the beginning, art was all beautiful things created by God. The incredible human abilities sense beauty and harmony and wish to hold, preserve and enjoy God’s work. Art makes you experience the beauty of the world, the people in it, and the places we call home. Art itself is so influential that it can tell stories, show feelings, and express passion or fury. It may be happy or sad. Works of art can be as tiny as a snowflake or as enormous as the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor. Art exists in addition to language; expression of sensations and thoughts, revealing a way of thinking too subtle and delicate for words.

For me art requires love, honesty and perseverance. In return, it reveals some personal, non-analyzable, and creative untamed passion. For the public, art with its magnificent beauty, improves mood and health and builds better human beings and communities. It engages the intellect, softens the heart, strengthens the soul and frees the spirit.

Go check out the full process.

Featured Author: @hetty-rowan
Last Letter to Lexxieboy!

Images property of @hetty-rowan

I saved this next featured author and post for last because by the time you finish reading their post you won't be able to read anything else. Grab a box of Kleenex and prepare for your heart to just be twisted and broken.

Every pet lover has to go through a similar situation to that which is written about in this post. Some of us way too many times. For me, reading this post came at a good time as we are likely just days away from having to make this horrible decision for a third time. Reading all about Lexxieboy, and all of his friends who I had just discovered on their other blog page last week allowed me to just sit here and cry. Both for Lexxieboy, and our own Satchmo who is lying fast asleep next to me as I write this. He has had Cancer for awhile and as I said we are likely days away from this same decision, albeit not as abrupt as what happened with @hetty-rowan and Lexxieboy.

I will leave you to read all about Lexxieboy in @hetty-rowan's own words as I could never express how much he meant to their family as well as they can. Please go read the touching story and send some love to @hetty-rowan.

When you are done reading all about Lexxieboy head on over to his friend's other blog site Shepherd Stories to learn more about them and follow them on some of their adventures.

@hetty-rowan thank you for allowing me to share Lexxieboy's story here in the showcase. We are all sending you guys lots of love.

Go read the Last Letter to Lexxieboy!

This Curie Author Showcase was written by Curie Curator @randomwanderings (Gene) at times with input from other Curie curators and reviewers. All images and quoted texts are the copyright of their respective authors.