In 2022, That’s 4 Entertainment turned Hartford, Conn. into the ultimate 90s reunion. Stars of film and television that shaped millennial’s childhoods were brought together for the first time to savor one-on-one opportunities to meet, take photos and participate in panels. For actress Vinessa Shaw, she had no idea how incomparable her first ever convention would be.

90s Con was an experience she won’t soon forget, where she and Hocus Pocus co-stars Omri Katz and Jason Marsden publicly reunited in a space that not only cherished their characters but gave convention goers the space to share those cherished moments with them.

“It was right after the pandemic, pretty much when everything was opening back up,” Shaw said. “People were just ready to get out and be nostalgic about the 90s, so for me, having that experience as my first was insane.”

The first person in Shaw’s autograph line was a memorable one. The minute she walked around the front of her table, the young woman collapsed in her arms. She shared how tough the last few years were for her; the feeling of hopelessness that plagued her days until she decided to rewatch Hocus Pocus. She told Shaw that rewatching the film was her own prescription to heal herself, and thanked her for being such an integral part of her childhood.

Shaw admits that interaction was overwhelming, especially for her first fan encounter at her first convention, but it meant so much to her. The more the weekend transpired, the more stories similar to that first one made their way to her.

That weekend at 90s Con also gave her the chance to express her admiration for her own idols. She was mere feet away from Christopher Lloyd when she said she was practically hyperventilating. Katz and Marsden kept asking her if she was ok while she stood and pointed at Lloyd sitting in the Back to the Future Delorean. They realized how much he meant to her, and asked the staff if they could pose alongside Lloyd for a photo op.

“There’s this iconic picture of the three of us with Christopher Lloyd in the Delorean,” she said. “He didn’t even care or know who we were, which is fine, I didn’t care. I [told him], ‘I love you so much’ and then I was like, ‘Wait… I love you so much? Why did I say that?’ But this was me being how most fans are about us and this movie, and I was literally hyperventilating for Doc Brown.”

Three years later, the cast has attended countless conventions, with their most recent being Nightmare Weekend Chicago. The newly released Funko Pop figurines of Max and Allison are perched on Shaw and Katz’s tables, eagerly awaiting for collectors to get them signed. Shaw said she has the collector gene in her and passed it down to her son, who is currently obsessed with Hot Wheels and tells people, “I have 279!”

A few years ago she found coins that her father had gifted her and decided to start researching them. Before she knew it, she had fallen down the rabbit hole of different types of pennies and errors on coins that make them more valuable. She still has her collection, and might pick it back up one day. For now, it’s all about funding the Hot Wheels collection.

When Vinesssa Shaw made her convention debut, she had no idea how impactful they would be. They continue to surprise her as she greets fans, signing their memorabilia and taking photos with her arms wrapped around them. Those moments are just as special for her, surrounded by people who get to share their stories and appreciation for a film that means so much to so many.

Photo courtesy of Ariel Kassulke

For years, fans of The Walking Dead gathered at conventions dedicated to the post-apocalyptic horror drama in several cities around the United States. It was Dallas, Texas in March of 2015 that season five’s newly introduced character, Aaron, made his first convention appearance.

Ross Marquand remembers being so nervous to attend his first convention. He had no idea what to expect, and it seems that his nervousness was palpable as his co-star, Michael Cudlitz, stepped in to offer his guidance.

“He gave me the best advice,” Marquand said. “He said, ‘Take the pressure off yourself by making it about them. Ask them where they’re from. Ask them what they do for a living. Make it about them.’ That helps, and I still [do that] to this day.”

Despite his initial nervousness, he knew he was in a welcoming environment. Not only was his character a fan favorite, but it gave him a chance to fan out over his interests too. Conventions are where fans of all aspects of popular culture can add items to their ever-growing collections, and Marquand is no exception. He said that Star Wars, G.I. Joe, LEGO® and ThunderCats are items he usually searches for, and joked that while he is glad to be a collector he should probably stop as he is now 43 years old. (We told him to never stop collecting. “Never?” he asked. “Never,” we replied.)

He also spent his childhood adoring Star Trek: The Next Generation and watching every episode with his brothers. Getting the chance to meet the actors - Denise Crosby, Brent Spiner and Jonathan Frakes, to name a few - that were so important to his adolescence were life-changing moments.

He also took Cudlitz’s advice beyond the convention circuit. He has been a Celebrity Wish Granter for the Make-A-Wish Foundation several times throughout his career and finds it difficult to describe just how special those interactions are.

“When you can see the look of actual pure joy on their face because they’re meeting someone they really like, this is the best day ever,” he said. “It really feels amazing.”

Now, a little over 10 years to the date, Marquand and Cudlitz are sat next to each other at the inaugural Nightmare Weekend Chicago. Their fans might wait in line for a little longer than anticipated, but it is well worth the wait. When it is their turn to step up to the actors, they know that they are getting one-on-one time with people who will offer up genuine conversation. Marquand has had his own one-on-one time with his heroes, and understands the importance of giving someone the best day ever.

When I first started ELOAĦ, it was simply an attempt to give form to the emotions that words alone could not express. Over the years, what began as a personal exploration has transformed into something much greater - a collaboration of souls, each bringing their own light, shaping melodies that flow like ripples in the vast ocean of existence. Music, after all, is not merely sound but a reflection of the vibrations that pulse through all things; a cosmic resonance we are fortunate enough to tap into.

An Album Born from Reflection and Connection

Like the stars that burn and fade, leaving their echoes in the universe, The Book of Pain was shaped by the struggles, losses and moments of resilience that define the human experience. Each track is a story, a fragment of the vast journey we all undertake. Each song is a chapter in this metaphorical ‘book’. It’s about how pain transforms us and how, even in our darkest hours, we carry within us the light to rise again. One of the most personal tracks, “A Spark of Darkness”, was inspired by the loss of my dear friend, Michael Görig. The song, named after his unfinished novel, is a reflection on the tension between despair and renewal. Another key piece, “We Shall Rise”, embodies the cyclical nature of existence - falling, rising and continuing the journey, carried by unseen currents of hope.

The Collective Energy Behind the Music

Unlike our earlier works, which leaned more into jazz-inspired improvisation (The Mondstein Chronicles) and pop ballads (Proud to Love You), The Book of Pain embodies a denser, layered approach, a result of the synergy between those who brought it to life. The presence of Orion Roos (guitar), Peter Douwenga (bass), Lila Herderberg (vocals), Dominik Mittergradnegger (saxophone) and Johan van der Meer (drums) has always been invaluable, but this time, other voices became part of the journey as well. Zarja Medved (viola) infused the music with textures that expanded its reach beyond any single genre, weaving new dimensions into the soundscape.

The recording process itself became a kind of meditation, a conversation between past and present. Some of the vocal recordings stretch across decades, entwining memories with fresh creative impulses. One particularly moving moment was the inclusion of my late friend Jörg Horner’s voice on “Golden Summer (Girl to Adore)”. It was humbling to blend his voice into this work, a reminder that music is timeless; an energy that persists even when those who helped create it have moved on.

Looking to the Infinite Horizons of 2025

With The Book of Pain now released as a limited-edition LP, we turn our gaze toward new sonic explorations. Our next project takes a different path, embracing gospel-, electronic- and jazz-inspired elements - an experiment in spirituality and improvisation that seeks to capture the ebb and flow of life’s mysteries. With this new endeavour, we strive to challenge ourselves while staying true to the soul of our music.

Music is meant to be a shared experience, and I have found new inspiration through regular rehearsals of classical music with Zarja. These sessions reinforce my belief that creating and listening to music together deepens its emotional impact and enriches its meaning.

For their last three albums, The Devil Doves geared up for their releases with two singles. One, a delicate songwriter driven track. The other, more along the lines of their “clusterfolk” sound. A devil and a dove, if you will.

Their latest album, Parlor Tricks, is no exception.

“Banquet” is their devil; a Tim Burton-style track that is equal parts lively and unusual. Their dove, “Seventeen Streets”, is an ode to letting go of anything that is worth setting free. The eight tracks in between are carefully curated to provide a listening experience that resembles the traditional track listing of mixtapes: a strong start, followed by a cool-off period before bringing in an introspective b-side and ending with the song they’re most excited about.

While there is no narrative to tell in this batch of songs, there was a life event that inspired many of its lyrics. Songwriter and lead vocalist Junior Kauffman was to receive open heart surgery at the end of 2024, and he found himself expressing those thoughts and worries through writing. They took several of those songs along with the ones filled with pop culture references and turned it into Parlor Tricks.

Kauffman may be the primary songwriter but he gives all the credit to his bandmates for taking his ideas and making them a final version that everyone can be proud of. Bassist Eric Nassau has a deep understanding of song structure. Keyboardist Jeff Straw creates sonic landscapes to compliment the lyrics. Percussionist Kyle Davis brings a sound uniquely his own to the trejon. They may not relate to the story behind “Bandages”, with straightforward lyrics about how much it sucks to need open heart surgery, but the ukulele-driven song is just as much theirs.

“We’ve been together 13 years,” Kauffman said. “I think it’s hard to keep a band together. I’m just proud of that and that we still all like each other. When you have that shorthand, it makes everything go quicker. It’s rare to have everyone agree on that, but we do. We all have the same vision.”

Part of the reason why the 10 tracks from Parlor Tricks have horns or ukuleles or other lesser used instruments is that they continue to push one another to try something new. These songs may have been played once or a dozen times at a live show, and sometimes seeking a new way to play them to an audience gave them the opportunity to incorporate that into the recorded version.

“We are excited in a way that we’ve never been about a collection of songs,” Kauffman said. “The way they came through, it just seemed to work. We’re not patting ourselves on the back but we’ve been at it a while and I think we’ve figured out what we do best.”

They refer to themselves as odd or strange when it comes to their music, but The Devil Doves know how to push themselves creatively and bring forth a sound that is unparalleled. They can take the good and the bad and give it a beat that is difficult to not enjoy.

“That goes back to when I came up with The Devil Doves in the first place,” Kauffman said. “We all got the light, we all got the dark; the yin and the yang and all of that business. I do really feel that there is something to that.”

Photo courtesy of Dana Gorab

It was a cool damp night, April 17. The year was 2014 and the western world was enjoying one of its last foreseeable halcyon periods. The air smelled of fresh spring rain as the Nashville streets of Lower Broadway buzzed with pedestrians. The sounds of classic rock sing-alongs escaped from the sides of the historic brick buildings and honkytonks echoing up the hill as we marched toward our destination: Bridgestone Arena, to see the one and only Bruce Springsteen.

The lights dim as the E Street Band takes the stage. But, there is an unusual character amongst them: Rage Against The Machine’s resident riffer, Tom Morello. A name certain to evoke strong emotions, such as the tried and true, “he should keep politics out of it” or “he just makes noises on the guitar!” However, even his detractors have to admit that Morello has been one of the most innovative guitarists since Eddie Van Halen or Randy Rhoads. As he wandered on stage that night, I couldn’t help but think, ‘this ought to be interesting.’

Indeed, interesting it was. Now I must confess once upon a time in my youth, as my folks ran through classics like “Born to Run” or “Thunder Road”, I didn’t immediately understand it.

“But he didn’t sing higher or play heavier like Sabbath or Zeppelin," I’d offered.

It wasn’t until Nashville, the city where songwriting is an official sport, where I finally ‘got it’. The words, the stories, the images; left to the imagination, it’s as if there’s a movie unfolding in front of you narrated by the song.

That warm spring night, the legends ripped through classics like “Badlands”, “Hungry Heart” and “I’m on Fire”… But there was one unexpected moment, nearly 18 songs in, that swept the entire arena off their feet: “The Ghost of Tom Joad”.

I wasn’t surprised to see Morello singing as he’d covered “The Ghost of Tom Joad” with The Nightwatchman before Springsteen heard it and invited him to record a new version together. The reason it was unexpected was because this was not a particularly well-known Springsteen track. It was never played during political rallies, football games or dances. Instead, “The Ghost of Tom Joad” was released at the height of the grunge era, and somehow with its laid-back feel and unpolished honesty, wouldn’t have sounded out of place on Nirvana’s MTV Unplugged in New York.

As they started the song with the lights nearly blacked out, I could tell it was going to be a particularly powerful version. As their voices traded back and forth, the tension in the room was palpable. Finally, as Morello leaned away from the mic, with his guitar flying through the air, a screaming solo soars through the arena like a siren. Morello forcefully rips the chord out of his guitar, quickly smashing it against his hand in rhythm with the E Street Band, manipulating the pitch with his trusty Whammy pedal. At this point, and for the frst time in my life, tears began to roll down my face. I was taken aback by what was happening. I had literally never heard sounds like this in my life. I had even seen Morello play this very same room before with Prophets of Rage.

That night was different though. Morello didn’t play any other solos during the nearly three hour set. He didn’t take center stage. This was his one chance. His one moment. It was all or nothing. And as he tore through his blue Arm the Homeless guitar, strings flailing with facial expressions of pure agony, I knew I had just witnessed history. As I wiped those tears away, I felt the bittersweet sting that music really can change your life.

Areli Castro knew exactly what story she wanted to tell in her debut KiNG MALA album after a lengthy meeting with her producer. The cinematic world she wanted to create needed to be the most experimental she’s ever gone, so hours were spent carving out every single moment of the story. Every beat needed to be accounted for.

The first question her producer asked her was, “What are you interrogating?” She decided to lay it all out right there.

“I told him that I felt like my humanity was getting in the way of my greatness,” she said. “I wanted this story to be a conversation about that; about the difference between humanity and greatness and what is so contradictory about them. I also knew I wanted it to be very horror inspired because that’s my love, my light. We talked for a long time and I realized it’s a possession story. This is a story of an entity of power itself taking a body, and thus the story was born.”

Despite building a narrative, the songs would end up being deeply personal. It was important that everyone involved have a vast understanding of how the story needed to be told, so she created a crime drama-style mood board that laid out the project in its entirety: plot, inspiration and all the conversations leading up to recording. The mood board was brought out for every new writing session, and new players were introduced to it before writing and recording began. They called it, “The Spiel”.

Beginning each session with the mood board and “The Spiel” helped keep the vision clear and focused, and brought out the best in this team of writers, producers, string players, choir singers, instrumentalists and brass players. They had the entire story laid out in front of them, they just had to create songs that fit each step of the hero’s journey.

“Everyone was so excited to be a part of it,” she said. “Seeing some of this beautiful community come together around this freaky little story was so incredible.”

By choosing this writing method, Castro learned that she thrives creatively when she has the opportunity to take her time to build a world around her music. She went into every session knowing that she was building on the day before instead of starting over every time. It felt freeing and inspiring. The end result was 12 songs and one poem that inspired the title: And You Who Drowned In The Grief Of A Golden Thing.

“I felt like it was a story of the grief that you experience through your desire,” she said. “Your desire for greatness leaves you consistently disappointed, just because there’s always this higher expectation of you. There’s a lot of grief in knowing that you’ll never reach this higher point, this golden thing. You don’t have a name for it, this perfect version of yourself.”

In the first stanza of the poem, she wrote:

you who drowned in all that grief

you pray for more

a golden thing

She realized it was the entity, speaking to the protagonist. The album was a dive into desire vs. obsession, humanity vs. monstrousness - and the consequences of all four.

Prior to the album’s release, there were three songs she knew would best encapsulate the album. First, “GØD”, a bridge between past and future sound; second, “FUN!”, a taste of the vibe of the album; and third, “DEVOTION”, a nod to the R&B artists that made a mark on the start of her musical career.

It was important that this highly conceptual album have stunning visual components to go alongside the songs. Every visual element was explained to the creative director, Marly Hall, who took references from Castro’s beloved horror genre and brought them to life through 24 different setups filmed in roughly two weeks.

Photo courtesy of Shervin Lainez

Dali Rose grew up in a uniquely musical household, but there is one story in particular that seemed to solidify his desire to pursue a career in music. When his mother was pregnant, his father would strategically place a pair of headphones over her stomach to play his favorite song, “Mother Beautiful” by Sly and the Family Stone. They were a major inspiration for his own musical career, and it appears to have done the same for his son.

In addition to Sly, artists such as Lauryn Hill, Erykah Badu and Jazmine Sullivan were constantly heard inside their home. Rose grew up in a religious household, and music from the church was equally as prevalent. He also said that his mother is one of the best singers he’s ever heard.

Soul music was his first love, but soon enough Rose was finding his way into different genres. He found heroic qualities in rappers, discovered a love for the storytelling aspects of folk music and picked apart the chord structures of legendary guitarists.

Despite that love, he initially studied Political Science at NYU. He was determined to make a change in this world, yet the farther along he got in his degree the more he realized there is more than one way to make an impact. He switched his degree to Music.

“At a certain point you just lose hope with the system and everything around you,” he said. “It was important for me to realize that true change for me was going to come through my words; through my impact on culture, through my impact on people and their psychological state. Just getting them through the moment; giving them a good experience, telling them a good story. Those things may seem corny to some people, but for me, that’s been literally the thing that’s saved my life.”

He remains a political activist at heart, but repurposed his interest to keep himself from feeling helpless. Music has always been something that came naturally to him, and the more he studied, the more he realized that those two weren’t so different.

He found a moniker that felt and sounded as cool as he wanted his music to be. He narrowed down a style of music that suited his voice best. He studied his craft. Comparing it to learning any new skill, Rose said that it was definitely a maturation process to understand the importance of music and those who came before him.

“You have to dive into who’s done it the best before learning the history of it,” he said. “Learning how the theory works, how the chord structures work, how the song structure works, which ones work for me. Learn how to play, then learn how to play and sing at the same time. It took years of doing it every day over and over again, studying and trying things. I can give you a sexier answer than that but that’s exactly what it was. I had so much fun along the way and still do. I love learning. I love learning to get better and will continue to do so.”

One thing he did learn is that influences can only get a musician so far. There comes a point where the music has to be original, and he was determined to let music come naturally to him. During his last semester at NYU, he decided to push his boundaries and take a creative writing class. He had a professor that helped push those boundaries, and the outcome was a 17-page short story about a dystopian society. Set in a world where marginalized communities had been confided behind steel walls, he told the stories of those that lived there. One of those communities was named Heaven, and soon enough it was the perfect title for an EP.

Seven songs later, Heaven is equal parts timely and timeless. He wanted to tell stories that were relevant to today and represented a generation of people “lost in the sauce of it all.” He also wanted to make sure they were stories that he wanted to tell.

In the midst of recording, he felt like he was on top of the world. Every song gave him an ego boost, but brought him back down to Earth during mixing and mastering.

“At the end of the day, I try to stay true to where I was when I wrote them,” he said. “I know that they came from a beautiful, genuine place. When it’s coming from that place you just have to put it out and let it be. It can get two streams, it can get two billion. It’s art. I feel good about that but that was the most challenging part for me too, learning to just accept myself and love myself and let myself create and be ok with that and move onto the next thing.”

About a month ago, Rose played a show where he performed “Mother Beautiful” with his girlfriend. It is a song that has literally been with him his entire life. It represents his love for music and his love for his family, and all those parts of his life that feel like Heaven.

Photo courtesy of Ariel Kassulke

Pairing vintage black-and-white illustrations of birds with curse words seems a bit unconventional, which could be why it came as a shock to Effin’ Birds creator Aaron Reynolds that it quickly found popularity on social media. It went from rectangular text posts to coffee mugs, t-shirts and even a book.

When he first received his book deal for Effin' Birds: A Field Guide to Identification, he knew he wanted to promote its release but the publisher did not have the means to finance a tour. Reynolds also could not finance a tour to various bookstores around the country, so he found the next best thing: comic conventions. He started reaching out to shows, with his first appearance at the comic convention in his hometown of Ottawa.

Despite Reynolds having an interest in everything that is displayed at comic conventions, and eventually becoming one of its featured artists, it wasn’t until his children were just old enough to attend that they all experienced their first convention together. That year, Ottawa Comic Con saw three distinct, homemade children’s cosplays: Godzilla; Man with No Name from The Good, the Bad and the Ugly; and a fully original robot character named Nolan Bot. Pizza boxes, spray paint and one shopping visit to Value Village was all they needed to win costume contests and impress Star Trek: Voyager actor Garrett Wang.

His youngest son, who created the original robot character, also created the Effin’ Birds “Eat Farts” comic that can be found on t-shirts, skateboards and stickers. A magnificent eagle flying away was requested as the accompanying cartoon, and Reynolds liked the idea so much that the sticker version is his go-to freebie to hand out to convention goers.

Purchasable items at his table include copies of Effin' Birds: A Field Guide to Identification as well as trading cards, calendars and more. His most memorable interaction with a convention goer involved a Silent Hill Pyramid Head cosplay where the entire sales interaction involved hand gestures and the pyramid opening to reveal their payment method.

“They handed me down money and I handed them a book,” he laughed. “They put it all the way back up inside the pyramid, closed the pyramid and lumbered away. It was so magical.”

Superstars come and go. Cher is forever.

When Tony nominee Rick Elice took on the role of writing the jukebox musical The Cher Show, he admitted to Playbill that he was not a Cher fanatic, which in turn won Cher over. He tells the story of Cher’s life and career using three performers: Babe, who portrays Cher during the 1950s and 1960s; Lady, during the 1970s; and Star, during the 1980s and 1990s. They interact with one another, sharing life advice and emotions during pivotal moments.

“I only wish it would have really happened," Cher joked to People. “I could have saved a whole lot of painful shit, okay? I wish that they would have been there and someone who could say, 'You can leave him!'"

With the Cher stamp of approval, the cast and creative team - including fashion designer Bob Mackie - got to work on six decades of pure stardom. The Cher Show made its world premiere at the Oriental Theatre in Chicago before moving to Broadway’s Neil Simon Theatre, as well as multiple U.S. and U.K. tours.

In its most recent run, a stop at Milwaukee’s Marcus Performing Arts Center brought all ages together for a night of pure glamour. Uihlein Hall sparkled as an array of sequined costumes made its way across the stage, highlighting the three Chers: Ella Perez, Catharine Ariale and Kristin Rose Kelleher. Their vocal performances were powerful, taking 35 smash hits and giving them the Broadway treatment by weaving them into Cher’s rise to fame.

The ensemble was just as powerful with their performances. Supporting characters included Sonny Bono, Gregg Allman, Bob Mackie, Lucille Ball and Cher’s mother, Georgia Holt. They brought the stage to life, spotlighting major sets such as The Sonny and Cher Show and Top of the Pops. The attention to detail in their costumes were just as meticulous as the Cher costumes, which were nearly identical to their originals.

Not only did The Cher Show bring tales of love and heartbreak, but it brought an incredible amount of humor. The audience found it easy to laugh along with height jokes aimed at Sonny, cry along with her as she learned of his passing and get on their feet to dance along to the final number.

A show packed with so much Cher it takes three people to play her, The Cher Show pushes boundaries not unlike its main character. It is evident that the cast believes in this production as much as Cher believes in herself, in life after love. Cher truly is forever.