-----------------Feature • April Macie ---------------- Leave ’Em Wanting By Deborah Kennedy There’s a common misconcep- tion about female comedians. Most people think that if you’re a woman and you’re funny you also probably have a face or body for radio. Of course, funny women like Tina Fey, Amy Poehler and Sarah Silverman have belied that stereotype for years now, and up-and-coming Titian tal- ent April Macie is basically blowing the whole idea out of the water. She’s ----------------Feature • Alan Parsons --------------- funny, she’s vulgar and she’s hot. She is, in entertainment industry parlance, a triple threat, and she’s also coming to Snickerz Thursday-Saturday, June 23-25 with Twin Cities-based comic Mike Brody. When I caught up with Macie via phone, she was sitting in the Sacra- Recording Artist mento airport, waiting on her third early morning flight of the week. The By Michele DeVinney many made inquiries about how I did this woman is in high demand, and that’s or how I did that, and I had numerous re- just fine with her, although she said One of the biggest changes in the mu- quests for internships. I thought this was a the life of a standup comic is a tough sic industry over the past two decades has great opportunity to do something differ- one, particu- been the opportunity for artists to do more ent, something more professional. So it was larly “for a APRIL MACIE than create their music but also to produce, three years of very intensive work as well as broad.” engineer and distribute it. Technology has a lot of post-production. It was all scripted “It’s still w/Mike Brody put more control into the hands of those who and very well thought out.” very back of Thurs., June 23 • 7:30 p.m. tures of Mr. Bolton, I want to get their music out to the masses, but The DVDs are part of what bring Par- the bus,” she Fri.-Sat., June 24-25 • 7:30 p.m. wondered, but forgot to with such opportunities has also come the sons to Fort Wayne, and promoting them to said, allud- ask). “My grandma lost responsibility of learning the science of mu- the gathering at Sweetwater Sound’s Gear ing to the fact & 9:45 p.m. her speech and only re- sic. Where there Fest 2011 is a that comedy Snickerz Comedy Bar tained about five swear were once teams ALAN PARSONS perfect chance remains, and words, and my dad was of tech geeks to for him to talk to perhaps al- 5535 St. Joe Rd., Fort Wayne so strange and smart he run boards and Saturday, June 25 • 9:30-11 a.m. both like-minded ways will be, Tix: $10.50, 260-486-0216 gave this pervy clown understand the Sweetwater Sound professionals and one big boys’ I worked for my phone inner workings fledgling artists. club. “When you go on stage the guys still number so, I don’t know, he could stalk me? on the production 5501 U.S. 30 W., Fort Wayne Having started introduce you like you’re something differ- It’s all wacko and sad and completely true.” end, now there free, www.sweetwater.com/gearfest his career at Ab- ent. It’s like, ‘Tonight we’ve got a real treat Before the Easton, Pennsylvania native are sometimes bey Road in for you: a lady.’ You feel like a Bundt cake took to the stage she took to promiscuity only band members left to sink or swim on 1969, Parsons abandoned whatever perfor- half the time.” and, an apparent method actor, she used her their own. mance aspirations he might have had in fa- “It’s a lonely, sad life on the road,” she abundant experience to pad her act, which Alan Parsons has been on both sides of vor of learning a new craft and sitting on the continued. “Where are the violins? Seri- traffics quite a bit in potty humor and jokes that equation. He’s worked as a musician other side of the studio glass. Having started ously, it’s hard to hold down a relationship. about genitalia. and as the tech guy with his hands on the out as a blues musician in England, he gave You’re always going from one place to an- Penis jokes aren’t just for guys anymore. buttons. With several hit songs to his credit up his band in 1969 when he joined Abbey other, staying in highway rape motels with In fact, Macie’s stated goal is breaking down under the banner of the Alan Parsons Proj- Road and didn’t perform again until 1995. weirdos. It’s no place for a proper lady. societal double standards that basically say ect, including “I Wouldn’t Want to Be Like “When I went back to the stage [it was] Thank God I’m not one of those. I’m not sexually explicit humor is the sole property You,” “Time” and “Games People Play,” he with the sole intention of promoting my al- even close.” of men. She also aspires to be the mouth- remains best known for his early work at Ab- bums. I had had the Alan Parsons Project in Macie was, instead, the girl in high piece for sexually dissatisfied women ev- bey Road studios, engineering such iconic the meantime, of course, and recorded with school that everyone loved to spread dirty erywhere. Studies show there are many such bands as the Beatles and winning a Grammy that from 1976-87. But my intention there rumors about. Such rumors might have “in- women, and that could, perhaps, explain for his engineering on Pink Floyd’s master- was never to play live and [I] only did a few volved a football team, a dog and some pea- some of April Macie’s popularity. But, seri- piece, The Dark Side of the Moon. With that cameos on the albums anyway. Playing live nut butter or processed meat.” Who’s hun- ously, look at that picture. With a face like kind of experience, it isn’t surprising that would have been hard because we had a bit gry? that, crowned by wavy red hair and perched musicians and technicians are equally anx- of an identity crisis, a question about what Speaking of hungry, Macie grew up that as it is above a shirt proclaiming a love for ious to learn what they can from the master, it would be that I would do. The standard way. Not literally hungry. Anyway, I don’t wieners, it’s really no mystery why Macie is and Parson decided a few years ago to share joke back then was that I could tell a few think she was on the verge of starvation, but taking the standup world by storm. it all. With his DVD series The Art & Sci- jokes, warm up the crowd before the band she did have a rough childhood, and that Macie already has several accolades to ence of Sound Recording, Parsons shares the played.” helped motivate her to succeed. her credit, including being named a finalist techniques he has learned in more than 40 Even during the lifespan of the Alan “I’m a very damaged person,” she said, on NBC’s “Last Comic Standing” and the years behind the board. The three-DVD set Parsons Project, Parsons was content to have drolly. (Everything Macie said was droll, “Hottest Funniest Chick” by the fans of the covers a wide range of topics and took Par- others play the music while he manned the and delivered in a slightly nasal, delicious Howard Stern Show. sons more than three years to complete. He controls. By the mid 1990s he felt keyboard deadpan.) “My mom drank every night and That last honor was a particular boon for says it was the best way he knew to answer technology allowed for him to recreate what taped pictures of Michael Bolton to all the Macie who, in lieu of Bolton, has a picture the questions often asked of him. he did in the studio on a live stage and began walls in our house. My aunt was a paranoid of Stern on her wall. It’s a snapshot of the “I had a desire to give something back,’ schizophrenic who would come home and he told me in a recent phone interview. “So Continued on page 19 take a mallet to our drywall” (to the pic- Continued on page 19 6 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------www.whatzup.com ------------------------------------------------------------------- June 16, ’11 --------------- Calendar • On The Road --------------- The Spinners July 7 DTE Energy Music Center Clarkston, MI ALAN PARSONS - From Page 6 Stacy Mitchhart w/Bart Walker Band & Josh Garrett & The Bottom Line June 17 BBQ Ribfest/Headwaters Park Fort Wayne making a few appearances. While he doesn’t having to learn technology quickly in order Steely Dan July 15 Murat Theatre Indianapolis maintain a hectic touring schedule now, up- to move their careers forward and hopes to Steely Dan July 16 Fox Theatre Detroit coming dates in Europe and South America help them find that path. Steely Dan July 19 Riverbend Music Center Cincinnati Steely Dan ($49.50-$79.50) July 20 Toledo Zoo Amphitheatre Toledo demonstrate that the demand still remains “Almost all musicians have become Steve Earle July 19 Vic Theatre Chicago for his music. Having whittled down the technicians in the modern age. I’m hoping Steve Martin & Martin Short June 19 Chicago Theatre Chicago size of his entourage over the years (he used that my DVDs lift the veil of mystery sur- Steve Miller Band Aug.