Smokehouse Sausage Goes Italian

The best thing about Alternative Control?  One minute we’re writing about local metal and the next minute we’re writing about sausages! Broccoli rabe and sausage is one of my all-time favorite meals — so when my husband and I picked up some rabbit and elk sausages (yes, you read that right) on a visit to… Continue reading Smokehouse Sausage Goes Italian

No Absence of Passion – A Review of Misery Signals’ Absent Light and Interview with Guitarist Greg Thomas

Misery Signals is a stand-out band for me, and a bit of an enigma in my music collection. I really don’t find myself listening to their brand of metal that much, but I have a special appreciation for what they do. Let’s face it, the metalcore sound has been beat to death, with most of… Continue reading No Absence of Passion – A Review of Misery Signals’ Absent Light and Interview with Guitarist Greg Thomas

Selection from Night of the Black Rainbow

  This is a chapter from an upcoming collection titled Night of the Black Rainbow. It’s a series of micro-stories linked thematically by a sci-fi fantasy concept dealing with the apocalypse. An anomaly appears in the sky as a huge vacuum-black arch, instilling terror, panic and hysteria in the populace. Supernatural events occur, and this… Continue reading Selection from Night of the Black Rainbow

Working Together: The Drummers Weigh In

A reader posed an interesting question to Alternative Control last week: what should the role of successful, established bands be in guiding younger bands that are coming onto the scene?  And honestly, I didn’t know how to answer.  First, what makes a band “successful” or “established”?  Success for my own bands means that our friends… Continue reading Working Together: The Drummers Weigh In

Public Service Announcement: Good, Cheap Beer on Fridays

  Hear ye, hear ye, drinkers rich and poor: on Fridays this summer, Half Full Brewery of Stamford-Shire-Fording-Ham purveys jugs of the finest ale for just a tuppence! Okay, the announcement is belated, and by tuppence, I mean five dollars.   Johnny Pluckman and I have known about this for weeks, but we wanted to keep… Continue reading Public Service Announcement: Good, Cheap Beer on Fridays

Love in “Pink”

  These poems are from a collection tentatively titled “Pink.”  It’s a collection of love poetry that doesn’t shy away from grandiose imagery. The phrases are simple, sugary and steeped in high hopes for both clean, cuddly adoration and super lustful passion eternal. Rook Atop of the tower in the enchanted fields We are king… Continue reading Love in “Pink”