Jovan Arellano

Instruments: Guitar, bass, keyboards, drums, vocals

Day job: Full-time musician

First Performance: My first performance was for a junior high choir concert here in Fayetteville. I had learned to play guitar earlier in the year and talked my director into letting me play a tune at our ninth grade spring concert. The song was Jimi Thing by Dave Matthews Band. At the time I was trying to learn every Dave Matthews song known to man. I never had lessons, but you could say I was under the “private instruction of Mr. Dave Matthews” and working through the tablature book Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds “Live at Luther College.” The show was fun. It would’ve helped if I could’ve stopped shaking, opened my eyes, and detached my upper lip from being inside out and stuck to my gums!

Type of music: The music that I play ranges from country to electronic.

Originals or covers: Was an original singer/songwriter for five years out of high school and finally decided to construct the ultimate cover show. Now I play mostly covers to make a living and to fund recording my original material. One of the hardest things for an artist to do is to “sell out” for any period of time. Once I finally got over the fact that people would pay me good money to hear me cover Cash and Dave Matthews, I never looked back. I now refer to it as “buying out” rather than “selling out” because it allowed me to “buy” into the music business. I know about 20 times more about performing, marketing, booking and being self-employed than I ever did previously.

Sounds like: Johnny Cash, Radiohead, Jeff Buckley, The Eagles, The Beatles, Ray Lamontagne, Tool, A Perfect Circle, The Dissociatives, Rufus Wainwright, Van Morrison, Eric Clapton, Kings of Leon, Jack Johnson, Dave Matthews, John Mayer, Silverchair, Hall & Oates, Aha, The Police, The Bangels, Tom Petty, The Wallflowers, Sublime, Weezer, Pearl Jam, Stone Temple Pilots, Soundgarden, Cake, The Fugees, Snoop Dogg, Mark Morrison, Toto, etc….

Influences: Same as above

Muse: Jeff Buckley

Favorite performance: In addition to being a solo performer, I’m also in a Radiohead tribute band, Killer Cars. Radiohead is one of my favorite bands of all time. They’re one of the most influential bands of all time as well. They are truly pioneers of the music business — from experimenting with soundscapes and textures in the studio, to writing actual computer programming to achieve completely original effects, to revolutionizing the way music is marketed and downloaded. So my favorite show would have to be the first Killer Cars show at George’s last November.

Accomplishments: I’ve been nominated for four NAMAs and won one. Dropped several picks on stage and managed to bend down and pick them up without stopping the song. Paid the bills with music for eight months now. Once did a medley of 30 Dave Matthews songs in 60 seconds.

What kind of crowd do you draw? I play to all ages. If I see that my crowd is mostly in their 40s, I’m gonna play stuff from the ’80s and early ’90s. If they’re mostly 50s and 60s, then I’ll do songs from the ’60s and ’70s. If they’re 70s, 80s, 90s (yes it happens) then it’s Elvis, Cash and Sinatra.

Funniest or strangest thing that ever happened during a performance: The other night at Eddie Haskell’s a girl came up to the stage and started flipping through my songbook like it was karaoke, so I sort of batted her hand away and said “uh uh.” It was just a light pat. In this business I’ve found that otherwise very smart, mature people act like children when they drink.

Any albums? I have a self-recorded and produced acoustic album that I did in high school called “Way Down Here” and the album I recorded with my old band Phantazmelodia called “Fire in Her Eyes.”

Back stage ritual: Booze, unless I’m plagued by a toothache (currently) and have to take painkillers.

Plans: My plan is to continue doing what I love for a job and not let it turn into a job as such. My goal is to double what I made last year and start doing more out-of-town shows.

New Projects: I started a new progressive rock three-piece called HEX. We’ll be hitting the scene in April.

If you could open for anyone, who would it be? Rufus Wainwright. To me he might be the greatest songwriter/performer alive right now. If Jeff Buckley was still alive it would be him.

Last CD purchased: Dave Matthews Band, “Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King”

Most played songs on your iPod? “Go or Go Ahead” (Rufus Wainwright), “Vancouver” (Jeff Buckley), “Without You” (Silverchair)

Upcoming shows and tours: You can find my complete calendar at www.myspace.com/jovanarellano, but the big show I’m pushing in March is a Tribute to Johnny Cash. All Cash, All night long. It’s gonna be three sets by three of Fayetteville’s best performers Zac Scott, Jeff Kearney (1 oz. Jig) and myself. There’s a $6 cover and it’s Thursday, March 18 at Teatro Scarpino.

Web site: www.myspace.com/jovanarellano

Steve Cooper To Read For OPWC

By Ginny Masullo

Steve Cooper walked from one end of the world to the other; that is if you define the ends of the world as starting at Italy’s Fini Bus (which means end of the earth in Latin) and ending, 2,000 miles later, in Spain’s Finisterra, also the end of the earth.

Taking a sabbatical from NorthWest Arkansas Community College where he serves as chairman of the Depart- ment of Visual and Performing Arts, Cooper embarked on this solo jour- ney on Jan. 12, 2007. In his 35-pound backpack, he carried his laptop and camera, taking photos and notes along the way.

The rewards of Cooper’s trip were many. He said he daily experienced a profound sense of gratitude. He wrote and published “Six Months Walking the Wilds (of Western Europe): The Long Way to Santiago” and composed “Santiago Suite” as a tribute to the final 500 miles which is known as El Camino de Santiago Compostela or St. James Way.

Cooper said that “Walking the Wilds of Western Europe” is tongue- in-cheek because despite the cold rain, destroyed boots, aching blistered feet and sonorous hostel roommates, “this is some of the cushiest hiking possible.”

The hikers, or pilgrims as the walk- ers are particularly described on the Santiago section, are a “protected spe- cies,” Cooper said. The residents along the way greet them with warmth and curiosity. Town plazas and fountains are open oases for the trekkers. A pilgrim might walk for two or three hours and then rest in a cafe, drink a cappuccino and visit with all kinds of remarkable locals and fellow travel- ers.

On his 2,000 mile walk, which began in the heel of Italy’s boot and ran up through Rome and northward toward Genoa, then passing Monte Carlo and turning west across France and over the Pyrenees, Cooper spent much of his time alone until he reached Pam- plona, Spain. This marked the begin- ning of El Camino de Santiago.

While considered for over a thou- sand years to be a religious pilgrim- age, the Santiago is for the young, old, fit, unfit, religious or otherwise. Cooper fits in the latter, calling him- self a spiritual heathen but nonethe- less a pilgrim. Having now walked El Camino de Santiago five times, Cooper finds he has friends all over Western Europe. Preferring to set out alone because “it’s just easier to meet people when you are alone,” Cooper said that he often forms a kind of fam- ily with other hikers.

Cooper will be reading from his book as the featured reader at 7 p.m. Tuesday for Ozark Poets and Writers Collective, which meets the last Tues- day of the month at Hammontree’s inside Nightbird Books on Dickson Street. Audience members are encour- aged to stick around for the open mic, which will take place both before and after Cooper reads. There’s also the chance to win a book from the Uni- versity of Arkansas Press. A hat will be passed to help pay for expenses. Join OPWC and Steve Cooper for a walk on the wild side of western Europe.

Prose writer will read from his new book

Stephen Elliott will be at Nightbird Books from 5 to 6 p.m. Monday and will read from his work at 8 p.m. Tuesday at Giffels Auditorium in Old Main on the University of Arkansas campus.

By Geoffrey Brock

Stephen Elliott, one of the best young prose writers in America, will be in Fayetteville this week to read from his new book, “The Adderall Diaries: A Memoir of Moods, Masochism, and Murder.” The book is everything the title suggests, and far more.

Elliott began by trying to write a true-crime story about a high-profile Bay Area murder trial. But his reactions to the trial quickly became entangled with reflections on his own obsessions, and the result is a masterful mash-up of disparate themes, which ultimately coalesces into a loose but profound meditation on memory, self-knowledge and truth.

Elliott touches again here, as he often has in his half-dozen previous books, on the fallout from a childhood spent with an abusive father and a dying mother, and later as a ward of the state. (The New York Times called “Happy Baby,” his 2004 autobiographical novel, “surely the most intelligent and beautiful book ever written about juvenile detention centers, sadomasochism and drugs.”)

His father emerges as a particularly crucial figure in “The Adderall Diaries,” and Elliott’s portrait of him is hauntingly complex. It’s a painful book in many ways, and yet the clearsightedness with which Elliott approaches subjects such as his relationship with his father seems, itself, a triumph of no small proportions. It is such triumphs that make the book feel not merely harrowing but also exhilarating-even redemptive.

It would be hard to give a brief sense of the range of subject matter here without making the book sound impossibly scattered. Indeed there are so many threads that you wonder as you read how he can possibly hold them together. But he does, and so brilliantly that the book is getting the kind of reviews around the country that writers fantasize about.

Kirkus claims that “despite the luridness of the subject matter” Elliott has created “a refined, beautiful work of art” and argues that the book “deserves a place on the shelf next to such classics of uninhibited American introspection as “On the Road” and “A Fan’s Notes.” According to The San Francisco Chronicle, “you won’t find a more provocative, masterful, thrilling ride than this.” And Vanity Fair says that “he may be writing under the influence, but it’s the influence of genius.” I could quote from a dozen more equally incandescent reviews.

Given how hard it was for Elliott to write this book — he had to overcome a serious case of depression and writer’s block as well as his addiction to the prescription drug Adderall, among other things — I wanted to know if all the love he’s now getting from readers and critics had made those struggles seem worthwhile.

“If we were capable of that kind of fulfillment,” Elliott replied, “would we be writers? What would we write toward? Writing is more of a compulsion. I don’t think it can be justified or satisfied.”

That is a true writer’s answer.

“If I was really healthy and self-actualized,” he added, “I’d write for television.”

Who are you?

I was born and raised in Fayetteville, graduated from FHS in 1995. My parents, Monte and Faye Alter, still live and work in town. My dad’s company, Monte Alter Construction, has been around for years and he is always busy building someone the house of their dreams. My mom is semi-retired, but spends a lot of time designing costumes for Arts Live.

I left Arkansas after high school to attend college at a small liberal arts school called The College of Santa Fe, where I graduated with a double major in theater and English literature. Immediately after graduation in 1999, I moved to New York City and began my career in the entertainment business. I did everything from Off-Broadway Theater, to working for an agent at William Morris Agency, to being a manager for several TV, film and Broadway stars. After seven years, I decided to move back to the south and found myself in Austin, Texas, working in film production.

Tell us about your work. What exactly do you do?

I do … well everything or anything. I mostly produce or work as a production coordinator, although I have also worked as an AD (assistant director) and in the art department. I love organizing and budgeting, so the producing role is a great fit for me. While it is challenging, it plays to my strengths.

How long have you been working in film?

It’s been about 2.5 years of actual production work, but over 10 years in the “business.”

Favorite project to date?

And I’m not just saying this, but “Cook County” for sure. It was my first feature film. I learned so much and got to work with some unbelievably talented people. And the final product, well come see the film, it speaks for itself.  I’m so proud of this film and what we were able to accomplish on such a limited budget and schedule. Meth addiction is a very relevant issue in small cities and towns all over the U.S. “Cook County” tells one family’s story and it’s a heartbreaking one. I think it sheds light on a very serious problem. And the actors’ performances in the film are incredible. Anson Mount, who stars as “Bump,” was a former client of mine in New York. I have known him for years and his performance was so good, so believable, that he scared me.

Muse?

I don’t know that I have a single “muse” or influence. I want to make my parents proud though. They have been so supportive of me. I’m very lucky.

Advice for those who want to break into the industry?

Be prepared to work your butt off. If you don’t absolutely LOVE it, go find something else to do, because there are a million people who are willing to sacrifice it all to be in the business. Be a sponge. The best education comes from the people you will work with. So stop and observe.

What’s happening now? What’s next?

David Pomes, the writer/director, is taking “Cook County” out on a multi-city tour. It’s a new trend in independent film making, self-distribution. We want people to see the movie, so he is taking it out there. We’re very excited to see what comes of this tour. David is working on the next script that we are hoping to raise money for and shoot within the next couple of years.

Why do you do what you do?

Oh, I have tried to leave the business many times and it keeps pulling me back in. So I guess I do what I do, because it’s what I’m supposed to do.

Favorite actor?

Kate Winslet, Emma Thompson, Natalie Portman, Anthony Hopkins, Leonardo Dicaprio

Favorite director?

Baz Luhrmann (and David Pomes of course!).

What do you do in your spare time?

Hang out with my dogs! I have two, Roxie, a Jack Russell mix, who I have had for a couple of years and Frankie, a Boxer mix puppy who has just joined the family. My boyfriend and I love to travel and are planning a trip to Europe this fall. I’m also a diehard Arkansas Razorback fan and can’t wait for football season to start! GO HOGS!