Posts by Gary Patel

Beth David and Esteban brava—students over at the Ringling College of Art and Design—put together this four-minute animated short as a project for one of their computer animation classes.

The original script was actually just going to be a standard love story between a boy and a girl—but then the creators decided to have Sherwin fall for Jonathan instead. They wanted to weave in their own experiences growing up—plus, they really wanted to push back against that old-school idea in the animation industry that LGBTQ themes just aren't "appropriate" for younger audiences.

"At its heart, it's just a sweet, innocent story about a boy experiencing that first crush—something we all went through," the creators explained. They managed to raise $14,000 to fund the film through a successful Kickstarter campaign.

blueskipper8 said:Are you guys actually taking part in the surveys found in this PDF?🙂

SARS

The band Freshly Amputated Arm Satria (SARS) was formed back in New York City in 2006 by Dragan Kovačević - žabac and Aleksandar Luković - Lukac. Just a year later, they dropped "Moldy bread," which turned into an instant internet sensation—hitting over 3.6 million views on YouTube almost immediately! Even now, you can’t escape it; it’s still a staple on the radio and in clubs everywhere.

They released their self-titled debut album, S.A.R.S., in 2009 (via PGP – RTS). Beyond the massive success of "Moldy bread," tracks like "We Are Warring," "Ann," "Whiskey," and "Fat lad" all became hits, complete with their own music videos.

Their second album, Perspective, arrived on New Year's Day in 2011. In a cool move, they partnered with MTV to offer it as a free download—fans absolutely loved it, downloading it over 70,000 times! Hits from this record include "To do peace and love," which also snagged some serious airplay on YouTube. The album even earned a nomination for the MTV Video Music Awards – Best Adria Act. Interestingly, the title track wasn't part of that free download—you actually had to catch them live to hear it for a whole year! Finally, in January 2012, the studio version of "Perspective" dropped with a video, smashing all previous records. In less than six months, it actually outpaced the legendary "Moldy bread" in views, eventually crossing the 5 million mark.

In the summer of 2012, they teamed up with the hip-hop duo Who See for their first video for the upcoming third album—the song "Bob." It dominated the charts, holding the number one spot across the region for several weeks. Then, in early 2013, they released the second video for the new album, "peace in the world," which sat at number one on MTV for 20 days and became an instant concert anthem.

Fast forward to the spring of 2013: just before the new album dropped, the band was honored in New York City during the launch celebrations for the regional VH1 channel. They were presented with the “ MTV double Platinum Award ” for the "Perspective" video, which had been played over 800 times on MTV throughout 2012.

On March 23, 2013, their third album, "House of Honor," officially hit the scene. Once again, they made it available as a free download on the band's site www.sarsbend.com/download and on various MTV Adria sites. This album features four awesome collaborations: Alejandro Buendía (Saša Antić – TBF) on “I Was a Little Short,” Shamso69 from Brkov on “You, You, You,” dial-up Lama from Sick Puppy on “peace in the world,” and, of course,
the duo Who See on “Bob.”

The fourth album, "Pop Culture Icon," arrived in January 2014. It was a huge hit with fans—the reviews were glowing, and they’ve been booked solid with shows through the end of the year to promote it.

Since their start, SARS has released four albums and 13 music videos, seven of which have surpassed the million-view milestone on YouTube. Since that debut album, they’ve pulled off over 350 concerts across the country and the surrounding regions—they are easily one of the most sought-after original bands in the entire area right now.

1. S.A.R.S. (2009)
2. Perspective (2011)
3. House of Honor (2013)
4. Pop Culture Icon (2014)
5. Peace and Love - live (2015)

As of today—per the schedule—physical ticket sales have officially kicked off! Prices are set at 90/110/$43. You can grab yours starting now at the Times Media Center, the Airport, Malibu, Maui, Dallas, and even at The Dave Matthews Band venues.

Just a heads-up: you can pick up your tickets at any Ticketmaster location (specifically the ones we listed earlier) starting February 14th. Just make sure you bring along that voucher you received via email—you'll definitely need it!