Alternative Press

Alternative Press is an American music magazine based in Cleveland, Ohio. It generally provides readers with band interviews, photos, information on upcoming releases, and music charts. It was founded in 1985 by Mike Shea, who is the current president.

Joe Scarpelli is the current general manager. Jason Pettigrew is editor in chief.

Beginnings

The first issue of Alternative Press was simply a photocopied fanzine, distributed at concerts in Cleveland, Ohio beginning in June 1985 by AP's founder, Mike Shea. He disliked the music that was then being broadcast on radio stations and believed that bands playing underground music should be given more media coverage "all in the same spot", he said.

Shea began working on his first issue in his mother's house in Aurora, Ohio. Shea and a friend, Jimmy Kosicki, targeted the Cleveland neighborhood of Coventry. "I took my high school newspaper from Aurora High that looked nice and clean and offset print. I'd walk into these flower shops and Hallmark shops, and I'd say 'We're going to put out an entertainment publication, and it's going to be for kids and [the ad is] only $25.' And they'd look at my high school newspaper and say, 'It's really professional...' That's how we got enough money to make the first issue."

Jeffree Star

Jeffree Star (born Jeffrey Lynn Steininger on November 15, 1985) is an American singer-songwriter, make-up artist, fashion designer and model from Orange County, California. He started his music career on MySpace with over 25 million plays on his self-released music. After releasing two extended plays, Star released his debut album, Beauty Killer (2009), under Popsicle Records. In 2014, he launched his own cosmetics brand called Jeffree Star Cosmetics. Star is also known for his fashion line, Beauty Forever, and transgressive, gender-bending appearance and persona.

Early life

Jeffree Star was born in Los Angeles County, California. His father died when Star was 6 years old; subsequently he was raised solely by his mother, a model who frequently went on assignments. As a child, Star regularly began experimenting with his mother's makeup and convinced her to let him wear it to school when he was in junior high. He moved to Los Angeles following his graduation from high school, supporting himself with various makeup, modeling, and music jobs. He later recalled spending his time on weekends "using a fake ID to attend Hollywood clubs dressed in mini dresses and nine inch high heels where celebrities would contract [Star] for makeup work at their homes", or "hiring [Star] as a model." Star reports that his weekend socializing at clubs and the makeup advice he offered eventually led to his modeling career.

Brendon Urie

Brendon Boyd Urie (born April 12, 1987) is an American singer, songwriter, and musician. He is best known as the lead vocalist of Panic! at the Disco, of which he is the sole remaining member.

Early life

Urie was born in St. George, Utah. He is the fifth and youngest child born to Grace and Boyd Urie, and is of native Hawaiian descent on his mother's side. He was raised in a Mormon family. Urie attended Palo Verde High School, where he met future ex-Panic bassist Brent Wilson in his guitar class. Wilson asked Urie to try out for a band he was in, since they needed a replacement guitarist.

Urie described himself as a "spazz in high school", and explained that one student would always bully him. He worked at Tropical Smoothie Cafe in order to pay his band's rent for their practice space. At the cafe, Urie often sang for customers. He explained, "I would sing anything I was listening to at the time, but I was down to take requests. I remember singing some Scorpions songs, some W.A.S.P. 80s anthems are usually good for tips. It was a huge range of stuff. Some people liked it, and some people didn't. I had to respect other people's wishes, but I had a couple people come in who would ask me to sing for a tip. That's always fun."

Machine gun

A machine gun is a fully automatic mounted or portable firearm, designed to fire bullets in quick succession from an ammunition belt or magazine, typically at a rate of 300 to 1800 rounds per minute. Fully automatic weapons are generally categorized as submachine guns, assault rifles, battle rifles, automatic shotguns, machine guns, or autocannons.

As a class of military firearms, true machine guns are fully automatic weapons designed to be used as support weapons and generally used when attached to a mount or fired from the ground on a bipod or tripod. Light machine guns are small enough to be fired hand-held, but are more effective when fired from a prone position. The difference between machine guns and other categories of weapons is based on caliber, with autocannons using calibers larger than 20 mm, and whether the gun fires conventional bullets, shotgun cartridges, or explosive rounds. Fully automatic guns firing shotgun cartridges are usually called automatic shotguns, and those firing large-caliber explosive rounds are generally considered either autocannons or automatic grenade launchers ("grenade machine guns"). Submachine guns are hand-held automatic weapons for personal defense or short-range combat firing pistol-caliber rounds. In contrast to submachine guns and autocannons, machine guns (like rifles) tend to have a very high ratio of barrel length to caliber (a long barrel for a small caliber); indeed, a true machine gun is essentially a fully automatic rifle, and often the primary criterion for a machine gun as opposed to a battle rifle is the presence of a quick-change barrel, heavyweight barrel, or other cooling system. Battle rifles and assault rifles may be capable of fully automatic fire, but are not designed for sustained fire.

Machine Gun Kelly

George Francis Barnes Jr. (July 18, 1895 – July 18, 1954), better known as "Machine Gun Kelly", was an American gangster from Memphis, Tennessee, during the prohibition era. He attended Central High School in Memphis. His nickname came from his favorite weapon, a Thompson submachine gun. His most infamous crime was the kidnapping of oil tycoon and businessman Charles F. Urschel in July 1933 for which he, and his gang, collected a $200,000 ransom. Their victim had collected and left considerable evidence that assisted the subsequent FBI investigation that eventually led to Kelly's arrest in Memphis, Tennessee, on September 26, 1933. His crimes also included bootlegging and armed robbery.

Career

During the Prohibition era of the 1920s and 1930s Kelly worked as a bootlegger for himself as well as a colleague. After a short time, and several run-ins with the local Memphis police, he decided to leave town and head west with his girlfriend. To protect his family and escape law enforcement officers, he changed his name to George R. Kelly. He continued to commit smaller crimes and bootlegging. He was arrested in Tulsa, Oklahoma, for smuggling liquor onto an Indian Reservation in 1928 and sentenced to three years at Leavenworth Penitentiary, Kansas, beginning February 11, 1928. He was reportedly a model inmate and was released early. Shortly thereafter, Kelly married Kathryn Thorne, who purchased Kelly's first machine gun and went to great lengths to familiarize his name within underground crime circles.