I.) WELCOME ABOARD :

The CWE is happy to welcome aboard the CWE's newest members:

1) Andy Manchir of Indianapolis , IND. 2) Krista Robinson of Clifton, VA.

We welcome them aboard just in time for the fun and festivities for 2005 !!!!!!!!! Please feel free to get involved as much as you like.;) WELCOME TO OUR FAMILY!!!

II.) THE CWE FAMILY :

SPEAKING of the same, I hope you will sign up for the CWE Family Program. It is obviously not mandatory, so if you want to participate, we welcome the return of your form. We will be sending this out separately from THE WHISPER.

Thank you Brenda and Tara. We appreciate your undertaking this program.

III.) SPEAKING OF TASKS:

Here are the officer's positions which we need to fill for 2005:

a) Officer of the Pen b) Officer of Public Relations c) Officer of Promotions d) Officer of Special Projects e) Officer of Membership f) Officer of Cyberchat g) Office of Events h)Officer of Board Affairs i) Webpage Editor(s) j) Officer of Airwave Assault

IF YOU are interested, drop me a note........ we welcome your involvement!!!

IV.) THANKS KEVIN :

Here's an article on the band from South Carolina when they played courtesy of Kevin LaFlam:

THE CONCEPT ALBUM

By Zach Hanner Of THE SUN NEWS

Music and theater have been inextricably linked for hundreds of years, and although classical music fused with theater long ago to spawn opera, it's only been 35 years or so since rock 'n' roll found its true theatrical voice.

"I remember hearing The Who's 'Tommy' for the first time," said Scott Mann, deejay at Myrtle Beach classic rock station WAVE 104.1. "It was just a work of genius, unbelievable. It's still, to this day, one of my favorite albums. I've always loved the rock opera concept. Pink Floyd did it with 'Darkside Of The Moon' and 'The Wall.' When Queensryche's 'Operation: Mindcrime' came out, it was really intriguing because it was suited for the current day's headlines."

Fans of the rock opera will get a chance to sample "Operation: Mindcrime" as Queensryche charges into the House of Blues tonight. The first act of the show will feature a number of the band's hits, including the MTV favorite "Silent Lucidity," then the second act features a complete multimedia run-through of "Mindcrime," the Seattle quintet's 1988 magnum opus.

"We've got this amazing surround-sound system that's really fun to listen to," said Queensryche lead singer Geoff Tate in a recent conversation from the band's tour bus in Orlando, Fla. "We have a multimedia display with film clips that help propel the story and live video cameras feeding shots of the audience and actors on stage portraying the different characters in the story. It's more of a theatrical presentation than a rock show."

Tate credits numerous influences with regard to his evolution as a songwriter, as well as in his efforts to create Queensryche's own rock opera. "A part of rock's evolution is younger artists taking ideas and inspiration from other musicians and making their own, building on it," Tate said. "My first concert was Alice Cooper's 'Billion Dollar Babies' tour. There was a lot of art in the music of that era, and bands were stretching out beyond the boundaries that previously existed."

For "Mindcrime," Tate and his band mates took the story of a normal kid who finds himself used as a pawn in a much larger game than he can comprehend and twisted it into a highly regarded work of riveting emotion and energy. '"Mindcrime' is a classic story of a regular guy who's up against the powerful, and he gets pushed into doing things against his will because he doesn't have control over his own life," Tate said. "We can all feel that way.

Mann likens the rock opera concept to movies and books. "I like reading stories, and I love good music; and when you combine those two things, it has universal appeal." He also has praise for artists who are capable of maintaining story and music without losing the freshness in both mediums. "It's got to be challenging for a musician to keep that theme running and together throughout an entire album," Mann said. "There must be a sort of process to figure out songs that can both work in the overall picture of the album and still stand on their own. 'The Wall' has a lot of great standalone songs but it also has bits that wouldn't work at all as singles."

Tate said it's a completely different approach making a concept record. "You have to draw it all out, make an outline, so to speak. You have a central idea, and you figure out what points you want to cover and go from there. All the details round out the work, and it's a real feeling of pride hearing all those songs working together cohesively."

Drawing on the precedent set before them, modern bands such as Green Day are exploring the world of rock opera with great success. "American Idiot" shot to No. 1 on Billboard's album charts. Dubbed a "punk rock opera" by many, the feeling is that this may be the San Francisco trio's masterpiece and, oddly enough, their first foray into politically charged material.

Meanwhile, those at Friday's show also will get a glimpse in to Queensryche's sequel to its original rock opera, "Operation: Mindcrime 2," due for release in 2005. "It draws a lot of lines between the time that the original 'Mindcrime' was written and the world of today," Tate said. "It's a continuation of the story years later, and it's interesting to see how things have evolved."

NOTE: Thanks Kevin for forwarding to us......... :)

V.) CWE 'S NEWEST EDITION :

WELCOME.......... to our newest edition , KYLE DEBETTA , the son , of Jodi ( Hodi) and Dan !!!!!!!! CONGRATULATIONS and thanks for the pics!!!

MORE TO FOLLOW.....

From The Darkside,

Revolution Colin