ME SENTINDO ABENçOADO E CERCADO DE AMOR.

Hoje, coloco as fotos dessas pessoas aqui, representando um pouco do amor e da energia positiva que senti através dos ultimos dias. Obrigado a todo mundo que entrou no meu myspace,orkut, blog e me passou bons fluidos para essa nova etapa da minha vida que começa. Valeu pelas palavras e tudo de bom que recebi. No dia em que soube, o dia soh nao foi perfeito porque soube do falecimento do Wander Taffo, que foi um dos maiores guitarristas do Brasil e com quem estava em contato sobre fazer alguma coisa na sua escola. Não nos ocnhecemos pessoalmente, fiquei devendo uma visita a esse heroi da guitarra e cara muito bacana. A gente nunca sabe o que pode acontecer.

Obrigado a minha familia pelo domingo perfeito e por TUDO, aos meus amigos pelo rock Nucrepe perfeito. Me sinto de tanque cheio para essa nova etapa. Cercado de anjos da guarda em bando. Hoje, estava cercado de malas e equipamento, saindo do trem, sem ter realmente como fazer 20 minutos de caminhada. Sem taxi, sem nada. Uma menina me viu em dificuldades, parou o carro, me ajudou e deixou no portao de casa. Um estranho que mal falava a sua lingua e mal pode expressar TANTA gratidao.

a-) Minha mãe, irmãos e irmãs. Um dia muito especial para todo nos, com a formatura da minha irmã Bebel, num lindo dia de sol em Niteroi.
b-) EM PAZ. Minha nega Carol. neeeeeeeeeeeeeeega... Poderia escolher um milhão de legendas para essa foto. Cada vez que eu a vejo, penso em uma, mas elas são muito especiais para mim. Essa foto e essa menina. Fique bem na companhia do Sampler bonitão e pega a capa dele logo :-)
c-)Eu, Gui e meus primos Bruno e Flavio, com os quais eu cresci e amo de coração. Cerveja gelada no Baixo Gavea matando as saudades.
d and e-) Tirei a minha camisa do Whitesnake da gaveta para assistir a essa grande instituição do rock antes de ir para Los Angeles. As companhias foram as mehores possiveis: meu irmão onipresente, Gui, meus queridos Gargamel, Godô, Gustavo Labronici e meu primo Marcelo, meu parceiro em milhares de shows de metal através dos anos. CARAVANA DO METAL!
f-) Rainbow Bar and Grill,Los Angeles, com Gi. A melhor coisa da vida é REALIZAR. Quando o blah, blah, blah e idéias viram coisas concretas. Eu até hoje sinto falta da sua presença no meu cotidiano, mas você tah feliz agora, cercada de coisas boas e pessoas idem.
g-) Recebi faz pouco tempo minha foto como padrinho do casamento desse grande irmão, Fernando, em Brasilia, no fim de janeiro. Tudo de bom, cara!

Bjos, abraços e vou cntinuar postando aqui, conforme for possivel!

FROM TAKARA`s blog on MySpace


Hi there guys and girls,


Gus Monsanto here. Just writing you from Los Angeles, to tell that we are done recording all vocals for the new Takara album, to be released later this year. Songs sound killer and we are only missing guitar leads + a few keyboards.
I co-wrote nine songs with Neal Grusky, who wrote two more songs on his own and there is still a remake of "Spotlight", from Takara..s debut CD.
Patrick and Bjorn, from Yngwie..s band totally played great on the album and I am pretty pleased with the results.
Had a blast with the guys, with the great Stefan Svensson, who is a great guy and is getting us great sounds and specially, with Neal and his wife, Alysa, who were the coolest hosts.
We don..t have an album title yet, any suggestions anyone, LOL?
Peace out,

G.

Former STRATOVARIUS mainman/guitarist Timo Tolkki has recruited ex-ADAGIO singer Gus Monsanto for his new REVOLUTION RENAISSANCE band.

Commented Tolkki: "I'm writing this from Hong Kong overlooking the amazing bay. It is a great pleasure to announce the new singer of REVOLUTION RENAISSANCE I have chosen from over 400 vocalists that sent me their MP3s. Thank you so much for sending all those...all together I have received over 1500 applications and I have listened through them all. I am sorry for those who were not chosen, but I can tell you that you should NEVER give up. Follow your heart and you will get there eventually. Don't think about money or success, think about your art, the money comes by itself, not the other way around.

"In Gus I have found everything I look for a singer. He is a real world citizen and a soulmate. We all feel this connection and that we did not arrive crossing each other's paths by accident. Gus has a very versatile voice, amazing range and no accent and he can sing in many different styles yet he has a very recognizable voice. Now the only remaining thing is to find the bass player who fits into this team that is multinational, but spirituality doesn't know any nationalities.

"It's been over two years since I wrote the songs for [the debut REVOLUTION RENAISSANCE album] 'New Era' and because the first album was kind of a special one, we want to make our first real album together soon, so we will enter the studio already in this August to record the new album. We are very excited and full of good and positive energy. We don't know when the album will come out, but probably already January 2009 followed by a massive world tour where we will of course play all the biggest STRATOVARIUS hits and few less played as well and material from the two RR albums. We will also be doing a massive South American tour in December this year just to have some fun and present ourselves to the fans.

"So here it is ladies and gentlemen: THE REVOLUTION HAS BEGUN!!!!"

Commented Monsanto: "I am a 33-year-old metal singer from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and I am really glad to announce I have been chosen amongst a bunch of talented beasts to front REVOLUTION RENAISSANCE. The band is going to be an amazing experience and the album 'New Era' totally kicked my ass when Timo sent it to me.

"I have been on a beautiful journey making music since I started playing the guitar age 10. Ups, downs, ins, outs, but this infatuation keeps coming back and you're more and more into it.

"In brief: the last four years of my life were spent fronting the metal band ADAGIO. We played all over the world, did the 'Dominate' album and it was a great learning experience for me. Lately, I have also replaced Jeff Scott Soto, one of the best singers in business, in TAKARA. Two days after ADAGIO and I parted ways, I got this great message from Timo and the rest is history in the making.

"Timo used to be surrounded by a great band that made history. I am aware of the responsibility. I am aware of the fans. Rest assured: we will kill. He's got all my respect, since he didn't take the easy way, which would be using the old bands name. Personally, I even had the mega pleasure of introducing Bruno Agra, one of my best friends and kick-ass drummer extraordinaire, to Timo and REVOLUTION RENAISSANCE, which makes it even more special."

Hi there, boys and girls!

Greetings from Santa Monica, California!
It's been a long time since I actually wrote some stuff on this blog. Basically, I've been somewhat trying to life life, in between all projects. Writing and demoing shit, gigging a lot with Super Rock in Brazil and trying to enjoy my home, my town, my family and my best friends. I had a super summer back home, in between all that.
I came to Los Angeles on May 8th to record the Takara album. It's cool, because it's a band I liked from way back, the kind of music I grew up on, filling in for the great Jeff Scott Soto and Michael Flatters and I got to write the lyrics and music to the majority of the tunes. Neal Grusky totally gave me free reins to do my thing and "Gussify", as he puts, his music. Thanks for that, bro!
Neal and Alysa, his better half, picked me up at LAX Friday night and we already had fun from the minute we got home. Never a dull moment, from trying to blow a bed to ... well, you name it! They have been the coolest. It's been my first time in California, and it was really a dream come true, since I really dreamt of coming to GIT when a kid and study to become one of the world's top guitar players. NOT!!! Yet in my first actual trip to California, I work with an MI teacher, Bjorn Englen, who also plays with Yngwie Malmsteen. I met Bjorn during the Takara photo shoot and is a super nice guy.
We have started working on Saturday, after taking the first day to try recovering a bit from jet-lag and getting to know Santa Monica a bit. Really great place.
Recordings have been amazing so far. 10 songs done, 2 to go. The album is being engineered by Stefan Svensson, an amazing guy, super drummer, full of great ideas. Big Swede will become a HUGE expensive producer, mark my words! We laugh about "WACKY SHIT" all the time, and it's been one more great learning experience.
This picure features Neal Grusky, Big Swede, me and Sugarfoot. This guy, Jonathan Moffett, has been drumming for Michael Jackson, Jackson 5, George Michael, Madonna, you name it... for over 25 years and is like the nicest guy you could ever meet.
The album still has no title, but it will probably still come out during 2008.
I have been driving home - studio back for the last couple of days, but last night I managed to go sightseeing a bit. One of my best friends in the world, Gisele Habib, who I went to university with way back lives here and it was something we used to say during boring mornings cutting classes that we'd hang out in Hollywood sometime. So, paying this long overdue visit to someone who actually helped me through heartaches, getting drunk, puking and other embarassing shit from the past is a great thing. We had dinner with her friend Melissa at the Rainbow Bar and Grill, where I went mad from all the memorabilia, seen the Kiss and Alice Cooper stars at the Walk of Fame and finally saw the Steel Panther Show at THe Key Club, that used to be Gazarri's. All these movies and videos and everything and their actual scenarios. The show was actually great, fantastic musicianship and even better jokes. Scott Ian from Anthrax also played, as Whit Crane, from Ugly Kid Joe, who did a great Dio and Corey Taylor, from Slipknot, who was really good singing Priest.
Of course, I lost my camera... With all the pictures... Hope to find the time to take some more pics before I leave.
Got to have some sleep. Last day of screaming ahead.