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The Sun /Sunday, April 6,2014


New release from Martina McBride, Black Label Society


he first release this
 week is Everlasting
 by Martina Mc-
Bride.
 McBride is considered
the"Celine Dion of
Country Music." She was
born as Martina Mariea
Schiffon July 29, 1966,
in Sharon, Kan. Her
family, which includes
two brothers and a
sister, were brought up
with music being a very
important part of their
lives. At the age of 9, she
was added as a member
of her father's band,
The Schiffters. They
played country music in
various clubs. As they
grew, her brothers were
added to the band. In
her early 20s, she moved
to Wichita and started
a new band that rented
studio space from John
McBride, whom she


1mai ed in 1988
 By 1989, the two
moved to Nashville with
the hopes of breaking
into country music. They
both secured jobs on
the Garth Brooks concert
tour. Brooks made her
a deal: Get a recording
contract and I will hire
you as my opening act.
The old saying "being
at the right place at the
right time" fits perfectly
here. RCA Nashville
signed her to a contract
and her debut release
was in 1992.
 This CD had moderate
success, but it was
her second CD that
included the hit song
"Independence Day" that
really got her noticed.
Many radio stations pro-
hibited the song since
the subject matter had
to do with an abused


wife fighting back I)v
killing herself along with
the abusive husband by
burning their home to
the ground. The song
and video won Song of
the Year and Video of
the Year by the Country
Music Association de-
spite the less-than-warm
welcome in beginning.
From that time on
she has become a hit
machine. She has won
CMA's Female Vocalist
of the Year four times
which ties her with Reba
McEntire. Everlasting is
her 12th studio release
and features her versions
of older R&B hits. The
album includes duets
with Kelly Clarkson and
Gavin DeGraw.
 Next we have a new
release by Black Label
Society called Catacombs
of the Black Vatican.


 BLS is a haid iock
band formed in 1998
by guitarist Zakk Wylde,
former lead guitarist
for Ozzy Osborne. He
was born as Jeffrey
Phillip Wielandt on
Jan. 14, 1967, in
Bayonne, N.J. At the age
of 8, he began playing
guitar, and by 14 he
stated "he practiced
as much as 12 hours a
day and slept during
school." (The dream of
every school boy and
what teachers must hate
to hear: The lazy punk
kid in the back of the
classroom sleeping who
will never amount to
much and now is highly
successful. Kids, listen
to me, that dream is
like winning the lottery,
one in a million make it
this way. Pay attention
in school and get great


g 1ad esI Yes, I '-
that is a
plug for my
girlfriend Sandy who is a
school teacher.)
 Growing up, Zakk idol-
ized Ozzy's original lead
guitarist Randy Rhoads,
and his dream was to
play for Ozzy. After the
Rhoads'death in 1982,
Ozzy heard a demo tape
by Wylde and hired him
in 1987. Ozzy and Wylde
have remained very
close, well enough that
Ozzy is the godfather of
one of Wylde's sons.
 Through the years,
BLS has gone through
multiple lineup chang-
es and this release
holds another change.
Catacombs is the first
CD with Dario Lorina,
the former guitarist of
the band Lizzy Borden,
playing rhythm guitar.


 ByTJKOONTZ

You would almost need a
map to follow the lineup
changes. Fourteen peo-
ple in and out of a group
that is releasing their
ninth studio release.
Let's all play together
well now guys.
 Other major releases
this week are from
Carlene Carter, James
Durbin, MercyMe, Linda
Ronstadt. Independent
releases are from Band of
Skulls, John Frusciante,
Heathers, Joan Osborne.
 Keep rockin'folks!


 HAVE A COMMENT?
 Tom Koontz is the owner ofTJ's CDS
 & More at 3275-A Tamiami Trail
 in Port Charlotte. He loves reader
 comments, and can be contacted at
 tjscds@peoplepc.com.


Botox and wine? Med-spa says let's get this party started


 By NANCY CAMBRIA
 ST. Louis POST-DISPATCH

 The office park behind
the Econo Lodge didn't
seem like a venue that
would appeal to the
moms-night-out crowd.
 Yet at twilight, SUVs
began taking the spots
outside the lone office
with the lights on.
 A step through the
door revealed a gathering
with uncorked bottles of
red and white wine, clear
plastic cups, a vase of flow-
ers and chips and dip. The
spread sat a few feet from
a check-in window with
clipboards and across from
metal and plastic waiting
room chairs lined against
the wall.
 Three women were
seated in the row. One
filled out forms, another
scrolled through a
cellphone and all quietly
waited for ... what? An
interview? A time share
presentation?
 Out walked Shannon
Campbell, 40. She
appraised Kristi Elfrankof
St. Peters, Mo. "Oh, yeah,"
Campbell said brightly,
"you're due."
 It was a Tuesday in early
March and time for anoth-
er after-hours Botox party
for Campbell's employer,
Dr. Raffi Krikorian, a
cardiologist based out of
Missouri Baptist Medical
Center and owner of New
Look Vein and Aesthetic
Center in St. Louis, Mo.


 MOT PHOTOS
Connie Nash holds both a cup of wine and her daughter's hand
as Kristi Elfrank waits for Dr. Raffi Krikorian to start a procedure
which will plump her lips. And while this is going on, estheti-
cian Shannon Campbell places a vibrator on Elfrank's head to
distract her from the pain. Nash recently hosted a Botox party
at the New Look Vein and Aesthetic Center in St. Louis, Mo. In
exchange for bringing at least five women to the party, Nash's
Botox treatment was free.
 Injectable cosmetic drumming up orders from
treatments have long her friends.
been in the faces and Now Botox has joined
mindsets of wealthy the party.
women of a certain age Campbell, an esthe-
and Hollywood celebri- tician who has teamed
ties. But now middle-class with Krikorian to organize
women even in their 20s 15 parties so far, was
are spending hundreds at expecting as many as a
a sitting to take away the dozen clients that night.
rough edges of aging. They had been formally
 Why the greater invited by Connie Nash
appeal? Vanity, for sure. of St. Peters. She was
But part of the answer the party's hostess and
dates back long before Elfrank's mother.
the Kardashians and the "Ladies, glass of wine?"
"Housewives of Beverly Campbell asked.
Hills."Think Tupperware. "Yeah, love it," Nash
Mary Kay. Pampered said.
Chef. All highly successful "Are you white or red?"
brands sold through gath- A receptionist cued up
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music pulsed through the
office.
 More women arrived.
They poured more wine.
Talk flowed: crows'feet,
flat lips, stress brows,
smokers lines and
"elevens"-vertical lines
that furrow between the
eyebrows.
 It wouldn't be long
before Krikorian and
his physician's assistant,
Irakli Shengelia, had lined
up Elfrank and six other
paying customers: $330
apiece for 40 units of
Botox to smooth wrinkles
and an additional $575 for
the three women who got
Artefill, an enduring filler
used primarily to plump
lips.
 Krikorian said his
med-spa was a natural
extension of his training.
Cardiology had taken a hit
from declining insurance
reimbursements. He
already was treating the
effects of poor circulatory
systems, such as varicose
veins. An interest in
wellness and graceful
aging followed. Botox
parties were a logical step,
he said.
 Look on Craigslist, type


 *ft ,, ,, ,,KI ^ ^ ^
Holding ice packets to her recently plumped lips, Lisa DeNoyer
listens to Dr. Raffi Krikorian gives her care advice. DeNoyer had
Botox around the eyes and Artefill, a permanent filler to plump
lips, done during a Botox party her mother hosted.


"Botox" in the search
engine and chances are
you'll find ads for parties.
 Critics include a board
member of the American
Academy of Cosmetic
Surgery, who said wine
and medical procedures
shouldn't mix. Plastic
surgeon Suzan Obagi said
the academy discouraged
the parties, which happen
just about everywhere:
cruise ships, hair salons,
homes, hotel-casinos.
 Obagi urges patients
to get treatment only
in a clinical setting. And
alcohol which even
tattoo parlors can't
serve should always be
shunned.
 "So why should we hold
a tattoo parlor to a higher
standard than a physician?"
she said. "That's really not
what should happen in a
clinical setting"

 Lax regulations
 Obagi has seen one
person disfigured by
bad Botox injections
given on a cruise ship.
Dr. Gregory Branham, a
facial plastic surgeon at
Washington University
School of Medicine, said
he had seen lumps and
other complications. One
patient had no idea who
even administered her
Botox at a party, he said.
Peer pressure is his big
worry.
 "How do you make
somebody feel totally
comfortable saying 'no'as
everyone else is doing it?"
he said.
 Regulations vary
nationwide on who can
administer Botox and
filler, and critics argue
that standards are lax. In
Missouri, the law is un-
clear. Branham said it was
generally understood that
doctors, dentists, physi-
cian assistants and nurses
trained in injectables can
do the treatments.
 In Krikorian's practice,
he injects the fillers
and he or his physician


assistant does the Botox.
Patients get touch-ups in
a follow-up visit. He said
he was conservative in
treatment and balanced
the patient's ability to
make sound decisions
with creating "a level of
excitement or pleasure."
 "Part of the benefit of
the relaxed party atmo-
sphere is there's less pain
and less negative experi-
ences,;' he said.
 Campbell said Botox
parties were widely
discussed in skin care
school as a way to build
up a full skin and beauty
practice. People who
attend the parties often
come back for other cos-
metic treatments, such as
facial peels and laser skin
tightening, even weight
loss management. She
has even arranged a party
for hockey moms.
 "They all came in and
got their first Botox, and
now we have two coming
in and getting filler. They
wouldn't have been com-
fortable to do that if they
all hadn't come together
to the party," she said.
 Nash invited work
colleagues, her daughters
and their friends.
 "I just sent out a text,
'Hey I'm having a Botox
party. Only $7.50 a unit,';"
she said.

 Terrified
 of needles
 Customers typically
purchase between
30 and 50 units of
Botox per treatment at
more than a 50 percent
discount. In exchange
for bringing at least five
women to the party,
Nash would get a Botox
treatment for free.
 "Whatever he'll stick in
me, then I'm going to take
it," she said gamely.
 Wine in hand, Nash
stood in a treatment room
with Elfrank and her sister,
Lisa DeNoyer. Another
woman named Dee, who
would not give her full


name, was there to ob-
serve. She was skeptical.
 DeNoyer, recumbent in
a treatment chair, waited
for the white numbing
cream on her face to kick
in before Artefill injections
would plump her lips.
DeNoyer described her
lips as flat and lined the
same as her sister's. They
wanted "pouty."
 DeNoyer was terrified of
needles. She had already
taken a Xanax.
 Krikorian arrived. He
and DeNoyer talked
about goals: sexiness,
fullness and definition in
the ridges between her
nose and upper lip. In
the background, Ke$ha
sang, "It's going down, I'm
yelling timber."
 Campbell dumped
two orange stress balls in
DeNoyer's lap. But DeNoyer
planned to squeeze her
mother's hand.
 "Do I need to hold the
wine so you can hold her
hand?" Dee said to Nash.
 Krikorian injected a
painkiller just beneath
the skin. Then Campbell
held a wand massager on
top of DeNoyer's head "to
distract the brain."
 "Take a deep breath," the
doctor said as, his hands
blue-gloved, he took a
1 1A-inch needle called
a cannula and pushed it
through the soft tissue on
the side of DeNoyer's face
near her lips. He pushed
slowly, and worked the
needle flatly behind the
facial muscles over to the
top lip.
 DeNoyer lay seemingly
comatose in the chair,
eyes closed and slack-
jawed. But her mother
grimaced. DeNoyer was
crushing her hand.
 DeNoyer got six
injections in all. When
done, she sat up and
blinked. She was given a
hand mirror. Her fuller lips
turned up into a modest
smile.
 "You got a lip!" Elfrank
told her sister.
 DeNoyer returned to
the waiting room holding
tiny square ice packs
to her face. Partygoers
encircled her.
 "Awww," one said.
"It looks soooo good!"
another agreed.
 Campbell gave
DeNoyer a high-five. The
sisters mock-kissed their
enhanced lips. And Dee
quietly slipped back to a
treatment room to get her
lips injected with the filler.
 The party went on. In
his white lab coat, the
physician assistant located
a missing corkscrew and
opened another bottle.


-Page 6