002 - And Then There Was Joey

And then there was Joey. Joey Salinas, that is. Or, Joseph Alexander Salinas, "a proud Latino American" born 26 years ago to El Salvadorian parents in the Washington, DC suburb of Arlington, Virginia.

Joey has been singing since the age of 5 but his first stage performance was at age 13 in the 7th grade. " I was cast in [William] Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night" as the court jester, Feste. I had to sing at the very end of the play, which earned me my first two awards as a performer. It was my debut, both as a singer and an actor." That same year, Joey started training with a vocal coach, who, at the time, was working with chart-topping R&B artists.

While Joey is very influenced by the R&B genre, he is also influenced by Pop, Rock, Soul, and Hip Hop. "I'm inspired by great music all together so the list goes on and on." His main influences have been Mariah Carey, Janet Jackson, Prince, George Michael, Aerosmith and Michael Jackson, whose memorial took place on the day of our photoshoot. We spoke about Michael Jackson's sudden death and Joey said: "I didn't realize how big of a Michael [Jackson] fan I really was until after he passed. It's sad, though, because I feel that a lot of the world felt the same. A lot of us that weren't really fans of his while he was still around didn't truly appreciate him until after he passed. Like the rest of the world, I was excited that Michael was about to embark on reigniting his career with a huge concert event. I was excited to see what he had in store for us. Sadly that will never come to pass but we will at least get a glimpse of what could've been with the release of his rehearsal footage. Whether we accept it or not Michael Jackson was a great influence in Pop Culture and I appreciate everything he has done in order for me to be able to do what I love to do."

In 2005, Joey released "In The Beginning...," which gave listeners a glimpse of who he was both through his songs and his taste in music. His 2009 follow up "And Then There Was Alexander" continues in that theme. "Alexander is my middle name and I took on that character as it being the deeper layer to me. This album has more substance to it and a different sound than the first. The content is different but it's still me. So, "In the Beginning..." you got a taste of me. "And Then There Was Alexander" I dug deeper into the psyche of my music to take my listeners further inside of who I am."

Joey is currently writing new material and working on some live shows including one that will be jazz influenced. "I'm really developing the next stage in my musical venture." Updates will be posted on Joeys website as well as his MySpace and Facebook pages. [See links below] Though music is his top priority, Joey continues to act and has recently worked on "Step Up 3-D," "Sex & the City 2," "Gossip Girl," "Ugly Betty," and "Law & Order: SVU."

In addition to his music and acting, Joey is involved with DCToolK!t AKA FuK!t, a community based prevention program which provides free safe sex kits with the goal of stopping the spread of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections. I asked Joey how he got involved with DCToolK!t. "I stumbled upon it by accident actually. A good friend of mine that I had reconnected with was in DC earlier this year and was doing a photo shoot project, amongst other things. He asked if I wanted to pop by for the shoot to hang out afterwards, and so I did. When I got there I met Terry Gerace, who's one of the organizers of the campaign, and he asked if I'd be interested in partaking in the photo shoot to help promote the safer sex campaign. So I said yes. The following week I attended the next shoot, and that was that." For more information, visit http://www.fighthivindc.org/dctoolkit/

These days Joey splits his time between Hollywood, New York City, and Washington, DC. He also splits his time between community service, acting, and music but mostly music. This Joe agrees with Joey's self assessment on his MySpace page. Joe Salinas is "The New Sound of Pop Music."

http://www.joey-salinas.com/

http://www.myspace.com/joeysalinastreblemusic

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#/pages/Joey-Salinas/67216840406

NEXT WEEK: Vote For Joe

001 - Joe Human(n)

Joe the Plumber. Joe Camel. Joe Millionaire. Average Joe. These are just a few of the Joe's that pop culture and reality television have popularized in recent years. Joe is such a common name and nickname. Even the Vice President of the United States is named Joe.

Welcome to Joseph Silva's Joe PhotoBlog. Each week, this Joe, will feature a different human named Joe, Joseph, Jose, Joey, Joel, etc., and what better human to launch it than Joe Humann.

Joe Humann was born in Suffern, New York. He holds a Master's Degree in Building Conservation from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Psychology (with a Minor in Anthropology) from Stony Brook University. Joe, a separated, father of one, currently lives in Flatbush, Brooklyn.

By day, the button down shirts this, 39 year old, Architectural Conservator wears, cover the five tattoos that adorn his body. Among the tattoos are: two nautical stars on his triceps; his son Jared's name on his right forearm; a skull and wings on his left forearm; and a portrait of George Tilyou, the founder of the Steeplechase Pier and "father" of Coney Island on his upper back.

Though all the tattoos were inked by professionals, one of them, received help from a special artist "Jared, my son, filled in the eye in the skull - a 6 year old tattoo artist." Two of the other tattoos also hold a significance to Joe's only child, and a passion they both share - Coney Island. The George Tilyou portrait is obvious but the "Jared" tattoo was inked at Coney Island, a place that Joe and Jared go as often as possible.

Besides Coney Island, Joe loves motorcycles. His latest "toy" is a KTM 530 EXC enduro bike. When I asked Joe about it, he said: "I traded my Harley for it. Most Harley fans think its nuts but this bike is so much fun in NYC. I ride Brooklyn Motocross, as I call it. Cobble stone streets of Red Hook, abandoned buildings along the waterfront of Red Hook, Floyd Bennett Field...its a blast...an urban assault dirt bike....maybe you can meet me one day and shoot me and the bike through the building back lit from light coming off the waterfront....its so fucking amazing..." This Joe is definitely going to take Joe up on his invitation.

As an avid reader, who says "give me non-fiction and I'll be happy," I was surprised to learn that "Lonely Planet - Guide to Spain" was the last book Joe read. It does not exactly fit in with his other favorite authors which include; Franz Kafka, John Steinbeck, Kurt Vonnegut; and Sara E. Wermeil. Of course, it made sense when I learned that Joe has rented a villa in Andalucia so his family can join him in celebrating his 40th birthday in January.

Included in Joe's family is his older brother Richard Humann, an internationally exhibited artist, who joined us on the day of our photoshoot and is featured in one of the photographs. Joe spends allot of time with his brother. Joe spends allot of time with his son Jared. Joe spends allot of time enjoying the things he loves. Joe spends allot of time being human.

Future installments of this blog may feature some plumbers and may even feature some millionaires. However, any Joe, Joseph, Jose, Joey, Joel, etc. will be far from average.

Joe Human's FaceBook: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=539202177

NEXT WEEK: And Then There Was Joey