by Maria Santoferraro

C L I C K O N F U L L S C R E E N F O R B E S T V I E W

Question #1: Off the top of yourhead, can you name a song that has aman’s name as the title?

Answer: If you did, I’m impressed –because 92.2% of those surveyed did not!

Question #2: Now if I ask you toname a song with a girl’s name as thetitle, I bet you can come up with some-thing really quick…

Answer: Veronica, Jane, Michelle,Angie, Layla, Maria – there are tons ofgreat songs named after women, andI’m sure it was no problem for you tocome up with a few!

Why is this? Well, I think most womenknow the reason. We just never feel thatinspired to write a love song about a man.Maybe at the beginning of a relationshipwe’ll pen a few verses, but eventually mostmen will break our heart, don’t put downthe toilet seat, get love handles, annoy thecrap out of us, and then there goes the hitsong. The only songs I can think of withmen’s names are really horrible like “Bad,Bad Leroy Brown” or “Ben,” which by theway was about a rat.

In the new web series No Songs for Men,all of the female characters have thenames of popular rock songs from the 70’sand 80’s with a woman’s name as the title:Beth, Amanda, Jenny, Sara, and Beth’s sis-ter, Christian. These talented women areall members of the indie rock band sensa-tion Code Cherry!

It’s The Runaways meets Sex and the Cityas we follow the music, sisterhood, andliaisons of these five incredible women asthey compose the reasons why there reallyare no songs for men.

what is

NO SONGS FOR MEN?

Helloooo Cleveland! Come on, say itwith me with a strong English accent –it’s fun!

Helllooooo Cleveland!

I’d like to introduce the women of theindie rock band sensation, live fromCleveland, Ohio…Code Cherry!

I don’t know about you, but I love that partof a rock concert where the lead singersaunters up to the microphone and intro-duces the band. As I listen to the concert, ifI don’t know a lot about the band’s backupplayers, my voyeuristic tendencies kick inand I imagine what their lives are like, wherethey’re from, and how many groupiesthey’ve slept with. It’s always a soberingyet liberating experience to hear a few snippets of information about each bandmember, kind of like the guilty pleasure I get each time I read People magazine.

Sometimes the leadsinger tells a funny storyabout the drummer orasks the audience togive a shout-out for amember that hails fromthat town, or elicits a

boo for a member that isfrom a rival town. I espe-

cially like the band

introductions where each band membergets their chance to show off and play alittle solo after they are introduced. Ialways like the lead singer a littlebit more when they step asideand allow the rest of the banda chance to shine like that.

Over the last ten years, I’vefollowed the musical exploitsof Code Cherry; and theirlead singer, Beth, a goodfriend of mine, alwaysdoes an exceptional jobof introducing her bandto the audience.Normally she woulddo the introduc-tions, but today Iget the honor. Iknow some of you are curi-ous about Code Cherry, and I think it’simportant for you to get to know them ifyou’re going to follow this web series. So,rather than make you wait until the end ofthe show, I’m going to introduce them now.Don’t worry, I’m not going to give it allaway – I know you want to have a littlevoyeuristic fun thinking about all thegroupies they’ve slept with too!

So here we go…

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HELLLOOOOOO CLEVELAND !

beth Straight from the streets ofAkron, Ohio, our amazing lead singer andthe band’s chief songwriter is Beth, who by

the way also plays a mean maracas. Bethis married to Cris Stanley. Yes, the Cris

Stanley of the 90’s one album hitwonder band Intensity. If you

could describe their marriage inone word it would

be – rocky, butthey do like

to kissandmakeup.Bethwould

hate it ifshe knew

I was intro-ducing her in

connection to herhusband, so I’ll move on and say that sheis an incredibly talented songwriter, onewho should have received more kudosfor her songs. Instead, she is famous

for another type of writing –advertising copy. Yes,

Beth spends her nine-to-five spinning wordsto assist huge corpora-tions in pimping lawnmowers and softdrinks to consumers.

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christian Beth’s sister,Christian, is our lead guitarist. She wasalso born and raised in Akron, but nowhangs out in the trendy urban Clevelandneighborhood of Tremont. An incredibleaxe woman, her goal in life is to make itto the list of The 100 Greatest Guitaristsof All Time in Rolling Stone magazine.She has some pretty tough competitionto wipe out, and she would join only twoother women on the list (Joni Mitchelland personal hero Joan Jett), but that isnot going to stop her in her quest.Christian doesn’t have a day job; there isno time for that when she has a guitar toplay. She lives off themoney she makesplaying with CodeCherry (which isnot a lot) and isreally adept at borrowingmoney from herroommates, hersister, her parents,and her…I’m notgoing to go on, youget the point, and tobe honest her sup-porters don’t mind,because they believein her talent too. Sheis an artist and they byinstinct can live on their art alone, butthat may not be enough lately, becauseChristian is in love.

amandaOn drums, badumpbump, we haveAmanda. I knowshe looks like a

young little sprite,but man can this red-

head woman beat thoseskins. Amanda hails from

Boston, but made her way to Ohio for college, where she studied music and men. A yoga instructor and vegan by day, she is a man-eating serial dater by night. Let’s just say that this girl has beenaround the block a few times, butnot been lucky in love.

SARA Sara,Beth’s best friendsince second grade,is our illustrious bassplayer. Her soulfulrhythmic playing issynonymous with herlife. She spends her days ina McMansion in the snooty sub-urban community of Hudson (not herchoice) with her husband, Jessie, and theirdaughter, but really comes alive when shejoins the Code Cherry girls for their weeklyoutings. Here’s a little trivia – the womanowns over 300 hundred pairs of shoes!She’d like to thank her mom and sister fortheir babysitting and emotional support.She will not thank her husband, Jessie.

jennyRounding outthe group wehave Jennyfrom Clevelandon tenor sax andkeyboards. Jenny isAmanda’s BFF and alsoone of her roommates. The twomet at Kent State where they studiedmusic together, but Jenny decided to mixit up and get a major in fashion design

along with her minor in music.Jenny also majored in flirting, andshe’s known to tell guys hernumber is 867-5309 if she wantsto blow them off. It is amazing

how many don’t get it. Jennyworks full time for a company thatmanufactures fabrics, which is anice little perk if you design yourown clothes. She is always wear-ing something fashionable and

funky, straight off a VivienneWestwood runway. The girls in the

band are never quite sure what she willend up wearing for a show! Her dream– quit the day job, move to Paris, andcompose the runway music for her fash-ion shows. While she’s working on thatshe can really rip out a great sax solo.

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This is just a small piece of the story, alittle info to whet your appetite. As wemove on you’ll get to meet more amaz-ing women like Angie and Roxanne.

So who am I? Well, let’s just say I’mCode Cherry’s biggest fan and I wasinspired by Beth to write the story.Besides, I owe it to her, because shealways encouraged me as a woman to bea writer when no one else would. Shebelieved in me, and that means every-thing to a young woman trying to findher way.

Think of me as the press agent for theband, and I’ll take you on the full accessback stage VIP tour. I guarantee by the

end of it you’ll be hummingtheir tunes and become a fullcard-carrying member of theCode Cherry fan club.

So that’s it for the intros, but itdoesn’t mean the concert is about toend. This one is just about to start, girls– so stay tuned and get ready to rock!

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JOIN US EACH ISSUE

You don’t have to stand in line to gettickets for the first show, just sign upfor Fan Mail at www.mariamedia.net toreceive alerts on upcoming episodes.

Stay tuned, the Code Cherry girls willbe back soon to play you the very firstepisode of No Songs for Men.

Maria Santoferrarowas born and raised in Northeast, Ohio.After graduating fromMarietta College with a degree inadvertising, and herentrepreneurial debut of CareerGear,she went on to pursue a glamorouscareer in the field of advertising, managing major soft drink, condom,fast food and diaper brands until shedecided to shuck it all and create NoSongs For Men. She loves living in Ohiowith her husband, but is working out aplan to split her time and work and playremotely from either a tropical island, aski slope, Paris or wherever they want.Hey, a girl can dream! This is her firstweb series. Visit the author’s websiteat: www.mariamedia.net

Book design by JAS Graphicsjasgraphics.biz

Character illustrations by Renee Lethbridge Design Serviceswww.reneelethbridge.com

Published byMariaMedia, LLCCopyright © 2010 by Maria Santoferraro

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