ANIMALS ROCK

By Shari Black Velvet

Eighteen years ago I gave up meat and became vegetarian. One day I suddenly realised that didn't have to eat them to survive and that eating meat was cruel and uncalled for. It's funny - I hadn't really thought about it before then. You know how it is, when you go and make food, you think 'ooh, I'll have some of that, it tastes nice' and that's all you think about. You don't think about where it came from and what happened to it before it ended up in your kitchen or on your plate.

So one day I woke up. I suddenly became aware of what actually happened. I was educated. Suddenly that sausage that used to sit next to the chips wasn't just a sausage, it was part of a pig that had suffered horrible living conditions and cruelty before finally being slaughtered. That fish that was covered in batter and wrapped up in paper at the local chip shop was a living, breathing animal that had been caught and killed.

Over the years I really began thinking more and more. I guess it's true that the older you get the wiser you get. It helps to read. To not just shut off and ignore what is going on. To take it in and realise that what's happening is not cool. And then do something about it. I'm now vegan. On October 5th, 2002 I decided to give up animal by-products. I decided that I didn't want to contribute at all indirectly to hurting animals. I didn't need to eat their by-products, to wear their skin, to use products that had seen poor, defenseless animals caged up in laboratories and harmed and abused. I realised I could live a cruelty-free live - and it was actually really easy.

At one point I thought I'd never be able to give up eating cheese. My diet was based around cheese. It probably sounds funny. Cheese sandwiches, cheese pizzas, cheese on toast. But you know what? It wasn't funny. And you don't need cheese when there's soya cheese. Just check out Redwood's super-melting Cheezly on toast or pizza - it's awesome! It kinda sucks that you can't go to the pizza parlour and order a pizza, but you know what - I can now make a mean home-made pizza that can rival theirs! Maybe *I* should start up my own vegan pizza parlour... There's a thought. Hehe.

So you may not think that this page has anything to do with rock, but in my eyes anyone who is a vegetarian or vegan rocks and anyone who is kind to animals rocks. And more and more people into rock music are vegetarian or vegan. A lot of band members don't eat meat. I decided not to print anything in Black Velvet on artists who promote cruelty to animals. That includes the likes of Ted Nugent and James Hetfield who sickeningly think it's fun to hunt animals or The Vandals who have a member into bullfighting. Why should I promote these guys? They anger and sadden me. They have no compassion, no heart or feelings.

There are some wonderful musicians who are against animal cruelty and are vegetarians and vegans. They range from Midtown to Moby, Chrissie Hyde to Frenzal Rhomb, Pitchshifter to Beki Bond and Goldfinger's John Feldmann to Poison's Rikki Rockett. And Linda McCartney (RIP)... what a star! In issue 33 of Black Velvet, Tyler of Midtown talks inspiringly about how much he loves animals, how they promote PETA, how disgusting people who wear fur are and more. This was Black Velvet's first major animal rights and vegetarian interview. It was actually Tyler who kind of inspired me to go that step further and become vegan. Thanks Tyler. (Read his interview at www.blackvelvetmagazine.com/midtown.htm) When interviewing Joel of Good Charlotte for Black Velvet 36, he told us that his brother and guitarist Benji had become vegan.

Issue 40, Black Velvet's 10 year anniversary issue, included an interview with Goldfinger's John Feldmann about animal rights. You can read about protesting, promoting PETA on tour, what kids should do if their parents won't cook them vegetarian food or buy veggie products, animal/humane testing, new animal rights inspired Goldfinger songs and more. This interview can be found online at www.blackvelvetmagazine.com/goldfinger.htm.

More and more people are becoming vegetarian or vegan ever day, too. Even discovering new bands can lead to discoveries of new vegans or vegetarians. While in New York in December 2005 we went to catch The SmashUp at Continental. One of the other bands on the bill was Bandcamp - an awesome band that at the time we'd not heard of. Later on when checking out their website it was revealed that bassist St3ve Shebby was vegan. Asking him why he became vegan he replied, 'I became vegan because of my beliefs. I try to be a compasionate person. I don't like killing and suffering. I believe in karma and reincarnation. I was vegetarian for a year before becoming vegan. The more I learned about the dairy industry and other animal products, the more I wanted to become vegan. It just seems so unreasonable to eat animals and enslave them.'

I'm not saying that YOU should become vegetarian or vegan (although I do think you should! lol), but this is my page for the animals. They can't speak so I'm doing soon their behalf. Please don't treat animals cruelty. Think about if you were in their shoes. Would you like to suffer as they do? Would you like to be caged up and tested on, hunted, stabbed, killed? Or even if you would, that would be your choice - they have no choice. If it's not ok to kill another human being why is it ok to kill an animal? Have a veggie burger for tea for a change.

We love PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals). They care so much for animals and do so much to stop the cruelty, no matter in which field. They know that animals are not meant to be used, abused, eaten, worn or tested on. They have some awesome websites, but the one which will appeal to rock fans is PETA2.com - this has heaps of news and great articles and info on an assortment of rock bands and musicians. You can read all about how Good Charlotte went on KFC protests, watch video interviews with bands like Sick Of It All talking about how they cope being vegetarian/vegan while on the road, discover all the great bands that are against animal testing, against KFC, and against animal abuse such as American Hi-Fi and The Donnas and even The Darkness, and you can even order a free vegetarian starter kit if you are interested in becoming veggie. It's an awesome website which is constantly updated with loads of great info and articles.

Fat Mike of NOFX and Fat Wreck Chords put out a benefit CD to raise funds for PETA - 'Liberation: Songs To Benefit PETA' for the super cheap price of $3.98. The compilation CD features Good Charlotte, Midtown, The Used, Goldfinger, Story of The Year, Hot Water Music, The Eyeliners, Frenzal Rhomb and many more. You can order a copy from the PETA2.com website. Click the link to go there. Black Velvet totally rcommends the CD. We reviewed it in Black Velvet and gave it 5/5! : http://www.peta2.com/ot/o-compcd.html

Make sure you also check out Goldfinger's 'Free Me' video/song at http://www.petatv.com/tvpopup/Prefs.asp?video=free_me 'Free Me' is a bonus track on Goldfinger's 'Open Your Eyes' CD which features horrible slaughterhouse footage that will bring home to you how cruel the meat industry is. If you don't have the 'Open Your Eyes' CD yourself, go and watch it online now.

If you sign up for any of PETA's mailing lists or their message board (which you should!), tell them shari@blackvelvetmagazine.com was the referrer.

PETA also send out a quarterly magazine, 'Animal Times', which you can easily sign up for. The UK now have their own version thanks to the people at www.petauk.org - Black Velvet was even mentioned in 'You Did It!' section of the Summer 2004 issue (which has now sold out). Check it out here:

Promote The Cause On Tours

In a band? Want to help spread the word? Why not take PETA2 on tour with you? Whether it be just getting a bunch of leaflets and handing them out at shows yourself or having PETA street team members come and man a stall, you can do your bit to raise awareness for animal rights. In fact, it doesn't even need to be PETA you take, there's Animal Aid, VIVA!, BUAV and many more organisations that would love your support. They all have literature available to be distributed - just contact them via their website (see links opposite).

Many US bands have taken PETA on tour especially in the US, where PETA originated. Last year though, in the UK, Black Velvet faves Pitchshifter took PETA2 out with them on their October 2004 tour to promote their newly released 'P.S.I.entology' DVD (out on PSI Records). Frontman JS Clayden told Black Velvet, "This was the first time Pitchshifter took PETA2 out with us. We have always tried to use our fortunate position of being able to communicate with fans to the advantage of expanding our fans' horizons. We have taken Amnesty International and Green Peace out with us before. This time we thought we'd give another organisation the opportunity." JS became vegetarian at the age of 15, inspired by bands such as The Smiths (check out 'Meat Is Murder' for a prime example). "I think most people just aren't aware of what really goes on," he says. "They don't make the association with the chunk of pink stuff in their pre-packaged containers and the animals. I think you'll find most people are even unaware that you have to keep a cow pregnant for it to produce milk... It costs us nothing to at least look at the facts and through the websites of PETA and the Vegetarian Society people can learn more." About helping promote the animal rights org out on the road, JS says, "For me it was great to give PETA2 the chance to get to some new minds and get our crowd interested in that organisation. It does feel good to do something with the band scenario instead of the classic rock and roll animal nonsense." He's happy to report that he received a lot of positive feedback and added, "to be honest, it would be worth it for one wouldn't it?"

PUTTING ON A BENEFIT SHOW?

Some bands or promoters put on benefit shows but don't check whether the charity their fund raising is going to tests on animals. For example, there are many different cancer research charities and organisations and some use animal testing (ie Cancer Research UK), while others use humane research methods. Please try to pick a charity that does not use and abuse animals for research. Animal research often does not work since animals are so different to humans - and it's very cruel. There are now more humane research methods that ever before (see below) - with better and more efficient results. If more money can be given to humane research, we will be more likely to find cures to illnesses and diseases much quicker. There is a list of which charities test on animals and which don't at:

http://www.peta.org.uk/cmp/viv-charlist.asp

It can be hard when you're in a touring band (or even if you're just following one) to know where all the cool vegan or veggie shops, cafes and restaurants are situated in each town. So we've decided to try and compile a small guide to places to eat at in some of the towns that bands frequently gig in. If you know of any that we've not included please email details to us (name, address, website if they've got one) at editor@blackvelvetmagazine.com and we'll check them out and add them. Even if you're not vegan or veggie you should visit these places and try them!

BIRMINGHAM

One Earth Shop - Vegan Store - 100% vegan. 54 Allison Street, Digbeth, Birmingham. Black Velvet shops at the One Earth Shop a lot! Allison Street (off Digbeth High Street) is just across the road from Reddington's Rare Records which stocks Black Velvet! Two good reasons to go there. It's about a 5 minute walk from the city centre and very near to the National Express Coach Station. Sells lots of good vegan food and all sorts of other vegan products.

The Warehouse Cafe. 54 Allison Street, Digbeth, Birmingham. Above the One Earth Shop. Cafe.Open Mon-Sat. http://www.thewarehousecafe.com

Sibilas Restaurant - Organic vegetarian restaurant. Canal Square, Browning Street, Birmingham B16 8EH. Near the NIA, the Midland's newest veggie restaurant. http://www.sibilasrestaurant.co.uk/

Rooty Frooty @ The Custard Factory. 17 Gibb Street, Birmingham. B9 4AA. Restaurant & bar.

BRISTOL

Cafe Maitreya - 89 St Marks Road, Easton, Bristol BS5 6HY. www.cafemaitreya.co.uk Winner of the first Bristol Vegan Award for the best vegan eating house in the area. Not open Mondays.

One Stop Thali Cafe - 12a York Road, Montpellier, Bristol. 6.30am-11.30pm daily. Mostly vegan.

Earthbound - Shop - 8 Abbotsford Road, Cotham. Bristol. Organic fruit & veg, vegan products, other vegan/veggie food.

CAMBRIDGE

Rainbow Cafe - 9A Kings Parade, Cambridge. 10am-9.30pm. Vegetarian restuarant that is vegan friendly. www.rainbowcafe.co.uk

CARDIFF

Crumbs - Vegetarian Restaurant. Vegan-friendly.

EXETER

Herbies - Vegetarian Restaurant. 15 North Street. Exeter. Closed Monday evenings & Sundays.

GLASGOW

Mono - Cafe-bar/restaurant. Kings Court, Kings Street, Glasgow. G1 5QP.

Stereo - Veggie/vegan cafe/bar. 12-14 Kelvin Haugh Street, Finnieston, Glasgow

EDINBURGH

Future Foods Edinburgh - 2 Warrender Park Road, Edinburgh, EH9 1JQ

LEEDS

The Exchange, Trade For Change. Shop/cafe. 20 New Market Street. Leeds. LS1 6DG.

Hansa's - Indian/Vegetarian/Vegan restaurant. 72-74 North Street. Leeds. LS7 2PW.

LIVERPOOL

Green Fish Cafe - Vegetarian cafe. Upper Newington Street, Liverpool. www.greenfishcafe.co.uk

The Egg Cafe and Gallery - Vegetarian cafe. Top Floor, 16-18 Newington, Liverpool.

LONDON

Red Veg - Fastfood. 95 Dean Street, Soho, London. W1V 5RB. Brian Arthur of Goldfinger told Black Velvet he often eats at Red Veg when the band are on tour in the UK.

Eat And Two Veg - Veggie/vegan Cafe/restaurant/bar. Two location - 50 Marylebone High Street (at Marylebone Road). London. W1U 5HN. And 74-76 Westbourne Grove, London. W2 5SH. www.eatandtwoveg.com

Food For Thought - 31 Neal Street, Covent Garden. London.

Maoz Falafel - vegan fastfood. 43 Old Compton Street. London. Open till late. www.maoz.pl

Mild Red's - 45 Lexington Street. London. W1F 9AN. Nearest tube is Oxford Street.

Neal's Yard Bakery Co-operative & Tea Room - Takeaway/eat-in. 6 Neals Yard, Covent Garden. London.

Fresh And Wild (Soho) - Shop - 69-75 Brewer Street, London. W1R 3FL. Nearest tube is Piccadilly Circus (1min away)

Planet Organic - Shop - 22 Torrington Place, London. WC1. Nearest tube is Goodge Street. www.planetorganic.com

Pogo Cafe - 100% vegan cafe. Hackney, London

MANCHESTER

Eighth Day - Vegetarian & Vegan Store & Cafe. 110 Oxford Road, Manchester. www.eighth-day.co.uk Store upstairs & cafe downstairs. One of Black Velvet's contributors went there with vegan Adam Russell of Story Of The Year after interviewing him for Black Velvet! Black Velvet visited Eighth Day for the first time when we went to see My Chemical Romance in Manchester. It's just up the road on the other side from the Academy.

Earth Cafe - Vegetarian Cafe & Juice Bar. 16 - 20 Turner Street, Northern Quarter, Manchester. http://www.earthcafe.co.uk

Unicorn Grocery - Vegan grocery. http://www.unicorn-grocery.co.uk

The Basement - 24 Lever Street (off Piccadilly Gardens), Northern Quarter. Manchester. Open Tue-Sat 12 - 6w love you been vegan and straight edge?

MILTON KEYNES

Veggie-World - Chinese Restaurant. 150-152 Queensway, Bletchley, Milton Keynes, Bucks, MK2 2RS www.veggie-world.com Closed Mondays.

NORWICH

Tea Shoppe - Fair Trade/Vegetarian Cafe. Elm Hill, Norwich.

The Tree House - Vegetarian/vegan Restaurant & Take-Away. 12-14 Dove Street, Norwich, Norfolk, UK, NR1 2DE http://www.vegfolk.co.uk/treehse.htm Discount of 10% for Vegan and Vegetarian Society members and students - So don't forget your membership card!

NOTTINGHAM

Food Mountains - Vegetarian/vegan Restaurant. 14-16 Wollaton Road, Beeston. Nottingham. NG9 2NR. www.foodmountains.co.uk 10% discount to Vegan Society members. Closed Sundays/Mondays.

OXFORD

The Magic Cafe - 110 Magdalen Road, Oxford.

The Garden - At The Gardener's Arms, Jericho, Oxford. http://www.thegarden-oxford.co.uk Veggie/vegan meals at a traditional English pub. Mostly vegan.

SHEFFIELD

Olive Garden Vegetarian Cafe - Hot & Cold Food. 117 Norfolk Street, Sheffield. S1 2JE. Above Wicker Herbal Stores. Mon - Sat 9am - 4.30pm.

Blue Moon - Vegetarian/vegan. 2 St. James Street, off Church Street. Sheffield. Next to the Cathedral.

WOLVERHAMPTON

City Bar - 2-3 King Street Wolverhampton West Midlands WV1 1ST. Goldfinger's John Feldmann recommended City Bar to us. It's not 100% vegan/vegetarian but it has a large vegan-friendly menu including soya cheese, soya milk, soya ice-cream and other vegan products (tofu, vegan bacon etc). Black Velvet went there before seeing Paramore play at the Civic Hall and now can also recommend it. http://www.thecitybar.co.uk

I went to my first ever national march and rally on September 6th 2003 in Lichfield. It was to protest against a farm that breeds guinea pigs to be used for vivisection. Now vivisection as we all know is horrifically cruel and a waste of time and money and life. If you're looking for cures, you can test on other substances that do not involve lives. Visit www.liberation-now.org to read about the farm that breed guinea pigs, the cruelty involved and how you can help stop this. These cute, lovely guinea pigs don't deserve to be cruelly abused and killed. No animal deserves to be abused and killed. They deserve a nice life - like us.

So I went and we marched around the streets and gave out leaflets and held banners and placards. I felt like I was doing something, making my mark, being that extra person that could help make the difference. Educating people. Without being given a leaflet and reading about the horror that goes on, a lot of those people would not know of the torture - how unnecessary it is - and what they can do to stop it. Every person counts. Everyone who stands up and speaks for those who can't counts.

Hopefully one day every breeding farm will be no more. Every animal test will be ceased. And animals will have the freedom they deserve.

Stop Animal Testing

Here are some of our favourite charities and organisations and rescue homes. Please send a donation or get in touch. Visit their website for info. Some have cool online stores with a variety of goods to buy.

RSPCA (Royal Society For The Protection Of Animals) - Causeway, Horsham, West Sussex RH12 1HG - http://www.rspca.org.uk

BUAV (British Union For The Abolition Of Vivisection) - 16a Crane Grove, London N7 8NN - http://www.buav.org

NAVS (National Anti-Vivisection Society) - 261 Goldhawk Road, London, W12 9PE - http://www.navs.org.uk (includes The Lord Dowding Fund for Humane Reasearch)

WSPA (World Society For The Protection Of Animals) - 2 Langley Lane, London SW8 1TJ - http://www.wspa.org.uk

ANIMAL AID - http://www.animalaid.org.uk

Animal Aid Horse Racing Film- Don't Bet On The Grand National

Dogs Trust (formerly NCDL - National Canine Defence League) - http://www.dogstrust.org.uk

PETA (People For The Ethical Treatment Of Animals) - PO Box 3169, London. SW18 4WJ. http://www.peta2.com, http://www.peta.com, http://petauk.org, http://www.peta2.co.uk

Meat Stinks - http://www.meatstinks.com

Ban Hunting - http://www.banhunting.com

KFC Cruelty - http://www.kfccruelty.com

Circuses - http://www.circuses.com

Stop Animal Tests - http://www.stopanimaltests.com

PDSA (People's Dispensary For Sick Animals) - Whitechapel Way, Priorslee, Telford, TF2 9XS. http://www.pdsa.org.uk

Born Free Foundation - 3 Grove House, Foundry Lane, Horsham. West Sussex RH13 5PL http://www.bornfree.org.uk

Respect For Animals - http://www.respectforanimals.org

GAP (Great Ape Project) - http://www.greatapeproject.org

CIWF(Compassion in World Farming) -
Charles House, 5A Charles Street, Petersfield. Hampshire GU32 3EH http://www.ciwf.co.uk

Campaign Whale - PO Box 2673, Lewes, East Sussex. BN8 5BZ http://www.campaign-whale.org

Vier Pfoten - http://www.vier-pfoten.at

Animal Liberation - http://www.animal-lib.org.au

Animal Liberation Front - http://www.animalliberation.com

Viva (Vegetarians International Voice for Animals) - http://www.viva.org.uk

IFAW (International Fund for Animal Welfare) - 87-90 Albert Embankment, London SE1 7UD http://www.ifaw.org

Uncaged - http://www.uncaged.co.uk

Redditch Animal Rights - http://www.communigate.co.uk/worcs/rar/

The Donkey Sanctuary - Sidmouth, Devon. EX10 0NU - http://www.thedonkeysanctuary.org.uk

The Farm Animal Sanctuary - Stoney Lane, Broad Green, Bromsgrove, Worcs. B60 1LY

Tower Hill Stables - http://www.towerhillstables.com

Bransby Home Of Rest For Horses - Bransby, Saxilby, Lincoln, LN1 2PH

Bransby Home Of Rest For Horses collects used stamps to raise money for the horses. Save those stamps off any envelopes that pop through your letterbox and send to the above address.

Blue Cross Animal Home - Wildmoor Lane, Catshill, Bromsgrove. Worcs.

Hillfields Sanctuary - Blackwell, Nr. Bromsgrove, Worcs. B60 1BL. - http://hillfields-sanctuary.co.uk

Wiccaweys Rescue Border Collies & Working Sheepdogs - www.wiccaweys.co.uk Accepts paypal donations & donations of dog toys or food.

Scottish Staffordshire Bull Terrier Rescue - www.staffierescuescotland.co.uk Accepts donations, old dog toys, food, leads, collars & bedding.

Battersea Dogs Home - www.batterseadogshome.co.uk Accepts donations, old dog toys, food, leads, collars & bedding.

Thornberry Animal Sanctuary - www.thornberry-animal-sanctuary.org Accepts paypal donations, animal food, bric-a-brac for jumble sales, office equipment, toilet rolls, bin liners and more.

Cefn-yr-Erw Primary Sanctuary - http://www.cefn-yr-erw.co.uk - Welsh primate sanctuary. Open to the public. Needs sponsors/volunteers.

Stop The Torture

ROCK & ROLL VEGANS

I mention a few vegans in the opposite column. I've decided to try and compile a list of rock musicians who are vegan. If you know of one that's not on this list, email editor@blackvelvetmagazine.com and I'll add them to the list.

Bryan Adams * Chris Conley (Saves The Day) * Chrissie Hynde (The Pretenders) * Daniel Johns (Silverchair) * Davey Havok (AFI) * Hunter Burgan (AFI) * Dennis Lyxzen (The (International) Noise Conspiracy) * Geert Van Der Velde (Shai Hulud) * Geoff Tate (Queensryche) * John Feldmann (Goldfinger) * Marcel Bischoff (ex-Waterdown) * Matt Skiba (Alkaline Trio) * Moby * Rikki Rockett (Poison) * Shania Twain * Tyler Rann (Midtown) * Russ Rankin (Good Riddance) * Fred Mascherino (Taking Back Sunday) * Mickey Madden (Maroon 5) * Christiane J. & Bobby Alt (S.T.U.N.) * Chris McLane (Stretch Arm Strong) * Adam Russell (Story Of The Year) * Beki Bond (Vice Squad) * Barney Greenway (Napalm Death) * Nina Hagen * Lene Lovich * Aimee Echo (TheStart)* Alexander Greenwald (Phamtom Planet) * Liam Wilson (Dillinger Escape Plan) * Chris Brandt (Halifax) * Forrest Kline (Hellogoodbye) * St3ve Shebby (Bandcamp) * Cedric Bixler-Zavala & Omar Rodriguez-Lopez (The Mars Volta / At the Drive in) * Jay Whalley & Lindsey McDougall (Frenzal Rhomb) * Nick Zinner (Yeah Yeah Yeahs) * Shawn Harris (The Matches) * Greg Wood (ex-Punchline)

Also, members of Fugazi, Earth Crisis, Last Of The Famous, Refused, I Killed The Prom Queen & Propagandhi

It seems that there are a lot more US rock musicians who are vegan and out there doing stuff to help animals. Or do you know better? If you know any UK rock musicians email us and let us know about them.

VEGAN STORES

There are many online stores on the internet selling vegan and vegetarian food. Here are some of Black Velvet's favourites...

A great UK vegan store is www.veganstore.co.uk. It has a whole range of products you can order online. All sorts of food, footwear, bodycare. Postage is pretty cheap too. If you order over £50 worth postage is free!

The US has another similar store found at www.veganstore.com - loads of great food. Everything you could possibly want is on sale there - even vegan marshmallows!

www.goodnessdirect.co.uk is a great online store based in the UK that has a lot of vegan products although it's not 100% vegan. They do though stock frozen and chilled vegan food which www.veganstore.co.uk don't. Go to the 'Vegan' section, found in the 'Special Diets' area. We love the pizza pasties and Fry's Traditional Burgers as well as the Tofutti Cuties. They also sell Redwood Foods super melting Cheezly (soya cheese that melts - you have no excuse not make your own cheese pizza now!). When ordering quote the Tell-A-Friend reference no. MS05875I.

Portland, OR is the home of www.foodfightgrocery.com, an awesome online vegan grocery. They ship overseas too so if you want their donut holes, Snackimals animal cookies (only $1!) and Nougat Bars like I do... there's no excuse. They even sell humane No-Kill Mouse Traps and have their own 'Food Fight/Go Vegan' guitar picks. Perfect for a vegan musician.

I've just ordered some more food from www.veganessentials.com in USA. They sell Tings which are like cheesy Nik-Naks, donuts, cheese cracker snacks, and heaps of different food items and products. They can ship to anywhere in the world and accept Paypal too.

If you're interested in veganism, contemplating it or have just become one, then visit www.veganvillage.co.uk. It's a really great site with lots of links to vegan shops, online stores, restaurants, businesses, hotels, groups & more. An excellent source of information.

Vegan Festivals

Visit www.veganfestivals.org.uk for info on vegan festivals in the UK. There are many around the country in different towns and cities at different times. There are speakers, performers, many, many stalls selling vegan items, merchandise and vegan food and drink. They're often free to get in and many offer free samples of vegan food.

Visit A Vegan Diner

NEW YORK

If you're in New York, make sure you take a quick trip to Brooklyn to visit Foodswings, an awesome vegan fast food restaurant. They have all sorts of great mouth-watering food that will cater to everyone. They do free deliveries too. You can check out their awesome menu online. Click the link above. If you go by subway you can find them at Bedford Ave L Station.

A restaurant that we first heard of through PETA is Candle Cafe. Candle Cafe has a great reputation - so Black Velvet took time out to visit the eaterie in October 2007 and enjoyed some great vegan food. You can check out Candle Cafe's menu at www.candlecafe.com. The restaurant has two locations in NYC - although we went to the original one on E. 75th St.

Blossom is becoming a staple diet in our New York plans with Black Velvet having now eaten there three times. Their website is www.blossomnyc.com. The first couple of times we visited we had vegan cheese pizza which was AWESOME! Happy days. :-) Unfortunately they've now taken vegan pizza off their menu (booooo!) so last time we just had a veggie burger and fries. They boast gourmet organic vegan cuisine, and although we don't drink, if you like wine, you also will be in heaven at Blossom. The restaurant has an exquisite look, and looks to be getting busier and busier. The place was very full on our last visit. They're at 187 9th Avenue (near 21st St) in the heart of NYC.

LOS ANGELES

LA has lots of awesome vegan diners. It can be a hard choice to pick which one to go to.

One of Black Velvet's faves is Truly Vegan on Hollywood Blvd (5907 Hollywood Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90028), where I had a grilled soya cheese sandwich and fries (hey, I'm a fussy eater!). The price was nice too!

Black Velvet also tried California Vegan at 7300 Sunset Blvd. Unit#A, Los Angeles, CA 90046 (they have a website at www.californiavegan.com). They have a whole range of burgers such as Lentil burgers & BLT burgers as well as many other dishes and delights.

Vegan Express (3217 Cahuenga Blvd. West, Los Angeles, CA 90046) is a vegan diner with some delicious coconut cakes (probably the best coconut cakes in the world!) - and lots of other good food.

Jax vegan cafe has a website at www.jaxvegancafe.com and sells Sweet And Sara's marshmallows amongst their food products. While at Jax I had my first ever BLTA (a vegan BLT). I'd never eaten a BLT before, let alone a BLTA but I was pleasantly surprised at how nice it was. Jax is found at: 1783 Westwood Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90024

There are vegan diners, cafes and restaurants in most cities and in many countries around the world. If you're off on your travels we recommend checking out the restaurant guide at http://www.happycow.net. Put the city name in and up will pop a list of vegan and veggie places, with lots of info. We even checked Happy Cow before visiting Japan. Check out our pic of Brown Rice Cafe in Tokyo below. Another great place to visit.They had veggie burgers, soup, cakes, all sorts of great vegan food.

Collecting Stamps

Save Your Stamps!

Not regular UK Queen's head but others...

Dogs Trust (formerly known as the NCDL) collect them and can sell them to raise funds for the unwanted dogs they look after.

They collect the following:

* All foreign countries including Channel Islands
* British pictorial issues including Christmas
* British high value stamps (with a face value of 30p and over)
* Independent regional issues (lions, dragons, flags etc)
* Old and pre-decimal issues
* First day covers, mini sheets and collections

They appreciate it if you can sort the stamps out into the categories listed above

Mail to:

Dogs Trust
17 Wakley Street
London
EC1V 7RQ

Dogs Trust website is at www.dogstrust.org.uk

Dogs Trust receive no government funding and are entirely dependent upon the generosity of the publi to fund their work.

Bransby Home Of Rest For Horses (see above) also collect used stamps to raise funds to look after their horses.

Used, Empty Inkjet & Laser Cartridges Wanted

Dogs Trust and some other animal charities/organisations collect empty inkjet cartridges to raise funds.

If you use any inkjet or laser cartridges for printing other than Epson, please send empty, used cartridges to:

Shari - Black Velvet
336 Birchfield Road
Webheath Redditch
Worcs, B97 4NG England

...and I will forward them to the sanctuary. Epson cannot be recycled but most other cartridges can - Hewlett Packard, Canon, Panasonic etc.

It would be great if you could do this. If you're like me, I'm sure you use a few and then throw the empty cartridges away. This is a great way of helping a needy charity without actually costing anything (well, only postage to send them - which isn't much).

Thank you!

AIM Buddy Icons

Chat on AIM? Use a buddy icon that tells your friends what they need to know. Here are some animal rights related buddy icons. Right click and save them to your computer and then upload as your buddy icon..

Black Velvet Reading Pets

Aw, isn’t Ville a cutie!? (See pic below) Thanks for sending us the pic, Lena. If anyone else has evidence of their pets reading Black Velvet, we’d love to see it! Snail mail or email pix to the usual address.

Black Velvet reader Eri from Arnold in Notts sent us the below photo telling us 'This is a pic of Merlin... proving already that what's mine's his'. As you can see he's checking out Eri's copies of Black Velvet. What a cool cat!

And the latest addition to the 'Animals Love Black Velvet' family is Rufus the rat! Rufus belongs to Black Velvet reader Neil Bing from Redditch. Here he is reading (upside down... must be related to Marko of Sugarcult) Black Velvet 36. He seems to like The Star & I section! Little does he know that HE is now a star!

On September 21st, 2005, the best dog in the world passed away. Sammi (my dog) was my brother, my best friend and my hero. He'd been my best friend for 10 years. Words can't describe how amazing he was. He had diabetes and epilepsy - although you wouldn't have known if we didn't tell you - he was a total bundle of energy, forever playful and super-fun. He was by my side for almost as long as Black Velvet has been in existance. Here's a pic of Sammi with Black Velvet 39. He was sadly taken away when somehow suddenly contracting parvovirus, a virus contracted from other dogs. It remains hidden for up to 10 days and then is lethal. One day he was perfectly fine, just over a day later and he was dead. :-( Black Velvet 46 was dedicated to Sammi. RIP Sammi, 1994-2005.