before we go any further, i feel the need to let you in on something. for the chosen few that already know (or for those that never read ON THE VERGE), this won't be earth-shattering news. for the majority of folks that used to read OTV, the following details will either surprise you or confirm your suspicions. seeing as how OTV is past tense, it's the perfect time to let the cat out of the bag. the VERGE was created at a rather isolated period of my life. i didn't have anyone else on hand to write for me on a regular basis. at the same time, i wanted other voices in the mix. so what did i do? i did what Kool Keith would do. i did what any other artist worth their weight in pseudonyms would do...I CREATED THEM. in short, there is no chloe knuckles. no cali ginseng, either. no steve crognale or downtempo don. and i suppose we should all be grateful that winchester chris and vic feedle don't exist either. nope - all products of the mind of a relatively sane brother from the other side of the fence, breathing in music on the regular and writing at a furious pace...all while assigning certain reviews to certain personas with certain musical leanings. now that you know all of this, i'm going to ask you to do something a little strange: PLAY ALONG WITH ME. while i'm tired of the charade, i'm not tired enough to see these personalities die off. i rather like them. i'm only really tired of keeping this big secret, so why not let everyone in on the joke? i even updated some bios i wrote for all of them in the summer of '99 (the two-part VERGE segment was called "all up in the family"). wanna read 'em, just click on a name. (or the not-ready-for-cyberspace players) macedonia (the ears) ||| cali ginseng (the flesh) downtempo don (the heart) ||| winchester chris (the face) chloe knuckles (the brain) ||| steve crognale (the bones) victor feedle (the MOUTH) outside of the "residents," there were a few friends and acquaintances (yes, REAL PEOPLE, living, breathing, all that stuff) that contributed some great reviews and articles to the VERGE every now and again. i thank them all and list them below. don't be surprised if you see some of the same names turn up for BSOTS guest spots in the future... mr. fitz ||| mikal lee (sprout, hired gun) ||| dj drilla ||| ezekiel tonypuma (dom casual) ||| khari (blaqmann) ||| bee ||| m-tech tom wilson ||| edwin starr ||| abbey (a-butta) |