The Orlando Sentinel, Fla., Jim Abbott column: Fidel Cashflow does things by the book.
COPYRIGHT 2007 The Orlando Sentinel
Byline: Jim Abbott
Sep. 28--Cesar Gallardo, an Orlando hip-hop entrepreneur when he's not rapping as alter ego Fidel Cashflow, couldn't decide whether to start a modeling agency or a magazine.
He went with the latter, which sounds like a lot more work and a lot less glamour than coordinating swimsuit shots. Deadlines, designers, printers, advertisers.
"There's a lot of chasing a lot of different people around," Gallardo says. "There were deadlines that I was trying to meet, then there was getting them pushed back to wait on the designer and the printer."
In the end, there was the inaugural issue of Pure Cash Magazine, a hip-hop lifestyle publication that Gallardo hopes to publish quarterly. It's 31 pages of industry profiles, dating advice, music news and, yes, swimsuit models.
The Q&As, with subjects such as Ozone magazine publisher Julia Beverly, offer some meat to balance the "Amorous Corner" devoted to those swimsuit models.
Interview subjects are relentlessly upbeat, which is OK, but my favorite feature is the dating advice. The first installment is about keeping a "friend with benefits":
Among the "do's": "listen to her talk about stuff you don't care about" and "tell her she is sexy, NOT beautiful."
A "don't"? Don't take her out for special occasions.
Seems as if I've been doing a few things wrong.
But back to the magazine: Gallardo is still working on a distribution deal but hopes to make the magazine a fixture in shops and businesses that might be a good fit with its hip-hop audience.
In the meantime, he is launching an online version, at pure cashmagazine.com, that will be updated weekly. The Web edition will be interactive, with a spot for readers to vote on cover models and other features.
In the music realm, a new Fidel Cashflow album, Pentoxicated, is in the works. The idea is that the magazine might open promotional doors for the music, Gallardo says.
"I'm more inspired now than ever, with more going on," he says. "I have a lot more on my plate than I did before, but now it looks more delicious."
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