| In 1993, friends of Bellavia's dragged him to a con in Ohio. They even paid his way and pointed him to the filk room and said "play for them". Ookla's music went over very well. The next time he and English spoke he said he found their audience. By 1995 they were performing at cons on a regular basis. The crowd is much different at a con than at other music venues. In Filk rooms where people perform, there's no ampflication so people tend to lean toward the music to hear what's being played and specifically what's said in the lyrics. "Rock music for nerds, by nerds," English said in a light tone. Ookla has been together for 10 years. This not being a full-time gig yet everyone works full-time jobs. Bellivia is a librarian at the University of Buffalo and moonlights as a professor in library science. English is a character artist at Six Flags amusement park during the summer. He is also artist in residence at schools during the fall and winter in schools throughout the Buffalo and Rochester area. White owns Watchmen Studios in Western New York. He not only owns it, he does the engineering and mixing himself. Gajewski recently worked for ESP, a company that manufactures CD's, but is currently enjoying life without gainful employment. Ookla tries to do a dozen or so cons a year. Two that were mentioned as favorites are Marcon in Columbus, Ohio and Gencon in Milwaukee, Wis. "Cons in Michigan have their own flavor:" English mentioned. "Big debauched sex orgy." He laughed. They love the fans at cons and that's one of the top reasons they do what they do. There are a wide variety of musical tastes there; nothing is pigeon holed into one type. This is a big advantage to the various musicians that play at cons. "People of fandom are fer-shure the reason we do this," English said. "The chicks are cool." He added and laughed. As busy as Ookla gets, they still find time to read. English and Bellavia are big comic book readers beyond all other topics. And as time goes by, their channels tune into more mayhem and business. The next channel they've turned to is a Hollywood venture. Ookla's music is being used for one of Disney's Saturday morning cartoon Filmore: it debuts on NBC September 2002. Director Matt Nastos is making a movie based on 13 songs from the albums Super Secret and Less Than Art. It's called "Bite Me Fanboy" and the theme that plays while the opening credits run is a newly written song that isn't available anywhere else. Whatever fills their plate and whatever channel they're tuned to, Ookla the Mok is on a roll. The years that have passed are just a kickstand on the bicycle of life. Their most recent album is Smell No Evil came out April 2001. They are working on another at this time. They hope to record it late fall 2002; it's going to be an ep and the goal is to be the opposite of Smell No Evil. No concept, no theme just really great and groovy Ookla songs. They've always produced their own music in the past, but for their latest project they've hired someone else to do it. "(We are) real excited about the way this album is going to be recorded," English said. Jeff Thomas, Philadelphia, PA, songwriter formerly of the band The Frogs is producing it. "Forever," English said about how long this would go. "Never give it up, never ever." "The relationships (both musical and personal) that have formed as the result of the music we've written," Bellavia commented on the pride he feels in the band. "While I don't think art needs to have a point to have value, I like to think that the art we're creating communicates something positive." You can visit Ookla on the only official fan resource at: www.otmfan.com | 
