Sedona Devil Chicken: Press

The Sedona Devil Chicken

January 16, 6:14 PMArizona Haunted Sites ExaminerDebe Branning

Sedona, Arizona is known for its awe inspiring red rock formations and mysterious vortex centers. Some people believe the Sedona area is a rendezvous point for UFO’s. Hundreds of star gazers and star readers gather at the northwest Arizona city every weekend. Some come to hike, some to rejuvenate, and some come to hunt for the latest urban legend, the Sedona Devil Chicken! 

Actually, the Sedona Devil Chicken is the first in a series of three "Audio Theater" Cd's from author and creator Alex E. Nebelsky.  The Sedona Devil Chicken is about the mystifying appearance of a 9 foot Chupacabra that suddenly comes back to life when Mother Nature reacts with the power of a vortex. The half chicken, half monster creates terror on the picturesque village of Sedona. It is a tale of mystery and humor. It combines a mix of great dialogue, powerful music and interesting sound effects. Every Sedona resident and guest will be mesmerized by this tale.  

 

The Sedona Devil Chicken is an exciting parody of the renowned movie “Jaws”. The scene is set in the high desert community of Sedona, Arizona.  It is based on the old Southwestern legend of the Chupacabra, and Coffee Pot Rock and Boynton Canyon. They say the landmark looks more like a giant chicken than a coffee pot. Mysteriously, these two items may be related and waiting for someone to make the final conclusion.

 

The script is written and produced in the style of "Radio Theater" or "Radio Drama" as of the days before television.  Your imagination creates the pictures in your head and you become an active participant in the experience.  Without leaving the comfort of your home, you can join the hunt for the Sedona Devil Chicken, too.  I contacted the author and producer of the Sedona Devil Chicken, Alex E. Nebelsky, to learn just what made him create the legendary story that will no doubt become Sedona's greatest mystery of all!

 

DEBE BRANNING WITH EXAMINER.COM:  Tell us a little about yourself and your writing background.

 

ALEX E. NEBELSKY:  I'm 62 years old and live with my wife Carol here in Sedona, AZ.  I've lived here for about 10 years now having moved from Tempe.  Originally from Upstate NY, I moved to AZ in 1979.  I've been in real estate for the past 29 years, most of that time as a full time appraiser. I'm also a broker which puts me in an industry that has been hit real hard lately and with more free time, due to lack of business, I've started to write.  As far as my writing background, well, that's about zilch unless you take into account writing appraisal reports which is usually quite dry and mostly cryptic.

 

DEBE:  What made you interested in writing a science fiction "Radio Theatre" story?

 

ALEX:  I chose to write a radio play because I didn't want to write a movie script.  Of course writing for movies would be great fun, but the chances of success seemed limited.  I thought that if I wrote a radio play and made it sound like a movie then I'd have something.  Not only that, I thought that I could do most of the production, too.  It sounded like fun and there didn't seem to be much out there in this form of entertainment, so I went into it full bore.  Boy, was I naive!   It was a lot of work, and it had been done before, and it seems  everybody in the business agrees that you can't make any money in it.  They're probably right but maybe, just maybe, because of the iPod popularity and Internet radio, I can pull this off and make a few bucks--so at least to cover my costs.

 

DEBE:  What made you choose Sedona and Coffee Pot Rock as the background of your story?

 

 

ALEX:  I can see Coffee Pot Rock from my living room window and remembered what my mother-in-law would say--"That rock looks like a chicken to me."  She was right--it looks like a chicken to me, too.  From there I just took the plot of one of my favorite movies ever, "Jaws", wrote the script and dropped it into Sedona.  I thought that tourists would get a kick out of it, and so it was aimed at the tourist market.  

 

DEBE:  Did it take a lot of research to develop a script that would feel like a true event and stay historically correct?

 

ALEX:  I didn't do a whole lot of research for this project.  I depended upon my understanding of the history of this place, events and places of interest.  The trick was to combine it all into a stew of sorts and create an interesting story with interesting characters.

 

DEBE:  Have you ever been on a real Chupacabra hunt?

 

 

ALEX:  No, but it sounds like a lot of fun and a great adventure.  I do want to organize a group of hardy souls that might want to do something like that in the future purely for fun.  I was thinking of The Chupacabra Posse as a name.

 

DEBE: Good name!  Do you think some of your listeners have traveled to Boynton Canyon in search of the Sedona Devil Chicken?

ALEX:  I don't have a clue if anyone has been to Boynton Canyon in search of the beast.  But it's early yet and the CD has only been out for about eight months.  As the word gets out, I'm sure we'll see Chupacabra Posses on the prowl.

 

DEBE:  Has there been any reports from locals in Sedona of visitors asking about the "legend" or superstition, and has it caused any fears or concerns for the guests?

 

ALEX:  No, this story seems to be totally under the radar locally, although, slowly there seems to be more and more interest as the word gets out.  Hopefully with paranormal groups coming up from the Valley in search of some Chupacabra hunting and investigations, it may create a buzz more quickly.

 

DEBE: What have you personally experienced at the Sedona Vortexes?  Which do you feel are the most powerful of the vortex?

 

ALEX:  I've been to the Boynton Canyon, Bell Rock, and Airport Hill Vortexes up close and waited for something to happen--anything, but no, nothing yet.  Perhaps I'm not tuned up properly or need to meditate or something, I don't know.  I'm kind of curious to experience a vortex during the time of a solar flare, which might be interesting. 

 

DEBE:  Have you ever confronted a "ghost" in the Sedona area?

 

ALEX:  Ghosts in Sedona?  No one famous I'm afraid.  Now up in Jerome, that's where the mother lode ghost hunting is.

 

DEBE:  Is the Sedona Devil Chicken your first Radio Theatre Production?  Will there be more?

 

 

ALEX:  Yes, this is my first attempt and as planned there should be two more following.

 

DEBE:  Where can Examiner readers order or download the Sedona Devil Chicken?

 

ALEX:  Right now until the end of January, you can buy the CD from CDBaby.com for $5 plus shipping.  You can download from CDBaby.com, Digstation.com, Amazon, Best Buy and the iTunes store;  also, you can special order it from most bookstores like Borders.  You can also check the website www.SedonaDevilChicken.com .

Well, now you have the scoop on the Sedona Devil Chicken.  If you are like me, you might want to start putting together a hunting kit for your next trip to Sedona.  Pack a little chicken feed, rope, a chicken wire mesh cage, sauce for the wings, and maybe the hot line to KFC.  You may want to hang on to the Sedona Devil Chicken's feet as voodoo priestesses tell me they are "good luck".

 

If you go to Sedona to hunt for UFO's, vortex, or the Sedona Devil Chicken:

From Phoenix take I 17 North

Turn off on 179 North to Sedona--about 116 miles

 

 

 

For more info: www.mvdghostchasers.com

Debe Branning nazanza@aol.com  

 

"Chupacabra makes an appearance in radio theater", Sedona AZ--

Sedona resident and real estate appraiser and broker Alex Nebelsky is now a radio theater writer. What is that, you may ask? Radio Theater is just like the Old Time Radio programs that were the staple of broadcast entertainment during the 1930’s and 1940’s. Shows like The Green Hornet, The Shadow and The Lone Ranger all had their start on the radio. Radio Theater is now catching on across the country thanks in large part to the internet. With the advent of podcasting and MP3s, the internet is helping to bring back some of the radio classics along with some new artists, according to a press release.
With the slowing economy and local real estate in the doldrums, Nebelsky and his brother Nick started AEN Productions. Alex Nebelsky is the creative force and writer of the SEDONA DEVIL CHICKEN, a parody of the movie JAWS, that is set in Sedona, AZ; the shark has been replaced with a Chupacabra, a kind of Bigfoot creature but nastier. The story is based on the presumption that Coffee Pot Rock, a local landmark, also looks like a giant chicken. “This is not new information; many locals often think it looks like a chicken,” Nebelsky adds. “It’s just that no one has ever documented it quite like this before.” Anyway, this mythical horrific creature appears due to cosmic and vortex energy and the adventure commences. Sedona is known for its vortices, its red rock beauty, hiking trails and jeep tours, majestic canyons and much more. Nebelsky includes many of these famous characteristics about Sedona that make this city such a great point of interest.

In the fall of 2008, after attending a script writing class at Yavapai Community College, Nebelsky edited and paired down his script to a CD length of about 73 pages. He then rented some office space and turned it into a makeshift recording studio, edited the audio on his home computer, added sound effects and music. He and his tennis buddies, neighbors, friends, and family lent their voices for a wildly amusing and entertaining story. The production was done at minimum cost, and the whole experience of making a movie without the pictures, so to speak, was a reward in itself. Nebelsky is still appraising, but with a little help from listeners of his Radio Theater production, several more audio productions will follow. Listeners are welcome to submit stories or scripts for similar projects and can then become co-producers of their own Radio Theater productions. For information contact him at - alex@sedonadevilchicken.com.

The story is great fun for the whole family and great listening, especially in the car while on a long road trip. The CD can be found at Golden Word Books & Music and The Well Red Coyote Bookstore in Sedona, The Worm Bookstore in the Village of Oak Creek and Planet Video and Music in Cottonwood for $12.99 or you can download it on iTunes, Amazon.com and CDbaby.com for $9.95. There’s more information on Nebelsky’s web site:
www.sedonadevilchicken.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                                                        December 21, 2009

 

Sedona Men's Super Senior Team Wins Sectional Championship

Wild Card Team Goes Undefeated

 

SEDONA, AZ                 The Sedona, AZ team won the United States Tennis Association (USTA) Men's Super Senior (ages 60 & over)  7.0 Southwest Section team championship, played December  4-6, at the Surprise Tennis and Racquet Complex in Surprise, AZ.  The Sedona team posted a perfect 5-0 match record after being randomly selected as a wild card team, in order to create a more balanced 6 team round robin for the sectional competition.  

 

The Sedona team entered the event with a 2-6 local match record.  On their way to the sectional title, they defeated teams from Northern New Mexico, El Paso, Phoenix, Tucson and Prescott. Of the five team matches played, four were won by 2-1 margins (three doubles matches are played per team match). In each of those matches, the deciding team point came down to third match set tie-breakers with Sedona winning all four match deciding tie-breakers. 

 

Key wins in the tournament were recorded by Alex Nebelsky and Dan Holcomb who won two of the four match tie-breakers played. Keith Hunter and Bill Seidel won the deciding match tie-breaker against the powerful Phoenix team and Daryl Buntley and Pat Craine lead the team, finishing the competiton with an undefeated 5-0 record and the fourth match tie-breaker win.   Other team members are John DePoe, Steve Muhl and Bob Maxwell. All of the team members are from Sedona and all but Holcomb are members at the Sedona Racquet Club.

 

The Sedona team advances to the USTA National Super Senior 7.0 Team Championship, which will also be played at the Surprise Tennis and Racquet Complex, the last weekend in April, 2010.