Former White Zombie Bassist Sean Yseult: "I Just Started a New Band"

Sean Yseult speaking at the Tribeca Barnes & Noble.

Photo by: Brooke Niemeyer

By: BROOKE NIEMEYER

Sean Yseult, the former bassist for the 90’s heavy-metal band White Zombie, revealed last night that she is returning to music, but this time with another group.

“I just started a new band, with some very good friends, called Star and Dagger,” Yseult said last night. “It’s kind of been dubbed Anita Pallenberg fronting Black Sabbath. It’s heavy with these very beautiful vocals.”

Instead of touring with a band right now, Yseult is out promoting her book “I’m in the Band: Backstage Notes From the Chick in White Zombie.” While at the Tribeca Barnes & Noble last night, Yseult said that going through her old boxes of band and touring memorabilia a few years ago is what prompted her to put together the book.

“The photo albums I had were filled with backstage parties and the tour diaries I kept were the biggest surprise,” Yseult said. “These were written diligently each night before I fell asleep, even though half the time I was half-past drunk.

The book is a compilation of photos and ticket stubs, as well as anecdotes from her years with the band.

“Most of the things I do remember play back like a movie in my head,” Yseult said. “Like riding in the Ramones van from gig to gig while we were on tour together or getting busted in a New Orleans graveyard with Lux [Interior] and [Poison] Ivy of The Cramps.”

With all the musicians she’s worked (and partied) with, she says without a doubt her favorite is Pantera.

“Those guys were like my big brothers,” Yseult said. While you’re on stage, just constant pranks and offstage too. They made passing 23 hours a day [on tour] an art form.”

This story ran on NBCNewYork.com's NiteSide.

Robert DeNiro Is "Spiritual Magnet" of Tribeca Film Fest, Says Co-Founder

Tribeca Film Festival co-founder Craig Hatkoff.

Photo courtesy of Getty Images

By: BROOKE NIEMEYER
Tribeca Film Festival co-founder Craig Hatkoff said fellow founder Robert DeNiro has unique pull when it comes to the 10-year-old film fest.

"Bob is the spiritual magnet of this project," Hatkoff said Friday at the 92 Street Y in Tribeca. "When Bob is in New York and not shooting a movie, he is at a lot of the events. He likes going and he goes quietly and often won't tell anyone he's coming. He just shows up and supports it."

Hatkoff, wife Jane Rosenthal, and DeNiro created the festival to help revitalize Lower Manhattan in the wake of the Sept. 11 terror attacks. The idea was conceived when Hatkoff and his wife were having dinner in Little Italy shortly after the attacks, he said.

"We originally projected it would be something small, maybe a couple dozen films," Hatkoff said. "We never imagined to have the 160 films like we did or the 150,000 people show up."

With the integration of "Tribeca Film on Demand" this year, Hatkoff says he is happy they had the opportunity to have the films seen by more people. But nothing can replace the experience of watching films in the theater, he said.

"Nothing will ever replace being in the room when the lights go down," Hatkoff said. "Watching the films at home can be inferior as long as it gets the job [of reaching more people] done."

The 2011 festival will run April 20 through May 1.

This story ran on NBCNewYork.com's NiteSide.