This is a young comedian that will literally have you (ROTFL) rolling on the floor laughing. He has performed for comedy clubs & colleges all over the southeast. This comedian is slowly making a name for himself as one of the most funny up & coming comedians around.
After conquering the world of competitive break dancing, Scott Eason wanted a challenge. He turned to stand-up comedy. Bringing his no nonsense attitude and red-hot passion to the stage, he exploded onto the scene. Word traveled fast and his success soon led to appearances on The Arsenio Hall Show, The Chevy Chase Show, The Magic Hour with Magic Johnson, Iron Chef (The original in Japan, not that sissy American version) and who could forget that unfortunate incident on The Geraldo Rivera Show. However, the brightest stars burn out the quickest and Scott had to step out of the spotlight to focus on his health. Stints in rehab for glue sniffing and hacking paint (Gold is the best flavor) helped bring him out of the darkness and after many years of self examination and fine tuning, he’s ready to come back to the stage and give you the what for. Prepare to have your face melted off with comedy. No more break dancing though. Unless you have some cocaine.
Sam McLeroy was born in Huntsville, Alabama and raised in Arab, Alabama. Her comedy is like a quality IPA–bitter, yet refreshing. From her personal stories about trailer life to her random tangents about everything in particular, she is as delightful as drinking a good beer. So, come, and drink good beer.
You won’t find many comedians that can claim to be a lifetime class clown, witty, handsome, a dual-degree college graduate, savvy in graphic design, and on top of that, just be funny as hell!
Well, Jermaine “FunnyMaine” Johnson is definately the exception! This talented young man from Birmingham, Alabama has been entertaining audiences across the southeast for several years now, and many seem to agree that he has the potential to etch his name in the comedy history books with the greats.
From his early days as a youngster in Opelika, Alabama, Jermaine has always had the ability to make any room (or classroom) his personal stage. At home, at Daniel Payne Middle School, at Jackson-Olin High School, and at Stillman College (Tuscaloosa), Jermaine entertained his family and peers leaving behind his personal “Trail of Tears” by making people explode with laughter and often times crying.
In 2001, he started hosting shows at Stillman College and eventually other universities in the southeast. In early 2005, he took the advice of his life-long friend and Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity brother, comedian Tre Williamson and decided to move past the master of ceremonies act to doing full stand-up.
In his first ever full show at the University of Alabama-Birmingham, he exited to a standing ovation!
Jermaine almost never shies away from an opportunity to make an audience laugh. He can oftentimes be found travelling with his mentor comedian Steve Brown giving hilarious performances at colleges and comedy clubs around the southeast.
In October of 2010, Jermaine won the “Evening On the Moon” Comedy Search in Birmingham, AL!
The competition placed over 20 Birmingham-Area comedians against one another for 3 rounds, with the winner being afforded the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to open for one of the Original Kings of Comedy, Mr. Steve Harvey.
With his glowing personality, southern charm, youthful spirit, and endless talent, Jermaine “FunnyMaine” Johnson is destined for comedy greatness!
Martin Morrow is originally from Birmingham, AL currently living in Chicago, IL and got his start apart of an award winning stand-up/sketch hybrid “Tubbi and Martin”. Morrow has performed in New York, Las Vegas, Austin, Atlanta and many other places that don’t sound as cool and has hosted and opened for the likes of Eric Andre, Steve Brown, Hannibal Buress, Kyle Cease, Tim Meadows, Sean Patton, Tom Segura, Iliza Shlesinger, and Baron Vaughn. He is the regular co-host of Comedy Sportz Theatre’s Chaser Open Mic, co-stars in the web series The Alumni, is heard on the radio as several characters for the Roy Wood Jr. Morning Show on 95.7 Jamz, and is probably best known from the 1953 Walt Disney classic Peter Pan as Peter Pan’s shadow.
Jason Roche is a comedian and actor based out of Birmingham, AL. He has worked with comedians Joe DeRosa, Brent Weinbach, Jarrod Harris, and Matt Davis. Roche recently starred in the short film Annie and Her Anger which won the Audience Choice Award at the 2011 Sidewalk Film Festival. Roche is a cool guy and you will probably, like, really really enjoy watching him.
Mike Kaiser is an Atlanta-based comedian whose intelligent writing and slender-build not only sets him apart from dumber, fatter comics, but also earned him the distinction of being named a “Comedic Talent on the Rise” by Atlanta Magazine in 2011. His thought-provoking comedy makes him an audience favorite at clubs, colleges, and alt-rooms across the country.
Wes Van Horn is a stand-up comedian and writer from Birmingham, Alabama currently based out of Kansas City, Missouri. He was a finalist in the Kansas City Improv’s 2012 “Clash of The Comics” competition as well as a finalist in the 2011 “Best Comic in Kansas City” competition at Stanford and Son’s Comedy Club. He has performed in various cities across the United States including Los Angeles, Atlanta, St. Louis, and performed at the 2010 Cannes International Film Festival in France. He has worked with numerous headlining comedians including Dan Cummins, Auggie Smith, Mike Baldwin, A.J. Finney, Artie Fletcher, Nick Vatterot, Brian Dunkleman, Brett Riley, Matt Davis, and Comedian Longhorn. You can also hear him live every Friday from 9am-1pm on The Morning Deuce with Wes and Doug, a radio program he co-hosts with comedian Doug Cheatham on Black Sky Radio. His blog, which he writes with friend and musician Douglas Robertson, entitled “Lou Bega Called He Wants His Fedora Back” averages more hits a day than an adolescent pothead and makes for wonderful airport bathroom material if you have to catch an early flight after eating an entire late-night Red Baron frozen pizza.
Rivers Langley is a writer, filmmaker and stand-up comedian from Auburn, Alabama. He is also a former substitute teacher, man about town, armchair psychologist, Monday morning quarterback, advocacy advocate. Rivers likes to spend his days on Facebook berating people about their spelling and grammar.
Tanner Inman is a fearless and unique performer who will dominate any stage he may find. He is deliberately the artistic genius and village idiot all at once. An experimental comic’s comic who still possesses the ability to appeal to the rest of the world. Tanner is not one to be missed.
Winner of 2011 Creative Loafing’s Best Comedian in Atlanta
2009 Atlanta Stands Up Andy Kaufman award.
My ridiculous musical life has gone from piano to guitar to cheesy teenage cover bands to punk to hardcore to metal to prog to noise to experimentalism . . . the winding thread connecting them all being a deep love of improvisation & subversion of musical forms. I’m a multi-instrumentalist & goofy sort of musical experimentalist. I always adhere to a DIY ethic, no matter what type of music I’m focusing my attention on.
On a more blah-blah level, I’ve released recordings on loads of different independent labels, recorded albums with reluctant indie guru Steve Albini, played live with Wisconsin’s electronic music pioneers Oneiroid Psychosis, sang, played & toured with Southern noise rockers bert for years, collaborated & performed with countless other artists all over the world & founded The Subversive Workshop Newsletter magazine/home recording label & the Alabama Improv Co-op. All this just barely scratches the surface. I get tired of trying to keep up with it all. My website is a rough attempt at organizing it all . . . & even that gets annoying. I’d much rather be making music than dabbling with this big mess.
My current projects are, as usual, all over the place. I’m currently working with the incredible Moog guitar in a variety of improvised music formats, and playing regular guitar and singing with my noisy weirdo punk trio called No. If you’re interested in further music, I’d encourage you to hit the Works section of jeffmcleod.net (currently being updated & migrated over from a less user-friendly online discography), & just file back through all the years of music.
I hope you find something in my music that makes your ears stand up.
Justin Peake has produced original music since 2007 in a variety of styles. Primarily a drummer, he works with equal strength as a producer and sound designer, releasing beats and performing under the name Beautiful Bells and producing more ambient work known as The Moon in Gemini. As a drummer, he has released music for solo percussion, 7 piece chamber ensemble, trio, and quartet. In 2011, he started the Merged Music Series in New Orleans, LA which showcases new, independent, electronic music. at the Dragon’s Den.
David Dove:
A trombone player, composer, improviser, and educator, David Dove has given performances and workshops across North America (US, Mexico, and Canada), in Europe (Germany, Scotland), and in Vietnam. He has collaborated with some of the top national and international artists in contemporary music. As the Founder of Nameless Sound (a non-profit organization in Houston, Texas), he has presented important concerts of world-class contemporary music and has pioneered an innovative approach to creative music education based on creativity, diversity, and improvisation. In 2003, the critics of the Houston Press named Dove “Best Jazz Artist”. In 2004, he received an artist fellowship from The Cultural Arts Council of Houston and Harris County. In 2011, he and Nameless Sound were presented with The Houston Press’ “Mastermind Award”. Teaching and performing residencies have included events with: NoEstacionarte (Merida, Yucatan, Mexico, 2011), UNAM (Mexico City, 2010), The Exploratoium (Berlin, Germany in 2009), Ch’ak’ab Paaxil Festival (Merida, Mexico in 2008), The National Children’s Theater (Hanoi, Vietnam in 2007) and The Greater Easterhouse Arts Company (Glasgow, Scotland in 2006).
Damon Smith:
Damon Smith studied double bass with Lisle Ellis and had lessons with Bertram Turezky, Joëlle Leandré, John Lindberg, Mark Dresser and others. He has also done considerable research of the ´sonic palette´ of the double bass. This has resulted in a personal, flexible improvisational language based in the American jazz avant garde movement and European non-idiomatic free improvisation. He is also very influenced by visual art, flim and dance. Work with director Werner Herzog (soundtracks for “Grizzly Man” & “Encounters at the end of the World” and an early perfomance with the Merce Cunningham dance company reflect this. He has collaboratted with a wide range of musicians including Cecil taylor, Marshall Allen (of Sun Ra´s Arkestra), Henry Kaiser, Birgit Ulher,Fred Frith, Wadada Leo Smith, Marco Eneidi, Wolfgang Fuchs, Peter Brötzmann and Peter Kowald. He worked often in the San Francisco Bay Area Creative Music Community and is now based in Houston, Texas.
Davey Williams:
Summary of Musical Activities: In various types of ensembles, has performed at most of the leading venues for and festivals of new composed and improvised music in North America and Europe (well over 1500 concerts since 1974); has appeared on over 40 published recordings, many under own name
Musical Activities Prior to 1996: Began playing guitar (1964, age twelve), high school rock bands (1968-70), studied with and played in the band of Delta blues musician Johnny Shines (1971, with occasional performances through the late 80s), Salt & Pepper Soul Band and Show (1971-74), University of Alabama ‘B’ Jazz Ensemble (big band Tuscaloosa 1975),
First concert with LaDonna Smith & founding of TransMuseq duo and improvisational music studio (1974) with first LP recordings released on TransMuseq (1778) and first CDs (early 70s), Rev. Fred Lane (1975-), first US tour 1978, first European tour 1979, avant-blues band Trains In Trouble (mid-1980s), joined Curlew with George Cartwright, Tom Cora, Wayne Horvitz, Ann Rupel and others (1986-currently), Col. Bruce Hampton (mid-80s), band leader and composer for OK, Nurse (1987-90), Say What! improvisational trio (1991-), experimental punk band Fuzzy Suns (1992-93), solo guitar concerts (1980-), various ensembles with Jim Staley and Ikue Mori (1987-)
Recent Musical Activities (1996-99): Performances with LaDonna Smith (New York City, Atlanta, Miami, Chicago, Milwaukee & Birmingham),composers Anne Lebaron (Merkin Concert Hall, New York City & Univ. of Pittsburg) and Gustavo Matamoros (Merkin Concert Hall, NYC & Florida, the Brazil Festival, Miami), Curlew (New York, Boston, Washington & Pittsburg), Jim Staley & Ikue Mori (New York, London, Amsterdam & Switzerland), Phoebe Legere (New York), Phil Gelb & Joe McPhee, and Luc Houtkamp (the Salvador Dali Museum, St. Petersburg, the SubTropics Festival, Miami and other cities in Florida), the Say What! trio (Water Rats Club, London), with Marcus Eichenberger (Switzerland), numerous ad hoc improvisational performances including duos and various larger ensembles with Eugene Chadbourne, Ned Mudd (Birmingham/Chattanooga), with Toshi Makihari at the High Wire Gallery (Philadelphia), with Ikue Mori at CBGBs (New York), with Wally Shoup (Seattle/Olympia), solo concerts (Memphis, St. Louis, Birmingham, New Orleans, Seattle). Recordings and concert tour with Curlew, recordings with Oteil Burbrage, Jim Staley/Ikue Mori, Michael Zerang/LaDonna Smith/Fred Lonberg-Holm, Ned Mudd; solo guitar CD, Eugene Chadbourne.
Andrew Raffo Dewar:
Andrew Raffo Dewar (b. 1975 Rosario, Argentina) is a composer, improviser, woodwind instrumentalist and ethnomusicologist.
Since 1995, he has been active in the music communities of Minneapolis, New Orleans, the San Francisco Bay Area and New York City, performing his work in North America, Southeast Asia and Europe.
Dewar studied with saxophonist/composers Steve Lacy, Anthony Braxton and Phillip Greenlief, composer Alvin Lucier, trumpeter/composer Bill Dixon, and multi-instrumentalist improviser Milo Fine. He has also had a long involvement with Indonesian traditional and experimental music, particularly the Minangkabau music of West Sumatra and Central Javanese gamelan.
Dewar has been noted as “having the rare ability to translate his knowledge into something beautiful” (Matthew O’Shannessy, Foxy Digitalis). The 2008 debut recording of his music on Porter Records was described as “a garden of forking paths” (Foxy Digitalis), “absorbing” (Bill Meyer, Dusted Magazine) and “evoking something unnatural and plugged-in” (Clifford Allen, Bagatellen). San Francisco’s Aquarius Records described the album as “musical rainfall…a swirling soft cloud of free jazz flutter,” and “absolutely essential listening for the drone inclined and jazzbos with a thing for far out sounds.”
As a composer, his pieces have been performed by the Flux Quartet (NYC), Sekar Anu (Indonesia), the Koto Phase ensemble (USA/Japan) and the XYZ composer collective (NYC). He has received grants from Arts International, Meet The Composer and the Getty Foundation to support his work.
“Though he’s a noted composer of chamber music, Dewar’s flutters and wails show that he’s no slouch when it comes to heavyweight sax playing either” (Clifford Allen, Signal to Noise). As a performer, Dewar has been described as having “complete control of the instrumental nuances,” and being “inherently clever [and] intuitively rational,” with “uncommon sensitivity” (Massimo Ricci, Temporary Faults). Approaching the soprano saxophone as “a piece of metal capable of making sounds” (Richard Grooms, The Improvisor), Dewar’s conception at times “sounds almost electronic in the way it pulsates” (Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery, NYC), leading one writer to comment that “you don’t have to know what that means to appreciate that this will not be a traditional sax solo” (Flagpole Magazine, Athens, GA).
In addition to leading his own ensembles and performing in collaborative groups with musicians from around the world, he performs with and appears on recordings by the Anthony Braxton 12+1tet and the Bill Dixon Orchestra.
Andrew Raffo Dewar is Assistant Professor of Interdisciplinary Arts in New College and the School of Music at the University of Alabama.
As a performer and improviser he has worked with (among many others):
Tetuzi Akiyama, Matt Bauder, Jorge Boehringer, Anthony Braxton, Taylor Ho Bynum, Eugene Chadbourne, Jonathan Chen, Loren Kiyoshi Dempster, Bill Dixon, Michel Doneda, Bryan Eubanks, Milo Fine, Wolfgang Fuchs, Guillermo Gregorio, Andrew Lafkas, Tatsuya Nakatani, Jessica Pavone, Chad Popple, Gino Robair, Phillip Schulze, Davu Seru, John Shiurba, Aaron Siegel, Alan Silva, LaDonna Smith, Pande Made Sukerta, I. Dewa Nyoman Supenida, A.L. Suwardi, Matthew Welch, Davey Williams, and Jack Wright.
After recording a series of stunning, stellar dates for Silkheart, Koch, Konnex, Gowi, Music and Arts, and daagnimRecords in the 80's and early 90's - with leaders and sidemen including Charles Brackeen, Andrew Cyrille, Fred Hopkins, Malachi Favors, Carlos Ward, Louis Moholo, Keith Tippett (of King Crimson), Elton Dean (of Soft Machine), Nels Cline, Olu Dara, Nils Petter Molvaer, Roy Hargrove, and Douglas Ewart, avant jazz legend Dennis González left the world of music for 5 long years.
He returned in 1999 with a new resolve and a new trio, Yells At Eels. The trio was made up of González on trumpets, keyboards, and samples; his bass-playing son, Aaron; and his younger son, Stefan, on drums. Aaron and Stefan had worked together in their own duo, Akkolyte, and proposed the trio to their dad. The eight months that followed were a rehearsal for things to come, playing with special guests poet-laureate Yusef Komunyakaa, New Orleans saxist Tim Green, and Dallas-based pianist Scott Bucklin. In January of 2000, they began the recording of their first CD, <em>Home</em>, which was released in June of that same year.
The next 10 years, the trio would travel all over the United States, Canada, and Europe playing their new sounds for large and small audiences alike. Their special guests were truly special: Oliver Lake, Douglas Ewart, The Micro-East Collective, George Cartwright, Clyde Kerr, Jr., Tim Green, Bill Pohl, James Harvey, Mike Khoury, Travis Laplante, Andrew Lamb, Assif Tsahar, Alvin Fielder, Rodrigo Amado, Sabir Mateen, Mark Taylor, Matt Lavelle, Patrick Holmes, Carl Smith, Ken Filiano, Famoudou Don Moye, and David Boykin.
Their second CD, a double issue, was recorded live in Minneapolis (<em>Home Away from Home</em> with Douglas Ewart and George Cartwright) and in the studio in Dallas and New Orleans (<em>Pictogram</em> with Tim Green, Scott Bucklin, and Bill Pohl). International coverage of this trio poured in from <em>Citizen Jazz</em> in Brussels, <em>Echoes</em> in London, <em>Signal to Noise</em> in Vermont, <em>One Final Note</em> in Minneapolis, <em>The Dallas Morning News</em>, <em>Zeitgeist</em> in New Orleans, <em>Paris Transatlantic</em> in Paris, and many other sources.
In 2005, they played three nights in Vancouver, British Columbia, at the Vancouver Jazz Festival and undertook an East Coast tour, during which they played the prestigious Vision Festival in New York and then took off for their grand European summer tour. Their third CD was released in May of 2006, and was titled <em>Geografía</em>, and the trio played a great part in the success of the internationally acclaimed CD, <em>A Measure of Vision</em>, by Mississippi jazz drumming legend Alvin Fielder, released on the Portuguese jazz label Clean Feed in 2006.
An augmented line-up including Alvin Fielder, Chris Parker, and Leena Conquest, released a new CD, entitled <em>The Gift of Discernment</em>, in spring of 2008 on the renowned Polish record label, Not Two Records. In conjunction with this, Yells At Eels did a tour of Poland with Portugese saxophonist Rodrigo Amado. And in 2011 they toured Poland once again with the renowned Polish bass player Wojtek Mazolewski. A new 7” release has emerged from this tour, <em>Wind Streaks in Syrtis Major</em>. Ayler Records in France has also released two other Yells At Eels CD’s, <em>Cape of Storms</em> with the legendary South African drummer Louis Moholo-Moholo, and <em>Resurrection and Life</em>, also with drummer Alvin Fielder. They also released a CD in 2010 called <em>The Hymn Project</em> with Norwegian contrabassist Ingebrigt Håker Flaten.
Dennis González has played in the church and on the international jazz stage for many years and is a published poet, language and music teacher, musician – composer, visual artist, and was a well-known on-air personality for KERA Channel 13 and KERA 90.1 FM for 21 years. Aaron and Stefan continue making music as a duo and in their own groups, as well as being the rhythm section for the Portuguese group. Humanization 4tet.<
Yells At Eels (who Ariel Pink chooses to call "Added Pizzazz" when they record with him) has collaborated on 3 projects with Ariel over the past 2 years.
The Secret Stages appearance marks the beginning of their 14<sup>th</sup> year as a group.
