Authors, Writers, Poets, Songwriters and Artists

We are still selecting artists for the 2008 Deep Carnivale (September 27 2008). In the meantime, our writers, authors, poets, songwriters and artists for the 2007 Deep Carnivale are listed below:

2007 Deep Carnivale Artists

Bradley Arthur: Born and lives in Tampa. Raised in Miami Beach. Started making sculpture at age 17. Got a BA in Fine Arts. Apprenticed in France, Italy and New York. Been exhibiting for over 35 years. Loves working, on new ideas, objects, and old cars. Seeks like-minded wealthy patron for a valuable and healthy Win/Win scenario.

David Audet is Special Projects Manager at Hillsborough Community College-Ybor Campus and is director of the HCC-Ybor Festival of the Moving Image that was inaugurated in 2003. The 6th edition of the film festival is scheduled for April, 2008. David is a founding member and director of the Artists and Writers Group, Inc., which is dedicated to developing events and projects such as Deep Carnivale that encourage and stimulate creativity in our community.

Lori Ballard: A professional photographer living in Tampa, Lori has exhibited a wide range of work in galleries throughout Florida.

Gary Bass: member of Offramp: WMNF's Improvised Comedy Series. For Offramp's radio show, 10-14 hours of raw improvisation is edited into each half-hour program. Because all the dialogue and music is improvised, the shows sound more natural than regular radio comedy Offramp has won a number of national awards, and been heard on public, community and internet stations from New York to California. Offramp can be heard online at http://www.wmnf.org/programs/show/225

Lisa Birnbaum teaches writing and literature at The University of Tampa. She is Fiction Editor of Tampa Review. Her fiction and creative nonfiction have appeared in Apalachee Review, Connecticut Review, Grand Tour, Parting Gifts, Puerto del Sol and Quarter After Eight.

Sally Bosco writes young adult horror and paranormal romance. Her short fiction has appeared in an assortment of literary magazines and anthologies including the Small Bites anthology. She recently received a Master of Arts degree in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University. Alt.Death.com is her first published novel. Check out her web site at sallybosco.com.

Caesar Carbajal is a Chicago-born artist whose most recent surreal and humorous paintings have been featured in both the Expose Banner Exhibition and Tampa's monthly show "The Mayors Hour". He is primarily a painter (oil sticks) but likes to work in a variety of mediums such as charcoal and chalk, watercolor and pen and ink. He also lends his artistic eye to the medium of photography. Caesar has been exhibiting in Chicago for the past few years and recently completed a 12' x 18' ft mural in a Chicago residence. www.czarsgallery.com.

Stephanie Carpenter: After trading her clarinet in on a guitar, Stephanie taught herself to play (sort of) and wrote her first song at the age of 13 - Please Stay. It wasn't until many years later that she found the courage to actively pursue performing and recording. Just recently, she took her first guitar lesson (at the age of 39) believing it's never too late. Stephanie can be found at some of the areas best open mics. Of late, she has joined JPF and ASCAP to further support her musical growth. With the collaborative efforts of some of Tampa's most talented musicians, a new CD is expected for release by the end of 2007.

Maggie Council: Award-winning Tampa Bay Americana singer-songwriter Maggie Council's songs have graced airwaves on four continents. After a ten-year hiatus, she is currently working on her fourth album, Not In The House, to be released later this year.

Neverne Covington is well known for her charcoals, drawings, paintings, and sculpture. Neverne graduated from the arts program at Eckerd College and continues to maintain her skills as a printmaker. She has created many illustrations for products that are probably on your shelf at home. She has won many awards for her work and is included in many private and corporate collections. She lives in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Matthew Cowley: Member of Offramp, WMNF's (88.5 FM) Improvised Comedy Series. Offramp has won a number of national awards, and been heard on public, community and Internet stations from New York to California. Offramp is online at www.wmnf.org.

Silvia Curbelo's poetry collections include Ambush (Main Street Rag), and The Secret History of Water, available from Anhinga Press. She has received poetry fellowships from the NEA, the Florida Division of Cultural Affairs and the Writer's Voice. New work appears in American Poetry Review, Crab Orchard Review and New Madrid, and in the anthologies Never Before (Four Way Books) and Snakebird: Thirty Years of Anhinga Poets.

David Durney: With seven years on the Spoken Word scene this poet has built a bit of a reputation for himself: having lectured in high schools on the history/current state of Spoken Word, several ESL classes at St. Pete College about dialect and slang, performed across Tampa Bay at various venues, as well as taken the reins, alongside another esteemed poet, of one of Florida's largest and most well-known open mike venues. David has grown into his stage presence. A St Petersburg resident originally from Long Island, NY, this poet can be seen around town almost everywhere.

Kenny Echezabal: Ken Echezabal was born in Tampa's Ybor City, and raised in western Tampa's Little Havana community. He began painting murals and stage backdrops for the 1980's Ybor nightclubs. He opened "Dog Eat Dog studio" in Ybor City in 1988, inspired by Keith Haring's "Pop Shop" and Warhol's "Factory." After years of commission work, and academic training, Ken now focuses on a personal painting style, which fuses classical with psychedelic tribal. His current influences are trance, op, and ambient painters such as Fred Tomaselli and Gerhard Richter.

Asia Elliot: A unique talent and rare find, at the age of 14 debuted her play-writing skills but undoubtedly presents her outstanding poetry performance gifts in this extension of the arts. Currently, Asia is a student at Blake High School focusing her attention on theatrical performance.

Ronny Elliot: Born in 1947. Stories that he's tired of telling. Writes flops, sings off key. Good eater, fair intentions.

Melissa Fair: Melissa Fair is the author of a chapbook, Tornadoes, Love and Other Natural Disasters. Her work has appeared in Ninth Letter, GulfStream Review, Apalachee Quarterly, Bitter Oleander and other journals. Two poetry collections, Abandon and In the Country of Night, are under consideration by several publishers. Melissa is a core member of the Irritable Tribe of Poets, a collective of poets and musicians who perform poetry to improvisational jazz, funk and rock. They have released two CDs, Vital Signs and Irritable Tribe of Poets: Live at the Salvador Dalí Museum.

Papos Frassica: Papos Frassica picked up his guitar again 5 years ago and found the singer & songwriter in him. His songs express the weaknesses of man and the strife caused by those weaknesses. Papos knows his time on this Earth is limited and wants to waste none of it as he contemplates what is next to come.

Ray Galindo is an Ybor City native. His ancestors were cigar makers here in Ybor City. He currently is working as an English Tutor at Hillsborough Community College-Ybor, and writes a humor column for the HCC Hawkeye. He has been writing songs for 35 years and has played in joints and dives from Tampa to New York. galindosound@gmail.com

Jennifer Gravelle creates dreamy playful pieces often inspired by her favorite muse "Fish in Space". Her works may be made of fabric, clay, or wood; and then splattered with a collage of paints, mirrors, and found objects. Her creative journey began as a child with pottery and sewing; followed through to Northern Michigan University where she earned her Bachelors in Psychology and Art with a focus on weaving. Jennifer lives in Tampa, Florida with her cat Halo.

Aubrey Hampton is an award-winning playwright, director and co-founder of the Gorilla Theatre, Tampa's only equity theater. His books include GBS & Company, a biographical play about George Bernard Shaw, and Wolf Trilogy, a collection of three one-act plays. In 2000 he established the Young Dramatists Project, an annual program that stages short plays written by high school students. He is publisher of Organica magazine, and founder and CEO of Aubrey Organics, a natural cosmetics company based in Tampa.

Harry Hayward: Singer/songwriter, known as 'Half-Man, Half-Wit', claims to learn more in 2 weeks than most people learn in 15 minutes.

Lynne Hansen writes dark fiction for teens, combining her passion for history with her lifelong love of all things creepy. Her books include The Return (zombies during the Revolutionary War) The Change (werewolves in frontier Kansas) and the forthcoming SparkNotes time travel historicals: A Time for Witches, Shades of Blue and Gray, and Reckless Revolution. Her covert educational content went overt with Rave New World, an SAT vocabulary novel that contains over 1,000 vocabulary words and definitions. You can learn more about Lynne and her books at www.LynneHansen.com.

Dee Hood is a painter, sculptor, book artist and an educator at the Ringling School of Design and Fine Arts in Sarasota. Dee lives in Ruskin, Florida with her rascal of a husband Chris Peattie who was going to make something for the festival but apparently has better things to do. Best to you, Chris!

Doreen Horn is a visual artist that creates sculptures, installations and art objects concerning contemporary political and social issues. Doreen lives in St. Petersburg, FL and is creating an Exquisite Corpse for Deep Carnivale.

Darrell House is a singer/songwriter/author/recording artist, and his love for the lyrics and melodies of folk & acoustic music of the 60's and 70's has become the foundation for a lifetime of performances. His deep mellow voice and fluent guitar styles have made him a standout performer in S. Florida for over 30 years, and the last decade has seen him dedicate his creative energies to writing music, poetry and stories for kids and families. An author who visits schools and libraries, his picture book, Miller the Green Caterpillar, is the perfect follow-up to his hit children's C.D. Underneath the Cushions on the Couch, and his newest CD, Makes Me Feel Like Singing, is receiving great reviews in national magazines.

Susan Hussey is author of Smaller than Life, a poetry chapbook, and The Toxic Wave and The Dressing Room, two plays published by the University of Tampa Press. Produced in Tampa and New York City, The Dressing Room was chosen as one of the top 10 performing arts events of 1993 by the St. Petersburg Times. In 1999 Susan was named playwright of the year by Creative Loafing's Best of the Bay. She is co-founder of Tampa's Gorilla Theatre, and editor-in-chief of Organica magazine.

Mic Knight - Mic is a Visual Arts Individual, trained, self-educated, and skilled in contemporary and historical visual arts design process & production. Special skills include sculpture (in fabricated industrial aluminum), drawings, "found objects" constructions in all media possible, steel metal welding and fabricating, paintings, performance, video/ moving images, marine services, and collaborative efforts. www.micknight.com.

Richard J: What about him? His name is Richard J. He's tall, skinny, eccentric, neurotic, mildly funny, slightly handsome, dead sexy, a scorching smart ass and a poet. He's done a few things in a few different places. Born in PA, grew up in IN, moved to FL, did the Air Force in TX and AZ, became a spoken word poet in Tucson and now lives back in FL.

Judi Jetson is a weaver, dyer, and fiber artist and teacher who enjoys creating public art. She works in bold colors and textures making rugs, garments and wall hangings. An arts entrepreneur, Judi co-owned Handmade in Florida Craft Gallery in Ybor City with Gary Burge from 2004-2006, and recruited an international weaving conference (Convergence) bringing 5,000 fiber artists to Tampa Bay for June of 2008. Judi is Community Exhibits Chair for Convergence, and hopes to organize 50 shows around the region with help from her friends. Her day job at USF is to create research partnerships between faculty and community groups and she also teaches public speaking.

Bob Devin Jones is an American playwright, director, and actor. He is the author of the plays Uncle Bends: A Home-Cooked Negro Narrative and Black Witness: James Baldwin. He has written and performed a solo tribute to poet Langston Hughes. As a writer, Jones has worked in association with the Los Angeles New Works Festival and has directed plays including the American Stage in St. Petersburg, FL and American Hellenic Theatre in Athens, Greece. Mr. Jones, who grew up in Southern California, trained at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco, and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. Jones lives in St. Petersburg, Florida where he is the co-artistic director of The Studio@620. Mr. Jones also works for The Florida Humanities Council and recently co-wrote and directed Honeymoon For Three with Dan Koury at Hillsborough Community College-Ybor for the Ybor Festival of the Moving Image.

Venus Jones: As a spoken word artist, she produced the poetry troupe Multiverse and shared the stage with Grammy-nominated poet Nikki Giovanni. A three-time Tampa Bay area slam winner, Venus has opened for Def Poetry on Broadway and served as the first resident poet on WMNF 88.5 FM. Her poetry has been published in the UK's X magazine, Underground Poetz, Artists Embassy International, and in Map of Austin Poetry. Her work has been featured at The Salvador Dali Museum, The Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center, The Improv, and festivals across the country.

Tyler Jopek: Currently an arts student at Hillsborough Community College-Ybor, Tyler is a active member of the collective [5}] Art and has presented installations and sculpture works at numerous shows throughout Tampa Bay and the Southeast region of the U.S.

Bud Lee (born Charles Todd Lee, Jr., January 11, 1941 in White Plains, NY) is a Florida based photojournalist and artist. His photography has been published in Life, Esquire, Rolling Stone, Town & Country, and The New York Times Magazine. His photograph of a boy wounded in the Newark riots won him Life magazine's 1967 photographer of the year award. (Exquisite Corpse/book artist)

Charlotte Lee: Youngest daughter of Bud and Peggy Lee, and a board member of the Artists and Writers Group, Inc. Charlotte recently graduated from University of Georgia with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree with a major in painting. Charlotte is an organizer of Deep Carnivale and is also participating as an Exquisite Corpse artist and bookmaker.

Betsy Orbe Lester teaches where she learned, both at Eckerd College (Bachelor of Arts) and USF (Master of Fine Arts) .Recent exhibitions: Denise Bibro Fine Art, ChelseaNYC; ArtFirst, Philadelphia; Boca Raton Museum; Combined Talents, FSU Tallahassee; UnderCurrent/overVIEW, Tampa Museum; Solo shows: Merrick Gallery and The Arts Center, St. Petersburg. Permanent collections: Tampa Museum, Gulf Coast Museum and Neiman Marcus.

Lori Karpay: A native of Tampa, she decided to start blurting and babbling her wildest thoughts in public, finding the right venues to avoid being nabbed and thrown into a room with padded walls. Now, she can voice her thoughts and opinions via creative words with no boundaries and nobody to stop her. Spoken word CDs include, "The Poet Lori Ate" and "Chanting on Deaf Ears" with the most current soon to be released, "Three or Four Cuckoos".

Carolyn Kossar has been the Hillsborough Community College-Ybor Art Gallery Director since July 2000. She holds a BLS Degree in Humanities from Barry University in Miami. As a fiber artist and photographer, Ms. Kossar has attended Parsons School of Design at Lake Placid, New York, and the Penland School in North Carolina. Ms. Kossar is currently the Secretary/Treasurer of the Tampa Gallery Association and Assistant Director of the Ybor Festival of the Moving Image.

Susan McClung received her Master's Degree in Humanities from the University of South Florida and completed coursework for a graduate degree in Art History and Theory. She teaches Humanities full-time on the Ybor Campus of HCC.

John McEwen: Singer/songwriter and player of the bouzouki, mandolin, banjo, and guitar, John recently formed Bunko Squad as a tax write-off. With Judy Tampa and George Pappas, John is writing some of the group's original material and is producing their CD scheduled for release in 2007. John has hoboed the USA playing music, disguised as an angry hippie and sweet Scot. He lives out somewhere in Plant City, FL.

Phyllis McEwen: A poet, actor and scholar, Phyllis is a Gemini from the Zodiac year of the Tiger. She has traveled extensively for the Florida Humanities Council portraying the Harlem Renaissance writer and resident of Eatonville, Florida, Zora Neal Hurston. Though a time traveler, Phyllis resides in Tampa and is employed by the Hillsborough County Public Library Cooperative.

Donald Morrill is the author of three books of nonfiction, The Untouched Minutes (winner of the River Teeth Nonfiction Prize), Sounding for Cool and A Stranger's Neighborhood, as well as two volumes of poetry, At the Bottom of the Sky and With Your Back to Half the Day. He has taught at Jilin University, Peoples' Republic of China, and has been a Fulbright Lecturer at the University of Lodz, Poland, as well as the Bedell Visiting Writer in the Nonfiction Writing Program at the University of Iowa. Currently, he is an editor of Tampa Review and Interim Dean of the College of Arts and Letters at the University of Tampa.

Adrienne Nadeau (AKA: The Chantress) was born with ink running through her veins and it is rumored that her first words were poetry. In June 2004 she went to her first spoken word show and hasn't gotten off the stage since. Now, you can find her as a regular performer at many diverse poetry venues around Tampa, including Black on Black Rhyme and Resurrection at the Lobby.

Rhonda J. Nelson — Poet. Published work includes Musical Chair, (Anhinga Press. 2004), The Undertow, (Rattapallax Press, 2001). She is a Florida Fellow in Poetry 2000-2001, winner of Writer's Exchange 2000, sponsored by Poets & Writers, Inc., and the recipient of two Hillsborough County Emerging Artist grants and one Hillsborough County Individual Artist Grant. She is the artistic director of the spoken word band, Irritable Tribe of Poets, and with them has two recordings: Kahlo, and Live at the Salvador Dali Museum.

Ferdie Pacheco is a pharmacist, doctor, boxing analyst, novelist, screenwriter, and artist. He has worked as a cornerman for 12 boxing champions. In 1977 after a 15-year stint as Muhammad Ali's doctor, he left Ali to begin his work as a boxing analyst for CBS. In 1980 he signed with NBC to do the Moscow Olympics and stayed on for ten years as their boxing consultant and analyst. He free-lanced with major boxing shows with Showtime-TV, as well as shows in Spanish with Univision-TV. As a painter, Pacheco is known for his imaginative use of color and design and his aggressive use of vivid, slashing, colorful patterns exude a sense of strength that are bold, gutsy, personal statements of a man who has immersed himself fully in life.

George Pappas: Singer/songwriter who plays a mean harmonica, George lives in Safety Harbor and knows something about Greek. An important member of Bunko Squad, George writes songs that capture the zeitgeist of once-upon-a Florida.

Kurt Piazza: Exploring the notion of the algorithm as a stimulant for psychological caprice, Kurt offers a vision of duality and fluctuating states of mind in his paintings, works on paper, video work and installations. Through line, form, gesture and space, he communicates both a delicate sense of movement and deliberate aesthetic of emotion through repetitive geometric forms Kurt Piazza lives and has exhibited extensively in Florida. He has written several exhibition catalogs, including Josette Urso: Landscapes/ Cityscenes, and recently contributed the foreword to the second edition of RaiseUp, an annual publication of international emerging and established artists.

Joshua Pillock: A student at the University of South Florida with a major in finance and Spanish, Joshua has recently traveled to France and Italy to study Spanish. He writes poetry and fiction about his adventures.

Chip Neville: Chip Neville is a new media artist working in animation, music, video installation and performance. His work emphasizes sociopolitical issues ranging from personal relations, and the environment, to politics and the global community. Chip has written and performed music with the Tampa Bay Composer's forum, performed as a guitarist and singer in musical ensembles, and toured with the Florida Orchestra. As an artist he has exhibited work at film festivals and galleries across the country. chip@chipneville.com.

Tracy Midulla Reller received her BFA from the Atlanta College of Art, 1997. She went on to receive her Master or Fine Arts degree from Florida State University, where she continued her printmaking and began exploring mixed media. Since graduating, she has taught at several colleges, including St. Petersburg College, The University of Tampa, and at Hillsborough Community College where she is now a full-time faculty member. A founder of [5] Art, Reller shows her work in venues throughout the United States.

John Reimer: Both an actor and sculptor, John starred in Johnny Blue, an independent film shot in St. Petersburg, Florida. He is learning Blues guitar when he isn't working with a Tampa clothing designer. John was featured in a theater piece by famed performance artist Pat Oleszko who performed on the Cuban club stage in April 2007 at the HCC-Ybor Festival of the Moving Image.

M.C. Radiance (aka Russil Tamsen) is a passionate, intense writer, musician and poet. He started his performing career in France and England. He majored in Theater Arts at Brown University. In 2006, he self-produced a sensual dance album, Bounce International, for sale exclusively through his website. The album features Latin-influences, jazz-hop and house music. Never has he sold out or taken his finger off the pulse of the underground. He is a prolific creator in several media: witness scorpiocraft.com. He is currently finishing a two-act, acid blues and world rock theater piece about Hurricane Katrina and the mideast wars. The work is called "TANKED". To contact, email info@scorpiocraft.com.

Alfredo Rivero: A native of Havana, Cuba, Alfredo is a musician living in Tampa, Florida. Known for his mastery of numerous instruments, Alfredo is also a composer and creates soundtracks for commercials and films. He recently wrote and performed the music score for Tres Cuentos, One Cuba, the video work directed by Fred Smith with photographer David Audet and Tampa poet laureate James Tokley, Sr.

JoEllen Schilke A little known but pivotal event in JoEllen Schilke's life propelled her down the dirty road of artistic, commercial, and broadcast dysfunction: when an annoying pre-adolescent, she got lost in the NYC subway system. There she encountered a netherworld of gypsy chefs, ex-suburban tiger tamers and a slew of poets who had recently escaped from Saks. Thus, her aesthetic nature was forever molded, warped, and then sent south, to Florida.

Martha Serpas has published two poetry collections, The Dirty Side of the Storm (W.W. Norton) and Cote Blanche (New Issues Press). Her poems have been appeared in such publications as the New Yorker, New York Times Book Review, The Nation and Passages North, and in the anthologies American Religious Poetry and Vespers. She teaches poetry writing as well as religion and literature at the University of Tampa.

Enid Shomer's poems and stories have appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Poetry, Best American Poetry, New Stories from the South: the Year's Best and more than sixty anthologies and textbooks. She is the author of four collections of poetry, most recently Stars at Noon: Poems from the life of Jacqueline Cochran (2001) as well as two collections of short fiction — Imaginary Men, which won the Iowa Fiction Prize, and Tourist Season (Random House, 2007), selected for the Barnes & Noble "Discover Great New Writers" series. Shomer has taught as visiting writer at Florida State, Ohio State (as the Thurber House writer-in-residence) and the University of Arkansas. She lives in Tampa and is at work on a novel for Random House. Since 2002, she has been the poetry series editor for the University of Arkansas Press.

Fred Smith: A product of the Florida Public School system, Fred is a film lover who can also play the drums. He works in Tampa's Seminole Heights for Grown Man Brand and lives in Southeast Seminole Heights with his wife Marie and dog Charlie. "As I was editing Tres Cuentos, One Cuba, I found myself in awe of the artists' work, David Audet's photos are timeless and beautiful. James Tokley's words and oration are passionate and captivating. Alfredo Rivero's music is moving and extraordinary. Bringing it all together I thought, 'Man, the only thing that can go wrong here is me.'"

Margaret Steward is an artist working in St. Petersburg, Florida, primarily in sculpture, printmaking, and photography. Since graduating from Bard College in 1975, her work has found its way into various accidental and sometimes deliberate contexts, pretexts, or outright ideas concocted by the artist. She has exhibited widely over the years and her work has received numerous awards, and is included in over 25 corporate and museum collections.

Jeff Strand's thriller Pressure was nominated for the Bram Stoker Award for Best Novel of 2006, but, alas, he lost to Stephen King. His other demented-yet-funny novels include Single White Psychopath Seeks Same, Casket For Sale (Only Used Once), The Sinister Mr. Corpse and The Haunted Forest Tour. He's also the author of the upcoming short story collection Gleefully Macabre Tales. You can visit his website at jeffstrand.com.

Judy Tampa: Unapologetic dabbler, inveterate dilettante, midnight rambler.

Susan Taylor Lennon: Susan Taylor Lennon is chair of the Department of Speech, Theatre, and Dance at The University of Tampa. She is an award-winning writer and editor, and an acclaimed dancer and storyteller whose performances appear regularly on public radio and television. Susan received Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio's "Artist of the Year" award in 2005.

James E. Tokley, Sr. is the City of Tampa's first official Poet Laureate and has also been cited by former National Urban League president, John E. Jacob as the unofficial Poet Laureate of the National Urban League. Tokley's poem "Song of the Hillsborough" was chosen to represent Hillsborough County, Florida, and is part of the White House Millennium traveling exhibit. Tokley released his debut CD, "Urban Griot," to positive public and critical acclaim. Tokley also provided inaugural poems for both former Tampa mayor Dick Greco and current Tampa mayor, Pam Iorio. Tokley's poem, "The Saga of St. Benedict School," was reproduced in a strip of granite, measuring 28 feet by 18 inches, and can be seen in historic Ybor City. Tokley's poem, "Leviathan," a poem about a great blue whale, and which can be seen in downtown Tampa, is, at 63 feet high and 45 feet wide, the largest poem ever produced and posted anywhere in the world. Tokley is a recipient of a B.A. degree (Delaware State Univ.), M.Ed. (Temple Univ.), has completed coursework toward an Ed.D. (Temple Univ.), and has completed coursework toward a Ph.D. (University of South Florida), in the fields of English Education and American Literature respectively.

Al Valentine: Singer/songwriter.

Ray Villadonga: Ray "Rayzilla" Villadonga was born and raised in Ybor City, Florida, a descendent of Spanish cigar makers. He's the last known remaining student of the infamous mass murderer and maxamist composer Bhanchuco. Ray played flute in the Tampa Catholic High School band. He studied guitar with the catholic nun transgender folk sensation Sister Charles Mary Manson. After a life-altering episode where he was kidnapped and held hostage by the famous bass quartet the Lowlifes, Ray has devoted his life to the study of God's instrument, the BASS. Rayzilla is a composer of both secular and sacred music and founder of the GaguancoJacoJamersonIvesGershwinSambaBamba (GJJIGSB) (pronounced gee jigs be) school of musical thought. As a DJ at the clear channel of community radio WMNF 88.5 FM in Tampa Florida, he co-hosts a weekly strange and beautiful music program Step Outside. He has been known to write, perform, produce and record some of the most interesting organized sounds this side of Papua New Guinea.

Megan Voeller is a freelance writer based in Tampa. Her arts and cultural reporting and criticism appear regularly in CreativeLoafing's Tampa and Sarasota editions and Tampa Bay Metro Magazine. She has also contributed to NY Arts Magazine, Cigar City Magazine, and the St. Petersburg Times. A graduate of Williams College (Williamstown, MA) and the New School (New York, NY), Megan grew up in Tampa and attended H.B. Plant High School before residing in the Northeast for seven years. Contact her at voeller@gmail.com.

James Walker received his Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Corcoran College of Art. He received his Master of fine Arts from the Savannah College of Art and Design. He has resided in St. Petersburg, Florida, for the past four years where he is enjoying a career as a teacher and freelance photographer as well as exhibiting his work regularly.

Dave Waterman: member of Offramp: WMNF's Improvised Comedy Series. Offramp has won a number of national awards, and been heard on public, community and Internet stations from New York to California. Offramp can be heard online at http://www.wmnf.org/programs/show/225.

Chris Weeks: Christopher W. Weeks is an Arts professor at Hillsborough Community College, Ybor, with specializations in Photography and Digital Imaging. BA, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, 1991. MFA, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM, 1996. Awarded a Hillsborough County Individual Artists Grant in 2007. His work offers sardonic socio-political observations of the world around us presented in a neo-pop, graphic, comic style and exhibited in exhibitions across the country. Currently, work is on exhibit at the Tribes Gallery in New York, scheduled for exhibition at the Los Angeles Center for Digital Art in September. A solo exhibition of his work will be presented at the [5} Art Ybor gallery space in October 2007.

Nancy Yasecko: Graduate of the University of South Florida's Fine Arts program, first melding images and audio into short experimental works (Maine, Mapping, Nebraska Ave, Soft Sand, Dancing Lessons), next spinning short stories of archival and documentary footage into a well traveled work (Growing Up With Rockets-MoMA, PBS, Gos TeleRadio USSR, Channel 4 UK, UAE), followed by other docs (Journey Into Wilderness, Jazz Is Spoken Here, Making Movies With Bud).