South Africa’s guitar bombshell, Sky Vega is a spunky pop-rock singer/songwriter. With cd credits under her belt in Europe, she is fresh in New York, performing her edgy originals with The Sky Band on the local indy scene. Recently, Sky released the video for her single “Special” which is in rotation on AIR 104.4 FM, an affiliate of the BBC & other EU radio stations. ‘Special’ is available on itunes, Amazon, Rhapsody, etc. Her charismatic stage demeanor and melodic hooks coupled with her ability to write meaningful lyrics make it easy to understand why this singer/songwriter has international appeal. She has worked with respected Greek producer Kostas Kalimeris of Universal Records, French label Holy Records and Greek label Sleezey Rider Records as a recording artist and has a couple of collaboration album credits in Europe under her belt.

in New York City. Randolph started playing the instrument as a church-going teenager in Orange, NJ, a small city just outside of Newark. He regularly attended the House of God Church, an African-American Pentecostal denomination that had been implementing steel guitars (or “Sacred Steel”) in services since the ’30s, with the pedal steel in particular being introduced during the ’70s. Randolph learned to play by watching other steel players during church services; years later, he updated that sacred basis with a secular mix of funk and soul, giving a new multicultural facelift to an instrument that had often been associated with country music. In early 2000, Jim Markel heard Randolph play at the Sacred Steel Convention in Florida and subsequently introduced him to his friend, Gary Waldman. Together, Waldman and Markel began to manage Randolph’s career, which took flight after Matt Hickey, a talent buyer at Manhattan’s Bowery Ballroom, signed Randolph on as the opening act for the North Mississippi Allstars. Within a month, Randolph had graduated to the Beacon Theater, where he played alongside Medeski, Martin & Wood.

jasonmraz is a southern california wanna-be born in virginia to a brief stint in new york studying the ancient art of musical theatre. jason began playing guitar late in life, 18, at strawberry fields and on the streets of manhattan. during that period of experimentation and transformation, jason was inspired by a psychic in central park to dream the way he does today. the lesson offered to him was “to avoid the questioner and go with what you know. get experience youth, he said” and following this new rule as well as his instincts to sing he eventually made his way out west where he has spent the last two years in san diego learning from the best about sleep, peace, and poetry in song.

Sometimes the road already traveled can provide vistas never before seen. One would think after more than a decade of crossing this country’s highways, the last thing O.A.R. co-founder and lyricist Marc Roberge would want is more time on the blacktop.

But as he prepared to record the band’s sixth studio CD, “All Sides,” Roberge, his wife, and their dogs drove cross country.

“I decided it would be interesting to make the drive from New York to L.A. to start my journey into this album,” Roberge says. “I knew once I got there, time would be spent focused completely on music, so I wanted to gather some experience first. It was a completely different view of America than from a tour bus. You see so much more when you are in the driver’s seat.”

Bret and Jemaine first met in 1996 at Victoria University Wellington. Jemaine vividly remembers the first time he met Bret; “he was wearing a hat”. Bret doesn’t remember meeting Jemaine, but says it was unforgettable.

They were both acting in a University Drama Club production called Body Play. Bret and Jemaine were put in a group of five men to create a short theatrical piece about male body issues. The most memorable part of the show was the costumes. They wore nothing but skin coloured bike shorts giving the audience the illusion that they were naked.

a jam band active since 1995, the Disco Biscuits play a distinct blend of rock, techno, jazz, soul, blues, and classical music that quickly took them to the upper echelon of the jam-roots-groove scene. Jon “The Barber” Gutwillig, Marc Brownstein, Sam Altman, and Aron Magner met on the University of Pennsylvania campus and formed the Disco Biscuits there in late 1995. They started out with frat party gigs all over Philly, but quickly moved to the nightclub scene. In 1996 they released their indie debut, Encephalous Crime. In addition to their own shows, they toured in support of Merl Saunders, the Black Crowes, the Jerry Garcia Band, and Morphine.

Kevin Carlberg’s life has been defined by two distinctive moments; when he picked up that old beat up acoustic guitar at a garage sale when he was 17, and when he was diagnosed with brain cancer when he was 25. The music and moments in between and after have etched his character and refined his passion.

Pierina Less, cantante y compositora rockera peruana, lanza “Lady Jazz”, un disco con el que da un giro a su carrera, y el primero integramente de jazz. En él incluye temas clásicos de los años 30, como Blue Moon, All of me, Cheek to Cheek y Over the Rainbow, y versiones especiales de temas de otras décadas, como los mundialmente conocidos New York New York, What a wonderful world, Only you, La vie en rose, I saw her standing there, entre otros.

The WHAT CHEER? BRIGADE is a rowdy 19-piece brass band that combines a punk rock ethos and the mobility of marching bands. We play Luddite hardcore – loud, fast music that reclaims public space and requires no electricity. We are a party band, and our sound incorporate elements of musical traditions such as Bollywood, Balkan, New Orleans, samba, and punk…and that’s just the short list.

Dramatis personae

Parents – playing themselves

Siblings – 3 of them, male and female

Musicians – past & present: Eric Micali, Jon McGarry, Anthony Bianco, Wayne Dorell, Rob Fitzergerald, Bart Schoudel, and Ron Haney to name a few