MATTHIAS METZKE
After two years of basic musical education he began to play the accordion at the age of 6 at the municipal music school of Süßen. From 2006 until now, he is a student at the Hohner Conservatory Trossingen in Germany.
In 2006 Matthias won the national final of the prestigious German competition “Deutscher Akkordeon Musikpreis” (German Accordion Music Prize) in the virtuoso entertainment music category. In 2009 he won the 1st prize in the virtuoso entertainment music category of this competition, as well as the 1st prize in the classical music category and therefore was awarded the prize by the Prime Minister of his state. Furthermore in 2007 and 2010 Matthias received the 1st prize in the national competition for classical music “Jugend musiziert” (Youths play music). Also in 2008, Matthias won the second “Premio” during the 33rd international accordion festival “Città di Castelfidardo” in the junior competition for classical music.
2011 brought him a third place in the famous World Championship competition, the “Primus Ikaalinen”. Also in this year he won the “Coupe Mondiale” World Championship in the category “Junior Virtuoso Entertainment”.
But his World Title came in 2013 when he won the Roland V-Accordion World Championship . Later he won “Kid of the Year 2009” as overall winner of the “Kids2Keys” contest which is a competition for creativity and electronic instruments organized by the IFET association. In 2014, he won a 2nd World Championship in the Digital Category of the Coupe Mondiale.
What Matthias loves about the accordion is the underestimated variety of this instrument and the possibility to use it for every possible style of music which often results in surprises.
NETTA SKOG
Netta Skog is a Finnish accordion player known for being the “Rocker” of the accordion world. She started to play accordion when she was only 5 years old and she’s shown both versatility and virtuosity in her career. American World Champion Cory Pesaturo calls her, the “Badass” of the accordion world.
In 2006 she won the Finnish Golden Accordion competition, a national Finnish competition, and her career began. In the competition she played the song ”Dead to the World” from a very known Finnish metal band “Nightwish,” which attained much attention around the world. Mostly because of that performance, Battle Metal -band “Turisas” asked her to join the band. Netta was a official member in Turisas in 2007-2011 and got the chance to travel all around the whole world and play for crowds of up to 100,000 people!
In 2013 Netta decided to try her chances as a singer, so she attended to the Finnish Tango-competition and got straight to the finals, and was among the top six female singers. In 2015 Netta was asked to join another Finnish folk metal band called “Ensiferum” for three years.
One of her biggest highlights was her World Championship in the Digital Accordion category of the Coupe Mondiale, which Matthias Matzke won in 2014, and Cory Pesaturo won in 2009. Since that, she has been one of the leading digital accordionists and has reached new crowds and young enthusiastic musicians.
Even though Netta’s life has been mostly surrounded by heavy metal music, she also writes some of her own music which contains a lot of pop and instrumental music. She is also very interested in movie soundtracks and therefore says that one of her idols is Hans Zimmer. Netta continues to work with known bands, and has had the honor to perform with bands such as “Mokoma,” “Children of Bodom,” and “Turmion Katilot.”
JOE LOPICCOLO
Joe LoPiccolo is a guitarist and composer whose work is influenced by Classical, Jazz and World Music styles. Writer Dan O’Heron of the Pasadena Weekly states his music is “Soft spoken eloquence, fascinatingly improvised.” and “The music is comforting and visual, it takes you to a better place, a paradise found.”
Joe LoPiccolo is a graduate of The California Institute of the Arts, receiving his BFA in Jazz Guitar and his MFA in Guitar Performance. He is also a graduate of the Berklee College of Music Youth Summer Program and has taken masterclasses with guitarists Guinga, Paco Serrano and Mick Goodrick.
He is adjunct faculty at Mt. San Antonio College and College of the Canyons where he teaches World Music, Rock Music History, Group Guitar, Guitar Improvisation and Individual Guitar Instruction in both Jazz and classical genres. He has authored two texts, Guitar Mosaic and Improvisation for Guitarists and was a contributor to Andrew York’s Jazz Guitar For Classical Cats series by Alfred. Joe was a columnist for Fingerstyle Guitar Magazine, writing a column entitled “The Global Guitarist”.
He has been an ASCAP Plus Award recipient and won the Guitar Player Magazine “Reader’s Challenge” in February of 2006. Joe has Endorsement or Artist deals with Sadowsky Guitars, Evans Amps and La Bella Strings amongst others.
DINA MORRONE
Dina Morrone, a blue-eyed, blonde, Canadian, was born in the remote northern Ontario city of Thunder Bay, situated on the northwestern tip of Lake Superior. Dina’s Italian Immigrant parents instilled in her the importance of being bilingual. This gift would one day go on to serve her well in her professional life.
From an early age, she was encouraged by her grandfather to write and perform. Her first time on stage was at the age of four when, along with her older sister, she sang at the Local Italian Hall Annual Christmas Party for five hundred hungry, distracted, screaming Italians. The surreal moment left her with a burning desire to be in front of an audience. After performing in numerous school plays and talent shows, Dina joined a modeling/talent agency. This brought her briefly to New York City, where she not only fell in love with the Big Apple, but also discovered a passion for designing clothes. After graduating from the Ryerson University Fashion Design Program in Toronto, Canada, she designed clothes for local rock bands and private clients. But Dina yearned to perform and soon embarked on a successful career in front of the camera, as well as at the microphone. She landed some high profile commercials for Kodak, RCA Records, and American Express, just to name a few.
While on location in Antigua, hosting a Travel Show, she met an Italian Film Crew, who encouraged her to take her talent to Italy. She moved to Rome and in just three month, was chosen by FORD Automobiles, Italy Division, for a National Ad campaign. She went on to do high profile commercials for Kodak, RCA Records, and American Express to name a few. This lead to more work in Film, Theater and Voice Over. She was cast in European and Italian/American co-productions. Dina feels very privileged to have worked with the likes of Alain Delon, Klaus Kinski, Martin Sheen, Roberto Benigni, Inna Tchourikova, Alexander Gallin, Claudia Koll, Jacques Deray, Ralph Thomas, Tinto Brass, Elvio Porta, Bruno Corbucci and Norman Jewison.
Because of Dina’s bilingual abilities, RAI Television hired her to host a number of Culturally Informative television shows which aired all over the world. Her sultry voice was used by the Italian dubbing community to re-voice well over one hundred films, narrate documentaries and animation. One of Dina’s many highlights in Rome, besides meeting Federico Fellini, was the opportunity to work with American screen and stage actress Susan Strasberg, as her personal assistant during Susan’s “Intensive Master Acting Workshops.”
Since moving to Los Angeles, Dina has been actively involved with various Theatre Groups and continues to work as an Actress, Voice Over Talent, Writer and Theatre Producer. Dina is the Voice Over Announcer of the American Cinema Editor’s ACE Eddie Awards, the MPSE Awards for Outstanding Achievement in Motion Picture Sound Editing, the CAS Awards (Cinema Audio Society) for Sound Mixing, (HPA) Hollywood Post Alliance Awards, and Vaughan International Film Festival, to name a few.
Dina was invited by the Italian Consulate Office in Los Angeles to be the Master of Ceremonies for the Italian National Holiday – Festa Nazionale Della Repubblica, the MC at UCLA’S Royce Hall for the Orchestra Italiana del Cinema, an evening dedicated to the music of the Federico Fellini’s Movies and their Composers Nino Rota and Nicola Piovani, and the MC for the International Committee of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association at the 61st International Benefit Ball Honoring the Consulor Corps – an evening entitled ITALIA, centuries of Art and Style – held at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. The FBI LA Office invited Dina to be the Keynote Speaker for the FBI Annual Memorial. This was a great honor for Dina as the event is a solemn tribute to those Special Agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation who died in the line of duty. The event is commemorated annually at the Federal Building in Los Angeles.
Through countless short stories Dina has written over the years, she has given birth to a very entertaining and funny One Woman Show entitled, “The Italian in Me,” which had its World Premiere at the Globe Playhouse, in Los Angeles. She garnered rave reviews by critics and audiences for both her acting and writing. In June 2018 she received the Valley Theatre Award for Best One Person Show. She was also named by reviewplays.com, one of the Top Ten Best Actresses and the Los Angeles Woman’s Festival (LAWTF) presented her with the Inspiring Solo Performance Award.
The “Italian In Me,” went on to be performed at the Los Angeles Women’s Theater Festival, Marilyn Monroe Theatre, Pepperdine University in Malibu, Theatre West – WEST FEST Festival, Portraits of Humanity, a solo series festival, The Odyssey Theatre, The Italian Cultural Institute, The Feast of San Gennaro, in Hollywood, LA Women’s Club, Highways Theatre, The Santa Monica Playhouse in Santa Monica CA, The Electric Lodge in Venice, CA, The Potawatoni Casino in Milwaukee, and The Diesel Playhouse, in Toronto, Canada.
Dina’s full-length play, MOOSE ON THE LOOSE, a comedy about an Italian family and a Canadian moose, had its world premiere at Theatre West in Los Angeles, CA. The show was a smash hit with sold out shows. The show was then picked up and produced by Magnus Theatre in 2015, and Sudbury Theatre Centre STC, in 2017. Both theaters are in Ontario, Canada.
Since 2015, Dina has been the contributing editor and feature writer of The Eden Magazine and most recently she interviewed the legendary icon and artist, Gina Lollobrigida. The magazines aim is to create a better environment where we all live among other living beings in peace and harmony. It spreads compassion to all sentient beings. The magazine also supports artists whose work matches the criteria of the magazine.
Dina is a proud member of The Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television, Playwrights Guild Of Canada, Dramatists Guild Of America, Women In Theatre, Theatre West, The Producers League of Los Angeles, L’Accademia Italiana Di Cucina, Canadians Abroad, Theatre Ontario, LA Stage Alliance, SAG-AFTRA, ACTRA, AEA, Ryerson Alumni, UCLA Alumni, Beverly Hills Woman’s Club, Italian Cultural Institute, Le D.I.V.E, and currently sits on the Artistic Board of Theatre West.
Gunther Mueller has spent the last decade working with over 250 medical professionals, assisting them to bring life-changing therapies to help their patients feel: Young, Healthy, and Vibrant. Vibrant Health Gurus is Gunther’s weekly radio show which broadcasts on 94.3 KNEWS in Palm Springs, CA., reaching 25,000 listeners. Gunther interviews experts who are radically changing people’s health destiny. From Cardiologists, OBGYN’s, Family Practice Doctors to Authors, Inventors, and Key Opinion Leaders, Gunther delivers the education and complex information in simple, easy to understand conversations to inspire people to act and take charge of their own health care decisions. Since 1997 Gunther is co-owner of Preventive Medicine Centers in Palm Springs, which practices individualized evidence-based medicine. Gunther’s dream is to help billions of people get the education they need about how their bodies function so that they can age and feel terrific in optimal healthier ways.
Rebecca S. Smuk the Motor City Medium, is an Internationally renowned and respected spiritual, empathic medium. She does readings to help those that need healing, insight and closure by connecting with loved ones on the other side. She also specializes in violent or highly volatile hauntings and helps others cleanse their homes. Rebecca is one of the very few Mediums to use the Ouija board as a conduit during one on one readings with clients or group seances. She is also a member of G.L.A.S. Paranormal which is a Detroit based team. In addition to being a Paranormal Investigator and Empathic Medium, Rebecca also has been a guest on numerous radio shows and has a very full schedule presenting at various Paranormal Conventions across the country.
Head Coach MJ Gasik's qualifications include USAT Level I Certification, Ironman U Certification, USMS Level 4 Certification and has been competing in triathlons for 15 years. She has competed in all distances, from Sprint to Ironman, including 2 Ironman World Championships. She is known for helping 1st time Ironman athletes achieve their goals as well as helping beginner and newer triathletes become more comfortable in the sport. MJ has coached many athletes to personal records as well as qualifications for Age Group Nationals and Elite Status.
MJ's coaching philosophy is to train smart which doesn't always mean training harder or longer. This means every workout should count. Training plans are customized to each individual athlete and based on ability, fitness level and athlete goals. MJ also understands that schedules may change and training cannot always be the priority and adjustments can be made accordingly.
Dr. James Granger III, MD is a pain medicine specialist in Marietta, GA and has been practicing for 17 years. He graduated from Meharry Medical College School Of Medicine in 1997 and specializes in pain medicine, acupuncture, and more.
"I have been practicing Traditional Chinese martial arts for years. That along with my interest in alternative medicine lead me to Acupuncture and herbal medicine as modalities to treat patients. My clinical experience with pain management and treating work and auto injuries is extensive. The focus of my practice is to use Acupuncture and physiotherapy to manage and treat painful conditions. The goal is " Pain free without Pills"."
"Pain Free without Pills is our goal and philosophy. We provide care for patients injured in auto and work accidents. We often provide these services on an attorney lien to help alleviate the economic impact that accidents have on our patients lives. We also prove treatment for narcotics addiction and hormone therapy for menopausal and andropausal patients.
We use acupuncture and herbal medicine to treat a variety of ailments particularly chronic pain, such as migraines, neck pain and back pain."






