Headlined Guests
Headlined Guests that have appeared on BBS Radio TV
PAUL E. AMORI
Paul E. Amori, founder of the Love Party and three-time Mayor of the Lightning In A Bottle festival, is running for Mayor of Los Angeles to spread love over our fair city.
“LA has not only been my home for the last 16 years, but it is also a very visible stage from which to launch a grass roots movement that we hope to make into a national and eventually even an international movement.
With the nation’s largest homeless population, congested streets and highways, rising cost of living and crime, Los Angeles is in dire need of more love!”
Amori’s first foray into the world of politics came when he was ceremoniously elected mayor of the Lightning in a Bottle music festival in 2012 and 2013. As a token of his esteem for the festival and its multi-cultural attendees he created Amori’s Casino & Burlesque, a late night venue that celebrates love in all its myriad forms and passions. Over the last four years Amori’s has become a beloved institution at the festival and has continued to serve as the festival’s honorary mayor.
Like all descendants of immigrants of this great nation, Amori’s roots can be traced back to the old country. But make no mistake, Amori is 110% grade A – Amorican, and an Angelino thru and thru.
Paul E. Amori and the Vote 4 Love campaign are putting the heart back into politics by creating a new political model that does away with vitriolic smear tactics and examines the issues and solutions thru the rose-colored glasses of love. The campaign also seeks to re engage disenfranchised voters, the vast majority of registered voters in Los Angeles (more than 80%), who are not expected to turn out for the 2017 Mayoral election, calling for Angelenos to not just Vote 4 Love, but to Love their Vote! If you’re tired of the same old politics, it’s time for some Paul-E-Tics!
Amori summarizes the key points of his platform as:
– We embrace love and the creation of more love as the best possible tool for affecting change that benefits all people, across party, socioeconomic and ethnic lines. Our campaign will determine how we can use love to create solutions for many of the issues Angelenos care about most such as: homelessness, traffic, the rising cost of living, and an escalating crime rate.
– The Vote 4 Love campaign is committed to dramatically raising the bar on voter turnout. Less than 20% of registered voters are expected to turn out for LA’s 2017 mayoral election, we believe that the citizens of our city do not feel heard or empowered, in turn they don’t feel connected to the politicians who are supposed to be representing them. We want to engage voters by getting them involved in policy creation effectively creating crowd-sourced governance.
“We need politics that serve our cities and politicians that serve our people. It’s time to stop voting for anger, for hatred, for division. It’s time to Vote 4 Love!”
Paul E. Amori is the founder of the Love Party and three-time Mayor of the Lightning In A Bottle festival.
Margaret Flowers, co-director of Its Our Economy, is a Maryland pediatrician. After graduation from the University of Maryland School of Medicine in 1990 and completion of pediatric residency at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Flowers worked first as a hospitalist and then in private practice. She left practice in 2007 to advocate full-time for a single payer health care system at both the state and national levels.Flowers co-hosts, Clearing the FOG radio which airs on We Act Radio, 1480 AM. Her twitter is @MFlowers8.
Flowers served as Congressional Fellow for Physicians for a National Health Program during the 2009-2010 national health reform process. She organized briefings, lobby days and testified before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee in June, 2009 and before the National Commission for Fiscal Responsibility and Reform in June, 2010. She was co-founder of the Mobilization for Health Care Reform. She is currently a spokesperson for PNHP and is on the board of Healthcare-Now. Flowers serves on the coordinating committee of the Health Care is a Human Right Campaign-Maryland.
Flowers views the struggle for health care as part of a broader social, economic and environmental justice movement. She joined Zeese in March, 2011 as co-director of ItsOurEconomy.us in order to educate, organize and mobilize around social and economic justice issues. She serves on the steering committee of october2011 which organized the Occupation of Washington, DC on Freedom Plaza and continues to report on and help organize Occupy events around the country.
Engineer/inventor Wilbur Allen is no stranger to UFO encounters. An alien encounter in the UK at the age of 5 left him face to face with a group of grey ET's. He is a former White House/Air Force One engineer and a contract photographer for National Geographic.
HERB FREED started his adult life as an ordained rabbi and became the spiritual leader of Temple Beth Shalom in Lake Mahopac, New York while producing and directing three shows at the Maidman Playhouse in New York City. Eventually, he resigned his pulpit to become a movie director. He has directed and produced 15 feature films most of which have had psychological, spiritual and/or social themes in spite of their commercial categories. He is best known for Graduation Day, a horror film, and Tomboy, a teenage romp, as well as the psychological drama Haunts, and CHILD2MAN, a story of survival during the Watts riots.
David Watson is a popular channeler, workshop leader, author and life strategist in Toronto, Canada. David is a gifted Deep-Trance Channeler who has been channeling a Soul Group called the Willows since 1986. David works in the style of Edgar Cayce. From a deep trance state he answers questions and queries about health, relationships, spiritual matters, past lives, career and much more. The Willows are a Group of Entities who claim their numbers from both the physical and ethereal planes. David is also a practicing psychotherapist specializing in stress counseling and soul purpose work. David's learnings have led him to commit to sharing his philosophy worldwide through his book 'The Conscious Omniverse' as well as his many webcasts over the years. His desire is to help others free themselves from the limiting beliefs and fears of an uncertain future and live the life they choose to live.
Cheryl Boyles tells us her story below. In June 2000 I was 33 years old, working as a wildlife biologist in Oregon, married to a wonderful husband for 10 years, and the mother of two amazing sons that were 1 and 3 years old. I was loving life; then overnight my life changed. I began having headaches that felt like my skull was going to explode. An MRI showed my brain was hemorrhaging. I went into surgery and an acorn sized grade 4 Glioblastoma Multiforme (GBM) brain tumor was removed. I was told I had less than a year to live.I quit my job, and focused on being a mother and fighting brain cancer. I went through radiation, but chose not to take chemotherapy. The chemo would only add 3 months to my life, but quality of life would be miserable.
I decided to take more of a natural “alternative” approach, trying to boost my own immune system. My good cells outnumbered my bad cancer cells! I started eating organic, following a low carbohydrate diet, exercising, simplifying life and nursing a positive attitude, taking acupuncture, many supplements, cannabis, some “off label” prescriptions (like Metformin), and most of all leaning on God for strength which feeds me with hope.
Over the 16 years fighting the terminal brain cancer, I’ve unfortunately was hit with six recurrences. The fact that I have survived is unbelievable. My doctors even say so. Most people with the GBM die with their first recurrence, which usually happens within the first few years. To fight my recurrences, I mostly focused on my alternative actions, but also continued with some of the standard treatments. I’ve been through six brain craniotomies, 6 week of conformation radiation, over 3 ½ years on the milder chemo called Temodar, and also what is called Gamma Knife radiation.
Taking this approach of combining many alternative and standard treatments, trying to hit the cancer from many angels, has become known at a “cocktail” approach. It seems to be working for me, not that I’m cured, but I’m still alive and loving life. Over the sixteen years I’ve had over 100 MRIs, and it’s great to say that my last MRI was clear, no seen GBM.I have become known in the “brain tumor world” as a long term survivor. Patients and caregivers from around the USA and around the world contact me wanting to know “How do you do it?” So I’ve put together a web page, wrote a book called Life’s Mountains, and made some videos hoping to reach out and encourage others.
Now my husband and I have been married 26 years, growing stronger together. My two boys are now 17 and 20 years old, both wanting to become wildlife biologists like mom and dad. And over the years I’ve been blessed with many things. Seeing life anew, learning to be content regardless of circumstances, enduring through the challenges, and living life in the moment.
Cherie Calbom MSN holds a Master of Science degree in whole foods nutrition from Bastyr University. Known as “The Juice Lady” for her work with juicing and health, she is the author of 32 books including her latest The Juice Lady’s Guide to Fasting and Sugar Knockout. She and her husband offer juice cleanse retreats throughout the year, 30-Day Detox online and Garden’s Best Juice Powder. She received a grant to study “Nutrition: The Missing Piece of the Cancer Treatment Puzzle.” She has lectured worldwide on juicing, detoxing and fasting including consulting for the Royal Family of the UAE. She appears in the 9-Episode DVD series The Truth About Cancer. Winner of the TTAC Lifetime Achievement Award for her work with juicing and detoxification, her blogs and books on juicing, cleansing and health have helped thousands of people live healthier lives. You can connect with her on Facebook and Twitter
N.B. FREE OFFER FOR CANCER AND/OR RADIO LISTENER: Cherie offered the following scholarship and a partial scholarship for another listener for her next retreat. She said:
Robert R. Maldonado, PhD, is a retired Air Force Officer, Reiki Master, Teacher of Chinese Integral Qigong, Barbara Brennan Healing and Science Practitioner, and an energy healer. He has traveled the world extensively and has a passion for discovering beauty as well as honoring the sacred in all places and cultures he visits. Dr. Maldonado is dedicated to helping people discover their innate abilities and their potential to heal themselves and to find their true purpose in life. He frequently travels with Energy Medicine Partnerships,, (EMP), and has authored several books.
Robert Maldonado teaches us to honor ourselves and where we are in life as well as to be open to other realities and to receive guidance from others. He comes to "Let's Find Out" to discuss two of his books: Children of Atlantis: Keepers of the Crystal Skull, and The Calling of the Heart, A Journey of Self Discovery.
Richie Ornstein is the long-time producer of the Joe Franklin Late Night Talk Show.
Joe Franklin (born Joseph Fortgang; March 9, 1926 – January 24, 2015) was an American radio and television host personality from New York City His show began in January 1951 on WJZ-TV (later WABC-TV) and moved to WOR-TV (later WWOR-TV) from 1962 to 1993
Born in the Bronx, Joe was a true New Yorker. As a teenager, Franklin “ followed around” Al Jolson and Eddie Cantor, the latter of whom eventually began buying jokes from the young Franklin and whose Carnegie Hall show he later produced.
At 14, Franklin began writing skits for The Kate Smith Hour and at 16, Franklin officially began his entertainment career as a record picker on radio sensation Martin Block’s Make Believe Ballroom where he became known as "The Young Wreck with the Old Records.” He was considered to be an authority on popular culture of the first half of the 20th century, including silent films. He was called "The King of Nostalgia" and "The Wizard of Was" for focusing on old-time show-business personalities. Franklin was also a pioneer in promoting products such as Hoffman Beverages and Canada Dry ginger ale on the air. A&E's documentary It's Only Talk, The Real Story Of America's Talk Shows credits Franklin as the creator of the television talk show. Franklin was listed in the Guinness World Records as the longest running continuous on-air TV talk show host, more than a decade longer than Johnny Carson’s run.
INTRODUCING RICHIE
After retiring from his television show, Franklin concentrated on his overnight radio show, playing old records on WOR-AM on Saturday evenings and mentoring thousands of aspiring entertainers who for decades sought an audience with him at his notoriously cluttered Times Square office. Franklin's celebrity interviews, known as "Nostalgia Moments", appeared daily on the Bloomberg Radio Network until mid-January 2015, shortly before his death. Richie and I (Elizabeth Joyce) would join Joe on New Year's Eve on WOR_Radio in NY City - around the corner from where Dick Clark was dropping the ball on Times Square. We would reminisce about American Bandstand and The Joe Franklin Show - the singers and stars - and play oldies.
Kerri Hummingbird Lawnsby is the host of Soul Nectar Show a global inspiration forum sharing stories of connection to essence and living life purpose. She is a life catalyst, energy medicine practitioner, award-winning author and inspirational speaker. Kerri has over 20 years of experience in leading by inspiration, and a special passion for empowering women to be the artists of their lives.
She is certified in energy medicine by the Four Winds Light Body school, certified as a spiritual coach by the Artist of the Spirit Coach Training Program and HeatherAsh Amara, certified in empowerment and firewalk training by Sundoor, and certified as a Warrior Goddess Facilitator. She is the 2017 President of the Austin Chapter of the National Association of Professional Women (NAPW).
In 2014, The Indie Spiritual Book Awards conferred the honor of "Best in Category" to Awakening To Me: One Woman's Journey To Self Love, and in 2015 it won Pinnacle Best in Category for Self-Help and National Indie Excellence Awards Winner in Category for Spirituality. Her 2015 book From We To Me: Emerging Self After Divorce, reached #16 in the Divorce category on Amazon within its first week of being published. Kerri lives with the love of her life, his two children, and her two teenage sons in the Austin area. She works with clients around the world.
Prior to her career as a Life Catalyst, Ms. Hummingbird had a 20-year career as a technical and marketing communications consultant in both Silicon Valley and Austin high-tech communities. She has served in leadership since she began working, most notably serving on the Board of the Silicon Valley chapter of the Society for Technical Communication. She also inspired and led over 150 artists to open their studios to the public as the Executive Director of the non-profit Silicon Valley Open Studios in the Bay Area, California for several years in the early 2000s.
Dr. John Douillard DC CAP is a globally recognized leader in the fields of natural health, Ayurveda, and sports medicine. He is the creator of LifeSpa.com, the leading Ayurvedic health and wellness resource on the web with over 5 million views on YouTube. LifeSpa.com is evolving the way Ayurveda is understood around the world, with over 800 articles and videos proving ancient wisdom with modern science. Dr. John is the former Director of Player Development and nutrition expert for the New Jersey Nets NBA team, bestselling author of 7 health books including his newest 'Eat Wheat', a repeat guest on the Dr. Oz show, and featured in USA Today, LA Times, and dozens of other national publications. He has been in practice for over 30 years and has seen over 100,000 patients. Dr. John directs LifeSpa, the 2013 Holistic Wellness Center of the year in Boulder, CO.
Dr. Calleman is coming back on Cosmic LOVE to tell us about the
nature of multi-dimensional conscious evolution in his new book:
Quantum Science of Psychedelics:
The Pineal Gland, Multidimensional Reality,
and Mayan Cosmology
In this groundbreaking book, Carl Calleman reveals the quantum science of the Maya, a lost science that explains the phenomenology of psychedelics and altered states of consciousness. Explaining why altered states exist and how they work, he describes how psychedelics interact with the human mind to further the evolution of consciousness.
See Dr. Calleman’s recent article:
The Corona Virus and the Mayan Calendar:
An Alternative Perspective
April 30, 2020
See also Calleman upcoming event:
Accessing the 9th Wave of Evolution
through Shared Unity
Join Carl Johan Calleman & Patricia Albere on
Saturday, June 6th, 2020
from 10 am to Noon PT / 1 to 3 pm ET / 7 to 9 pm CET
for this very special, free seminar.
Carl Johan Calleman holds a Ph.D. in physical biology from the University of Stockholm. A leading expert on the Mayan Calendar, he is author of the 'Paradigm Shift Trilogy' and THE NINE WAVES OF CREATION. He lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
“I highly recommend Carl’s new book if
you love to dive deep and soar high.”
~ Christos Lightweaver
Lyn Smith spent most of her life growing up and living in England and currently lives in Spain. As a teenager, she was subjected to several traumatic experiences that went on to impact her ability to trust, love & enjoy relationships with men, this went on for decades.
As a result she felt driven to heal herself and discover how to form healthy relationships
Over the past 30 years based upon her personal research & training with the world’s leading industry experts, plus her vast experiential learning, she has subsequently designed & presented her own course programs to share these break-through relationship techniques with women across the globe.
Lyn - The Queen of HEARTS has a proven track record as an International Relationship Coach, Inspirational Speaker and Best Selling Author
Understanding the polarization of masculine & feminine energy resulted in her creating massive attraction and a passionate committed relationship – enabling her to not only feel secure and protected but also to feel alive, fulfilled and finally at peace.
Lyn makes a difference by helping you make a difference
Lyn’s Mission is to empower you to reach your full potential in attracting / creating the ultimate intimate, committed relationship and to have a positive impact in reducing divorce, domestic violence & suicide.
Anaiis Salles is the author of the forthcoming book, 'Living Lessons Library' in which she shares the personal and universal lessons that are key to her bliss awakening and lifelong spiritual journey.
Born with access to soul memory, from childhood on, Anaiis experienced siddhis, or awakening gifts described in Eastern traditions. Her spiritual journey has been and remains inner directed, and directly experienced as living lessons. She has made the transition to 5D and living on Earth 2.0.
Anaiis is a way-shower, primarily on the cutting edge of energy healing without the use of hardware or technology. The physical results of her healing exchanges have been medically verified. In 1991, while in Moscow, Russia, Anaiis initiated an internship-collaboration with physicians and their seriously ill patients. Highlights of this first trip to Moscow are shared in a documentary about the value of hands-on healing with critically burned individuals and children with cancer.
Anaiis facilitated workshops, retreats and taught small groups in the United States and internationally, training hands-on healers through a two year certification curriculum. Anaiis' mission is to guide others toward discovering and living through the magnificent essence, discovering the unique meaning, and powerfully loving co-creative capacity that is each individual life.
There is a wealth of material on her website, with links to her YouTube channels, the Living Lessons Library, Creatrix Wisdom Circle Radio, and Conscious Eco Creation.
Sam Koplinka-Loehr, is the Field Organizer and Outreach Consultant of the National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee. Sam has been a war tax resister since the late 2000’s and is a gender queer young adult who is actively involved in long-term struggles for justice. They live in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Sam is one of the youngest active members of the national network, at 25, but hopefully not for long! They are working alongside many other people to build a strong movement of radical young people who refuse to pay taxes to our oppressive government and redirect the money to organizing efforts instead.
Sam has a bachelor’s degree in Environmental Justice from Middlebury College in Vermont. They have been part of direct action campaigns to stop fracked gas pipelines in Pennsylvania, build prisoner power at Angola Prison, and end police terror in Philadelphia. As the Field Organizer of NWTRCC, Sam is regularly in touch with members of the national network, connecting people to resource as well as helping to plan events and actions.
The National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee supports individuals who refuse to pay for war, and promotes war tax resistance in the context of a broad range of nonviolent strategies for social change. Through the redirection of our tax dollars, war tax resisters contribute directly to the struggle for peace and justice for all.
NWTRCC is a coalition of local, regional, and national groups and individuals from across the United States. For everyone interested in or actively refusing to pay taxes for war, NWTRCC offers information, referral, support, resources, publicity, campaign sponsorship, and connection to an international network of conscientious objectors to war taxes.
What is War Tax Resistance?
War tax resistance means refusing to pay some or all of the federal taxes that pay for war. While you can refuse income tax legally by lowering your taxable income, for many people war tax resistance involves civil disobedience.
In the U.S. war tax resisters refuse to pay some or all of their federal income tax and/or other taxes, like the federal excise tax on local telephone service. Income taxes and excise taxes are destined for the government’s general fund and about half of that money goes for military spending, including weapons of war and weapons of mass destruction.
People take many roads to war tax resistance. Most are motivated by a combination of reasons and actively work for peace in many other ways too. If you consider your motivations this will help you determine your method of resistance.
Refusing to pay federal income taxes is an act of civil disobedience with a long history in the U.S. America’s most well-known war tax resister was Henry David Thoreau, whose refusal to pay his poll tax because of the Mexican-American War earned him an night in jail and the experience that led him to write his influential essay, Civil Disobedience. While those of us who refuse to pay war taxes believe our refusal is just and imperative — and some of us cite international law to back up this belief — the government considers the refusal to pay these taxes to be illegal, and there are potential repercussions through the IRS collection system. For most of us who resist, the dire consequences of voluntarily paying for war are far worse that what the IRS and government can do to us.
War tax resisters are not out to enrich ourselves by evading taxes. Some of us live below the taxable income limit to avoid as fully as possible participating in war-making. Others who refuse to pay taxes to the federal government contribute that money instead for human needs here in the U.S., aid and relief work in war-torn regions, peacemaking, or international cooperation.
How To Resist
How to Refuse to Pay for War
Debbie Russell at the Texas state capitol on Tax Day, 2010
If you think more about your motivations for war tax resistance, it can help you to choose a way to get started. You can read about motivations or watch our 30-minute introductory film Death and Taxes.
Other factors will influence your method of resistance also: whether you are salaried, self-employed, off-the-grid, below taxable income, etc.
But don’t let yourself get bogged down by too much weighing the options. You can always adjust your method as your resistance develops.
Methods of Resistance
Summarized below are a few war tax resistance methods. Some are more convenient to some people than to others. And some methods are better than others at meeting particular goals. Each method also has a different set of risks associated with it.
- File and refuse to pay your taxes. This involves filling out a 1040 form and refusing to pay either a token amount of your taxes (e.g. $5, $10, $50), or a percentage representing a “military” portion (see the federal spending pie chart), or the total amount (since a portion of whatever is paid goes to the military). See Filing and Refusing for steps to get started.
- Refuse to file a tax return. This might involve trying to stay out of the system or “off the grid.” See “To File or Not To File A Tax Return”
- Earn less than the taxable income. This can involve having such a low income that you are not required to file federal income tax returns (approximately $10,300 for a single person in 2015), or it can mean filing and taking deductions so that no income tax is owed. Note: Social Security taxes are owed on income of $600 and up. These taxes will be owed if you have not had them withheld at a job, and IRS collection is the same as for income taxes. See “Low Income/Simple Living as War Tax Resistance”
- Resist the local telephone excise tax. The federal telephone excise tax historically has been related to wars and excessive military spending. It appears on local-only landline phone bills. Refusing to pay this tax is a low risk method of war tax resistance. See Hang Up On War.
Legal Protest
If you are angry about endless war and military spending but are not ready to resist, don’t be silent. Here are some other options:
- Send a letter of protest with your 1040 tax form. Enclose it along with (but do not staple it to) your form. Send copies to your elected officials.
- Write letters to the editor protesting taxes for war, especially when people are thinking about taxes during tax filing season between January and April.
- Write a message of protest on the check you send with your tax forms.
- Pay the tax with hundreds of small-denomination checks or coins.
- Lobby for Peace Tax Fund legislation that would allow conscientious objectors to pay taxes to a fund that would not be used for military spending.
- Leaflet and protest before and on tax day.
- File “Part A” of the Peace Tax Return.
For more information see the book War Tax Resistance: A Guide to Withholding Your Support from the Military, or contact a war tax resistance counselor
Anaiis Salles is the author of the forthcoming book ‘Living Lessons Library’ in which she shares the personal and universal lessons that are key to her bliss awakening and lifelong spiritual journey.
Born with access to soul memory, from childhood on, Anaiis experienced siddhis, or awakening gifts described in eastern spiritual traditions. However, Anaiis’ development wasn’t the result of an initiation by a guru or the result of studying with a spiritual guide in human form. Her spiritual journey has been and is still completely inner directed, and directly experienced as living lessons. She has made the transition to 5D and living on Earth 2.0.
A mentor and teacher since 1991, Anaiis is a way-shower, primarily on the cutting edge of energy healing without the use of hardware/technology. The physical results or her healing exchanges have been medically verified.
1991, in Moscow, Russia, Anaiis initiated an internship/collaboration with physicians and their seriously ill patients. Highlights of this first trip to Moscow are shared in a documentary about the value of being a hands-on healing team member with critically burned individuals and children with cancer.
Anaiis facilitated workshops, retreats and taught small groups in the United States and internationally, training hands-on healers through a two year certification curriculum before the days of Reiki, EFT, and now the hardware/frequency tools that followed in the wake of being one of very few way-showers in the realm of energy healing beginning in the 1980s.
Anaiis’ mission is to guide others toward discovering and living through the magnificent essence, its unique meaning, and powerfully loving co-creative capacity that is each individual life.
BRANDY FAITH WELD
Some people call her a heart surgeon without a scalpel because she cuts out the dis-ease from their heart and gets it back to being a healthy and powerful driver of their lives, and some call her the Change Alchemist. But whatever they call her, they all speak in high gratitude of how Brandy Faith Weld has helped them breakthrough blocks that once kept them stuck. Brandy is the author of the international #1 bestselling book, Heal Your Heart ~ Free Your Mind, and the creator of Jump To A Better Life Experience.
She has been involved in spiritual/personal development work for over 26 years, leading individuals and organizations in Peak Performance Development around the world. Brandy has studied in several arenas from psychology, neuro-science, quantum physics to various creeds of spiritual teaching, but her real awareness and true transformation came after she had a Near Death Experience back in 2008. She returned back from the other side with a mission and a blue print to stop the human suffering that gets passed down from generation to generation and to liberate man from the blocks and patterns that once hindered them.
CAFÉ MUSIQUE (BRYNN ALBANESE, DUANE INGLISH, CRAIG NUTTYCOMBE, FRED MURRAY, ERIC WILLIAMS)
Café Musique lives up to its name with a musical pallet that includes gypsy, swing, tango, folk and their self-defined genre, “wild classical.” The five members seem to eat, sleep and breathe music. They’re from the central coast of California and all five come from wildly different backgrounds, but together they’ve found kindred musical spirits in one another. Having performed around the world and been on the stages of several world-class music festivals, Café Musique has made thousands of fans of their powerful, emotive and beautiful sound. They have shared the stage with Doc Severinsen, David Grisman Quintet and Los Lobos and performed and recorded with Grammy award winner Louis Ortega, musical madman Joe Craven, songwriter Jill Knight and Broadway vocalist Sarah Kleeman.
A quote from Lisa Manning (entertainment director, Hidden Valley Music Seminars, Carmel Valley, CA) captures the essence of the band’s music perfectly: “Leading the way is the siren song of violinist Brynn Albanese. She charms, seduces, and delightfully entertains the audience through a whirlwind of musical genres. The group dynamic is part of the fun, with a sassy, musical interplay between accordionist Duane Inglish and Ms. Albanese. The band offers range as well as depth, moving from exhilarating tango to the intense folk music of Eastern Europe to the truly lovely songwriting of guitarist Craig Nuttycombe.”
Rounding out the band, string wizard Eric Williams brings a life-time of musical experience to the band’s fabric forged by his touring and recording with Taj Mahal, Rita Coolidge and appearing on over 100 recordings. On bass is multi-instrumentalist Fred Murray, whose background in blues, folk and rock gives the ensemble a heartbeat that underscores the ensemble’s powerful and passionate music.
ABOUT THE BAND MEMBERS:
Brynn Albanese (violin and vocals)
Graduate Peabody Conservatory of Music; Boston Symphony and Pops; Concertmaster of the Boston Philharmonic; Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and The Hague Philharmonic in The Netherlands; Concertmaster SLO Opera and Symphony of the Vines; recorded on Schindler’s List; Saving Private Ryan; Jurassic Park; author ‘Violin Practice Technique Boot Camp’ endorsed by American String Teachers Association; gluten-free but not fun free.
Duane Inglish (accordion)
Studied under master accordionists Frank Umbro and Ray Gibson; past director of the Live Oak Music Festival in Santa Barbara; former pub owner; loves bluegrass but won’t tell anyone; poet; frustrated romanticist; traveler; former public radio host; truck driver; passionate photographer; likes chick flicks; watches ‘Singing in the Rain” late at night; drinks cheap wine.
Craig Nuttycombe (guitar and vocals)
Songwriter; wordsmith; Hollywood High School; New Dimensions surf band; Lambert and Nuttycombe; A&M records (two albums); toured with Jimi Hendrix and Canned Heat; loves his dog; channels Mr. Rogers; was french romanticist Jean Pierre in another life; Wallichs Music, Sunset and Vine; takes pictures of the audience; enjoys picnics and showers.
Fred Murray (bass and vocals)
First band at age 14; rock to jazz to funk to Cajun to blues to country; now gypsy and tangos; Austin; Santa Barbara; Paso Robles; co-producer of Half Step Behind; lap steel guitar; clarinet; drums; guitar builder; has performed across the country; computer wizard; cat lover; every note counts; shows up just-in-time; self-described recluse.
Eric Williams (guitar, ukulele, bouzouki and vocals)
A multi-instrumentalist playing instruments ranging from guitar in all styles, bass, banjo, ukulele to the gorgeous warm sounds of the bouzouki. Eric has been a recording artist and album producer on more than one-hundred albums. He has performed and toured with the likes of Tori Amos, Taj Mahal, Tracy Ullman and Russian Balalaika Orchestras.
BRYAN PEZZONE
Bryan Pezzone is the consummate crossover pianist of his generation. He has excelled in classical, contemporary, jazz, and experimental genres and is known for both his versatility and virtuosity as a performing artist, improviser and composer. Bryan performs with composers and musicians as diverse as Pierre Boulez, John Williams, and John Adams, and records on countless film and television soundtracks. He is the pianist in the group Free Flight; a crossover classical/jazz quartet.
These concerts feature many of his own compositions. In addition, Bryan has initiated a performing series that he calls “FREEDOM SERIES” which involves improvisations and verbal musings on life.
Bryan has performed with many major symphony orchestra associations, and is known in the Los Angeles area as one of the primary freelance pianists for film and television soundtrack recording, contemporary music premieres, and chamber music accompany. As a soloist, Bryan has performed with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, Pasadena Pops, Santa Monica Symphony, San Antonio Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic Institute Orchestra, United States International University Orchestra, U.C. Irvine Symphony Orchestra, Eastman Philharmonic and the Pacific Symphony.
Bryan has produced CDs of his own music which blends jazz and classical styles– including “Flying on Water” produced by Steve Wight, featuring M.B. Gordy on drums and Bart Samolis on bass, as well as solo piano CD’s featuring his more introspective music, including Piano Prayers, Visits with Gershwin, Hymns for Holliston, and Music Candles and Mountaintops.
In addition, Bryan has been principal pianist in the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra from its inception in 1991-1999 as well as the former chair and founder of the Multi-focused keyboard department at the California Institute of the Arts from 1987-2000. He abandoned both those positions in order to discover new paths and is passionate about continuously redefining himself and his role as an artist, musician, and person in today’s complex and eclectic culture.
MARINA MANUKIAN
At the age of 11, violinist Marina Manukian joined the Radio and Television Violin Ensemble of Armenia thus becoming the youngest professional musician in the former Soviet Union. She received her musical training from Georgi Ajemian, Alice Schoenfeld, Yehudi Menuhin, Sandor Vegh, Edward Schmieder, and Sidney Weiss. Marina has studied at the prestigious Mozarteum School of Music in Salzburg, Austria and is also a USC graduate with Highest Honors.
Since childhood, Marina has performed radio and television broadcasts, recordings, solos with orchestras, chamber music concerts and recitals. Her passionate artistry has been heard and embraced throughout Europe, former U.S.S.R. and the United States.
She is the winner of numerous music awards and prizes including the 1st prize for National Young Artist Competition, in former U.S.S.R., Aspen International Music Festival and Herb Alpert Music Award from A & M Records.
Marina has performed with such renowned artists as Mstislav Rostropovich, Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo, Valeri Giergiev, Kent Nagano, James Conlon, Lynn Harell, and others.
The Los Angeles Times identifies Marina Manukian as “a violinist extraordinaire…whose virtuosity is exceeded only by her calmness and confidence, working through the intricacies with masterful grace and strength.”
Since 2006 Marina has been the Music Director and Concertmaster of The Enlightenment Chamber Music Series which present concerts performed by the selection of expert chamber musicians, soloists and recording artists from around the world. In addition to her solo and chamber music performances Marina has recorded for over 600 television and motion picture scores working with numerous composers including John Williams, Jerry Goldsmith, James Newton-Howard, James Horner, Alan Silvestri, Danny Elfman, Hans Zimmer, and Michael Giacchino.
Marina Manukian’s recordings together with pianist Bryan Pezzone of “Brahms Violin Sonatas” and “Inspiration” have received critical acclaim and were chosen as the top classical CDs by several major radio stations worldwide. AMG All Music Guide writes: “listen to the radiant warmth of their tone, to the timeless stillness of the tempo, to the evanescent inwardness of their playing, to the rapt ecstasy of their ensemble: this is the soul and spirit of Brahms’ music made manifest and, great as the competition is, Manukian and Pezzone express it with almost unbearable poignancy.”