With humble beginnings performing soulful renditions of “Jeremiah Was a Bullfrog” on the school playground, Michael Wansley developed an affinity for music at an early age, performing wherever he could for anyone who would listen. As he worked towards his degree in music education, the newly nicknamed “Wanz” started his first band, Central Connection, eventually performing as a savvy stage man in groups such as The Ghetto Monks and Life Ring — soon sharing the stage with artists like Joe Williams, Bobby McFerrin, and Dizzy Gillepsie.

It was only a matter of time before Wanz grabbed the national spotlight.

Last summer, rising hip-hop duo Macklemore & Ryan Lewis recruited Wanz for a hook on their song about shopping for second-hand clothes, a humble and forward-thinking track against the traditionally flashy hip-hop status quo. Partly thanks to Wanz’s unforgettable hook, “Thrift Shop” quickly climbed the Billboard charts before landing at number one and holding that spot for six weeks total, certifying the single as six-times platinum in the United States.

Wanz now tours the world with Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, charming fans from all walks of life with his captivating vocals and unparalleled stage presence. Recent performances include Saturday Night Live, Jimmy Fallon, David Letterman, Ellen, and festivals such as South by Southwest and Bonnaroo, among others.

Currently, Wanz is putting the final touches on a solo EP, which is due out this summer. Drawing inspiration from the likes of Teddy Pendergrass and Bill Withers, Wanz blends pensive lyrics with tight, soulful grooves on his debut solo effort, producing a fresh sound that will capture your ears and stimulate your mind

THE MCMAINS BROTHERS (JIM, MOOSE & MICK)

The McMains Brothers, (Moose and Jim, who are twins) are sons of Philip D. McMains and Helen Muir Ware.

Moose and Jim had a band in Paris that was signed to CBS in France, known as Les Irresistibles when they were just 16.  On of their hit songs was “My Year In a Day.” Later, together with their younger brother Mick, they have been singing and playing together in various bands of various names.

The currently write songs and sing under their real name, The McMains Brothers.

Mick was born in Washington D.C. and immediately moved to Vietnam where he spent his baby years. Then it was off to Europe, 2 years in Vienna followed by 5 years in Paris. It was in Paris that Mick began a life long study of music having the good fortune to take piano lessons from Russian-born Madame Friedenson who herself was a protégé of the great Nadia Boulanger. After his dad retired from the USIS (information gathering), the family moved to Southern California where his older brothers – both excellent musicians – were at USC. It was in SoCal that Mick started playing the guitar in earnest, finding an excellent teacher in Long Beach by the name of Horace Hatchett. Hatchett had studied with the legend Charlie Christian.

Mick has Co-Produced 2 startling CDs for the art ensemble known as dj monkey. Acting also came natural to Mick. He can be seen in the horror classic Hard Rock Zombies. He’s the piano-playing Zombie on the left. Mick has played on all the main stages in and around Los Angeles, also touring Europe as a bassist for punk rock band The Generators. A 2-year stint as lead singer for Earl Slick’s NYC brought Mick into the heights of rock royalty sharing the stage with luminaries like Joe Walsh (Eagles), Ray Manzarek (Doors) Earl Slick (Bowie)… and later he was found touring Japan and the Pacific Northwest with 80’s power-pop icon John Wicks of The Records.

Contact info:

Email: mick@mickmcmains.com

CYNTHIA MCKINNEY bio

After serving in the Georgia Legislature, in 1992, McKinney won a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. She was the first African-American woman from Georgia in the U.S. Congress. She was the first Member of Congress to demand an investigation of the events of 9/11/2001. McKinney was criticized and as a result, she was defeated in 2002; however, she ran again and was re-elected in 2004.



In 2005, McKinney was a vocal critic of the government’s response to Hurricane Katrina. Cynthia introduced legislation to release documents related to the murders of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Tupac Shakur. She was the first Member of Congress to file articles of impeachment against George W. Bush; and she voted against every war-funding bill put before her. In 2008, Cynthia McKinney won the Green Party nomination and ran for U.S. President.



In December 2008, Cynthia made international headlines when her boat was rammed by the Israeli military as she was attempting to deliver medical supplies to Gaza. In 2009, Cynthia attempted to reach Gaza again, this time armed with crayons, coloring books, and school supplies. Her boat was overtaken in international waters by the Israeli military and she was kidnapped to Israel. Cynthia spent 7 days in an Israeli prison. Finally, Cynthia entered Gaza by land in July 2009 with George Galloway's Viva Palestina.



Cynthia completed a cross-country bicycle ride with Bike4Peace 2010. In August 2011, Cynthia visited 21 cities to end the bombing of Libya. More recently, Cynthia participated in Malaysia’s Perdana Peace Organization and served as a Juror on the Bertrand Russell Tribunal on Palestine.



In 2015, Cynthia completed her dissertation on the transformational leadership of Hugo Chavez and was awarded a Ph.D. in Leadership and Change.



Cynthia currently possesses technical proficiency in the French language, but because Cynthia’s current research interest centers on Asia, Eurasia, and the U.S., she is now learning Chinese.



Cynthia is a member of the Working Group for the Great Caribbean Studies, Latin America Council of Social Sciences (CLACSO), The Latin American Studies Association (LASA), and The International Leadership Association (ILA).



Cynthia has two books to her credit and several Chapters that she has authored in the books of others.Mahathir Mohamad’s efforts to “criminalize war.” She has appeared in Kuala Lumpur several times, declaring that city the Peace Capital of the World. She recently reported on her experience in Libya in the “Arab Uprising” Conference organized by the Perdana Global Peace Foundation and served as an official observer at the historic Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Tribunal that, on 22 November 2011, found former President George W. Bush and former Prime Minister Tony Blair guilty of the crime of aggression and other crimes against the state and people of Iraq.

ABOUT 'Ain't Nothing Like Freedom'

Elected six times to the House from the state of Georgia, Cynthia McKinney cut a trail through Congressional deceit like a hot ember through ash. She discovered legislators who passed laws without reading them. Party leaders who colluded across party lines against their constituents' interests. Black-skinned individuals shilling for the white status quo. She excoriated government lassitude over Hurricane Katrina, uncovering dark secrets. She held the only critical Congressional briefing on 9/11, introducing counter-testimony of scholars, investigators, former intelligence agents.

As a member of the House Armed Services Committee, she held Rumsfeld to account for malfeasance by military contractors and missing billions in the Pentagon's budget. Then she hammered him on the reasons for the failure of NORAD air defenses on 9/11. She read truth into the Congressional Record, held town halls and hearings, led protests, showed up while others played along to get along, took the side of the people against the will of the Party. And when she got too truth seeking and speaking, the Republicans rigged the Democratic primaries to boot her out, leaving behind a trail of achievements mostly won singlehandedly. But McKinney rose again like a Phoenix, answering the call to run as 2008 Green Party candidate for President, challenging the corrupt two-party stranglehold on American democracy.

Then it was on to the Freedom Flotilla to Gaza, to be seized on the high seas and imprisoned in Israel. On to Tripoli, to serve as witness to the NATO terror bombing of Libya. On to Malaysia to serve on the War Crimes Commission... Often introduced as the Sojourner Truth, the Harriet Tubman of our age, McKinney reflects here on the Biblical figures of Esther, Deborah and Naomi. This is the Cynthia McKinney saga as it stands to date--what she saw, what she learned, and how she fought for change.

IRA SHOR is a Professor of Rhetoric/Composition at the City University of NY’s Graduate Center (Phd Program in English) and in the Dept. of English at the College of Staten Island (CSI).



He started the new doctorate in Rhetoric/Composition at the Grad Center in 1993. There, he directs dissertations and offers seminars in literacy, writing theory, critical pedagogy, whiteness studies, the rhetorics of space and place, and working-class culture. As a member of the English faculty at CSI, Professor Shor teaches courses in writing, literature, and mass media as well as graduate classes for schoolteachers. His 9 published books include a 3-volume set in honor of the late Paulo Freire, the noted Brazilian educator who was his friend and mentor: CRITICAL LITERACY IN ACTION (college language arts) and EDUCATION IS POLITICS( Vol 1, k-12, and Vol. 2, Postsecondary Across the Curriculum). Shor’s work with Freire began in the early 1980s and lasted until Freire’s unfortunate passing in 1997. He and Freire co-authored A PEDAGOGY FOR LIBERATION, the first “talking” book Freire published with a collaborator. Shor also authored the widely used EMPOWERING EDUCATION and WHEN STUDENTS HAVE POWER, two foundational texts in critical teaching. His CRITICAL TEACHING AND EVERYDAY LIFE was the first book-length treatment of Freire-based critical methods in the North American context.





Scholarship / Publications :

3-Volume Set in honor of late Paulo Freire, coedited with Caroline Pari (2000):

--CRITICAL LITERACY IN ACTION (college language arts)

--EDUCATION IS POLITICS (Vol 1, k-12, and Vol. 2, Postsecondary Across the Curriculum).

A PEDAGOGY FOR LIBERATION (1986), coauthored with Paulo Freire.

--EMPOWERING EDUCATION: Critical Teaching for Social Change (1992)

--WHEN STUDENTS HAVE POWER: Negotiating Authority in a Critical Pedagdogy (1996)

--CRITICAL TEACHING AND EVERYDAY LIFE (1980)

--CULTURE WARS: School and Society in the Conservative Restoration, 1969-1991(1992)

--FREIRE FOR THE CLASSROOM (1987)

Jill Crosby is the owner/founder of SpiritualSingles the largest, exclusively conscious/spiritual site on the Internet, launched in 2000. Over the last 15 years, her flagship site, Spiritual Singles has evolved into the Conscious Dating Network, comprised of 18 conscious, spiritual and green dating sites all sharing the same large database of members, with the latest addition to the network being, GreenSingles  

During the first 9 years of growing her business, Jill worked for the oldest, largest bricks and mortar photo/video dating company in the US. During that 9-year stint, she personally interviewed over 6000 singles in 7 different states.

She is an inspirational public speaker, hypnotherapist, metaphysician, workshop/retreat leader and facilitates Wild Dolphin and Whale Swim Retreats for Singles. She has a strong connection with the dolphins and whales and enjoys leading transformational, deep meditations facilitating the integration and embodiment of each person's Divine Presence. 

As a speaker, she is known for her candor, vulnerability, down to earth honesty and humor as she helps singles thrive in the world of online dating and ultimately meet their life partners'. She also owns SpiritualEvents where event facilitators can upload and promote their events internationally.

Victoria Pendragon was born and raised in the vicinity of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She is the oldest of eleven. Her life has been defined, as are most of ours perhaps, by conditions that would seem to have been beyond her control. Eighteen years of various sorts of abuse and two diseases that should have killed her rank among the most outstanding of those.



Victoria Pendragon's study of metaphysics began in early childhood as an attempt to validate the lessons she'd been learning from the earth and the trees whenever she left her body. She has been working as a professional in the field of spirituality since 1995, has read tarot since 1964 and created in 2007, Sacred Earth Seven Element Tarot, a tarot deck designed to bring the world community together.



Victoria Pendragon began training in art when still a child, eventually acquiring a BFA from The Philadelphia College of Art. Her work hangs in numerous corporate and personal collections, among them The Children's Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Moss Rehab and Bryn Mawr Hospital Rehab.



Victoria Pendragon has two children by her first marriage, a son and a daughter, both of whom amaze her. She is currently married to her third husband, a man whose kind soul has created for her an atmosphere of clarity and creativity in which she dances, writes, creates art and helps when asked.