February 28, 2018: #YeahYouWriteLyrics with The Piedmont Blüz, Andy Krikun, Julie Christensen, Christopher Cerf, Daisy Anabelle, and Michele Herman
#LiteraryCocktails (and Mocktails) Get the Party Started
Performers Present
Rapid-Fire Q & A
Photos of this event taken by Robin Martin, #YeahYouWrite co-founder
Biographies
The Piedmont Blüz
The Piedmont Blūz Acoustic Duo is dedicated to the preservation of Country Blues and the Piedmont style, and their mission is to help keep this rural, east coast tradition alive by educating audiences about this unique aspect of African American culture through musical entertainment. They have been entertaining audiences at venues from Washington State to Jerusalem and are much loved wherever they go. The husband and wife duo feel that "there are stories to tell, people to remember, and things that must be said" so, in addition to tickling your ears with delightful music, they weave a bit of history into the presentation of each song. A Piedmont Blūz concert isn’t just music – it’s an experience as they transport you back to the 1920s and 1930s, the hey-day of acoustic Country Blues music. In addition to performing songs from that time-frame, they introduce each piece with an interesting anecdote about either the composer, the time period, or the song itself.
Julie Christensen
Julie Christensen co-fronted post-punk rockers Divine Horsemen, and is a veteran of Leonard Cohen's bands (and the documentary "Leonard Cohen-I'm Your Man".) She's made 6 of her own soulful CDs since, performing regularly with top musicians in the country. Julie's also been a voice-slinger for hire live and in the studio with the likes of Robben Ford, John Doe, Exene Cervenka, Steve Wynn, Lou Reed, and Van Dyke Parks. She now resides in East Nashville with her husband, artist and actor John Henry Diehl, and is currently completing a seventh album, an acoustic work with members of her band Stone Cupid called “A Sad Clown,” due in March 2018.
"Her swagger is true to her rebellious punk-rock roots, and refined through working with the likes of Cohen, Iggy Pop, Public Image Limited..." Christensen has worn coats of many different colors, and this one's red.”- No Depression
Christopher Cerf
Christopher Cerf is an Emmy- and Grammy winning author, composer-lyricist, and record and television producer. A founding contributing editor of National Lampoon, he is best known for his musical contributions to Sesame Street (over 300 songs!), for co-creating and co-producing the award-winning PBS literacy education TV series Between the Lions, and for writing and co-writing such popular humorous books as The Official Politically Correct Dictionary, Mission Accomplished (or How We Won the War in Iraq), and the recently published Spin~glish: The Definitive Dictionary of Deliberately Deceptive Language.
Daisy Anabelle
Daisy Anabelle’s introspective pop-infused melodic songs have always been intended both for personal expression and to connect with her listeners. Since moving to New York City in fall 2014, she’s been writing and playing standing room only sets at the cozy Village, Lower East Side, and Brooklyn music haunts: Rockwood Music Hall, The Bitter End, The Bowery Electric, Caffé Vivaldi, and Pianos. Her debut EP, My Own Person, released in October 2015 and her next, RETREAT, is due to release in March 2018.
Andy Krikun
Andy Krikun, Ph.D. is Professor of Music at Bergen Community College where he teaches courses in songwriting, world music and music business. His research and scholarship have appeared in peer-reviewed journals, and he has presented his work at several international conferences. In 2006, he was awarded a NISOD Teaching Excellence Award from the University of Texas. He is an executive board member of the Association of Popular Music Education, a non-profit organization promoting and advancing popular music at all levels of education. As a singer-songwriter, Dr. Krikun has maintained an active career as a performer, composer, and recording artist. His band, Andy and the Rattlesnakes, was a seminal force in the L.A. Punk/New Wave scene in the late 1970s and early 1980s. A compilation CD of the band’s recordings, Last Summer to Dance, was released in 2006 and the band is currently working on a new album set to be released in 2018. He has written music for theatre and film, including the 1996 comedy The Shot, and continues to write, perform, and record for eclectic musical projects.
Michele Herman
Michele Herman writes fiction, nonfiction and poetry, and as a hobby translates Jacques Brel songs. Working closely with the Brel Foundation in Brussels, she has completed more than 50 songs to date, striving to match Brel’s spirit as well as his meters, rhyme schemes, imagery and caustic humor. Her translations have earned her two recent Willis Barnstone Translation prizes. Her stories, poems, articles, columns and translations have appeared in dozens of national publications including The New York Times, The Sun, Lilith, Diagram and Literary Mama. Her first poetry chapbook, Victory Boulevard, is scheduled to ship in February from Finishing Line Press, and her first novel, Save the Village, is currently in search of an agent. One of her short stories appears in the new anthology The Writers Studio at 30. She has placed in four recent literary contests, including the Raymond Carver Prize and the Bass River Press Poetry Competition. Her day jobs include developmental editing, private writing coaching, and teaching at The Writers Studio, and she is proud to report that many of her clients and students have gone on to publish their own books.