Select Featured Performer Bios

Adhamh Roland
riotfolk.org

Adhamh Roland is a guitar strummin', accordion squeezing, whistling warbler who fancies reminiscing about his midwestern roots while devising collective strategies for liberation. Adhamh has coughed up 4 solo albums in the last several years and is collaborating with musicians in his new home of Berkeley, California to form a new music project that has yet to be named. Adhamh is a founding member of the Riot Folk Collective (www.riotfolk.org), and has toured and created with Benchpress Burlesque (St. Louis' radical multi-gendered, sex-positive, queer-positive, feminist feast of political performance art), The Tranny Roadshow (www.trannyroadshow.com), as well as many bicycle powered tours totaling over 3,500 miles of pedal-powered folk shows. When he's not behind an instrument, Adhamh is a medic at the Berkeley Free Clinic and a student of Community Health in the San Fransisco Bay Area. With a sharp analysis and a tenancy toward metaphor, Adhamh's style has been described as political, rich, sophisticated, playful and sexy...all at the same time.

The Cliks
thecliks.com

Gutsy, melodic, dramatic, and dark, Toronto's the Cliks arrived on the scene in 2007 with two strong bullet points. First, they covered Justin Timberlake's hit "Cry Me a River" in a White Stripes meets the Pretenders style, and second, leader Lucas Silveira was a transgendered FTM (female-to-male) leading an all-female, androgynous band. Initial word of mouth started in 2006 and had little to do with Silveira's gender-bending. Instead, it was their blistering live shows around Toronto that earned attention and had the Canadian press comparing the band to Joan Jett, Jon Spencer, and Ziggy Stardust-era David Bowie.

Coyote Grace
coyotegrace.com

If you want a lesson in organic chemistry, take notes and watch the sparks fly between the acoustic down-home duo known as COYOTE GRACE. This old-timey salt & pepper shaker pair is comprised of Joe Stevens, a transman singer/songwriter from Northern California, backed up by Ingrid Elizabeth on vocals and upright bass, a sassy femme originally hailing from the hills of Southeastern Ohio. The two met while living in Seattle, and have been performing as a duo since December 2004, sharing the stage with bluegrass, old-time, folk rock, jazz, and cabarets alike.

The Degenerettes
degenerettes.com

The Degenerettes are Baltimore's all-grrrl underground garage rock trio. These gals have been stomping the East Coast with queered raw primitive rock & roll since 2005 and now they're coming for you! Rahne Alexander (guitar, vocals) is the primary songwriter for the Degenerettes.

In 2005, she recorded and released her debut solo CD, "Blonde On A Bum Trip." She contributes frequently to Baltimore City Paper, Baltimore Gay Life, and other other publications. She has toured with the Tranny Road Show, Connie and Bonnie Show, and has played solo gigs all over the country. More info: www.rahne.com

Kristen Anchor (drums) is a media artist whose work has screened in film festivals across the country. Kristen books films and shows at the Creative Alliance (Baltimore). She is also a founding member of Charm City Kitty Club, a long-running Baltimore-based cabaret showcasing queer performance.

Jessica Xavier

In addition to her extensive advocacy efforts for sexual minorities, Jessica Xavier is a singer-songwriter and veteran musician, having played with many Washington DC area bands, including The Cherrys, Me Neither and most recently, Femme Messiah. She sings and plays bass, piano and keyboards, and composes her songs on a computer music sequencer, a "food-processor for music". Openly transsexual since transitioning in 1991, her songs reflect her transgendered experience. Jessica's first CD, entitled Changeling, was released in 1999 by Gallae Records and featured her song Stonewall, which commemorates the prominent roles of Sylvia Rivera and Marsha P. Johnson in the birth of gay liberation. In 2005 Gallae Records released the Femme Messiah CD, Orchids In The Arctic, featuring the song Gender.

Katastrophe
myspace.com/katastropherap

Katastrophe (aka Rocco Kayiatos) is a San Francisco based rapper and producer. He uses his poetic grasp of language to weave dense tales of lives lived outside the mainstreams of education, class, and culture. He makes hip-hop that explodes with dangerous and ebullient passion. He was crowned Producer of the Year by Out Music Awards for his debut album "Let's Fuck, Then Talk About My Problems." Kayiatos has since released a second album entitled "Fault, Lies and Faultlines" and third, "The Worst Amazing." He has toured the US and Europe several times and continues to travel to support his releases and has been featured in the documentary films Poetic License, Pick up the Mic and Riot Acts. His music has helped soundtrack Showtime's The L Word, as well as several short films.

Lipstick Conspiracy
lipstickconspiracy.com

This multi-influenced power-pop band is no stranger to great press! Recently christened Pride in the Arts Favorite Group by the Stonewall Society, and featured in Guitar Player and CURVE magazine, Lipstick Conspiracy was hailed as "The Fabulous 5" by the East Bay Express, cited in the San Francisco Bay Guardian's 'Best of the Bay' issue as BEST GIRL BAND 2004, and proclaimed as a Buzzworthy artist on PlanetOut. Their debut CD, "Don't Tell A Soul", has garnered steady air-play on national mainstream and college radio stations, various Internet radio programs, and international stations from Canada and Mexico, to Belgium, Italy, Serbia, Sweden, and New Zealand.

Novice Theory
novicetheory.com

NOVICE THEORY is New York based multi instrumentalist, songwriter, and performer Geo Wyeth. Wyeth's pianistic stylings, electric voice, and innovative song stories have been wowing audiences at such prominent New York venues as Joe's Pub, The Zipper Factory, Ars Nova, and PS 122. His performances have been featured in The Village Voice, NEXT Magazine, and the New Yorker, as well as various independent music blogs. With roots in Earl Dax's Weimar New York Cabaret, as well as street performance, folk music, and Hip Hop, Novice Theory is a truly hybrid artist. Witness his lyrically dense songs, which feature narratives of incongruous family relationships, transgender exile, New York City, and racial passing by attending a show or listening to his self-released debut album "At The End We Listen".

Ryka Aoki
rykaryka.com

Ryka Aoki de la Cruz is a writer, composer, chemist, black belt, and moonshiner who has recently featured at the National Queer Arts Festival, the National Gay and Lesbian Theatre Festival, Ladyfest South 2007, Atlanta Pride, UCLA's OutCRY, and Fresh Meat. In 2005, Ryka was the inaugural performer for San Francisco Pride's first ever Transgender Stage. She has also worked with the American Association of Hiroshima-Nagasaki A-Bomb Survivors, and two of her compositions have been adopted by the group as its official "Songs of Peace." Ryka has been honored by the California State Senate for her work with Trans/Giving, LA's only art/performance series dedicated to trans, genderqueer, and intersex artists. She was formerly head judo coach at UCLA and Cornell University, and is a professor of English at Santa Monica College.

The Shondes
myspace.com/theshondes

The Shondes (taking their name from the Yiddish word for "shame" or "disgrace") are a band from Brooklyn, NY whose dramatic brand of rock music has been compared to Sleater-Kinney, Patti Smith and The Raincoats. The Shondes are known for their melodic rock sound and a live show that explodes with energy. Their music draws from feminist punk, classical and Jewish music, which combine to create songs that are often both heartbreaking and hopeful. They bring an infectious urgency to their live performances that gets audiences on their feet