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Tiare Tahiti
Tiare Tahiti intrigues and delights audiences with their presentation of traditional and contemporary ‘ori Tahiti, siva Samoa and Hawaiian hula. Adding context and interaction to their performances, Tiare Tahiti engages audiences in the Polynesian arts in new and innovative ways. Formed by Jennifer Radakovich (MA, Dance Ethnology), Tiare Tahiti includes professional dancers and dance educators from the islands and beyond.
Taller Bombalele
Taller Bombalele strives to promote our Afro Puerto Rican roots music and dance tradition of Bomba, by teaching its history, dance, music, and songs through classes, lectures, workshops, and Bombazos to continue to preserve and expand this form of expression in community. Taller Bombalele is also proud to be part of a diverse community in the SF Bay Area and is therefore committed to teaching, learning, and collaboration and in reflection of this community, we welcome our community of different cultural experiences and intergenerational participation. We strive to continually learn, grow and support each other in our learning. “De Santurce a la Bahia, La Bomba es Vida”.
Salsa Lab dancers
Alvaro Batista was born in Panama and has lived in the Bay Area since 1980. Dancing most of his life, Alvaro has been dancing Cuban Salsa and Rueda de Casino as well as being involved in the Cuban music scene in the Bay Area. Along with two partners, he started Añejo Productions in 2002 and has been promoting this music genre and dance style through parties, clubs, concerts and dance classes.
Maze Daiko
Taiko Fusion Ensemble
In Japanese, the word mazeru means “to mix,” daiko the word for drum. Maze Daiko is a world music ensemble that continues to evolve by mixing Japanese taiko with West African drums and marimba, and European violin, creating an innovative sound. Seiichi Tanka, the father of North American taiko, has described Maze as pioneers of the art form. Artistic director, Janet Koike trained with San Francisco Taiko Dojo, and was part of San Jose Taiko’s artistic team. The members of Maze Daiko include Kathryn Cabunoc, Tina Blaine (aka bean), Carolyn West, and Elaine Fong have many collective years of experience in taiko or musical groups including Emeryville Taiko, D’CuCKOO and Rhythmix ensemble. This mix of musicians combined with Maze Daiko’s newest member, violinist Jeannie Mckenzie, create original music with a unique cultural style.
Rhonda Benin
Jazz, Blues & Soul Vocalist
San Francisco Bay Area vocalist, Rhonda Benin has earned a reputation for not just a good voice but showmanship, magnetic stage personality, humor, and of course her great dancing. Rhonda’s impressive resume includes performances at SF Jazz, Yoshi’s, MOAD, The Healdsburg, Sonoma, Burlingame, Sausalito, Filmore, and Calistoga Jazz Festivals.
In addition to singing, Rhonda is producer and founder of the Women’s History Month’s show “Just Like A Woman” a tribute to Bay Area Women In Music. Benin is a 22 year member of The GRAMMY nominated vocal ensemble Linda Tillery and The Cultural Heritage.
Rhonda is on the teaching staff of Healdsburg Jazz ‘s Operation Jazz Band, San Francisco Arts Project, LEAP, Cal Performances, Youth In Arts and conducts her own school assemblies and workshops, “The Voice, The Hands The Feet” “Twist and Shout” and “Love Letters Make Me Misty Blue”.
J. Absinthia Vermut
Absinthia Vermut had her first taste of absinthe in 1996. She served her first bootleg bottles to friends a few months later on April Fool’s Day 1997, where she received the nickname, Absinthia. She continued making absinthe until suddenly one day, March 5, 2007 to be exact, the ban on absinthe was lifted. She immediately set to work to produce an organic absinthe and founded Absinthia’s Bottled Spirits, LLC. In September 2017, Absinthia™ Organic Absinthe Superieure began to appear in bars, restaurants, and bottle shops and won its first gold medal at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition in 2018.
Alison Crowe
Alison Crowe (Picket Fence Wine and Plata Wine Partners) is a native Californian, UC Davis enology graduate, professional winemaker, published author and calls the Napa Valley home. She is the Winemaker for Plata Wine Partners, LLC, and provides custom winemaking services and consulting to nationally distributed as well as small start-up brands. Her wines, crafted entirely from her company’s own appellation-driven vineyards, can be found all over the United States, from family-owned boutique wine shops to internationally-acclaimed restaurants. Above all, she believes in letting the grapes speak their own particular truths through the medium of the winemaker.
Jessica Clare
Jessica Clare (Cleophus Quealy Brewmaster/Manager) is a Certified Cicerone® and General Manager of Cleophus Quealy Beer Company, where she oversees business operations, beer quality, marketing, and industry leadership. She has more than five years of brewery experience, with previous roles at Anchor Brewing and Almanac Beer Company. Jessica is a vocal advocate for education, approachability, and inclusion within the beer industry and among its customers.
Deborah Parker Wong
Deborah Parker Wong, DWSET (Speaker Panel Moderator) is Global Wine Editor for SOMM Journal, The Tasting and Clever Root magazines where she reports on the wine and spirits industries with an emphasis on trends. As a San Francisco-based Wine & Spirit Education Trust school she offers Level 2 and Level 3 WSET certifications to students in the United States and she teaches as an adjunct professor in the Wine Studies department at Santa Rosa Junior College. In addition to writing and speaking about wine, Deborah provides strategic consulting services, judges wine competitions and scores wine for Planet Grape Wine Review. Her motto is: To learn, read. To know, write. To master, teach.
Tomyé: Living Artist
Tomyé: Living Artist, through consistently drawing ink renderings every day, has amassed hundreds of images. They are filed as folders containing landmarks, people, objects, landscapes/cityscapes, nudes, and the preponderance compiled of portraits of musicians. She loves music and sketching musicians as they play their instruments. In her studio at home, Tomyé reinterprets the drawings as gouache paintings, dubbed linear paintings. Fast forward at least 20 years. Shifting to fused glass, the images come to life in light shining through them. Working with glass is more intriguing.
Chris Rummell & Dickson Schneider
Chris Rummell is a mixed-media artist, often combining elements of printmaking, collage, and traditional sign arts. Gold leaf plays an important role in his work, carrying heavy connotations around wealth, value, and social class. His work tends toward revision and chance, seeking to understand how we attach meaning to symbols and representations. By contrasting mechanical precision with the human hand, layered works speak to the place where reality and ideals meet.
Dickson Schneider lives and works in the San Francisco Bay Area. His work has been represented by a number of galleries, including Big Pagoda, San Francisco; Donna Seager, Mill Valley; D.P. Fong, San Jose; and Ellis Pilcher Gallery, San Francisco. With the recession of 2008, the last of Schneider’s galleries closed. This loss of prescribed liaison between artist and public led him to create his current project, The Free Art Project, in which Schneider creates art works and takes them to the street or gallery to offer them to the public free of charge. The project has been presented at Aqua Art Fair Miami; Takt Project and Kunstraum Tapir in Berlin, where it was featured on Deutsch Radio; Paolo Mejia Gallery, San Francisco; T Moro Projects, Santa Clara; Start Up Art Fair, San Francisco; and the Torrance (CA) Art Museum.
Joanna Ruckman
Joanna Ruckman is an Alameda-based interdisciplinary artist and MFA candidate at SFAI. She received her BA from Brown University in Cultural Anthropology and Visual Arts. Ruckman is a socially engaged public artist and activist working with the SF Poster Syndicate, as a Fellow at the YBCA, teaching Digital Printmaking at Berkeley City College, and is a resident artist at The Phoenix in Alameda, where she teaches printmaking workshops. Her work has been collected by the DeYoung Museum and SFMOMA.
RoCoCo
The collaborative duo known as RoCoCo is comprised of KC Rosenberg and Modesto Covarrubias. These interdisciplinary artists describe their practice as a dialog of making, and they are interested in the juxtaposition of materials and response to space (architectural and natural) in their exploration of complex emotional states, social justice, and contemporary culture. RoCoCo’s work most often takes form through sculptural installations, but has also included video, performance, drawing, painting, and audience participation. RoCoCo began collaborating in 2015, showing their first work at Mercury 20 Gallery in Oakland, California. They have continued to show work at such venues as the Oliver Arts Center in Oakland, Montalvo Arts Center in Saratoga, and at Movimiento de Arte y Cultura Latino Americana (MACLA) in San Jose. They were artists-in-residence at the San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles in 2017.
Jerome Rivera Pansa
Jerome Rivera Pansa is a genderqueer interdisciplinary artist involving installation, sculpture, text, and performance. Their work consists of reusing collected objects and sourced information concerning the impermanence of beingness, and the intersections of queerness and the abjected. Rivera Pansa received their BFA at University of California, Berkeley. They have shown work in Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, AS Gallery at San Francisco State University, California Center for the Arts, and ARC Gallery as part of Kearny Street Workshop Annual APAture exhibition. They have also shown in Worth Ryder Art Gallery, Kruglak Gallery, and the San Dieguito Art Guild. Rivera Pansa is a recipient of the Wendy Sussman Prize in Painting, and the 2017 Eisner Award. Their studio practice is based in Oakland.
Ginny Parsons
Ginny Parsons is an Alameda environmental artist who paints with everything from laundry detergent to peanut butter. Her current work was made with kids weaving trash and nature into kites. Inspired by Tyrus Wong, the Chinese-American artist who painted Bambi and made kites in his later years, Nature Trash Kites celebrate Alameda because the island has always been a place for play. Parsons is a self-taught artist who has been painting for 40 years. She shows at Rhythmix K Gallery and Gray Loft.
Nicole Mueller
Nicole Mueller is a visual artist and painter exploring color, light, and relationships in flux through her large-scale collages, murals, and installations. She is currently based in San Francisco. She began her career in Baltimore, Maryland, where she earned her degree in painting and illustration at the Maryland Institute College of Art. She has been an artist-in-residence at the Vermont Studio Center, Proyecto ‘ACE (Argentina), and Creative Paradox (Maryland). Her work has been exhibited in Maryland, California, and New York. In 2017, she was the recipient of the Mark M. Glickman and Lanette M. McClure Artist Award for emerging artists creating innovative work in California. She also co-hosts a podcast interviewing artists about their professional practices called Beyond the Studio, which received an Alternative Exposure grant in 2017 from Southern Exposure in San Francisco.
Malcolm Kenter
Malcolm Kenter was born in San Francisco. His artwork is a narrative account and portrayal of his observation and experience of urban industry and modern architecture. He has created miniature replicas of buildings for public art display, video and commission. His work has been shown at the Kiosk Museum, Guerrero Gallery, and Ratio 3.
Sonja Hinrichson
Sonja Hinrichson graduated from the Academy of Art in Stuttgart, Germany, and received a master’s degree from the San Francisco Art Institute. She has been invited to group and solo exhibitions worldwide, amongst others the DePaul Museum (Chicago), Shelburne Museum (Shelburne, VT), Kala Art Institute (Berkeley), Chandra Cerrito Gallery (Oakland), San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery, CPAC Denver, Saarlaendisches Kuenstlerhaus (Germany), Organhaus (China), and Pier 2 Art Center (Taiwan). She has won numerous artist residency awards, including Bemis Center for the Arts, Djerassi, the Santa Fe Art Institute, Ucross Foundation, Valparaiso (Spain), Fiskars (Finland), Taipei Artist Village (Taiwan), Saari (Finland), and Blue Mountain Center. Her community arts project, Snow Drawings, has been featured on the Huffington Post, IGNANT, Spiegel (Germany), WIRED, The Creator’s Project (Germany), KQED-Spark (PBS San Francisco), MSNBC, The Discovery Channel and public TV Tokyo.
Angela Hennessy
Angela Hennessy is an Oakland-based interdisciplinary artist and Associate Professor at California College of the Arts, where she teaches courses on visual and cultural narratives of death and contemporary textile theory. She leads workshops and lectures nationally. Recent talks and performances include Death Salon Seattle, University of Cincinnati, CTRL+SHIFT Artists Collective, You’re Going to Die, IDEO/Reimagine End of Life, Disclose Silence: We See Violence and Dead Black at Nook Gallery. Last fall her work was featured in a solo exhibition When and where I enter at Southern Exposure and in the recent publication Fray: Textile Art and Politics by Julia Bryan Wilson.
Najib Joe Hakim
Najib Joe Hakim works as a documentary photographer and photojournalist in San Francisco. His work has been published in national and international magazines and newspapers. He has been honored with numerous awards, including Best Photo Essay from the California Newspaper Publishers Association for a series on 9/11’s effects on San Francisco and first prize in the Luminance Exhibition (NYC) for a digital composition critiquing the War on Terror. His Born Among Mirrors project was included in the top 10 documentary photo projects of 2008 by Social Documentary Network. He was also a nominee for the US Artist Fellowship.
ghost ghost teeth
Simon Tran’s (aka ghost ghost teeth) work is about reconfiguration, resistance, and a hearty bowl of soup. There are sensibilities in his work stemming from post-punk, Vietnamese-American culture, retro video games, his daughter’s beautiful imagination, and his dad’s flea market finds. The organic shapes he makes reference to the human body through painting and wood cut-outs of organic shapes. Either a swaddled child or an contorted figure that inhabit the compositional landscape of patterns that stop, start, and overlap. Color is a strong influence on Tran’s work. He combines nostalgic colors that reshape memories. There is no resolve in the narration of his work, instead there are slow meditative builds that lead to chunky riffs that wormhole into hard-edged noise, all loopy-loopy and stuff.
Mark P. Fisher
Mark P. Fisher’s experience with installation stems mainly from numerous Fourth of July Celebration piñatas fashioned in collaboration with his friend, the late, great Michael Carraher. When Carraher passed away a few years ago, Fisher was forced to make and/or supervise both the building and painting of any further July 4 piñatas. As a child in the 1960s, his father made many constructions (and signage) in papier-maåché and other methods for Mardi Gras floats, galas, and one wax museum. His grandmother painted pictures of chickens in watercolor. So much depends on these watercolors painted like chicken.
Heather Deyling
Heather Deyling is an artist and educator whose current and ongoing body of work, the “Invented Hybrids” series, includes works in drawing, glass and fiber-based sculpture. Her studio practice is driven by research and observation of natural forms, such as succulents, fungi and marine invertebrates. She earned an MFA in painting from Tyler School of Art at Temple University and a BFA from Kent State University. Deyling has participated in numerous solo and group exhibitions across the United States. Recent projects and exhibitions include a residency and exhibition at the San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles and a public art project for the City of Emeryville Art in Public Places Bus Shelter Art Program. Deyling is Professor of Foundation Studies in eLearning at the Savannah College of Art and Design. She lives and works in San Francisco, CA.
Elizabeth Dante
Elizabeth Dante works in bronze, stone, clay, and found objects in a combination of ancient and modern rituals that pay homage to the many facets of the human spirit. Her works have been showcased in “Art on the Rock at Alcatraz” and “The Day of the Dead” at the Museum of Mexican Art. In 1990, she received the prestigious Art of Peace Award from the Artist Embassy International for her sculpture Woman’s Liberation, which was chosen by the Oakland Art Commission as a gift to Nelson Mandela and the people of South Africa.
Jennifer Brandon
Jennifer Brandon lives and works in San Francisco. In 2007, she received her MFA at Mills College, preceded by an MA in 2005 and BA in 2004 in Art at California State University, Northridge, as well as a BA in 1997 in English Literature at San Francisco State University. Brandon’s work has been shown at Bay Area venues including the Mills College Art Museum, Stephen Wirtz Gallery, Headlands Center for the Arts, Swarm Gallery, Pro Arts Gallery and The San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art. Residencies, awards and fellowships include The Rayko Artist in Residence, The Herringer Prize for Excellence in Studio Art and The Catherine Morgan Trefethen Fellowship in Art.
Peter Fletcher
Peter is a Bay Area real estate broker and an Alamedan since his kindergarten days at Franklin Elementary School. He is a trained Mediator, a Certified Probate Real Estate Specialist (CPRES), and was integral in establishing the first multiple listing service for Alameda properties. He is a past president (twice) of the Alameda Association of Realtors and was voted Realtor of the Year by his peers. Peter brings a great love of music and the Alameda community to his involvement on the Rhythmix Community Advisory Board. As the “Pete” in Pete Fletcher’s Hand-Picked Oldies, Peter has deejayed and emceed events, parties and high school reunions throughout Alameda and in cities over the bridges. If you’ve found yourself dancing up Park Street at the annual Park Street Classic Car Show it is probably because he was spinning oldies on his I-Pad. Peter is particularly proud of his effort to restore and raise the Encinal High School jet with a group of talented collaborators—and all this inspite of being an Alameda High School Hornet. Married to Donna Toutjian Fletcher, they have two grown daughters, Hannah and Hope.
Julie Baron
Julie Baron, owner of Julie’s Coffee & Tea Garden in Downtown Alameda, has spent her life supporting and helping to create wholesome community. Her life’s work has been focused on nurturing those in her community through farm, food, & creativity. Julie engages in Alameda culture on many levels: as Board member of Downtown Alameda Business Association, dancing as a “Yay Girl” at Rhythmix Bingo, participating in 2nd Fridays Art Walk, and simply being an engaged patron of the Arts. She believes the core of community is in the arts.
Jeannie Mckenzie
Jeannie Mckenzie is an accomplished violinist and renaissance woman. With a background in jazz, Jeannie started her performance career as a street musician in San Francisco. Later she joined Potingue (Chus Alonzo), playing Flamenco and Afro-Cuban music for seven years. She has accompanied belly dance at the Renaissance Faire and post-modern dance at Epiphany Productions. Jeannie was invited to perform with Somei Yoshino Taiko in their production, “Runaway moon.” Then, destined to combine violin with taiko, she joined Maze Daiko ensemble in 2014. Jeannie has been working with children in Bay Area Schools as an Orff music teacher since 1990. She is trained as a mime and a clown and is currently a goat farmer who makes blue ribbon cheese. Jeannie is also trained in Cranial Sacral therapy, Sound Healing, Chi Nei Tsang and is a certified Barefoot Shiatsu Teacher.
Donna Layburn
Donna Layburn is the founder and master developer of the “Alameda Marketplace”, an adaptive reuse of the 1930 Ford Dealership in Alameda. The Marketplace started in 2003, and is now a hub of organic, natural and 8 independent food vendors from bakeries, coffee shop, groceries, meat and prepared foods. This project was instrumental in aiding the renaissance of the Park Street revitalization. Donna refers to her early passion in organics as her “Earth Mother Years”, involved in organics, beekeeping, “good food” co-ops and environmental issues. As owner of Alameda Natural Grocery, she is passionate and dedicated to educating customers on the importance of knowing where their food comes from, how and where it’s grown, how it supports local farmers, and affects the health of our bodies and the planet. A lover of the arts, Donna, along with Janet Koike and Alameda Municipal Power’s Rebecca Irwin, spearheaded the 10 power box art installations in the Downtown Alameda district. Currently, Donna is the President of the Downtown Alameda Business Association and involved in the movement to keep the Downtown District viable, vital and inviting to the community.
Island City Waterways 2016
Dr. Jannett Jackson
Dr. Jannett Jackson received her doctorate from the prestigious Community College Leadership Program in Educational Administration at The University of Texas at Austin and holds a Masters in Education emphasis in Curriculum & Instruction and a Bachelor’s of Arts in Liberal Studies from CSU, Fresno. Dr. Jackson has over twenty-seven years of experience in support services, instruction and administrative areas within the California Community College system and is currently serving a 3 year terms as President of the College of Alameda.
Chekere
Naori
Chikara
Kathryn Cabunoc
Kathryn Cabunoc has been playing taiko since 2000. Before joining Maze Daiko, she studied and performed with Emeryville Taiko. Since then, her taiko journey has taken her to Japan on a KASA/MIX tour to the Kodo Apprentice Center, performing at the North American Taiko Conference in Las Vegas, leading taiko classes at Rhythmix Cultural Works in Alameda, CA, and working on productions with First Voice, On Ensemble, members of Kodo, and many others. She enjoys learning new rhythms and instruments from around the world and would someday like to play the zabumba.
Elaine Fong
“My path has humbly lead me to wanting to help other women find their “voice” through the power of rhythm.”
Elaine N. Fong is the founder and former artistic Director of Odaiko New England (www.onetaiko.org), the first professional taiko group in Massachusetts. She is a former member and currently honorary member of Soh Daiko, the first East Coast taiko group. She has performed with Taikoza, and is currently a member of the East Bay (CA) group, Maze taiko. She has over 25 years of taiko performance, teaching and administrative experience. Ms. Fong has taught taiko and rhythm workshops and classes in the West Coast, in the New England area, and in corporations. In addition to taiko, Ms. Fong has over ten years of dance training. She is a certified TaKeTiNa rhythm teacher and coordinates TaKeTiNa workshops in the United States (www.taketina.com).
Ms. Fong’s taiko compositions have included taiko-theater, spoken word, and movement-taiko. She has composed musical works for choreographers (Arawana Hayashi, Richard Colton and Amy Spencer, Tara Ahmed), for theater companies (Animus Ensemble and Concord Academy) and for film (the short, “Razor Man”). Her current project, a solo-show tentatively titled “Pulse of the River”, a collaboration with noted playwright and screenwriter, Professor Hortense Gerardo, will premiere in fall 2009.
Ms. Fong is a member of the Massachusetts Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders in Philanthropy (Mass AAPIP), and the Massachusetts-based giving circle, Saffron Circle. She received her undergraduate degree from Princeton University, and her MBA from Yale University.
Carolyn West
Whether in the broadcast booth, on the stage, or in the background, music has been part of the soundtrack of Carolyn West’s life since she started playing the xylophone at the age of two. She studied and played classical music throughout her youth, but when she saw her first taiko concert at Zellerbach Hall she was propelled in a new musical direction. In 1998 she joined Emeryville Taiko, and studied and performed extensively with the group for seven years. In 2001, she participated in Rhythmix’s first KASA/MIX Tour to study with KODO in Japan, where she gained new appreciation of the culture and expression of taiko. “The music combines movement, voice and drumming in a visual, audio and visceral experience,” she says. “Best of all, it brings people together in a very positive way.” She’s thrilled to be a part of the Maze Daiko ensemble, which pays homage to the traditions of taiko and blends the rhythms of the world today.
Tina Blaine aka Bean
Bean’s pursuit of percussion has taken her around the world from Africa to Asia and beyond. Inspired by global traditions and spontaneous music-making, Bean co-founded D’CuCKOO, the cybertribal ensemble that built custom MIDI controller instruments for interactive multimedia performance. She has also performed and recorded with Brian Eno, Mickey Hart, Maze Daiko, Malonga Casquelourd, Tracy Blackman, Haunted by Waters, Sharon Knight, Pandemonaeon, Bindi Society and was one of the founding members of the RhythMix ensemble.
An energetic performer/educator, Bean has conducted workshops at numerous universities and technology conferences across the country. She has also developed a variety of interactive media experiences while teaching at Carnegie Mellon University’s Entertainment Technology Center from 2000-2006. That work resulted in several museum exhibits including the Jam-O-Drum at the Experience Music Project in Seattle, Zeum in San Francisco, the Ars Electronica Center in Linz, Austria, the Pittsburgh Children’s Hospital, the Carnegie Science Center in Pittsburgh, PA and Give Kids the World Resort in Orlando, Florida. Bean’s work has also appeared at SIGGRAPH’s Emerging Technologies in 2000 and 2001. She has been a contributing writer to Electronic Musician Magazine and was a “musical interactivist” at Interval Research Corporation in Palo Alto for two years.
Bean is currently the executive director of Rhythmix Cultural Works and teaches marimba and “got Rhythm” drum classes on Wednesday nights.
Janet Koike
Janet Koike is the Artistic Director of Maze Daiko. Her taiko training began with San Francisco Taiko Dojo. After touring Indonesia with Keith Terry’s “Body Tjak,” she became part of San Jose Taiko’s Artistic Staff and touring company. She has worked extensively with First Voice (Brenda Wong Aoki and Mark Izu) in Hong Kong at the “New Dimensions Festival,” and on “MU” with ODC choreographer Kimi Okada.
Janet has also performed with Anthony Brown’s Asian Jazz Orchestra, Theatre Yugen. Her compositions are part of San Jose Taiko, Emeryville Taiko, Moab Taiko and Odaiko New England’s repertoire. She has taught workshops at the Portsmouth Percussive Dance Festival, Born to Drum, the North American Taiko Conference and Earth Celebration on Sado Island, Japan. In 2007 Koike founded Rhythmix Cultural Works and in 2016 she conceived and was the creative director of multi-disciplinary site specific art event, Island City Waterways in Alameda CA.
Michael Racela / In Memory and Appreciation (1959-2014)
As a founding board member and secretary from 2006-2010, Michael was an important voice in creating Rhythmix’s vision and mission.
In 2007 he was the stage manager of our grand opening extravaganza, helping us open our doors to the public.
Michael was our original Rhythmix Bingo ball caller and we will fondly remember his crazy characters (Lenny Leisure-suit and the accountant just out of San Quentin).
Michael was a class act, eager to contribute. He must have completely used up that generous heart of his.
Thank you Michael! We will miss you.
Ewart Wetherill / In Memory and Appreciation (1928-2015)
Ewart (Red) was born and grew up in the Yorkshire town of Wetherby, England. He served a brief tour of duty in the Royal Navy, before emigrating to Canada, where he earned a B. Arch. degree at the University of British Columbia in 1954. Red was captivated by the field of architectural acoustics — he consulted with Bolt, Beranek and Newman for more than 25 years and taught at numerous universities in North America. He was universally acknowledged by his colleagues as a deep and original thinker, publishing numerous technical papers and continuing to consult and write until the end of his life.
Red and his wife Jinny moved to Alameda in 1985, where he vigorously engaged in community affairs, most notably as the President of the Citizens League for Airport Safety and Serenity, as a member of the Alameda Citizens Task Force Steering Committee, as an Alameda Land Use Commissioner, and as a member of both the Mastick Senior Center Advisory Board and the Rhythmix Cultural Works Community Advisory Board.
Red’s dry wit and sense of humor were legendary among all who knew him, as were his modesty, warm generosity, and intellectual curiosity. He was a champion for the arts and will be greatly missed.
Teddy Tabor
Teddy Tabor was on the Board of Directors with the Alameda Civic Light Opera for 12 years and served as the Community Liaison. She also worked closely with the student interns through out ACLO’s production years. Teddy is currently with the Alameda Film Commission and the Alameda Boys and Girls Club Advisory Board.
Sherilyn Escoto
Sherilyn Escoto’s appreciation for art history and photography somehow led to her becoming the Vice President at Bank of the Orient with 15 years of banking experience. She started her banking career at Bank of America (SF), and her first manager roles were at First Republic Bank (SF) and Comerica Bank. At One Pacific Coast Bank, she was one of the original Bank Officers and played a significant role with opening the Bank in 2007. Sherilyn is also a Board Member for the West Alameda Business Association (WABA), a Board Member/Treasurer for The Golden Gate Chapter of RMA in San Francisco and Rotarian with Rotary Club of Alameda.
Mark Sorensen
Mark Sorensen, former owner and lead designer of Renwick & Wolfe and Fabulous on Park Street, is now the Executive Director of the Alameda Chamber of Commerce. He also serves as Vice President of Alameda Meals on Wheels and Alameda Friendly Visitors, the Alameda Fourth of July Committee and works on Chief of Police Michael Noonan’s Citizen’s Advisory Board of the Alameda Police Department.
Hadi Monsef / In Memory and Appreciation (1933-2014)
Hadi Monsef was dedicated to many Alameda community organizations. Rhythmix is grateful to have had him on our community advisory board. Hadi was an early supporter of Rhythmix, offering warmth and welcome. He understood the value of the cultural arts. Hadi suggested that Rhythmix create a community advisory board to build local relationships, a suggestion typical of his innate diplomatic talent to bring people and ideas together in an effective way. You could always count on Hadi’s cheerful greeting, thoughtful ear and smart ideas. Hadi loved to dance and graced the Rhythmix dance floor with his smile. We imagine him smiling that way, still. Hadi was Vice President and Broker at Omm Inc., served on the Island’s Public Utilities Commission from 1975 to 1983 and on the City Council from 1983 to 1989.
Jeff Cambra
Jeff Cambra is the Producer/Director of Alameda Currents TV and Board Member, Treasurer, Exec Committee member of the West Alameda Business Association.
Tracy Zollinger L.Ac
Tracy Zollinger L.Ac. feels that the arts open us up to the world and allow us to experience different cultures, talents, and joys. Her passion for serving youth and her community are paired perfectly at Rhythmix where she can enjoy both coming together.
Carolina Yong
Carolina Yong, owner of Chicha bistro on Webster St. resident of Alameda since 2000 and former property manager for Alameda Point Collaborative. She firmly believes that fostering culture and art promotes education, tolerance and social peace. Carolina has dedicated over 15 years administering low income program developments, leading not only housing programs but also social outreach projects for youth and adults at risk. She has volunteered over a decade at La Peña Cultural center in Berkeley. Currently a member of the league women voter and active member for The West Alameda Art and Entertainment District as part of the vision of revitalization of the west end.
Kathleen Woulfe
Kathleen C. Woulfe is the Endowment Coordinator & Community Relations for the Boy Scouts Council of Alameda, a non-profit. She currently sits on the Boards of Alameda Meals on Wheels-VP, FAAS-Friends of the Alameda Animal Shelter, Alameda Education Foundation – Adopt A Classroom Chair, Alameda Chamber of Commerce Director, Alameda Chamber GREDC, Chamber Ambassador & Campaign Director for Mayor Marie Gilmore 2010 & 2014. Kathie served as Director of Development & Community Relations for both the Boys & Girls Club of Alameda and St. Joseph Elementary School of Alameda. She served 9 years on the Alameda Rotary BOD. Cannot sing or dance, but plays a decent Viola. Born in the Alameda Hospital original elevator on Clinton Avenue, and is committed to giving back to our community.
Vicki Varghese
Vicki Varghese teaches English Language Development at Otis Elementary School in Alameda, and is especially interested in integrating world culture and the arts into education. For the past ten years she has volunteered with several non-profit groups working to empower and support students in economically disadvantaged communities in El Salvador and in the East Bay. Prior to teaching she worked in the international adventure travel business, leading trekking and whitewater rafting excursions. She enjoys taking djembe drumming classes and participating in the P.A.L. (Performing Arts and Learning) at Rhythmix. She and her family have lived in Alameda for 20 years.
Kathy Moehring
Kathy Moehring is a generous contributor to the Alameda community in her involvement on many levels with local nonprofits such as Alameda Family Services, Alameda Education Foundation, Alameda Rotary Club, Girls Inc. of the Island City, and, of course, Rhythmix where she has performed on a number of occasions. Kathy loves her job working for AEC Living, a local family owned company that provides assisted living and many other services to people in their senior years. She studied theater in her hometown of New York City and performed on many stages off-Broadway in New York City to off-Broadway in Alameda!
Kari Thompson
Kari Thompson, approaching 25 years experience in the local banking community, Kari Thompson is the Assistant Vice President & Branch Manager of First Community Bank in Alameda. Born and raised in Alameda, Kari has been actively involved in the Alameda Community in both service and leadership roles. She currently serves as the President of the Alameda Chamber of Commerce, the Secretary of the Alameda Homeless Network (a.k.a Midway Shelter), and is actively involved in the Alameda Girl Scout Service Unit. Education, youth services, and protecting our senior population from financial and elder abuse are areas that Kari is particularly passionate about. She strongly believes in the philosophy that your day is not complete until you’ve learned something new. Rhythmix Cultural Works brings that philosophy to the Alameda Community and Kari is very proud to be a part of Rhythmix Cultural Works.
Sandy Russell
An entrepreneur and artist with a strong commitment to all things art and music, Sandy Russell is co-owner for the last five years of The Fireside Lounge a local bar, lounge, community meeting place and music venue with a diverse live music program. The Fireside Lounge participates in the 2nd Friday Art Stroll and hosts a monthly art opening called ArtSmash for emerging Bay Area artists. As co-director of West End Arts & Entertainment District (501c3), Sandy works diligently to develop the art and entertainment scene for Alameda’s West End businesses and to provide Alameda youth with scholarships for local music and art programs. Sandy’s company, Crate Big Ideas, repurposes wood wine crates and many other items into beautiful home décor. She looks forward to bringing together Alameda’s artistic and musical communities as a member of the Rhythmix Community Advisory Board.
Becca Perata
Becca Perata has spent nearly 25 years in communications across a range of industries, including online, telecommunications, children’s health and education, land use and the energy sector. Becca founded Vox Populi — a full-service public relations/public affairs firm — in 2001. She serves as strategic advisor to non-profit organizations, start-ups and large corporations. Her firm has managed community engagement, media relations, corporate communications, special events, crisis management and direct marketing for clients, including YCS Investments, the Oakland Zoo, Calpine Corporation, Tim Lewis Communities and SaveMart/Lucky Stores. Previously, Becca was vice president of corporate communications for Women.com — a top 50 online media company owned by Hearst Media. She also held internal communications positions with SBC/Pacific Bell, Beyond.com and Sun Microsystems. Becca has worked as media relations director for political campaigns and served as a communications consultant, fundraiser and writer for statewide ballot measures and initiatives.
Ginny Parsons
An Alameda-based artist inspired by nature, Ginny Parsons paints with everything from laundry detergent to bacon grease. Ginny also teaches art to children and finds inspiration and creativity in the areas around the shoreline, estuary and parks. Her work involves chance, and uses found wood and other materials in her art making. She is interested in dripping, pouring, splashing and moving paint, working intuitively, using a variety of common household ingredients including beeswax, bacon grease, borax and castoff house paint. Ginny’s imagery comes from nature, a place where she feels the greatest connection and concern.
Donna Layburn
Eric Kos
Eric Kos is the co-founder and co-publisher of our only locally owned and most widely distributed newspaper, the Alameda Sun, now in its 13th year. Eric and Dennis Evanosky teamed up in 2004 to write East Bay Then & Now. Since then they’ve been contracted to write five other California history books: San Francisco Then & Now, San Francisco in Photographs, Lost San Francisco, Lost Los Angeles, and Los Angeles from the Air Then & Now. With Dennis as author, Eric has helped publish three local history books including Alameda an Architectural Treasure Chest. They have about two dozen presentations on local history they can present and they also host the Web site www.oaklandhistory.com. Through the Alameda Recreation and Parks Department’s Alameda Walks program, they lead free history walks in town. Eric’s degree is in Illustration from the Rhode Island School of Design with a focus on design using the computer. Eventually he came back to using his traditional hand painting skills through his association with the Pacific Pinball Museum. As an artist in the museum’s mural painting program, Eric has created four giant reproductions of pinball backglass art on canvases averaging 10 feet by 10 feet. Eric also plays bass with the Bay Area garage punk band, Cleveland.
Elaine Fong
Elaine N. Fong is the founder and artistic director of Odaiko New England, one of the few taiko (Japanese drum) groups in Massachusetts. She has over twenty five years of taiko performance, teaching and administrative experience. In addition to taiko, Ms. Fong has over ten years of dance training. Ms. Fong is also a certified TaKeTiNa rhythm instructor at the basic level. Ms. Fong received her undergraduate degree from Princeton University, and a Masters in Public and Private Management from the Yale School of Organization and Management. In addition to her experience in the arts, Ms. Fong has over sixteen years of not-for-profit administrative experience. She has also worked in the public and private sectors. She is currently a board member of the YWCA Boston, and a United Way allocations committee volunteer.
Hiro Cooper
Hiro Cooper began her professional music career at 18, then transitioned to living a dual life as an occupational therapist by day and singer/band promoter by night. As a therapist, working with a vast population of patients has given Hiro a great appreciation of life. A transplant to the Bay Area by way of Kansas and Miami, Hiro became involved in the business community, booking events and entertainment through her husband Mike’s venture 1400 Bar & Grill in Alameda and the “Hiroko Sound Express”, a local access TV show. She also books talent for the “Battle of the Bands” at the Crab cove festival, as well as the Neptune Beach Celebration on Webster Street. Hiro recently launched a silk screening business “The T-Hiro” and plans to transition to full time silk screening by 2017. As a co-founder of the non-profit West End Arts and Entertainment District, the organization provides grants to local youth to receive music lessons and a platform for those young students to perform. Hiro has a daughter attending Encinal High School and is proud to be a Jet mom!
William Wong
William Wong brings over 25 years of hands on experience developing and managing successful business ventures. He is currently pioneering a new business model called “Localize It”, by creating a Business Alliance of Independently Owned Local Businesses to come together as one to compete against the chain and big box businesses. William is also a Division Manager for EVO Platinum Services Group, building a team of Bankcard Sales Professionals to transform the Merchant Services Industry by providing Bank Card Processing and Gift & Rewards Programs and Services to all types of business on a foundation of honesty and integrity.
Amos White
Amos White is a marketing consultant, executive coach and an award winning American haiku poet and author. Amos has trained or coached thousands of executives, top producing professionals and companies with his marketing strategies. Recognized for his vivid poetic imagery and breathless interpretations as a Haiku poet, he was awarded in the NPR National Cherry Blossom Haiku Contest, and in “The Witt Literary Journal” Haiku Writing Contest. He is published in Area 17, Bones Journal, Brass Bell, Oakland Review, San Francisco BayView, the Wittenberg Review and World Haiku Association Anthology, and an active poet reader supporting San Francisco Bay Area literary organizations and others internationally. Amos has served in numerous community based organizations for more than 30 years, drafted state education reform policy, directed the Kids First! Oakland Fund for Children and Youth campaign and organization; and Assistant Director of Eureka Foundation–SF Bay Area. Classically trained as a concert bassist, and also a rock musician, Amos has a strong background in music performance and in supporting the arts.
Carolyn West
She studied classical music throughout her youth, but it was the visceral experience of taiko drumming that really changed her life! Just days after seeing her first taiko concert in 1998, Carolyn West joined Emeryville Taiko, and studied and performed extensively with the group for seven years. In 2001, she participated in the first KasaMix trip to Japan, a cultural exchange cosponsored by Kodo Arts Sphere America and Rhythmix Cultural Works. In 2006, she joined Maze Daiko, the ensemble based at RCW, known for combining traditional taiko forms and rhythms with non-traditional instrumentation and cross-cultural grooves. Carolyn has also held a progression of positions in small businesses involved in entertainment, manufacturing, construction and law. Since 1996, she has been practicing trusts and estates law, and is currently with a firm in downtown Oakland. An Alameda resident for over 15 years, Carolyn is delighted to support Rhythmix Cultural Works, and invites everyone to attend and participate in arts events, performances, classes, theater, and other gatherings in a beautiful community venue.
Jan Mason
Making things happen is what Jan Mason is all about. Owner of OMM, Inc., an established Alameda real estate and property management company, Jan is known for her unique and artistic approach to the business of real estate. With her strong art background, her commitment to transformation – whether it is a building or a new idea, she is enthusiastic about championing Rhythmix Cultural Works to the Alameda community. She loves the TAIKO classes! Jan was awarded Business Woman of the Year 2007 by the Alameda Chamber of Commerce, and Professional Business of the Year, by the Park Street Business Association. With great joy, Jan Mason brings her business moxie plus her exuberant energy to Rhythmix Cultural Works.
Corey Hill
Corey Hill is passionate about social justice, art, and good food. As the founder and CEO of Indie Food Hub, an online resource center for small food businesses, he is committed to vanquishing the scourge of soulless chain restaurants off the face of the earth. He has served as a communications adviser to numerous nonprofit organizations, and his work as a freelance journalist has been featured in publications including Earth Island Journal, Alternet, the East Bay Express, and many others.
Audrey Lord-Hausman
Audrey Lord-Hausman brings a varied corporate as well as nonprofit management and board experience to Rhythmix. She is co-founder of Pedestrian Friendly Alameda and created the city-wide Walk & Roll to School Day program, aspects of which have been incorporated on a year-round basis in many schools and organizations. She sits on the City of Alameda’s Commission on Disability Issues and is a passionate theatre and music lover. Audrey also served for six years as the Administrative Coordinator of the Alameda Collaborative for Children, Youth & Families, City of Alameda. Some of the projects include children’s health, after school programming, safety, and the teen program produces the Youth Yellow Pages and a teen magazine, “Out Loud – Thoughts of a Teenage Mind.”
Bob Gonsalves
Born in New Jersey, but bred in Brazil, Bob Gonsalves demonstrated his skills with technology at an early age by ‘improving’ his parents’ stereo system. Mr. Gonsalves has previously served as a consultant to Panasonic, Atari, Xerox and numerous startup firms and museums (Exploratorium, Randall Museum). In addition to computer hardware design, he has won several awards for a series of interactive computer games. He holds two patents based on his work on The Lingraphica System for speech-language rehabilitation. He holds a BA in Comparative Religion from Swarthmore College and an MFA in Multimedia from Mills College/Center for Contemporary Music.
Phong Chung / Media Marketing, Web Content & SEO Manager
Phong joined Rhythmix at the beginning of 2014 summer as a media marketing intern. With a strong interest in the performing arts, he is drawn to the rich artistic culture that exists within Rhythmix. Currently, he manages various aspects of online media marketing, web content, and analytics with a splash of creativity. When Phong is offline, you can find him at a hip food joint or the outdoors; exploring the world around us.
Laili Gohartaj / Operations Director
Laili joined Rhythmix in 2015 coming from a background full of music, art, and nonprofit administration. Laili holds a Bachelors of Music in Clarinet Performance and Masters of Arts in Creative Writing both from Holy Names University. While at HNU she explored her interests in Middle Eastern music, sound healing, 19th and 20th century chamber music, feature writing and poetry. Since leaving HNU Laili has gone on to manage administration and operations for nonprofits in the performing arts, publishing, and education. Laili was drawn to Rhythmix for its diversity of programming and mission to promote cultural awareness and encourage participation in the arts. She is especially happy to oversee the PAL program, which provides Alameda and Oakland students with an opportunity to experience world music and dance free of charge. In her free time Laili is a competitive sweep rower, occasionally plays in chamber groups, and is an artist focusing on pottery, fused glass, mosaic and collage. To learn more about her artwork please visit www.LailiBug.com
Tina Blaine (bean) / Executive Director
Tina Blaine (also known by her stage name, “bean”) has served as executive director of Rhythmix Cultural Works since 2010, and has been a performing musician for more than 30 years. Long inspired by global traditions and spontaneous music-making, she has studied and traveled extensively around the world developing a deep appreciation for the importance of music and rhythm as a part of well-being in everyday life. She holds a Master’s of Entertainment Technology from Carnegie Mellon University, where she taught for six years. Tina created interactive audiovisual exhibits for the Experience Music Project in Seattle, Zeum Children’s Museum in San Francisco, and Give Kids the World Resort in Orlando. Her composition credits include music for NPR, video games, TV and documentary soundtracks, and recording/performing with Brian Eno, Mickey Hart, and many other ensembles. Tina co-founded the electronic MIDI ensemble D’CuCKOO and the New Interfaces for Musical Expression (NIME) conference, now in its 15th year. In 2008, she served as co-artistic director for the Studio for Electro-Instrumental Music (STEIM) in Amsterdam. Bean wears many hats at Rhythmix and enjoys getting folks to “feel the beat” in her Wednesday night marimba and drum classes. To find out more about Bean, please visit www.jamodrum.net
Janet Koike / Artistic Director, Founder
In the early 80’s Koike Textile, hand printed women’s fashions, taught Janet how to run an artist owned business. At 30, Janet changed careers, to teaching dance and movement through Oakland Park and Recreation and became been an Artist in Resident for the Wolf Trap Institute for Early Learning through the Arts, in Head Start Programs. This led to a position as Arts School Program Coordinator for the Oakland Museum. Then, following the call of the drums, she joined the artistic staff of San Jose Taiko as Outreach Coordinator creating, performing and booking approximately 150 school shows through out the Bay Area. In 1998 Rhythmix world percussion ensemble was formed. In 1999 RCW became a 501 (c) (3) organization, with the intention of someday creating a community arts space. That day has come.
The Bubble Show
information about new show can be found here.