Performer Bios

Performers
Zarina Zabrisky started to write at six. She wrote traveling around the world as a street artist, translator, and a kickboxing instructor. Her short stories appeared in literary magazines and anthologies in the US, UK, Canada and Nepal. Her work was nominated for the 2012 Million Writers Awards and distinguished as Finalist in The Normal School’s Prize in Fiction, 2012. See more at www.zarinazabrisky.com

Richard Vargas was born and raised in L.A./Orange Counties. He studied under Gerald Locklin at CSULB. Graduated with MFA (awarded with distinction) from Creative Writing Program, University of New Mexico, 2010. Major themes are social injustice, working class issues, immigration, and standing up to institutionalized racism… fuck it, the guy writes political poetry. Served on faculty of 10th National Latino Writers’ Conference at the National Hispanic Cultural Center, May 2012. Currently residing in Albuquerque, where he edits/publishes The Más Tequila Review.

Rhiannon (Raquel) Thorne grew up in the Bay Area of California, a couple hours north of San Francisco in the wine country, which explains both her obsessive recycling and penchant for wine. She currently lives in Phoenix, Arizona with her body of choice, Jenner, and has recently had work accepted to Gr@wl!x and The Legendary. Raquel is also co-editor of the literary publication cahoodaloodaling with poet Kate Hammerich.

Lindsey Erin Thomas is a semi-reclusive omnivorous desert-dwelling mammal. She is also the artist formerly known as Pantifesto’s Porntastic Phunhouse. She was probably on her way to becoming a famous photographer, but unfortunately she left her camera at a bus stop in Tampa, Florida. Her new camera, is a Walmart ‘Vivitar’-brand model and a real piece of crap. Now, as a part of the Red Fez team, she plans on making her millions as a poetry editor instead. She is also editor and chief as well as the sole contributor to The Journal of the Food Stamp Jet Set.

Cory James Taylor also known as CeeTee was born in a little town called Flint, Mi. He is the founder of Occupy Underground Michigan and is now pursuing his goal to showcase everything that the underground scene has to offer; making the passion of others his own. If you ever run into him make sure to say hello and tell him about what’s going on in your community. And if you happen upon him at a local event take a minute to quietly watch him record audio, take pictures and to observe the smile on his face as he meets new people and shares in their experience.

John Swain lives in Louisville, Kentucky. His chapbooks include: Prominences and Sinking of the Cloth (Flutter Press); Set Apart Before the World Was Made (Calliope Nerve Media); The Feathered Masks and Burnt Palmistry (Full of Crow); Handing the Cask (erbacce press); Fragments of Calendars (Thunderclap Press) and White Vases (Crisis Chronicles Press). His work has received nominations for the Pushcart Prize, Best of the Net, and Best of the Web.

Matthew Sradeja dares you to say his name which is nearly unpronounceable. He works in a loud factory in Toledo, Ohio and performs his poetry regularly at the Black Kite Reading Series.

Ryan Snellman has been known to haunt the lowdown places of Ballard Washington living in the moments between the raindrops.

Bud Smith is 30, distracted, sleeps on his right side. He lives in Washington Heights, NYC and has written a collection of short stories called Or Something Like That. His car is on the verge of catching fire, so that’s all he dreams about. Putting the car out before it explodes. He also does heavy construction so if you have something heavy needing constructing, that’d be fine too. The forthcoming novels Tollbooth and I Wonder What My Skull Will Look Like, will arrive later this year. www.budsmithwrites.com

Michelle L. Quinn is a reporter, editor and researcher with 18 years’ experience with Northwest Indiana’s oldest newspaper. She is known in the Region for being a fair reporter and clean, succinct writer. It is a complete mystery as to why she is hanging around the asshole poets, but they love her for it.

Elly Portnoy lives a in giant sandbox too far west of the Pacific Ocean, where she writes, paints, sings, and dreams about moving back to Portland. She lives with a man who may secretly be a superhero, a daughter named Moon, a one-eyed pug, and two cats who sleep under the bathroom sink. She is multi-polar with optimistic features, and even though she is hopelessly shy, she wants to be friends with you.

Tim Murray is a lifelong resident of Northwest Indiana. He hosted the Red Fez blogtalk radio show from 2010-2012 and now hosts The Tim Murray Variety Show on Project U Radio Network. He was nominated for a Pushcart Prize by NightBallet Press for his poem “Certified Outlaw”. His e-chap What I Did Monday is available for free download from Ten Pages Press. His chapbook Dinosaur Ditch was published by Citizens for Decent Literature Press.

Frankie Metro is obsessed with Ingmar Bergman quotes and lives in a basement studio somewhere on Route 66.

Michele McDannold is corn fed and redneck bred. She has an extensive collection of flannel and rubber chicken heads. A devoted member of the Cult of the Honey Badger, she is also the editor/publisher of Citizens For Decent Literature, a project of The Literary Underground.

John Macker lives on the Santa Fe Trail in Northern New Mexico. A widely published short story writer and poet for over 30 years, he has won several awards for his work as well as being nominated for 2 Pushcart Prizes. His most recent book of poetry is Underground Sky, (the second volume in the Disassembled Badlands Trilogy). He is also the author of Adventures in the Gun Trade, Woman of the Disturbed Earth and Las Montanas de Santa Fe, among others. His books were featured in the 2009 Colorado Historical Society exhibit, Mile High and Underground in Denver.

Dustin Holland lives with his mother and puts pieces of chicken into boxes for money. He also reads poems and talks to himself at Kleft Jaw.

Michael D. Grover is a native Floridian. He is currently a resident artist at the Collingwood Arts Center in Toledo, Ohio where he spends entirely too much time working on poetry. Michael is widely published in the literary underground. He is the current head poetry editor at Red Fez. Citizens for Decent Literature Press published Michael’s chapbook Some People Go Crazy in 2012. He has published several other chapbooks and his first book A Shotgun Does The Trick is on its way from Tainted Coffee Press.

GOOD GREEN is an Albuquerque, New Mexico-based band.

Steve Goldberg is a techno-geek, Dilbert dungeon denizen, blogger, a bodhisattva wannabe, and tongue-tied tattler of timid tomes. Launching into a new experiment in neo-beat bohemianism, Steve has been published in many of Cleveland’s small press anthologies.He won third place in the 2008 Hessler Street Fair poetry competition and has been a featured reader at many Cleveland area venues as well as a few dive bars, shady theaters, and bordellos across the country. In a poorly veiled attempt at self-promotion, he has also been interviewed on local poetry radio show, Wordplay, by renown poet George Bilgere after being plied with beer. Steve also organized a monthly poetry free-for-all for 4 years at the Literary Café in the historic Cleveland neighborhood of Tremont and a once in a millennium poetry spectacular on November 11, 2011. He claims to run the small press, WhatsInTheBag, but seems to only have put out his own book.

Bill Gainer, the legendary Northern California writer – known for the openness of his confessional poetry, has contributed to the literary scene as an award winning writer, editor, promoter, publicist and poet – he currently edits for the Pen Award winning R.L. Crow Publications. Gainer has a long standing love of the short poem, but finds himself often more recognized for his longer pieces. He continues to read and work with a wide range of poets and writers – from the emerging to the renowned. Gainer is nationally published and remains a sought after reader. He is a past winner of the S.F. Beat Museum’s Poetry Contest and a recent winner of the Sacramento News and Review’s Flash Fiction Contest. His latest book is A Note in the Window. Visit him at billgainer.com, or become a friend on facebook.

Brian W. Fugett is a member of the slacker, fast food generation that has been branded with an ‘X’ by that Canadian-born, literary terrorist known as Douglas Coupland. Meanwhile, he sits in his pad all day consuming more oxygen than he’s worth. He’s been doing it for over 40 years now and has become quite efficient at it. Eating and voiding are the only things he really knows how to do. Between meals and trips to the shitter, he covertly milks ‘West Nile Virus’ from the tits of pregnant mosquitoes and uses it to butter the toast of local politicians. He is the editor/publisher of Zygote in my Coffee.

Flamingo is a 5 piece genre-blending rock outfit from the midwest. John Franz, Hayden Woodward, Sarah Shive, Josh Payton, Jesse Reynolds. https://www.facebook.com/flamingofeathers

Paul Corman-Roberts is an American poet, author, editor and activist. He has worked most of his life as a labor union activist (ILWU, CWA,SEIU) an arts activist (he was a co-founder of the Wasteland Comedy Troupe in Las Vegas NV) and even for a few years as a member of the United States Air Force (820th RED HORSE.) He is the author of several poetry and flash fiction collections and was the poetry editor for Cherry Bleeds, an online literary magazine.

Ryder Collins writes a lot of things and sometimes calls herself mama. Her writing can be found in lit mags on the Webs and in print. She is the author of Homegirl!, a novel, available here.

Wanda Morrow Clevenger lives in a small town in Illinois. She has published widely online and in print. She is the author of The Same Small Town In Each of Us (2011).

Mike Brant lives in Jacksonville, Illinois. He is a filmmaker, comedian and a member of the band Utter Chaos.

William Seward Bonnie. Forged from the dust of the stars & the dirt of the earth, William Seward Bonnie has a thirst for conquest normal chumps can barely fathom. His name, though not his own, speaks volumes to the roads hes rumbled upon…if not dueling in intellectual sparring sessions, everyone’s favorite vagabond can be caught cultivating crops or creating intellectual property with his fingertips…a main contributor to Kleft Jaw & a secret weapon of the “Literary Underground”, Mr. Bonnie is also an avid screen printer, designer & recording artist for the Denver based tape label “Tiny-amp Records”…if you find yourself becoming a fan of Mr.Bonnie’s work, please seek immediate psychiatric attention…or you too could find yourself claiming: “D.I.Y or DIE”

Sirenna Blas has been published in The Montucky Review, Rose and Thorn Journal, Burning Word, and Red Fez. While fiction is her main love, she has an ongoing affair with poetry, and dabbles in painting and freelance writing. She is a tutor, a teacher, and a student from Northwest Indiana. She blogs at http://awaythecanon.blogspot.com/

James Babbs was born during the Johnson administration when the average household income was $6,899.00 and a gallon of gas cost just 32¢. He has been writing poetry since the early 1980s. James lives in the same small town where he grew up, earning his living as a rural mail carrier and still dreaming of becoming a rock star. He’d settle for Emperor of Wyoming. Over the last 30 years, he has published hundreds of poems in both print and online journals. He is the author of Dictionary of Chaos (2002), Another Beautiful Night (2010), The Weight of Invisible Things (2012) and Disturbing the Light (2013).

Lynn Alexander is the producer and editor of web and print content for Full Of Crow Press And Distribution, which includes Full Of Crow, Blink Ink, Fashion For Collapse, MUST, and other projects in addition to distribution of zines and independent publications. She is also the Head Fiction Editor at Red Fez Publications.